Weekend report: Yesterday was my long(set) run, on a flat bike path to simulate the route in Tempe. I did this run Same time last year in prep for IMAZ. The instructions were different then, asking us to go LRP the first 6, then throwing in an hour of MP, and finish with HMP if possible. Las year, I went farther in 2.5 hours (17.5/17.3 mi) and worked harder (avg HR 128/118) as a result. This year, after a warm mile of 9:16, I went pretty much 8:35-40 for all the remainder, save a couple @ 8:10 in the middle. I don't know which way is "better" from a training perspective; every long run I do starts to hurt after about 8-11 miles, no matter how fast or slow I go. Garmin Connect is down, so no link to demonstrate the consistency of my pace. But off the watch, here are my mile times, which include a walking break to drink every mile: 9:16, 8:38/43/39/38/36/40/39/42/32/09/19/38/48/48/34/30, 7:52 for final 0.35 mi. I had only distance, HR, and cadence on my watch, so I'm pretty pleased with my ability to hold pace based pretty much on RPE, which got consistently harder as the run progressed.
The rest of the weekend I had planned a 3800 meter swim today, with a bike trainer session in the afternoon, then a 5 hour race pace ride with 6 mile brick tomorrow. It's been raining pretty much non-stop here for the past week. Luckily, 2 hours away in the rain shadow of the Cascades, it's supposed to be sunny on Sunday and Monday. Sunday the forecast reads: "Mostly sunny, with a high near 59. West wind around 21 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph."; Monday: "Mostly sunny, with a high near 56. West wind 5 to 7 mph becoming calm in the morning." Since (a), I had planned Monday as a recovery day and (b) I just spent a couple of weeks riding in winds like that, I'm choosing to swim/run tomorrow, then bike/run on Monday, unless the forecast drastically changes in the next 24 hours. This will skew my weekly totals in training logs, but as they told us in medical school, "Take care of the patient, not the chart."
Now off to the gym for a little R&R on the weight machines
Let me back up with Thursday's swim exit. Got out of the pool and left 3 other guys in there still swimming. Bent over to pick up my stuff and I heard the normal stretching noise my swim trunks make every time I bend over. Walking to the shower I noticed all 3 guys at the end of the pool looking up at me. I thought they must be thinking I just swam a long time in that pool (because I am so slow.) Got to the shower to rinse my pants off as usual. Upon taking them off, I discovered an 18 inch open hole down the crack of the pants..........must have been a good show for all when I was walking from the pool to the showers........
Took my daughter to school with wetsuit and googles in the car. Decided to I was going to do an OWS and suited up, jumped in the lake for about 3 secs and then heard some guy whistling at me that there was no swimming in the lake! How did I manage to jump in at that hour right beside the location of the mgmt.? Pissed! Got out went to the indoor pool. After swimming 2,400 yds, I was again kicked out do to a water aerobic class.....evidently the pool was big enough for all of us to share???? Left and got an omelet and coffee nearby, came back after the class and got in another 2,450 yds.......just a rough morning for guy that wanted to get a little swimming in.
Saturday - Left out on the long ride and found the back brake rubbing after about 60 minutes......not happy about that but oh well. Had a great 4 hour block where I held .78.....just a lot of good work on that one, then a flat at mile 89, a small staple in the side wall which I located and pulled out. Put in a new tube, but, in my haste, I think I somehow pinched it and, at that point, I called it a day.
9300 ft of climbing! (why do strava & garmin come up with different #s for elevation correction?) this ride went through some familiar country, but I also went on two previously unridden (by me) routes. but generally rode on both sides of the Hudson River through the most picturesque part of the Hudson Valley (post pics later). One thing i did was to meet two friends who were riding up from the city in Bear Mountain park which is a truly beautiful place that I need to spend more time in.
oh, the temps in the 30s for the first hour or so didn't help much!
I generally have concerns about my power, but, I am relieved that i did way more climbing than i thought, and that Arizona is a lot flatter than what I did today :-) skipping the brick due to the extra hour on the bike, but planning to run, bike, mtb & possibly swim tomorrow.
