I'm taking the day "off". The only argument I can make for going ahead with my planned 2 hour/14 mile run is: it will look good on my weekly stats, which run Mon-Sun. Essentially, I'm switching Monday's planned off day (meaning easier swim + weights) for today.
Here are the arguments against:
I've lost 2 pounds in the last two days. I can't afford to lose another 1-2 which is what often happens to me during long runs. During an IM build, I'm always teetering between "athletically lean" and "borderline anorexic", despite eating all I can, e.g. 4000 cal yesterday.
The beautiful weather is being interrupted for about 36 hours starting last evening with spectacular thunderstorms,
My legs feel tired (not sore, as they were a week ago), I'm a little fatigued in general, and my brain is fried. The latter is the worst problem - I think I have no neuromuscular reserve to push the second half of the run.
I am following Al, and standing down today too, legs are shot after thurs run and hard ride yesterday. Got 80 mi yesterday mostly @75%, until I saw the local college group peleton ahead with 15 miles to home. Made a game of doing z4 sets to catch, pass, and drop the pack. Point of pride to show those young guys what an Ironman Tri guy can do. Heard some astonished explitives from the guys trying draft and keep up when they heard I had already ridden twice as far as them and was pulling them along at 28+ . maybe I'll get that FTP bump I'm gunning for yet! That was a much more fun way to do z4 sets!!!
@Rian - It's always more motivating when you have someone to chase, right? Way to shoe the roadies who's boss.
My plan to fight off my cold worked! ...I think. After going through half a box of kleenex on Tuesday and feeling generally blah, I decided to bag the rest of the weekday training in hopes of recovering for the weekend. Thursday here in MN was beautiful and it killed me to see lots of people out running and soaking up the sun. My kids sure enjoyed spending time with Dad selling overpriced Cub Scout popcorn door to door though.
Since I hadn't swam all week and the weather is still cooperating, I started Saturday with a 2 mile OWS, which was great. My training partner and I did the run as planned and then saddled up. If you take out the stops for a flat and water/potty, we were able to log 80 hilly miles in about 4:15.The last ten miles was tough. I had a hard stop to do more Cub Scout stuff, and I remarked to my buddy that we could have gone another 10 miles if I hadn't flatted. His response - "No we couldn't have."
For today's ride, I threw the bike on the trainer at 5:00 to get it done before church. I am really beginning to hate these ABP rides. It took me a good hour to get up to the top of zone 3. I had to reset and to the last 2 hours as 25 minutes on and 5 minutes off. Even then, I had a heck of a time holding on to the low end of zone 3. The best I could manage was zone 2 for the last hour. Unfortunately for me, I am anchored to Tuesday mornings for my bike interval workouts. I'm avoiding the pain cave at all costs; I don't want to look at my bike once until then.
Strong work all around! Waiting for Betsy's race report!........
@ Bruce / AL - LOT of work going on in your camps! KONA vets leading the way as usual!
@Al - you know better than any of us, rest is where your body absorbs the training and when you get stronger!
@Rian - 4 letters - DAMN! Solid update from you this weekend!!
For me, well, signs you could be on track by the end of week 4: My arms are sunburnt, my crotch is sore and my backside is beginning to resemble Beyoncé!
Any beginners on this thread such amazing athletes can't wait to track the Kona folks and meet everyone in AZ. Went to Disney and a wedding this weekend with the family. Planned to do my long bikes on Thursday and Friday but ran out of gas after 3 hrs on Thursday and as predicted sore throat by Friday night. (Oldest teaches kindergarteners and youngest in kindergarten so always lots of germs around the house! ) Despite this I manage to stay pretty healthy. Did a 6 mile easy run IM practice including a stop by the CVS for zinc yesterday. Off today except for all of the walking and driving home. In bed with zinc, whole foods immune and vitamins feeling pretty beat. At least I had plenty to eat this weekend including two character breakfast buffets - yes I tried the macaroni and cheese pizza. I did get a nice bump in my FTP. This is only my second test with power and I'm still trying to figure out what is "hard" for me. Also need to get outside to see how it feels. Small increase in swim but I felt much stronger afterwards so maybe could have pushed harder. Skipped the run test to get the bike in. Don't think I've changed much there. First ironman and getting concerned that I'm behind! Locals have been putting a lot of miles on their bikes for months now. I'm sticking with the plan. Any and all advice appreciated as I approach these last 8 weeks. At this point I think I'm pretty equal in all three sports - just really need to build endurance. No more trips planned and hopefully no more illness! Super bummed for the Tahoe folks. Glad Betsey got to race. Love the CO pics!
Tempe life time tri is done! The lake was open-and except for a big patch of nettles or something vegetative before the east turnaround, it was the same murky brown and warm! 84degrees-it will be 20+ cooler 11/16. That being said, I had my slowest swim ever-so much for cranking the tempo timer down. Even though I PRd my Tpace test by 5s/100 at that pace. Not sure why. My two spring races were in wetsuits, maybe I really have an advantage with the buoyancy. Also, the sprint started after the oly, and I was in the last wave of the Oly. My last 300 was in this crazy mess-as bad as the mass starts
My bike was exactly the same as in May so I take that as a plus since I did a hard 60miler yesterday. And run pace 30s/ mile slower than I wanted. But I PRd both transitions which was my biggest goal for the day
Rian-totally badass!!!
