Short Course: July 15 - 21
This week is my week #20 in the short course and ends with my A Race. It has been really encouraging seeing the results from everyone that shows that "Work Works" and if you put the effort in, it is just a matter of time before you see the results! 
This also is about mid-way through the primary triathlon season and for me, it is time to take a break after this week. RnP in one of the podcasts that I can no longer find ( 
), talk about taking some time off as "preventative maintenance". So, I am looking forward to a small break and hopefully not put on like a dozen pounds...
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Same here, week 20, feeling ok but taper is not complete, I am not entirely rested yet. Still some residual soreness in legs, some heaviness as well induced by heat stress and overpacing in those conditions. Last week at home, workouts were complete but weekend got mangled up as I was coaching at the meet. Hoping to see a turnaround there. I am going into this race with no race simulation due to work, so a bit of guess work. It is certainly shaping up to be a hot and humid one. I will write up my race plan here tomorrow and lay out to you all for some critique and suggestions.
Pool workouts were coming in very strong. My bike power and run pace are greatly impacted by heat, power occasionally lower by as much as 10% if it is warm and humid. Running as well, so will see.
Love the taper. The week right after the race I plan on making as a big bike week, about total 12hrs cycling, how silly is that after olympic triathlon???? Any reason not to do it. I will likely need at least 5-6 days of no hard and fast workouts to recover after the race, but thought I get on the bike and ride easy for saddle time. I will still run short and swim a bit here and there. I am on 3 week vacation at home.
Aleksander- 3 weeks off sounds terrific!
Rode with yet another group tonight. Def. toughest so far. 25mi in 1:32 (moving time), .87IF, 1500 ft. gain. Somehow hit 465watts at some point although I'm sure it was a split second. Fun, but about 94 degrees and humid. Blech.
Heat and humidity along with taper are seriously messing with my head. Wichita and Oklahoma City in the last few days, hot and humid, drenched to the bone on only 40min of running. Today I did no TP 90sec segments, legs just not there. Swam well Monday in a hot YMCA pool in Wichita. Today, I napped in PM as we returned to hotel, right thrust reverser INOP so no go, hotel time. The nap was great. Skipped the swim and will likely push it for tomorrow. I am stretching and rolling, recovery time.
Lawrence Olympic Triathlon
This is called taper, I know, right now not optimistic on speed on race day, but here is some pacing+hydration plan:
Anticipated weather: water 84F, air 70-85F, humidity 70-80%, northerly winds, tail out, head back on bike, mostly x wind on the run
Swim: no testing, but long intervals indicate my normal speed of 1:30/100m or 1:21/100y for 1500m
I will warm up in the water only, take 2 gels+2 salt tabs 20min prior to start
Bike: Last tested FTP long time ago 270W, now at 70F 2x20min show consistently closer to 277-280W, safe bet to use in hot/humid is 270W, plan on IF .90-.92 or NP 248W-250W, 2 bottles along, 1 bottle 150cal+1300mg sodium, 1 bottle water only
Run: no test, estimated VDOT 52, out of the gate MP around 7:00/mile, observe HR high Z3-allow low Z4 156-160, mile 2 and on see if I can bump it to 6:45/mi and HR 162-165......last mile, close my eyes and wish for the end, pedal to the metal if there is anything left
Huge unknown is how will the heat/humidity affect power output and run pace, gonna have to listen to the feel. While I have a fair amount of exposure to heat, I am still not bale to measure appropriate effort to control body core temp and frequently ovepace for conditions plus still not acclimated entirely as still sweating profusely and being totally drenched in 40min of running. Takes me a good month of consistent work in heat to really acclimate.
Marble Falls - 1000m swim, 23mi bike, 4.4mi run:
Anticipated weather: about water 84F, air 75 F, humidity 90%, northerly winds, tail out, head back on bike
Warm-up: run about 2mi and drink 24oz of gatorade in hr before. Try and get about 200m of swim in for warm-up
Swim: about 1:40-1:42/100m and the goal is to find someone at that speed to draft on and just hang loose.
Bike: take an aero bottle with H2O and another 20oz with gatorade. Drink every 10min and finish both. Go at Z3 for first 15' then Z4 for 30' then Z3 to bring it in.
Run: first mile shake it out probably 9'/mi then drop to 8'/mi and hold on for dear life.
My taper - so far all going well. Walking 2miles a day to keep loose and keep the weight down. Tuesday great bike workout, Wednesday good short 3.2mi run, today a short interval set on bike - all on the mark. Some "niggling" issues with right elbow, shoulder, and lat. I will swim easy tomorrow and maybe throw in some sprints to test right side issues.
Although the race is only 1.5hrs away, I will stay at a hotel by the race site to at least lower the pre-race anxiety and not having to travel.
There you have it! More later!!
1. On run, bring a powergel and down it at the 2mi mark, or 1 mile if really feeling crampy. Take two water at every mile - probably 8 oz.
2. Wear K-swiss running shoes - they have drain holes in soles. So, when I sweat a lot, spill water, or have water thrown on me, I will not be running in lead boots.
