I have a pee-on-the-bike story too! I just accomplished it on my long ride last Saturday...three times! However, on the first time when it happened, I was feeling relief and happiness about my accomplishment and I look down and see my pee running right onto my water bottle! Doh! Fortunately, it was raining....
I'm so envious of all you that can pee on the bike. I just can't seem to do it. Against my better judgement I am doing Muncie 70.3 this Saturday. I have been doing the 12 week minimalist plan, although I have been training since the October OS. I did my RR swim this morning and probably will lay low on the legs today and tomorrow. I'll skip the long bike on Saturday in lieu of the 70.3. My plan for the 70.3 is to focus on a Z2 power effort on the bike and practice pacing the run. Maybe I will even try to pee on the bike! Thanks for all the great posts. I'm getting nervous about IMLP even though it will be my fifth IM. I hope I'm not the only one....
I did my RR swim today in my usual lake, which is about 650m/"length",; 6 lengths is about = to an IM swim. 6 weeks ago, I went 1:15.58; today was 1:14.17, the quickest I've gone 6 lengths in the past five years. I don't know what that portends for the race, but I do know this was my easiest swim in that lake in that (a) I had basically the same time for all six lengths discounting the wind which was tail going out, head coming back, and the first length is 10 meters short; and (b) I did bilateral (every third stroke) breathing the whole way, instead of every other stroke like I usually do. I think that helps me swim straighter and keep my form better, even though I do most of my training breathing every second stroke.
I used a full sleeve wetsuit, even though the water temp was in the mid-70s.
OK all you newbie bike pee'ers..... Now lets see if you can pee on the run ? :-)
@SS and Al , peaking those swims at the perfect time !
I peaked on yesterday's swim and blew my load for today's swim.... Yesterday I went really hard for my normal out and back of around 1900yds/1.05-1.1mile on garmin , swimming the north leg in 12:29 and the south leg in 12:59 for a best ever of 25:28..... Did not feel the need to push today's long swim at all and just cruised the 3.3 mile effort coming in at 4 minutes slower than the same exact swim last friday!
@ Evan- Looks like you've had some great gains recently. Hope you get your bike worked out quickly. I my rear derailleur decided to ruin my day also.
I pushed my RR to Friday because of work on Saturday and still wanting to gain some extra SAU on Sunday. Did a 2.4 mile pool swim in 1:18:25- not bad with the pool being a little busy. I changed quickly and took the subway back home and got on the bike (40 minutes). Rode out of NYC via the George Washington Bridge and up 9W through NJ back into NY. Rode to Bear Mountain and climbed to the peak. Took a quick picture to prove that I was there, zipped back down the mountain and back onto 9W South. As I started on the first climb toward home and geared down, my rear derailleur crapped out and broke going into my spokes. I was climbing, so was able to brake/stop quickly. I don't think I damaged the frame (fingers crossed). LBS has a replacement derailleur in stock, so am bikeless until Tuesday afternoon. The bad part was that I was 48 miles from home at Friday around noon. Ended up calling a local car rental place to pick me up and bring me back to their lot to rent a car to get home. I dropped the bike off at the bike shop, dropped the car off at LGA and jogged the 2 miles home . Good news is that this happened yesterday and not 15 days from now on the climb out of LP. My question is this: since my RR is now blown, should I attempt it again on Tues or Wed? I'm thinking that is too close to race day, and just will just have roll with the knowledge and fitness I have... I appreciate any input anyone has.
Jerry, I am very sorry to hear about your mechanical mishap on Friday and thankful it is not a medical issue. I give you a lot of credit, at that time on a Friday in the summer that is extremely resourceful to be able to get back home from there. In my opinion, be very careful if you re-attempt on Tuesday or Wednesday. That puts a large volume & effort day within 10-12 days out from the race, unless you feel that you would need to dial in some pacing or effort or nutrition issues. At this point you have the fitness to get it all done.
@ Jerry - really sorry to hear about your turn of bad luck - I know exactly how that feels!
Part 3 of 3 - OR- it's amazing what you can buy with a case of beer...
So. In what can only be described as a massive coordinated effort, frame and compatible components located, drop-shipped from manufacturer, special trips by bike store employees to the warehouse on their way into work, folks at the shop staying past their shift to complete the assembly, application of Retul fit details and - wala - I had a brand spanking new 2015 P3 with race wheels to do the RR today. And maybe it's just because of that 'new car smell' feeling, but I feel faster on it...
Wow. Just wow. I was really humbled by how many people appreciated how important this was to me and went out of their way to help me make this happen. I was also really, really touched by folks on the team reached out to me with solutions, including the offer letting me use their own bike, should I need to. Just, wow.
The only hiccup was that the brand new Stages Ultegra power meter that I bought in June isn't compatible with the new ride, so watch for that to show up in the classifieds shortly. New power meter is due to arrive early next week, which meant the RR today was all about HR and PE - but, hey - I have zero complaints and was just thrilled to be out there.
Things are feeling dialed in for the race - hope you guys had a great RR today, too!
Report on final week of crescendo training. Run, swim intervals on Tuesday, bike intervals on Wed. These all went smooth, meaning I felt very powerful, and fully within myself hitting all the paces with relative ease. On Thursday, I ran 12 miles, with the final 4 being first an uphill mile to the local middle school track, then a few miles at "MP". Even though my HR and RPE were sitting at MP, my times were a lot speedier - HMP, then TP for the last one. Again, I felt powerful and able to handle this workout with a feeling of ease, both mentally and physically.
