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IM Ville Mojo, Week 10, 27 Jul - 2 Aug

All right campers.  Another week of possibilities and opportunities to lay down fitness.  Keep those workouts going, keep those posts coming, and let everyone know the good, the bad, the ugly.  The mojo is strong with this group!
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    3k swim today at lunch, loosely followed the plan with the 3x(200x3) set then a couple 300's to round out the distance. I felt really good about myself and my pace while I was watching the other swimmers around me. Then Mr. Speedo's showed up and started smoking me like it was his job, like a lap to my length... Proves that everything is relative image

    Besides the ego battering, felt good to hit 3k. Trying to start knocking out 10k per week for a few weeks and then see if I can bump it up a little more.
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    This morning I .... slept in ... as in 10 hours worth. Whew, I was tired. And then I stopped at the doc's office on the way to work to get a tetanus shot specifically for IM Lou. I hadn't had one since I retired from the Air Force over 10 years ago but had read in the past of folks getting them specifically for the swim in the Ohio river. But really, I could step on a rusty fishing hook locally, so it's not a bad thing.

    Tonight I'm heading to the weight room but that's it for today.
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    Recovering today after a successful 70.3 race yesterday at Toughman Mn.  I am really sore in my gluts and legs.   Will start with some mild swimming tomorrow and ease back into IM training. 

    Was surprised at how well I did considering my two week vacation and lack of focus on half iron racing. PRd on this one by about 7 minutes with a time of 5:03:28.  Ran about 2 minutes faster than previous races.  Racine Ironman 70.3 was my PR from last year at 3:10 (Racine Ironman: Swim, 38:29, bike 2:33:37, Run 1:52)  So improvement in all three areas by a smidgen.

    Division: Male 50-54 Division Place: 2 / 31 Overall: 66/ 477 Gender Place: 61 / 299   (Got a trophy).

    Swim 1.2 mi (0:36:38.53 min) 1:45/per 100yds T1 (0:01:12.73 min) Bike 56 mi (2:32:22.34 min) 21.9/MPH  T2 (0:02:23.69 min)  Run 13 mi (1:50:50.58 min) 8:32/ 

    5:03:28 Finish 

    Overall bike stats: http://tpks.ws/6kbAq     234NP  IF .80  TSS163  VI 1.0  HR 138  Cadence 90

    Bike Stats:  http://tpks.ws/daDse  Run  avg 8:33 pace.

    Two areas to watch as I move forward:

    Nutrition:   I have started using Gatorade EN and upping my salt intake.  I had no cramps during or after this race...that is new and a plus for me.  On the other hand, as a weight loss patient, I think my stomach's capacity for sweet only has so long.  By mile 9 of the run, I was starting to spit up the gatorade when I drank it.   I may need to experiment with having something less sweet or different at the beginning of the bike ride to moderate the sugar I am eating.  Salt pills seemed to help me on this hot and humid day.

     My butt muscles (right above the hamstrings) were super sore on the run.  I've never had that happen before. Feel like I should be doing some squats or something as my muscular endurance was feeling week on the run.   Not sure why they were so sore.

     

    @Paul, now I am worried about needing a Tetanus Shot... I think the last one I got was in the Air Force too back in the early 80s. 

     



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    @ Stephen - Congrats on the PR, podium, and hardware. Sounds like it all came together for you.



    This morning gave me 7 and some change with 2x1 mile @ slightly hotter than TP. Everything else was at EP.



    @Tetanus shot - I tend to leave the medical advice to my wife so THIS.IS.ONLY.MY.OPINION... I've done Louisville twice already (along with ~2800 of my closest friends each time). I haven't yet gotten a tetanus shot nor do I plan on getting one. I also haven't heard of the local Louisville doctors selling out of them, nor of the local emergency rooms seeing any runs on infections based on river swims. YMMV and do what you think you got to do to get through the day safely.



    Of course, it could just be the difference in 20+ years in the Marine Corps rather than the Air Force
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    My teammates amaze me everyday. First I hear about Paul spending 4+ hours on a trainer and then Stephan blisters the Toughman 70.3. Well done.

