For those of us that live in the Northeast and other parts of the country that are going through serious heat and hig humidity keep these tips in mind…

• Bring plenty of extra fluid on your rides and runs
• Supplement your hydration with an electrolyte drink (think about extra salt content)
• Back off the intensity if the heat is too oppressive
• Try to go out early in the morning or later in the evening
• Enjoy swimming outdoors:)

We’ll be in Lake Placid this weekend cheering on the many athletes at IM USA.

Train smart…

Share/Save

Start-tri.com would like to congratulate many first time and veteran finishers in a multitude of races this summer…Here are some recent finishes:

Bassman Sprint Triathlon in April-Scott Johnson, Tucker McKeever, Lawrence Writer, Steve Varley
Doc and Sok Sprint Triathlon in May-Steve Varley, Tucker McKeever, JT Thompson
Jerseyman 1/2 Ironman in May-Lawrence Writer
Black Bear 1/2 Ironman in May-John Bye
Philadelphia Olympic Distance Triathlon in June-Tucker McKeever
Ironman Germany in July-Lawrence Writer…you are an Ironman!!!
Randolph Sprint Triathlon in July-Gene Boyle, Steve Badian, Mark Gropler, Maryfaith Burke, Heather Lukeman, Pete Rouillard, Wendi Zimmerman, Jaclyn Sullivan, Suzanne Corbett, Robert Tallman, Mike Van Allen
NYC Olympic Triathlon in July-Tom Maney, JT Thompson
Ironman Lake Placid in July-Scott Johnson, Gene Boyle, Jason Norman, Mickey Cassu…you are Ironmen!

Also, with a strong showing at Ironman Lake Placid were all of our Start-tri.com campers-Walt Skrinski, Robyn Ritter, Mike Peretta, Scott Johnson, Gene Boyle and the coaches!

If looking for a great way to close out the season, September in the Metropolitan area always boasts a multitude of good season-ending races. Be sure to check the racing calendars at Raceforum.com or active.com

See you at the races!

Share/Save

You probably already keep a log of your training as a running record of how you’re progressing but do you keep one for races?  We tend to find that memory plays some funny tricks when it comes to racing – and the longer the race distance, the more susceptible you are to ’selective memory’.  It’s a similar process to the one that makes you want to sign up for a race the day after you said ‘never again’ as you crossed the finish line.

Q) When should you write your race-day log?
A) The sooner the better – details will begin to slip away the longer you leave it and this is an information based process where details really matter

Q) What should I record?
A) As much as you can.  The sort of information you want to include might be:

• Pre-race nutrition
• Weather conditions
• Specifics about the transition setup
• Positioning during the swim-start – did you see others in different locations at the start?
• Swim itself – a bumpy ride or a smooth one?  Any aches or pains?  Good draft or no-draft?
• T1 – any specifics that were good or bad
• The bike beginning – did you go out hard or hold back?  How was the mount?
• Nutrition on the bike – how much, how often and what?
• ‘Comfort stops’ how much and how frequent (sounds gross but key to hydration levels)
• Hills – how did they feel – did you spin up or mash larger gears?
• Incidents / observations on the course – any mechanical issues?
• T2 – same as T1 – any specifics – e.g. did you need to stretch, did you have all the gear you needed etc.?
• Run – transition phase – how did it feel?
• Mid-section of the run – good pace?  Able to hold it?
• Experience any stiffening during the run or any ailments or injuries beginning to present themselves?
• How was your run nutrition? Did you take anything on the course and if so what and when?
• Comfort stops on the run?
• Notable hills or other course features
• Finishing – how did you feel over last sections of the race?  Any issues with cramping or other ailments?

If you have a computer device that records your heart-rate then you should combine this with your notes – it can be a good reminder as to how steep those hills really were!

Q)What is the point of all this?
A) When you start to look over your times, you will inevitably begin to wonder where you might have saved some time.  As time progresses, your view will become less objective as you begin to forget the details.   With a set of race-day notes to look over, you won’t be suffering from selective memory syndrome and  you’ll know whether you really could have pushed that much harder on the hill or run 7:30’s when your notes said 8:00’s were killing you at the time.  It also serves as a good data source for where you want to concentrate your training efforts moving forward as well as providing excellent information for those race-reports that your friends are dying to read!

Train safe.

Share/Save

We received an email recently regarding the elevation at Ironman Lake Placid – more specifically, how much climbing is there?

The Ironman USA website has an interesting quote “The two loop bike course takes place on impeccably smooth roads.  There is a major 9km downhill (good for the average speed).  The rest of the bike is a mix of some rolling hills and some “small chainring climbs.  Overall, you can move on this course!”

We think that this is slightly misleading in that it doesn’t really address the level of climbing that you will actually be doing.  The figure below depicts a heart-rate file (Jason’s) during one of our Ironman training camps held earlier this year.  The heart rate profile gives an ascent of 3300ft for one loop.  Obviously this needs to be doubled giving you a climbing elevation of 6600ft.  That is some serious climbing if you’re used to riding on flat roads.

IMUSA course profile

One of the main comments from our camp attendees was that the first loop seemed ‘quite reasonable’.  However, the second loop is ‘a (insert expletive)’ and it’s mainly due to the fatigue that accumulates from the first loop.

Our advice?  Take it easy climbing out of Lake Placid initially – you can blow your race here right at the beginning.  Go fast on the downhill to Keene if you’re comfortable riding at speed.  The section from Keene thru Upper Jay and Jay is a fast road and you should take advantage of staying in aero and covering the ground quickly.  Take the climbs easy so as to keep the legs as fresh as possible.  Enjoy the crowd coming back into Lake Placid and once again, watch that climb out of town prior to the descent.  On the second loop, even though you’ll want to get off the bike as quickly as possible, hold back a little  and spin up the hills – your legs will thank you for it during the marathon!

Share/Save

We just completed our last training camp up at Lake Placid and for those following the tweets, you’ll know that DOT had been planning some roadworks on the descent down to Keene.  They haven’t quite finished (we think) although the work they’ve done has turned a bumpy and somewhat dangerous road surface into a sweet piece of pavement.  We tried a couple of times to get a clip of the surface and just about succeeded the second time around.  The camera was attached just below the handlebars and you’ll note there wasn’t much in the way of cushioning.  We actually have footage of the entire downhill but, to be frank, it’s quite nauseating to watch it.  If there’s enough demand, we’ll stick it up on youtube or something.

For those wondering what it was like up there this last (July19-21st) weekend:-

We dodged the bad weather and had ideal conditions for riding the course on the Saturday, temps ~65-75F.  Sunday saw a few light rain showers as our athletes were doing their long runs – we found them quite refreshing given that they were intermingled with some sun.  Water temperature for the lake has gone up significantly from a couple of weeks ago which, given the amount of rain, was a bit of a surprise.  It is now ~65F although this was taken from a heart rate monitor strapped to one of our wrists – never know how accurate that really is.

Anyway, hope you find the clip useful and train safe.

contact@start-tri.com

Share/Save