Friday was my RR swim in my local lake. I was nearly two minutes faster than the last time I was there (six weeks ago), even though I did the whole swim breathing every third stroke instead of the every other stroke I usually use. My distance was shorter, if you believe Garmin, because I think I was able to swim straighter. Best of all, each length ( 6 = 3800 meters or so) was pretty much the same time, discounting the tailwind on the way out, headwind on the way back.
Then today, Bike/Run RR #2. My three primary areas of focus were:
Stay aero as much as possible. Check
Try and average 0.68 IF for the ride. Check; throwing out the first five miles and the last five, my IF was 0.683. This despite a low battery on my Di2, which kicked in @ 4:45 into the ride. That meant I had only the small chain ring up front, with all gears in the back. Upping my cadence allowed me to keep speed, but it meant a bit more coasting than I would have like on downhills.
Get as close to 300 cal/hour as possible. It was a cool, overcast day (temps in the 60s thruout the ride), and I stopped to pee 4 or 5 times, meaning I certainly was topped up on fluids. My cal intake was diminished a bit, as I only drank 88 oz in 6 hr 12 minutes. Overall, I had 6 Perpetuem solids for 200 cal, 8 oz of EFS for 720 cal, 44 oz of Infinit for about 440 cal, and 16 oz of Gatorade Endurance for about 100 cal (rest of fluids were water, to wash down the EFS). Total of 1460 cal, for about 240/hour. For me, that's about average for an IM.
Physically, as I have noticed for the past two weeks, I felt as if I had a continuing supply of mojo and strength thru the entire time of the ride. I did notice after about 3.5-4 hours that my left knee left collateral ligament started to hurt a little. I decided to just live with it, and think about pedaling more with my right leg, as well as keeping my left knee as straight up and down as possible. But the end of the ride, and especially on the run, I was no longer noticing this at all. Once again pointing out to me that tiredness, aches and pains during the bike which seem significant, almost always do not present me from having a satisfactory run. It;s just part of the distance of doing Ironman.
The run was like I was a machine. The first mile - a little bit downhill - went by in 9:24, right on target for LRP + 30 s. The next 4 were all a tick above or below 9:00, right on LRP. My breathing was slow and even, and my HR was still in the 11X range, so I thought I would see what happened if I did that last slightly uphill mile a tick harder. 30 seconds faster than going out, despite the difference in gradient. I wasn;t overly tired, and rewarded myself with a large chocolate malt from Dairy Queen.
I think I've met the target of building a fit, racing machine. Now the focus has to turn to race day execution, which is an equally hard, and equally important piece of the Ironman puzzle. Next week I'll post a Race Plan, with a fair amount of emphasis of my process goals and measures of success. FYI, Patrick put up in the wiki last month a TEN PAGE Ironman "checklist", which I may just reference instead of having to write out all the gory details of what to do and pay attention to outside of the actual racing. Should save a lot of electrons.
@Al Wow! Sounds like you are ready to kill it on race day!
As for me, I had a good swim. It was an "organized" swim, with safety kayaks and the course was laid out with buoys and was a 1.2 mile loop (supposedly). I did 2 loops and was at about 1.8 miles, so I started a 3rd loop and got to just over 2 miles when they were closing things up. Moving speed was 2:07 per 100yd, which is a good pace for my current swim ability. Water temps were upper 70's, so I chose to not wear a wetsuit.
The swim started after 9am, so I wasn't on the bike until almost 12. Temps in Atlanta were upper 90's peaking around 100. I rode JRA for 90' averaging around 120 watts and then tried to increase to 140 (.68). It did not happen. The heat was oppressive. I sapped my energy. I did not have water to cool myself - only my nutrition. Bad planning. During lap 2, I encountered an ice chest of waters that someone left for anyone on the trail to use and I soaked myself in the cold water. It helped immensely. After the 2nd loop I hit a convenience store for water to cool with, which helped. At the end of the 3rd loop, I was getting nauseous and the gatorade endurance was absolutely VILE to drink - I needed something cold and all I had was hot gatorade. I choked it down on schedule, but when I got back to the convenience store I went in and slammed an ice cold coke. I finished up the ride with avg power of 123, TSS of 237, VI of 1.02, 101 miles in 6 hours with an avg heart rate of 136.
I started the run with the goal of keeping my heart rate at 140. Should have been 136 per plan, but 140 was the last HR number I saw real time. I had to keep the pace around 13 min/mile to keep my HR this low. At the end, I felt ok. I certainly was tired from the longest training or racing day of my life by 2 hours, but I feel like I could have kept going. However, my brain knew I was done at 1 hour of running and I was glad it was over!
Overall, I am pleased with accomplishing the long day and it gives me some confidence about race day. I did experience abdominal cramping (heat?) during the bike and nausea during the run (pre-run carbonated Coke?). Nothing I couldn't push through, but not pleasant either. Also, my leg injury is better - I "felt" it still, tightness/soreness but not painful. I think with two more weeks of rehab and rest it will be good to go.
RR #2 goals: -Keep at 143 w (.68) Smooth up the hills, run the gear smart, drink my aero bottle of water each hour, 300 cal. per hour (1/2 cliff bar and 1/3 of my Perpetuem bottle. Pee every hour (on the bike) - Nutrition and hydration went right on plan. Was a little higher than I wanted to be on the power side. 144 average, 150 np. It was a warm and sunny day, and I just kept thinking - take it easy so you don't cook off on the run. Will have to tell myself that on race day too!