@ Scott - in my book, 108 miles, .71 IF for 7+hrs on 9,300 ft of elevation is a Quality ride. Damn! Well Done! That kind of elevation would turn me into jello! And, this done after the load of a 19 mile long run! Keep moving forward!
@Shaughn-sorry the swim was such a bust! Ive been kicked out of the pool for OF aerobics before-very annoying! Sounds like bike went well. Good luck on run in am
@ Scott-excellent ride-9000ft climbing-AZIM will be a walk in the park!
@Al-I have been doing a serious weight program this year-but the last month have ditched it. No time for the gym anymore with the ramped up training. Good for you for getting there.
As for the conversation about long run and heart rate-I reviewed my HR from 18 mile run thursday: mi 1: 136, m2-12: 140-143; mi 13-18 : 150-153. I was definitely hurting after mile 12, as Al mentioned he always does, My pace was consistently about 30 s faster than LRP after first 6.
I had an epic experience on swim friday: 4200 yd at 24h fit pool in KC: 1:33:30 which is a PR for me! But the best part, is my most recent aha!-I learned to relax, time the pull correctly, really use my hips. So, this was the most relaxed,comfortable, enjoyable swim ever for me!
Today I did my 5 h on the beeline-first 3 h with Dave Ware on a rented cervelo P2 road bike. I managed .75 IF while he was around. I did a loop by myself and starting sagging to .7. We each had one front flat. Will follow the plan tomorrow-3.5 hr then do last RR next saturday
5 hour ride planned yesterday instead of today due to kids' sports today.
Dropped kids at school, came home to start bike and noticed that my daughter left her lunch box on the kitchen counter. Strapped her lunch box to my back and rode it the 14 miles to school.
Continued on only to experience a flat tire ( goat head thorn is a big problem here in Northern California this time of year). Changed the tire, continued on.
Next I see three police officers crouched in an alley way with guns drawn. As I look over one of them asks me "Did you see anyone running around?". I say no, and continue on. Less than a half mile away a woman comes running towards me shouting."Turn around, there is a guy firing a gun up there.". Two minutes later 20 or so cop cars come speeding up the road. Officers jumping out with guns, stopping traffic, searching vehicles. I high-tail it out of there! As I am heading out, SWAT teams are speeding by, more cop cars, intersections being blocked behind me. I felt like I was on a movie set! The town of Auburn went on lock-down for the next four hours. Massive man-hunt for a gunman who had shot and killed a sheriff's deputy earlier in the day. The suspect then shot two more officers ( one died later) and a civilian. The guy was finally apprehended. Such a sad day here in the Sacramento area. Very surreal experience for me. Hoping for a less exciting RR next week!
@Scott, funny I just updated my FTP in my 910xt this morning after looking at yesterdays ride in connect. If you google it, the manual is online and it's easy to change. @Jennifer, yikes, that sounds awful. Glad you did not get stuck in the middle of that mess. So sorry for those involved.
I've always had good luck pacing my long runs and races more off of heart rate vs. pace. This is especially true in hot weather. I looked more at my pace in Texas this year but I still let HR drive things.
Long ride yesterday went pretty well. I'm still having neck problems and looking up for that long really takes a toll. Combine that with all of the swimming and it's even worse. If anyone has recommendations on improving neck range of motion, I'm all ears. http://www.strava.com/activities/211608311
Today I decided to take a break from the TT bike and ride my gravel grinder. Unfortunately the rear tire started to separate and developed a noticeable bump (after only ~500 miles). I detoured from one bike shop to another and then a third looking for a new tire with no luck. The tire finally blew ~14 miles in so I headed home and switched bikes and finished. Get-r-done. http://www.strava.com/activities/212017160 http://www.strava.com/activities/212086895 (0.77 IF and 1.04 VI, so I"m pretty happy about that)
I did the RR swim today in a 25 meter pool - 3800m/1:16. I think that's the longest I've ever swum in a pool without stopping at the wall once. For someone who's done so many IMs, I really have a distaste for swimming, biking, or running long at a steady pace, basically by myself. Except on race day - then it's a group activity, much more fun!
