Week 18...3 To Go!
Well Boys and Girls, this is it! We made it to our final race rehearsal week. One last week to make gains and then we taper into race day. I know many of you are feeling the effect of accumulated fatigue, I am too, but the benefits will will be shown in less than 3 weeks. Now to get to race day HEALTHY! Listen to your bodies, if they are screaming rest, then listen.
Don't forget about Coach Rich's Race Webinar on Wednesday evening. If you haven't registered yet, go here and sign up.
Don't forget about Coach Rich's Race Webinar on Wednesday evening. If you haven't registered yet, go here and sign up.
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A lot of us posted about the cumulative fatigue, and the need to back off on the Sunday ride. I've been trying to manage my efforts so that each workout gets its full due effort. While I did have some fatigue, both total body and within my legs yesterday, it was actually *planned* fatigue. I've been making some tweaks to the timing of workouts the past three weeks. I took two Sundays off; I moved the "Sunday" rides to Thursday, I did the long runs on Monday, and I did a total of 12 runs in the past 4 weeks. Last week I went bike heavy, with 4 bikes, but the 4th was on Sunday as a pure recovery ride. Felt good to just look at the scenery for a bit instead of the road below my aerobars.
And today, I did last week's long run as a split run. The week before, I;d gone 16.5 miles in 2:29; today it was 12 mi/1:38, then 6 mi/54:33. Total about 2:33 for 18 mi. Last time I tried to do an 18 miles run here, it took me 2:49. The morning run started with 30 min warm-up then 7 miles @ MP, then 2 miles with what I had left - a little slower than MP. The afternoon was tough only because of the route I took. My legs were not tired or sore from the morning, but the first two miles went up several steep climbs, which I then had to slam down at the end. Also, the elevation was 1500' higher than the morning. But I remembered Coach P's admonition - it's better to get in quality miles in a split run, than have to slog thru LRP for one continuous 18 miles run.
I'll be doing the RR on Thursday, cause I feel two weeks is a bit too close to race day for that wko. Also, Friday will be a travel day for me, (flying to LA in the evening), so I'll do the swim RR that morning. THAT ought to be interesting. Saturday off, then Sunday I'll do Thursday's long run, hopefully on the beach. Making this week run heavy - probably 40 miles.
Don't have an answer for you Peter, good that you feel better.
Did the run before my bike this morning, felt great but didn't try to hit the zone 3 return just stayed with the zone 2 stuff. I typically get tweeked if I do too much zone 3-4 stuff this close to a race. I would rather show up healthy than slightly more trained. The bike FTP stuff got broke up into 4 x 8' at my higher FTP setting instead of the 2 x 15' of the plan. I was able to hit 6-8 watts over the FTP setting of Trainer Road and felt good doing it.
Waiting for Rich's webinar, I thought I'd jot down an RR #2 mini plan, My main goals are (1) nail my fluid and calorie intake and (2) complete the run on time and without fainting. I just mixed my nutrition/fluids for my ride tomorrow - two days early, but Friday I travel to LA for a wedding on Saturday. The course is my old standby, parking at the confluence of two rivers, where there is a toilet/water. Three different out and backs along the rivers, on uncrowded roads and a bike path, either up or down 1-2% gradient, total of 3300' elevation gain. Nutrition plan:
This is actually a bit more fluid and calories than I am used to. At cool temps, I need 16 oz/hour, up to 30 oz when warmish (up to 80). Calories of 250/hour is plenty for me; this plan has over 300/hour on the bike. I'll probably take in less gel and solids than planned.
I feel I'm rounding into form. My TSB has been between -40 and -20 for the past 6ix weeks averaging about 950 TSS/week; my TSS/day has climbed from 75 to 111 during that time. I'm starting to feel healthily anxious, a bit angry and scared, right where I want to be for a good race.
Hi Al,
I don't have anything witty or insightful to add but FWIW "Angry Al" scares ME! Glad you're having such a great build - a sign of great things to come for sure!
RR#2 completed. Temps started @ 48F, to 81 by the end of the bike. Clouds came, and 77 @ end of run. Not unlike an average day @ IM CDA. I accomplished both my goals: took in all my planned fluids (150 oz) and about 1800 cal (300/hour) on the bike; and ran well with no mental blocks, hitting 6 miles in 55 min, which is basically my LRP + 20 sec mile for the first 2 miles. Avg HR 115 for the last 4 miles (see below). Bike data: 107.5 miles/6 hours, with more admin riding than I wanted through towns, corners, stop signs, etc. A fairly easy ride, HR avg/max of 100/114 (!), 243 TSS, 0.64 IF, VI 1.06 (great considering the downhills and admin riding I did), elev gain/loss of 3300'. I only lost a pound, and feel ready to hit my target on race day with wheel cover, aero helmet, catered nutrition, and no obstructions on the road: 6:16.
