#the cool running sequence and his confident and smooth walk are <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[poirott]

Agatha Christie’s Poirot costumes [2/?] ↳ Young Poirot’s grey pinstripe suit in 5x06: “The Chocolate Box” "See you, as a boy I was poor. There were many of us. We had to get on in the world. I entered the Police Force. I worked hard. Slowly I rose in that Force. I began to make a name for myself. I made a name for myself. I began to acquire an international reputation.” - Agatha Christie, Three-Act Tragedy

[goodguidanceptc]

Race Report: Puerto Rico 70.3          Race Date: March 19, 2017

Dominoes, games of flipping black tiles to match white dots, factor large in Puerto Rican culture. One version is played by standing them on end in rows and pushing the first one to knock the rest down. This can be fun or frustrating, depending on how well it’s planned.

1st Domino: I forgot my bike shoes. Unclipped them to pack my bike and left them on my dining room floor.

2nd Domino: Bracket that holds skewer, cassette and chain derailleur got bent during transport. A tech at the race expo fixed it.

So while I’m sweating a strange tech trying some bike repair magic, I’m Googling speed plates and bike shoes. Nobody at the remarkably small race expo had any solutions, but I found a tiny store in San Juan (with the grandiose name, Koishima Tri Club. More syllables than square footage), run by a Guardian Bro named Abraham. He pulled some thoroughly used speed plates off his own shoes and mounted them on a pair of $40 shoes.

Problems handled (sort of). Good dinner, in bed early. 

Race day

Up very early to rendezvous with Team Well-Fit at 4:30. Too early. Ate. Set-up T1 and “t-.05.” Normally, I like to be “kicked out” of T1 with very little extra time to overthink the race. That said, so much positive energy from the other Well-Fit folks is hard not to love.

PR swim exit is a third of a mile away from T1. So we set up a “t-.05″ with shoes to make that extended run. Susan–new knick-name, “Number One Sherpa”–stood guard over shoes and water bottles (to rinse salt water). I put my tri-top and HR strap there, knowing I could use the run to put it on. We loitered at “t-.05″ for about an hour before we walked over to swim start.

Lesson: I’m well prepped on race day. Too much time leaves too much room for negative head chatter.

Swim (:36:56)

Went with WF tri shorts only. The first 400 yards were rough. Assholes and elbows everywhere. Getting my hips pushed was new. But sorted out by first turn. Stayed along buoys, felt the cool ocean current as I reached the bridge, sighted the swim out and went hard.

Need more technique work. FIVE WHOLE MINUTES slower than expected :32.

Lesson: double check buoy placements day of race. Course was practically a crescent moon. Could have saved time by NOT hugging course buoys after second turn.

Lesson: next 70.3 I will dominate my fearful chatter and conservative approach, take the pole position and force the other guys to swim around me. I’m taking the beating anyway and maybe I could draft better…

T1 (6:36)

Smooth but could have skipped rinsing off salt water and pulling on shoes. BUT! learned a trick to pull tri-top on like a dress (vs. overhead, like a t-shirt). Thanks to Dan K!

Bike (2:40:06; averaged approx. 21mph)

First race on new bike with power meter…and last-minute replacement shoes. Had a hard time calibrating PM (twice!) so although I did not have perfect confidence in readings, I held 80% +/-5% (210-230watts) for majority of two loop lollipop. Given avg mph, I probably wasn’t too far off, given head/tail winds.

Followed nutrition/hydration plan…mostly.

Just after the second turn around (Mile 45-ish) my right foot felt odd. I thought it was surely the used speed cleat failing. Nope. Cleat was fine. Sole was coming unglued from upper… a little more with each stroke.

Mashed the last ten-ish miles of rolling hills dealing with flappy shoe. Lots of mental chatter during this section, mostly R- and X-rated versions of:

why are there so many expressway exit/entrance ramps on 70.3s?

Shoe. Idiot. Shoe. Idiot.

Is my bike broke? What’s that sound?

At the dismount line, I unclipped left but just peeled the right upper off the sole. Fuckit.

Lesson: remember shoes. Simple.

Dismount / T2 (3:21)

Dominoes falling. Forgot shoes…replacements failed-ish…didn’t take in as much salt on back third of bike…flappy flappy flappy into dismount…forgot bottle of Gatorade in T2 (hydration plan for first third of run). None of which occurred to me as I went about my business. I was not rushed or panicked, yet I clearly lost focus here. And it cost me…

Run (2:09:43 or 9:54/mi)

One teammate declared intention was for 9:00/miles. I thought she was being cautious because she didn’t feel well. I sincerely expected sub-8:30/mile average.

St. George has hills. Atlantic City has heat. I’ve done both. But StG is temperate  and the AC Boardwalk run flatness literally inspired the board game Monopoly. Plus, I’d been acclimating for weeks. So I was not intimidated by the hot and hilly run profile or the legendary “oven” along the backside fort walls.

I should have been. Words fail. Murder. Brutal. Brutal murder. Brutally murderous.

My interior quads (vastus medialus) on both legs started cramping up around Mile 3. I administered at least two salt licks to every little “clench.” Burned through my positive self-talk and chatter early on. I walked the aid stations to hydrate and the uphills on the second loop. It was a war of attrition as they clenched up more frequently and locked more firmly as I went. At mile 11 the right calf cramped up like a padlock. A Guardian Bro from Boston asked if I was okay and even though I said, “No,” we ran those last two black and terrible miles together. Lost track of him towards the end. Grinded it out.

Finishing Chute / Post Race

Didn’t recognize Andy Potts when he congratulated me at the finish line. Had to go back for a fist bump.

When I sat down, the muscles below the knee cramped up on both legs. One after another… left and right calf (gastrocnemius), left and right shins (peroneus longus) on a spectrum of pain in various sequences for minutes on end, from “please make it stop” to “hot death” to “so bad they scared my wife.” I’ve never been shot, but I suspect I know something close to what it feels like to get shot.

Work to do on running techniques.

Lesson: Clear the mechanism when the dominoes start to fall.

OVERALL RACE TIME: 5:36 

OVERALL RACE GRADE: C 

I had faster time expectations in all three phases. An argument could be made against comparing PR70.3 vs AC70.3:

PR70.3 early season vs AC70.3 late season.

AC swim course cut for safety concerns, skewing subsequent bike and swim splits.

New gear in PR, some planned (bike and power meter), some not (shoes and cleats).

Dramatically different T1 layouts.

Dramatically different run course profiles.

That said, overall times indicate that PR70.3 was not an improvement.

PR70.3 =  5:36

AC70.3 = 4:56

DIFF =       :40

SWIM: B- 

I expected time closer to :32 with better cadence. Also, I was in a very small minority of racers without speed suits.

BIKE: C-

Who forgets their fucking shoes!?! Also, lost focus on hydration plan towards end.

RUN: C

Literally a step backwards in pace and evolution. Heat and hills were devastating yet better focus in T2 could have helped deliver better result.

Might have to go back to beat that run course. Whoah... domino.