IMMT Week 7/22-7/28 Final Test Week
I'm starting this thread a little early because I thought of a few things on my long ride today that I wanted to make sure I got out to everyone for their homework this week.
I noticed on my long ride that my watts and cadence kept dropping out for no particular reason (noticed this because I had the watch set to auto-pause and it was doing it so frequently it was pissing me off). Up side was that it seems to be an indication to me that I may need to change (or at least re-seat) the battery in the PT Hub. I also noticed before my ride today that my rear tire has a few small tears that are starting to look a little scary- so I made a mental note that it's time for new tires (650's, which means I've gotta order them).
Sooooo, the point is, at this point in the program you know your body is fatigued- you probably are starting to feel it. But your equipment is also probably starting to feel a little run down! Now is the time to start doing some checks and maintenance on all the equipment before that final race rehearsal. How many miles are on those running shoes? How fresh are the batteries in your PT hub? How badly stretched out is that chain? Homework for everyone this week is to give your equipment a little TLC!!!
Comments
It's only money, but rather be safe on the roads!! Final check up, Aug 5th.
Good luck, see you guys soon
HA HA HA!!! Scott, you and I are cut from the same cloth! Best part about that workout? Made me really thankful for 6x500 today! At least they were easy to count!
Oh PS- LOVE my new 910XT. That distance alert on the swim is worth at least $50 of the total cost of that watch!
First run outdoors in months (previous long runs have been 2+ hours on the treadmill).
4am alarm. 4:30am breakfast (only a banana). 5am start time.
16 total miles at a little less than 10min/mile avg NGP (2:37).
It was nice and "cool" for the whole thing (upper 70s with high humidity, ended in low 80s).
At mile ~9 the humidity (sweat soaked socks) started "pre blistering" on the arches of both my feet.
At ~11 the chafing from the chamois seams on the tri shorts started (particularly painful with the sweat and also the post-run shower), also humidity-related I'm sure.
At ~12 the right hip flexor started acting up (this presented on my previous long treadmill runs as well, at about the same mileage).
Last 13-16 were a total slog, walk/run/walk/etc. Just dragged my ass home. Overcooked the mid-miles in the cool temps, and it came back to bite me in the arse.
LESSON: The gu roctane caffeine-ated gels can only be tolerated near the END of the long run...when I know I have a bathroom waiting in the near future. Luckily no incidents.
As long as I can continue to wake my lazy butt up early enough, these runs will work for me. Thank goodness it's only for a few more weeks! I am NOT a morning person.
We had an unusually "cool" morning here as well. It was overcast so I didn't get the full blast of the sun. Did my 2:30 as 1' run/ 2' walk and there were a few times where I reversed that because I forgot where I was! Anyway- felt really good most of the way until the last 20 minutes when the knee started talking to me a little. I better make sure I stick to running no more than 1' at a time on race day. Anyway, that system has me "running" at a 12:15 pace which, all things considered, really isn't too aweful! I still think I need some sign on my back on race day to indicate I'm walking because I planned it that way so folks don't bug the crap out of me with their encouragements "come on- you can run a few steps with me!" Um, no, really, I can't!
Really looking forward to this weekend when I head up to my old stomping grounds in Maryland to get 2 solid days of biking in the hills. As a flat lander, that will give me some confidence that I can get through the race OK. (not looking forward to DC traffic, but that's the price I have to pay).
Heather is out in the lake doing her 2.4mile swim in prep for her last big weekend coming up .... Sat 6hr bike and Sun split runs of 90/60min
Whats everyone planning last RR this weekend or next? I know they switched it to 2 weekends before this year , but for Texas I kept my longest weekend 3 weeks out and really liked that....
Heather sounds like she's on track to rock it! I'v kept the RR 2 weeks out. I've done it both ways in the past and have found 3 weeks is very helpful when I'm feeling super run down by the training. But since I'm not doing any real running this time around, I feel like my volume is fairly minimal and 2 weeks will be more than enough time to recover before race day. Besides, this weekend will still turn out to be my biggest weekend since I'm planning back to back long rides in the hills.
Be safe this weekend everyone!
Athlete guide is UP! In English and French.
http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/ev...z2a7ik7vQI
The main set, first half was 37mins and the second half was 39. If I could do a 1:16 at IMMT, I'd LOVE it!!
My arms are limp noodles though, pretty much useless right now.
Beginning to feel better today! I'll be in good sherpa shape!
@Tim - very glad you are feeling better.
Very mixed training week for me. I was able to do the WKOs early in the week, but I relocated my Delaware office Thursday and Friday. Translation = all day at the office and no WKOs. Since I missed the long run on Thursday, I plan to ride 6 hours today and run long tomorrow. Any thoughts on this plan?
Your long run is definitely a key workout and should be made up if possible. Your plan is sound, bike today as planned or written, get it done as early as possible, recover hard this afternoon, and run tomorrow as planned or written.... Monday should be very easy or OFF day to recover then back on plan....Don't worry if you can't hit your run paces as written tomorrow , just do the time and let pace work itself out...
