Week 14... 7 To Go
Did 4.5 hour ride on saturday per the plan and then bumped yesterdays ABP ride to 4.5 as well to get a bit more volume before this weeks Camp Week. I am doing Camp Week a week early as I have reservations in CdA Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Sundays ride was perfect...great weather, nailed nutrition, and felt strong. A total of 7500 feet elevation this weekend and today still feel good. This mornings swim was good as well and had two people tell me I was swimming strong (good for the ego). So I am jumping to week 15 on the schedule and then will come back to week 14 after recouping from this weekend.
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@Steve-I too am doing Week 15 this week and next week will do #14. Appears the only difference really is that FRI-SUN will be BIG days. Wish I was going to ride the course in CDA--be interested in your thoughts.
Swim this morning was good - 4100 meters...which I'm pretty sure is the biggest swim workout I've ever done. Chalk that up as another milestone.
I was a wrestler in college and after I graduated I figured I was done with my major athletic en devours. I never imagined I'd be attempting something as daunting as a full IM. It still feels ridiculously daunting...but my confidence is slowly building.
David- the Ironman distance IS daunting, but it's also achievable. Do your training, and trust your training! You'll have a great race day.
I'm also switching things up a bit this week. This coming Sunday, I'll be doing a HITS Olympic distance tri in Grand Junction, CO, so that will count as one of my swims, my bike interval workout, and my run interval workout. Thursday is my travel day - heading for 4 weeks in Snowmass CO, living @ 8400' and training @ 6200' for runs, 7900' for swims, and whatever for bikes (routes are between 5500 & 12,100').
So I wanted to get in my long bike and run before I leave. The Pac NW weather is cooperating again, so I did 78 mi in 4 hrs, 47 min. I did 8 intervals varying from 14 min to 41 min, depending on the terrain, for a total of 204' of work time (plan called for 200') @ +/- 0.75 IF. Last week, I kinda bonked, so I paid more attention to nutrition and fluids, and managed to stay in focus until my cool down thru town starting @ 4:30 into the ride. I rode 25 minutes less, but covered the same distance and had the same TSS as last week. I did manage to lose 2.2 pounds, though, meaning I was gating in 16 oz/hour and needed 24/hour. I should know this, as that is what my last IM race plan called for, and what I executed with good results in AZ last fall. I just can't seem to get myself to wake up and drink 6 oz every 15 minutes when I;m out riding by myself. Guess I;ll have to set an alert on the new Garmin Fenix2 watch I just for 5 days ago.
I had a really good swim workout this morning. A local guy has been helping me with my swimming so I am not exactly following the EN workouts. I am finally seeing improvement! Today was lots of 100s and I did a bunch of them in the 1:42 - 1:43 range. A month ago my all out sprint was just under 1:50!
I followed up the swim with the 2x1 mile run which also went well. However, mid-run a friggin bird landed on my head! Does this mean anything? Is it a sign?
Had good but tough swim this morning, made all the yards + optionals. During the run, 6 miles with 2 x 1 mile at Z4, I had a bug fly into my mouth and nearly puked trying to get rid of it. With the added nutrition plan I was able to hit all my paces and averaged nearly Zone 3 for the entire run.
Tomorrow I am doing the run first. Then instead of hitting the 2 x 18's on the trainer, I am getting in a 50 miler before work. The route I do has some longish climbs that will simulate those sets without me suffering in the garage. Also my tri bike is getting a tune today and I want to shake it out before taking it to Couer d'Alene for the two 112's this weekend.
Finished that and went out for the run - which was tough b/c I was freakin' spent from the bike test. But I feel it's important for me to get the volume on my legs since I didn't run much in April.
Just got my bike back after getting it tuned. So instead of doing the trainer ride I decided to get a 50 miler in. Started with the 40 min run hit mostly zone 2 and flirted with zone 3 for a bit. I have noticed the big bikes take a lot out of me for the runs. Then changed for my bike ride. 51 miles 2:48:00, was working on flattening out the hills so my IF stayed around .70.
Looking forward to getting on the race course this weekend and finally putting to rest those butterflies regarding the bike course.
Long run today, as I'm traveling tomorrow. 15 miles, 2:07 (avg pace 8:30). I was not able to power up in the last 2 miles as I did last week. My last six miles went like this (pace/avg HR): 7:46/129, 7:31/135, 8:03/134, 7:57/133, 8:25/131. 9:26/122.
Friday, Swim/Run, Saturday, SS ride up (and down) long hills maybe 90-150 minutes, Sunday, Olympic Distance HITS tri. My wife thinks I'm excited about getting to race again. I guess she;s right.
My HR is steady enough that I can use it as my co-primary metric, along with RPE, for run intervals over 5 minutes and races. I can usually tell within a couple bpm what my HR is based on my RPE; correlation with pace is not nearly as close, due to terrain, temp, hydration differences.
Glad to hear it David! Regarding not hitting Zone 2...with all the bike volume I have been doing I have a hard time hitting my Zone 2 at times also. And I didn't have a run injury.
Strong work, David and Steven!
I am still feeling positive though because I had a monster run yesterday. I ended up doing 19 miles at a 7:02 pace and set a half marathon PR with the work at the end (1:28:37).
Tomorrow is gonna suck because I have to do the long ride on the trainer again
Checking in and feeling groovy. Did my long run on Wednesday PM and much to my disbelief I wasn’t A BIT sore on Thursday. Even did about 3 miles easy with strides just to check in on myself I have been dialing back the intensity a bit (just a TINY bit faster than EP to start with a nice (1'/mile overall) negative split but lack of soreness was an unexpected surprise and a first for me. Trying to figure out what it was so I can bottle it and sell it.
Also, 1st OWS of the year this morning with the local tribe. GLORIOUS! Wish we could start every day with an OWS!
@ All (except Steve S): Camp week cometh! SOOOOSOOOO exciting! (Standiing by for your updates from this weekend Steve!)
@ David: Congrats on getting a long run in – sounds like you’ll be healed up just in time!
David--Glad your entry back into running is going well. Welcome to the world of biking with power, it is a game changer!
Peter--Ouch! I've found certain shorts are better than others and just shorts nothing else also helps. I've found that body glide works good and then cortizone after in areas that have minor chafing or neosporin pain relieve for more major chafing
Steve S-Anxious to hear your RR report and thoughts on the CDA. So cool you went out there. Did mine this morning and will post something in the other thread when I get a chance.
May we all have great rides this weekend!