Run: Too fast on first mile, but the HR was 125 - right where I want it. Second mile, the HR started to creep, and I was able to slow down to keep the HR in line. Very happy with the run on the whole. Did have one technical difficulty. Bought new shoes and wore them. Did not expect any problems given that it was a one hour run. Put them on and they felt a little small - turns out they were 1/2 size small. Damn. Couldn't bag the run so I thought - give it a go. Right pinky toe decided that was not such a good idea. Hot spot. When the hour ticked off, I decided there was no reason to push the blister any farther and walked it back in.
@ Al. I appreciate your feedback on the RR plan. I do need to focus on getting more fluid in early on the run. I also need to run STUPID SLOW (based on PE) for the first hour. Even though I felt good on the run, the HR creep was more than I would be able to absorb for an entire marathon.
Looking forward to the "taper genie" for race day. Today, slept in, too much coffee, a nice easy walk with the dog, and generally relaxing with my wife and kids!
Great to see good RRs & Great reports that aid in sharing the mojo and learning opportunities
@Jerry, had no idea you were NYC based, always welcome to come up here and do a Northern Westchester based training weekend. Doing an RR with a Bear climb thrown is very hardcore. Lets do that ride after LP and throw in some repeats of Bear & Alpine! Good job on the recovery and getting home. Do NOT try to do a RR between now & race day. Hay is in the barn the best thing you can do is let your body taper, recover, and build strength through rest.
My RR was planned to be 113 miles of a tried and tested route. I probably rode the first 40ish at 5-8 watts too high of a number. To top that off from, mile one, my legs felt tired. I actually think I am still fatigued from my hard ride with Tim last week. Everything went well on a hot day, I deviated from the course around mile 70 as my rear D was jumping a bit and i could pass by my best LBS (not so local) and get a quick adjust... of course, on this route I got my first flat...
did a very slow change, stopped at LBS and continued on... about 3 miles on word, i felt a very sharp pain on my left inner thigh, as if something inside my shorts was diging into my leg... Realized it was a bee sting
Rejoined original planned route, was heading to end a few miles past my house and pick up my car from a much needed cleaning and thought of a good flatish high speed loop where I could add another few miles and get closer to 112, and got flat part deux... double UGH! changed, picked up car.
Took a bit longer to recover given the outside temps and headed out for the run on the bike path and hit all good numbers.
How I feel about my fitness. The ride took me 10 minutes longer than slowest, but route was not the same and this was by far the hottest day I ever did this full route on. I feel that my FTP is where it was a year ago (no small feat given the break I took in Feb/ March, i do however feel that my 5 hour power isn't as strong and I should be going out more conservatively in LP.
Oh, and when I am wondering why my Garmin shows similar climbing to LP and I can't understand why I will be faster on race day, I am reminded by elevation correction, that there is actually 1800' more of climbing on my route... and that I got just as concerned prior to MT last year.
Such great motivational reading with this group. Something good to read every day. Thanks to all for your posts!
Weekly Recap
Mon – took the day off.Was really starting to feel the fatigue of the past several weeks.
Tues Swim – mid-day at the Y but struggled with form and pace.Ended up with 4x600, none at my recent 1:40/100yd pace.From the beginning I was about 2 sec slower and it got worse as the sets rolled on so I called it a day.Still feeling the fatigue I guess.
Tues Run – 2x1 TP intervals at the HS track.Felt thick and heavy going out the door but managed to hit my paces OK once I was on the track.Decided to add a 1x1 MP before heading home.Despite how much I struggled in the pool, the run went fairly well.
Wed Bike – Should have been 2x15’ FTP but only managed 12’, 14’ & 3’ at 95%.Seems like since shifting to higher volume just after my last FTP test, I really struggle going above 85ish%.On the other hand, my 75% efforts feel easier now.
Wed Brick Run – Straight forward run.Start easy and run a progressive pace.6 miles
Thurs Long Run – Easy start progressive run.Plan called for 1:45 but ended up with 1:57, 14 miles in all.Felt strong thru the end.
Fri – took the day off in prep for RR #2 on Saturday.Took the time to prep nutrition and put get my party dress on the bike.
Sat RR #2 Swim – 2.26 miles @ 1:14
Had planned to begin at 7AM but slept an extra 30 minutes. Up at 4:30 for PBJ, prep swim kit, setup T1 & T2 in the garage. Drove to Brewer Lake drinking 275 cals Infinit and started swimming by 7:30. Water was perfect – smooth as glass, temp in upper 60’s, maybe even 70. Garmin reported 2.6 miles but Google Earth measure was 2.26 miles. So pace was about 1:52/100yds and I am very happy with that. Felt smooth and controlled the whole way. Peed 4 times, and didn’t even have to stop or slow down!
Sat RR #2 Bike – 111 miles @ 6:03; 157 N; 0.713 IF; 1.03 VI, 4095’ elev.
The drive back home was about 20’ then took a few minutes to transition. Was on the bike within 30’ of swimming. Bike course is same as I rode last weekend. Planned to ride 71% of 220 (156 NP) overall but wanted to start @ 70% and build from there. Had a flat at mile 7 from an upholstery pin – the curly Q type. Pissed me off because it poked a hole in my brand new Conti tire and wasted a new latex tube. After that I settled in for a long ride. About 2 hours in during the climbing section every time I was in the small ring spinning uphill, a cloud of moose flies and deer flies attached me! I ended up spiking my watts to get away and several times and posted a 15’ split @ 0.745! They suck! Literally!
