Long run for me today. I did 1:40 this morning covering 10.8mi including 30min z2. Then I had to stop to get to work. So at launch I went and got another 20 min covering 2.3mi. I think that I am going to stick with this format on Thursdays and just stretch the second run out longer. It will allow me to get the 2:40 or so of daily vol in without: having to get up early and therefor not getting enough sleep and being a jerk the rest of the day or showing up to work so late that people start to talk. It was the first time I have ever tried a double run day and I liked it. I still felt loose and was able to get up to "speed" quickly. So I am going to stick with it for this race. I've run 7 marathons and an ironman run in the he past 6 years. I don't think that I need the confidence boost of covering 16 or 18mi in a single session. I know what it feels like and know that I can do it. So there. Might be famous last words. We will find out in about 8 weeks.
Have a great time at camp folks. I too am envious.
@MR....I've arrived, am in my room, and have your Pitstop and CO2....text or call me at 2108723331 or I'll see you tonight? I also have a repair stand in my trunk if you want for bike assembly!
Hour in the pool. 1000m warm up 3x100m(20), 3x100(15), 3x100(10) with the first 100 at Tpace+ a few, next 100 @ Tpace and the 3rd 100 at. Tpace minus a few. Then a similar format with 50m's but with more rounds. 2550m total. I was pretty stiff from yesterday's run feat but feel much better after the pool. Looks like I will be able to get about 8 hrs of work in this weekend. Not everything on the plan but close enough. Hope that camp is going well!
Today was my biggest swim since IMFL. 4225yds in 1:15:31 done as 8 x 528yd sets.... Was definitely fading on the last 3... Gotta woke that swim endurance back. Resting up for the weekend.
Day 1 done, and it was eventful. 8.5 hours on the course. Not kidding. Emily and I just finished our abbreviated brick run. Jeff and Shaughn are still running. Cool, foggy and no real winds in the morning. Mostly group ride to first sag stop at 30. At that point, we started riding. With SS at the front, the group qucikly fractured. At one point, it was just us, I was on his wheel, and I was holding almost 200. "Simmons, how many watts u pushing?" "240." He's a beast. Day went south when Shaughn missed a turn, I chased after him, we turned around, and by the time we got back to the correct turn, the peloton was coming toward us. Half made the correct turn, half went straight, and the result was an ambulance ride. A nice guy named Eric spent the day in the ER, but is ok. That cost us a lot of time. By the time we got to Richards, the sun was out, wind was howling. Miles 50-80 contain some real tough parts, made pretty brutal with the wind. Going up a hill (not steep, but some long ones) on medieval chip seal, into a 20 mph wind creates some high-watt, low-mph situations. At Mile 100, we re-grouped and rode into town as one big deterrent to the plentiful drivers. My "work" lap was 77 miles (after sag stop, before the last 10 admin miles). Averaged 19.8, IF of .69 during that lap, but Plenty of stop signs and stop lights brought down both numbers, but it felt pretty good. Tomorrow should hurt. But I'm glad I got on this course because this one should not be compared to FL or AZ. It's like WI without the steeps.
Did my 5k time trial yesterday. Felt relaxed for first mile then started upping the pace through the remainder as I felt I could handle. Thought I was going to significantly improve my time based on how I was feeling but ended up with a 5 sec improvement from 4 weeks ago. I'll take it. Surprisingly, that 5 seconds bumped my up to the next vdot. Uh oh. All that z2 work is going to hurt. Does anyone else feel like there is a ridiculous jump from z1 to z2 as far as pace goes? Almost a minute and a half between z1 and 2.
Swim time trial today 14:52. That's about a 20 second improvement! Overall, looks like the training plan is working
@MR good update.... sounds like an epic day.... 8.5hrs whether your riding all of it or not is a long day to spend on the course.... Glad Eric is OK.... Tomorrow should be smoother... Agree that there is a tough 15 mile section in there around 50-80 miles , rough pavement and winds usually...
@ Tom Box.... new FTP , Vdot, and swim TT I'll say its working for you.... Congrats and good skill building the far ontop of that new fast! Smoking swim time... approaching fish mode there!