    I'm just starting my second week (week 10). Am I supposed to be this tired? Did 4000yds in the pool but didn't follow the plan 'cause I tend to go off the reservation for swimming workouts. Also did the Tuesday run today on a dreadmill. 2x1 at 6:59. Seems more controlled on the treadmill because of the hills around here. And I can't stop 'cause I'll go flying off the back (which I've done). Tomorrow is an easy swim and long work day. Back at it on Wednesday. Got work to do if I'm gonna keep up with Stephan in Louisville.

    As for the tetanus shot, I've swum in the Chesapeake Bay, the Hudson River and the Charleston Harbor. The Ohio can't be any worse. I hope.
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    @Jay,  I have yet to do one full IM week as written.  Last two weeks, I modified some of what was there down because it seemed to be too big of a jump in volume.   It seems normal to be tired as we start ramping up.  Just need to keep working on recovery and listening to our older bodies which take longer to recover.

    on another note:  I am now ready to start training in my EN Kit.  I've been using the local tri club's kit for races around here.  I want to represent and be seen by our teammates.  I'm not sure I like the red tri shorts that come with the kit.  They almost seem see-through  when sweaty or wet (which is not cool when you are as hairy as me).  I notice some EN folk sporting regular black shorts with their tops.  I will try it out for a while but I may look for a pair of plain black shorts.  

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    A little late on chiming in here. On week 19 of the HIM plan...Steelhead on August 9th. Recently got a stomach bug so I have missed a few swim workouts and had some mediocre long runs. Overall, feeling pretty good about my fitness if I can get over this stomach issue. Looking forward to loading up the IM plan in a few weeks!
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    What a week! Sounds like everyone is doing really well with their wkos. Roy, I laughed out loud while reading your post comparison to Nascar…hilarious!
    @Stephan, congratulations on a fantastic race!
    @Paul, great build week…you put in a lot of work Im sure the 10hrs of sleep was exactly what you needed!

    As for me, week one of the advanced IM plan is done and I survived. Managed 4 runs (26 miles total), 3 swims (11,226meters) and 3 bikes(8hours total…4outside,1FTPwko inside,3ABPtrainer). Was very happy with my 7:30pace on my threshold mile yesterday during my 3omin run before my 4hr ride. Rode 65.5 and climbed 5K feet for the first long ride of the plan. Hopping on the trainer for the 3hr ABP ride this morning was pretty tough mentally…I forgot how hard the back to back bike rides can be. Glad I know from experience how beneficial they are, otherwise I might have slept in instead image.

    Love reading how well everyone is doing. If any of you are on Strava, please let me know…we can share daily "Lou" mojo post wkos! Lot of great EN teammates on Strava sharing the positive mojo too!
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    Hey Stephan, congrats your 70.3 PR...outstanding!

    I didn't intend to scare anyone regarding the tetanus shot, but you are supposed to get them every 10 years and it's been at least that long. There's a blog on the net where a guy got a tetanus shot for Louisville but ended up getting a rusty hook in his thigh while training on his home turf. So it's not a bad thing to have just in case I step on a nail running...which I've done before.
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    @Stephan you deserve a day off, congrat's on your PR!

    Did Wednesdays bike today, with modifications, due to work and need to improve on bike.  Watched Pantani on Netflix, it mentioned that before a big climb he liked to start at the back of the pack, and the pass everybody and demoralize them!  I can relate, I come out of the water in decent place, and watch folks pass me the whole bike, we just have to remember its about the bike you should have vs could have!

