IM Ville Mojo Thread, Week 14, 24-30 Aug
Another week's worth of opportunities to lay down some fitness and mojo. Get those workouts in and give us some posts.
Good luck everyone!
0
Another week's worth of opportunities to lay down some fitness and mojo. Get those workouts in and give us some posts.
Good luck everyone!
Comments
Swim - 15,000 yards (5 sessions)
Bike - 204 miles (4 rides, all on the trainer)
Run - 40 miles (7 runs. Sadly, I looked at my log from 3 years ago and can see I am slowing down)
Weights - 65 mins (2 sessions)
This was my biggest week of the year except for the EN Florida volume camp back in January. I'm not concerned about the distance, just my speed on the run.
@Paul, good luck at your race. I'm not sure how you can move after all you did last week.
I had a successful weekend, the temps were in the upper 60s, lower 70s, felt like fall. It was really windy but I kind of liked the challenge of riding into headwinds I got in a solid 90 Saturday with a 4 mile brick run, and then still felt strong on Sunday. That is new for me. Usually, I don't have the legs following a Saturday. I must be developing some muscular endurance.
Gonna try and swim today, but I'd rather have a massage and day off like Paul. Goal this week is to hit 10,000 yards swimming.
Ok, so I'm always a day behind everyone due to Saturday needing to be just a swim given my family commitments. With that said I managed another 3500 pull (with 400WU and some 50s at the end to equal 4300 total) on Saturday. Found out Sat evening that my riding partner crashed earlier that day and wouldn't be able to ride on Sunday for 5hrs with me. Went to plan B and called up a few guys I knew were riding about 60 on Sunday. So I rode about 10 miles to warm up, met them and headed out for what would be come a massive drop the hammer session! There were 6 (I was the only female) of us that took off and only 3 that finished. For 60 miles I was hanging on for dear life up and down hill after hill. I was shocked to be with these guys from start to finish of the 60. When we came back around to our starting point I realized I had another good 1-1:20 min left to get 5hrs. 70 miles under my belt, I said adios to the hammer fest boys and finished another 22 to get me to 5 hrs and some change. Quads were burning and I just didn't have it in me to do the brick run. 7 hours later, post dinner and wine I felt like I was ready for the 40' brick. Did it in the dark and wanted to vomit the entire time-not a good idea to run 45' after eating and drinking.<img src='http://members.endurancenation.ushttp://members.endurancenation.us/DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/smile.gif' align="absmiddle" border="0" class="afEmoticon" />. Sat (well Sunday for me) done. Check! Woke this morning very very tired, yet got on the trainer and banged out the 3hr ABP ride (wow that was HARD!) Legs are spent, butt hurts but so glad I was able to pull off the 2 rides this weekend. Lots of intensity but all good.
Oh, btw Paul you inspired me.. Just ordered the Hardcore 100. I'm sure I will regret the purchase, but it's good to have in case I need it due to weather <img src='http://members.endurancenation.ushttp://members.endurancenation.us/DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/smile.gif' align="absmiddle" border="0" class="afEmoticon" />.
@Danielle, I saw your run on Strava and was so glad you explained your experience here. What an incredible ride following those hammer heads like that and then following it up with more riding. I bet they were scratching their heads. Just note what you ate during that long transition and don't repeat it come race day
I'm really pumped because I went and swam on Monday for the first time. I have been skipping all of them and taking Monday's off. I only put in 2600 but I did several sets of 50s and 100. And my last 100 was a 1:34 pace. I doubt I have hit that speed before at 100, much less at the end of a good workout.
@ Stephan - Every Monday just think of Dory from Finding Nemo. Dory: "Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim. ... Ha, ha, ha, ha, ho. I love to swim. When you want to swim you want to swim."
@Paul now I got that song in my head.
I see a light.......What is it?....I'm feeling happy
Got in my second swim of the week. One more long one on Friday and I will hit my goal of 10,000 this week.
Stephan - looks like you're on the right track with your swimming volume and you're getting faster! Nice work.
Paul - Good luck in Austria! If you get a chance tell me more about Spinervals Louisville. I may have to look into that.
Danielle - You are a rock star. Hope I can keep up in Lou!
