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July 11, 2006
Different Strokes for Different Folks & Utter Frustration
Workout #1 - Different Strokes for Different Folks
So I've never really been to a Tuesday masters practice. I went once (I believe), the day after Memorial Day but I don't think it was a regular Tuesday because we hadn't met that previous Monday. Anyway, the point of all this is, I was not privy to the fact that Tuesdays are "off-stroke" days meaning NOT freestyle. Uh oh. Does it matter that I don't really know how to do anything but freestyle? :)
The workout was as such:
3 sets of:
2x50 fly
2x50 back
2x50 breast
2x50 freestyle (thank goodness!)
3x100 stroke of your choice
Hmm... I told Jen the coach that I didn't really know any other strokes. I mean I kind of do. Everyone sort of knows how to backstroke and I kind of know breast but I knew it wouldn't be pretty. She said she would help me if I wanted to give the other strokes a try or I could swim all free. I didn't want to be a party pooper so I tried...everything but butterfly of course. They would have had to rescue me if I tried fly. I would have swallowed so much water I would have sunk straight to the bottom.
So anyway, I did okay. She said my backstroke looked fine. Breaststroke? Well, it needed some work. She gave me some pointers and I worked on it. I did the workout as planned except for not doing fly (substituted free instead) and for the "stroke of your choice" I breaststroked down and backstroked back up. I'm not really sure what my rest intervals were. I was just trying to keep up with my lane - maybe 5-15 seconds rest after each interval? Either way, I will be VERY glad when Thursday comes and we are back to freestyle. :) Total swim 3000 meters w/warmup and cooldown.
Workout #2 - Utter Frustration
I didn't have my teammate K tonight for the crit because she's eating nachos and hotdogs at the All-Star game tonight. Bum. :) So it was just me and about 20 other women riders. Big field tonight. There was also one guy, a younger kid, that wasn't quite sure what he was doing. Worse than me I think. I can feel his pain... :)
Anyway, I must admit I wasn't gung ho at first about going crazy and making every lap 25 MPH. I was a little on the tired side and didn't have a teammate and so I sat in the middle for about 5 laps (30 laps total). Then I got annoyed. I just can't even explain it. Nobody wants to seem to ride hard! But the problem is, if you are the one that takes it out and really makes it a race you end up doing ALL the work in the front and killing yourself. Okay, so you slow down some and make it known that you don't want to pull anymore - then nobody else stands up and EVERYONE slows back down and is in the race again and all you've really accomplished is tiring yourself out. ?!?$#@#$%#@$!!! It kills me. I swear one of these times I'm just going to push and push and push and push as hard as I can and see what happens. That's big talk though - actually going out and doing it is quite another story.
Anyway, with about 6 laps to go I had enough. I took off, not really trying to break away but more just wanting to pull everyone through a fast lap. When I came around again nobody was taking it from me and I hear one of my guy teammates yelling to me "string it out, hold on". I glance back and see - I've actually broken away! That's the one positive thing of this race tonight - the first time I was actually able to free myself from the pack and break away, make 'em work and make 'em hurt to try and get me. I came around again and he's still yelling to me "keep stringing it out..." and for a moment I thought I might actually be able to do this...but then, a lap later with 3 to go, I see they are on my shoulder again. Bugger! I'm not strong enough (yet) to break away and stay away like that. Double @#$#@%#$%$@#!!! So we have 3 laps to go and they are back on me and so I go out to let someone else lead for a while. Naturally we putz around for a while and someone FINALLY decides to take it. I tuck in in about 3rd place and am pleased with my positioning.
Bell lap comes and won't you know it, we are dwadling again. Nobody wants to do it. Nobody wants to lead that last lap. So I just take it. I can't stand it anymore and the very predictable outcome occurs - I get outsprinted by everyone and their brother. Triple @#$%$#%@#$%!@#$%!!! I was so fired up when I was done I just couldn't take it. I think why it annoys me so much is because it's so UN-like running. I know people sit and kick in running too but in pretty much every race I've ever run I can say that I really gave it my all, I ran as hard as I could and if I got outkicked, so be it. There is just too much strategy and teamwork in these crits to make that same thing happen. That, and I'm not strong enough to annihilate people like I want to. Quadruple @#$%#@$@#$#@!!!!