Took a couple more days off this week for a total of 3!!!! Yikes!! Usually I have 0-1. Just feeling run down and very tired, so decided to focus on sleep and full rest.
Good thing I did! Felt awesome this morn on my 90 min trainer ride. Life this weekend is only allowing for 90 min Sat and Sun. That's it. Oh well. Did a nice warm up and 2x15 at high zone 3 and 3x5 at high zone 4. Did not want to stop at 90! Fit in an easy 5 mile run while my son had swim lessons. WINDY and COLD...real feel of -10!!!!??? Brutal. I'm all done with this crap winter. Oh wait, it's spring. Whatever. That Texas heat is going to be a shocker!!
Hope camp is going well and lookign forward to more recaps of the course etc.
Keep up all the good work peeps!!!!! You all motivate me more than you know...
hour run before my 4yr old's first soccer game of the season.
Then planned 3hr trainer ride as it is raining here targeting 6x20(5). 90 min in I couldn't stand the boredom and bailed. Got off the bike and just sat on the floor for 15min. Told wife I didn't think I could do it. She pep talked me and I got back out there and did the other 90. I have never spent so much time on a trainer. It takes a special mindset. My hat is off to all the cold weather folks out there.
I am praying for dry weather as I have 3 or 4 hrs of work to get in tomorrow on the bike. If it has to be on the trainer I am going to need to break it up and give myself sanity breaks maybe every hour.
@IMTX campers..... sure hope you got some good weather for today.... looking forward to the days reports!
Long bike today.... 4hrs @ .80 broken down to .82 for the first 3hrs and then .77 for the last hour... Yes it was hard but not nearly as hard as last weeks 3.5hr ride I did on friday right after V02 work on thursday.... I really respond much better on my rides if they are NOT back to back.....
What a difference a day makes. After yesterday's tough, eye-opener of a ride, Coach P told us last night that the course ran brutal yesterday and that conditions were the worst he's seen in many rides on the course. Winds tend to calm a little in May. And today the wind was calmer. Whew! Started off with decent legs, but I felt rollers on the first 30 that I didn't even notice yesterday. At the 30-mile sag, I was convinced to abandon my 70-mile planned hack and head back up to Richards to go big. Off we went. After 10 miles, it was just the familiar 3 of us - me, Simmons, and Dora. I'm sure she's in the ballpark or better than my 3.7 w/kg and SS' 3.8, because we tend to ride similar pace and she has no problem at all hangin with the boys (if not leaving us in the dust for a bit). A few miles outside of Richards, Coach P comes blasting by. At the sag in Richards, I mentioned that 65-80 were brutal yesterday and that I need to master that section before race day. He basically says, let's go do it. For the next 50 miles, the 3 of us got a personal lesson on how to tame the second half of the course. Needless to say, Coach knows how to execute, and the hands-on lesson alone was worth the cost of camp. At the long hill at Mile 70, I started pushing to keep up with our leaders. Coach admonishes me from behind, "Do not go after them . . . How many watts are you pushing?" "296." I'm pushing 330 on your wheel - small chain ring now!" Yes, Coach rides in the small and went sub-5 on the course using the small. For the rest of the way, he wouldn't let any of us push big watts and showed us how to conquer a rolling, windy course via even power. Sounds easy on paper, but it's work and discipline to execute it. By the end, we had turned yesterday's time-loss second half into a mostly-maintain second half. The big takeaways: the course can be fast if the winds aren't brutal. It rolls pretty much throughout, so discipline and good, constant shifting are key. Taliaferro (Miles 45-50) has bad roads and 2-3 decent climbs, one of which is a small chainring climb. Road conditions on Miles 55-60 are terrible, but it's just a few miles. And Miles 65-80 are just tough, but if you ride it smart and maintain mental toughness, the last 30 reward you with smooth, fast downhill roads if you still have the legs, neck and back to hammer it in aero. Big dinner tonight, 15-17 mies of running on the course tomorrow. Hope everyone has a gret weekend of training.