Betsy. Nice to see you out there. Will make the 4 keys meeting. 118 done today Zero flats a record for sure We swim every Friday at Bartlett at dawn if your interested the One Mjltisport club is usually in the water by 6 at Bartlett. Rattlesnake cove.
Not as fast as I would like, but a lot of things went well. One problem came up at mile 16.1 when I was focusing on pushing, my foot caught a raised concrete lip and down I went splitting my knee open......Looked appropriate for Halloween but did not damage the bones or cartilage fortunately.......I have to remember to pay attention when I begin to get tired......
Good work everyone!! We are hitting the home stretch, so be sure to be safe out there.
I had a good day yesterday. 15 days post-Kona, and did a mini-RR for AZ. Rode 76 miles in 3:39, 20.0 avg mph, 90 avg cadance, avg HR 138, 188 NP, 1.03 VI. It was a nice day (temp 48-65F), sunny and 5-8 mph wind. I rode virtually the entire way in aero psoition. Then ran 6 miles at 9:10 pace. The best part was that I had no ab pain while running. I strained my abs on Sept 23 and this was the first time since then that I ran with no ab pain. Complete rest day today to let my body absorb the work.
Kind of a bust weekend for me. 2 hrs on Saturday on the bike. Got caught in a big rain storm for the last 30 min. 3 hrs on Sunday. Just felt flat. Had zero power. It was really windy (25mph winds). I had trouble even keeping my IM watts. Looking forward to a better week training. I'm doing my RR on Friday if it doesn't rain.
@Peter-IM watts in strong wind will have you prepared for anything the beeline/AZ winds dish out on race day!
50mi .8 IF beeline yesterday with David Ware following me on his rented P2 roadBike. He said he was working but I don't believe him. I sure was though!
@Jennifer: Wow, what a day/ride/experience. I can't even imagine what your mental thoughts were...
@Paul: Nice to meet you. Good luck on the rest of the training.
@Shaughn: I do the same thing, lose focus and have had some entertaining falls and permanent scars on the knees...
@Bruce: You are really coming back well after Kona. Looking forward to seeing you have a great race...
@Peter: Weather can really suck sometimes, but you were out there. That really helps with the Mental game...
@Betsy: Fun to ride with you this weekend. You are getting strong on the bike and I expect a major breakthrough from you on race day! Swimming sounds like it is coming along so you are going to have a great day.
I am riding a 2011 Cervelo P2 for the race. Can the experts in the group recommend a tire for the race? Brands that are tried and true? Your help is greatly appreciated.
I am riding a 2011 Cervelo P2 for the race. Can the experts in the group recommend a tire for the race? Brands that are tried and true? Your help is greatly appreciated.
Anita
Continental 4000 Grand Prix is a very common choice. There are nuances among tires which some people obsess about, concerning rolling resistance and watts saved, etc, but the Contis which are made in Germany have a long-standing reputation as being tough enough to avoid flats, smooth enough to be a good roller, and fairly easy to obtain.
Personal note - I've done 25+ IM bikes, and had only one flat, in my very first IM, using this tire in most of those races.
Based on the comments above and this review I will be getting my conti 4000s this week.
I rode 2012 AZIM Vitoria Evo corsa from EN group buy. I rode a 650 kestral and they don't make latex tubes in 650 so I didn't get the full experience. 2013 KS HIM the Ks bike shop recommended the conti 4000 so I rode those in Ks and AZIM 2013, no flats. I now have a Cervelo P3 and back to 700 wheels. When I had my bad flat day on beeline, week 15, the local shop recommended Vitoria rubino for training and racing (I had totally forgotten about the previous recommendation of the contis) However, according to the review above they are strictly a training tire. So off to the shop for tires tomorrow.