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    3K in the pool at lunch done as W/U +~1800 SCM with good pace and form, then I got really tired and flailed around until my Garmin magically rolled over the distance I wanted to see. Need to work on my pool endurance.
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    I got up to swim this morning and my arm felt like someone had nailed with me a baseball bat instead of a tetanus shot. Back to sleep. This evening, I made up for the FTP test I kissed off a couple of weeks ago during my build period. I had a successful test but it was nothing to write home about. I've been digging out of a giant FTP hole since last November due to injuries sustained in Powerman Zofingen (Sep 2014). Last Nov I could only muster 196 watts on my test. Then in March I estimated my FTP at 215 off of a failed test where I went too hard. Today, I made it through with an avg of 240 watts for an FTP of 228. I'm heading in the right direction. I've used Spinervals #27 for my FTP tests ever since I bought a Powerbeam Pro about 4 years ago. What really sucks is having to do 3 x 20 secs hard with 40 seconds rest AFTER the FTP test. I managed peak watts of 401, 421 and 475 for those. Can someone explain to me how TDF sprinters can pop over 1500 watts?
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    @Paul, nice work on the up slope on the tests. I feel you on the shot- tetanus and anthrax (especially shots 2 and 3 of that series) hurts like a bear. As to your TDF power question, I think one of the leaders in that answer kept making the editorials the past three weeks image

    6 miles at EP this morning and 50 minutes (8/12 @ FTP and some slop on the end) on the trainer this afternoon. Looking forward to tomorrow's long run.
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    @Paul, nice going with the FTP bump and steady progress.

    Good to see everyone getting with it.  Helps me build my motivation back.

    Got in the pool after work yesterday for a 2000 yard recovery swim.

    Today it will be an easy bike ride after work, zone 1-low2 on hills.  Skipped my swim this morning in favor of sleep.

    My focus is to recover from the race and get ready for a big ride and run this weekend.  Then I will be back on the normal schedule with you all.

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    This mornings swim workout was insane. It may have been due to running speed work (2x1mile,5miles total in ridiculous humidity) before, but c'mon 3 sets of 200 (50 sprint/150easy;100sprint/100easy;200sprint) followed up with a 500,400,300,200,100 set?!?….my heartrate was through the roof! I'm happy Im not swimming again until Sat…that wko damaged me (haha!)
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    @Stephen - Ease back into it and listen to your body, you've earned a little recovery time!

    @Danielle - Agree, that particular wko was fun indeed.

    11 miles this morning. I looked like I had jumped into a pool when I was done. It was so bad, my shoes were squeaking. I love Okinawa summers!
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    @ Danielle - I did that workout last week and again today. 3700 yards this morning. Very tough after doing my bike test today. Then I tried to run tonight! Ha, that was a joke. I jogged 20 mins then did 4 x 100 sprints out in front of the house and called it quits.

    @ Roy - squeaking shoes are an everyday occurrence all summer long in Tampa. It's not a question of whether they will squeak, but how far into the run I will get before they are already soaked. On bad days it only takes 2 miles.
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    @Stephen - Ease back into it and listen to your body, you've earned a little recovery time! 



    @Roy, listened to you.  Put my trusty road bike on the trainer, got out a trainerroad recovery ride and watched my recorded final stage of the TDF.  Feeling good.  Skipped my swim this morning.  Lazy me.

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    @ Stephan - Did you nip Greipel for the win?
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    Thu AM - 85 mins on the drainer using Spinervals "Aerobic Base at 10,000 Feet". Well, the guys on the video were at 10,000 feet. I was down here at sea level pushing high Z2/low Z3 for this ... in my new zones.

    Thu PM - 4 mile swampfest jog. It's so humid out that you the energy from starting my watch is enough to get me sweating.
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    @ROY, just played it safe with the wet roads at Paris, and finished a little behind Peter.

    Today:  Woke up a little early and ran easy for 38 minutes.  This evening, hit the trainer and sucked air trying to hold zone 4.  Backed off on the length of intervals.  Did a couple short vo2 intervals, but not the 4 minute ones prescribed.  

     

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    Great to see all the workouts!

    @Paul the note about the tetanus shot reminds me, a good friend who is a physician came to support me at IMAZ and when he looked at the water, his first question was, you have purel in your bag for after the swim right?



    Anyway I swim at a pretty nasty lake, so hopefully should be fine.



    My update have been struggling with fatigue, it apparently is a possible side effect of the antibiotic. WTF is all i can say. Woke up with a crick in my neck Monday, no swim.

