Week 1 of my Final Build down. 1...err...well I guess 2 to go if you count a brief taper and racing Steelhead. I guess that counts. Pretty solid week. Hit most all my target and exceeded a few others. This was the most yards I've swam since early April. Completed my longest run and longest bike. Sort of all downhill from here, though this week will be hard with the residual fatigue.
By the numbers:
Swim: 3h32m, 15,300y
Bike: 11h39m, 250.6mi
Run: 6h25m, 51mi
HOURS:
TSS: 1405
CTL: 162.3
TSB: -13.1
Looking at my PMC, overall it's looking pretty good. I'll hit an new peak for overall training load, run peak and match my peak bike training load form 3 weeks ago. But I'll do it without being at a negative TSB for too long or going too deep as I did before Geode. I don;t expect my legs to feel like they did at Kansas, but I expect to be able to have a good ride and hang on for a descent run. Maybe feel worse, but run a similar overall pace given better run fitness and overall fitness. I'm really hoping to improve my swim.
Probably the most important take away from this week, is that I hit another higher run mileage week and stayed healthy. My PF reared it's ugly head, by my Achilles feels pretty good. The Kinvaras are a winner, with the only downside that they don't drain well. Something to consider. If it's a wet race, I might need a back-up plan. My A6's will more than likely be in my special needs bag. Tempting also to drill a few drain holes. What could it hurt? Seen a few examples online. So i might give it a try. The trick seems to be to heat up a metal rod to seal the edges. I only need them in the toe box. I test them out on the nearly worn out pair I have now first. I'll be getting a new pair for my race.
Lots of positive comments about the news article, which is pretty cool. I'm not the first in town to do an Ironman. I know of 3 others that have complete one. One older guy has been to Kona at least once back in the day, but I'd be the first to qualify <45y/o and in the insanely competitive "modern era". Kona hasn't gotten a lot bigger, but the number of IM races has and slots are harder to get for the faster age groups since all age groups are guaranteed at least one slot. Races that used to have 75 or 100 slots, not only have 50. You easily have to finish at the front of the race to get a slot. Top 50 overall including pros.
41 days to go.... < 6 weeks. Still trying to secure that full length wetsuit. It's becoming my Unicorn. I really don't want to use it the first time at IMWI. I guess it's one of those... if it fits, it fits. Lots of folks rent wetsuits too. I'm pretty adaptable. I think I'll swim just a little faster in it. In particular sight better. My neck movement is a bit restricted and overall my current suit is just a little short I think. It fit better when I was about 157lbs and 22 years old. I asked Daniel if he could just drop it in the mail this week.
Lupus Foundaton of America, Iowa Chapter Donations
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Monday, July 28, 2014
Friday, July 25, 2014
Made the Local Paper!
http://www.dailygate.com/article_5de1fa27-d2b9-5aa6-ade4-840e139f300a.html?fb_action_ids=10203623256358152&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_ref=.U9KHmtJpoao.like
Pretty cool. Hope my wife is ready for "coming out" about her conditions. Yes, I did get her permission first.
All the training I do is nothing compared to the challenges and struggles so many face with this disease. It's a harsh reality that it will eventually claim their lives and there is no cure. They didn't choose this by making poor lifestyle decisions.
"Big Day" Completed!
Since it's my first IM, I thought, hey, why not do a "big day". Some recommend a metric IM, but I think that's too much running, too high risk, and too disruptive to the rest of the training goals for that block. The real purpose is to test your energy systems, test your nutrition plans and find out if you have GI issuse and what you can tolerate running off a long bike. I'm not a believer that you need to specifically train for running off the bike (bricks). Actually, I think it's counter productive. Just like you don't want to practice bad swim form with tired, you don't want to practice bad run form. After a long ride your hip flexors will be tired. Your stride will not be a crisp and you'll be open to injuries depending on your training load from the previous couple weeks.
The workout...
2000y swim (WU+descending ladder increasing pace+CD)
5hr bike in training set-up, high zone 2 targeting 260-270TSS.
6-7mi run
Training Files:
Bike:
http://www.trainingpeaks.com/av/HSWCCCS3KVAJOCO4RCLY2VNWBY
Run:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/548865108
Bike started off with me losing my rear bottle 2 miles out. That brings me to learning moment #1 (see below). I'd now have to stop at a gas station to refill a bottle and I'd have a little less calories than planned. I did bring 1 extra gel, but I'm still 1000 calories short. NBD. I did eat 1/2 a PB sandwich after my swim and thought I rehydrated pretty well. My legs felt pretty good, I had to ease off to keep watts down. I did ride a little higher for the first leg as it's slightly uphill and had a cross headwind. I expected to ride easier later on. Things were fine for abotu 90 minutes, then my legs started to feel that 20mi run. It was the elephant in the room and it made its' presence known. I kept it around 75% but it wasn't easy anymore. I stopped to pee and refill my bottle in a small town. My legs were tight getting back on the bike. They felt better 3 miles later and I picked it back up again through some rolling hills. It's wasn't a simple out & back route, so I took a guess at the wind advantage I'd have and how much farther my out leg was compared to my return route and rode to around the 2:40 mark then made my turn. The wind was mostly at my back now and that was good since my legs were feeling pretty spent. 70% was taking some real effort. Got to about 30 miles out and knew I had the hilliest section of the ride to get through. But it's also the most scenic along the Mississippi river. The last 10 miles, my legs were spent. not really fatigued by the energy and power wasn't there. I'm actually thinking it was more nutrition and hydration that did it. Having training hard the previous 3 days, my glycogen stores were probably partially depleted and it showed. I wasn't bonked, but didn't have any snap like my last couple long rides where I went in and out of rough patches, but finished strong. Not this day.
I took a long T2. Drank a 12oz, cold, flat bottle of Coke. Then ate a Greek yogurt with honey and drank probably another 30 oz of water. After 30 minutes or so, off I went. Very stiff, but while I felt slow I was running pretty fast ad I could feel it in my breathing and HR, but I just felt slow. I think my hip flexors are fatigued, so I get the sense that my strides are shorter than they are. I kept having to slow myself down. This continued until I reached a steeper unhill and elected to walk it. I really just wanted the miles and to see how I felt. My right knee (yah..my right side for once instead of my left leg) was stiff too. Last thing i need is some tendinitis. It didn't affect my stride a lot, but made it harder to properly drive my leg, so I'm sure my run economy was low. HR HR was running about 10bpm high. Part fatigue, part normal HR drift and, probably part hydration. I walked up a few more hills the last 3 miles, but at the end, my average pace was still 7:38, so I apparently was running pretty fast the rest of the time. That makes me think that I can risk going out close to 7:10 pace for lap 1, and hold on for a 7:20-7:30 for lap 2 and finish under 3:15. SO go out in maybe a 1:32-1:33, and come back in 1:38.
What I learned:
1) HYDRATION SET-UP: I'm done with rear hydration. Given it was a 24oz bottle back there and the cage might not have been belt in be tight enough...but overall... it's just too risky, your always worried its' going to launch and for me, it's hard to reach if it's horizontal enough to be aero and hopefully not launch. Solution? Go back to my 70.3 set-up. Torpedo BTA + aerobottle on seat tube as the reserve bottle. Give or take 1 mile the aide station at IMWI are as follows:
13,18,28,38,53,61,72,81,94,99
http://www.ironman.com/~/media/17f07ceb0978436880ac078bab8337a9/wisconsin%20bike2014%20tbt.pdf
So the longest stretches are 15mi through the 3 sisters (slowest part of course) and the last 13-14 miles. So not a lot of risk there. That's puts the longest stretches around 40 minutes. But it also means I don't want to miss an aide station. I think it's a fair risk. IF I don't miss any hand offs, then I can skip the last aide station and use that reserve bottle for the final 1 hour into town.
2) Hydration & nutrition - If it's warm at all, especially with the sun as it was yesterday (look at the temp plot on my ride file) I needed more water Probably almost 1 bottle more. I also needed at least 1 more gel to get over 300 cal/hr. I think 350 is a good target and getting almost 1/2 of those as semi-solid food works well. I think my GI issues are usually air in my stomach as much as anything, or just pushing the pace and stressing my system.
3) I run a pretty solid pace off the bike even if it feels slow. No leg cramping, so I have plenty of miles under me compared to how I did in the past.
Overall, with a solid taper, I'm feeling very confident that I'll have a good bike & run and I have a solid nutrition/hydration plan.
43 days left!!!
The workout...
2000y swim (WU+descending ladder increasing pace+CD)
5hr bike in training set-up, high zone 2 targeting 260-270TSS.
6-7mi run
Training Files:
Bike:
http://www.trainingpeaks.com/av/HSWCCCS3KVAJOCO4RCLY2VNWBY
Run:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/548865108
Bike started off with me losing my rear bottle 2 miles out. That brings me to learning moment #1 (see below). I'd now have to stop at a gas station to refill a bottle and I'd have a little less calories than planned. I did bring 1 extra gel, but I'm still 1000 calories short. NBD. I did eat 1/2 a PB sandwich after my swim and thought I rehydrated pretty well. My legs felt pretty good, I had to ease off to keep watts down. I did ride a little higher for the first leg as it's slightly uphill and had a cross headwind. I expected to ride easier later on. Things were fine for abotu 90 minutes, then my legs started to feel that 20mi run. It was the elephant in the room and it made its' presence known. I kept it around 75% but it wasn't easy anymore. I stopped to pee and refill my bottle in a small town. My legs were tight getting back on the bike. They felt better 3 miles later and I picked it back up again through some rolling hills. It's wasn't a simple out & back route, so I took a guess at the wind advantage I'd have and how much farther my out leg was compared to my return route and rode to around the 2:40 mark then made my turn. The wind was mostly at my back now and that was good since my legs were feeling pretty spent. 70% was taking some real effort. Got to about 30 miles out and knew I had the hilliest section of the ride to get through. But it's also the most scenic along the Mississippi river. The last 10 miles, my legs were spent. not really fatigued by the energy and power wasn't there. I'm actually thinking it was more nutrition and hydration that did it. Having training hard the previous 3 days, my glycogen stores were probably partially depleted and it showed. I wasn't bonked, but didn't have any snap like my last couple long rides where I went in and out of rough patches, but finished strong. Not this day.
