Week 11 Training: Big Day or Big Week!!!!
You may have noticed the note in the training plan today for a Big Tri Week: heres the link to the wiki article on that: http://members.endurancenation.us/Resources/Wiki/tabid/91/Default.aspx?topic=Volume+Strategy+Series,+Part+II:+The+Big+Tri+Week
Theres a link to discussion thread on the Big Bike / Big Tri week training in there too.
PS Dont freak out if you can't do the Big Week! We have a Big Day scheduled for Saturday, and trust me, that is plenty of work! Its like a race rehearsal v0.5: good practice for nutrition protocol, good mojo builder for feeling like you really are going to do an ironman.
Be safe out there!
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Hopefully I can add a day or two of more bike... We'll see.
Rian - What is the EN guidance for the big tri week if the weather is bad and you can't bike outside? Is it better to delay until a future week, or hit the trainer for 3 to 4 hours? It's looking like the weather in colorado is going to be similar to what it was this past weekend so i'm trying to understand whats the best option. I was going to fire a thread in the training forum but since you posted on this topic, thought i would start here. thanks!
I will say this week is already going a lot better than last week. I got my bearings about doing this amount of training, and there's a lot to be said for getting stuff done really early in the morning. Getting really excited about CdA, my fitness is hitting new levels. During the tempo run this morning my I had to hold back to hold threshold pace. Did the swim after so I'm done for the day
The week is going well so far.
I really dug in for yesterday's FTP wko. Hit my numbers plus a little bit! ( I didn't have a great OS, missed about 6 weeks due to continually getting sick, so I'm struggling with feeling behind in FTP / VDOT from where I wanted to be by now)
Ive been telling myself during intervals: "One perfect minute of training leads to one perfect moment of racing", and thats been getting me through the last minutes of each interval holding on to the wattage for dear life!
This am I hit the snooze for my 5am alarm, still feeling tired, but rolled out of bed @ 5:30 willing to give the long run a shot. Told myself I get out and do something, maybe just skip the intervals and do all z1, or cut it short and do 60-90 min. BUT once I was on the road, by mile 3 I was feeling pretty good! Cranked up the first z2 interval - felt better, then leaned into the 2x15' z3 and nailed them. Glad I actually got out there. So today was 14.2 mi @ 1:52.
Alright Ironfolk, go get em! Take an easy day tomorrow and kill it on saturday!
Question. How critical is it that the swim is done Saturday morning? The earliest pool opening I can find is at 8am on Saturday. Debating on doing it Friday night. Or just HTFU and do it Saturday.
I work on Saturday, so I am planning on heading out early Sunday for my big day. I've got a friend coming with me for the last hour of the bike and the run. Should make the ending a little easier for me.
@Brandon - in the past I have done the swim the night before. Our Y is closed until 1PM on the weekends and it makes it impossible to have everything done at a reasonable time.
@Brandon: Not critical. I imagine doing the swim friday will be fine; thats usually how the RRs go. Guess it was everyones day to sleep in a little!
Nice work Christy!
My last ftp test was 236 but that wasn't with my power tap that was on a computrainer. I'm getting a little nervous here I was shooting for about 160 and 18.6. Should I stick with this big bike week or should I do that big day on Saturday?
You guys and gals are an inspiration, thanks. I'm looking forward to seeing y'all at cdl.
Did my long run last night. Slightly off my paces, but I've been running my tempo stuff on roads instead of the track during this cycle. So it's been a slight adjustment.
I know I am a broken record, but with each week that goes by I am getting a lot more excited. I've been getting my butt kicked via these workouts, but it's been manageable. And it's been eye opening seeing what I handle if I take care of all the details.
Today i caught a break with the weather and was able to complete my Big Tri Day. Overall i finished feeling well and like i could continue to keep running. That's a good thing, because the last i checked IM CDA doesn't end at mile 8. But all in all, today was a good day. I welcome any input or suggestions so have at it.
AM - Woke up about 6:30 had a 1 cup applesauce and whey protein powder. Drank a sports drink and slammed 1 gel before heading to the pool
Swim - Started the swim at 8am. Did 3200yds in 1hr and 2 mins for a 1:55/100yd pace . I took it easy and just tried to stay steady. This was the longest swim i have done in several months and by the end i was dragging and i could feel my form slipping. I need to increase yardage on swims as i get closer to CDA. I'm assuming the IM plan will start to ramp up the swim volume.