Vicki-don't worry about your endurance. All my local peeps have been doing 80-100 milers each weekend for the last 2 months. I just shake my head and see burnout. Stick with the program and you will be fine. Remember we break it up over two days and do long run during the week.
Saturday: was a Pre-Ride for the BDB100 (BigDamBridge100.com - yes thats George Hincapie on the website from last year) ... course rides harder that the 4159 ft of elevation on Strava http://www.strava.com/activities/197145735
My QUARQ powermeter DIED right after the start of the ride - So NO POWER data ;-(
I pulled most of the flats & rollers and "dragged as the caboose" up the hills.
I drank 11# including 5 qts of Gatorade, ate 2 peanut butter Snickers and a couple of ounces of Honey (plus the PB & J and Larabar that I ate before I started) and was still down 4# when I finished ... so the sweat was DEFINITELY pouring. And had a little bit of hamstring cramping (so I had to pull off the front a couple of times and drop into the draft) even though I consumed about 3200mg sodium (normally only do about 2000mg on IM bike).
Strava only shows less than 4200' of climbing ... but the way it comes at you is kinda hard ... including at mile 103 I hit the "Stupid Hill" which averages 9% for 0.3miles but about 1/2 of the climb is 15-18% ;-) ...
Sunday: was a slow 3-mile run with my dog, Sheba and an 18 mile JRA.
@ Betsy - glad you were able to race and the lake cleared up.
@Rian - I always dream about keeping up with the big boys but they are usually gone before I can clip in
@ Bruce and Al - Happy training, I can't believe Kona is almost hear. Can't wait to follow you both.
@ Vicki and Joe - feel better
My PSA to everyone - Don't forget your flu shots!!
Great weekend with fun friends. Sat. got in the MS1 and part of MS2 before the storms moved in. Very windy conditions on the out but I was flying on the back in. Practiced riding smooth and steady out and back per the "Riding in Windy conditions" wiki. Sun. was a 2.4 OWS at Devils Lake in cold, windy conditions. This is probably our last long OWS of the season, so it will be back to the pool. We decided to bag the ride, go to breakfast and watch the football game. Felt a little guilty but that didn't last long. Today I will do the ABP ride and get back on schedule.
@ Betsy - I would say you fought the good fight and got it done on Sunday despite all. Looks like you did not let the swim rattle you and represented by holding the run together to the end. Fine work!
@ David - A century ride, any way you cut it is a lot of work, add elevation and heat and you are doing some Superman stuff there! great job! Dividends coming from that work for sure!
Comments
I'm taking the day "off". The only argument I can make for going ahead with my planned 2 hour/14 mile run is: it will look good on my weekly stats, which run Mon-Sun. Essentially, I'm switching Monday's planned off day (meaning easier swim + weights) for today.
Here are the arguments against:
@Al: you know your body. Recovery is building!
Have a great race Betsy!
I am following Al, and standing down today too, legs are shot after thurs run and hard ride yesterday. Got 80 mi yesterday mostly @75%, until I saw the local college group peleton ahead with 15 miles to home. Made a game of doing z4 sets to catch, pass, and drop the pack. Point of pride to show those young guys what an Ironman Tri guy can do. Heard some astonished explitives from the guys trying draft and keep up when they heard I had already ridden twice as far as them and was pulling them along at 28+ .
My plan to fight off my cold worked! ...I think. After going through half a box of kleenex on Tuesday and feeling generally blah, I decided to bag the rest of the weekday training in hopes of recovering for the weekend. Thursday here in MN was beautiful and it killed me to see lots of people out running and soaking up the sun. My kids sure enjoyed spending time with Dad selling overpriced Cub Scout popcorn door to door though.
Since I hadn't swam all week and the weather is still cooperating, I started Saturday with a 2 mile OWS, which was great. My training partner and I did the run as planned and then saddled up. If you take out the stops for a flat and water/potty, we were able to log 80 hilly miles in about 4:15.The last ten miles was tough. I had a hard stop to do more Cub Scout stuff, and I remarked to my buddy that we could have gone another 10 miles if I hadn't flatted. His response - "No we couldn't have."
For today's ride, I threw the bike on the trainer at 5:00 to get it done before church. I am really beginning to hate these ABP rides. It took me a good hour to get up to the top of zone 3. I had to reset and to the last 2 hours as 25 minutes on and 5 minutes off. Even then, I had a heck of a time holding on to the low end of zone 3. The best I could manage was zone 2 for the last hour. Unfortunately for me, I am anchored to Tuesday mornings for my bike interval workouts. I'm avoiding the pain cave at all costs; I don't want to look at my bike once until then.
Hi all!
