Week 10 of 12 - get on your game face
Time to start thinking about the big dance! The Taper is almost here and I know we all can't wait until Sunday. Important to have a high quality week, listen to your body as a long season of fatigue builds up, and stay focused on your diet, particularly after this week when the calories out aren't as high.
If you have or haven't worked of lists before, make your packing, race day, plans, etc, get em done this week, post in the race planning forum if you want help, a look over the shoulder, etc.
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And please make sure your info is up to date on the AZIM spreadsheet.
Happy Tues peeps!
I was moving slow and stiff on Monday morning. I managed a lunch hour, 4,050 yd., slow swim with intervals.
I have been hacking the plan a bit and will continue doing two intensity bikes during the week with long run deferred until Sunday.
This morning I got in a Z4 interval ride on the trainer: http://www.strava.com/activities/212720744
...and plan to run before the day is over........tomorrow will be swim and 2X1s if the planets align correctly followed by another intensity trainer session on Thurs.....
I am also focused on the Saturday RR coming up .....
Thoughts/reminders for this week:
Key #2: The Line
Summary: Nothing on race day really matters until you reach The Line on the run. The Line is the point at which continuing becomes very, very difficult. You define success as simply not slowing down at The Line.
Advice: EVERYTHING before The Line is simply about creating conditions for success for when the Line comes to you.
For me, wed is lining up as the only sustained dry day, so I 'll be doing my RR then, and trying to juggle the other days somehow.
week is shaping up and hitting all workouts..
have the ex covering kids on Saturday for the RR and wouldn't you know it, it is supposed to rain & or snow! Looks like a repeat of when i did this on a drainer in 2011. Any advice for how to do a RR on a drainer? I can't imagine that i can hit .68-.70 IF for 6 hrs on a drainer...
Sunday is supposed to be dry and very cold, and if it snows Saturday, who knows what roads will be like... Friday, really not a possibility in my life.
I'm ready for this week to be over, but mentally, I think I may be through the valley and on my way back up the mountain. I hate, hate, hate the increased swim volume in these last weeks. My body just can't take it, but for some reason I keep trying to cram it all in anyway. Well, no more! Last night when I left the pool, my fingers ached, I had a krink in my neck and a spasm in my back and I decided I've had enough. I'm going to hack the swim plan from here on out, lowering the volume and focusing on workouts that build my confidence and maintain my fitness. At this point, for my swim, the hay is already in the barn.
This morning was a nice 2x15 Z4 on the bike. Long run tomorrow and then bike maintenance / cleanup / setup in preparation for Saturday.
It's going to be a great week!
One other question for the group... Those of you who have your race schedule and bio info in the footer of your posts, how did you do that? I thought I had it figured out but nothing I've tried has worked. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
#2 in this wiki post:
So, the last few weeks I've been feeling really drained. Always tired. I figured it was the training but I weighed myself yesterday at the gym for the first time in 3 week and found that i'd lost 7 lbs in 3 weeks. So, I think I need to start eating more ;-) I've been so busy with training/soccer/work that I don't think I've been eating enough. So, that's good to know. I've realized in the past that if I get below 170, I start to feel blah and i'm down to 166. I thought it was wrong so I weighed myself 3 times and then used another scale. I haven't been this light in 15 years.
@Scott D. Ouch. I would think PnR would say don't try to do the full on the trainer. I think they've said 3hr max in the past, good micro post question. Maybe you can find a window to split the ride between indoor and out? You've done this before though, so I'd think you have the execution and nutrition pretty well in hand. If you don't need to tweak your protocols, then at this point RR#2 is for confidence really. Do what you can, call it good.
@peter, its pretty common to have weight drop these last few weeks. We've amped up the distance and work load to its max, you realistically can't keep up with intake. I've dropped to 162 now, from a solid 165 most of the past 20+ weeks. Make sure its not dehydration, by focusing on drinking water throughout the day, and keep your calorie load up. But otherwise your body will find its level.
