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IMFL Week 16 0f 20 - Holding the Line
Happy Monday................SIGH ...................
My primary goals this week are to recover and absorb CAMP volume, then prepare for a quality long run and long bike later in the week.
So crucial, for those that completed CAMP week, to stand down, recover, and absorb per the Week 16, post CAMP week schedule Monday and Tuesday with minimal volume. Foam roller, massage, light spinning, and swim might be in your vocabulary for these recovery days. Doing so will pay dividends later in the week and ensure you continue to HOLD the LINE with the training in these last 3 crucial volume weeks before taper.
Have a great week all!
SS
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Thanks for keeping the mojo rolling, SS. Can't overemphasize the need for rest for those who went huge during camp weekend. When I finished camp before TX in '14, my TSB was an alarming -88 the day after camp, and it literally took me 10 days to feel "normal" again. Earlier this year before NZ, my TSB was -97 the day after camp, I stupidly tried to run on Wednesday and I got pretty badly injured (no real running during Wks 16-18 is not good for an IM . . . trust me, the Line showed up at the same time the Suck did on race day @ Mile 15). If I had those two post-camp weeks to do over again, I would have rested completely for two days, with no running until Fri. This time around, I went light during camp weekend (6hrs on the trainer, 17mi in the rain, some quality time in the pool), and I woke up today with a very reasonable -33.
I like Week 16 because I can easily break things down according to discipline and start to see the finish line: on the run, I have two weeks of heavy load (38-40 miles per week, the keys being the last two long runs and cutting dramatically back on pace to remain healthy and intact). I pretty much know my goal HR and pace for race day, but these last two weeks will help confirm those numbers. In two short weeks, the run taper begins.
For the bike, I've got three weeks of work, trying to get at least 9 hours of riding each week, with the long ride (5hrs/100mi) again being the important wko. Again, I think I know my wattage goals for race day (175-80), but these last three long rides will help confirm/adjust. In three weeks, taper time.
For the swim, I've got four weeks to build some serious endurance. I've been right at 10k yds the last several weeks, so it's time to build to 12k, 15k, 18k, and 20k. I'll taper just a little during Wk 20.
Got a good swim in today and an easy 30 min run in with some strides. