Sue- I'd say 1st place makes it ok to skip run! Congrats! Decided to not try to make up my long run either. I only did 6 of the planned 8 miles on fri. And decided to just move on and have the planned Monday rest day today. My half marathon on the 13 th may not be a PR. Oh well..
It's been a dangerous two weeks of laying low after my race. Aside from pool swims, I've managed a run on Thursday (first since the race) and a 1/2 mile open water swim on Sunday. I started the Bike Focused block yesterday and will be on this until the start of the OS in October.
The best news is that I now have a spanking new Quarq power meter. The used one I purchased off of ebay had a short, but was still under warranty. They no longer made the model I had, so they send me a new one. Only 6 days without a crank. Now I just need the motivation to get my butt on the saddle and ride it.
My misfit work out today was a 27 mile ride to my favorite bakery. No heart rate monitor and I didn't get anything at the bakery either. I am scheduled to test this week but I am ignoring it because I go and do battle on Saturday. So I am flying by the seat of my pants and repeating last week. I then will test next week when I start a run focus block until NOS. I am really curious to see what i'm going to test at. I haven't tested since May.
I am so excited to race on Saturday! I actually feel mentally ready. Sure I could be skinnier, faster, stronger but I am ready to get this done. I held back last time because I was concerned about the run. Not this time. It's all going in the tank. My swim is faster and stronger. My bike is wicked and my run isn't too bad. The 5k I ran last Saturday really helped my confidence. I also hear I won't be the only EN in the house either. WOOT WOOT. Can't wait to meet David Pettigrew.
Jacklyn- You sound ready!! Can't believe u rode the bakery and didn't get anything!
Very fast group ride tonight. It is a new group for me and the leader said they don't usually go that fast but a few new peeps were pushing the pace. Super hot n humid too. 37mi in 2hrs @ .88IF. 22' @ .94IF and 1:40 @ .875IF. Not feeling great about my bike race in Oct though!
PSA Long run less than 13 hours after the bike ride above ^^ not good. Yikes! Decided to run in a different direction than usual due to availability of porta-potty but the grade is gradual downhill out which means uphill back. Let's not talk about zones or paces, let's just say I did 7.5 miles.
Actually, the averge graded pace on Strava makes things look a little better but still not feeling great about half mary in Sept. Def spreading myself too thin with HM 9/13 and bike race 10/13! No A races though so I'm just having fun with fitness. (Although today's run wasn't much fun!)
@ Kim- 71/2 miles! You rock. I haven't made it past 6 yet. Reguardless how it felt. You were able to do it!! Way to go! Sounds like you have a lot coming up. But I agree with having fun with your fitness. I can't bring myself to just do 1 or 2 events only. There's so much out there. Have a great vacation.
Kim I hope your happy! Your suffering guilt tripped me into going for a run. ( I was going to ignore the run today and just pack up the motor home.) It was a slow,hot 3.5 miles. Now I don't feel so guilty. )))
Jacklyn- way to get it done! I on the other hand have been slacking. Went to a small zoo and the to some scenic falls yesterday and bike shopping today. Bought a new 2011 Kona Jake cross bike. (Wayyyy leftover but got a good deal). Went for a short 5 mile ride on the rail trail today but that's it. Will do a short ride tomorrow with some short hard efforts in advance of my sprint tri bike relay on Sunday.
@Kim - happy birthday to Jake! Doing my long run today and saw someone fly by me on a bike, veer off into the grass, clip off and jump off the bike, run about 10 steps and back on and riding. Figured he was training for one of the many cyclocross races here. My impression is that it's probably much harder than he made it look!
Long run today - yup 20 miles i 3:35 - 50K trail run is next Saturday and I've only done a 6.5 mile trail run once this year. It's gonna really hurt - especially after how I feel just a few hours after today's run. This is part of the big build so 18 miles tomorrow - after T1 volunteering for IMWI. Will run out to the bike course (luckily there is a park with showers out on the loop and I'll meet people with a car) and then spectate on the bike and then back to Madison to spectate (and maybe have some beverages) on the run! I love Ironman weekend in my hometown - this year it's extra fun as I'm not racing!