I've joined the hack-the-week club due to both fatigue and weather. Last week and this week have been subpar due to fatigue, so Im actively dropping green and yellow and throttling red workouts. I'm also swapping Th for Sa: RR#2 on Thursday, long run on Sat, due to cold, and wind forecast for the weekend. Hoping I can execute a solid RR tomorrow.
At this point the 'hay is in the barn'. No last minute workouts are going to increase your fitness at this point, from here on its about building your execution abilities, confidence, and mitigating any fitness loss during taper. Super critical to get good sleep, and good nutrition. During taper it is not uncommon for some folks to get sick, so its good to keep it in mind and exercise extra precautions in that regard, washing hands and avoiding people with colds, eating well, sleeping lots, etc…
Woot Woot, we are almost there!!!!!!!
I was wondering how to re-arrange things but I will follow @Rian's plan and do long run on Saturday. Should be fun - there is a "dress like the 80's" 5K that I will park away from but see from the course. Saturdays are good in general - last time I saw a surf contest, paddle board contest, dragon boat racing contest (never seen that before) and a wedding. Probably lots of sailboats and windsurfers out this weekend :-) Plan to do long swim today in pool.
@ Rian, I am concerned that I haven't ridden more then 100 since IMMT in Aug. What would you do? Feeling like I need the confidence booster that I can still do 112, in aero. Also, I haven't been practicing my full nutrition plan because it is dialed in for much warmer weather and I just don't need as much in the cold. I don't plan to change anything nutrition wise from previous IMs for IMAZ though. Good idea or not?
On a very positive note, I have been getting at least 8 hours of sleep a night.
@Mary I'm with Dave: fitness will carry over, and you will need the warm weather fluid protocol. Last year except for the 2 RRs I didn't do more than 4hrs -- 80 miles in a ride and race day was fine, I'd say get in whatever you can, but don't do 6hrs on the trainer. As for drink protocol, if you've used it before @ IMMT then you know it works. I too have been drinking less due to cool weather riding, I'm just keeping in mind that I need to be focused on more fluid on race day.
I also Might do a few hours on trainer Saturday.
Get in what i can, when i can...
running won't be an issue and will probably use the gap in time to get some extra laps in the pool!
Seeing all the comments about trainer RRs, cold weather, and worries over fitness and confidence makes me feel very lucky I had a window today to get in my RR #2. The rain stopped about 8AM, just as I was putting the finishing touches on Trainer Road workout Creator to cover the first three hours of a six hour ride. I even had Denzel Washington/Flight cued up in Amazon Prime on the Roku. A last glance out the window, a final look at the radar, and I became convinced it would be dry all day, maybe even sunny.
So I packed up the car, drove about 25 minutes to where I could do a two loop ride and run easily after. This being my third IM this year, I'm a little burned out on long rides, and I was worried I couldn't do what this week's thread suggests - get my game face on. The roads were still wet, and in many places there was still detritus on the shoulder from the windstorm several days ago. So: wet socks, dirty shoes and leg warmers, lots of bumps over branches and pine cones, and of course the dirty line of spots up my back from tire spray. But no rain, temps in the 50s, even some sun.
I was very happy with the overall result - 104 miles in 5:59, TSS of 270, IF of 0.67 (PowerAgent) or 0.675 (WKO+) or 0.7 (Garmin - with a TSS there of 290. Elevation gain was 3600 or 4500 or 5000', Same Power meter, different recording devices and software analysis; take your pick, the main thing was, I kept my power levels constant across all of the intervals from start thru 5+ hours, dropping off by about 0.01 IF in the last hour. I felt like my legs were dead, and I would not be able to run at the end. But then, I always feel that way every triathlon I race, so I assumed that was a good sign.