I took a long T2. Drank a 12oz, cold, flat bottle of Coke. Then ate a Greek yogurt with honey and drank probably another 30 oz of water. After 30 minutes or so, off I went. Very stiff, but while I felt slow I was running pretty fast ad I could feel it in my breathing and HR, but I just felt slow. I think my hip flexors are fatigued, so I get the sense that my strides are shorter than they are. I kept having to slow myself down. This continued until I reached a steeper unhill and elected to walk it. I really just wanted the miles and to see how I felt. My right knee (yah..my right side for once instead of my left leg) was stiff too. Last thing i need is some tendinitis. It didn't affect my stride a lot, but made it harder to properly drive my leg, so I'm sure my run economy was low. HR HR was running about 10bpm high. Part fatigue, part normal HR drift and, probably part hydration. I walked up a few more hills the last 3 miles, but at the end, my average pace was still 7:38, so I apparently was running pretty fast the rest of the time. That makes me think that I can risk going out close to 7:10 pace for lap 1, and hold on for a 7:20-7:30 for lap 2 and finish under 3:15. SO go out in maybe a 1:32-1:33, and come back in 1:38.
What I learned:
1) HYDRATION SET-UP: I'm done with rear hydration. Given it was a 24oz bottle back there and the cage might not have been belt in be tight enough...but overall... it's just too risky, your always worried its' going to launch and for me, it's hard to reach if it's horizontal enough to be aero and hopefully not launch. Solution? Go back to my 70.3 set-up. Torpedo BTA + aerobottle on seat tube as the reserve bottle. Give or take 1 mile the aide station at IMWI are as follows:
13,18,28,38,53,61,72,81,94,99
http://www.ironman.com/~/media/17f07ceb0978436880ac078bab8337a9/wisconsin%20bike2014%20tbt.pdf
So the longest stretches are 15mi through the 3 sisters (slowest part of course) and the last 13-14 miles. So not a lot of risk there. That's puts the longest stretches around 40 minutes. But it also means I don't want to miss an aide station. I think it's a fair risk. IF I don't miss any hand offs, then I can skip the last aide station and use that reserve bottle for the final 1 hour into town.
2) Hydration & nutrition - If it's warm at all, especially with the sun as it was yesterday (look at the temp plot on my ride file) I needed more water Probably almost 1 bottle more. I also needed at least 1 more gel to get over 300 cal/hr. I think 350 is a good target and getting almost 1/2 of those as semi-solid food works well. I think my GI issues are usually air in my stomach as much as anything, or just pushing the pace and stressing my system.
3) I run a pretty solid pace off the bike even if it feels slow. No leg cramping, so I have plenty of miles under me compared to how I did in the past.
Overall, with a solid taper, I'm feeling very confident that I'll have a good bike & run and I have a solid nutrition/hydration plan.
43 days left!!!
Monday, July 21, 2014
Weekly Wrap-up 07-20-14
A quick note to Racine 70.3. I missed a really great race out there. The 35-39 field was stacked. I would have been battling hard for 4-6 place I imagine. I few noteables were Iott who I can only assume trained through the race and just behind him was former pro Justin Henkel. While not the monster he was 5 years ago. He's a real force on the bike and solid run threat. He's on the participant list at IMWI. So he'll be one to watch.
Nothing too amazing to report. This was just a scheduled recovery week. Went pretty well. Running legs felt really good. Cycling feels a little less sharp. I did get in some really solid swims and I think my swim form is very slowly coming back after being a bit derailed starting in April & May. I did perform a power Test and a Tempo TT run test sat. I probably would have done better Sunday, but not bad overall. It tested out at 302W. I might have gone out just a little hard, but my legs didn't feel as strong as when I tested at 305W. That's sounds like a small difference, but 1% is 1%. Either way, I held steady, which is good since my previous training phase was mostly just zone 2 & 3 with little work that would have raised my FTP. For IM training, my goal is aerobic fitness and building energy systems and just getting solid mileage in. My FTP is plenty high enough.
Nothing too amazing to report. This was just a scheduled recovery week. Went pretty well. Running legs felt really good. Cycling feels a little less sharp. I did get in some really solid swims and I think my swim form is very slowly coming back after being a bit derailed starting in April & May. I did perform a power Test and a Tempo TT run test sat. I probably would have done better Sunday, but not bad overall. It tested out at 302W. I might have gone out just a little hard, but my legs didn't feel as strong as when I tested at 305W. That's sounds like a small difference, but 1% is 1%. Either way, I held steady, which is good since my previous training phase was mostly just zone 2 & 3 with little work that would have raised my FTP. For IM training, my goal is aerobic fitness and building energy systems and just getting solid mileage in. My FTP is plenty high enough.
So a final 2 week build, a race week, a recovery week, 2 taper weeks and then the Race. Just 7 weeks left to IMWI!!!
This week has a 20 mi run Tuesday early morning then a "BIG DAY" on Thursday with a short 1800-2000yd swim, then 5 hour bike and 6mi brick run. I don't do a lot of bricks, but I haven't run off a long bike yet this year.
Steelhead Overview & Goals:
I'm looking forward to this race. I think it will be a fun swim, and the first relatively flat bike course I've raced since Hyvee last year.
Goal #1: Having a solid swim. Good sighting, relaxed, strong, solid time. Hopefully I'll be able to get a hold of a new full sleeve wetsuit for that race.
Goal #2: Bike <2:15. I'm even willing to risk blowing up a little on the run. I think I need to push my limits a little here and see how my legs respond. IT might be a good move tactically to be a little further ahead of my rivals off the bike.
Goal #3: Over-inflate tires on Sat. and don't touch them on Sunday. Try and figure out within 1-2 PSI what pressure I need to use ... ie determine the air loss rate curve.
Goal #4: Have fun. Enjoy the competition and racing the fast guys. There's only so many of these races left for me. Maybe 4-5 more.
Goal #5: Make it easier for my family and keep them involved and appreciated. It's not an "A" race. I don't need to be all wound up that morning.
By the Numbers:
Swim: 3h03m, 13,100y
Bike: 5h22m, 112mi
Run: 4h10m, 33.5mi
Total: 13h36m
TSS: 877
CTL: 154.6
TSB: 24.9
Overall looking back at the last 6 months, other that Achilles injury, which is now just a blip on the radar, my consistency has been really, really good.
Here's my numbers since I started my Training plan on 12/02/13, 33 weeks ago (weekly ave. in parentheses):
Swim: 106h43m, 442,000y (3.23hr/13,393y)
Bike: 260h15m, 5,367mi (7.88hr/162.6mi)
Run: 141h02m, 1136mi (4.28hr/34.4mi)
That means I only have about 18% of my training remaining. Still a lot when I look at it that way. Its' nearly 2 months. But I know it will fly by and IMWI will be here soon.
Saturday, July 19, 2014
IMWI - "Object in Rear View Mirror May Be Closer Than They Appear"
I guess it's as good a time as any to start a countdown...49 days, 21 hours.... That's 1 day from 7 weeks. I listened to a podcast from Iott & Zucco from their archives about IMWI. Some interesting info. Most I was aware of or gleaned from Daniel Bretscher on my course pre-ride.
Most noteable info:
1) Swim start - get in before 6:30...and just realize you'll be treading for 30 minutes. Plan pre-race nutrition accordingly I suppose. Though I found that Kansas it was a non-issue and I probably did better with a totally empty stomach. Plenty of time to feed on the bike. Line up past the ski jump if you plan to swim a faster time and don't mind a little congestion. I tend to fall into that camp I think. I want a good draft and clear sighting early on. "banking" 1-2 minutes on the swim by going 59:00 instead of lets say 1:03... would make the rest of the race easier.
2) Swim pacing - don't go out too hard. IF you start at or near the front line congestion shouldn't be an issue anyway. I do tend to go out hard and really fall flat near the end. I think I should go out "smooth" and strong, but maybe with quicker turnover starting out. Something to practice. I just need to realize that like most of my triathlons, I'd be near the front, clear and mostly alone pretty early on. In the tough choppy water last year, a 1:01 minus the pros was about 55th out of the water. So not very congested even at that point really. I think trying to be in the top 60 amateur out of the water is a descent goal. That's 50 spread over about 7 minutes roughly. So about a person every 8-10 seconds. I should expect to see groups of 2-4 every 20-30 seconds or so I think. The biggest gap you'll bridge is probably 25 yards, realistically... or about 15 seconds.
3) Bike Pacing - not much to say about this, just restating the obvious... that you should go out easy, and if paced right, other than just general "exposure" you should feel pretty good at mile 90 as you head to the 3 sisters for the 2nd time and still feel solid going into Verona at the last aide station.
