Getting Race Ready
This past week was a race prep week for me. I am prepping for the Ft. Ritchie Triathlon next weekend. I should have had this post out on Sunday but I saved it as a draft and forgot to post it. I found myself modifying my training plan a bit this week to prepare for the upcoming race. My plan has the goal of the half-Iron in October so this upcoming race isn't built in. Nevertheless, it was easy to modify a few of the workouts for more race specific training. For instance, I added in more hill training to get used to climbing and shortened some of the distances since the Olympic distance doesn't require 50+ miles on the bike.
Saturday I did an open water swim with Racine Multisport. Racine uses Lake Royer (where Ft. Ritchie is held) and they do several open water swims throughout the year. There is no coaching or organized swim workout. Basically, you pay around $8 and get a swim cap that allows you to swim in the lake. Normally, the lake is off limits to swimmers. Racine sets up the buoys and provides kayak support. You can do whatever you like. Saturday's course had a 75m (150m total out and back), a 150m (300m out and back), or a 500m loop. Basically, you can swim what you are comfortable swimming. If you are training for an Ironman, you just keep swimming. If you are new to open water, just stick to the 75m loop until you feel comfortable.
The swim went very well for me. I did about 1500m (give or take my odd angles) and was very pleased with the swim. Water temp was about 75 degrees at 8am so I decided to wear my wetsuit. I probably didn't need it but I like the buoyancy and to get used to it. I do enough swimming without it in the pool that it takes a few minutes to get used to having it back on. The lake temp is very sensitive to air temp as it is a small lake. Thursday night it was 83 degrees at the 6pm swim according to the group. The lake was cloudy so I couldn't see anything but the water was surface algae free and clean. There was vegetation that you had to swim through at certain points but it was manageable. Just shake it off and keep going. I felt very comfortable on the swim and did about 90% of it in front crawl with a little breast stroke to make sure I got around the buoys.
After the swim, I rode the bike course for next week's race. Racine had marked it with white paint so you could pre-ride the course. It is very nice to be able to ride this one beforehand. It is supposedly a challenging course.
This was my first ride after my custom dynamic fitting that I did Friday. I spent four hours with Stu at Parvilla being fit using the DFU and Retul fitting systems. Stu did a flexibility assessment first. Needless to say I might be the most inflexible person he's seen in a long time. Then we fit the bike using motion capture technology. My position came forward a lot and things lined up much better. I needed new aerobar extensions as mine were a bit too short for what we needed. If you are serious about triathlon, I would recommend getting a fitting by a certified master fitter. Stu is one of only a handful in the country but there are others around depending on your part of the country. We worked on a position that would not only increase my speed on the bike, but also allow me to get off the bike without any strain and get up to full running speed and stride within 30 seconds of being off the bike. That's the difference between the tri set-up and our road bike.
The ride on the Ft. Ritchie course was challenging. It started with a pretty steep uphill but it wasn't too long. It took me by surprise at first. Then you go down a very long hill where my speed was pushing or exceeding 40mph. I didn't pedal or push too much down the hill as I was looking for the turn directions on the ground but I could have easily pushed the speed up higher. The course then went around some pretty farm country in the valley with a mixed bag of newly paved roads and roads that probably haven't been repaved since the 40s. You had to be very careful about your line so you didn't eat all the bumps. I'm sure they will be lenient about the keeping to the right rule when the right is riddled with holes. There were a few very steep climbs but they only lasted for a few feet then back to flat. The real challenge is going back up the long hill. You have to climb the same hill that you flew down on the first half. Although it really isn't that steep (3-4% grade), it lasts for over 4 miles. I think it is closer to 5 if you count the false flat near the top. It is a pretty equal grade for the entire time. Cycling map sites have categorized it as a Category 3 climb using the UCI rules for climb categories. There was significant time spent shifting in and out of the saddle to get some power up the hill. My goal was to not let the speed drop below 9mph. After getting to the top of that hill, you have a two second downhill and then back to a Category 4 hill to the top. Then it is all downhill to the finish with some steep sections and some sharp curves. I didn't take any of this too fast as I was trying not to get lost. I'm hoping they have traffic directed so you can take some of the turns without braking or there will be a lot of brake use in the race.