Sure enough, I ran the six miles in 9:25, 9:25, 9:11, 9:02, 8:54, 8:47, with my HR rising steadily from 111 to 121. That's just about how I would like the first 6-8 miles to go (well, maybe not 8:47; I'd be happy just to turn over @ 9:02)
I finished by 5:15 PM, and caught Rich's Webinar via cell phone as I drove back home. This was a confidence booster for me, as I was able to get all the calories I had planned. Fluid quantity was a lot less than I anticipate on race day, though. Eg, the first 62 miles, I drank a grand total of 44 ounces, with another 44 in the last 42 miles. (And peed once an hour!) But those fluids held 900 calories, with another 400 via gel, and 200 via Hammer Solids.
I'm not quite ready to start a taper yet, 4 more days this week for 2-3 swims, 3 runs, and a longish bike on Saturday (when it might be dry again).
I am now dickering around with what to do. This AM driving the kids to school I hear that Sunday morning will be cold & blustery with wind chills in the mid teens. Not ideal for a RR, maybe a survival fest. They did say depending on storm track, if it goes a bit south, me being north of the NYC area, I might get the ability to do some of this ride outdoors. Of course I now released the ex from her assistance on Saturday and now have an oil burner guy coming to do the annual cleaning, so I am hoping to split up 6 hrs between road & drainer.
To those that say "the hay is in the barn" well, mostly, while an RR is about building confidence, and I know I can turn it on for race day and execute it is still 7 hrs(bike + run) of medium intensity fitness being pushed into the body. It still counts!
so, everyone facing the challenging weather conditions, remember that things won't go as planned on race day and this weekend's drill is a chance to practice dealing with unplanned adversity with your game face on.
good luck all!
@Al - I have not looked at the minimalist plan yet. Last two weeks I have been basically doing the normal plan volume with the exception of swapping out the Sun ride for an Ass whipping Thurs intensity ride. About 130+ TSS at .9 IF for 100 - 110 minutes.... I find I need that intensity over the 3 hour ABP ride. That means I have to be prepared to run the long run on Sunday with some tired legs.....so, there are trade offs. Al, really nice RR2 and great example for us.
Tuesday was 11', 13', 15' (3') @ .99 - 1.01 on trainer for 80 minutes total and 3X1 @ Z4+ run in the afternoon. Legs were shelled.
Yesterday was 5.5 mile run and 4,200 yds swim.
Today, I opted for the regularly scheduled longish run because it was so nice outside and my schedule allowed me to get away with it.
http://www.strava.com/activities/213584872
I am planning to do the RR2 on Sat with option to move to Sun if weather looks more favorable.
Good luck to all of you trying to juggle the RR2 with weather conditions. I know that is tricky and not ideal.
SS
This is basically the minimalist plan. For the past four weeks or more, it's had 5 x 5' (5') @ 120% on Thursday, filling out to 75' with as much 80% as you can handle. And then the long run on Sunday. Luckily, the Coaches' notes say that anything between 95 and 120% is acceptable for those 5 x 5's. Ive been doing 105% the past two weeks with 20 minutes of 80%, which gave me a TSS of 98. I had hardly ever been able to handle the back to back weekend rides, attributing it to a combination of recovery needs as I age, and also the impact of decades of long bike riding. Minimalist is a misnomer, I think. It's a plan which is just as hard as the standard one, but better for "veterans" in both chronological and race years sense, IMO.
As to my RR yesterday, I had actually tried to get it in on Monday, and drove 2.5 hours over the mountainside to find some dry, sunny weather. It turned out to be 35F at the start, and I went 56 miles with 3500' of climbing, then bagged it and ran 4 miles on a gravel path in light weight racing flats. It was very disappointing, so I took the next day off, and girded my loins for a RR on my go to route here when I saw the weather might be tolerable. I was quite pleased with the bike, as I have almost always in the past found those rides to be so boring, or tiring, or both that I would just mentally give up after 4 hours or so. This time, I kept myself in the game the whole way. RR runs have never been a problem for me, as I know they are too short to really be taxing in the way they are on race day.