At the 56 mile turn around I refilled my 3 nutrition bottles and guzzled an additional 24 oz. of water.The day was hotter than expected and I could tell my hydration would suffer.Peed twice on the bike but both were before half way.Had I been on a race course I would’ve drank another 3-4 bottles starting at mile 40.Power was good and climbing thru most of the day.Not until the last 30’ did I really have to focus on holding watts.
Sat RR #2 Run – 6 miles @ 57:44; 9:01/mi
Was VERY hot by the time I got running. Likely the hottest day of the year so far. I knew I was behind on hydration but needed to push on with a short T2. Planned to walk 30 steps each mile and keep my actual running pace near my EP of 8:57. Should get me about EP + 20” per mile overall. Except the 1st mile I was not successful in holding my pace down. It seems to take more effort to run at an awkward pace than to go by HR & RPE. By mile 3 the hydration issue was becoming noticeable. Mouth was dry and HR was climbing even on descents but RPE remained constant. I could have drank 3x the water I did while running but can’t carry more than a single bottle. Suck it up, buttercup!
Post RR #2 – weigh in results: -5.5 lb (3.6% of starting wt.; mostly H2O I assume)
Very pleased with the RR overall.Held a good steady pace for the swim.Pushed the bike watts above my planned race effort to experience the negative effects of racing too hard.Ran fairly well despite nearly 4% in hydration losses.I think I am ready for Lake Placid.
I will be doing my typical analysis paralysis of the past weeks efforts, combined with prior IMLP experiences in the coming days and hope to post it in the Race Execution forum before Wednesday as my official Race Plan 2015.
Hi all....so, managed a RR swim yesterday, but I have been suffering some heat related stress problems. It's ok, because I know how to manage it, but it's caused me to miss the RR brick and last long run. I'm asking you guys, do I try to get it in the run or the brick tomorrow, or just go with fitness is in the bank and continue to follow the plan as is? My nutrition plan is down with using ucan and skratch products, but will I be ok if I've missed these last 2 big workouts? Thanks
@ Mandy - at this point in the training cycle, you have sufficient fitness to complete an Ironman. But a key to success is race execution skills, which is what the Race Rehearsal is focused on. The RR is meant to allow you to practice, and thus have confidence in, your pacing abilities, in terms of both steadiness and proper levels, as well as your nutrition plan.
As to whether you *need* to do the RR, I suggest listening to the Coaches' week 18 podcast, which specifically addresses the key nature of this workout. After that, make your decision.
As to the week 18 long run, that train has left the station, don't try to "make it up."
So I got in RR#2 yesterday. It was a good experience for me overall reminding me that I may have been kicking around here for some time by I need to keep up with the details and planning. The swim was planned for Friday but I got stuck at work late, no big deal I've done this a couple times I can roll with out the swim. The pool does not open until late and it was expected to be in the mid to high 90's which is was so I just went with the plan to ride and run Saturday.
Overall 103 miles in 6 hours 5' ride time, but 6:47 chip time with about 440 calories/hour. I'm still a big buy at 220 so I was drinking 1.5 bottles, 1 get and 1/2 a bar each hour. I finished with a 45' run which is longer than I've done for some time with my foot. On the ride I had two flats, trouble finding an additional spare at home, time in there for two refills of the bottles, and a brief stop on the road to talk with my wife.
Lessons learned: 1) I've lowered my FTP by 10 points prior to the RR. I just can't hold the numbers at my current FTP and I felt good on this RR. 2) I went easy for the first 2 hours. One reminder for race day is to remember Coach P's webinar you will make 20 miles really fast on the LP course. 3) I pushed a little harder 3-3.5 hours as I know that first loop coming back in to town I just don't have enough watts to over come my KG's. I'm putting on the 30t cassette in the back to help with this, could not get a 32 as I'd need to switch to SRAM on my 10 speed and I just don't have the cash. 4) Don't assume anything and check all gear. I had 3 Co2 canisters in my equipment but one was used. If I'd got a third flat I would have been stranded. 5) Don't working in that first 90' other than what's needed to just climb out of LP in my 30t and cruise until the climb to from Jay to Wilmington. 6) Given how much running I've done it will be an interesting finish, no inflated goals just get to the finish. 7) I didn't need my one thing on the RR but I was only out there for 7.5 hours, that's about 1/2 time. There will most likely be some tough moments in that back half so be mentally prepared for it. This is important for me as I've mentally failed myself in the last couple races I've done just because I've set over inflated goals.
Overall I was pleased with the RR and felt decent today after the effort. I'm ready to complete the race, and have a week to get some swimming in and taper.
Finally not a lesson learned but a key to next year, don't be a dumb a$$. Keep this fitness and build for next year's races. I'm already looking at some type of race for the end of summer or fall to stay motivated. If the foot holds out after the race I'd really like to do a 5 or 10k race in September and October if not I set up some biking goals, but that's getting ahead of myself.
I wrapped up this week with a 3.3 mile swim friday , 107 mile ride/6 mile brick on saturday, 1.5 mile swim and 15 mile run on sunday.... today is a very welcomed easy swim day as we start the taper....I'm feeling a bit beat up/fatigued and had some rough patches over the weekend (some heat/humidity related as summer finally showed up in NH) but overall pleased with my efforts across the board and how I'm feeling... The last 3 weeks of race specificity has done wonders for my far on top of fast and confidence...
I don't know if this is in the right place or not, but what data do people watch on race day? NP? AP? Cadence? What kind of split - time? Distance? I had a one mile split for the RR but that seemed like it was too short. Would love the input.