4) Run pacing - You will go out too fast. Kansas showed that for me. A little fast, isn't a bad thing. I think I held on well. We'll see how I feel on my long run this week. I'll have fairly fresh legs, so I might go ahead and give the "lower end" on my IM pace a try. Maybe try and roll a 7:15-7:20 on flats.
So I crunched some numbers from where I'm at, at this point. Steelhead will be a clear indicator. Geode told me that I do fairly well at a "B" race on limited rest. I think a "perfect race"... one where I just kill every leg, is probably about 9:22. A worst case scenario has me in around 9:54. I ultimately just have to go out there and stick to my plan and the numbers fall where they are. I'd love to be really "racing" it, but its' a long day and I'll have to just stick to my race and focus on my getting to the line in the top 4. I guess in the back of my mind, I'm selling myself short is I'm not on the podium...or even racing Iott for the win... as right now, he's the known leader.
SO here's how I like to visualize my race unfolding...
I might do the 3:30 AM pre-breakfast. Then a 4:15AM wake up to get things rolling and get my GI awake and doing it's "business" probably two times. I have a normal breakfast and start on my first bottle of perform from there. I roll out just before 5AM, park and get to transition by 5:30. Get everything sorted and find a toilet for one last pit stop. Find my wife around 6AM. Finish my sports drink, have a gel and then head to the water around 6:15-6:20. Work my way out there and tread water for 30 minutes. Try and relax and enjoy the moment, the scene, soak it in. It could be the only time I'll do this race... and could be my only IM if things go really south during the day.
Gun goes off. I go out strong, but not too hard. Let the fast guys go and try and settle in early. Sight well and marvel at what's going on. Remember, that I'm a fast, strong swimmer. I've put in the training and while I've never swam over 3000 straight... it's still not an issue, it will go by fast. Just get to the next marker, find some feet. It's just me and 200 or so of my "closest friends" immediately around me out for a swim in the lake. I fight for a line through the 1st turn, sight to the 2nd turn and find feet again. Round that turn and things start the clear out from here. Just find a rhythm and cruise the back stretch. Swim straight check out the scene. Reach the next turn and realize I'm almost there. Take rough inventory of my position. Should be the leader reaching the beach. I should be maybe the the 10th or so "group" out there.
Hit the beach and get "stripped". And head up the helix. Watch my pace and enjoy the crowds, look for my wife and friends. Find my bag, go to the next room and dump it. Put on my glasses and helmet, Stuff my wetsuit in there, grab my shoes and head off. Get to the roof, find my bike and head off. At the line, into my shoes, strap them real quick and mount, clip one in pedal, 2nd in and roll. Time to relax a bit down the helix and bike path.
Onto the main road after the bike path..."neutral zone". Quickly settle into a steady 215-220 watts and no more. 250 up and rises. No hard accelerations out of corners, just relax. Get aero and start reeling in some fish.... terrible pun, but so true. I should catch a few of the younger guys early on with road bikes and less than aero set-ups. I hopefully shouldn't see Brunold or another "uber biker" until maybe Mt Horeb. Since I'm no slouch on the bike myself. I'll have to wonder where Iott is at this point. I'll have to mentally "mark" his bike location in transition still there or is he up the road. We should be within 1-2 minutes.
Once 2-3 miles out town I can start to take some sips of water and a gel and start my fueling plan so long as I've burped a few times, stomach feels good. Otherwise just small sips and ride maybe a little easy and "lean" on my aero. Listening to Zucco & Iotts podcast, they were at about 280W to my 255W. So I'm running a fair bit more aero that Scott... or so I think. I'm a little shorter and smaller athlete. This bike course should suit me very well. I would not want to play football against either of them. Easy on those early climbs, staying under threshold. Find a nice rhythm on the highway and the section leading to Mt. Horeb. I actually thought this was my favorite stretch overall. I'll probably pass up the 1st 2 aide stations and wait to Mt Horeb unless I've lost a bottle. That still can get me to the next station on my original 2 bottles if needed (40 mi). Eat a 2nd get around 40 minutes. I should finish my first bottle around 50 miles in and can toss my reserve at the 2nd aide station. Keep to my plan the 1st loop and see how I feel. Eat a waffle just past 1 hour and another gel and the end of hour 2. Waffle middle of hour 3 and gel just past hour 4 mark. Eat my last gel and start my 5th bottle around 4:30ish as I head back on the stick. I should be able to ditch my last bottle at the final aide station and be part way through my 6th bottle....unless cool, then 5 bottles but consider a 6th gel if my stomach feel hungry. No more eating after 4:40.... last 30 minutes. Just liquid. I should feel good the last time of the the 3 sisters and heading into Verona for the stick. Enjoy the crowds one last time and ride steady on the stick. If I feel good I might up my watts just a little to the edge of tempo and ride into my opponents...banking time for the run. Ride strong into T2. Find my legs running into T2. Unbuckle my helmet, find my bag, into next room, dump bag, glasses off, helmet off, shoes on, visor on, and I'm off. If stomach feels good, grab 1/2 a banana. 3 gels are on my running belt. One for each hour. Then it's just sports drink, water (for thirst) and coke from there.
Heading out of T2, start my GPS and hit start when outside. It should go off the foot pod for a moment until it finds satellites. HR under 150 (should be a bit elevated), cadence under 92 (indicate not going too fast), pace over 6:55. but settle down to 7:00-7:15 ish...should feel horribly slow. Keep leg drive going, get relaxed, enjoy the crowds. If I'm doing well, I should be up to the top 30 overall (including pros) by this point. Top 10 amateur. Hopefully I have a solid 5-7 minutes on Iott. 10' even better. Going out fast might work well. I'll force him push for a 3:00 flat run split to catch me by targeting a 3:10 pace myself. Keep drinking, staying relaxed and push through the miles. Eat a gel every 45 minutes or so. Stay relaxed and keep the cadence up. Go easy up the hills, watch HR there. Find a good rythym and feed off the crowd. Legs should stay "feeling it" by mile 16 or so. Keep rolling. Mile 18, just 8 miles left. Mile 20, just 10k...push on like the last 1/2 of a 70.3. Pace could slow to 7:30-7:45, that's OK and expected. Keep the legs turning. At 23mi... get the arenaline pumping.... almost there. Time to hit the Coke and see what my legs have left. Get back to a 7:30 if I can. 2.5....2...1.5...can feel it over the lst small hill..... 1mi to go. Check my place.... roll the downhill...feel the energy. 3/4, 1/2mi.... take a deep breath, realize that all the training paid off, I'm there.... last 1/4 mile towards the like I can "feel" the finish like. Ease up and really enjoy the finish chute. High 5's all around, find my family... if I can.... fist pumps ... I did it! If things go well I crushed it... sub 1hr swim, 5:02 bike, 3:10 run.... roll across at 9:19!!!.. 1st in 35-39! . ok..maybe a stretch but it would be awesome. I have a feeling I'll really pay for last of bike mileage over the last 3 years.... on the run. But hey, a 3:20 run and a 2:29 isn't bad either, but probably won't win the age group.
On that note...
Thinking about my long run next week. I think I might run 2 loops so I don't have to carry a bottle very far. So leave 1 bottle at my house then carry 3/4 of a bottle to about the 2.5 mile mark. Then maybe a mini bottle of flat coke to mile 4. So I'd have Perform@ 2.5, Coke @ 4, C@6, P@7.5, P@10, P @ 11 (carry it 1 mile), P@12.5 (carry 0.5 mi), C@14(runs out?), P@16 (carry 1mi), P@17, P@19...finish. SO 11 "aide stations". Not bad. I think I'd carry 1 gel to eat as well. So that would be 44oz (18+18+8), about 192 calories per hour.
Most noteable info:
1) Swim start - get in before 6:30...and just realize you'll be treading for 30 minutes. Plan pre-race nutrition accordingly I suppose. Though I found that Kansas it was a non-issue and I probably did better with a totally empty stomach. Plenty of time to feed on the bike. Line up past the ski jump if you plan to swim a faster time and don't mind a little congestion. I tend to fall into that camp I think. I want a good draft and clear sighting early on. "banking" 1-2 minutes on the swim by going 59:00 instead of lets say 1:03... would make the rest of the race easier.
2) Swim pacing - don't go out too hard. IF you start at or near the front line congestion shouldn't be an issue anyway. I do tend to go out hard and really fall flat near the end. I think I should go out "smooth" and strong, but maybe with quicker turnover starting out. Something to practice. I just need to realize that like most of my triathlons, I'd be near the front, clear and mostly alone pretty early on. In the tough choppy water last year, a 1:01 minus the pros was about 55th out of the water. So not very congested even at that point really. I think trying to be in the top 60 amateur out of the water is a descent goal. That's 50 spread over about 7 minutes roughly. So about a person every 8-10 seconds. I should expect to see groups of 2-4 every 20-30 seconds or so I think. The biggest gap you'll bridge is probably 25 yards, realistically... or about 15 seconds.
3) Bike Pacing - not much to say about this, just restating the obvious... that you should go out easy, and if paced right, other than just general "exposure" you should feel pretty good at mile 90 as you head to the 3 sisters for the 2nd time and still feel solid going into Verona at the last aide station.
4) Run pacing - You will go out too fast. Kansas showed that for me. A little fast, isn't a bad thing. I think I held on well. We'll see how I feel on my long run this week. I'll have fairly fresh legs, so I might go ahead and give the "lower end" on my IM pace a try. Maybe try and roll a 7:15-7:20 on flats.