So at the moment my confidence is sky high that I will be mentally ready to meet my targets for this race, which are based on my previous races there, a recognition of some element of age rated decline, and opportunities for improving on how I did last year. Both methods triangulate to about the same time.
Sounds like we are all loking forward to getting over the hump of this upcoming RR.
I am back after being sidelined for a bit over two weeks with tendonitis in my lower right leg. Even swimming aggrevated it, so I did almost nothing physical during this time. Really upset that I couldn't do the 3 hour race rehearsal run. The upside is that I got to spend a lot of quality time with the family during two very nice fall weekends. You appreciate that time more after spending the better part of Saturdays away from them.
Anyway - I got back in the game on Monday and I feel great. The ride on Wednesday went well. During yesterday's run, I decided to test my fitness in the last 15 minutes and steadily pushed myself from zone 2 all the way up to zone 5 by the end. The fitness is still there, despite the fact that I was eating like I was training for an Ironman for two weeks without really training for one
As for the RR tomorrow, I don't want to chance re-injury. I am going to do 3 hours on the trainer at a .69 IF and then run 8 miles in zone 2. That gives my the chance to bail immediately if my leg bothers me, and also gives me a chance to toss the space heater in my pain cave and practice hydration and nutrition. The high tomorrow is supposed to be 45 in Minnesota. Can't wait to hang with you all in warmer weather!
Hang tough folks.
@Scott D. Sage advice, practicing for adversity!
@Al, nice RR, good to hear your thoughts on the 'minimalist' plan. I wish I had gone that route, it was more inline with what I hacked last-year, and I feel like did not make the progress this year that I did last, I guess I still haven't learned to trust my instincts and experience enough yet.
@Joe. Key is to stay healthy and able to race, throttling as needed is smart!
@Shaughn -- you're like a machine! Almost home!
I did my RR#2 yesterday in a swap with saturday to avoid the impending weather front. So glad I did, it was a glorious day and as enjoyable as an RR could be. Temps started a little cool -- 27F but warmed up nicely by mid-afternoon to ~68F, so I was shedding gear all day with each lap of my ride. I used my usual RR 28mi loop which totals up to almost exactly the same gain as the IMAZ course, so its a great simulation, and I find my time in RR is about 15-20 minutes slower than race day, so I have a good idea of what race should look like.
Ride: 112 mi, 5:10, .74 IF, VI 1.0, HR 150. -- HR climbed quite a bit (up to 160 briefly) in last third, which might have been due to climbing temps and accumulated fatigue. But no leg fatigue or power drop off, and my legs, neck, back, butt and gut felt great throughout.
Run: 6.1 mi, 47min ~ 7:46min/mi, HR ~155. I struggled to keep the HR down after the end of the ride, and my GPS paces seemed to be jumping all over the place, nevertheless somehow I managed to keep it under control and walk 10-15 seconds each mile.
Feeling READY! Will swim long today, and do the long run tomorrow then start TAPER!!!!!
Rian - that is one awesome RR. Here's hoping it will replicate on race day.
I don't mean to gloat-but the weather in the valley is perfect. Prediction tomorrow for my RR is 59 low, high of 79 and sunny. Long run last night 7-9pm was perfect 70s, no humidity, few clouds, waxing quarter moon-It is going to beautiful weather race day!
My week in review:
As I've already said, I stuck to the plan last weekend, rather than moving RR up a week to do the supported ride. I figured there was some wisdom in one more intensity weekend before the last RR, and I wanted to keep visiting David Ware company. It's really payed off I believe.
I had to take a rest day Monday due to work. Tues I did he full swim wko which for me means 1:45 in the pool but felt good. Wed am spin I did 2x15' at 1.03 and 1.04! That is the first time I've approached 1.0 since earning my new FTP of 3.1w/kg! Yesterday, I had afternoon off work, and call today with no time for wko. So, did the full swim then run. Swim: 3800 m in 1:36-2min slower than last week but still faster than last year. Had best run in a while, 12mi in 115'-was able to negative split 2nd hour and hit z2 on most miles with one z3. Best training week I've had!
