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IM Ville Mojo Thread- Week 13, 17-23 Aug
Steady consistent progress makes for a happy race day experience. Keep those workouts working, keep those posts flowing, and keep that mojo going!
Good luck everyone!
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Steady consistent progress makes for a happy race day experience. Keep those workouts working, keep those posts flowing, and keep that mojo going!
Good luck everyone!
Comments
My times were as follows:
Swim: 39:55
Bike 2:49:37
Run 2:09:32
Overall 5:47:12
I took a pee stop at the halfway point of the bike and during the run transition, so times include those. Pretty decent times for me. Taking out the bio-break on the bike, I averaged 20mph on the road. This, despite losing my power meter 5 minutes into the bike leg because of a dying battery! That meant all the numbers I was planning on hitting based on power went out the door. I had to go by feel, with regards to cadence and I tried to keep my heart rate in the low to mid 150's. I haven't downloaded my stats, yet, so it'll be interesting to see how close I was.
With the heat being so high, I did fall apart on the run in the last 5K, which was a bit disappointing, but I'll take it. I couldn't keep enough ice under my hat or pour enough water on my head to keep me cool. Running in 90 degree temps is brutal, especially as the final leg of a long tri.
I think this sets me up pretty good for the IM in Louisville in less than two months, but time will tell. Gotta trust the training.
Light week this week as a recovery and, as I mentioned earlier, I need to finish packing a house and move on Thursday. Long rides start this weekend!
Cheers!I started this week by sleeping through 3 alarms this morning. I was definitely tired from last week's totals:
Swim: 13,500 yards
Bike: 211 miles
Run: 33 miles
Weights: 2 sessions @ 35mins each
Holy Crap Thom and Paul, nice work this week. I can't imagine doing a half in that heat Thom.
I'm definitely sore today myself. didn't put out nearly the numbers that Paul did last week, but I definitely upped the volume and got in a high intensity 10k run in on Saturday before my long ride. I think my ride yesterday suffered as a result, I didn't have the ability to keep my wattage at zone2,3. The heat got to me too Thom. My legs were cramping on the bike rides, and my feet were getting hot spots.
Here are my numbers for last week:
14:24 time
Swim: 2:24 7625 yards
Bike: 9:30 167 miles
Run 2:30, 17.2 miles (only ran twice last week, 10 mile run and the higher intensity 10k.)
While I was going through the Ironman village after registering, I stopped by the Base Endurance both and was sold on their SALT powder. Put the stuff in a little vial you can carry with you, pop the cap on the vial, lick your thumb, place wet thumb over vial and get the powder on your thumb, then lick it off. I swear that stuff saved my bacon! I'm a believer. Highly recommended!
On a side note, watched a clip of the final finisher at MT this morning. The people, energy and excitement of an Ironman finish is so awesome. I can't wait for us all to be in that moment this October!!
Anyway, after oversleeping this morning, I recovered with a 2000 yard swim at lunch. Then stopped at Snap Fitness on the way home for 30 mins weight lifting and 47 mins on the treadmill including 12 mins @ 3% incline. This is Day 15 of Build Block 2 for me...can't wait until next week which is recovery/taper for Austria. For that matter, I can't wait to get on the plane.
Today - I swam 3500 LCM (3828 yards). Took my bike at lunch to the LBS for TBT pick-up to Austria. I am sitting here dressed out to run, but serious thunderstorms parked over my house and at 8:15pm I threw in the towel and got something to eat. So a very light day. Starting off with FTP work on the bike in the morning.
Danielle and Paul, I'm on the intermediate plan, but seem to have the same as you. It makes sense to me to shift it to the right and use monday for the long run. I will try to get in two back to back 112. Never done that before.
Today, the pool time was cut short but I still got in about 2600 before they closed the lanes.
I did something I don't ever do, I went immediately after the swim and ran for 40 minutes and got in the 2.x 1/2 mile, 1 x 1 mile zone 4 run on the treadmill. That run felt different for sure. I think that is a decent brick. do any of you do swim run bricks. My legs were a little slugglish, but it wasn't bad.
Tomorrow, trainer in the morning, run at lunch time, massage in the afternoon!
Oh, do any of you follow the IMLOU facebook page. I don't look at it much but it seems there is a lot of chatter about the race having shorter finish deadline of 16:10 possibly due to a later swim start. They are also talking about the race having 700 more people than normal which may slow things down. I'm not too worried about it as I have finished in the 12 hour range in my past two races, but I wondered if any of you have concerns or thought about this? I don't think it will change how I approach the race at all.
Me I am getting workouts in, not all the runs though and just struggling with confidence. I had just a horrible ride on Saturday. I did screw up nutrition and hydration but still it felt crazy hard and left me with a big crisis of confidence. Some work things also likely played into it, but that isn't going to change and I just need to learn to deal with it.
Anyway todays' 75 minute ride + 3 run went well enough. Oh and my FTP test revealed my FTP is several points lower. freaking garmin vector, always, always screws up before a test.