Work is really getting in the way of training right now. At least I'll have the weekends free to ride. Have swam twice this week for a total of 3700 yds. One more short one on Friday. Hopefully that will pick up in September. FTP this afternoon on the bike.
@Jay, I've used a downloaded version twice. Did my last indoor long ride with it. I found it fun to ride once. Hard to tell what the course is really like though. The cost here is more than I paid. Someone got me a cheap link and I think I only paid like 5 bucks for my download. It has gone up I think. It covers the route out, the out and back, and the loop. So, all of the road, but only about 60 of the miles.
I put the link below.
@Paul, maybe we can drive the course when we get there.
http://www.spinervals.com/public/On_The_Road_5__Louisville_KY_Digital__On_Demand_2.cfm
Also, is it just me or are you all starving all the time? Im usually very very good and disciplined about what I eat during my build to an ironman, but for some reason this cycle I have been really hungry and I crave very salty things (chips, salted nuts, nachos, etc) I don't recall this being an issue the past two years on the Intermediate Plan. Feels like Im pregnant all over again, haha!
Food - I carry at least 5 pounds of old man fat that I can't get rid of. I like to eat. I swear to myself each day that I will slow down at night, but as soon as I feel hungry, there I go again! No, I'm not fat; but it's all relative and if only I could lose a few more pounds!
Today - Another solid night of sleep and up with just enough time to ride 10 miles on the trainer using Spinervals - Shake it out/Active Recovery. Yes, I have virtually every Competition Series DVD he has produced! On the way home, I stopped in Snap Fitness to run 5 miles on the treadmill including 2 hard. I soaked the trainer like someone had thrown a bucket of water over me, but it would have been worse had I run outside ... still 91 at 7pm. Time to run my packing checklist one more time...I leave tomorrow afternoon!
Slugged through a lunch run. Slower than zone 1 for the first two miles, until a colleague started gaining on me, my pride took up the charge and I managed one mile at zone 2, with a few sort of strides at the end.
Took out the road bike for some climbing action to help me get the FTP targets. Got in a solid 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of FTP work. Beautiful day for riding here.
Now, I need to get psyched up for the long run tomorrow.
Ok, so I have a question: does everyone hack the plans? I'm noticing a trend on Strava (coaches and top AG athletes) that doesn't look anything like the EN advanced plans that I'm following. Am I missing something? I noticed both coaches are on their bikes at least 4x a week, swimming 4x and running a whole heck of a lot more than I am. If I am seeking to be top in my AG should I be following them? As a veteran of EN I probably should know the answer to this, but given this is my first year on Strava I just assumed we were all doing the same types of wkos weekly. Any ideas?
The second part is what to do if you hack the plan and how do you add extra time when you have it. That's way above my pay grade and I'll leave that to coaches and WSM's. I think that IF you decide you have the time and energy then ask the smart ones about adding some extra work. If you have a weakness then focus on that with the extra time.
This week for me has been another busy week at work and I had to hack again. 2 swims so far for 3700 yds. One FTP session on bike which was 2 x 18 for us intermediates. Then I hacked the VO2 work and did 2 x 1" VO2 during each 5 minute interval. Work schedule wasn't conducive to running intervals so I hacked again and did 2 medium long runs (9.2 and 9.7). More swimming in the AM.
Paul - good luck this weekend.
@Danielle - The mentality behind the plans is that it works for 'most of the people, most of the time', given the life of a typical age group athlete (who is also a mom/dad, contributor to the GDP, husband/wife, etc). With that said, we are all responsible for our own plans / coaching. While I personally don't typically go too far off the reservation with the sequencing of the sessions, I do play with the assigned intensity quite a bit (95% of Coach P's assigned running intensities are way too much for me, I know this because this is my fourth season with in the Haus). For pointy end folks (like you are or want to be), I do think you'll want to tweak the plan IF your body tells you that you can absorb the work. As a mere mortal, when I'm on target with the planned volume (which isn't that often due to having to actually show up at work and stay awake at my desk), my body tells me that the volume for my chosen plan is about right. That's also one of the reasons I dropped off Strava, in addition to getting "Oh No" emails.