Late last week I was looking ahead at the temperatures for the weekend and saw that it was going to be HOT on Sunday for the RR#2 that we had planned. Knowing that this would make things just miserable, my intention was to dial back the effort to account for those conditions and focus on drinking and eating on the schedule that I had planned for. Some of us got together early Sunday morning at a Lake in southern NJ, and since it was high tide were able to have a great swim. Even though we only did one loop of about 1.3 miles, I wanted to get the ride started cause the temp was going to go up. Nutrition worked out very well, and drinking 1.5 to 2 bottles of that G.E. was a chore after a while. On race day I might start to mix a little water after aid stations into the speedfil to make it easier to drink, since I will be able to get the water to cool off with anyways.
Overall, it went very well. Started the ride J.R.A. and the effort slowly built up and felt good with the entire day when it was over...and not destroyed today. Huge thanks to Turby, Carol, Kenny & Pam for coming along for a nice Sunday in that heat.
@Bill I watch 3s power, cadence, lap HR and use a 14 mile lap. However, I was thinking about shortening the lap to something less...maybe 5 or 6 miles.
Good question Bill. I'm still new to power. My main screen (910XT) has 3s power, NP, HR, and cadence. Not sure why I monitor cadence anymore since getting a PM. Second screen TSS, IF and Pavg. It seems like NP lags a bit and 3s power tells me what I'm doing at that moment.
Comments
However, on the first time when it happened, I was feeling relief and happiness about my accomplishment and I look down and see my pee running right onto my water bottle! Doh! Fortunately, it was raining....
RR swim complete - 2 minutes faster than last one.....progress at the right time..............
https://www.strava.com/activities/343172032 no laughing....... Done in 50M pool with buoy . . . . . no wetsuit....
SS
I did my RR swim today in my usual lake, which is about 650m/"length",; 6 lengths is about = to an IM swim. 6 weeks ago, I went 1:15.58; today was 1:14.17, the quickest I've gone 6 lengths in the past five years. I don't know what that portends for the race, but I do know this was my easiest swim in that lake in that (a) I had basically the same time for all six lengths discounting the wind which was tail going out, head coming back, and the first length is 10 meters short; and (b) I did bilateral (every third stroke) breathing the whole way, instead of every other stroke like I usually do. I think that helps me swim straighter and keep my form better, even though I do most of my training breathing every second stroke.
I used a full sleeve wetsuit, even though the water temp was in the mid-70s.
@SS and Al , peaking those swims at the perfect time !
I peaked on yesterday's swim and blew my load for today's swim.... Yesterday I went really hard for my normal out and back of around 1900yds/1.05-1.1mile on garmin , swimming the north leg in 12:29 and the south leg in 12:59 for a best ever of 25:28..... Did not feel the need to push today's long swim at all and just cruised the 3.3 mile effort coming in at 4 minutes slower than the same exact swim last friday!
@tim, you weren't being chased by me this week, how do you expect to go as fast?
I just figured out that Team Dinner was a pre-paid event and got my tickets.... I like the idea of drinks at 5 , buffet at 6 , all pre-paid ....
http://members.endurancenation.us/Resources/MasterRacingPages/IronmanLakePlacid.aspx
I pushed my RR to Friday because of work on Saturday and still wanting to gain some extra SAU on Sunday. Did a 2.4 mile pool swim in 1:18:25- not bad with the pool being a little busy. I changed quickly and took the subway back home and got on the bike (40 minutes). Rode out of NYC via the George Washington Bridge and up 9W through NJ back into NY. Rode to Bear Mountain and climbed to the peak. Took a quick picture to prove that I was there, zipped back down the mountain and back onto 9W South. As I started on the first climb toward home and geared down, my rear derailleur crapped out and broke going into my spokes. I was climbing, so was able to brake/stop quickly. I don't think I damaged the frame (fingers crossed). LBS has a replacement derailleur in stock, so am bikeless until Tuesday afternoon. The bad part was that I was 48 miles from home at Friday around noon. Ended up calling a local car rental place to pick me up and bring me back to their lot to rent a car to get home. I dropped the bike off at the bike shop, dropped the car off at LGA and jogged the 2 miles home . Good news is that this happened yesterday and not 15 days from now on the climb out of LP.
My question is this: since my RR is now blown, should I attempt it again on Tues or Wed? I'm thinking that is too close to race day, and just will just have roll with the knowledge and fitness I have... I appreciate any input anyone has.
In my opinion, be very careful if you re-attempt on Tuesday or Wednesday. That puts a large volume & effort day within 10-12 days out from the race, unless you feel that you would need to dial in some pacing or effort or nutrition issues. At this point you have the fitness to get it all done.
Part 3 of 3 - OR- it's amazing what you can buy with a case of beer...
So. In what can only be described as a massive coordinated effort, frame and compatible components located, drop-shipped from manufacturer, special trips by bike store employees to the warehouse on their way into work, folks at the shop staying past their shift to complete the assembly, application of Retul fit details and - wala - I had a brand spanking new 2015 P3 with race wheels to do the RR today. And maybe it's just because of that 'new car smell' feeling, but I feel faster on it...
Wow. Just wow. I was really humbled by how many people appreciated how important this was to me and went out of their way to help me make this happen. I was also really, really touched by folks on the team reached out to me with solutions, including the offer letting me use their own bike, should I need to. Just, wow.
The only hiccup was that the brand new Stages Ultegra power meter that I bought in June isn't compatible with the new ride, so watch for that to show up in the classifieds shortly. New power meter is due to arrive early next week, which meant the RR today was all about HR and PE - but, hey - I have zero complaints and was just thrilled to be out there.