FWIW I have become a big fan of the old school longbike followed by longrun and I have been doing it since January this year.....I found the ABP ride to be too much for me after the longbike day , I wasnt able to recover and hit my other workouts , I felt very inconsistant. Just what seems to work for me . My basic schedule has been Mon- swim only, Tues AM FTP bike -PM run usually hils, Weds swim and speedwork run , Thurs AM V02 bike -PM run easy, Fri- swim only, Sat - longbike, Sun longrun split AM/PM..... Never a day off but mon and fri are swim only days completely off the legs , sat and sun are hard, as well as tues-thurs....
William- I agree with Tim, the most important workout to make up is that long bike. Get that one done and don't sweat the rest.
Scott- 1:16? NICE!!!! And getting it done in a yard pool has got to give you some mental toughness too.
Tim- Glad to hear you are starting to feel relatively better and that you are being smart with your return to activity.
Peter- sounds like you are rolling with the weather punches well. One of these days I need to bring my bike to NJ to ride some of those hills. I grew up in NJ but didn't start really riding until I was an adult (long after I moved away).
As for me. I think my Maryland friends are trying to either kill me before IMMT or scare the crap out of me. 95 miles today in the hills of Frederick County Maryland with over 7500ft of climbing. I honestly thought the ride today was harder than the ride we did on Skyline Drive a few weeks ago! It started raining at the very end of the ride and my tush definately could have used a little extra chamois cream for that! If my training and races leading up to IMMT are any indication, we are gonna get rained on at some point during the race. Tomorrow we are hoping to get another short ride done in-between the raindrops.
I will back off after next week's race rehearsal. Next Sunday, my bike goes to the LBS for pre-race check-up. Keep at it guys and gals!
@Nemo ... I can guarantee IMMT will be easier than the 95 miles you did today!
@Paul... getting excited for you and your trip... give us all something to do pre-race day!
Today... for me NO drugs.... 4 mile walk (wow is that slow average 19:30 miles) I have a new found respect for my Dad who is 79 and does some 5k race walks where he has come close to breaking 12 min miles and his wife is around 14's.... Looks like a sitting up trainer spin on tap for tomorrow while Heather does her run... Heather went out for a 100mile bike in 6:37....
I went out for a 100 mile ride with 5775 feet of climbing. I have a 50 mile loop I used for my HIMMT race rehearsal so I just did it twice. Long run planned for tomorrow if the weather permits. I enjoy running in the rain, but do not care for running in the type of storms we have had this year.
Tim, I'm glad to hear of your progress. It can be slow and humbling and frustrating and all sorts of other bad words.
Well, I got that second run in. One hour and 6.5 miles. This one hurt really bad. I guess there really is something to doing the run (or at least some of it) before the biking. After a long gnarly ride with lots of steep hills, my running form just plain sucks. And it gets worse as the minutes tick by. I know that my likelihood of developing some sort of injury is MUCH higher running with my post-bike crappy form and so I have begun to actually obey the coaching note about doing the run before the bike if I can.
2:30 run today - 1997 feet of ascent and a lot of pain.
The rest of the day I will rest and watch the IMLP tracker.
On my usual weekly Sunday morning roadie ride, a dumbass turned her head around while she was stupidly merging into our two-up pace line, from the side. She ended up sticking her front wheel into someone's back wheel. It rubbed for a bit, while I thought she was going to pull out of it. Instead her front wheel dug into the cassette on the rear wheel and had an explosive flat/puncture. All of this was happening RIGHT NEXT TO ME.
She falls...onto/into ME, while I'm on her left. Seriously, both hands off her handlebars and onto me to cushion her fall. This is in the far right lane of a three lane road. She pushes me into the other lanes - of traffic. Luckily, there were no cars in those other two lanes as I'm falling at about 45 degrees to my left. I could've been hit, ran over and flattened! Dead, right then.
As me and my bike are, effectively, free-falling across two lanes, somehow I'm able to steer to correct it and fully upright myself. The whole time, my whole season is flashing thru my head. Not my life, but my whole tri/racing/ironman season!
As the group pulls to a stop on the right, I pull over too. Shaking. Bad. Crazy scary.
The dumb rider had to call in a lift, but we all continued. Slow at first, then back to the regular pace (aka speed) for the final 10ish miles home.
I guess I still had some adrenaline pumping thru my veins, because I pulled up to the front, passed everyone and proceeded to throw down a .95IF ten mile drag home (that's a higher intensity and longer distance than the time trial I did last month) - after already riding 40 miles as well as 65 super hilly miles yesterday. I pulled two wheezing roadies with me; I could hear how they were absolutely gassed - and I loved it!!
Kevlar, bubble wrap and steel-toed boots I tell ya!
@Tim - I took your advice and ran yesterday. I plan to swim for an hour today with no running. Thanks.
@Nemo - that is a lot of climbing!