We're in Cohasset!

Team Perry is gathering in Cohasset. Janet, Bill, Tom, and Kathy arrived yesterday (Thursday). Eileen and her family will arrive later today. Meghan lives an hour away and will be coming and going. Julia is the team Cohasset resident and host for the big race on Sunday. Julia, Janet, Bill and Tom tested the water shortly after arriving on Thursday and much to our surprise, found it warmer than expected. The short work out was encouraging! We then drove the bike course, and found it to be a tad bumpy with all the road/utility work going on; and as such, one might consider it a bit technically challenging. We'll ride it today and see first hand. The race venue is charmingly picturesque and almost a distraction for all the local beauty!

That's about it for now. Let the fun and games begin!

Tom

It's Almost Time!

Our race packets arrived via e-mail today! Print them off. Things start getting exciting now! Not surprisingly with the chilly spring in Boston, the water is cold and they are advising swimmers double up on caps, or invest in a neoprene cap to be worn under race cap. I can already feel the cold water taking my breath away. Tip: Before you begin the swim, stand in the water and put your face in breathing 10 times from each side to take away some of the initial shock and hyperventilating.

Checklist

Below is my checklist for a cold water sprint triathlon such as Cohasset. You may modify it as you see best for your own purposes. It helps to have lists and routines. Be consistent and minimize the number of things you have to think about. You'll have situations and surprises to think about as it is. Let me know if you think I left out any significant items.

Sprint Tri List:

Air pump
Bike
Bike gloves (x)
Bike shoes
Body Glide
Bucket/seat (if you want to sit in transition) (x)
Spare bike tubes
Tire change tools
CO2 tire inflator and spare CO2
Coin bag for E-caps (x)
Duct tape (for whatever)
EnduroLite caps (electrolytes)(x)
Flashlight/Headlight (for pre-race set-up; if dark before start)
Fleece top (if chilly)
Water bottle for bike (w/water or sport beverage)
Glasses and case
Hammer gels
Helmet
Parking permit (if applicable)
Registration papers & USAT card
Running shoes
Sandals (for before/after race)
Clothes for after race
Socks (x)
Sun screen
Sunglasses
Race Swim cap
Swim goggles
Tools
Towels (2)
TP in baggy
Tri bag (for gear)
Tri belt for race #
Tri run cap (x)
Tri short
Tri top
Water bottles
Disposable aluminum pan with water (Dip sandy feet in T-1)
Wet suit

(x) indicates you probably don’t need item.

Bold indicates very important!

Things to do:

Tune/check bike week before
Practice T-1 (& options)
Make sure bike bar ends are plugged!
Ring with spouse
Set cycle computer and watch
Set gears (low for quick start)
Warm up for swim and bike
2 gels and 8 oz. water 5 – 10 minutes before start (x)
Lick and set goggles before start
Be positive, calm, and confident
Focus. Live in the moment.
Solve problems as they arise.

Tom and Kathy at Expo 10K Race

Tom and Kathy did the Expo 10K race in Knoxville, yesterday. Kathy took second in age group, while Tom finished fourth in age group. It was a satisfying race with about 500 in the 10K. I know Julia and Eileen are/were racing this weekend. Results and feelings? Others, anything to report?

Back to the bike and swim tomorrow. Off today.

--Tom

Wetsuit Strippers?

Julia, can you find out if there will be wetsuit strippers after the swim? OK, now, they don't strip, but assist you in stripping off your wet suit. It should go w/o saying, but I'll say it anyway, you do want to be dressed underneath your wetsuit, preferably with what you intend to wear for the bike and run portions of the race. One other thing, you may want to try going w/o socks to see if you will be OK on race day. It will save you time to go w/o. --Tom

Odds and Ends

This is Tom and sister Janet before the start of last year's Olympic distance Turtle Crawl Triathlon at Jekyll Island, Georgia. We will be needing the long sleeve wetsuits at Cohasset.

I checked the water temp at Melton Hill Lake this morning before swimming. It was 58 degrees. I put on two caps and pulled them down over my eyebrows. That made a difference as far as warding off yesterday's forehead cold ache. I was also faster today, with fewer stops. Cold water is taking me a little bit of time for acclimatizing. However, I absolutely love my new long sleeved wetsuit. My feet, hands, and face get cold, but the rest of me is very comfortable. My confidence is way up, though, knowing now that the water has been at 58 degrees, while Cohasset water is expected to be around 62!

Next week may be about right for starting the once-a-week-for-4-weeks-Power Burst swim practices for anybody not named Meghan or Zip! (Utterly un-necessary for a Robinson swimmer.) I discussed it in an earlier posting, see April 19.

I'll post a checklist in the next few days.

You may want to try a few bricks in the next few weeks. Important to get legs accustomed to changing from bike muscles to run muscles. Also, start simulating your transitions: T-1 and T-2. Find a comfortable routine and stick with it, laying out your gear and repeating the sequence of transition steps each time. They should become almost second nature and be very familiar to you on race day.

OK, for those team members that may be trying to stay under the radar, Kathy and I have begun doing a little internet snooping. We found, for example, that Meghan has worked a duathlon into her training this spring. On April 19, she went run (3-mi), bike (11-mi), run (2-mi) at 25:10, 44:30, 15:20 with T-1 at 1:01 and T-2 at 0:56. Good job Meghan!!!

Looking for more training reports and images to post. Go team!!!

That's about it for this posting. Now get out there and train!

--Tom

Eileen's First Open Water Swim - No Snakes!

I have to post Eileen's first open water swim account. She is absolutely right about bilateral breathing, too. She wrote:

"Hey!! I just got back from my first experience at open water swimming!! I was not looking forward to it ...... Jim [husband] was telling me about all the snakes that are out etc..... yuk!! however I found a great place at Lake Granbury and the area is roped off so the snakes know not to go in there! hee hee! Anyway it went much better than I thought. I went for 30 min. Julia, I remember a note that you said someone told to you to learn to breath both sides .... well I didn't understand why at the time but I did practice that in the pool. But today I can definately see the advantage as it helps spot yourself better. I would take 3 strokes turn right, 3 strokes turn left and I could get a good sense of where I was and where I was going. I have my next 5k Mon. - it looks like a good one. It's called American Hero's and seems to have a lot of military people involved so I guess I will be very humbled in many ways and will be covered in the dust I'm sure!"

Good swim, Eileen!

I also went open water this morning for about 20 minutes. The water was about ten degrees colder than last week. We have had several nights in the upper 30s and a lot of rain. The water was almost painful to my forehead, but after about ten minutes I got my rhythm and felt reasonably good! I know I will need to "warm" up for about ten minutes to be able to race with rhythem, and keep up with the sisters! [TRY]

Way to go Eileen! You are doing great!!!

Tom