So I crunched some numbers from where I'm at, at this point. Steelhead will be a clear indicator. Geode told me that I do fairly well at a "B" race on limited rest. I think a "perfect race"... one where I just kill every leg, is probably about 9:22. A worst case scenario has me in around 9:54. I ultimately just have to go out there and stick to my plan and the numbers fall where they are. I'd love to be really "racing" it, but its' a long day and I'll have to just stick to my race and focus on my getting to the line in the top 4. I guess in the back of my mind, I'm selling myself short is I'm not on the podium...or even racing Iott for the win... as right now, he's the known leader.
SO here's how I like to visualize my race unfolding...
I might do the 3:30 AM pre-breakfast. Then a 4:15AM wake up to get things rolling and get my GI awake and doing it's "business" probably two times. I have a normal breakfast and start on my first bottle of perform from there. I roll out just before 5AM, park and get to transition by 5:30. Get everything sorted and find a toilet for one last pit stop. Find my wife around 6AM. Finish my sports drink, have a gel and then head to the water around 6:15-6:20. Work my way out there and tread water for 30 minutes. Try and relax and enjoy the moment, the scene, soak it in. It could be the only time I'll do this race... and could be my only IM if things go really south during the day.
Gun goes off. I go out strong, but not too hard. Let the fast guys go and try and settle in early. Sight well and marvel at what's going on. Remember, that I'm a fast, strong swimmer. I've put in the training and while I've never swam over 3000 straight... it's still not an issue, it will go by fast. Just get to the next marker, find some feet. It's just me and 200 or so of my "closest friends" immediately around me out for a swim in the lake. I fight for a line through the 1st turn, sight to the 2nd turn and find feet again. Round that turn and things start the clear out from here. Just find a rhythm and cruise the back stretch. Swim straight check out the scene. Reach the next turn and realize I'm almost there. Take rough inventory of my position. Should be the leader reaching the beach. I should be maybe the the 10th or so "group" out there.
Hit the beach and get "stripped". And head up the helix. Watch my pace and enjoy the crowds, look for my wife and friends. Find my bag, go to the next room and dump it. Put on my glasses and helmet, Stuff my wetsuit in there, grab my shoes and head off. Get to the roof, find my bike and head off. At the line, into my shoes, strap them real quick and mount, clip one in pedal, 2nd in and roll. Time to relax a bit down the helix and bike path.
Onto the main road after the bike path..."neutral zone". Quickly settle into a steady 215-220 watts and no more. 250 up and rises. No hard accelerations out of corners, just relax. Get aero and start reeling in some fish.... terrible pun, but so true. I should catch a few of the younger guys early on with road bikes and less than aero set-ups. I hopefully shouldn't see Brunold or another "uber biker" until maybe Mt Horeb. Since I'm no slouch on the bike myself. I'll have to wonder where Iott is at this point. I'll have to mentally "mark" his bike location in transition still there or is he up the road. We should be within 1-2 minutes.
Once 2-3 miles out town I can start to take some sips of water and a gel and start my fueling plan so long as I've burped a few times, stomach feels good. Otherwise just small sips and ride maybe a little easy and "lean" on my aero. Listening to Zucco & Iotts podcast, they were at about 280W to my 255W. So I'm running a fair bit more aero that Scott... or so I think. I'm a little shorter and smaller athlete. This bike course should suit me very well. I would not want to play football against either of them. Easy on those early climbs, staying under threshold. Find a nice rhythm on the highway and the section leading to Mt. Horeb. I actually thought this was my favorite stretch overall. I'll probably pass up the 1st 2 aide stations and wait to Mt Horeb unless I've lost a bottle. That still can get me to the next station on my original 2 bottles if needed (40 mi). Eat a 2nd get around 40 minutes. I should finish my first bottle around 50 miles in and can toss my reserve at the 2nd aide station. Keep to my plan the 1st loop and see how I feel. Eat a waffle just past 1 hour and another gel and the end of hour 2. Waffle middle of hour 3 and gel just past hour 4 mark. Eat my last gel and start my 5th bottle around 4:30ish as I head back on the stick. I should be able to ditch my last bottle at the final aide station and be part way through my 6th bottle....unless cool, then 5 bottles but consider a 6th gel if my stomach feel hungry. No more eating after 4:40.... last 30 minutes. Just liquid. I should feel good the last time of the the 3 sisters and heading into Verona for the stick. Enjoy the crowds one last time and ride steady on the stick. If I feel good I might up my watts just a little to the edge of tempo and ride into my opponents...banking time for the run. Ride strong into T2. Find my legs running into T2. Unbuckle my helmet, find my bag, into next room, dump bag, glasses off, helmet off, shoes on, visor on, and I'm off. If stomach feels good, grab 1/2 a banana. 3 gels are on my running belt. One for each hour. Then it's just sports drink, water (for thirst) and coke from there.
Heading out of T2, start my GPS and hit start when outside. It should go off the foot pod for a moment until it finds satellites. HR under 150 (should be a bit elevated), cadence under 92 (indicate not going too fast), pace over 6:55. but settle down to 7:00-7:15 ish...should feel horribly slow. Keep leg drive going, get relaxed, enjoy the crowds. If I'm doing well, I should be up to the top 30 overall (including pros) by this point. Top 10 amateur. Hopefully I have a solid 5-7 minutes on Iott. 10' even better. Going out fast might work well. I'll force him push for a 3:00 flat run split to catch me by targeting a 3:10 pace myself. Keep drinking, staying relaxed and push through the miles. Eat a gel every 45 minutes or so. Stay relaxed and keep the cadence up. Go easy up the hills, watch HR there. Find a good rythym and feed off the crowd. Legs should stay "feeling it" by mile 16 or so. Keep rolling. Mile 18, just 8 miles left. Mile 20, just 10k...push on like the last 1/2 of a 70.3. Pace could slow to 7:30-7:45, that's OK and expected. Keep the legs turning. At 23mi... get the arenaline pumping.... almost there. Time to hit the Coke and see what my legs have left. Get back to a 7:30 if I can. 2.5....2...1.5...can feel it over the lst small hill..... 1mi to go. Check my place.... roll the downhill...feel the energy. 3/4, 1/2mi.... take a deep breath, realize that all the training paid off, I'm there.... last 1/4 mile towards the like I can "feel" the finish like. Ease up and really enjoy the finish chute. High 5's all around, find my family... if I can.... fist pumps ... I did it! If things go well I crushed it... sub 1hr swim, 5:02 bike, 3:10 run.... roll across at 9:19!!!.. 1st in 35-39! . ok..maybe a stretch but it would be awesome. I have a feeling I'll really pay for last of bike mileage over the last 3 years.... on the run. But hey, a 3:20 run and a 2:29 isn't bad either, but probably won't win the age group.
On that note...
Thinking about my long run next week. I think I might run 2 loops so I don't have to carry a bottle very far. So leave 1 bottle at my house then carry 3/4 of a bottle to about the 2.5 mile mark. Then maybe a mini bottle of flat coke to mile 4. So I'd have Perform@ 2.5, Coke @ 4, C@6, P@7.5, P@10, P @ 11 (carry it 1 mile), P@12.5 (carry 0.5 mi), C@14(runs out?), P@16 (carry 1mi), P@17, P@19...finish. SO 11 "aide stations". Not bad. I think I'd carry 1 gel to eat as well. So that would be 44oz (18+18+8), about 192 calories per hour.
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Reviewing Progress on Season Goals
Looking back I had 1 primary goal for the season, plus a bunch of secondary goals. I thought I'd do a quick look back and see how I've done so far. I rate them as either A) On Track to Meet or A2) on track to exceed! B) Meet C) Exceed D) Re-evaluate
1) Qualify for 2015 Ironman World Championships - On track! ... to potentially kill this race on my first attempt. At this point, I'll be a little disappointed if I don't go under 9:40 and finish top 3. in 35-39.
2) Race IM Kansas & Steelhead - Go under 4:15. Exceed! Well I killed that one too wit ha 4:12 at Kansas. Exceeded my expectation and as I mentioned before by having my best taper and race execution ever. I mean ever. I'm thinking all the way back to high school and I've never killed it like that.
3) 70.3 bike split <2:15. On Track! Obviously this wasn't likely at hilly Kansas. But Steelhead is a good opportunity even though I won't be as rested. I think if I can hit the same watts as Kansas, I'll be around 2:13. As a note:.... Iott rode 2:12 last year and ran 1:20 off it. Very clear that he gets stronger as the season goes on. I actually need to hope for rough water to give me a shot at having a good 1 minute gap out of T1. Even that might not be enough. The long run in transition will help me a little too.
4) Olympic under 2:00. I fell short of this, and I won't be doing Hyvee. I think i could have broekn 2 hours there even with the long transitions. But a 2:03 at Geode in the hot conditions and hilly course, says that sub 2 on a flat course in cooler weather wouldn't be a problem. So this once may have to wait until next year. We'll put this as Re-evaluate.
5) Swim 40x100@1:30. FAIL! I was on track back in March, but my swimming stalled. However like my cycling, while my short distance speed isn't that good, I can still hold a solid pace for 1500M, 1.2 and I believe will do well at 2.4mi. I have the yards in.
6) Run 3hrs @ 7:20. Re-evaluate. I've changed my training and this isn't a goal...at all. I'd like to do 2-1/2 hours under 7:30 comfortably. That will be my long run next week. This was a realistic goal before my injury and as I had been progressing at that time.
7) Score over 100 in a Race - Exceed! 101.6 at Geode. Again, it was a hard course and hard conditions.
8) Raise FTP by 5% - Meet. I went from about 290 to 305 in the early season. I've roughly held there since then, but I really haven't bothered testing it since May. I might test it this weekend. But honestly, I'm not optimistic that I can hold over 320 for a 20 minute test. Especially since I haven't been on the trainer much. But might be worth trying.
Other Updates ---- AS I alluded to above... guess who is on the bib list for Steelhead? Yup, Scott Iott. Obviously just a coincidence, and he tends to race all the midwest events in most seasons. Especially a KQ year. I think he, like some others, may do an on/off strategy, and race more in KQ years and race less or more smaller events in Kona years and of course start the season later. This year he's clearly gunning to win the age group and I'd place him as the clear favorite looking at participant list for IMWI. It will be fun to race him again. He's also doing Racine as well. It looks like he had a great race at Steelhead last year.
1) Qualify for 2015 Ironman World Championships - On track! ... to potentially kill this race on my first attempt. At this point, I'll be a little disappointed if I don't go under 9:40 and finish top 3. in 35-39.
2) Race IM Kansas & Steelhead - Go under 4:15. Exceed! Well I killed that one too wit ha 4:12 at Kansas. Exceeded my expectation and as I mentioned before by having my best taper and race execution ever. I mean ever. I'm thinking all the way back to high school and I've never killed it like that.
3) 70.3 bike split <2:15. On Track! Obviously this wasn't likely at hilly Kansas. But Steelhead is a good opportunity even though I won't be as rested. I think if I can hit the same watts as Kansas, I'll be around 2:13. As a note:.... Iott rode 2:12 last year and ran 1:20 off it. Very clear that he gets stronger as the season goes on. I actually need to hope for rough water to give me a shot at having a good 1 minute gap out of T1. Even that might not be enough. The long run in transition will help me a little too.
4) Olympic under 2:00. I fell short of this, and I won't be doing Hyvee. I think i could have broekn 2 hours there even with the long transitions. But a 2:03 at Geode in the hot conditions and hilly course, says that sub 2 on a flat course in cooler weather wouldn't be a problem. So this once may have to wait until next year. We'll put this as Re-evaluate.
5) Swim 40x100@1:30. FAIL! I was on track back in March, but my swimming stalled. However like my cycling, while my short distance speed isn't that good, I can still hold a solid pace for 1500M, 1.2 and I believe will do well at 2.4mi. I have the yards in.
6) Run 3hrs @ 7:20. Re-evaluate. I've changed my training and this isn't a goal...at all. I'd like to do 2-1/2 hours under 7:30 comfortably. That will be my long run next week. This was a realistic goal before my injury and as I had been progressing at that time.
7) Score over 100 in a Race - Exceed! 101.6 at Geode. Again, it was a hard course and hard conditions.
8) Raise FTP by 5% - Meet. I went from about 290 to 305 in the early season. I've roughly held there since then, but I really haven't bothered testing it since May. I might test it this weekend. But honestly, I'm not optimistic that I can hold over 320 for a 20 minute test. Especially since I haven't been on the trainer much. But might be worth trying.
Other Updates ---- AS I alluded to above... guess who is on the bib list for Steelhead? Yup, Scott Iott. Obviously just a coincidence, and he tends to race all the midwest events in most seasons. Especially a KQ year. I think he, like some others, may do an on/off strategy, and race more in KQ years and race less or more smaller events in Kona years and of course start the season later. This year he's clearly gunning to win the age group and I'd place him as the clear favorite looking at participant list for IMWI. It will be fun to race him again. He's also doing Racine as well. It looks like he had a great race at Steelhead last year.
Monday, July 14, 2014
Lake Geode Challenge Race Report 07/12/14
I'll go ahead and throw the weekly wrap-up and race report together, since being a "B" race, the weeks training was focused on recovery before the race.
I was definitely ready for a break after that brutal training week and a solid 4 weeks training block following Kansas. I probably should have taken more time off after Kansas, but I'll make up for it with 2 weeks of mostly lighter workouts.
Lets' get to it! WARNING >>>>SUPER LONG!!!!
Lake Geode Challenge 2014 -
Pre-race
Go up around 4:30AM. My usually morning routine as though I was training. I had my biek and everything packed the day before. the challenge was getting the family out of the house, but they did great and 5:15 I scooped my daughter out of bed and plopped her in the car and we were off. Transition closes as 7:05 and I like to have a solid 60 minutes to set-up relax, warm-up a little and make sure I didn't miss anything. If there's an issues, I proved at Kansas that you can set-up 2 transitions in about 25 minutes if needed using the bike as transportation between Parking, T1 & T2. It was really humid, so about 1/2 mile jog...or less and I was sweating good. Enough to warm the muscles to stretch them out and get rid of some nervous energy. I kept hydrated with sports drink and ate 1 gel before pre-race meeting. Then gave the family a hug and headed to the water.
Swim:
This lake is known to be warm and very green and murky. I thought it was the best conditions I've seen. 79F, 3-4F cooler than usually and nearly wetsuit legal. That's 3F cooler than I train in and it felt amazing.
They counted us down and off we went to the horn. I went out strong to get clear and found myself along side and just behind a couple fish. I made a solid effort to stay on their feet, and in hindsight should have just kept pushing as going a little harder would have paid off with the draft even if I still got dropped 500y later. Once I fade, I tend to hold at the same steady pace from there either way. I'll remember this for Steelhead and IMWI.
Otherwise I swam completely solo. leaders were well out front and I didn't sense anyone behind or beside me. I was all alone. I focused on sighting more frequently and switch to breathing on my left every 10 or 12 strokes. I PTL when breathing to the right and PTR...even more... when breathing left. Overall I stayed on course really well and felt strong, relaxed and some arm fatigue (from lack of quality swims I think) was the only thing holding me back. I felt really good. I hugged the buoys better than I even have at thsi race on the return leg and pushed a little the last couple hundred yards. I was out of the water in 4th...my best place ever exiting and shot up the hill to T1. TIME: 23:16 (a 1500M PR by ~30 seconds)
I took my time a little to stay relaxed and was a few seconds slower this year than last. But still had a solid transition time. (2nd place finisher Jeff Paul, showed his experience here and shaved 5 or 6 seconds off my in transitions).
Bike :
A hit my flying mount at the line and got 1 foot partly in but pedaled too soon and my 2nd foot didn't find the shoe. I fumbled for a moment, but got going from there and was up to speed faster than last year and into my shoes well before the first climb out of the beach area.
I held my watts around 350 on the first climb. In past year I would have been redlined over 400W I think (no power meter last year) I was breathing hard, but controlled. I pushed over the top, got up to speed and buckled my shoes. I took it easy on the first downhill corner, probably the hardest of the race because the the surface seems more unpredictable. Then up a 2nd climb and onto a flatter section of the course. We'd have a cross headwind the 1st 1/2 of the race in open exposed fields. The 2nd half would be more sheltered, so already I knew that a course record probably wasn't likely. I also found that holding over 270W was pretty hard, not like Kansas, so my legs just weren't going to be there to ride 285W NP. Plus, with the humidity, realistically my power was probably down 5-10 Watts anyway. But either way, it was still good to go for it into the wind and early on to open a gap. I didn't know how far back Jeff Paul was, but if I could stay at least 30 seconds up the road, I'd mostly be out of sight.
I caught one "Fish" pretty early on, and saw the next 2 and the police escort maybe 1/2 mile up the road. They all had road bikes with clip-ons, and really were riding a solid pace considering. Probably not too far below my wattage. Equipment and position can make such a huge difference. I suspect that my average power last year was almost the same and possibly higher. I was more rested last year, but I'm more fit this year and I think latex tubes and a slightly more refined position gave me 1/2 my improvement. I passed 2nd on the long climb before the turn West. I almost felt a little bad. I sailed past him going at least 5mph faster. I quickly caught the leader before the turn West and the race form there was over was over. It was mine to lose. I tried to hold at least a steady SST level. This is a wonderful piece of road with only a few rolling hills, but perfect pavement. It was slowed by the cross headwind, but if still mentally made you want to push.... but the legs just weren't there for big numbers and nobody to chase like last year (It's amazing the impact of swimming just 30s faster).
I made the turn South and that tail wind was like wings lifting my off the ground. I sailed past the aide station at about 32mph. Every year I wonder if they will tell them the leaders don't take hand-ups in a print race...but there they are being great helpful volunteers offering water. I stay close the the centerline to make it clear I'm rolling through. Great volunteers every year for this race!
Pretty uneventful from here. My strongest section was coming up with the down hill turn and 2nd longest climb followed by the last 6 miles of semi-technical turns and short steep rolling climbs. I hit my highest power numbers on the the hill just after the damn. I was determined not to use the small ring...and it took over 400W to accomplish that! Then the most fun turn of the course. A downhill sharp, but sweeping right (left on the return) with perfect pavement. When you nail it, you just rail around it. The volunteers are of course yelling at you to slow down... and probably freaked out there I'm still in the aerobars, intended to brake late and toss the bike in. Those few years of sportbikes on racetracks really pays off here. A 30-35mph turn like this is childs play on a motorcycle.