@ Jacklyn - how was your sprint?
Contemplating a hilly sprint next Sunday, the day after the trail run. I think it would really hurt - but the last time I did the trail run I didn't feel too bad the next day.
Did the bike portion of a sprint tri today and got 3rd out of 19 teams. #1 on the bike for relays and bike was 19th overall. What is weird is that I biked harder than last year (NP of 170 vs 163) but was a little slower this year. (37:56 vs 37:08). It was a little windy and my ranking across the bike splits is about the same, but a few less peeps this year. Last year i did the whole race so i prob had more even watts so maybe i biked smarter last year and this year, just let it rip! I was in the aerobars 98% of the time and used my aerodrink instead of bottles, so I really thought I'd be faster vs. LY. Not sweating it though.. Had a blast and happy to podium!
My sprint was, in one word, AWESOME!!! I took 9/14. PR'd my swim by 10+ minutes, road with a dragging brake and ran a very hilly course on 90+ degree's and still had enough left coming down the shoot to out kick 2 people in my AG. BOOM baby! I was totally done after that and barely had enough juice left to walk down to the lake and fall in. Thank goodness for my iron support. They took good care of me.
Had the honor to race with fellow EN team mate David Pettigrew and his delightful kids. His son is a fierce racer. Keep an eye on him!
Jacklyn and Kim - great work to both of you!! Makes me want to do the last sprint race of the season this coming Sunday but it's a really hilly bike and there's a significant hill on the run. Saturday is a huge trail run so not sure how I'll feel on Sunday but maybe I don't have anything to lose after hearing your results.
Oh yea - uber ultra runner Dean Karnazes will be at the race - North Face Endurance Challenge. Got to meet him 2 years ago at the race!
@ Kim- Thank you. It was fun. I'm now looking forward to slowing down a bit. Feeling a small bit beat up. Can anyone say cinnamon roll?
@ Sue- Thank you too. Go for it. What do you have to lose? Have a blast and see how it shakes out. Aren't we supposed to be having fun with our fitness? I probably would have had a better run split if I wasn't high fiving everyone and smiling and laughing.
@Kim - well, my sis talked me into it so it's a go! Decided I was inspired enough after watching IMWI that I would just push through. I'll keep you updated and will be sure to get my legs into the ice bath that they'll have on site on Saturday.
@ Sue- Good for you! But you are definitely more women than I am. An ice bath. WOW!
Best in the West race report is up. Already planning and setting short and long term goals for 2015. Ordered my first aero helmet today. Reward for doing such a good job this weekend and it was 120.00 bucks off. Ordered a GIRO air attack. I've been looking at it all summer.
So I did my half Mary sat. Technically about a 3 min PR but it was an easier course so really, I did worse. But I'm not sweating it.
Now I'm really going off the range and hacking the bike focus plan. I'm trying a training plan from the book "Time crunched cyclist" by Chris Carmichael. The intervals today were in between VO2 and FTP. Basically 6 x 3' at roughly 1.15IF. Ended up with about an hour at .93IF. I like those shorter hard intervals.
Races were good! Didn't hit my stretch goal of 5:50 for the 50K - I forgot how hard a hilly, rocky, sandy, muddy trail run can be). Revised it down to 6:00 but still no go. Came in at 6:17 - good for a 13 minute PR. 3/6 in AG. Youza - that ice bath sucked - could only make it about 20 seconds - feet cramped up! A little sore the next morning but did the cold and hilly sprint tri - bike wasn't too bad (considering I've biked a total of one hour in the last month since IMMT) and run the wasn't too bad to start but there were some small hills and they were hard! 3/4 in AG
Took yesterday and today off and got a massage. Ready to get back at it tomorrow!
@Kim - let us know how the hack goes and good work on the half Mary!