    T: 1 hr bike, went okay, but could not push up at the higher end and felt tired

    W: struggled through an hour swim. But last day on antibiotics (hooray)

    Th: mile and a half run at zone 1, didn't make sense to run any more than that because I felt completely exhausted.

    F: Took my husbands advice and slept in and feeling much better. Hoping that being off the antibiotics will help and things continue to get better from here on. I am beyond bummed at this whole mess but telling myself shit happens and there are way worse things in this world.



    Planning a long ride tomorrow and then maybe a long run on Sunday and then pick it up next week. Fingers crossed.
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    Friday AM - Swim 2300 yards plus 5K jog at high heart rate in disgustingly humid conditions. Car is packed and I'm leaving straight from work to drive to Sarasota for an Oly at Siesta Key Beach tomorrow. It's been raining heavy for over 2 weeks now and the forecast for tomorrow is bad. If storms come in early, I'm just hoping there is no lighting so they don't cancel the race. But rip tides are apparently up so the swim (in the Gulf of Mexico) is already in jeopardy.

    @ Anu - hope you are feeling better soonest!
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    Thursday long run (well Friday for me) went rather well. My approach this morning was to assess the humidity/heat first and if bad go slow and survive. At 630am the sun was low and so was the humidity, yay! I set out with my fuel belt of 2 GU roctane bottles and 2 Gatorade Endurance (orange). First 3 miles I wasnt feeling the run love, so I was really concerned I wasn't going to make the entire 1:45. Given this I chose to find some big hills in the hood and just run a few of them until I was pooped (figured the uphill work of 6 or 7 miles was better then 8-9 flat). After the first hill I started feeling like this run may actually be ok. Kept running and felt great. Surpassed the 1:45 and ran just over 2 hrs (14 and change). Was able to kick it up for the last 2 miles to Z3 pacing for a strong finish.

    Ok running aside...how disgusting is that Gatorade endurance?!? Wow is it strong! I have been training with Tropical GU Roctane since January and I love it. Ordered the GE to train with on course nutrition as I have done in past IMs but I'm not so sure I can drink that all day in Lou. I like to keep things simple when I race (hence the use of on course stuff rather than my preferred) so this is going to be quite a challenge this year. Please tell me it gets better image
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    Most of week 10 complete. 3 swims this week for 8000 yds and 3 runs so far for 22 miles. Swimming starting to improve with the increased volume. Am supposed to run this afternoon but fighting a cold and its 93 here. Not sure if I'll make it out. Hope to get in a couple long bike rides this weekend.

    Danielle - I actually like the GEF. I've been using it for about a month now. Seemed strong at first but I've adapted and kind of like it now.

    Anu - hang in there. You'll get better and have plenty of time to get the work in.

    Paul - Good luck tomorrow. Hope the weather holds out.
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    Solid week everyone and great posts! Keep that mojo building.

    @Anu - ease back into it, we've still got time and your body still thinks its recovering image

    @Paul - Good luck! Go rock it like the ninja you are.

    Catching up with my own workouts - Thursday afternoon I hopped in the pool for a quick 1k to just keep the flow going. Swimming right now is easy because I can see the pool from my office. That one closes in August, so I'll have to go back to driving 35 minutes to swim (first world problem, I know). Friday I got an easy 6 mile run in pre-dawn and expected to swim after work. When I got off work, I was smoked for some reason and come home and slept three hours before waking up for dinner and then basically going back to sleep. Guess my body was trying to tell me something. This morning was good. 3.5 easy miles on the run and then 3:20 on the bike hitting the target intervals at pace. I guess I negative split the ride because I turned around at exactly 1:45. Fun times. Going to try to make up the swim this afternoon after filling the fridge with next week's food.

