Tim Cronk 2015 Metric Ironman RR for KONA (almost)
I've been wanting to do one of these for a couple years now... Just haven't been able to fit it into the race schedule plans...This idea was recommended to me from a very well known British Coach for a FOP type person .... This by no means would take place of my much more EN type traditional RR's.
Goals - The idea also fell into my theory of doing something different, to keep it interesting, shake things up a bit and possibly stimulate some fitness/durability/knowledge gained from a different kind of RR....One thing I was sure of was I would learn something. So the goal was simple just complete a metric ironman as one of my race rehearsals at IM pace. Swim 1.5 miles (2640yds) , Bike 69.6 miles , and Run 16.28 miles. At first it seems like a lot , but after doing the math it worked out to be very similar to the tradition RR time wise. Was planning 40-45 min for the swim, 3:15-3:30 for the bike, and 2:15-2:30 for the run... My total day to be around 6-6.5 hrs vs. my normal RR bike/run of combo of 5.5-6.5hrs.
Training History since IMLP on July 26th - 1 very easy recovery week, 1 transitional week adding just a tiny bit of intensity/volume , then a solid 4 week progressive build going from 15hrs to 22hrs while adding intensity/volume/distance across the board.... The last 2 weekends of this build looked like this...
friday 4000yd OWS , Saturday bike/run 110/6 , Sunday split run 14/7 friday 5800yd OWS , Saturday bike/run 120/7 , Sunday split run 16/8
The following week was a recovery week while I traveled from NH to AZ. Spent the first week in AZ looking for my legs, acclimating to the heat , with the Metric IM planned for the first weekend.... Friday was a 4300yd RR swim in 1:10 done not quite at race pace (1:37 per 100yds) as I wanted to save it for the weekend... The rest of the day was typical carbo loading and feet up...
Saturdays Metric Ironman
Swim- Up at 4:30 am , eat 2 banana's and several cups of coffee... Was in the pool by 5:15... Swam 2700yds @ racepace in 42 minutes ,1:34 per 100yd pace ...Exactly as planned.. Happy with this and believe I can hold that pace for the full IM without too much metabolic cost to the rest of my race.
Bike- Got home little after 6am, ate bagel w/PB and dates , more coffee... Got on the bike a little after 7am....Focus was to be slightly above race pace and nutrition or more correctly hydration in this heat...Rode 80 miles in 3:26 @ IF .76... The only reason I rode 80 miles instead of the planned 69 miles was the route I took was too fast (net downhill and tailwind for quite a while) ... While on the surface the numbers look good ,it was a disappointing ride... I can usually hold north of IF .80 for 3.5 hrs , I rode 40 miles at RPP, then around 20 at RP, then 20 below RP... The last 20 fade was real but also somewhat on purpose as I was thinking about the 16 mile run yet to come and the temps were above 90 by now....I was able to finish 4 bottles of GE in 3.5hrs which is good for me and ate 1 cliff bar through the ride....Not happy with this bike and I'm still looking for my legs....
Run- During the bike I had strategically place 2 bottles of GE on my planned run course which was a 7 mile stretch for a 14 mile out and back... Applied more sunscreen , put on a long white desoto top , one of those goofy head sweat hats that has a veil to cover the back of your neck , ate 1 gel , strapped on the fuel belt and took off.... I ran a 2 mile section before starting down the out and back 14 (that would get me my 16).... Run 1 mile , walk drink , repeat .... Felt OK considering temps at 100 now... Road was fully exposed 100% sun... Heather was out training with me on the same road, when I saw her on the bike I said when you are done come out and check on me (good move)... Somewhere around 5-6 miles I could really feel the heat building in my core... No shade ,No aid stations, water or ice to cool , plenty of GE although it was 100 degrees, just me and the vultures circling waiting for me to keel over, I was running downwind so felt no breeze.... Made it to the turnaround 9 miles so far and stopped to refuel... walked in circles a few minutes to cool down a bit more, then started back... Heather came to check on me just as I passed 10 miles... Now damn it I hate to quit.... I had it in my head I would do those 16 miles... There is no doubt I could have... But I kept thinking at what cost ? What is this going to accomplish? I wasn't suffering or struggling (too much) but I could feel the heat and believe I made the right call to pull the plug... Ended up with 10.4 miles in 1:34 9:07 pace and it was 100 degrees.... So a big fail for time or distance on the Metric IM run but pretty sure the true cost to my body was the full Monty... In the car , wiped down with towel in ice water, drank water , 32 ounce coconut water, ate watermelon , went to the store , drank a V8 , drank a Mountain Dew , ate salted potatoes on the way home....All in all I gotta say I'm pretty happy with the run pace I held in those conditions.... With a little water/ice every mile I could probably hold that for 26...
Sunday- plan was to just go out and ride 3hrs while Heather was riding... Instead I opted for a ride/run to get some more run miles since I missed the real long run of the week... Ended up riding 56.3 in 2:35 at IF .73 and 6 mile brick run in 50:34 8:25 pace in the same conditions as the previous day....Although Sunday's IF was lower than Saturday it was a much better steadier ride I Felt much better than the previous day on the bike and the run.... I upped my fluids again and think I set a PR for me... Drank 1 bottle every 40 minutes on the bike finishing 4 bottles in 2.5 hrs.... Drank about 1/2 bottle before the run and a full bottle while on the run in 50 minutes...
What did I learn? - IMO the value in such an RR would be to experience the critical miles of the IM run starting after the halfway point...This is just so hard to replicate in training because it takes you so long just to get there the metabolic cost would be too huge... But by cutting back on the bike some this can be done without too much different cost than a usual RR... I didn't quite get there time/distance wise but I think the heat of the day brought that moment a bit closer so feel I got to taste it anyway... I'm not that smart but I think I have common sense and can think dynamically... I made the right call to cut that run short... I need to drink even more ...
Whats next ? Back to the traditional RR next weekend for the last one!
Comments
I forgot to mention a couple things... When I stopped running at 10 miles on Saturday and spoke to Heather I could barely talk... My throat felt congested and I had no idea but the voice was coming out very weird... Took about 30 minutes to go back to normal.... the other thing was my weight fluctuations over the weekend...
Try not to think of it in terms of pounds but percentages of body weight... from saturday am to sunday am was 4.4lbs 0r 3.6% swing... I know its all water but the human body and what we do to it is amazing ...
Friday AM 121.5 4300yds swim only
Saturay AM 122.3 80/10 bike run in that heat
Sunday AM 117.9 56/6 bike run same heat
Monday AM 119.9 recovery swim only
Tuesday AM 122.5 today felt good bike/run