So I can't wait until next week. With K there maybe we can make them work a little harder and at least take some sprint out of their legs. It's been a long time since I've felt this kind of fire in me. I think it's great. I think it will make me a better rider and therefore a better triathlete. And so I leave you with one last @#$#@%!#$%@#$%!!! Good night everyone! :)
PS Total 26 miles of riding w/warmup and cooldown. 15 mile race w/winning time of 40:16 (and I was about 2 seconds behind).
Posted by beth at July 11, 2006 9:34 PM
Comments
hey Beth. Very interesting accounts! Just a thought: one thing is winning; another is getting a workout. One thing is winning a small race. Another is using a small race to train for a big race. Still another thing is winning small races to participate in big races. And one completely different thing is to try and break the "system" and burning some serious rubber...
In running, you can draft as much as you want but you still have to move those legs at a clip to keep up. In cycling, wheel technology makes it so that you can draft without almost having to pedal! You just have to sit there on the butt of the poor "domestique" slaving along. For "show" reasons the big cycling races have all focussed on the final sprint (excluding stages with incredible hills or the spectacular cobblestone-likes of the Paris Roubaix.) Otherwise it is all about individuals, being part of an elite who are able to stay up there for up to 200 miles and then decide what to do as far as winning is concerned. Crits are made more interesting by victory/money laps in the race to offset this to some extent. Further: look (and read about) the Tour De France or the Giro D'Italia. These are the cultural, historical reference points and that's what you have to deal with mentality wise. And remember while being outsprinted on two wheels by a couple of seconds is relatively bearable, nobody likes "hot-dog" types who just want to blow everybody away. It would be like to prove that you can do it all alone. And you don't need anybody else. And so they (alliances of enemies) will gang up on you to make you eat some humble pie. So what to do? I am sure there are other approaches but here some ideas/options (as an evolving triathlete): take advantage of your beginner status and try and kick (please allow expression) some real ass from the very start (and get some amazing training) and then hang on as much as you can when they catch up to you*, and be try to be strong enough to go for the sprint anyway. The suicidal approach. But you could make it less so by teaming up with a buddy. Or, experiment more with group dynamics and by figuring out each opponent, and go for the sprint/win with the leaders (the i-am-an-elite cyclist approach.) Or just kind-of go with the flow, play it safe, work hard, see what happens, I am a triathlete anyway approach, I am here just to learn (but you seem to have evolved way beyond this already.) Still there's a lot to learn, especially how to "read" the race from the inside. There could be other options i am sure. Anyway, GO FOR IT. corrado
* re approach no. 1 there is an athletics equivalent with rabbits from as far back as 1978 - 80 (more or less,) namely Tom Byers who got some attention for winning a race where he was rabbiting for some top runners because they were holding back to sprint in the end amongst themselves, and they let him get too far ahead....It was titled, if I remember correctly "The Rabbit Who Ran Away" :)
Posted by: corrado giambalvo at July 12, 2006 5:58 AM
I always *really* appreciate your comments Corrado!
After some more thought (I still woke up thinking about that darn race!) I've decided that I have to remember why I'm doing these races - and that's to (1) get the training effect of a hard race and (2) learn how to ride/handle my bike in a group. The purpose is not always to win (per se) but my competitive nature takes over and I can't help myself!
Having said that, what Kim and I should really do is ride hard and see who comes and who doesn't come and if they catch us then they catch us. They might not like us for it but it will make us all better riders and that achieves goal #1 from above. As a triathlete I will NEVER sprint at the end of the bike leg of a race, in fact I do quite the opposite, slow it down some, stretch out the legs and get ready to run.
Anyway, I know I have a lot to learn and I'm really having fun figuring it all out. My blog will probably get an earful again next Tuesday... But for today - I'm a runner! That's the nice thing about triathlon, I can switch gears and focus on a totally different sport. I love it!
Posted by: Beth at July 12, 2006 8:39 AM
Fly is hard, no question. There was an article in a recent USMS magazine about "avoiding vertical butterfly" and emphasizing drills and just doing 25s in training (rather than learning poor form as you fall apart.) I'm only just getting to the point where I can do some; I do pretty well with fins.
Breaststroke, though, I don't know; I have good form and I don't know why. Just works that way for me.
Posted by: pjm at July 12, 2006 1:06 PM