The race (IM 70.3 Switzerland) is in the books and was ok. I will give you a short report and my thoughts on it.
Times:
Swim: 0:32:24
T1: 0:07:47
Bike: 2:37:33
T2:0:02:44
Run:1:48:02
Swim: The swim was good, after a chaotic start I found my pace and felt good during the whole swim, I could have easly swam much further.
T1: Way too slow. I couldn't find my bike at the beginning and changing clothes was too slow...gotta think about this.
Bike: Nutrition: I ate 3 energy gel and drank about 2 liters of carbo electrolyte drink. I am happy with my performance on the bike. It was a hilly course (1100 meters of altitude gain). For the last 10-15 km I felt some pain in my left hip and could not pedal with full power.
My average HR was 142, which would put me into Zone 5 according to the last bike HR test, which puzzles me a bit. If I was racing in Zone 2/3 my HR should be around 122, I never race with such a low HR... please share your thoughts about this
T2: ok
Run: Too slow. I had some issues with my stomach around km 7 and 17, which I could solve with a visit to the loo. I also had to fight sideburn around km 10. Nutrition: 2 pieces of banana, isotonic drinks, coke (after km 14)
The overall time was: 5:08:xx. For a "training race" I think it was quite ok, but I want to get below 5:00:00 in my next IM 70.3.
It's definitely a good idea once you have set up your transition, to physically walk through the process of coming out of the water finding your bike and exiting and similarly returning on the bike and preparing for the run. I find that physically doing it really makes a difference.
I'm a little concerned about your left hip and the pain you mentioned on the bike. Be sure to check that out and take care of it this week as best you can.
Such a high already the bike is typically due to not taking the beginning part of the race easy enough. Your heart rate will be very high out of transition, and if you don't take it easy for 15 to 20 minutes it will never come down for the entire bike. That could be a real problem as it will interfere with your ability to digest food etc.
I would like to see you eat more on the run, and potentially more exercise from the foods. Generally you have to eat a lot earlier on the run something because it becomes harder to eat later in the day. Switching to Coke is fine but we want to do so after fueling. As a comparison, I raced yesterday and had four gels in addition to the drinks on the run.
I did the sweat test and revised my nutrition. Hence, I felt good on the race rehearsal day even into the run. I think I could still drink a little bit more on the bike, because I felt a bit thirsty on the run (and had no drinks with me on the run, so I had to rely on the only water fountain at the turning point of my 6 miles run).
For the camp weekend: I did everything except from the Sunday run, because I started with everything one day later:
Did the swim on Friday, the 118 miles bike & 6 miles run on Saturday and a second bike ride (approx. 71 miles) on Sunday.
I thought of doing the run early morning on Monday, what do you think about it?
No need to run. That's a breakthrough for you on the nutrition which is awesome. If you don't already, you should think about purchasing a Fuelbelt to give you the fluids you need on the run. You can find a discount for them under our store section of the website. Time to recover for a few days and then get back at it…
I have bad news. Had an accident on my bicylce today and broke a rib.
The doctor said it will heal within 4 weeks, so it should be ok for the IM race on July 27th, but the training up to that day will be greatly compromised.
Do you have experiences with similar case? Can you suggest me an alternative training program up to race day, which I can adjust according to my healing processes? I will rest the next three days without any training and then try to pick it up slowly in regards of my healing process.
Sandro, so sorry but glad it's "just" that. Breathing, coughing, sleeping will all be tough. Running is out for a while (2wks?) but you should be able to cycle on the trainer and maybe swim. I'd like you to plan on a week off from real training, during which you test the bike and swim but keep them easy. We report back. All is NOT lost....
Thanks for the reassuring words. I still feel pain when coughing and laying down, but I did a short training today on the trainer.
Was spinning for one hour, out of which I did 40 minutes at about 150 Watt. As long as I didn't move my upper body too much I could even hold the aero position.
My doctor suggested to do slow runs (or fast walks) as well, but I shall refrain from swimming for another week.
Can you suggest me any light run training for the next few days? And for the weekend, what kind of "long ride" would you suggest?
30' runs (frequency is the key here) as you can. I would run/bike/run/bike/run this weekend. 30' run/walks and then spin 45' easy. Alternate that as you can!!!
After a painful week I tried another training session today: Running 30 mins @ 12 mins/mile pace (turtle run...) Uphill was less painful than downhill and I tried to avoid asphalt roads. Spinning 45 mins @ 120-140 Watt
Pain during the run was more or less bearable, during spinning it was ok. I felt it but well, it didn't bother me too much as long as I didn't do any swift movements.
