So I had a spectacularly bad RR. The swim was okay, a bit slower than I would like but I also kept going too wide, but came out feeling good. Come out of transition, bike mechanical, bike was just tuned up but since that particular issue had happened before I knew what to tell the bike mechanic and he had me out of there in just a couple of minutes. On the bike pretty early on like mile 3 I started to feel really crummy, my neck hurt like you would expect at the end of an IM ride, everything hurt, I pulled over at the aid station twenty miles in to just stretch. Things got better and I started to hit my power and pace but now my lower back hurt and after it was just a misery fest. Somewhere around mile 70 I started to get naseous and between that and the discomfort I didn't fuel or eat as much. The last two aid stations I stopped at to stretch commented that I seemed to be losing a lot of salt, The last three miles I rode at a pace that just kept the bike from falling over while hoping I didn't throw up. Stopped at the dismount line, hit with really bad dry heaves and just completely out of it, and was carted off to the med tent and pumped with a couple of litres of fluid.
I am pretty shaken, last few rides had gone well, but now I am questioning it all over again. I mentally prepared for a race that will be much slower than my first IM, but not for a long painful day. Some of it I think was lack of sleep from constant travel and early flights etc. I have not been good about hydration in the days leading up to it etc etc . I've been running marathons for several years and now triathlete for three and still do dumb shit like this. Anyway lots of lessons learned, lots of mull over.
@Anu, sending positive vibes and virtual hugs your way. Keep your chin up. We all have bad days and our body doesn't always cooperate with these crazy workout schedules. You have the right spirit and will learn from what you need to learn from this. Time to rest and let our bodies recover.
@ Anu - we all have bad days, and I think we all talk ourselves down when we do. But it's more important to remember the totality of all the work we've put in the past few months. That, and not one day, is going to be what takes you through the race. Get your bike fixed right, absorb those lessons learned, and be ready to race.
Today - I flunked Taper 101, but did sleep in until 8:30am...and had a power nap this afternoon. I swam 4500 yards to bring the week total to 15,700 - 4th straight week I've climbed and I hope to hit the peak next week since swimming can go right to the end. I also ran 7 miles today to hit a weekly total of 45 miles...my high for this IM. Since I haven't been able to go long in the heat, I've attacked the problem with volume and hope it will carry me through the marathon. Next week my running is capped at 30 miles for a 1/3 reduction. I've scheduled some business travel for this coming week and that will slow me down. On the plus side, I got on the scales for the first time in 3 months or so, and just like that, I was exactly on race weight...although I would love to drop another 2.
I am experiencing a little left knee pain, probably leftover from WI, pushed thru a 4 1/2 hr ride on bike yesterday and 30 min run. Pain on bike seems to come and go, don't feel it on the run.
1 hr bike today and 4500 yd swim
Thinking of taking the bike off until next weekend and doing more run frequency.
Congrat's on the RR's and keep your chin up Anu, as you commented, part of RR is learning and adjusting (you've done the training)!
@Paul - sounds like a great rehearsal, given the heat. Like everyone, I'm hoping for a cooler race day than what I live in.
@ Stephen - re: Swim warmup. There is definitely not a chance to get wet prior to swimming. If wet warm up is what you need, I would take the following steps: Once the line starts moving and gets on the pier, there will be a split into a left and right line. The left line takes you to the furthest jump off pier and the right takes you to the closest (<5 meter difference). Get into the left line (furthest), jump in, and swim wide left. That will take you out of the major traffic pattern. Do whatever you have to do to get in the right place mentally/physically, and then take off. For me, while I recognize a warm up would be nice, I just take whichever line seems to be moving quicker (both are usually jogging at this point) and jump in / start swimming right off the bat. If you can be good with dry warm up, have you thought about bringing swim cords and using those to warm up in the line?</p>
re: Hill - If memory serves, the left turn onto Ballard is pretty benign. It is worth checking out on a recon (by car) because you go from two lane road to a wide 'single lane'. What you do need to watch out for is the right turn off Ballard onto Old Sligo Road. That's a sharp right turn at the bottom of a hill straight into an uphill section. I've seen lots of people overcook that turn and, additionally, lots of people drop their chains navigating that transition. There will be lots of signs and people telling riders to slow down, but not a lot of triathletes listening to their direction. That corner (of all the places on the course) is 2nd only to the out-and-back section in terms of places to be aware and focused on bike handling / route knowledge.
For me, I just couldn't get my head into a place to ride the trainer for 6 hours this weekend. I tried both Saturday and Sunday and pulled the plug both times. A tropical storm kept me inside so a run wasn't happening either. It is what it is. I feel okay with my fitness, given the build that I've been able to get in, and have a plan for race day execution. Just wasn't in the right mental place for 6 hours staring at my TV turning the cranks. It is what it is.
Lots of good race rehearsals and some folks less than pleased with theirs (I'm in this category). For those with me in the latter, learn from the experience and trust in all the rest of the good work that you've put in. We've all put in a significant amount of work during the past months and it's time to rest up, plan your execution, and race what you have on race day (instead of what you wished you had ). Lets get ready for taper madness!
@ Roy - from the start of the race, how long does it take for the last person to hit the water? Also, where is the mat for the start of the swim? Does one pier result in a shorter course....like 10 yards or so?
@Paul, this video shows a good perspective on the two piers (really close). The right line takes you to the pier on the right side of the screen, the left line takes you to the one on the left (directions for Marines!). If I remember correctly, there may be two different 'start' timing mats, on one each one. I could be wrong on this though. VIDEO HERE
Edit - the video doesn't show timing mats, must be one prior to the line split.
