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IMWI Week 15 Thread - Race Rehearsal is in the bag
Hi Everyone!
This past weekend was your Race Rehearsal, which meant lots of Swim, Bike, and Run. How did it go? Did you go to camp in Madison or ride on your own? Share your stories, share what you learned, I am anxious to hear how everything came together for you.
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Just want to make sure I'm not missing something!
Need to have a think about the logistics/kit/target pacing etc so hopefully some others are working through the same details.
David - Yep, I'm on the same plan as you. RR1 will be done on Friday 8/7followed by a big bike weekend.
I did my first ever 100+ mile ride this weekend which was big in the sense that I can check that box and I felt pretty good during a short run after it, and scary in the sense that the math around finishing by the bike cutoff on a course that is more difficult than what I rode this weekend is a little too close for comfort. This was also my first long ride with aero bars so I did my best to get comfortable and stay in that position as much as possible. Funny that my arms were more tired after the ride than my legs. I think that was also really the first time since I've registered for IMWI that I questioned my sanity...like, am I supposed to look forward to running a marathon after that?!
The IMWI campers did their RR's this past weekend at the camp. Was great to dial in pacing and steady riding on these hills, and to talk about about how to put the course together.
Saturday night we had a great discussion on race execution, pulling together the various threads we have going in the forums: racing the run with heart rate, heat strategies, 5 hour power, etc.
Personally, I did 2 x full rides of the course with my low VI, racey-racey hat on, then "only" two loops on Sunday, playing around and hammering the hills, then a great run of the run course with Scott, dialing in HR, pace, and RPE. Was a great run simulation run, as my legs were totally shot. Could have used more water, but Scott and I have plans to start our own Team Sweaty Bastards within EN. Comforting to know I'm not the only one here who sweats like an absolute freak...
Just a swim and easy spin tonight, to earn dinner, then hopefully back at it tomorrow. My legs are pretty fooked right, about to walk Riley...very slowly
Hope everyone is finding their legs after the big weekend.
Recommend you use a diet/exercise tracking app (I use LoseIt!) to track calories in vs calories out. The volume we'll all be putting up over the next 6wks, very easy to create a daily calorie deficit and lose ~1lb/wk.
Also, made the mistake of weighing myself after a weekend of travel and heavy training = up about 3lb. Hoping it's just water weight from inflamation, etc in legs...
Due to family obligations on the weekend I've been doing:
- Saturday bike 4 hours or 5 hours, whatever the plan prescribes. I roll at dawn so home by 10am or so.
- Sunday pre-run 30-40' then bike 3-3.5 hours depending on what the plan prescribes. On the Sundays I do the run before it gets light out so I can be wheels-up on the bike literally at the crack of dawn and DONE before 9am.
I find the above causes massive fatigue due to the early mornings and the fact that I need to be "on" with my family the whole day, so by Monday I'm wrecked. Also I've found that pre-running makes the Sunday bike ride feel a lot harder for the first 1-1.5 hours and my power takes longer to get up to where it should be. But it's the only way I can fit it in.
Based on my experience with the RR bricks I really would like to do more runs post-ride to dial in my IM pacing off the bike. However, I have a lot of trouble doing this without shooting my whole Saturday morning and
ow that the days are already starting to get shorter the pre-run in darkness may be the only way I get a run in on the weekends.
Now I just have to make it through 4400 yd in the pool after work today which will be a record for me...prior longest swim is 4000 yd...
I had a tough work schedule last week and I had a huge build up of fatigue from over a month of going hard with no rest days. Saturday I tried to ride but just didn't have it in me. I slept 12 hours Saturday night and woke up feeling much better on Sunday. I ran 18 miles in the heat on a hilly course, I went with Gatorade Endurance and GU gels. I forgot how much better I feel when running with hydration and nutrition, I had gotten pretty lazy about that.
I am also working on positional fitness on my tri-bike. I probably should have gotten on it sooner. This morning I made it a full hour in aero with 45' at 88% IF. I figure if I can really suffer in aero on the trainer in the garage for an hour, that has got to be equal to a longer time outside at a much easier pace?
My big week is this weekend. I am going to attempt to ride 5 hours on Friday, 5 hours on Saturday, and then run 20 miles on Sunday. Oh boy!
I moved my long bike to Friday and long run to Saturday due to work and family plans. The 5 hour bike went pretty well, but I did not hit as many hills as I usually try to do. Chip-sealing on area roads side-tracked my routes a couple of times, and even had to drive through a newly tar-sprayed section of road. That made a mess of my tires that caused a bit of a break for cleaning. I did get a persistent sharp pain between my shoulder blades after trying to stay aero for a majority of the ride. I had not felt it that bad before. Not sure what caused that.
The long run the next day was a bit of a wake up call on my fitness. I put in 2hr 22 mins and 15 miles, which averages to just a little slower than my race pace. I was fatigued, started out too fast (about 20 sec per mile faster than race pace). I slowed down by mile 3-4, but the damage was done, and the mile times significantly slowed down mile 8 to mile 12 (45-60 sec slower than race pace), then I was able to increase toward race pace again for the last 3. It was a warm day, and the shoes were a squishy mess with each step, but that could easily be race day conditions. Overall, glad no major injuries after back to back big days. Can't wait for race day to get here!
Getting excited for race day and ready to really focus and hit the workouts for these next 3 weeks before taper begins.
113mi at 202NP 0.697IF 1.036VI followed by 6mi Run at 8:00/mi.
Nutrition and hydration felt good. Run felt strong but will need to dial it back on the big day to settle in for the long haul.
https://www.strava.com/activities/365301020
https://www.strava.com/activities/365315887
15:45 in total for the week consisting of 10.5hrs Bike, 4:15 Running, and 1 Swimming (probably need to do a bit more there).
PS - Looks like the 2015 Athlete Guide was posted on Friday last week!
http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/events/americas/ironman/wisconsin/athletes/athlete-guide.aspx#axzz3iRX4NMkK