Bike - The bike went well today. The stats are:
75.6 miles in 4hrs 13mins: Avg Power:151 W Max Power:485 W Max Avg Power (20 min):174 W Normalized Power (NP):171 W Intensity Factor (IF):0.721 Training Stress Score (TSS):218.4 Work:2,285 kJ
Again, i tried to take today steady. My VI is getting better but it is still over 1.1. Riding steady is most definitely a skill that will take me some time to master. The good news is sometimes when i bike i hit a rough patch around mile 50-55, but not today. I felt great the whole time. By the end my neck was pretty sore but i believe that's me getting used to being aero again. In terms of nutrition i had one power bar, 3 power bar gels, 1 salt stick, and about 54ounces of ironman perform.
Run: - I think i totally mis-paced the run. I did 8.56 miles in 1:07:33 for 7:54 pace. My Z1 pace is 8:32 so i believe the guidance is to take your zone 1 pace and add 30 sec/mile. I just couldn't make myself slow down to that pace without it seeming like i was walking. Also, i felt really good for pretty much the whole run although at the end it was starting to catch up with me. My learning here is slow down no matter how slow it feels when you start the run. Easy to say, but tough to put into practice. That will be an area of focus during my upcoming RR. In terms of nutrition i took in 3 cliff blocks, 1 gel, and about 12ounces of IM perform during the run.
One question.. Does 54oz on the bike and 12 oz for the run seem a little light or is that OK. It was very cool today about 45-52 so that's one data point. I felt good throughout, although i did have a slight headache when i finished.
Again, any input is very welcome. Now i'm going to relax for the rest of the day so i can crush tomorrows rest day
@ Mark: Remember Larry David...Curb Your Enthusiasm. There is NEVER a time when you should be doing 485 watts on the bike, or even half that. Can you review your file and find out when and where that was, so you can avoid the same temptation in a similar situation?
Also, the Secret to Success on the IM run is to go "Stupid Slow" for the first 3-8 miles. You *should* be feeling like you are running way below your potential, which is a very hard head space to get into during a race. You have already identified the two things you need to pay close attention to during your upcoming long rides and brick runs: riding steady and learning how to run slow on cue. Your job now is not to get faster - you already have all the speed you're going to get for the race. You job now is to learn how to meter that speed in an 11-12 hour race day so it doesn't run out before the end of 140.3
@Al - LOL! Good point. I know exactly where it happened. Around mile 52 I took a short cut on a bike path to avoid mid-day high traffic spot and it happened when i surged to pass a family out for a ride. Never-the-less i need to be better at maintaining discipline (or staying off the bike path at mid-day). Yes, same deal with the run. The good news is, I have 2 more chances to get it right with the race rehearsals prior to CDA. Thanks as always for your input!
Swim: Felt good...getting back in it, though this was the only one I got in this week. Did it pretty hard. Wonder if it affected bike below any?
Bike: Did right after the swim. A bit cold (~50deg.+wind), and I wasn't "quite" warm enough gear-wise. toes numb. 12-15 mph sustained E-W wind. Rode almost the whole ride N/S so cross-wind. Anyway, my heart rate monitor was flipping out but felt pretty much in Z2-lower Z3 for the 2.5 hr segment; Z1 warm-up and last hour. Was just feeling really dead the last hour. Stopped about 3:45 total. Nutrition was a GU every 30-40 mins, and about 4 lg. water bottles total (lotsa clear pee!). Ugg. Makes me feel way behind on the bike.
Run: Did right off the bike. Oddly, this went perfectly. 30 minutes a little faster than my Z1 pace. Then the 30' at slightly faster than my Z2 pace (~8:38 min/mi). No nutrition for the hour but hit it hard right after.
Anyway, not sure what was up for the bike. Hoping: 1. that it was the cold/wind and/or hard swim that drained me? and 2. that more important that the run was still solid?
Thx for any comments...