I had two shakedown events happen: I hit a hidden rock early on , which tore the sidewall of my rear tire, leading to a blowout. Replaced the tube, putting in a boot using a PowerBar wrapper, and topping up the CO2 with a few throws from my back-up mini pump. Also 5 hrs 33 min into the ride, my Garmin stopped picking up my HR. When I started the run, I just went HR-less, but then after 2.15 miles, the screen locked up. I re-set the watch, which brought back my HR, and discovered that my total time was still ticking over; I did lose a few minutes of data except for that total time. Good to know I can do that on the fly.
It doesn't affect me on the bike so I went ahead & did the RR today minus the run. I felt pretty good about my efforts - I ended up going the full 112 miles since I wasn't going tor run and it only added 8 more minutes. So...112 in 6:08:xx. IF of .733 & an VI of 1.04. I got a little behind on my fluids - stomach felt a little sour at one point and I didn't want to keep funneling down Perform. I ended up shorting myself about 1.5 bottles of Perform.
I've got a message out to Patrick in the micro-forum about what to do with the glute/hip issues - skip all running until the race?? Test it in a week??
The run was fine as well. I was able hit my paces and I was drinking 48oz / hour of 50% diluted perform. I also had a gel at mile 4. When I ran it was about 80 degrees out which I am really happy with because I was able to prove to myself that with the right hydration I can run in the heat. I almost always train very early in the morning when it is cool.
I calculated that in total I have had about 14 pounds of liquid today which totally disgusted my wife!
@ David...i'm a little worried if you target that IF on race. That's Probably your "could", not your "should" bike pace.
My race rehearsal went good as well. IF of .697 and a VI of 1.01 which is a big improvement for me. Concentrated on steady power even though I found some hills. Nutrition went great and had to pee more than I ever had on a bike ride. Found a bar that works really well for me (Lara Bar Lemon) easy open wrapper, easy to eat easy on my stomach and tastes great. I did not run due to the concern about my left foot. It felt a bit better this morning but after the ride it was pretty sore. I replaced my cleats last night (they were really worn) and think that might have had something to do with it. I will take it day to day on the running and see where it goes between now and race day.
I just restarted my WKO+ program and entered all my IMCdA Build workouts, I will be glad to see my TSB climb back out of the basement. It was down to -112 right after camp week but has slowly climbed since.
BTW, we all should review all of the info in this page in the next two weeks, to get full advantage of EN knowledge about race execution...the difference between us and other coaching services/teams
started with total fluids of 40 hour then gradually upped the amount as heat rose to 90+. I also used 1 salt tab every half hour until hour 4 then wen to 2 every half as i noticed a big salt stain on my jersey. first 3 hours had a Gel every hour but stopped after hour 3 cause it just tasted like crap and i feel i was getting enough calories with my feed bottles.Rest of the bike was un eventful except the friggin wind which leveled out to a nice 20 mph. got in 102 in 6 hours only at a .67 if ..i think i went a little easy cause i didn't want to charge into the wind and blow up.average heart rate was 120 so so far so good.
did a transition and grabbed 2 100 calorie bottles of perform total 40 oz for the run. Started off a little to fast so walked to get my heart rate down...heat was at 90 now( i need to look at the heat pace for the CDA race cause my heart rate was ave 140 at my long run pace of 10:30 mile..kept walking every mile and finished 6 mi in just over an hour...so all in all i think i learned that my nutrition is pretty good and my fluid intake was good as well ..i only lost 1.5 lbs for the race rehearsal...any comments would be greatly appreciated
thanks
James
p.s. see ya guys soon
Al- as of this morning I am sitting at -36.7 TSB. I haven't been tracking my workouts on WKO+ all season, but yesterday I finally redownloaded the program and spent yesterday populating the calendar since the first of May. I am tracking swim, bike, and run to get a true indication of my fitness/freshness. I estimate my swims at 1 TSS point for each minute of workout. It's not perfect but gets me close without a bunch of calculations.
After two days complete rest following RR and travel to SoCal/wedding, I did this week's 105' run at the Beach. 12 miles in 1:40.45 - I misjudged how fast I would go. I did it as a pure progressive run, trying to do each mile faster than the last. Pancake flat route, increasing numbers of runners on path as morning progressed, providing ample rabbits to catch.Avg HR 122(113-137). Miles: 9:51, 9:08,8:45,8:28,8:29,8:21,8:19,8:06,7:51,7:43,7:26. I felt super fit (2 days rest ... Duh!) and confident as a result. Now, to keep,sharp for the next two weeks. I'm willing to embrace my goal of Race to Win.