Strong work all around! Waiting for Betsy's race report!........
@ Bruce / AL - LOT of work going on in your camps! KONA vets leading the way as usual!
@Al - you know better than any of us, rest is where your body absorbs the training and when you get stronger!
@Rian - 4 letters - DAMN! Solid update from you this weekend!!
For me, well, signs you could be on track by the end of week 4: My arms are sunburnt, my crotch is sore and my backside is beginning to resemble Beyoncé!
Sat pre ride run w/ 1X1: http://www.strava.com/activities/197161919
Sat long bike: http://www.strava.com/activities/197162024
Sun "Tired Legs Ride": http://www.strava.com/activities/197730708
Sleep hard tonight all, Week 5 is upon us!
SS
Did a 6 mile easy run IM practice including a stop by the CVS for zinc yesterday. Off today except for all of the walking and driving home. In bed with zinc, whole foods immune and vitamins feeling pretty beat. At least I had plenty to eat this weekend including two character breakfast buffets - yes I tried the macaroni and cheese pizza. I did get a nice bump in my FTP. This is only my second test with power and I'm still trying to figure out what is "hard" for me. Also need to get outside to see how it feels. Small increase in swim but I felt much stronger afterwards so maybe could have pushed harder. Skipped the run test to get the bike in. Don't think I've changed much there.
First ironman and getting concerned that I'm behind! Locals have been putting a lot of miles on their bikes for months now. I'm sticking with the plan. Any and all advice appreciated as I approach these last 8 weeks. At this point I think I'm pretty equal in all three sports - just really need to build endurance. No more trips planned and hopefully no more illness!
Super bummed for the Tahoe folks. Glad Betsey got to race. Love the CO pics!
The lake was open-and except for a big patch of nettles or something vegetative before the east turnaround, it was the same murky brown and warm! 84degrees-it will be 20+ cooler 11/16.
That being said, I had my slowest swim ever-so much for cranking the tempo timer down. Even though I PRd my Tpace test by 5s/100 at that pace. Not sure why. My two spring races were in wetsuits, maybe I really have an advantage with the buoyancy. Also, the sprint started after the oly, and I was in the last wave of the Oly. My last 300 was in this crazy mess-as bad as the mass starts
My bike was exactly the same as in May so I take that as a plus since I did a hard 60miler yesterday. And run pace 30s/ mile slower than I wanted.
But I PRd both transitions which was my biggest goal for the day
Rian-totally badass!!!
Vicki-don't worry about your endurance. All my local peeps have been doing 80-100 milers each weekend for the last 2 months. I just shake my head and see burnout. Stick with the program and you will be fine. Remember we break it up over two days and do long run during the week.
Shaughn-I love the Beyoncé comparison
Saturday: was a Pre-Ride for the BDB100 (BigDamBridge100.com - yes thats George Hincapie on the website from last year) ... course rides harder that the 4159 ft of elevation on Strava http://www.strava.com/activities/197145735
My QUARQ powermeter DIED right after the start of the ride - So NO POWER data ;-(
I pulled most of the flats & rollers and "dragged as the caboose" up the hills.
I drank 11# including 5 qts of Gatorade, ate 2 peanut butter Snickers and a couple of ounces of Honey (plus the PB & J and Larabar that I ate before I started) and was still down 4# when I finished ... so the sweat was DEFINITELY pouring. And had a little bit of hamstring cramping (so I had to pull off the front a couple of times and drop into the draft) even though I consumed about 3200mg sodium (normally only do about 2000mg on IM bike).
Strava only shows less than 4200' of climbing ... but the way it comes at you is kinda hard ... including at mile 103 I hit the "Stupid Hill" which averages 9% for 0.3miles but about 1/2 of the climb is 15-18% ;-) ...
Sunday: was a slow 3-mile run with my dog, Sheba and an 18 mile JRA.
@ Betsy - glad you were able to race and the lake cleared up.
@Rian - I always dream about keeping up with the big boys but they are usually gone before I can clip in
@ Bruce and Al - Happy training, I can't believe Kona is almost hear. Can't wait to follow you both.
@ Vicki and Joe - feel better
My PSA to everyone - Don't forget your flu shots!!
Great weekend with fun friends. Sat. got in the MS1 and part of MS2 before the storms moved in. Very windy conditions on the out but I was flying on the back in. Practiced riding smooth and steady out and back per the "Riding in Windy conditions" wiki. Sun. was a 2.4 OWS at Devils Lake in cold, windy conditions. This is probably our last long OWS of the season, so it will be back to the pool.
We decided to bag the ride, go to breakfast and watch the football game. Felt a little guilty but that didn't last long. Today I will do the ABP ride and get back on schedule.
@ Betsy - I would say you fought the good fight and got it done on Sunday despite all. Looks like you did not let the swim rattle you and represented by holding the run together to the end. Fine work!
@ David - A century ride, any way you cut it is a lot of work, add elevation and heat and you are doing some Superman stuff there! great job! Dividends coming from that work for sure!
SS