4 Weeks to Go...
Al your dropping the ball on our threads ?
Last Week - I cracked like an egg dropped from a second story window.... By thursday I was really feeling the cumulative work of the past 5 weeks , needed to can the V02 work planned and opted for an easy Z1 bike/run on thursday to prepare mentally for the big weekend.... Wrapped up the week with 22hrs , 1450 TSS , 12k swim , 233 bike, 55 run..... The weekend was huge - friday 3.3 mile swim, saturday 120/7 bike/run, sunday 24 miles split run 16/8......
This Week- I was ready for my down week of travel.... Happy I was able to rally with mind over matter and finish the previous week strong.... Monday recovery swim only and it was the slowest of the year (wetsuit swim slower than my non-wetsuit swims).... Monday night I woke up with my legs just throbbing/pulsing.... I was like wow I guess I really hammered myself the last 4 weeks!.... Travel started tuesday and spent 5 days on the road driving to Tucson.... Was able to get in 8hrs over the week and started to feel really good by thursday.... 3.25hr Ride today on road bike , saw Heather Jackson out hammering a 20 mile run in mid 90's.... Yes it was hot and I finished my bike in the upper 90's...
Next Week- kicking off monday with a swim only , following it up with a massage... Tuesday the shit is gonna hit the fan for 2 more solid weeks... Planning 2 more race rehearsal weekends... The first one is going to be an IM swim on Friday, a Metric Ironman on Saturday followed up with 3hr bike Sunday....My last RR will be the following weekend/2 weeks out and will be IM swim friday, 5hr/1hr bike/run saturday , 2hr run Sunday... Then its taper time....
Following Coach P, Turby , Al on STRAVA .... you guys had me feeling guilty for about 3 seconds when I saw how much work your putting in.... But then reality hit and I said this is what I need... Don't keep up with those guys!
Comments
Two things kept me from charting my training accountability last week. First off, travel back from CO cost me a day and a half's worth of workouts. And second, I got really depressed (for me, which may be like normal affect for most people?) over what I seem to have done to my hamstring. I think I finally figured out that I have high hamstring tendonitis. Won't go into the symptoms, but they all seem to fit that assessment. I've been taking intermittent days off from running, and can't really handle fast (TP type) intervals without a lot of pain afterwards. Oh, and every stride is a pain in the butt. So most of last week, I moped around (mentally) feeling like (a) I was not going to be properly prepared to tackle the Kona run and (b) maybe this is telling me I am ready take an extended sabbatical from Ironman.
Then, this evening, I reviewed what I've done over the past four weeks:
And this PM, I tried a 13.1 mile run at the local cinder track (not as boring as a treadmill), so I could avoid ups/downs, and be ready to bail at a moment's notice. While my butt hurt with every stride, it didn't get any worse during the nearly two hours, and it felt no worse after I was done than before I started. So, I've resigned myself to (a) no running on consecutive days; (b) no running at anything other than LRP; and (c) putting up with the pain for the next month, then let things fall where they may. My wife says I should worry about "permanently" injuring myself. "Permanently" is a relative term at my age. I would be just fine if I ran a respectable marathon in 4 weeks, then never ran another step for the rest of my life. I've never really liked running, except as a means to compete.
It's also had the positive effect of making me focus more on swimming and biking the past month. EG, yesterday, I did a local ride, "Tour de Blast", up the western side of Mt St Helens. The weather was awesome - 55 >> 85F depending on elevation and time of day, no clouds. 84 miles, 7000' feet of gain in three main chunks: 3500', 1500', & 1300' with some rollers on the downhills. I took my new road bike, just for the fun of it. I reverse engineered an FTP out of the numbers I got (3000 kilo joules), and think I did 267 TSS @ 0.73 IF, with an FTP of 238 (compared to 212 on the TT bike, but those are two different PMs, Stages vs PowerTap, so, whatever). The final 20 miles was into a fair headwind, so that was a plus as well.
And, the Y has conveniently closed its pool from Sep 9-19, "forcing" me into two open water swims, and another in a nearby 25 meter pool, which seems so much more substantial than 25 yards (I get at least 5 yards of coasting every time I push off the wall).
Totals: 1,132 TSS; 21:30 hours (Strava seems to overcount my cycling a bit), current CTL of 128. Swim/Bike/Run of 3:48/11,500m, 14 hrs/215 miles, 3:52/26.2 miles (not a coincidence).