    Good luck everyone and keep those posts coming!
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    Oly Tri complete. I would consider this a C race and it hurt like heck, especially since I haven't done anything less than a half in 15 months. The storms went north of Sarasota but the seas were 3-5 ft. I went for a practice swim and could feel an extremely strong rip tide pulling me away from the first corner. Went back to shore and told folks that it was unswimmable in the current course configuration. A few minutes later the organizers announced they would cut the swim to 750m and run it North to South with the current. Folks were encouraged to change registrations to the Sprint Tri or Du if they weren't comfortable with the conditions and many did leaving a small field of idiots. I thought the organizer took a big risk 'cause I know the predominant race mgt company in Tampa would have canx the swim altogether. It was easily the toughtest water conditions I've been in. Apart from one wave that was at least 8 ft, the chop stayed within 3 to 5, and I was probably all over the place being pushed towards shore and then heading back out. It was not calm beyond the breakers, just seriously high rollers. Anyway, the current offset some of the energy loss in that battle. I had a great bike, took a blow torch to my match book at about 20 miles and figured I would just jog the run...which was 100% on the beach, so not a fast course. The humidity was killing me and after 4 miles my heart rate kept spiking so I had to walk and jog it in for 2hrs 15mins. If it had been a full swim in decent water then I am probably in 2:30 shape. Time to crack down on the weight again.
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    Decent ABP ride today to end the week. Ended up with a hair over three hours with more miles than I got in yesterday's 3:20, route selection is everything. Got some solid work in the first two hours and lost the plot just a bit on the 3rd hour, but overall, I'm pretty happy.

    For all the hot wx folks - shorts vs bibs lesson learned today. I was burning up ten minutes into today's ride (even more so than usual). I pulled over and dropped the shoulders of the bibs and it made all the difference. I was still hot, but it felt like my temp dropped significantly. I rode in shorts yesterday and was 'happy' as I can expect to be, so until the temperature drops, will be leaving the bibs in the closet. YMMV.
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    Nice job Paul. Hate those type of swim conditions. I did one swim early spring here in Dallas, so windy that the buoys wouldn't stay put and seriously I swam the whole thing in a minor state of terror despite being in a wetsuit.

    Nice work on the rides Roy! Keep getting those extra naps in.

    @Jay hope that cold stays away. Summer colds are the worst.

    So about time I posted happy stuff. image I got in a 75 mile ride yesterday, it was super slow and I rode it with a friend who hasn't been riding much the last three weeks, we stopped at every water stop to do a where are we at check, but I felt good the entire time, like myself. I finally turned the corner on this. Todays' ABP was more of an easy ride with my local tri group 30 miles, about 2 hrs. Also got back into OWS, probably did a couple of hundred yards at most, didn't really want to swim a ton, just to remind myself what OWS feels like , keeps my OWS fear monster at bay.
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    Keep em coming everyone.  You inspire me.

    @Danielle, nice run thursday.  I did mine today and could only hold my z1 pace for 10 miles.  I slept in and went out at noon and it turned out to be a hot one for Wisconsin upper 80s, lower 90s.   I'm getting more accustomed to the GE all the time.  Drank two bottles of it during the run today.  I realize i am still sort of recovering from the race last Sunday.  I read that 50 year olds like me take longer to recover.

    Yesterday, got in a nice 4 hour bike ride.  Hit my targets of upper zone 2 and zone 2.  Felt good and strong unlike today.  

    Been weighing myself before and after bike and run, and find that I'm averaging about 3 lbs loss after each of those activities.   Need to drink  more I think.   I've been taking more salt pills than before and am noticing that my legs are not cramping up as much after my workouts.

    Should be back on the regular schedule next week.  This week   9:33 duration,  TSS 559.7  Swim 5000 yds,  Bike 101,  Run 13.8

    @Jay,hope you're over the cold.  How can one swim any faster than you already swim?  I need to up my volume like you with the swimming.

    @Roy, thanks for your leadership and way to hit that ABP ride hard.  I'm thinking about changing this weekend to an ABP ride and skipping the 6 hr thing on Saturday.  I did that two weeks ago, and then last weekend being a half ironman, and this weekend being a bike and a run, I feel like I need to up the bike volume and get two rides in next weekend.   I will see what Coach says.

    @Paul that race seemed like agony.  Wow. Way to finish it out.

    @Anu,  great to see the happy stuff and that you seem to be turning the corner with keeping your chin up.

     

     

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