Greg
@Greg, whats in the water bottles? You may have not had enough calories if just water. I do ~30 oz of Perform or Gatorade per hour + 1 gel every 30 minutes = ~ 400 cals an hour. Otherwise maybe the wind was making you work harder than you thought. Wise Al Truscott told me you should be able to say "what wind?" if you use a power meter, but thats much harder to do effectively on just a HRM. The run sounds solid so leg fatigue may not be a problem in the first miles, although in the IM, if you over cooked the bike, you'd really get hit with that later on. Good Job!
@Mark, you got a great day in. x2 Al's comments on run pacing.... Its ALL about the run. No I dont think 54oz total is enough. I usually take in twice that rate, but you've got adjust for your own stomach etc. Good Job!
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My Big Day went well too, but I also had big wind to contend with, which is definitely frustrating, but I'm learning.
Swim: 3200yds in 60min ~ 1:53 pace
Bike: 71.3 mi 3:57 ~18mph avg. NP 178, AP 168. IF .76, VI 1.09. 3700 climbing. Wow big head winds, that I tried my darnest to ignore by watching my watts, had several stops to refuel and pee, that I think contributed to the high VI, its not usually this high on this route. But it does involve a fair amount of steep climbs that require 100% Ftp even in low gear and tooling @ 7mph. Took in 4x28oz bottles of gatorade + 6 gels and 1 banana.
Run: 6.25 mi in 49:30 ~ 8:15 pace. I practiced the 20-30 second walk per mile. Took in 20oz of gatorade and 1 gel half way.
@Rian. Thanks for the insight. Looks like you had a solid big day! On your questions re: whats in the bottles, 28 oz-3 scoops GU Elec Brew (~300 Cals) plus GU every 30-45 mins, so probably 425 cals/hr? Here's what you made me think: I usually drink a lot more water, but just too cool and felt it sloshing around. So maybe when cold, I should increase the rate of Gels (25-30 mins) to make up for it, and try to take in closer to 500/hr? Just a thought...? Thx again.
@Al - I used your "stupid slow" suggestion on the Big Day, stayed in low Z1, and it help for the latter half. Appreciate it.
@Mark, looked like a hechuka day to me! Nice work.
I did my big day today.
Swim - last night as late as I could go to the pool. Felt great. I have been really working on my pull and keeping my shoulder safe and I am making big dividends. 100 time is at about 1:25 to 1:30 pretty consistently for my swim.
Bike - this AM got up, ate a big breakfast and drove down to the Devilman course. This is a 20 mile (or so) loop that is free of traffic lights and cars. Temps in the high 40's and very windy, figured I could do it if I sucked it up and dressed warmly. Turned out I could. Set up my "special needs" cooler and hit the road at 10:30. Flat at 11:30, Flat at 1:20... my friend picked me up at 1:25 and we changed the tire, again, ate the Almond butter sandwiches out of special needs, switch bottles and then did the loop 1 more time. Powertap died right at the start of the third loop. I was starting to feel like I was getting all the technical problems out of the way in one big day. I still cannot get it to download the parts it did record. I had my Garmin on though so I have a few metrics. 64 miles, 4 hours almost on the dot, not counting all of the tire changing and messing with the Garmin and I feel pretty good, the wind was really getting to me. I know I held my Z2 power for the first 40 miles, but I think I sort of piddled the power away on the last loop, with no meter to watch there was nothing to keep me honest. Several goats (yes goats) chased us for quite a while. I was unsure whether I should be concerned or not, I did not know if they would butt us or were just joyously running with us.
Run - packed up the bikes, drank more Gatorade and went off on the run. 5 miles at 10:21 ave. Spot on, felt great. Lots of frogs chirping and butterflies out. The wind went away as soon as we got off the bike and it turned into a nice day. My friend felt terrible so we cut it a little short, but I think I could have run for quite a bit more. Last year I really struggled with my runs, so this is a great feeling for me.
@Al I too used your stupid slow suggestion, kept me in my box for those first few miles where I really wanted to go crazy.
@Christy - Would give anything to have that swim pace!
Bummer on the flats, but right! Maybe got those out of the way for the season. 
I had bad flats Spring before last, and got the best advice ever: awesome training tires..." Bontrager - Race Lite - Hard Case - Triple Puncture Protection". Have never flatted since, and only switch to Zipps for racing. Only negative is I don't get practice changing. Ha! Goats?! If your bottles are empty in an emergency, you could always switch to goat's milk. Congrats on the run success. I had the same feeling Sat, after a not-so-good one Thursday.