Things are feeling dialed in for the race - hope you guys had a great RR today, too!
You should have seen the looks I got from the folks on the treadmills beside me...
Report on final week of crescendo training. Run, swim intervals on Tuesday, bike intervals on Wed. These all went smooth, meaning I felt very powerful, and fully within myself hitting all the paces with relative ease. On Thursday, I ran 12 miles, with the final 4 being first an uphill mile to the local middle school track, then a few miles at "MP". Even though my HR and RPE were sitting at MP, my times were a lot speedier - HMP, then TP for the last one. Again, I felt powerful and able to handle this workout with a feeling of ease, both mentally and physically.
Friday was my RR swim in my local lake. I was nearly two minutes faster than the last time I was there (six weeks ago), even though I did the whole swim breathing every third stroke instead of the every other stroke I usually use. My distance was shorter, if you believe Garmin, because I think I was able to swim straighter. Best of all, each length ( 6 = 3800 meters or so) was pretty much the same time, discounting the tailwind on the way out, headwind on the way back.
Then today, Bike/Run RR #2. My three primary areas of focus were:
Physically, as I have noticed for the past two weeks, I felt as if I had a continuing supply of mojo and strength thru the entire time of the ride. I did notice after about 3.5-4 hours that my left knee left collateral ligament started to hurt a little. I decided to just live with it, and think about pedaling more with my right leg, as well as keeping my left knee as straight up and down as possible. But the end of the ride, and especially on the run, I was no longer noticing this at all. Once again pointing out to me that tiredness, aches and pains during the bike which seem significant, almost always do not present me from having a satisfactory run. It;s just part of the distance of doing Ironman.
The run was like I was a machine. The first mile - a little bit downhill - went by in 9:24, right on target for LRP + 30 s. The next 4 were all a tick above or below 9:00, right on LRP. My breathing was slow and even, and my HR was still in the 11X range, so I thought I would see what happened if I did that last slightly uphill mile a tick harder. 30 seconds faster than going out, despite the difference in gradient. I wasn;t overly tired, and rewarded myself with a large chocolate malt from Dairy Queen.
I think I've met the target of building a fit, racing machine. Now the focus has to turn to race day execution, which is an equally hard, and equally important piece of the Ironman puzzle. Next week I'll post a Race Plan, with a fair amount of emphasis of my process goals and measures of success. FYI, Patrick put up in the wiki last month a TEN PAGE Ironman "checklist", which I may just reference instead of having to write out all the gory details of what to do and pay attention to outside of the actual racing. Should save a lot of electrons.
As for me, I had a good swim. It was an "organized" swim, with safety kayaks and the course was laid out with buoys and was a 1.2 mile loop (supposedly). I did 2 loops and was at about 1.8 miles, so I started a 3rd loop and got to just over 2 miles when they were closing things up. Moving speed was 2:07 per 100yd, which is a good pace for my current swim ability. Water temps were upper 70's, so I chose to not wear a wetsuit.
The swim started after 9am, so I wasn't on the bike until almost 12. Temps in Atlanta were upper 90's peaking around 100. I rode JRA for 90' averaging around 120 watts and then tried to increase to 140 (.68). It did not happen. The heat was oppressive. I sapped my energy. I did not have water to cool myself - only my nutrition. Bad planning. During lap 2, I encountered an ice chest of waters that someone left for anyone on the trail to use and I soaked myself in the cold water. It helped immensely. After the 2nd loop I hit a convenience store for water to cool with, which helped. At the end of the 3rd loop, I was getting nauseous and the gatorade endurance was absolutely VILE to drink - I needed something cold and all I had was hot gatorade. I choked it down on schedule, but when I got back to the convenience store I went in and slammed an ice cold coke. I finished up the ride with avg power of 123, TSS of 237, VI of 1.02, 101 miles in 6 hours with an avg heart rate of 136.
I started the run with the goal of keeping my heart rate at 140. Should have been 136 per plan, but 140 was the last HR number I saw real time. I had to keep the pace around 13 min/mile to keep my HR this low. At the end, I felt ok. I certainly was tired from the longest training or racing day of my life by 2 hours, but I feel like I could have kept going. However, my brain knew I was done at 1 hour of running and I was glad it was over!
Overall, I am pleased with accomplishing the long day and it gives me some confidence about race day. I did experience abdominal cramping (heat?) during the bike and nausea during the run (pre-run carbonated Coke?). Nothing I couldn't push through, but not pleasant either. Also, my leg injury is better - I "felt" it still, tightness/soreness but not painful. I think with two more weeks of rehab and rest it will be good to go.
-Keep at 143 w (.68) Smooth up the hills, run the gear smart, drink my aero bottle of water each hour, 300 cal. per hour (1/2 cliff bar and 1/3 of my Perpetuem bottle. Pee every hour (on the bike) - Nutrition and hydration went right on plan. Was a little higher than I wanted to be on the power side. 144 average, 150 np. It was a warm and sunny day, and I just kept thinking - take it easy so you don't cook off on the run. Will have to tell myself that on race day too!
Run: Too fast on first mile, but the HR was 125 - right where I want it. Second mile, the HR started to creep, and I was able to slow down to keep the HR in line. Very happy with the run on the whole. Did have one technical difficulty. Bought new shoes and wore them. Did not expect any problems given that it was a one hour run. Put them on and they felt a little small - turns out they were 1/2 size small. Damn. Couldn't bag the run so I thought - give it a go. Right pinky toe decided that was not such a good idea. Hot spot. When the hour ticked off, I decided there was no reason to push the blister any farther and walked it back in.