The temps are changing so if you have been following the water temps@TTL hey are coming down and will drop to mid to 60's by race day..perfect water conditions so far unless a storm blows through the next two weeks. it has been windy the last month out on the Bline. NE on the 1st lap and working east x se by the second lap and sw by the 3rd. For many it will seem like its in your face the whole way. take advantage of any tailwinds that come your way out on the bike. its almost GO TIME.
Comments
Weekend report: Yesterday was my long(set) run, on a flat bike path to simulate the route in Tempe. I did this run Same time last year in prep for IMAZ. The instructions were different then, asking us to go LRP the first 6, then throwing in an hour of MP, and finish with HMP if possible. Las year, I went farther in 2.5 hours (17.5/17.3 mi) and worked harder (avg HR 128/118) as a result. This year, after a warm mile of 9:16, I went pretty much 8:35-40 for all the remainder, save a couple @ 8:10 in the middle. I don't know which way is "better" from a training perspective; every long run I do starts to hurt after about 8-11 miles, no matter how fast or slow I go. Garmin Connect is down, so no link to demonstrate the consistency of my pace. But off the watch, here are my mile times, which include a walking break to drink every mile: 9:16, 8:38/43/39/38/36/40/39/42/32/09/19/38/48/48/34/30, 7:52 for final 0.35 mi. I had only distance, HR, and cadence on my watch, so I'm pretty pleased with my ability to hold pace based pretty much on RPE, which got consistently harder as the run progressed.
The rest of the weekend I had planned a 3800 meter swim today, with a bike trainer session in the afternoon, then a 5 hour race pace ride with 6 mile brick tomorrow. It's been raining pretty much non-stop here for the past week. Luckily, 2 hours away in the rain shadow of the Cascades, it's supposed to be sunny on Sunday and Monday. Sunday the forecast reads: "Mostly sunny, with a high near 59. West wind around 21 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph."; Monday: "Mostly sunny, with a high near 56. West wind 5 to 7 mph becoming calm in the morning." Since (a), I had planned Monday as a recovery day and (b) I just spent a couple of weeks riding in winds like that, I'm choosing to swim/run tomorrow, then bike/run on Monday, unless the forecast drastically changes in the next 24 hours. This will skew my weekly totals in training logs, but as they told us in medical school, "Take care of the patient, not the chart."
Now off to the gym for a little R&R on the weight machines
Friday - Saturday Progress update:
Let me back up with Thursday's swim exit. Got out of the pool and left 3 other guys in there still swimming. Bent over to pick up my stuff and I heard the normal stretching noise my swim trunks make every time I bend over. Walking to the shower I noticed all 3 guys at the end of the pool looking up at me. I thought they must be thinking I just swam a long time in that pool (because I am so slow.) Got to the shower to rinse my pants off as usual. Upon taking them off, I discovered an 18 inch open hole down the crack of the pants..........must have been a good show for all when I was walking from the pool to the showers........
Friday: moved my Sat pre-ride run up to Friday morning and did a 2X1 in the dark early: http://www.strava.com/activities/211123708
Took my daughter to school with wetsuit and googles in the car. Decided to I was going to do an OWS and suited up, jumped in the lake for about 3 secs and then heard some guy whistling at me that there was no swimming in the lake! How did I manage to jump in at that hour right beside the location of the mgmt.? Pissed! Got out went to the indoor pool. After swimming 2,400 yds, I was again kicked out do to a water aerobic class.....evidently the pool was big enough for all of us to share???? Left and got an omelet and coffee nearby, came back after the class and got in another 2,450 yds.......just a rough morning for guy that wanted to get a little swimming in.
Saturday - Left out on the long ride and found the back brake rubbing after about 60 minutes
......not happy about that but oh well. Had a great 4 hour block where I held .78.....just a lot of good work on that one, then a flat at mile 89, a small staple in the side wall which I located and pulled out. Put in a new tube, but, in my haste, I think I somehow pinched it and, at that point, I called it a day.
http://www.strava.com/activities/211569638
Now that I have all the problems for the week out of the way, I should be set to have a problem free long run tomorrow......