I carried just a single 24oz bottle and that worked pretty well. I did have swallow some air and had a some minor GI issues until I burped 1 mile from the finish. That was a huge relief. I finished my bottle from there. I looked I hit the last turn and still none meaning I had at least a 3:00 advantage. That was good since it was really heating up outside. The sun was shining too. I pulled out of my shoes and sailed down the final hill towards T2. Nice to coast for 30 seconds in the final stretch. I decided this year to throw my Garmin in my rar pocket and use it for run tracking. This worked OK. I think I won't bother next time. Seeing my time now, in hindsight I wish I would have pushed harder on the bike ...so,so close to the 1 hr mark. Just another goal for next season. Time: 1:00:24. A solid time with all of those hills and 4 turns you have to sit up and brake for. Power Numbers: 260W AP/ 271W NP 0.89VI (0.93 if FTP 5% corrected for heat???), 1.04VI... perfectly paced!
Run:
I nail the flying dismount, just barely in control... perfect.. rack the bike, but fumbled just a little with my right shoe. I didn't have foot powder as my daughter was playing with it and I grabbed a mostly empty container of baby powder instead. Oh well, stuff happens.
I headed out of T2 and with the heat picking up, elected to easy back a bit. Keep a good cadence and leg drive but keep the breathing controlled. With no competition in sight, and my legs not feeling it for a PR run split, it was conservation mode. Super easy up the hills, roll the downhills and just cruise at maybe 70.3 pace between. Overall the worked great. I didn't feel overheated, but it was certainly zapping the speed. My Athletic Induced Asthma was kicking in a bit as it has been for the lat few months when dew points are over about 60F. I hit the turn around and still didn't see anyone until at about 1 mile back. So I have 6-7 minutes. Time to cruise on home. The last 3 miles were still hard as always, as you pay a little for a solid bike split...no way around that. I kicked it a little for the last climb, no cramping (a first) just feeling the heat. Sailed the last downhill to the finish. RUN TIME: 39:07 (should have ran a little harder ot get into the 38's.) Final time 2:03:47. It's a PR...if only by 10 seconds, but I'll take it given the conditions. A well earned check and a nice confidence boost from a fast ride and great swim.
I'll post my weekly training numbers later in the week... and add my power file.
http://www.trainingpeaks.com/av/KITCM24SV632AXBNKV7EOHRLFM
Summary:
Overall great race for me. Faster than last year on the swim and bike. A solid run given the conditions. MY streak of good consistency continues. I just don't have really have bad races. Even if I'm not having a breakthrough race, I still pull out a solid effort. I saw that even at Pigman last year.
What I take away from the race, is a real boost of confidence in my swimming. At Kansas I felt I had a poor swim and poor effort overall. It's wasn't real slow, but I felt I was capable of more. Here's while I think I could have gone faster, I was relaxed, in control, sighted well and felt positive coming into T2. So while the swim isn't a strength, it's not an obstacle I was fearing before. I think a 59:xx swim is possible at IMWI, but I won't be upset with a 1:02 either. That won't end my day because this ride confirmed that I can put down solid split on a hilly course with with moderate power. I'll have to plug it into BBS and see what at 59' or 58' split would have needed in terms of power. Although, keep in mind that road surface is a lot better on this course.
Overall I'm excited more than I'm anxious about IMWI.
I was definitely ready for a break after that brutal training week and a solid 4 weeks training block following Kansas. I probably should have taken more time off after Kansas, but I'll make up for it with 2 weeks of mostly lighter workouts.
Lets' get to it! WARNING >>>>SUPER LONG!!!!
Lake Geode Challenge 2014 -
Pre-race
Go up around 4:30AM. My usually morning routine as though I was training. I had my biek and everything packed the day before. the challenge was getting the family out of the house, but they did great and 5:15 I scooped my daughter out of bed and plopped her in the car and we were off. Transition closes as 7:05 and I like to have a solid 60 minutes to set-up relax, warm-up a little and make sure I didn't miss anything. If there's an issues, I proved at Kansas that you can set-up 2 transitions in about 25 minutes if needed using the bike as transportation between Parking, T1 & T2. It was really humid, so about 1/2 mile jog...or less and I was sweating good. Enough to warm the muscles to stretch them out and get rid of some nervous energy. I kept hydrated with sports drink and ate 1 gel before pre-race meeting. Then gave the family a hug and headed to the water.
Swim:
This lake is known to be warm and very green and murky. I thought it was the best conditions I've seen. 79F, 3-4F cooler than usually and nearly wetsuit legal. That's 3F cooler than I train in and it felt amazing.
They counted us down and off we went to the horn. I went out strong to get clear and found myself along side and just behind a couple fish. I made a solid effort to stay on their feet, and in hindsight should have just kept pushing as going a little harder would have paid off with the draft even if I still got dropped 500y later. Once I fade, I tend to hold at the same steady pace from there either way. I'll remember this for Steelhead and IMWI.
Otherwise I swam completely solo. leaders were well out front and I didn't sense anyone behind or beside me. I was all alone. I focused on sighting more frequently and switch to breathing on my left every 10 or 12 strokes. I PTL when breathing to the right and PTR...even more... when breathing left. Overall I stayed on course really well and felt strong, relaxed and some arm fatigue (from lack of quality swims I think) was the only thing holding me back. I felt really good. I hugged the buoys better than I even have at thsi race on the return leg and pushed a little the last couple hundred yards. I was out of the water in 4th...my best place ever exiting and shot up the hill to T1. TIME: 23:16 (a 1500M PR by ~30 seconds)
I took my time a little to stay relaxed and was a few seconds slower this year than last. But still had a solid transition time. (2nd place finisher Jeff Paul, showed his experience here and shaved 5 or 6 seconds off my in transitions).
Bike :
A hit my flying mount at the line and got 1 foot partly in but pedaled too soon and my 2nd foot didn't find the shoe. I fumbled for a moment, but got going from there and was up to speed faster than last year and into my shoes well before the first climb out of the beach area.
I held my watts around 350 on the first climb. In past year I would have been redlined over 400W I think (no power meter last year) I was breathing hard, but controlled. I pushed over the top, got up to speed and buckled my shoes. I took it easy on the first downhill corner, probably the hardest of the race because the the surface seems more unpredictable. Then up a 2nd climb and onto a flatter section of the course. We'd have a cross headwind the 1st 1/2 of the race in open exposed fields. The 2nd half would be more sheltered, so already I knew that a course record probably wasn't likely. I also found that holding over 270W was pretty hard, not like Kansas, so my legs just weren't going to be there to ride 285W NP. Plus, with the humidity, realistically my power was probably down 5-10 Watts anyway. But either way, it was still good to go for it into the wind and early on to open a gap. I didn't know how far back Jeff Paul was, but if I could stay at least 30 seconds up the road, I'd mostly be out of sight.
I caught one "Fish" pretty early on, and saw the next 2 and the police escort maybe 1/2 mile up the road. They all had road bikes with clip-ons, and really were riding a solid pace considering. Probably not too far below my wattage. Equipment and position can make such a huge difference. I suspect that my average power last year was almost the same and possibly higher. I was more rested last year, but I'm more fit this year and I think latex tubes and a slightly more refined position gave me 1/2 my improvement. I passed 2nd on the long climb before the turn West. I almost felt a little bad. I sailed past him going at least 5mph faster. I quickly caught the leader before the turn West and the race form there was over was over. It was mine to lose. I tried to hold at least a steady SST level. This is a wonderful piece of road with only a few rolling hills, but perfect pavement. It was slowed by the cross headwind, but if still mentally made you want to push.... but the legs just weren't there for big numbers and nobody to chase like last year (It's amazing the impact of swimming just 30s faster).
I made the turn South and that tail wind was like wings lifting my off the ground. I sailed past the aide station at about 32mph. Every year I wonder if they will tell them the leaders don't take hand-ups in a print race...but there they are being great helpful volunteers offering water. I stay close the the centerline to make it clear I'm rolling through. Great volunteers every year for this race!
Pretty uneventful from here. My strongest section was coming up with the down hill turn and 2nd longest climb followed by the last 6 miles of semi-technical turns and short steep rolling climbs. I hit my highest power numbers on the the hill just after the damn. I was determined not to use the small ring...and it took over 400W to accomplish that! Then the most fun turn of the course. A downhill sharp, but sweeping right (left on the return) with perfect pavement. When you nail it, you just rail around it. The volunteers are of course yelling at you to slow down... and probably freaked out there I'm still in the aerobars, intended to brake late and toss the bike in. Those few years of sportbikes on racetracks really pays off here. A 30-35mph turn like this is childs play on a motorcycle.
I carried just a single 24oz bottle and that worked pretty well. I did have swallow some air and had a some minor GI issues until I burped 1 mile from the finish. That was a huge relief. I finished my bottle from there. I looked I hit the last turn and still none meaning I had at least a 3:00 advantage. That was good since it was really heating up outside. The sun was shining too. I pulled out of my shoes and sailed down the final hill towards T2. Nice to coast for 30 seconds in the final stretch. I decided this year to throw my Garmin in my rar pocket and use it for run tracking. This worked OK. I think I won't bother next time. Seeing my time now, in hindsight I wish I would have pushed harder on the bike ...so,so close to the 1 hr mark. Just another goal for next season. Time: 1:00:24. A solid time with all of those hills and 4 turns you have to sit up and brake for. Power Numbers: 260W AP/ 271W NP 0.89VI (0.93 if FTP 5% corrected for heat???), 1.04VI... perfectly paced!
Run:
I nail the flying dismount, just barely in control... perfect.. rack the bike, but fumbled just a little with my right shoe. I didn't have foot powder as my daughter was playing with it and I grabbed a mostly empty container of baby powder instead. Oh well, stuff happens.