Well while ya'all are playin around at Camp ....I was playing catch up...and put in my big day today...and was very pleased by the day...nothing great numbers wize...but it was a steady effort through and through...and I felt great and in control the entire time...3k swim/65bike/6 run....1/3:40/52...again nothing flashy just steady and workish...windy as all get out here too...
My camp is done. Will have to miss the swim recon and long run tomorrow, to drive to my hometown for my granddad's funeral.
I modified camp a little in light of this, and did brick runs both days, a little longer than usual RR bricks. I rode the full course both days as well. Bricks of 8.5 mi yesterday and 7mi today (will upload to Strava when I get home....310XT and laptop don't communicate?. No troubles running off the bike, but it was only lower 80's in mid-afternoon both days. It will not feel the same if it's 90+. The run course (only can do most of it during camp) is nice because some of it is on a running trail (concrete) that is through tall trees and essentially completely shady. I'm told part of the run is in the streets (no shade probably) and part is in the shade on this trail. It's very flat. Seems like most folks like the run course, and I would agree.
MR has summarized the ride/conditions very well already, so I won't do much more than say x2. Today was quite a bit "easier" due to less wind. The tailwind out of town is less of course, but the lack of headwind coming back is a good trade in my book. It was more humid today, but I'll take that over the wind as well. The sections up north with chip seal + headwind appear to be where people will make huge mistakes. Yesterday, it was not uncommon for me to be sitting on 160W into a headwind on chipseal at 9-12MPH. If I did not have a PM or didn't realize the cost of shifting down and hammering those segments at 200W+ (which I COULD do), I would do that and ruin my run. I would say "self....you are going 11MPH...unacceptable...pick it up wimp". I expect to get passed on these sections and will just let it happen. I will sit on my number regardless of speed....period.
Other than the chipseal segments up north, the road surfaces are very good (and not swept currently) and you can absolutely fly on many long stretches. I know also that in the scheme of IM races that this one is considered "flat", and I'm sure it is, relatively speaking. But, it is not as flat as I expected. The rollers up north are real and you can make some big mistakes (too hard up, not hard enough down). That said, my w/kg is only 3.0 and there are only 2-3 short hills where I ran out of gears (running compact cranks) and had to slow my cadence to <80 to keep watts down. I do have to fight with myself to use the small chainring on many of them, as they are just a little too steep for the big chainring for me. It's so easy to just say to myself that it's not worth shifting....I'm almost over it.....but I need to do it if I need to do it! There are enough hills that smart racing the EN way will pay huge dividends IMHO. </p>
My TSS was way too high yesterday (~315), but IF was only .68. Some of this was all the noodling in and out of town, as we needed to regroup to avoid getting lost. This puzzled me a bit though, so I rode at same goal as yesterday, 0.70IF. Rode almost entirely solo today. But, I tried to avoid going above that more than 5-10 watts and focused on keeping watts at 156 on the nose. Ended up with IF of 0.68 for the whole ride, but I think if the roads were blocked to avoid all the stops/starts coming out of town and traffic was a little further away from the road, it would have been closer to 0.7. TSS yesterday 315 with ride time ~6:15. TSS today 295, with ride time of 5:59, avg speed 18.3MPH.
So, I think (input requested) that I should target 0.7. With less starts/stops in and out of town, I think TSS will be closer to 285, which is in the "green zone" on the TSS chart for me. 295 is in the yellow (and I am not a strong runner). Will test this again in RR rides, and try to find ~3000ft of climbing in my RR rides henceforth.
Hope that helps those of you couldn't make it to camp. Keep posting and working. Eight weeks from today!
Jeff, Mike, Chris, Emily and I just wrapped up camp. Was invaluable! Great Coach, great people, great information, great schedule.....small price to pay for so much good information and quality training time to get to know the course. Everyone at camp came with their game face, rolled up their sleeves and just worked! Was great to be a part of that.