Will continue to do 30 mins runs and 45 mins spinning session for this week I guess. Once per day if possible, unless you disagree.
After a lot of up and downs in the last two weeks before the ironman, I did it! Still suffering from my rib fracture, but I survived the IM distance in 12 hours 6 mins
Thanks for your support. I will take it very easy not before starting my preparation for the IM 70.3 in November
Well I cannot take it as a future reference for my training I guess, since I was running under special conditions (the rib...), which influenced my swim and run quite a bit, but I think I have to work on my overall fitness to have a faster run in the end.
I have been a member here for one year now, and I think it is time to review what I have done and what is next. Can we have a little chat on skype about my next season? I have a few questions on my training sessions and it would be great to talk about the past season and what is up for the next season.
Sandro, always! If you have data it would be great to see it before we talk...you can put that info here. I am pretty free during the week (I believe you are 6 hours ahead of me here on the East Coast / New York Time), so give me some options for the New Year (vacation next week) and we'll get it done!
Sandro, I love to see data from your year. If you have monthly or weekly totals of S/B/R time that's great. Any info related to your race, even a report, can help as well. A lot of times folks will say something like "I want to run a 1:40 half marathon in my next 70.3" but I don't know what they did last year or how they trained...so it's hard to advise! So I guess the data we need is really a function of where you want to focus!!!
Sandro, did we not chat? I thought we spoke last week? TeamEN is getting seriously international...
I can make time Thursday at 1:45pm EST (7:45pm your time). I will make sure I am on skype -- at patrick_mccrann so you can find me. Looking forward to it!
Sandro - of course it happened. :-) I chatted you on Skype when I saw your note, but I generally can't do same-day for people even here in the states. You're free to call me anytime you see me on Skype, as this is getting a little ridiculous.
How is it going? I will start Week 11 of the IM training plan on Monday. On Saturday of Week 11 is the Big Day. I will have a relay race on that day with my local club (approx. 8 miles to run for me). So I wanted to ask what you think about moving the Big Day to Sunday and take Monday of Week 12 off to recover. Any better advises or objections to my idea?
Sandro. Love the move, only don't sweat the run so much as you are coming off the relay...maybe keep it to 30' on Sunday for example. Good luck in the relay!!
Comments
Hi Patrick,
The race (IM 70.3 Switzerland) is in the books and was ok. I will give you a short report and my thoughts on it.
Times:
Swim: 0:32:24
T1: 0:07:47
Bike: 2:37:33
T2: 0:02:44
Run: 1:48:02
Swim: The swim was good, after a chaotic start I found my pace and felt good during the whole swim, I could have easly swam much further.
T1: Way too slow. I couldn't find my bike at the beginning and changing clothes was too slow...gotta think about this.
Bike: Nutrition: I ate 3 energy gel and drank about 2 liters of carbo electrolyte drink. I am happy with my performance on the bike. It was a hilly course (1100 meters of altitude gain). For the last 10-15 km I felt some pain in my left hip and could not pedal with full power.
My average HR was 142, which would put me into Zone 5 according to the last bike HR test, which puzzles me a bit. If I was racing in Zone 2/3 my HR should be around 122, I never race with such a low HR... please share your thoughts about this
T2: ok
Run: Too slow. I had some issues with my stomach around km 7 and 17, which I could solve with a visit to the loo. I also had to fight sideburn around km 10. Nutrition: 2 pieces of banana, isotonic drinks, coke (after km 14)
The overall time was: 5:08:xx. For a "training race" I think it was quite ok, but I want to get below 5:00:00 in my next IM 70.3.
Cheers,
Sandro
It's definitely a good idea once you have set up your transition, to physically walk through the process of coming out of the water finding your bike and exiting and similarly returning on the bike and preparing for the run. I find that physically doing it really makes a difference.
I'm a little concerned about your left hip and the pain you mentioned on the bike. Be sure to check that out and take care of it this week as best you can.
Such a high already the bike is typically due to not taking the beginning part of the race easy enough. Your heart rate will be very high out of transition, and if you don't take it easy for 15 to 20 minutes it will never come down for the entire bike. That could be a real problem as it will interfere with your ability to digest food etc.
I would like to see you eat more on the run, and potentially more exercise from the foods. Generally you have to eat a lot earlier on the run something because it becomes harder to eat later in the day. Switching to Coke is fine but we want to do so after fueling. As a comparison, I raced yesterday and had four gels in addition to the drinks on the run.