Next week is another "break". I'm heading to Chicago for a bucket list race, the ITU "Standard Distance" (their name for what we call Olympic) Age Group World Championships. So 2 days pretty much lost to travel, another to setting up the day before the race. I'm looking on the bright side, that I need some recuperation heading into the final 10 day push. My big worry, though, is that I will work the run hard, and set myself back for run training. Somehow, I'll have to find the proper pace - just fast enough to be respectable, not so hard that I really hurt myself. One bonus - its a perfectly flat run course, along the lake.
Guys...looks we are all struggling a bit.
@ Al...Keep your chin up. You'll rise to the occasion on race day. I like your plan to balance your run training. Just focus on the LRP and be careful at the ITU race that you don't do any additional damage to the hammy. Suggest you go hard on swim and bike and then just cruise on the run and enjoy the "bucket list' experience. Sounds like your swimming and riding is going well, and you'll be stronog for Kona on those segments.
@ Tim... the rest last week will do you good too. I know you'll be ready after 2 more hard weeks.
Last week was a roller coaster emotionally for me too. Stong swim and bike workouts but major run set back. Everything was going well until Labor Day. I had done rides of 80 and 75 miles with 3 mile bricks on Sat/Sun of that weekend. Then on Labor Day went for ez 4 mile run in am. Everything fine during the run. But about 4 hours later my right knee cap started to really hurt. Right in front on the patella. So I cut out running all last week (ran a total of 4 miles the entire week) and it is still sore. I think it is a strained tendon from numerous clipping out of my bike cleat on the Sat/Sun rides as my cleat was getting very tight and I had to really yank, torque my foot to get out. I've since oiled/serviced both the pedal and cleat so it is much easier to get out of the pedal. I'm icing my knee and taking NSAIDS that I got for my hip (which is fine). I'm going for an easy run tonite to see how it feels.
Anyway, last Friday I did a RR swim for 75 minutes non-stop. 3900 meters. On Saturday I rode 116 miles in 5:47 with 204NP, 197 avg watts, 20.0 avg speed, 93 avg cadence. My right knee was fine, no pain. Half of this ride was into a 15 mph head wind and half was with the wind so a got Kona simulation. I was pleased that I was able to hold the 200 watts after 5 hours, into the wind in aero position. I planned the route so that the last portion was into the wind to see if I could stay aero and hold the watts. Success! This was particularly important b/c after IMMT I lower my front stem by 5 mils ( removed one stack ring) to get a slightly more aggressive position to be able to stay lower in the Kona wind. My lower back and hamstrings have been fine with it, but my neck was slightly sore after to first couple of rides shorter after remove the ring (but no problem with the neck on Saturday's 116 miler).
I felt fine yesterday walking and jogging all over the IMWI course to see and run beside ENers to encourage them ( i think I ran with Coach R, Jeremy B and Matt A each 5 times on the course + numerous other 100 yard jogs with other ENers) . Knee was ok. Iced it last night. And this am I swam sprints. 20 x 100s + 10 x 50s. The last few of each set hurt (but not my knee).
Net I'm just trying to get to the Kona start line with the strong swim and bike fitness and with my knee ok for the run. If I'm under trained for the run, so be it. I'll just suck it up on the Queen K. My goal will still be just to keep running at Z1 pace. No walking like last year.
After Kona, I'm taking several months off. This will be my 5th IM + a long course worlds race in 14 months. The old bod will need a major break.
Hang in there guys...only a few more weeks. Can't wait to see in Kona.
Last week was a lighter week for me on the bike and swim, and I just worked on keeping the running up. Resigned myself to a long run and lots of bricks, and I liked it much better. The long run of 2 hours (even with the cap on the time) plus a mid week long run (As I had been doing) was too much.
Really getting comfortable on the bike and in the water, but am dealing with a really bad saddle sore which just sucks. Just in time for my final big week here with lots of biking, another 40 running and swimming when I can.
Motivation is low but I have a good crew and honestly no mental barriers exist any more...30, 50 or 75 mile ride, it's just a ride. Get it done. Am enjoying getting some new swag on the bike.
And despite my Kona Kit Pictures, am getting fairly lean. In a healthy way...just have to stay smart with that (and survive this week!).