ENDEX (End Exercise) was sounded Thursday around mid-day capping three weeks of work brutality (which included the actual exercise and some real world fun when folks started lobbing indirect fires both ways across the DMZ). I got home around 3:30 pm, immediately went to bed, and would probably have slept all night had my wife not texted me around 9 and woke me up. As it was, I think I slept about 14 hours. To celebrate, I swam 4k straight as a race rehearsal warm up today. Weather permitting, I'm pushing the big bike weekend to this weekend because I fly to Orlando on Monday for a work conference and will miss next weekend's regularly scheduled Race Rehearsal 1.
Good luck everyone and keep on the gas. BTW - did anyone else notice the Ville Race Director NOT posting the Athlete Guide and the change of publication date from 8-10 weeks out to 4-6 weeks?
Had my long run this morning and managed 15 miles in 2:15. Have to say, I've had better long runs. Had stomach issues hit me around mile 7 which made for a very uncomfortable last 8 miles. Not sure the bowl of oatmeal I ate at 5am was the best choice today. Was really nice running in low 60s and minimal humidity.
Keep up the great work everyone!!
Goal Met, broke 10,000 yards for the week this afternoon with a slow and steady 4600 in the pool.
Skipped my run today. Legs are hurting from yesterday's run.
Tomorrow, I will go for a century ride I think.
Friday - 3 mile jog then big breakfast. Regular race going on today and all roads closed. WC racers caught on their bike before 1230 will be DQd.
This is a reward race...looking for a respectable performance and nothing more. Prime goal is safe bike on descent. After creating the initial drop is technical with 4 hairpin per the RD. DQ for crossing the center line so you can't set up optimal lines until the road straightens out.
@Jay - I can never 'go easy' at an organized event, I know how you felt. It is what it is.
So I must apologize to everyone. That huge explosion coming from the east you all heard around midnight Friday, east coast time... That was me exploding over here in Japan on my 'race rehearsal 1'. A planned six hours at what I though was a conservative power goal ended up being almost seven hours of riding time, even more counting stopped time, and 103 miles total. At around 4 hours I realized I wasn't going to make it, I stopped sweating and really got worried. At that point, I decided to tour every single Family Mart (the Japanese version of 7-11) between where I was and my house. After getting home and killing about 4 power aids, I uploaded my file and realized that I had done between 9.6k and 10k worth of climbing (depending on whether you trust TrainingPeaks or Garmin Connect). I bagged the run due to concerns of merely standing without dire consequences. I woke up Sunday, continued to crush the power aid, binged on season 4 of Once Upon a Time, and finally decided to go find some flatter lands and spin the legs out. Got 50 miles in a little under 3 hours and feel pretty good now. Going to run long tomorrow morning before saddling up for crossing the international date line, so no brick run today. I feel much better this evening than I did yesterday. I'm racking it up to my fitness not being quite where I hoped it would be and too much climbing for a 'chose a flat course' ride. That which doesn't kill us and all that stuff...
Keep on it everyone!
@Roy When I read about the race rehearsal, it seems that the coaches offer conflicting advice about whether to pick a flat course or one that mocks your race. I'm not sure which way to go. To pick out a flat course is fairly difficult here in Wisconsin but doable if I just repeat a short loop. 10K wow! Glad you're feeling better. It is funny how we can feel horrible one day, and fine the next. Don't get that.
@Jay, you've been working hard all year. You are going to rock this!
@Paul, following you this morning. The course looks gorgeous...you're almost done it looks like. Can't wait to hear about it.
I got in a solid ride and brick yesterday. Glad today only calls for 90 minutes. Starting to get worked up about RR next weekend.
@Jay, agree with what Roy and Stephan said...you are working hard. You are bound to have some self doubt here and there, I can tell you that you're not alone. I've doubted the process 3 times now and I've always been wrong. You will do awesome, trust your training and yourself
Past few days have been intense. 15 mile run on Friday, 4400m swim and hour run on Sat and I just got home from a 5hr ride with a 40'(4.6mile) brick run. I know the plan calls for a 90' ride tomorrow, but I think I may take the day off. I really want to set myself up for a good camp week next weekend so I may hack the plan leading up to it. Anyone else planning to back as well and if so what are your plans?