IMCHOO Training Wk 8/24 - 8/30 2015
Week 16 Swim Race Rehearsal
Anything that takes your mind off of your form is counter productive
Your primary pacing tool is counting your strokes allows you to focus on technique and you will be in a pace where you can maintain
Set yourself up for the artificiality of the chaos the swim start will have on race day — rather than warm up (since you most likely won’t have that on race day) dive in and swim faster to replicate how it will be on race day then drop into your race pace- however pay attention that you aren’t dropping into a pace that is slower than your goal race pace
You will never be able to fully replicate the “washing machine affect” like race day but work on your mental focus for that affect. Focus on your legs and try not to kick too much.
Only swim as fast as your ability to maintain form.
Practice siting : 50 meter pool site 2x per 50
25 meter pool site 1x per 25
OWS use judgement
Only site with your eyes so you don’t drop no chin out of the water
** Alternative **
You COULD just do this--- Train like you Race
Keep crushing it CHOOCREW -- so proud of you all
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Comments
I am so late adding my comments re: the training camp but wanted to share - been a little challenging getting posts done, but I have been hanging in with the training.
Today (Tuesday) is my least favorite training day with the back to back swims (M&T) but I got my mile intervals and 4k yds done this morning.
As far as training camp, here are my thoughts. Keep in mind this is my first IM, so some of the more experienced may already have this down....
1. I have been riding too conservatively on the hills (especially on some of the rollers and false flats) - too aggressive on the downshifting uphill and too conservative on the up-shifting coming out. Living in GA we have lots of hills, and I typically watch my power meter like a hawk. I learned to spin up more going into the hill; slow my pacing on my downshifting and stay in the big ring a little longer. I learned I can push my VI to 1.04 and save 15-30 minutes on the bike and not impact my run (I tested this during camp).
2. Follow the EN pacing rules - JRA for 1st ~20 miles, EN pacing based on overall time chart for next ~66 miles, and Ninja the last ~30 miles; I was running out of gas my first 2 centuries; I was still running on a full tank at camp after the bike following this methodology
3. Get 3-4 century (plus) rides (including race rehearsals) in before the race. I did my 1st and 2nd century rides over the two Saturdays leading up to training camp and it made a huge difference in my experience at camp. I was able to make a lot of tweaks in my riding the 3rd and 4th time around during camp. It also helped that the ride the weekend before camp had 4,500 ft of elevation in a single loop Century course.
4. I realize I have not been focusing on effective cornering and braking on the bike. I have been doing it correctly sometimes and incorrectly other times primarily due to lack of focus. I now focus on the proper technique every time and it is making a difference in handling, especially during the rain.
5. Follow the EN RUN guidelines on 0-6 miles, 6-18 miles, and 18+ miles; use the more conservative pace between HR and race plan pacing; I ran 16.33 miles of the course during camp - it was not as hilly as I was expecting (but the end of that 2nd loop will be interesting) - he pacing guidance definitely keeps one from running out of gas early on; I will continue to hone this strategy for my long runs over the next 3-4 weeks.
BTW - it was great to meet everyone at camp - looking forward to an exciting and successful race for EN at IM Choo
Thomas a lot of great info there for newbies and veterans alike! Glad you were able to put that into practice at camp, that will be huge, having that experience on race day!
Well, this is the first week of not training for IMCHOO. As I've been complaining about for months, I've been dealing with hotfoot/neuroma in my right foot. Had it pretty much fixed on the bike, but the run has been painful. Up to now, the pain has been manageable. Until this past weekend. I had to cut a long run short due to pain, and after consulting with my doctor (and more important, Coach Rich!), I decided to live to fight another day. So ... I'm done for the year and looking forward to IMTX. Boo!
But ... I'll still be at Chattanooga to cheer y'all on and am going to volunteer. Haven't ever volunteered at an Ironman before, so I'm actually pretty excited. It's funny -- I had been on the fence for a while about withdrawing, but just couldn't decide. A good run would follow a bad one, and it was never quite bad enough to know it was time to the pull the plug for sure. Until now. Surprisingly, I feel okay about the decision, which I guess is a sign that it's the right one.
I'm cleared for riding and am going to spend a lot more time on the bike (FTP = 180, here I come! ... hopefully), and I'm planning on bringing my bike to Chattanooga. I'll get to town on Wednesday, so if anyone wants to do a last ride and wants company, let me know. I'm slow, but since I'm not riding on Sunday, I'm happy to bury myself to keep up!
Good training vibes to everyone! See everyone at CHOO!
Hope you're all crushing those workouts. Keep up the great work.
Doug- Bummer about the flat but Strong work!
Swim done last night. Only got in 3200 before shoulder was "unhappy" so that was it. Did VO2 bike tonight (I'm on Minimalist plan for now) and did 4' @ 1.11IF, 4' @ 1.08IF, 1:30 @ 1.46IF, 2:30 @1.09IF. The target was 1.20IF but 4' at 1.20IF is tough so I did the best I could.... And finally got a Strava QOM I've been trying to get for months! (Even though it was a tie. I'll try to get a second faster) Then I had a pretty strong 2mi brick run. 1 mile @ Z1.5 and 1 mile @ Z2. The decrease in daylight is cramping my training so a lot of the weekday WKOs will be MS only and the volume will have to come on the weekends....
next couple of weeks. Or not:-)
Sorry about your neuroma, Catherine! But I'm happy to know that you'll be at IMCHOO cheering and volunteering. Smart decision.