@ Al. I appreciate your feedback on the RR plan. I do need to focus on getting more fluid in early on the run. I also need to run STUPID SLOW (based on PE) for the first hour. Even though I felt good on the run, the HR creep was more than I would be able to absorb for an entire marathon.
Looking forward to the "taper genie" for race day. Today, slept in, too much coffee, a nice easy walk with the dog, and generally relaxing with my wife and kids!
Great to see good RRs & Great reports that aid in sharing the mojo and learning opportunities
@Jerry, had no idea you were NYC based, always welcome to come up here and do a Northern Westchester based training weekend. Doing an RR with a Bear climb thrown is very hardcore. Lets do that ride after LP and throw in some repeats of Bear & Alpine!
Good job on the recovery and getting home. Do NOT try to do a RR between now & race day. Hay is in the barn the best thing you can do is let your body taper, recover, and build strength through rest.
My RR was planned to be 113 miles of a tried and tested route. I probably rode the first 40ish at 5-8 watts too high of a number. To top that off from, mile one, my legs felt tired. I actually think I am still fatigued from my hard ride with Tim last week. Everything went well on a hot day, I deviated from the course around mile 70 as my rear D was jumping a bit and i could pass by my best LBS (not so local) and get a quick adjust... of course, on this route I got my first flat...
did a very slow change, stopped at LBS and continued on... about 3 miles on word, i felt a very sharp pain on my left inner thigh, as if something inside my shorts was diging into my leg... Realized it was a bee sting
Rejoined original planned route, was heading to end a few miles past my house and pick up my car from a much needed cleaning and thought of a good flatish high speed loop where I could add another few miles and get closer to 112, and got flat part deux... double UGH! changed, picked up car.
Took a bit longer to recover given the outside temps and headed out for the run on the bike path and hit all good numbers.
How I feel about my fitness. The ride took me 10 minutes longer than slowest, but route was not the same and this was by far the hottest day I ever did this full route on. I feel that my FTP is where it was a year ago (no small feat given the break I took in Feb/ March, i do however feel that my 5 hour power isn't as strong and I should be going out more conservatively in LP.
Oh, and when I am wondering why my Garmin shows similar climbing to LP and I can't understand why I will be faster on race day, I am reminded by elevation correction, that there is actually 1800' more of climbing on my route...
and that I got just as concerned prior to MT last year.
Bring on the Taper!
http://members.endurancenation.us/Forums/tabid/57/aft/19137/Default.aspx
Such great motivational reading with this group. Something good to read every day. Thanks to all for your posts!
Weekly Recap
Mon – took the day off. Was really starting to feel the fatigue of the past several weeks.
Tues Swim – mid-day at the Y but struggled with form and pace. Ended up with 4x600, none at my recent 1:40/100yd pace. From the beginning I was about 2 sec slower and it got worse as the sets rolled on so I called it a day. Still feeling the fatigue I guess.
Tues Run – 2x1 TP intervals at the HS track. Felt thick and heavy going out the door but managed to hit my paces OK once I was on the track. Decided to add a 1x1 MP before heading home. Despite how much I struggled in the pool, the run went fairly well.
Wed Bike – Should have been 2x15’ FTP but only managed 12’, 14’ & 3’ at 95%. Seems like since shifting to higher volume just after my last FTP test, I really struggle going above 85ish%. On the other hand, my 75% efforts feel easier now.
Wed Brick Run – Straight forward run. Start easy and run a progressive pace. 6 miles
Thurs Long Run – Easy start progressive run. Plan called for 1:45 but ended up with 1:57, 14 miles in all. Felt strong thru the end.
Fri – took the day off in prep for RR #2 on Saturday. Took the time to prep nutrition and put get my party dress on the bike.
Sat RR #2 Swim – 2.26 miles @ 1:14
Had planned to begin at 7AM but slept an extra 30 minutes. Up at 4:30 for PBJ, prep swim kit, setup T1 & T2 in the garage. Drove to Brewer Lake drinking 275 cals Infinit and started swimming by 7:30. Water was perfect – smooth as glass, temp in upper 60’s, maybe even 70. Garmin reported 2.6 miles but Google Earth measure was 2.26 miles. So pace was about 1:52/100yds and I am very happy with that. Felt smooth and controlled the whole way. Peed 4 times, and didn’t even have to stop or slow down!
Sat RR #2 Bike – 111 miles @ 6:03; 157 N; 0.713 IF; 1.03 VI, 4095’ elev.
The drive back home was about 20’ then took a few minutes to transition. Was on the bike within 30’ of swimming. Bike course is same as I rode last weekend. Planned to ride 71% of 220 (156 NP) overall but wanted to start @ 70% and build from there. Had a flat at mile 7 from an upholstery pin – the curly Q type. Pissed me off because it poked a hole in my brand new Conti tire and wasted a new latex tube. After that I settled in for a long ride. About 2 hours in during the climbing section every time I was in the small ring spinning uphill, a cloud of moose flies and deer flies attached me! I ended up spiking my watts to get away and several times and posted a 15’ split @ 0.745! They suck! Literally!
At the 56 mile turn around I refilled my 3 nutrition bottles and guzzled an additional 24 oz. of water. The day was hotter than expected and I could tell my hydration would suffer. Peed twice on the bike but both were before half way. Had I been on a race course I would’ve drank another 3-4 bottles starting at mile 40. Power was good and climbing thru most of the day. Not until the last 30’ did I really have to focus on holding watts.