My local tri group is doing a big training day, lots of people have signed up and it should be fun if nothing else.
I am not sure about camp week, but I will also be shifting it right for sure.
up too far ahead will have multiple swimmers swimming over me. As slow a cyclist as I am, I am an even slower swimmer.
After racing on Saturday, riding long on Sunday with a brick run, a two hr ABP trainer ride on Sunday, a hill wko run and swim yesterday, today's 2x1mile Z4 run was not great. I think the work I've put in over the past week caught up to me today. My mile repeats were just slightly faster than my z4 pace, but my miles in between were no where close to my Z2 pace. I slogged through the non-z4 miles to just get 6 miles done. I usually jump right into the pool following this wko, but today I'm going to swim later. Hopefully with a good lunch and some downtime I will fair better in the pool than I did on the pavement <img src='http://members.endurancenation.ushttp://members.endurancenation.us/DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/smile.gif' align="absmiddle" border="0" class="afEmoticon" />
@jennifer, I think our coaches should be able to help us think through the logistics for this. We will need to get them involved at some point. Perhaps in our prerace seminar they can give us some pointers and suggestions. I think the start time is still up in the air from what I can figure out. One thing will be true though is that the course will be more crowded. In some ways that will be good because we will have more people cheering us on too.
@ Jennifer - you should definitely line up early which means you'll have to get there very early to get a spot in line. Also, you should have confidence that your second will go much better than the first especially if you are new to EN and/or your first was on a more difficult course. Louisville might as well be a brand new IM given the date change. I'm crossing my fingers for cool weather.
Wednesday - I started this morning with FPT work out on the bike while watching the Bruce Willis move "A Good Day to Die Again (on the trainer)". The assigned workout was 2 x 20mins @ Z4 and an optional 3 x 5mins @ Z5. I managed 20-15-10 mins at high Z4 with 5 mins easy between each of those sets. Who the heck can do 3 x 5mins Z5 after that? I did 5 x 1 min Z5 with 1 min easy spin in between. Tonight I ran 5miles and the 1st quarter mile was ROUGH. Heavy legs, heavy shoes, heavy air. And I was breathing heavy and wanted to quit before I got out of my circle. Fortunately, I made it through the first bit and the run was OK with number 4 the fastest. But to be realistic, I think it will be tough go much better 4:20 at Louisville. I'll have to see how I do in Austria under decent temperatures.
Got in my lunch run and felt fairly good, starting at zone 2, and moving to zone 3.
Got on the trainer tonight with my road bike. I'm convinced I can't put out the same power numbers on my road bike that I can on the tt bike. I couldn't come anywhere near my zone4 numbers for 15 minutes x 2. I managed about 80 percent for 2 x 10. And Paul, I have no idea how someone could do those 5 minute vo2s. I hit 1 minute almost vo2s. Called it good.
Plan is to run home from work tomorrow @12 miles for my long run.
Swim: I’m a typically a 1:10-1:15 swimmer (no wetsuit) at Louisville. I’m also a “get everywhere stupid early” kind of guy in real life. Louisville 2012, I got to transition at opening, spent ~25 minutes there, and then walked / meandered the mile to the docks. At that point, the line was ENORMOUS. I went to the back and at the gun, was in the water at ~7:25. Louisville 2013, I got to transition at opening, spent ~7 minutes there, and then walked briskly to the docks. The line was still pretty long but I got closer to the front and was in the water at ~7:15-ish. Bottom line, I get the impression that the swim line is kinda like “new iPhone” or “Star Wars preview” lines where some really serious folks either personally go early (do not go to transition race morning) or have someone else go hold them a spot in line. People towards the front of the line tend to be laying down on towels asleep 50% of the time. This year, I plan to be at transition when it opens, take care of business, and go stand in line (similar to 2013). But I do sometimes wonder if it’s worth the hassle and why not just go late and wait for the LONG line to pass you without walking to the end of it and start swimming later.
Hills on the Louisville course (I’ve done Vineman Full, Texas, Coeur d’Alene and Louisville). Texas was FLAT, like flat flat. Coeur D’Alene had two ‘big straight climbs’ at you do twice. Louisville is closer to Texas than to CDA, but I would not classify it as flat flat. The out and back are short climbs x1 each way. There is one other short, steep pitch on Acorn Road on the back side of the loop, but I look forward to that as an opportunity to stand (keeping power in target zone) and stretch out. The rest of the course is very easy rollers/flat that should not cause any concern. I enjoy the rollers because they are just enough to keep you changing saddle positions without being 'legitimate' hills. True ninjas look forward to the last ~35 miles of the bike which are flat/downhill where you can make easy speed as long as you haven’t burnt matches prior to getting there.
Bike traffic – (I’m typically in the 5:45 - 5:55 range). The first portion of the ride can get crowded. The out and back is jammed with folks but then the course really opens up and you can get into a groove. The road is open to car traffic on the loop x2, so know that going in. But besides individual pockets of cyclists, after the out and back, the bicycle traffic spreads out and is typically pretty decent. There is never a point that you can’t see other riders, but there is plenty of space among you.
