That let make it real 20 days and counting.
Well in just a few weeks we will be sitting down over dinner at The Cowboy. That is a reminder could you please make sure you have clearly followed then dining guidelines, like how many will be going, what you are choosing for dinner and pre paying. This will help me give the restaurant a clear direction. Thank you so much.
Second reminder make sure to send in your biography and best photograph, follow the email that Brenda sent out today.
Second reminder make sure to send in your biography and best photograph, follow the email that Brenda sent out today.
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I tried to go out for an easy recovery run this afternoon but the legs were dead and I ate too much this afternoon, my gut wasn't cooperating. Ran around the block at an EZ pace and didn't quite get to a mile.
Hit up the pool afterwards for 4500 yards, nothing special. Met EN teammate Elizabeth Hornak there and we chatted a little bit. Nothing special about this swim, just putting in some yardage. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/536923047
Does anyone else have any spectators that are interested in buying the VIP spectator package? It looks like if we have 10+, we can get a group deal and I already have 4 potentials. My husband is spoiled now after I won him the VIP package for my last half.. ;-)
I went back to the pond for another early morning OWS today. I did 2 miles in 1:08. I've come to grips with the fact that my swim has markedly slowed this season. Although I haven't really skimped on the swim wko's, I'd made the decision a couple of months ago to focus more on getting distance in at the pool and forgo some of the speed drills so that I can get enough in for the given times. I'm fairly certain that this was the culprit. At this point, I only hope I can find some fast feet to follow on race day
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/537135907
EDIT: Just heard back and with 10 people it would be $225 per person.
I'm doing trainer rides for the mid-week stuff to rest my neck and I'm thinking it was the riding in aero outside that may have set off the shoulder issues so other than this weekend’s 112ml and maybe one last power meter trial I’ll stay inside. The weather has sucked anyway (wind! heat/humidity)
Runs seem "OK" ....I'm doing a modified week due to Army obligations.... but will be doing a full 2.5hr run tonight...its miserably humid and as hot(+) what the race will be. I'm slowly coming to acept a 30+ second heat penalty
@Jen - I'll need to check with my wife and see if she's interested in this.
Getting ready for the Sat. RR. It's starting with the Peaks to Portland swim in Casco Bay, which is conveniently 2.4 miles. Then I'll do two bike loops from my house followed by the run. Unfortunately I'll miss the post race festivities following the Peaks to Portland swim but I'll have to catch up with that group another day.
I did what I hope is the last of the long runs today, even know it wasn't nearly as long as the last few weeks. It took me a good 5-6 miles just to feel warmed up today...don't know if that's good or bad. In any case, I'm hoping for a good RR on Saturday. I've decided to do a planned century ride that is happening in CT. The climbing isn't nearly what I've been training on lately, so it should be different.
Here's today's run
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/538485820
@Chris, sounds like you have a great day lined up Saturday. Enjoy the swim and your ride. Sometimes, getting there early is enough to catch up with folks and see how they are doing. Once you are done with the swim, you can enjoy the rest of the day.
I am going to get the run in first and then meet some local club folks for the first loop of the ride. I will be solo on the second loop as they aren't riding as long as we are that day. I am looking to make some changes to the nutrition strategy in an effort to have a strong performance in LP (strong for me at least
Enjoy this last long ride everyone and stay safe. We are in the home stretch!
Tonight's run felt great. After the last two Thursday runs being a little rough for different reasons it was really nice to have one where I was able to hit my targets again.
I've been hitting all the workouts just haven't had time to post. Tuesday did the interval run on the treadmill. Did 3 X 1 at Z4. Only did a warmup and the main set. I hit the pool later in the day and got in 2100 yards. I had to quit after because my shoulder was bothering me again. I stretched/strained/pulled something when I crashed 11 days ago and it's still not quite right. I'll test it out again tomorrow during the swim.