Good luck with those long rides all!
SS
did a 112 mile mapped route turned out to be 108.
I wrote the words above before I read the garmin file and did the elevation correction, now i feel Much better
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/619825619
9300 ft of climbing! (why do strava & garmin come up with different #s for elevation correction?) this ride went through some familiar country, but I also went on two previously unridden (by me) routes. but generally rode on both sides of the Hudson River through the most picturesque part of the Hudson Valley (post pics later). One thing i did was to meet two friends who were riding up from the city in Bear Mountain park which is a truly beautiful place that I need to spend more time in.
oh, the temps in the 30s for the first hour or so didn't help much!
I generally have concerns about my power, but, I am relieved that i did way more climbing than i thought, and that Arizona is a lot flatter than what I did today :-) skipping the brick due to the extra hour on the bike, but planning to run, bike, mtb & possibly swim tomorrow.@ Scott-excellent ride-9000ft climbing-AZIM will be a walk in the park!
@Al-I have been doing a serious weight program this year-but the last month have ditched it. No time for the gym anymore with the ramped up training. Good for you for getting there.
As for the conversation about long run and heart rate-I reviewed my HR from 18 mile run thursday: mi 1: 136, m2-12: 140-143; mi 13-18 : 150-153. I was definitely hurting after mile 12, as Al mentioned he always does, My pace was consistently about 30 s faster than LRP after first 6.
I had an epic experience on swim friday: 4200 yd at 24h fit pool in KC: 1:33:30 which is a PR for me! But the best part, is my most recent aha!-I learned to relax, time the pull correctly, really use my hips. So, this was the most relaxed,comfortable, enjoyable swim ever for me!
Today I did my 5 h on the beeline-first 3 h with Dave Ware on a rented cervelo P2 road bike. I managed .75 IF while he was around. I did a loop by myself and starting sagging to .7. We each had one front flat. Will follow the plan tomorrow-3.5 hr then do last RR next saturday
5 hour ride planned yesterday instead of today due to kids' sports today.
Dropped kids at school, came home to start bike and noticed that my daughter left her lunch box on the kitchen counter. Strapped her lunch box to my back and rode it the 14 miles to school.
Continued on only to experience a flat tire ( goat head thorn is a big problem here in Northern California this time of year). Changed the tire, continued on.
Next I see three police officers crouched in an alley way with guns drawn. As I look over one of them asks me "Did you see anyone running around?". I say no, and continue on. Less than a half mile away a woman comes running towards me shouting."Turn around, there is a guy firing a gun up there.". Two minutes later 20 or so cop cars come speeding up the road. Officers jumping out with guns, stopping traffic, searching vehicles. I high-tail it out of there! As I am heading out, SWAT teams are speeding by, more cop cars, intersections being blocked behind me. I felt like I was on a movie set! The town of Auburn went on lock-down for the next four hours. Massive man-hunt for a gunman who had shot and killed a sheriff's deputy earlier in the day. The suspect then shot two more officers ( one died later) and a civilian. The guy was finally apprehended. Such a sad day here in the Sacramento area. Very surreal experience for me. Hoping for a less exciting RR next week!
funny how the link shows up in spanish
ok, just looked at garmin , clearly i need to change FTP setting somewhere...
@Jennifer, yikes, that sounds awful. Glad you did not get stuck in the middle of that mess. So sorry for those involved.
I've always had good luck pacing my long runs and races more off of heart rate vs. pace. This is especially true in hot weather. I looked more at my pace in Texas this year but I still let HR drive things.