@Paul - just realized I didn't answer your whole question (I'm sitting at my desk at work thinking about nothing but going home, seeing my family, and the race - afraid the American tax payer may not be getting their full $$$ worth out of my salary this week). I believe that it usually takes 30-40 minutes to get all racers into the water. In 2012, I was very close to the back of the line. The gun went off at 0700 and I was jumping in right at 0730 (the clock on the pier shows gun time).
Comments
@Paul kickass RR.
@Jen great work on the ride, the heat. I could have written a lot of what you wrote, except it wasn't that hot for me.
@Danielle in awe of the trainer rides.
So I had a spectacularly bad RR. The swim was okay, a bit slower than I would like but I also kept going too wide, but came out feeling good. Come out of transition, bike mechanical, bike was just tuned up but since that particular issue had happened before I knew what to tell the bike mechanic and he had me out of there in just a couple of minutes. On the bike pretty early on like mile 3 I started to feel really crummy, my neck hurt like you would expect at the end of an IM ride, everything hurt, I pulled over at the aid station twenty miles in to just stretch. Things got better and I started to hit my power and pace but now my lower back hurt and after it was just a misery fest. Somewhere around mile 70 I started to get naseous and between that and the discomfort I didn't fuel or eat as much. The last two aid stations I stopped at to stretch commented that I seemed to be losing a lot of salt, The last three miles I rode at a pace that just kept the bike from falling over while hoping I didn't throw up. Stopped at the dismount line, hit with really bad dry heaves and just completely out of it, and was carted off to the med tent and pumped with a couple of litres of fluid.
I am pretty shaken, last few rides had gone well, but now I am questioning it all over again. I mentally prepared for a race that will be much slower than my first IM, but not for a long painful day.
@Anu, sending positive vibes and virtual hugs your way. Keep your chin up. We all have bad days and our body doesn't always cooperate with these crazy workout schedules. You have the right spirit and will learn from what you need to learn from this. Time to rest and let our bodies recover.
Today - I flunked Taper 101, but did sleep in until 8:30am...and had a power nap this afternoon. I swam 4500 yards to bring the week total to 15,700 - 4th straight week I've climbed and I hope to hit the peak next week since swimming can go right to the end. I also ran 7 miles today to hit a weekly total of 45 miles...my high for this IM. Since I haven't been able to go long in the heat, I've attacked the problem with volume and hope it will carry me through the marathon. Next week my running is capped at 30 miles for a 1/3 reduction. I've scheduled some business travel for this coming week and that will slow me down. On the plus side, I got on the scales for the first time in 3 months or so, and just like that, I was exactly on race weight...although I would love to drop another 2.
I am experiencing a little left knee pain, probably leftover from WI, pushed thru a 4 1/2 hr ride on bike yesterday and 30 min run. Pain on bike seems to come and go, don't feel it on the run.
1 hr bike today and 4500 yd swim
Thinking of taking the bike off until next weekend and doing more run frequency.
Congrat's on the RR's and keep your chin up Anu, as you commented, part of RR is learning and adjusting (you've done the training)!
So, all day, I've been saying, get here already, week 19. Then, I look at this "taper" week and see that we have a swim and a hard run tomorrow. WTF?
@Paul - sounds like a great rehearsal, given the heat. Like everyone, I'm hoping for a cooler race day than what I live in.
@ Stephen - re: Swim warmup. There is definitely not a chance to get wet prior to swimming. If wet warm up is what you need, I would take the following steps: Once the line starts moving and gets on the pier, there will be a split into a left and right line. The left line takes you to the furthest jump off pier and the right takes you to the closest (<5 meter difference). Get into the left line (furthest), jump in, and swim wide left. That will take you out of the major traffic pattern. Do whatever you have to do to get in the right place mentally/physically, and then take off. For me, while I recognize a warm up would be nice, I just take whichever line seems to be moving quicker (both are usually jogging at this point) and jump in / start swimming right off the bat. If you can be good with dry warm up, have you thought about bringing swim cords and using those to warm up in the line?</p>
re: Hill - If memory serves, the left turn onto Ballard is pretty benign. It is worth checking out on a recon (by car) because you go from two lane road to a wide 'single lane'. What you do need to watch out for is the right turn off Ballard onto Old Sligo Road. That's a sharp right turn at the bottom of a hill straight into an uphill section. I've seen lots of people overcook that turn and, additionally, lots of people drop their chains navigating that transition. There will be lots of signs and people telling riders to slow down, but not a lot of triathletes listening to their direction. That corner (of all the places on the course) is 2nd only to the out-and-back section in terms of places to be aware and focused on bike handling / route knowledge.
For me, I just couldn't get my head into a place to ride the trainer for 6 hours this weekend. I tried both Saturday and Sunday and pulled the plug both times. A tropical storm kept me inside so a run wasn't happening either. It is what it is. I feel okay with my fitness, given the build that I've been able to get in, and have a plan for race day execution. Just wasn't in the right mental place for 6 hours staring at my TV turning the cranks. It is what it is.
Lots of good race rehearsals and some folks less than pleased with theirs (I'm in this category). For those with me in the latter, learn from the experience and trust in all the rest of the good work that you've put in. We've all put in a significant amount of work during the past months and it's time to rest up, plan your execution, and race what you have on race day (instead of what you wished you had
). Lets get ready for taper madness!
@ Roy - from the start of the race, how long does it take for the last person to hit the water? Also, where is the mat for the start of the swim? Does one pier result in a shorter course....like 10 yards or so?
@Paul, this video shows a good perspective on the two piers (really close). The right line takes you to the pier on the right side of the screen, the left line takes you to the one on the left (directions for Marines!). If I remember correctly, there may be two different 'start' timing mats, on one each one. I could be wrong on this though. VIDEO HERE
Edit - the video doesn't show timing mats, must be one prior to the line split.