Good job everyone! Holy Moly - it's almost September!!!
I have figured it out - the way to avoid the post race blues is to sign up for another one so there is no time to think about it!
@Carol, huge day yesterday, awesome work! I always feel like garbage after a run of that distance no matter how i feel during the run. It just takes a lot out of your body.
@Rich, great job transitioning into CHOO training! Agreed, on the post-race blues cure.
Well...yesterday was 1 calendar month until race day! Is it too early to start talking about the weather? Accuweather says it will be a mix of sun and clouds and there will be a high of 83 with a real feel of 87 and a 1% chance of precipitation!
The training plan has added an additional "frequency" swim into the week as we approach the race. I was able to get that in last night but did not push hard as my legs started cramping. This morning I was able to get in a short EZ 3 mile run. I like to get that in to break up the tightness/soreness in the legs from yesterday's long run. Feeling pretty good and looking forward to 2 big rides this weekend. But before that happens I'll hit the pool for a race distance swim tonight. Hope you all are recovering from that big run day yesterday.
We need to get our runs for the last 30 days done in as hot temperatures / conditions as we can and get our hydration & nutrition dialed in at those levels.
Backing off on Race day due to cooler temps is easy. Coming in unprepared for the heat will blow everyone's confidence / create a lot of stress during the week leading up to the race and it will result in carnage on the run course.
I just watched this happen at IMMT.
Plus - training in the heat will increase our blood plasma levels and give us an ever bigger fitness boost if we have a cool race day!
Carol- Glad you had a great girls weekend and a fantastic run. I would LOVE to get to 18 miles but my pace will likely only allow me to get to a max of 15, unless I go over 3 hrs....
Yes, prob not a bad idea to get some hot runs in. (Is that like hot yoga?) The one good thing about being slow is most of my IM run will be in the dark! You guys will have had a shower, nap, dinner and a beer before I cross the finish line!
[code] http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/03/phys-ed-will-training-in-the-heat-improve-your-performance/?_r=0 [/code]
Had to take my bike to the mechanic after 60 miles this morning...won't have her back till Friday (yikes!). hopefully the rest will lend itself to a BIG weekend next weekend before the wind down.
Got my long run in today, so it has made for a really big run week for me since last week's long run was late and this one was early. Its all the same but nice to have a big week I guess. 13 miles today around Z1. I had some faster miles, some slower and overall was slower than I would have liked but I got it done. Next week I'll have the opp to run later in the day to get some more heat. Got a 90 min massage today and tomorrow I'm doing the bike as a sprint tri relay then I'll do my 5 hr ride.
Then got in 4 more hours (fell a little short) with 8 x 20' estimated Z2/3 w/ HR. http://www.strava.com/activities/381221505
Felt pretty good and well hydrated (peed 3x before mile 30)
Awesome to watch the work this week. Glad you are back on the pavement, EB, and that you figures out the run issue. Kim, awesome job on the relay, and the rest of the ride yesterday! Way to get it done.
I did not get back to back rides this weekend, since we were in western Maryland at our lake/mountain house. Saturday I got in 56 miles on the bike, but those 56 miles had 5300 ft. of elevation. The tri bike is not fun to climb on, and all I could think about while descending at 40+ mph in aero is, "I have a race in a month, I cannot crash and get hurt!" Needless to say, I took many of the downhills much slower than I otherwise would have. Part of my ride included the Savageman 30 bike course. Two years ago during the race, I hit 52 mph on one downhill. Saturday I wouldn't allow myself to go over 45. Yesterday I got in about a 9 mile easy run with lots of rolling hills. It hurt! I will be out there for Labor Day weekend also, so I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to manage the bike workouts this weekend, but I will find a way.
I hope everyone has a good training week!
I did test out the new nutrition. It went OK... i made a few errors and did not get enough gels on the bike. I tried some chomps and they worked well.
Sunday's ride was a little shorter than expected.. my behind hurt something crazy. So i subbed the last 1.5 hours of riding with a 6 mile run.
Over all, i feel pretty good. I am excited for the long weekend. I may take off friday and do a little training camp this weekend (long rides on Friday and Saturday).
Way to crush that ride Kim!
Nice weekend of training John, that ride had a lot of elevation! And yeah, descending on a tri-bike is the worst.
Jonathan, way to keep working on the nutrition, a lot of elevation for you too this weekend, great work! Like you I am dragging myself around lately. At work I've been asked if I "had a late night" on more than one occasion in the past couple weeks!
Another decent weekend of training in the books. The Friday swim wasn't fun. Did the race-distance swim and I was tired from the beginning. The last 1500 yards was a struggle. My time was 5 minutes slower than exactly one week prior! Saturday and Sunday included about 9 hours on the bike and 5 miles running.
2 more weeks and then we start cutting back. keep up the good work team!