A cold/cool front is pushing through tomorrow sometime and it should provide a really nice race day - finally, a reprieve from the heat. Expected Race day high 70 w/ about 50% humidity. Sure beats the 90 - 90's (Temp - Humidity) we've been having!
Good luck Joe and Aleksander on your races this weekend.
Well, here it is, last work day of the week, sitting at ORD AA terminal, catching flight home, after flying 4 legs myself this morning, since 4AM, BTV-HPN-ISP-CVQ-ORD, all short hops that beat me down, 13hr day to get home. Oh, well, done it before, will do it tomorrow. I just wish to stop getting up so damn early.
Been feeling better and soreness is less just need a roller badly, will do this PM at home. Still left to pack and kick back maybe before I shut the lights off. Hope to have some nice stuff to share tomorrow. Good luck everyone this weekend.
Jim and Joe, let'r rip!
David- congrats on 1st place!!
Low key week for me as I had a lot going on. Group ride tues. the. 2 mi on the treadmill thurs, 22 mile z3 "getting know new bike " ride sat. (Will post pics soon!). 3 mi run test today. Actually 5 sec slower than sprint tri last week so I guess I either do better in races and /or with a nice 12 mi z4 ride before it! Anyway, still new faster training zones.
I'm on the get faster plan now til my oly in aug. hoping to get some more speed and add to the Sunday runs in prep for 1/2 Mary.
Conditions - 75 degrees, light wind less that 5mph, 90% humidity. Water had to be 84 degrees.
Overall - 20th, age group (50-54) 1st, and the total race participants somewhere around 250.
Swim - placed 27th overall, which is about right for me. Tried to find someone to draft and I decided it was better to go alone and swim direct than go wherever the heck they were going for a little drafting. So, my swim was by myself and quite pleasant going in the 4th wave and just moving up through the earlier waves.
Bike - placed 4th overall. I executed my race plan and felt really good. I will say that as a 185lb guy, I would catch this one guy on the downhill and he'd pass me on the uphill and it went like that for the better part of the second half. So, I probably pushed it a bit harder trying to either lose him or not get called for drafting. Drank 24oz water And 24 oz gatorade.
Run - placed 78th overall. Big lesson - those lightweight K-swiss should be for just 5k or less. Started off at 8:30 pace and basically kept it for the entire run. Took the powergel at the 2mi mark and it was perfect. Took 2 water at every mile and it was just right.
I placed overall almost exactly how I placed last year. So, it was a good race. Another lesson learned during this taper week. I dropped the Tuesday run and the Wednesday swim and kept the other workouts as written in the plan and felt more rested going into the weekend. Will use that for next A Race taper.
While we did get a break from the heat with the race start temp at 67 and a high temp later in the day of only 73. But the cold front brought with it a lot of wind and it was blowing big swells and white caps in Green Bay harbor.
All the over 60's started in the same wave #5 so I knew exactly where I was place-wise at all times. The swim started directly into the waves for the first 1/3 then turned to go with the waves for the last 2/3. I exited the water first overall from my wave with a great time (for me) of 7:00 min. I had a really fast T1 transition - 47 sec. While not a real big deal, my T1 was 8 out of 1000
On the bike I hammered out the 18 miles with the AG fastest time split of 46:38 averaging 23.1 mph (1st time over 23 mph). I must have passed over 100 people from the earlier waves - no one passed me. T2 was also good at 44 sec (40 / 1000)
The 5K run was pretty solid at 22:39 (7:18 pace). I was only slightly worried that I pushed too hard on the bike but on the Sprints, I like to ride hard and hang on during the run. At this point there were only a few people on the run course - I passed about 10 or so on my way in.
My friend's wife was cute when she told me I finished 3rd - which meant I was actually the 3rd person to cross the finish line - which I have to say was pretty cool! I explained to her that the younger AG guys would go faster and that they were starting In the later waves.
So, I finished 1st in my AG out of 18 and finished 24th overall out of 1000. I actually finished 1st in my AG in all 5 timed parts of the Tri - never did that before.
Next up for me is the USAT AG National Championship in August. I'm trying to decide if I should do the Olympic or Sprint. I'm starting to think that maybe i'm better at the faster races. This was not a consideration before EN and the OS, SC & GF training programs. Work works but now what? Any thoughts on this?
Jim- Congrats! In terms of Sprint vs. Oly.... What has your experience been w/ Olys this year? Based on the above race, I'd say Sprint! How long was the swim in your race?
Thanks Kim ... The swim was a 1/4 mi and with the first part into a pretty stiff wind.
I only attempted one Oly this year and it ended at mile 8 on the bike when my spoke broke away from the wheel hub - ruined my front wheel - I've already replaced it with a FLO 60. But I never had a chance to test my nutrition and see how I perform on the 10K run after the 40K Bike.
At this point I'm leaning towards doing the Sprint because right now I'm moving pretty well and you just never know from year-to-year what that season holds.