This morning, Coach took the group to the run course. Was cooler, 58 degrees, breezy and cloudy....perfect for running. Thought my legs would be dead after last two days of chasing Roberts around on the bike, but somehow they came through reasonably well:
Run course is a flat loop that goes in and out of shaded areas as well as wide open, solid concrete sections that will expose you directly to the sun. I found it pleasant but will most likely have a very different experience come race day under the sun and 95+ degree Heat Indexes. I would read and re-read the post from Jeff and Mike regarding the bike course......very good/relevant/important info.....
We took the rest of you with us in spirit. For those of us experiencing camp, we expect to be back on track with the rest of you by Wed or Thurs for Week 5 of 12.
@ the Campers..... Sounds like a huge success! The education Bump is immediate but you guys will be feeling that fitness bump soon..... Awesome!
@Jimmy ... sounds like your Wife is really cracking the whip now... WTG on the big week!
BIG FAT DNF on a Half Marathon for me today (This is my 3rd DNF race, OLY cause of the cold, IMCOZ due to abdomen and back pain and now today).... Was just a "C" training race that my Heather really wanted to do and very near by.... My plan was to run easy to the start 2.5 miles from home.... Run the race @ maybe 95% going for a 1:38ish finish time (I'm capable of very low 1:30's and PR is 1:28:35) .... Then run the 2.5 miles home easy.... The warm up run went ok , but felt a few muscles in my right quad and VMO that didnt feel right... Felt it immediately when the race started but just went easy figuring I'd warm up... slowly got worse.... stopped and stretched it out a few times.... no improvement... called it a day at 2.4 miles.... went home took advil, fed and walked the dogs.... then walked back to the finish to wait for Heather 2:05:51 (she runs them all in that window give or take 2 min) then walked home.... Logged 11miles with 5miles of running the rest was walking.... I did continue to feel those muscles while walking so it was a good call....
Feeling better already... the rest of the day off my feet... ok maybe walk the dogs after dinner... tomorrow swim only.... 2 massages this week... we'll see how things feel on tuesday.... Feel pretty good about it since its muscular and NOT tendon or joints..... I did bike really hard yesterday and brick but the brick felt great.... Not gonna blame the bike since about this time last year I ran a HM PR the day after a 4:40 Trainer ride....
The important thing was I listened to what was happening and took action keeping my eye on whats important.... Showing up @ IMTX healthy! Like all Type "A" peeps this is difficult but I'm getting pretty good at it! Its almost like a whole nother discipline.
Comments
Long run for me today. I did 1:40 this morning covering 10.8mi including 30min z2. Then I had to stop to get to work. So at launch I went and got another 20 min covering 2.3mi.
I think that I am going to stick with this format on Thursdays and just stretch the second run out longer. It will allow me to get the 2:40 or so of daily vol in without: having to get up early and therefor not getting enough sleep and being a jerk the rest of the day or showing up to work so late that people start to talk.
It was the first time I have ever tried a double run day and I liked it. I still felt loose and was able to get up to "speed" quickly. So I am going to stick with it for this race. I've run 7 marathons and an ironman run in the he past 6 years. I don't think that I need the confidence boost of covering 16 or 18mi in a single session. I know what it feels like and know that I can do it. So there. Might be famous last words. We will find out in about 8 weeks.
Have a great time at camp folks. I too am envious.
SBR for me today......
Swim 2 x 1000 very easy pace
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/464378923
Bike 24 minutes of V02 then 16minutes @ .82
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/464476707#
Run... 3.7 mile brick
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/464473725#
@MR....I've arrived, am in my room, and have your Pitstop and CO2....text or call me at 2108723331 or I'll see you tonight? I also have a repair stand in my trunk if you want for bike assembly!
1000m warm up
3x100m(20), 3x100(15), 3x100(10) with the first 100 at Tpace+ a few, next 100 @ Tpace and the 3rd 100 at. Tpace minus a few.
Then a similar format with 50m's but with more rounds.
2550m total.
I was pretty stiff from yesterday's run feat but feel much better after the pool.
Looks like I will be able to get about 8 hrs of work in this weekend. Not everything on the plan but close enough.
Hope that camp is going well!