I spent all of last week (week 16) north of Brazil (MACEIO) training in as close as I could get to Kona like conditions (heat and wind) given it is cold at the time in my home town of Sao Paulo.
That being the case, I moved my week 15 RR1 to week 16 and had a "good week" (8 days in total).
- 3 OWS swims, all 3800, two of them in very tough conditions (currents, wind, waves) which was good to build confidence if that ends up being the case in Kona. Third swim not as bad in terms of adverse conditions only 2 minutes off my 1:10 target. Happy with my swims.
- 2 full 180k race rehearsals (thursday and friday) with good execution and results (Caveat: no big long climbs just rolling hills, winds hitting from all sides but none Kona level, hot but not hell-hot average 82F Max 91F). Nevertheless, very consistent on both days: day 1 time 5h14 (VI 1.02 / IF 0.72 / Avg HR 127 / Avg Cadence 84) day 2 time 5h12 (VI 1.02 / IF 0.70 / Avg HR 122 / Avg Cadence 80). Race nutrition executed without problem.
- 5 runs (3 short / 2 long) adding up to 45 miles. All in the heat. All controlling HR with good pacing.
Feeling very good (confident) after that week and will execute weeks 17 and 18 as prescribed in EN IM Advanced except I will not do RR2 as such (given it will be cold and hilly back home) but deliver the time on the bike and power output that day.
Main focus now is to maintain fitness while staying healthy. Arriving in Kona end of week 19.
Update ... after doing two "long" runs in three days. 13.1 miles on Sunday, the 16 today, both on a track. This was not nearly as boring as I anticipated. First off, there are always new people coming and going to share the track with, pass or be passed by. Second, I could just leave my gatorade bottles at the side, and stop every 2 miles (first 8 or so), then every mile to drink up.
Yesterday, my butt pain was pretty apparent, but this morning, I hit the pool at 0800 for Monday's sprint session, then drove to the college Tartan track for my run. I started out the first six miles at my "stoopid slow" pace, meaning HR of 114>>117, 9:10 >> 8:50, with my cadence at 91-2. I felt no *increase* in pain, so I started gradually opening things up - literally, meaning taking longer strides. By mile 14, I was down below 7:59, and actually feeling kinda powerful. Finished 16 miles in 2:20. And now, 4 hours later, no disturbing sensations from my backside.
One interesting set of data...my Garmin records my vertical oscillation ("OCT"?) When running on the road, that has been in the range of 7.1-7.3, which I think means bobbing up and down 7 cm. While on the track, and running with my more guarded style trying to avoid pain, my vertical oscillation is 6.5-6.7 cm. I;m not quite sure what this means, whether its good or bad, but it is a definite change.
A final note, just for this forum at present: I'm currently negotiating with a general surgeon about getting an inguinal hernia repair as soon as possible after Kona. This was discovered by my GP 2 years ago, but in the last month, it's become real apparent size-wise (like a 5-6 cm bulge!), and I think its presence may be contributing to my year-long battle with right leg and R lower back issues. Meaning, there's no pain, but my body is probably aware something is amiss, and is separately trying to guard against further injury, disrupting my normal gait and riding style. That will mean no IM AZ after Kona in all probability (assuming I can get a surgery date before Nov 16), as well as a couple of months of enforced time off after. Given 30 IMs in 15 years, I'm guessing its about time, though.
To share the bad with the goo today was pretty disappointing for me... I Couldnt even hold my IM pace on the bike for 3hrs... Yep it was hot and windy but so is KONA... I felt just like I did on the second half of KONA last year and that was pretty bad... I'm not worried though I'll adjust and work it out... I've had plenty of rest and havent been pushing...
@ Al...good news about your running, bad news about your pending surgery. Life is so much about ebbs and flows. Hang in there.
@ Juan...sounds like you are super ready for Kona. Looking forward to meeting you.
@ Tim...we all have off days. You'll be ready on Oct 10.
I ran 3 miles last night. My first run in a week, and the knee was fine. A little stuff this am when I woke up. So today I swam 2200 meters, rode 1 hour on trainer 4 x8' (3') @ 240 w (Z3). Flew to Salt Lake city and ran 3 more miles before dinner meeting. Knee still ok. So maybe the inflammation is down. Rest and travel back to Chicago tomorrow. On Thursday, I may run 1 hour + 1 hour on elliptical machine.
#nevergiveup