Sat RR #2 Run – 6 miles @ 57:44; 9:01/mi
Was VERY hot by the time I got running. Likely the hottest day of the year so far. I knew I was behind on hydration but needed to push on with a short T2. Planned to walk 30 steps each mile and keep my actual running pace near my EP of 8:57. Should get me about EP + 20” per mile overall. Except the 1st mile I was not successful in holding my pace down. It seems to take more effort to run at an awkward pace than to go by HR & RPE. By mile 3 the hydration issue was becoming noticeable. Mouth was dry and HR was climbing even on descents but RPE remained constant. I could have drank 3x the water I did while running but can’t carry more than a single bottle. Suck it up, buttercup!
Post RR #2 – weigh in results: -5.5 lb (3.6% of starting wt.; mostly H2O I assume)
Very pleased with the RR overall. Held a good steady pace for the swim. Pushed the bike watts above my planned race effort to experience the negative effects of racing too hard. Ran fairly well despite nearly 4% in hydration losses. I think I am ready for Lake Placid.
I will be doing my typical analysis paralysis of the past weeks efforts, combined with prior IMLP experiences in the coming days and hope to post it in the Race Execution forum before Wednesday as my official Race Plan 2015.
@ Mandy - at this point in the training cycle, you have sufficient fitness to complete an Ironman. But a key to success is race execution skills, which is what the Race Rehearsal is focused on. The RR is meant to allow you to practice, and thus have confidence in, your pacing abilities, in terms of both steadiness and proper levels, as well as your nutrition plan.
As to whether you *need* to do the RR, I suggest listening to the Coaches' week 18 podcast, which specifically addresses the key nature of this workout. After that, make your decision.
As to the week 18 long run, that train has left the station, don't try to "make it up."
BAM!
So I got in RR#2 yesterday. It was a good experience for me overall reminding me that I may have been kicking around here for some time by I need to keep up with the details and planning. The swim was planned for Friday but I got stuck at work late, no big deal I've done this a couple times I can roll with out the swim. The pool does not open until late and it was expected to be in the mid to high 90's which is was so I just went with the plan to ride and run Saturday.
Overall 103 miles in 6 hours 5' ride time, but 6:47 chip time with about 440 calories/hour. I'm still a big buy at 220 so I was drinking 1.5 bottles, 1 get and 1/2 a bar each hour. I finished with a 45' run which is longer than I've done for some time with my foot. On the ride I had two flats, trouble finding an additional spare at home, time in there for two refills of the bottles, and a brief stop on the road to talk with my wife.
Lessons learned: 1) I've lowered my FTP by 10 points prior to the RR. I just can't hold the numbers at my current FTP and I felt good on this RR. 2) I went easy for the first 2 hours. One reminder for race day is to remember Coach P's webinar you will make 20 miles really fast on the LP course. 3) I pushed a little harder 3-3.5 hours as I know that first loop coming back in to town I just don't have enough watts to over come my KG's. I'm putting on the 30t cassette in the back to help with this, could not get a 32 as I'd need to switch to SRAM on my 10 speed and I just don't have the cash. 4) Don't assume anything and check all gear. I had 3 Co2 canisters in my equipment but one was used. If I'd got a third flat I would have been stranded. 5) Don't working in that first 90' other than what's needed to just climb out of LP in my 30t and cruise until the climb to from Jay to Wilmington. 6) Given how much running I've done it will be an interesting finish, no inflated goals just get to the finish. 7) I didn't need my one thing on the RR but I was only out there for 7.5 hours, that's about 1/2 time. There will most likely be some tough moments in that back half so be mentally prepared for it. This is important for me as I've mentally failed myself in the last couple races I've done just because I've set over inflated goals.
Overall I was pleased with the RR and felt decent today after the effort. I'm ready to complete the race, and have a week to get some swimming in and taper.
Finally not a lesson learned but a key to next year, don't be a dumb a$$. Keep this fitness and build for next year's races. I'm already looking at some type of race for the end of summer or fall to stay motivated. If the foot holds out after the race I'd really like to do a 5 or 10k race in September and October if not I set up some biking goals, but that's getting ahead of myself.
I wrapped up this week with a 3.3 mile swim friday , 107 mile ride/6 mile brick on saturday, 1.5 mile swim and 15 mile run on sunday.... today is a very welcomed easy swim day as we start the taper....I'm feeling a bit beat up/fatigued and had some rough patches over the weekend (some heat/humidity related as summer finally showed up in NH) but overall pleased with my efforts across the board and how I'm feeling... The last 3 weeks of race specificity has done wonders for my far on top of fast and confidence...
Some of us got together early Sunday morning at a Lake in southern NJ, and since it was high tide were able to have a great swim. Even though we only did one loop of about 1.3 miles, I wanted to get the ride started cause the temp was going to go up.
Nutrition worked out very well, and drinking 1.5 to 2 bottles of that G.E. was a chore after a while. On race day I might start to mix a little water after aid stations into the speedfil to make it easier to drink, since I will be able to get the water to cool off with anyways.
Overall, it went very well. Started the ride J.R.A. and the effort slowly built up and felt good with the entire day when it was over...and not destroyed today.
Huge thanks to Turby, Carol, Kenny & Pam for coming along for a nice Sunday in that heat.
https://www.strava.com/activities/344836639
https://www.strava.com/activities/344840436
https://www.strava.com/activities/344836648