Yesterday I hit the treadmill again for a run before work. I got in 5.67 miles including 4.5 at MP. I ran early because I wanted to do some extra work on the bike in the afternoon. I ended up having a great bike ride in the afternoon. I extended it to 2 hours. Got in 2 X 15 @ 1.03 IF and another 55 minutes of ABP time. Overall IF for the ride was .87 http://connect.garmin.com/activity/538208014
Hitting the bike pretty hard yesterday I knew I might not be able to master the run today. Temperature and humidity were milder today than the last couple of weeks so that was in my favor. Similar to Brad it took me several miles before my legs felt ready to work. Did 8 EZ miles and then progressively increased the pace for another 6 miles until I reached HMP for the last mile. Felt good to nail this heading into the taper. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/538798635
Heading up to LP tomorrow afternoon. Going to hit Mirror Lake for a swim and then do the RR on the bike course Saturday morning. Weather is forecasted to be pretty nice. Looking forward to the final big bike weekend before the taper!
Good luck everyone with your workouts this weekend!
Z1 10-10:30
Z2 9:00
Z3 8:30 Only 78-80deg/68%humid (nice by comparison to late)
1 10:13
2 9:36
3 9:50
4 9:57
5 9:58
6 9:37
7 9:49
8 9:18
9 9:02
10 9:01
11 8:56
12 8:32
13 8:49
14 10:02
14.22 11:00 2:15 TOT 14.22mls AVE:9:30 (IM goal 4:30 BTW)
Felt pretty "OK" some IT band tightness but not bad only tough miles where 12-13 as I tried to pick up the pace -a bit- while climbing a pretty good grade.
NO swim tomorrow ....maybe in a couple days I'll try again.
Thanx for tha MOJO
AWESOME work everyone!
This week has been great. I've hit all my workouts but haven't had time to get on here and share anything. Monday's swim was in the pool. Received a few pointers from my masters swim coach - same thing he's been telling me since I started with him. I felt like I was flailing and probably looked like I was drowning. Frustrated, I finished up my 4000 yds and went for a super hot, not so fun run.
Tuesday I did my run intervals before headoing out to swim with my local tri club. I finally set my mind that I was going to swim 5 loops - that should be close to the full distance which I had not done til this point in open water. I concentrated on nothing but what my coach had told me the day before and wouldn't you know it, I learned how to swim this week! 2.62 miles averaging 1:34/100yds. Again, I had to question the accuracy of my Garmin but was so excited to see these numbers. My fastest OWS swim pace til this week was 1:57/100. So, just to check if it was for real, I went to another local club OWS last night. Stayed in my box and focused on nothing but my own form. Swam 1.6 miles averaging 1:29/100...can it be I actually just learned how to swim this week? HUGE mental win for me here.
Long run was nothing great. 60 minutes at Z1.5, then only 30 minutes sub Z2 and had to end it 15 minutes early to pick up my kiddos from camp, but legs felt good once I got moving.
@Doug - I think I'm also heading up for the day on Saturday to LP also to ride the course for the full RR and brick. Text/call me if you want to try to hook up after (if you are planning to stick around for a bit, surely you'll be done before me with your speedy quick legs) 518-366-6172.
The only place I seem to be having trouble right now is eating enough. I'm constantly hungry but can't put enough in my belly to satisfy the monster and I'm tired of food. Guess there are worse problems to have...
Did OWS #3 of the week this morning. 2 miles (4 loops of .5 mile). My swim hasn't felt great but somehow I'll muddle through it.
I just sat down to go over my RR plan for tomorrow. Just so I understand - are we supposed to ride the first :30 easier like on race day AND are we supposed to do the entire run at Z1 + :30?
Good luck everyone!
I've had MC Hammer stuck in my head since I finished my run this afternoon... Stop, taper time! Overall RR was pretty good. Had some minor stomach issues but I think I know why so I should be fine for race day. How was everyone else's RR?
@Jen, way to get the RR done!
Met up with Ed Croucher and Arun Mather at LP this weekend. Did the swim RR yesterday evening in Mirror Lake and that went well. My pace was what I expected.
Got the Bike/Run portion of the RR done today. Felt really strong throughout both parts. I had a good RR1 so I wanted to experiment today and push the pace a little bit. I ended up with a .73 IF and a TSS of 309 which is pretty high to have a good run off from. I felt great during the run but 6 miles isn't close to a marathon! That bike ride would probably show up around mile 13. Nutrition was spot on today. I feel good going into the taper.
Hope everyone else had a great day.