All-in-all it was good prep for the race. I can only hope it is wetsuit legal next week. Look for a full race report.
Saturday I did an open water swim with Racine Multisport. Racine uses Lake Royer (where Ft. Ritchie is held) and they do several open water swims throughout the year. There is no coaching or organized swim workout. Basically, you pay around $8 and get a swim cap that allows you to swim in the lake. Normally, the lake is off limits to swimmers. Racine sets up the buoys and provides kayak support. You can do whatever you like. Saturday's course had a 75m (150m total out and back), a 150m (300m out and back), or a 500m loop. Basically, you can swim what you are comfortable swimming. If you are training for an Ironman, you just keep swimming. If you are new to open water, just stick to the 75m loop until you feel comfortable.
The swim went very well for me. I did about 1500m (give or take my odd angles) and was very pleased with the swim. Water temp was about 75 degrees at 8am so I decided to wear my wetsuit. I probably didn't need it but I like the buoyancy and to get used to it. I do enough swimming without it in the pool that it takes a few minutes to get used to having it back on. The lake temp is very sensitive to air temp as it is a small lake. Thursday night it was 83 degrees at the 6pm swim according to the group. The lake was cloudy so I couldn't see anything but the water was surface algae free and clean. There was vegetation that you had to swim through at certain points but it was manageable. Just shake it off and keep going. I felt very comfortable on the swim and did about 90% of it in front crawl with a little breast stroke to make sure I got around the buoys.
After the swim, I rode the bike course for next week's race. Racine had marked it with white paint so you could pre-ride the course. It is very nice to be able to ride this one beforehand. It is supposedly a challenging course.
This was my first ride after my custom dynamic fitting that I did Friday. I spent four hours with Stu at Parvilla being fit using the DFU and Retul fitting systems. Stu did a flexibility assessment first. Needless to say I might be the most inflexible person he's seen in a long time. Then we fit the bike using motion capture technology. My position came forward a lot and things lined up much better. I needed new aerobar extensions as mine were a bit too short for what we needed. If you are serious about triathlon, I would recommend getting a fitting by a certified master fitter. Stu is one of only a handful in the country but there are others around depending on your part of the country. We worked on a position that would not only increase my speed on the bike, but also allow me to get off the bike without any strain and get up to full running speed and stride within 30 seconds of being off the bike. That's the difference between the tri set-up and our road bike.
The ride on the Ft. Ritchie course was challenging. It started with a pretty steep uphill but it wasn't too long. It took me by surprise at first. Then you go down a very long hill where my speed was pushing or exceeding 40mph. I didn't pedal or push too much down the hill as I was looking for the turn directions on the ground but I could have easily pushed the speed up higher. The course then went around some pretty farm country in the valley with a mixed bag of newly paved roads and roads that probably haven't been repaved since the 40s. You had to be very careful about your line so you didn't eat all the bumps. I'm sure they will be lenient about the keeping to the right rule when the right is riddled with holes. There were a few very steep climbs but they only lasted for a few feet then back to flat. The real challenge is going back up the long hill. You have to climb the same hill that you flew down on the first half. Although it really isn't that steep (3-4% grade), it lasts for over 4 miles. I think it is closer to 5 if you count the false flat near the top. It is a pretty equal grade for the entire time. Cycling map sites have categorized it as a Category 3 climb using the UCI rules for climb categories. There was significant time spent shifting in and out of the saddle to get some power up the hill. My goal was to not let the speed drop below 9mph. After getting to the top of that hill, you have a two second downhill and then back to a Category 4 hill to the top. Then it is all downhill to the finish with some steep sections and some sharp curves. I didn't take any of this too fast as I was trying not to get lost. I'm hoping they have traffic directed so you can take some of the turns without braking or there will be a lot of brake use in the race.
All-in-all it was good prep for the race. I can only hope it is wetsuit legal next week. Look for a full race report.
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