I headed out of T2 and with the heat picking up, elected to easy back a bit. Keep a good cadence and leg drive but keep the breathing controlled. With no competition in sight, and my legs not feeling it for a PR run split, it was conservation mode. Super easy up the hills, roll the downhills and just cruise at maybe 70.3 pace between. Overall the worked great. I didn't feel overheated, but it was certainly zapping the speed. My Athletic Induced Asthma was kicking in a bit as it has been for the lat few months when dew points are over about 60F. I hit the turn around and still didn't see anyone until at about 1 mile back. So I have 6-7 minutes. Time to cruise on home. The last 3 miles were still hard as always, as you pay a little for a solid bike split...no way around that. I kicked it a little for the last climb, no cramping (a first) just feeling the heat. Sailed the last downhill to the finish. RUN TIME: 39:07 (should have ran a little harder ot get into the 38's.) Final time 2:03:47. It's a PR...if only by 10 seconds, but I'll take it given the conditions. A well earned check and a nice confidence boost from a fast ride and great swim.
I'll post my weekly training numbers later in the week... and add my power file.
http://www.trainingpeaks.com/av/KITCM24SV632AXBNKV7EOHRLFM
Summary:
Overall great race for me. Faster than last year on the swim and bike. A solid run given the conditions. MY streak of good consistency continues. I just don't have really have bad races. Even if I'm not having a breakthrough race, I still pull out a solid effort. I saw that even at Pigman last year.
What I take away from the race, is a real boost of confidence in my swimming. At Kansas I felt I had a poor swim and poor effort overall. It's wasn't real slow, but I felt I was capable of more. Here's while I think I could have gone faster, I was relaxed, in control, sighted well and felt positive coming into T2. So while the swim isn't a strength, it's not an obstacle I was fearing before. I think a 59:xx swim is possible at IMWI, but I won't be upset with a 1:02 either. That won't end my day because this ride confirmed that I can put down solid split on a hilly course with with moderate power. I'll have to plug it into BBS and see what at 59' or 58' split would have needed in terms of power. Although, keep in mind that road surface is a lot better on this course.
Overall I'm excited more than I'm anxious about IMWI.
Monday, July 7, 2014
Weekly Wrap-up 7/07/14
I survived Hell Week... barely. I think my wife barely survived it too. That makes me think i need to dial it back just a bit, be satisfied where I'm at in my overall fitness and try and reduce the number of workouts and free up a little more time overall.
Moving forward that mean just 1 more 100mi ride, and one 20 mi run. I'll do both the week after next since I'll have a free day off coming and I might take a 1/2 day as well for the long run as well and make my training a little more invisible that week.
In other news, Hyvee is off the table. I think it will be a distraction, a financial burden and ultimately not enough of a benefit to risk ratio. I think I'm just outside the prize money anyway the way I've been performing in shorter distances. It could have been fun, but also could have been a disappointment and lots of stress, which would work against me going into my big race. Maybe something to consider for next year.
Training Summary:
The week included a long run and 2 long rides with a mix of other runs a rides to round out the week. OF special note was my epic 4-1/2 hour ride to round out the week. My 68mi ride turned into a 92mile slog trying to avoid major highway in IL farm country. It was a real mental test more than anything. With hte sun, the humidity, and overall weekly load, I was pretty spent and still have 20 miles ahead of me. That turned into 26, as I rode 10 miles, never found a crossroad I was hoping for and only got 4 miles closer. Add to it a solid 15-20mph gusty wind. Did I mention the water crossing at 10 miles out? Oh, ya, well lets say that the good news is that the Stages power meter is waterproof to at least 12" as advertised, but freehubs are not. I rode the last 30 miles without a working freehub and could't stop pedaling.
My real challenge now is getting my swim form improved. My motivation to swim continues to be challenged. I'm going to just cut back a little, make sure I'm swimming with good form and go from there.
By the numbers:
Swim: 3h08m, 13,400y
Bike: 15h36m, 324mi
Run: 6h23m, 51mi
Total: 26h07m, 1490TSS
I bolded the most significant elements. This puts me at a new high of 165.8 for overall CTL. I'll maintain that for a few days, but I won't crest that again, even at the end of July. I'm the fittest I'll be, and maybe the fittest I'll ever be again in my lifetime...at least in terms of training load. I just don't see myself pushing this hard next year. I think I'll get my bike a little higher, and I'll train smarter overall, and might be a little faster just from accumulated fitness, but my training load probably will never peak again at this level. Its' a little sad, but at the same time and moment to celebrate my accomplishments and hard work.
So just 1 more long run, 1 more long bike and it's a very long downhill slide to Sept even from this point. Keep in mind, just maintaining where I'm at in terms of fitness still takes a lot of work.
This week is a partial taper headed into Lake Geode. This will be my only Olympic distance race this year, there some prize money on the line... and I certainly have some bills to pay... and I would still like to get a compact crank for IMWI. Since I'm a little spent, I'll probably dial things back and bit this week try and turn in a good performance.
Moving forward that mean just 1 more 100mi ride, and one 20 mi run. I'll do both the week after next since I'll have a free day off coming and I might take a 1/2 day as well for the long run as well and make my training a little more invisible that week.
In other news, Hyvee is off the table. I think it will be a distraction, a financial burden and ultimately not enough of a benefit to risk ratio. I think I'm just outside the prize money anyway the way I've been performing in shorter distances. It could have been fun, but also could have been a disappointment and lots of stress, which would work against me going into my big race. Maybe something to consider for next year.
Training Summary:
The week included a long run and 2 long rides with a mix of other runs a rides to round out the week. OF special note was my epic 4-1/2 hour ride to round out the week. My 68mi ride turned into a 92mile slog trying to avoid major highway in IL farm country. It was a real mental test more than anything. With hte sun, the humidity, and overall weekly load, I was pretty spent and still have 20 miles ahead of me. That turned into 26, as I rode 10 miles, never found a crossroad I was hoping for and only got 4 miles closer. Add to it a solid 15-20mph gusty wind. Did I mention the water crossing at 10 miles out? Oh, ya, well lets say that the good news is that the Stages power meter is waterproof to at least 12" as advertised, but freehubs are not. I rode the last 30 miles without a working freehub and could't stop pedaling.
My real challenge now is getting my swim form improved. My motivation to swim continues to be challenged. I'm going to just cut back a little, make sure I'm swimming with good form and go from there.
By the numbers:
Swim: 3h08m, 13,400y
Bike: 15h36m, 324mi
Run: 6h23m, 51mi
Total: 26h07m, 1490TSS
I bolded the most significant elements. This puts me at a new high of 165.8 for overall CTL. I'll maintain that for a few days, but I won't crest that again, even at the end of July. I'm the fittest I'll be, and maybe the fittest I'll ever be again in my lifetime...at least in terms of training load. I just don't see myself pushing this hard next year. I think I'll get my bike a little higher, and I'll train smarter overall, and might be a little faster just from accumulated fitness, but my training load probably will never peak again at this level. Its' a little sad, but at the same time and moment to celebrate my accomplishments and hard work.
So just 1 more long run, 1 more long bike and it's a very long downhill slide to Sept even from this point. Keep in mind, just maintaining where I'm at in terms of fitness still takes a lot of work.
This week is a partial taper headed into Lake Geode. This will be my only Olympic distance race this year, there some prize money on the line... and I certainly have some bills to pay... and I would still like to get a compact crank for IMWI. Since I'm a little spent, I'll probably dial things back and bit this week try and turn in a good performance.
Thursday, July 3, 2014
First Long Run
I did my first long run yesterday morning. 18 miles. My previous Long run was 14 miles on 6/22. Before that my longest runs were 1/2 marathons in races. I have to go back to before I got injured, on Jan 18th I did a 17 miles. That was a high volume week with 51 miles running.
The weather was great, actually a little cool after Monday's sweat-fest. I worse a long sleeve to avoid "de-acclimating" to the heat. I ran a nice steady high zone 1 pace around 7:30 average. It's a hilly route, so it's hard to gauge actual pace, since its' rarely a flat road and GPS drifts a bit due to the bluff nearby and utility poles along the road.
Only issues were some bad shin splints on my left leg (my poor left leg). but oddly, I never had any Achilles issues or PF symptoms. It became fairly painful (like a cramp) by mile 16, but i just pushed on through and added it to my mental training. Tried to keep form and not favor that leg. Otherwise i felt pretty good. I may run just slightly faster on my next run. I consider the pace to be at my middle range for my IM run. But I think I might have a 3:10 in my if I target the bottom end of zone 2 and try and go under 9:30 overall. With a "death march" at a 3:30 to get me the final AQ slot in about a 9:45 time.
I did show that I can drink a full 20oz per hour and not feeling at all bloated running. So that's just about 3oz per aide station. So really just a quick shot of Perform or coke and water, and then maybe a gel every 6 miles (45 minutes). Sounds like a fairly workable plan for moderate temperatures. If i start feeling bloated at all, then skip the water at that station and re-evaluate.
Here's my run.
http://www.trainingpeaks.com/av/NADTBQVELZQY6XCKSBM2N2GUGU
I'm thinking I'll do 2 more very long runs of 20-21miles to get just over 2-1/2 hours. After that I'll be up to Steelhead, and then taper. Probably around the 21st or 22nd, then maybe 10 days later on the, on the 31st or 1st.... with plenty of time to recover before Steelhead. While only a "B" race, I don't want dead legs going in.
Those same weeks I'll put in a 5 hour ride each week. Maybe a 5-1/2 hour ride on one of those.
So really, despite just over 9 weeks left to train, there's not a whole lot of weeks left to build fitness before a lot taper.