I did mine yesterday too. I decided to to go with a planned century that they were doing about 1.5 hrs from my house. I was a bit tentative to do it since I had no idea about terrain, etc, but it really worked out well. Although I didn't use their on course nutrition (except water), the bathroom stops and very clearly marked course took some stress out of the equation. Also, having a bunch of other riders on the course (and sometimes in the way), was a good simulation for me.
I decided to be more conservative on the bike since my FTP has definitely taken a hit recently. I'm unsure if it's just come down naturally or from overall fatigue, but nevertheless, I know it's not where it was. I targeted an IF of .69-.70 and the end result came in right on the nose. My VI was 1.045. Climbing wasn't too bad vs what I've been training on - 4800ft. I definitely lost focus in the final 10-15 miles or so and I strayed from targeted NP for those splits, but overall was pretty happy. For nutrition, I still need a little tweaking. I'd been playing with the EN spreadsheet this week to officially count calorie and sodium intake. It calculated me at a higher calorie target than I had been using so I upped it yesterday and my body didn't respond well. I realized this about 2/3 way through the bike and toned it back - but I need to finalize this over the next 2 weeks. I was a bit disappointed that this "century" ride was actually 94 miles, but I figured that was close enough and moved onto my run. I ran into EN teammate, Kim Dubord there who suggested a closed Bike trail run that I found after I hopped off the bike and it was perfect. The temps had ramped up by then to mid to hi 80's so my HR was elevated. I ran 3.3 miles at z1+30sec and then 3.3 miles at z1. Felt pretty good aside from elevated HR.
Overall feeling much more confident and ready. Happy taper to everyone.
Glad to see everyone getting their RR done.
My RR turned out to be an all day event. The Peaks to Portland swim in the morning meant that I was going to be delayed starting the bike until afternoon, later than I wanted but coach R suggested that it would be ideal to utilize that swim race as part of the RR instead of pushing the RR to Sunday.
I treated the start of the day as close to race day as possible; up early, ate & then got down to East End beach in Portland to get my kayaker set up with her gear. She paddled over to Peaks Island while I took the ferry. Met fellow EN team member Tim Cronk over on Peaks, never did get to catch up with him again after the race though. Swim was great. Cold and not used to swimming through seaweed but it was nice and steady and only some chop in the middle. Having a kayaker do the sighting for you (& sighting off them) is nice but I did practice sighting as well. The finish buoy and arch were obscured by some moored boats so I had a little extra hook to through in at the end to get back on course. Overall very pleased with the time of 1:03 for a 2.4 mile swim. I'm pretty sure I had some help from the currents at the end. I feel confident now that I can hold back a little and still be within my target of sub 1:20 for LP. http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/539794807
After getting home it was time to start the bike. I was hoping the start was not going to be indicative of the ride; while talking to my wife in the driveway the front tire just blew. New tubes and tires earlier in the week and I must have pinched the tube during install. No other mishaps on the ride. I used home as special needs and did two ~50 mile loops from the house in just a little over 6 hours. Not as much climbing as I would like but I needed to keep the route close to home. Hydration was much better this time but I still need to get a little more fueling in. I'm going to revisit the spreadsheet and see what I need to modify.
The run after was rough, I just couldn't cool down. HR wasn't an issue but I think I should have started added another 15-30 seconds to the pace due to the heat.
Based on yesterday, I'm planning on backing the intensity down on the first loop of the ride and starting the run a bit more conservative. A little more food on the bike would be good as well. Based on the fact that I was only down 2-3 lbs at the end of the day yesterday I think hydration was pretty close.
Congrats to everyone on getting the RRs into the done column. It sounds like some great effort went on yesterday.
@Larry, sorry to hear about the bee sting. That sounds like it could have derailed things for a bit.
I had a good day too. Nutrition and salt tabs came together and I even stopped to use the bathroom twice. Last night I was super tired. Anyone else really feeling the fatigue? And, not just tired, really, really sore. Feeling pretty good today. Had to get a swim in so it wasn't total rest but I feel much less sore. And, I did just have a good nap
Heading out of town for a work trip tomorrow. Going to hit a spin class in before I do and plan to find a pool near the hotel. Happy taper everyone.