Long ride yesterday went pretty well. I'm still having neck problems and looking up for that long really takes a toll. Combine that with all of the swimming and it's even worse. If anyone has recommendations on improving neck range of motion, I'm all ears.
http://www.strava.com/activities/211608311
Today I decided to take a break from the TT bike and ride my gravel grinder. Unfortunately the rear tire started to separate and developed a noticeable bump (after only ~500 miles). I detoured from one bike shop to another and then a third looking for a new tire with no luck. The tire finally blew ~14 miles in so I headed home and switched bikes and finished. Get-r-done.
http://www.strava.com/activities/212017160
http://www.strava.com/activities/212086895 (0.77 IF and 1.04 VI, so I"m pretty happy about that)
One week to go folks!
I did the RR swim today in a 25 meter pool - 3800m/1:16. I think that's the longest I've ever swum in a pool without stopping at the wall once. For someone who's done so many IMs, I really have a distaste for swimming, biking, or running long at a steady pace, basically by myself. Except on race day - then it's a group activity, much more fun!
@Clark - strong work bringing it home Sunday!
I had a reasonably good long run: http://www.strava.com/activities/212047462
Not as fast as I would like, but a lot of things went well. One problem came up at mile 16.1 when I was focusing on pushing, my foot caught a raised concrete lip and down I went splitting my knee open......Looked appropriate for Halloween but did not damage the bones or cartilage fortunately.......I have to remember to pay attention when I begin to get tired......
SS
Good work everyone!! We are hitting the home stretch, so be sure to be safe out there.
I had a good day yesterday. 15 days post-Kona, and did a mini-RR for AZ. Rode 76 miles in 3:39, 20.0 avg mph, 90 avg cadance, avg HR 138, 188 NP, 1.03 VI. It was a nice day (temp 48-65F), sunny and 5-8 mph wind. I rode virtually the entire way in aero psoition. Then ran 6 miles at 9:10 pace. The best part was that I had no ab pain while running. I strained my abs on Sept 23 and this was the first time since then that I ran with no ab pain. Complete rest day today to let my body absorb the work.
Glad everyone is getting all the work done!
@Paul-nice day on beeline-wasn't my RR-just an .8 IF x3h wish I could make Bartlett on Friday AMs-I'm on my way to work by 6-6:15!
@shaughn-I've tripped exactly like that on stupid concrete-glad it was just soft tissue injury.
@Bruce-way to come back after Kona!
@Peter-IM watts in strong wind will have you prepared for anything the beeline/AZ winds dish out on race day!
50mi .8 IF beeline yesterday with David Ware following me on his rented P2 roadBike. He said he was working but I don't believe him. I sure was though!
@Paul: Nice to meet you. Good luck on the rest of the training.
@Shaughn: I do the same thing, lose focus and have had some entertaining falls and permanent scars on the knees...
@Bruce: You are really coming back well after Kona. Looking forward to seeing you have a great race...
@Peter: Weather can really suck sometimes, but you were out there. That really helps with the Mental game...
@Betsy: Fun to ride with you this weekend. You are getting strong on the bike and I expect a major breakthrough from you on race day! Swimming sounds like it is coming along so you are going to have a great day.
Anita
Continental 4000 Grand Prix is a very common choice. There are nuances among tires which some people obsess about, concerning rolling resistance and watts saved, etc, but the Contis which are made in Germany have a long-standing reputation as being tough enough to avoid flats, smooth enough to be a good roller, and fairly easy to obtain.
Personal note - I've done 25+ IM bikes, and had only one flat, in my very first IM, using this tire in most of those races.
http://www.slowtwitch.com/Products/Things_that_Roll/Tires/Fast_Tires_2013_3787.html
Based on the comments above and this review I will be getting my conti 4000s this week.
I rode 2012 AZIM Vitoria Evo corsa from EN group buy. I rode a 650 kestral and they don't make latex tubes in 650 so I didn't get the full experience. 2013 KS HIM the Ks bike shop recommended the conti 4000 so I rode those in Ks and AZIM 2013, no flats. I now have a Cervelo P3 and back to 700 wheels. When I had my bad flat day on beeline, week 15, the local shop recommended Vitoria rubino for training and racing (I had totally forgotten about the previous recommendation of the contis) However, according to the review above they are strictly a training tire. So off to the shop for tires tomorrow.