@Roy Thanks for the great overview. Important info for us 1st timers at Lou!
1 1/2 hr bike today on trainer (3x18 z4 and 1x8 z5) and 4000 yd swim!
This week has been tough with a really busy work week. Was able to get in 2 short swims Monday and Tuesday. Moved long run to Wednesday and did 12. Not what I wanted and felt terrible but that's life. I think my work schedule the next few weeks may dictate more frequent runs and fewer long runs. Hoping to try the 2x15 tomorrow morning and then possibly get about 6 running. At least my weekends should be free for long rides. Y'all keep it up.
The cutoff still has me a little worried, only because I like a big as cushion as possible if things start to go wrong. If all goes well, I should be fine in terms of time. And even if things start to go wonky, that should be okay too, seeing how last year I had a horrible bike experience at IM Cozumel (due to wind and flat tire trouble), and finished in 15. I think for now I'll focus on things going right, and if that happens, I should finish in 13-14hrs.
This week has been good so far. Planning on my long run this evening. I tested last week, and my power numbers were basically the same (one point better), but my run times were much slower (although that wasn't a surprise given the way I've been feeling lately). Overall -- disappointing, and not confidence inspiring. But so far this week, I've been feeling better than I have in the past 3 weeks. Not sure what changed, but I'll take it.
I'm also planning on the camp weekend. I did it last year (at least a beginner version of it). Since I'm not fast at all on the bike (and still consider myself beginner), I rode 6 hours the first day (which ended up being 90 miles). Then I rode 56 miles the second day. My third day was a long run. I'm planning on doing something similar this year (with hopefully a few more miles on each day). Since I have that Friday off of work, I'm planning on keeping the days as is on the schedule, which will give me a chance to earn some SAUs on the holiday Monday.
Everyone sounds like they are doing great - Keep it up!
Got in a nice long run, 2 hr, 13.2 miles. The weather has turned nice here with low 70s. Perfect running weather. Never made it to zone 2, but averaged 9 minute miles, negative split it, my zone 1 pace is 9:37.
Walking Dead: I am a fan and the next series starts on, you got it, Oct 11. So, that will be motivation to finish early so I can catch the first episode ( just kidding). But seriously, I hope this does not speak to how I will be on the run. lol
Today is Day 18 of Build 2. In 3 more days I get a day off...woo hoo! I had to take my daughter to her HS open house at 11am so I slept in instead of getting a jump on the heat and paid dearly. I managed 10 miles slowing to survival shuffle the last 2. Tonight I got another 5 miles in at a much faster pace. If I count the 5 miles I ran Wed night, then I ran 20 miles in 3 runs over 24 hours.
OK, got some bad news today, will need to adjust my plans.
The two people that talked me into joining this race have both backed out of the race due to injuries. We were going to share transportation and a room with two beds and a couch at the Galt house.
Probably will stick to driving as it is only about 10 hrs and just do it myself. I might check flights and see what it would take to ship my bike, but that sounds like a pain.
My family will not be joining me for this race as school is in full bloom.
I think I still have the reservation at the Galt house, but am not sure I want to pay that much to stay by myself.
Any ideas for less expensive sleeping arrangements?
I will definitely need some team spirit company when I am there and hope I get to see some of you. I do well alone, but that is a long time.
Back to bed, this was keeping me awake.
Solid week of training over here. Knocked out the 2x20' FTP work yesterday on the trainer. Don't know how anyone can muster the strength or energy to do the 3x5'VO2 work. I got 5x1' (30") and was spent. Did manage a quick 2 mile brick post bike which was something (humid was an understatement). Today was absolutely magnificent in VA. Over night a cold front moved in and we woke to temps in the high 50s and dry. Perfect running weather BUT I had no childcare so off to Lifetime with my kids to run on the treadmill. 2 hours on a treadmill when the weather is perfect just stunk. I was able to run 14 with hour 2 being faster than hour 1, so I was happy about that. Took in GE every mile and had one gel at mile 8. Based on previous IMs I know by the time I get to the run there isn't a lot I want to eat, so I'm training myself to at least get the GE in at each mile.
Long swim tomorrow and long bike on Sunday. May take Monday off to give the body a full day of rest. I want to be ready for camp week and think the day off will do me some good.
- Life has been fun for me this week. Long days, few workouts, and real world hostilities jumping into our Pacific coalition exercise. We've also had people tagged to support real world humanitarian assistance operations, a pending typhoon looming for Monday, and a dead power meter (try to find A76 batteries in Okinawa sometime, not easy). I'm sitting at my desk right now but hoping to sneak away for some trainer time this afternoon. I'm starting some personal expectation management with respect to race day outcomes due to this training block, two week long - IDL crossing work junkets between now and the Ville, and a general sense of the volume (or lack there of) I've been able to get in. Not complaining, life is more important than triathlon, just doing some introspective looking during a break in the action. It's a first world problem to have