Got in a great RR ride yesterday in LP. Actually rode the course - did 101+ miles (skipped the long out/back on 2nd loop) and a 6 mile run. Nutrition and hydration felt good. I did feel I needed a slight pick up (didn't have any coke on yesterday's ride) with about 20 miles left. I stayed on my nutrition, hydration and salt and powered through. I'm looking for a little something, sugar maybe, or might just be a coke in my Bike Special Needs bag to be saved for the last 20 miles. Run felt pretty good. I really struggled the first mile to go slow. I was able to slow down to Z1 by mile 3 but not quite the Z1+30 pace prescribed. I just feel like I might as well be walking at that a pace. Legs felt OK but 6 miles is a far cry from the 26 in 2 weeks.
Was a great surprise to run into Doug J and Arun yesterday and get to hang a bit at the beach after a long day's work. The water felt great!!
My legs are more tired and sore today than they have been on any other long training ride. Not sure what the difference was but I'm feeling it much more as well as in different places (more glutes than ever before too).
I nailed the rest day today - have done nothing!!!!
And as for the improvement in swimming, it's all in the hip rotation. Just took me a while to put it all together.
My coach's reaction: "Thanks for finally listening."
Great job on the RRs everyone. So jealous of you guys who got to LP to train! Got mine in on Saturday and it went pretty well. I tried eating more on the bike, and I'm not sure that was the right move. Minor GI issues toward the end of the bike and on the run. Will probably tune that back down on race day.
Does anyone know if there is a good resource to see the mirror lake water temps? IM has a link to their facebook page on the IMLP site, buy it takes you to the 2013 thread.
For those of you that were in Lake Placid this past weekend, who are they doing with that road work on route 73?
Thanks.
RR Report:
Late start (No surprise there)....
1st hour saw goofy numbers on PWR MTR so decided to re-do a Cal ride (in full race gear and full bottles etc)....OK....now #s really goofy.....circled around (lite rain at this point and tried again....."error"....WTF. Tried riding a few miles anyway and noticed the readings stop after bumps...checked the sensors.....not the problem....rode s'more then looked and meter jiggling all over -I hadn’t locked it on the mount -Duh! OK....(meant cal was bad too).... oh and now the sky had opened up huge rain dump had to stop -even cars pulled over due to lack of visibility...... Re tried cal after....ERROR Gerrrrrr..... wind sensor port had gotten wet..... eventually got a good calibration and finished the last 88miles w/o issues.
Way too many stop/starts.
Peed at least 5 times (got off bike)
fought bad winds -kept checking tires as it felt as if riding on flats LOL. Even going down a 4% grade was doing >FTP watts to go 18mph! -never had tailwind in the flats so it was never a help.
Never had much full sun -so that helped but unlike my race which looks like it will be 92 and cloudless.
6:30 to go 113 miles (not counting ~20 min of delays/bottle exchanges and pee breaks)
Felt like I could have gone a bit harder but the wind made it hard to judge proper pacing -mostly used HR
Garmin recorded everything but wont upload ?!
Run -first mile reeeely hard to keep pace down! but after 10 n 1/2 min I looked to see how far and the 910 said 57 feet? time was going....pace was working... so I stopped and started a new run for 5 miles. As it turned out the short run never saved to Garmin and the 5 mile run uploaded just fine....what up?
Did 4 miles at 10:10-20 and 1 last mile at 8:50.
Run felt good...no major aches. -Did have to hit the outhouse for a bit of a squirty poo...not sure if it was related to the large volumes of fluid/sugar (I'm usually not as consistent as I was that day) or that I had milk/cereal -I normally have instant oatmeal pre big WKO -not sure why I did that. I did have No GI distress at all up to that point.
I guess overall good. Don't feel wasted. A little tendonitus in outside L calf.....
Under cooked bike= felt like I could do the run at goal..... (whether that = overall time goal .....? we'll see)
@David - Maybe not looking at the calendar helps... I'm feeling surprisingly relaxed :-) I'm sure when I get on the plane to NY on Saturday things will change though.
Does anyone have a spare bike helmet that I can borrow for the race? I had completely forgotten about the restrictions on helmets until I was reading someone else's race report and they had to get a new helmet bc they didn't have the proper sticker - our euro helmets are not as safe apparently. I might end up buying a new helmet while I'm in the US but it would be good to have a backup.
For those at the pointy end of things, it looks like they've dropped the number of Kona slots from 60 to 50.