Hi Patrick
I did the sweat test and revised my nutrition. Hence, I felt good on the race rehearsal day even into the run. I think I could still drink a little bit more on the bike, because I felt a bit thirsty on the run (and had no drinks with me on the run, so I had to rely on the only water fountain at the turning point of my 6 miles run).
For the camp weekend: I did everything except from the Sunday run, because I started with everything one day later:
Did the swim on Friday, the 118 miles bike & 6 miles run on Saturday and a second bike ride (approx. 71 miles) on Sunday.
I thought of doing the run early morning on Monday, what do you think about it?
Cheers,
Sandro
:-)
Dear Patrick
I have bad news. Had an accident on my bicylce today and broke a rib.
The doctor said it will heal within 4 weeks, so it should be ok for the IM race on July 27th, but the training up to that day will be greatly compromised.
Do you have experiences with similar case? Can you suggest me an alternative training program up to race day, which I can adjust according to my healing processes? I will rest the next three days without any training and then try to pick it up slowly in regards of my healing process.
Thanks for your support
Sandro
Hi Patrick,
Thanks for the reassuring words. I still feel pain when coughing and laying down, but I did a short training today on the trainer.
Was spinning for one hour, out of which I did 40 minutes at about 150 Watt. As long as I didn't move my upper body too much I could even hold the aero position.
My doctor suggested to do slow runs (or fast walks) as well, but I shall refrain from swimming for another week.
Can you suggest me any light run training for the next few days? And for the weekend, what kind of "long ride" would you suggest?
Thanks
Sandro
After a painful week I tried another training session today:
Running 30 mins @ 12 mins/mile pace (turtle run...)
Uphill was less painful than downhill and I tried to avoid asphalt roads.
Spinning 45 mins @ 120-140 Watt
Pain during the run was more or less bearable, during spinning it was ok. I felt it but well, it didn't bother me too much as long as I didn't do any swift movements.
Will continue to do 30 mins runs and 45 mins spinning session for this week I guess.
Once per day if possible, unless you disagree.
Can....hills are your enemy right now!
After a lot of up and downs in the last two weeks before the ironman, I did it!
Still suffering from my rib fracture, but I survived the IM distance in 12 hours 6 mins
Thanks for your support.
I will take it very easy not before starting my preparation for the IM 70.3 in November
Hi Patrick
Thanks
I am happy that I did (despite of my rib fracture) and finish it.
Here is my report:
http://www.ironman.com/de-ch/triathlon/events/emea/ironman/switzerland/ergebnisse.aspx?rd=20140727&race=switzerland&bidid=1147&detail=1
Well I cannot take it as a future reference for my training I guess, since I was running under special conditions (the rib...), which influenced my swim and run quite a bit, but I think I have to work on my overall fitness to have a faster run in the end.
Hi Patrick,
I have been a member here for one year now, and I think it is time to review what I have done and what is next. Can we have a little chat on skype about my next season? I have a few questions on my training sessions and it would be great to talk about the past season and what is up for the next season.
Cheers,
Sandro
Hi Patrick,
What kind of data do you want? and in what format?
Just let me know and I will prepare them for you, so you can prepare yourself for our chat
Cheers,
Sandro
June 2014
July 2014
November 2014
(30°C no shades during run)
Hope you can read the table in the previous post.
When will you have time to skype? my time is GMT+1. NYC is GMT -5, so I am six hours ahead of you.
Hi Patrick,
When can we have our chat? I have heaps of questions and my OS will start tomorrow.
Please let me know.
Thanks,
Sandro
I can make time Thursday at 1:45pm EST (7:45pm your time). I will make sure I am on skype -- at patrick_mccrann so you can find me. Looking forward to it!
Hi Patrick,
You probably chatted to the other person in Zurich, Switzerland. We are two ENs here now
Thursday is not doable for me, sorry. Can you suggest any other day for chatting? What about today (Tuesday)? I could make it from 7 pm my time (CET).
Otherwise I will have to post you my questions here and hope for a good answer
Cheers,
Sandro
Hi Patrick,
How is it going? I will start Week 11 of the IM training plan on Monday. On Saturday of Week 11 is the Big Day. I will have a relay race on that day with my local club (approx. 8 miles to run for me). So I wanted to ask what you think about moving the Big Day to Sunday and take Monday of Week 12 off to recover. Any better advises or objections to my idea?
Thanks a lot for your help
Sandro