Can't wait to hear from the campers in Texas.
Swim time trial today 14:52. That's about a 20 second improvement! Overall, looks like the training plan is working
Keep the camp reports coming.
with y'all in spirit!
@ Tom Box.... new FTP , Vdot, and swim TT I'll say its working for you.... Congrats and good skill building the far ontop of that new fast! Smoking swim time... approaching fish mode there!
Good thing I did! Felt awesome this morn on my 90 min trainer ride. Life this weekend is only allowing for 90 min Sat and Sun. That's it. Oh well.
Hope camp is going well and lookign forward to more recaps of the course etc.
Keep up all the good work peeps!!!!! You all motivate me more than you know...
Then planned 3hr trainer ride as it is raining here targeting 6x20(5). 90 min in I couldn't stand the boredom and bailed. Got off the bike and just sat on the floor for 15min. Told wife I didn't think I could do it. She pep talked me and I got back out there and did the other 90.
I have never spent so much time on a trainer. It takes a special mindset. My hat is off to all the cold weather folks out there.
I am praying for dry weather as I have 3 or 4 hrs of work to get in tomorrow on the bike. If it has to be on the trainer I am going to need to break it up and give myself sanity breaks maybe every hour.
@Annie .... Nice job listening to your body!
@IMTX campers..... sure hope you got some good weather for today.... looking forward to the days reports!
Long bike today.... 4hrs @ .80 broken down to .82 for the first 3hrs and then .77 for the last hour... Yes it was hard but not nearly as hard as last weeks 3.5hr ride I did on friday right after V02 work on thursday.... I really respond much better on my rides if they are NOT back to back.....
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/465673239#
Followed up my ride with a quick brick.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/465671719#
Well while ya'all are playin around at Camp
....I was playing catch up...and put in my big day today...and was very pleased by the day...nothing great numbers wize...but it was a steady effort through and through...and I felt great and in control the entire time...3k swim/65bike/6 run....1/3:40/52...again nothing flashy just steady and workish...windy as all get out here too...
Great job out there everyone....
My camp is done. Will have to miss the swim recon and long run tomorrow, to drive to my hometown for my granddad's funeral.
I modified camp a little in light of this, and did brick runs both days, a little longer than usual RR bricks. I rode the full course both days as well. Bricks of 8.5 mi yesterday and 7mi today (will upload to Strava when I get home....310XT and laptop don't communicate?
. No troubles running off the bike, but it was only lower 80's in mid-afternoon both days. It will not feel the same if it's 90+
. The run course (only can do most of it during camp) is nice because some of it is on a running trail (concrete) that is through tall trees and essentially completely shady. I'm told part of the run is in the streets (no shade probably) and part is in the shade on this trail. It's very flat. Seems like most folks like the run course, and I would agree.
MR has summarized the ride/conditions very well already, so I won't do much more than say x2. Today was quite a bit "easier" due to less wind. The tailwind out of town is less of course, but the lack of headwind coming back is a good trade in my book. It was more humid today, but I'll take that over the wind as well. The sections up north with chip seal + headwind appear to be where people will make huge mistakes. Yesterday, it was not uncommon for me to be sitting on 160W into a headwind on chipseal at 9-12MPH. If I did not have a PM or didn't realize the cost of shifting down and hammering those segments at 200W+ (which I COULD do), I would do that and ruin my run. I would say "self....you are going 11MPH...unacceptable...pick it up wimp". I expect to get passed on these sections and will just let it happen. I will sit on my number regardless of speed....period.