Really enjoying my bike training! Did my usual 30mi group ride Sat. am but couldn't keep up. (OK, that part I didn't enjoy) Doing intervals on Fri prob didn't help. Plus. I'm on my road bike now with Gatorskin tires and no aerobars so that def. makes a big diff. (Guess it is my tri bike that's fast, not me) Then got suckered into a charity 5k immediately after that ride. (Like RIGHT after, as in changing my shirt in the car at a stoplight)
Got in about 80 miles last week, but was shooting for 100 but it rainied on Sunday am. Went and watched a women's crit and that was COOL. Would love to do someday. Anyway, got in some good intervals yesterday, roughly 110% FTP. Overall, 20 miles in 1:15 @ .92IF with 6 x 3' at 1.08-1.14IF. Tonight was a group rail trail ride. Slower crew than usual so I tried to push the pace on the way back. 18 milesin 1:14. I'll prob do a little running this weekend. Boooooooo!!
Seriously could do without run but guess I have to since I signed up for IMChoo in 2015!!
@ Kim- WOW! Sounds like your doing good work. I could go without the running too.
I'm kind of standing down for a couple weeks. I've got a little tendonitius in my left calf. I've also got a ton of stuff going on. Settling for long walks with my dogs. I've never seen a crit in person only on GCN. Looks intense.
I haven't posted as of late, but I am in week 4 of a modified Run Focused block. Modified in that I increase the bike intervals to mirror the Bike Focused plan. The extra bike w/o's were the first be dropped if I just wasn't feeling it at 4:30 am. My goal is to start the NOV OS at the same level of fitness I had prior to racing the HIM.
Going into the HIM training plan, my running was suffering as I was not able to hit the paces I tested at (stomach flu set back that my run fitness didn't recover from). I am now able to hit all of my run paces and this afternoon I shaved 1:25 off of my10k PR. Running goal achieved and still getting better. Now I need to focus more time on the bike.
Jacklyn- Def. let that tendonitis heal. Better now than in peak tri season, right?
Group ride today. Couldn't keep up again but tried damned hard. Here are the stats this week vs. last week. I'm def. getting strongeer, just not as fast as the guys I ride with. But they're men so I guess I can cut myself some slack, right??
Last week: 1:46, 29.65 miles, 16.6 avg. moving mph, 89IF This week: 1:41, 29.65 mi, 17.4 avg moving mph, .92IF
Within today's ride was 36'@ 1.00IF, 37' @ .89IF and 29' @ .85IF. No rest in between those efforts.
Tomorrow's metric century ought to be interesting.... Beautiful weather on tap for this weekend! Enjoy!
@kim I'm jealous of your metric century tomorrow. I signed up for a sprint several weeks ago when the temps were in the 90s here. We are doing good to break 70 today. The lake may still be in the upper 70s but it's going to make for a freezing ride!
Good to be back with the team. I'm training for a HM on Nov 1, while trying to get back into biking, and - dare I say- swimming. This week has be awesome. Tested my FTP on Tuesday and I am where I was at the end of the OS! Then did a swim test and two minutes faster than last March! Running is going great as well. Did 13 miles this morning with 4 of them faster than 8:20. Pinch me- I'm dreaming! Tomorrow I'm doing the 62 mile route of the Apple Cider Century. I'm expecting my legs to feel dead, so just doing it for funsies!
I started mine out way too hard... Rode the 1st 90 mins @ 100% (with a rest stop in the middle) That made the rest of the ride a little rough but def feeling stronger on the bike. Also, missed a turn and got 2 extra (hilly) miles. ~3,700 ft gain/.87IF/66 mi/4:27 moving time. Post-ride apple crisp was awesome!
It was a lovely ride yesterday! Couldn't ask for better weather, and nice rolling hills through fall colors. I had a "just enjoy the ride" mentality so didn't pay too much attention to power, but also think I went out too hard the first half. Getting back on the bike after the rest stop at mile 35 was a bit tough. Last night I went for a easy 4 mile run that felt great but as soon as I finished I had some pretty sharp pain in my shin, seems like posterior tib. Ice ice baby! Going to lay low on running for a few days to let it calm down.
Went for a swim this morning. After 600 yds of awful thrashing and no rhythm, I quit my prepared workout and just did drills for 40 minutes. By the end I was feeling much smoother. I guess this is the best time to do such a thing...