Getting closer!
The weather was great, actually a little cool after Monday's sweat-fest. I worse a long sleeve to avoid "de-acclimating" to the heat. I ran a nice steady high zone 1 pace around 7:30 average. It's a hilly route, so it's hard to gauge actual pace, since its' rarely a flat road and GPS drifts a bit due to the bluff nearby and utility poles along the road.
Only issues were some bad shin splints on my left leg (my poor left leg). but oddly, I never had any Achilles issues or PF symptoms. It became fairly painful (like a cramp) by mile 16, but i just pushed on through and added it to my mental training. Tried to keep form and not favor that leg. Otherwise i felt pretty good. I may run just slightly faster on my next run. I consider the pace to be at my middle range for my IM run. But I think I might have a 3:10 in my if I target the bottom end of zone 2 and try and go under 9:30 overall. With a "death march" at a 3:30 to get me the final AQ slot in about a 9:45 time.
I did show that I can drink a full 20oz per hour and not feeling at all bloated running. So that's just about 3oz per aide station. So really just a quick shot of Perform or coke and water, and then maybe a gel every 6 miles (45 minutes). Sounds like a fairly workable plan for moderate temperatures. If i start feeling bloated at all, then skip the water at that station and re-evaluate.
Here's my run.
http://www.trainingpeaks.com/av/NADTBQVELZQY6XCKSBM2N2GUGU
I'm thinking I'll do 2 more very long runs of 20-21miles to get just over 2-1/2 hours. After that I'll be up to Steelhead, and then taper. Probably around the 21st or 22nd, then maybe 10 days later on the, on the 31st or 1st.... with plenty of time to recover before Steelhead. While only a "B" race, I don't want dead legs going in.
Those same weeks I'll put in a 5 hour ride each week. Maybe a 5-1/2 hour ride on one of those.
So really, despite just over 9 weeks left to train, there's not a whole lot of weeks left to build fitness before a lot taper.
Getting closer!
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Weekly Wrap-up 06/30/14
Pretty solid training week. Back on track to building fitness in the last run-up to the big race. 68 days left...that's just 10 weeks as of Sunday morning. It's starting to get real. I have no doubts about the bike. I'm confident I can pull together a solid run. The swim continues to have me a little concerned. Mostly, of how much it might take out of me mentally and physically after swimming 1 hour straight. My swim just isn't where I hoped it would be. But its not bad. Hopefully I'll have a good OWS in one of the next 3 races and that will build some more confidence. I guess it's a good problem to have to only be concerned that I won't swim under 1 hour. There's worse issues, and quite a few of the top AG finishers last year swam 1:02-1:05. Its' not that big of a deal. Lots of opportunity to get that back.
Y-athlon - Sicne it was a "C" race, there's no point in a dedicated race report. It ultimately was a brick workout.... and my times reflect that. I already had mentally checked out pretty early in the swim. The whole race was about pride and getting a solid training day. I swam 4:26 or about 1:11 with the zig zag factored in (375y). I can;t really complain about that. My arms were dead pretty early on. I probably went out a little fast. I must have opened with about a 32, because the next swimmer started about when I touched the wall. I slowed quite a bit after that. Transition was a little sloppy, I had issues getting my sunglasses on. I need to remember to put them on first, then the helmet and fix the straps later. I did get both toes into my shoes and only had to fix the heel a 1/4 mi up the road.
The bike went alright. I never found a good rythem with the road surface quality, stop signs, turns and hills. I probably could have ridden the hills a little more aggressive and suffered just a bit more. I really should have rode like there was no run. But I checked out again, pretty early on and just brought it home. Legs definitely didn't feel like Kansas. I probably run sub 33 if I felt that good. Rode 34:53 or 23.2mph corrected (short 13.5mi course). Not bad with the hills and such. I overcooked on of the fast downhill tunrs and just stayed inside the double yellow.
T2 was OK. I fumbled with my Garmin for the 1st 1/4 mi. I probably would have run faster without it. I might ditch it for Geode and run by feel, but I'd love to have the data. Tough call.
Overall not bad. I was actually slower by I think 20 seconds than last year, but it was hotter and a moderate 10mph wind on the bike.
By the numbers:
Swim: 2h31m, 10875y
Bike: 9h55m, 219mi
Run: 4h28m, 36.1mi
TOTAL: 18h28m
My training plan calls this "base 3, week 1". So I'm back to a base building period after a short transition form my first "A" race. I sort of wish I had rested a little more now, but I have a partial taper and a recovery week coming up after a "Hell week". I really had some trouble with motivation swimming. It was hot and humid and I transitioned to swimming outdoors at a neighbors lap pool. The YMCA is almost unuseable for workouts when the outdoor dewpoint is over even 65F. Fortunately the hot weather broke, so I have a window to get in some good swims.
Not making much progress on weight management like I wanted. I think it's impacting my running. I run a lot better at 160-162 than 164-165. I'll keep working on it, but I won;t let it be too much of a distraction. I just need to make some better nutrition decisions. The challenge is that with a high volume week, even with lower intensity, I need o refuel to keep thing rolling. Hopefully it melts off somewhat on it's own.
I had pretty good runs and bike rides despite the humidty otherwise. I felt pretty strong on my long ride on Sunday even after racing the day before.
Moving forward, I'm putting some long rides back in. A friend and fellow racer that done I think 9 IM's and very successful, mentioned that they really represent a big opportunity for building fitness for the IM distance.... without beating you up. So I'll do a 4-1/2 hour ride on the 4th of July. Then after my on-call week, I'll use my day off for putting in an epic 6 hour ride after a morning swim. I'm tempted to do it right off the swim. Maybe target about 125 miles. Ride very low zone 2 and try to get to 290-300 TSS. I have a long run planned for tomorrow. 18mi, but if my legs are "ON" and I'm OK on time, I might throw in 1 bonus mile possibly. Target bike mileage is 300 for the week. Some zone 1-2 recovery rides in there to make that happen.
Lets see if I survive the week. IF I do, I'll hit my early summer fitness peak. I'll just pass that just before Steelhead before starting a long period of recovery/taper/race.
Y-athlon - Sicne it was a "C" race, there's no point in a dedicated race report. It ultimately was a brick workout.... and my times reflect that. I already had mentally checked out pretty early in the swim. The whole race was about pride and getting a solid training day. I swam 4:26 or about 1:11 with the zig zag factored in (375y). I can;t really complain about that. My arms were dead pretty early on. I probably went out a little fast. I must have opened with about a 32, because the next swimmer started about when I touched the wall. I slowed quite a bit after that. Transition was a little sloppy, I had issues getting my sunglasses on. I need to remember to put them on first, then the helmet and fix the straps later. I did get both toes into my shoes and only had to fix the heel a 1/4 mi up the road.
The bike went alright. I never found a good rythem with the road surface quality, stop signs, turns and hills. I probably could have ridden the hills a little more aggressive and suffered just a bit more. I really should have rode like there was no run. But I checked out again, pretty early on and just brought it home. Legs definitely didn't feel like Kansas. I probably run sub 33 if I felt that good. Rode 34:53 or 23.2mph corrected (short 13.5mi course). Not bad with the hills and such. I overcooked on of the fast downhill tunrs and just stayed inside the double yellow.
T2 was OK. I fumbled with my Garmin for the 1st 1/4 mi. I probably would have run faster without it. I might ditch it for Geode and run by feel, but I'd love to have the data. Tough call.
Overall not bad. I was actually slower by I think 20 seconds than last year, but it was hotter and a moderate 10mph wind on the bike.
By the numbers:
Swim: 2h31m, 10875y
Bike: 9h55m, 219mi
Run: 4h28m, 36.1mi
TOTAL: 18h28m
My training plan calls this "base 3, week 1". So I'm back to a base building period after a short transition form my first "A" race. I sort of wish I had rested a little more now, but I have a partial taper and a recovery week coming up after a "Hell week". I really had some trouble with motivation swimming. It was hot and humid and I transitioned to swimming outdoors at a neighbors lap pool. The YMCA is almost unuseable for workouts when the outdoor dewpoint is over even 65F. Fortunately the hot weather broke, so I have a window to get in some good swims.
Not making much progress on weight management like I wanted. I think it's impacting my running. I run a lot better at 160-162 than 164-165. I'll keep working on it, but I won;t let it be too much of a distraction. I just need to make some better nutrition decisions. The challenge is that with a high volume week, even with lower intensity, I need o refuel to keep thing rolling. Hopefully it melts off somewhat on it's own.
I had pretty good runs and bike rides despite the humidty otherwise. I felt pretty strong on my long ride on Sunday even after racing the day before.
Moving forward, I'm putting some long rides back in. A friend and fellow racer that done I think 9 IM's and very successful, mentioned that they really represent a big opportunity for building fitness for the IM distance.... without beating you up. So I'll do a 4-1/2 hour ride on the 4th of July. Then after my on-call week, I'll use my day off for putting in an epic 6 hour ride after a morning swim. I'm tempted to do it right off the swim. Maybe target about 125 miles. Ride very low zone 2 and try to get to 290-300 TSS. I have a long run planned for tomorrow. 18mi, but if my legs are "ON" and I'm OK on time, I might throw in 1 bonus mile possibly. Target bike mileage is 300 for the week. Some zone 1-2 recovery rides in there to make that happen.
Lets see if I survive the week. IF I do, I'll hit my early summer fitness peak. I'll just pass that just before Steelhead before starting a long period of recovery/taper/race.
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