Other than the chipseal segments up north, the road surfaces are very good (and not swept currently) and you can absolutely fly on many long stretches. I know also that in the scheme of IM races that this one is considered "flat", and I'm sure it is, relatively speaking. But, it is not as flat as I expected. The rollers up north are real and you can make some big mistakes (too hard up, not hard enough down). That said, my w/kg is only 3.0 and there are only 2-3 short hills where I ran out of gears (running compact cranks) and had to slow my cadence to <80 to keep watts down. I do have to fight with myself to use the small chainring on many of them, as they are just a little too steep for the big chainring for me. It's so easy to just say to myself that it's not worth shifting....I'm almost over it.....but I need to do it if I need to do it! There are enough hills that smart racing the EN way will pay huge dividends IMHO. </p>
My TSS was way too high yesterday (~315), but IF was only .68. Some of this was all the noodling in and out of town, as we needed to regroup to avoid getting lost. This puzzled me a bit though, so I rode at same goal as yesterday, 0.70IF. Rode almost entirely solo today. But, I tried to avoid going above that more than 5-10 watts and focused on keeping watts at 156 on the nose. Ended up with IF of 0.68 for the whole ride, but I think if the roads were blocked to avoid all the stops/starts coming out of town and traffic was a little further away from the road, it would have been closer to 0.7. TSS yesterday 315 with ride time ~6:15. TSS today 295, with ride time of 5:59, avg speed 18.3MPH.
So, I think (input requested) that I should target 0.7. With less starts/stops in and out of town, I think TSS will be closer to 285, which is in the "green zone" on the TSS chart for me. 295 is in the yellow (and I am not a strong runner). Will test this again in RR rides, and try to find ~3000ft of climbing in my RR rides henceforth.
Hope that helps those of you couldn't make it to camp. Keep posting and working. Eight weeks from today!
Jeff, Mike, Chris, Emily and I just wrapped up camp. Was invaluable! Great Coach, great people, great information, great schedule.....small price to pay for so much good information and quality training time to get to know the course. Everyone at camp came with their game face
, rolled up their sleeves and just worked! Was great to be a part of that.
This morning, Coach took the group to the run course. Was cooler, 58 degrees, breezy and cloudy....perfect for running. Thought my legs would be dead after last two days of chasing Roberts around on the bike
, but somehow they came through reasonably well:
http://www.strava.com/activities/123290503
Run course is a flat loop that goes in and out of shaded areas as well as wide open, solid concrete sections that will expose you directly to the sun. I found it pleasant but will most likely have a very different experience come race day under the sun and 95+ degree Heat Indexes. I would read and re-read the post from Jeff and Mike regarding the bike course......very good/relevant/important info.....
We took the rest of you with us in spirit. For those of us experiencing camp, we expect to be back on track with the rest of you by Wed or Thurs for Week 5 of 12.
Have a great weekend!
SS
one of the biggest weeks i have ever put out.
@Jimmy ... sounds like your Wife is really cracking the whip now... WTG on the big week!
BIG FAT DNF on a Half Marathon for me today (This is my 3rd DNF race, OLY cause of the cold, IMCOZ due to abdomen and back pain and now today).... Was just a "C" training race that my Heather really wanted to do and very near by.... My plan was to run easy to the start 2.5 miles from home.... Run the race @ maybe 95% going for a 1:38ish finish time (I'm capable of very low 1:30's and PR is 1:28:35) .... Then run the 2.5 miles home easy.... The warm up run went ok , but felt a few muscles in my right quad and VMO that didnt feel right... Felt it immediately when the race started but just went easy figuring I'd warm up... slowly got worse.... stopped and stretched it out a few times.... no improvement... called it a day at 2.4 miles.... went home took advil, fed and walked the dogs.... then walked back to the finish to wait for Heather 2:05:51 (she runs them all in that window give or take 2 min) then walked home.... Logged 11miles with 5miles of running the rest was walking.... I did continue to feel those muscles while walking so it was a good call....
Feeling better already... the rest of the day off my feet... ok maybe walk the dogs after dinner... tomorrow swim only.... 2 massages this week... we'll see how things feel on tuesday.... Feel pretty good about it since its muscular and NOT tendon or joints..... I did bike really hard yesterday and brick but the brick felt great.... Not gonna blame the bike since about this time last year I ran a HM PR the day after a 4:40 Trainer ride....
The important thing was I listened to what was happening and took action keeping my eye on whats important.... Showing up @ IMTX healthy! Like all Type "A" peeps this is difficult but I'm getting pretty good at it! Its almost like a whole nother discipline.