Comments
The best news is that I now have a spanking new Quarq power meter. The used one I purchased off of ebay had a short, but was still under warranty. They no longer made the model I had, so they send me a new one. Only 6 days without a crank. Now I just need the motivation to get my butt on the saddle and ride it.
My misfit work out today was a 27 mile ride to my favorite bakery. No heart rate monitor and I didn't get anything at the bakery either. I am scheduled to test this week but I am ignoring it because I go and do battle on Saturday. So I am flying by the seat of my pants and repeating last week. I then will test next week when I start a run focus block until NOS. I am really curious to see what i'm going to test at. I haven't tested since May.
I am so excited to race on Saturday! I actually feel mentally ready. Sure I could be skinnier, faster, stronger but I am ready to get this done. I held back last time because I was concerned about the run. Not this time. It's all going in the tank. My swim is faster and stronger. My bike is wicked and my run isn't too bad. The 5k I ran last Saturday really helped my confidence. I also hear I won't be the only EN in the house either. WOOT WOOT. Can't wait to meet David Pettigrew.
Jacklyn- You sound ready!! Can't believe u rode the bakery and didn't get anything!
Very fast group ride tonight. It is a new group for me and the leader said they don't usually go that fast but a few new peeps were pushing the pace. Super hot n humid too. 37mi in 2hrs @ .88IF. 22' @ .94IF and 1:40 @ .875IF. Not feeling great about my bike race in Oct though!
Actually, the averge graded pace on Strava makes things look a little better but still not feeling great about half mary in Sept. Def spreading myself too thin with HM 9/13 and bike race 10/13! No A races though so I'm just having fun with fitness. (Although today's run wasn't much fun!)
@ Kim- 71/2 miles! You rock. I haven't made it past 6 yet. Reguardless how it felt. You were able to do it!! Way to go! Sounds like you have a lot coming up. But I agree with having fun with your fitness. I can't bring myself to just do 1 or 2 events only. There's so much out there. Have a great vacation.
Kim I hope your happy! Your suffering guilt tripped me into going for a run. ( I was going to ignore the run today and just pack up the motor home.) It was a slow,hot 3.5 miles. Now I don't feel so guilty.
)))
Long run today - yup 20 miles i 3:35 - 50K trail run is next Saturday and I've only done a 6.5 mile trail run once this year. It's gonna really hurt - especially after how I feel just a few hours after today's run. This is part of the big build so 18 miles tomorrow - after T1 volunteering for IMWI. Will run out to the bike course (luckily there is a park with showers out on the loop and I'll meet people with a car) and then spectate on the bike and then back to Madison to spectate (and maybe have some beverages) on the run! I love Ironman weekend in my hometown - this year it's extra fun as I'm not racing!
@ Jacklyn - how was your sprint?
Contemplating a hilly sprint next Sunday, the day after the trail run. I think it would really hurt - but the last time I did the trail run I didn't feel too bad the next day.
Did the bike portion of a sprint tri today and got 3rd out of 19 teams. #1 on the bike for relays and bike was 19th overall. What is weird is that I biked harder than last year (NP of 170 vs 163) but was a little slower this year. (37:56 vs 37:08). It was a little windy and my ranking across the bike splits is about the same, but a few less peeps this year. Last year i did the whole race so i prob had more even watts so maybe i biked smarter last year and this year, just let it rip! I was in the aerobars 98% of the time and used my aerodrink instead of bottles, so I really thought I'd be faster vs. LY. Not sweating it though.. Had a blast and happy to podium!
Half Marathon Saturday...
My sprint was, in one word, AWESOME!!! I took 9/14. PR'd my swim by 10+ minutes, road with a dragging brake and ran a very hilly course on 90+ degree's and still had enough left coming down the shoot to out kick 2 people in my AG. BOOM baby! I was totally done after that and barely had enough juice left to walk down to the lake and fall in.
Thank goodness for my iron support. They took good care of me. 
Had the honor to race with fellow EN team mate David Pettigrew and his delightful kids. His son is a fierce racer. Keep an eye on him!