@Christy - No kidding on your swim time! That's flying! Those technical issues are unfortunate, but better now than during your race. Despite your problems you still were able to have a successful run. Nice work!
@Greg - You still have 2 race rehearsals to experiment with adjusting your hydration/nutrition on the bike. Way to finish strong on the run.
@Rian - Nice work! Sounds like you nailed it.
Friday Night - Swim - Swam 2700 Friday night after doing the easy 5 mile run on the schedule. Hit my interval paces in the pool, but got a bit tired at the end. Attributed it to not eating enough beforehand.
Saturday - Rode with my friend who was on a schedule (mistake 1), so it dictated we start early at 6:15. Cold front overnight swept through and It was all of 35 degrees. I made it 1:15 before heading back to the car to warm up. Went back out, but was shivering. Decided to bag it. Totals: 1:15, 22 miles, 142AP, 152NP (felt way too cold to get my power up).
Thought "well I should at least do the run". So we did 6 miles, averaging 7:55. Felt great, and my faith in humanity was restored. Plus it warmed up by the end, so we decided to get back on the bike.
Round 2 Bike - 2:55, 53 miles, AP 166, NP 168.
Nutrition wise the whole ordeal seemed okay. I stuck to the plan as much as possible. Water/Gu on the run. Bike I had two 2-hour bottls of Infinit, chased with water, and the occassional stinger waffle if I wanted something to chew on. My NP splits got better toward the end, but overall I was about 5 watts shy of my goal. My cadence was a bit lower than I'd like (mid 70s). And I'm not sure what to make my of watts. So I'm not sure what to take from all this, any input is appreciated
Next time I will suck it up and just do all the stuff in one day by myself.
@Christy, well done! I especially like the training goats! A whole new take on endurance training!
@Brandon. I think you did well to flex with the conditions, and make it work. Ultimately you got in the work, which really is what the day was about, racking up the TSS, and seeing how you perform under the load. Its early yet to worry too much about your watts. Looks like your VI would be quite good, given the small diff between AP and NP, so thats great! I tend to shoot for my real time watts to be about 10 above what I want my NP to be and this seems to work out, perhaps if you dont have NP displayed thats something to keep in mind. Cadence sounds a tad low, seems like general wisdom is 80s-90s is best for Triathletes, but again its what works best for you. Good work!
Had a tough Big Day last Saturday.
Got home from work at 1:30 am, up at 7:00 am to swim and then meet my training partner who needed to get the day over early.
Bike 4 hours - ave. 185 watts (Zone 3) then Run 1 hour with first 30 min feeling really easy at Zone 1. Kicked it up to Zone 2 but after 1 mile, the wheels fell off and I had to push it to keep it anywhere near mid Zone 1.
Is the Ironman race pace supposed to be Zone 2 vs the Zone 3 I was holding? I have been looking through the website about pacing/power during an Ironman race, but many of the links are not working because of the "upgrade".
Hoping the day was just the result of not having enough sleep and pushing too hard on the bike.
@Kriss. IM pacing should be: Bike 70-75% (70% is more realistic) so thats low Z2. Run is Z1. "Stoopid Easy." In fact for the run it should be the first 6 miles at z1 pace + 30 seconds, and then speed up to z1. Yes no wonder the wheels came off after the first 30 min of run, too hard on the bike for Ironman pacing for sure, I'm sure the sleep was also an issue. BUT you did it and got in a major training day!! We'll have two race rehearsals to really dial in the pacing and nutrition later on (wk 15 and 18) so dont worry about run on saturday. Way to get it done!
Did my big day on Friday (took the day off work). 4 hr bike in the morning. This was the first 4 hr ride that I felt good at the end. So, that a good sign. Then I had to go volunteer in my 3 1/2 yo's class for a hour, then swam for an hour, then volunteered in my 7 yo's class for an hour and did the 1 hr run.
All in all, I felt really great considering I was standing most of the day and had no down time.
Sounds like everyone is doing great so far! I'm trying to not pay attention to how close it is!
Re-tested this morning, numbers were flat from the OS. Pretty happy with that considering how much more tired I was this go-around, and the guidance in the wiki. Next test I'll do outside, but my indoor/outdoor numbers feel pretty close.