Today is rest day and RR #2 tomorrow.
Best of luck to all in colder climes getting it done!
@Betsy- Good luck on the RR in the great weather.
I did my RR 2 yesterday. Didn't go great. I think I've reached the over trained point. I had no power. It was a struggle to keep my .68 (157) power. So, I cut it down to 5 hrs and ran 4 afterwards. The 4 miles felt good I was able to keep my pace well. Hopefully my bike legs will come back over the next 2 weeks. I'm going to do my 1 1/2 hr long run for this week on Sunday. Looking forward to tapering.
My bike goes to TBT on Tues due to travel Wed - Fri. So it will be back to the road bike for the rest of training.
Bonus- extra hour of sleep tomorrow.
Team...sorry I have been missing for this week. Crazy at work and I just didn't have time to post (sleep had higher priority)
Looks like some stellar RRs being completed by numerous folks. Good stuff!! Stay healthy.
Coach R has me on a 2 weeks transition plan from Kona, then one week of the Get Faster plan (this week) then 2 week taper for AZ. I did cheat a little and did a 4 hour RR ride and 6 mile run last Sunday. Went pretty good. Took Monday off. Tuesday did bike intervals 6 x 2' (1') @ 290W, the remainder at 210W + 3 mile run in pm. Weds: swam 2500 meters which included 5 x 400s in am , then 12 mile run in pm. run was not my fastest but overall felt pretty. I moved the long run to Weds b/c tomorrow I'm doing the Sears Tower stair climb with my company(I got talked into be a player/coach by my CEO) and I wanted an extra day of time between the long run and the stair climb. Thurs: 1500 meters with 10 x 100s @ 1:40 pace in am then a hard spin class in pm. Friday: swam 4000 meters in 1:18 and felt good the whole way. Saturday: swam 1500 m EZ, 2.5 hours on training including 2 x 20' (4') @ 260W and the rest at 180W, then ran 2 miles @ 9:00 pace. I'm feeling tired, so I'm going to taper hard the next two weeks. Not much more I can do fitness wise at this point.
On the advice of Tim Cronk, I set up a trainer road file of 25 minute (5 rest) intervals. dialed down my FTP by 7 watts, probably legit & went for a .69IF. Managed to do 6 intervals, with a big rest between 5 & 6 as I had to drive a daughter to Hoops clinic.
Legs Felt Trashed and I tried to start interval #7 and just didn't feel i had it in me. Did a brick about an hour later and felt phenomenally strong given how much my legs hurt from the bike & the 11 mile run the day before.
strava, Garmin & TR files below. Did a light week this week, so heading to the pool for an RR swim & some extra laps as well as a 6 mile run. The wind here is unreal today and I am so glad I am not doing the NY Mary this year, though it is planned for next year...
http://www.strava.com/activities/214311601/analysis
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/624474187
http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/1206969-Trainer-RR
Run File:
http://www.strava.com/activities/214347297
This RR was a real confidence booster.
I ran 8.5 miles in zone 2 right off the bike. It was a little tough, but I managed to gut it out and get r done and stay on pace the whole time.
Reading all the RR2 work below is amazing and humbling. Everyone finding a way to fit something into each unique situation. Takes a lot of mental strength to do that on top of regular life with family and work load in there.......then to have to fight the elements and get this type of work done is just unbelievable. Very strong work all!
Swam Friday: http://www.strava.com/activities/213977963
Then did a Z1 run: http://www.strava.com/activities/214011363
That put me at about 10 hours of training before the Sat RR.
Sat Bike RR2:http://www.strava.com/activities/214402417
No flats but cold and windy all day with a 31 degree wind chill out the door.
Sat Run RR2: http://www.strava.com/activities/214402417
Felt a little rough due to stomach and the 329 TSS points I racked up fighting the wind.
Moving slow this morning..........
Congratulations all! - IMAZ training basically complete! What an accomplishment!