Jacklyn and Kim - great work to both of you!! Makes me want to do the last sprint race of the season this coming Sunday but it's a really hilly bike and there's a significant hill on the run. Saturday is a huge trail run so not sure how I'll feel on Sunday but maybe I don't have anything to lose after hearing your results.
Oh yea - uber ultra runner Dean Karnazes will be at the race - North Face Endurance Challenge. Got to meet him 2 years ago at the race!
@ Kim- Thank you. It was fun. I'm now looking forward to slowing down a bit. Feeling a small bit beat up. Can anyone say cinnamon roll?
@ Sue- Thank you too. Go for it. What do you have to lose? Have a blast and see how it shakes out. Aren't we supposed to be having fun with our fitness? I probably would have had a better run split if I wasn't high fiving everyone and smiling and laughing.
@ Sue- Good for you! But you are definitely more women than I am. An ice bath. WOW!
Best in the West race report is up. Already planning and setting short and long term goals for 2015. Ordered my first aero helmet today. Reward for doing such a good job this weekend and it was 120.00 bucks off. Ordered a GIRO air attack. I've been looking at it all summer.
Jacklyn- congrats on the new gear!
So I did my half Mary sat. Technically about a 3 min PR but it was an easier course so really, I did worse. But I'm not sweating it.
Now I'm really going off the range and hacking the bike focus plan. I'm trying a training plan from the book "Time crunched cyclist" by Chris Carmichael. The intervals today were in between VO2 and FTP. Basically 6 x 3' at roughly 1.15IF. Ended up with about an hour at .93IF. I like those shorter hard intervals.
Took yesterday and today off and got a massage. Ready to get back at it tomorrow!
@Kim - let us know how the hack goes and good work on the half Mary!
@KIm- took her out for a test ride. What a change a helmet can make. Wish it could help me on my bike test tomorrow.
@Elizabeth- WOW. Sounds tough. You are definitely a ROCK STAR!
Got in about 80 miles last week, but was shooting for 100 but it rainied on Sunday am. Went and watched a women's crit and that was COOL. Would love to do someday. Anyway, got in some good intervals yesterday, roughly 110% FTP. Overall, 20 miles in 1:15 @ .92IF with 6 x 3' at 1.08-1.14IF. Tonight was a group rail trail ride. Slower crew than usual so I tried to push the pace on the way back. 18 milesin 1:14. I'll prob do a little running this weekend. Boooooooo!!
Seriously could do without run but guess I have to since I signed up for IMChoo in 2015!!
@ Kim- WOW! Sounds like your doing good work. I could go without the running too.
I'm kind of standing down for a couple weeks. I've got a little tendonitius in my left calf. I've also got a ton of stuff going on. Settling for long walks with my dogs.
I've never seen a crit in person only on GCN. Looks intense.
Going into the HIM training plan, my running was suffering as I was not able to hit the paces I tested at (stomach flu set back that my run fitness didn't recover from). I am now able to hit all of my run paces and this afternoon I shaved 1:25 off of my10k PR. Running goal achieved and still getting better. Now I need to focus more time on the bike.
Jacklyn- Def. let that tendonitis heal. Better now than in peak tri season, right?
Group ride today. Couldn't keep up again but tried damned hard. Here are the stats this week vs. last week. I'm def. getting strongeer, just not as fast as the guys I ride with. But they're men so I guess I can cut myself some slack, right??
Last week: 1:46, 29.65 miles, 16.6 avg. moving mph, 89IF
This week: 1:41, 29.65 mi, 17.4 avg moving mph, .92IF
Within today's ride was 36'@ 1.00IF, 37' @ .89IF and 29' @ .85IF. No rest in between those efforts.
Tomorrow's metric century ought to be interesting.... Beautiful weather on tap for this weekend! Enjoy!
I started mine out way too hard... Rode the 1st 90 mins @ 100% (with a rest stop in the middle) That made the rest of the ride a little rough but def feeling stronger on the bike. Also, missed a turn and got 2 extra (hilly) miles. ~3,700 ft gain/.87IF/66 mi/4:27 moving time. Post-ride apple crisp was awesome!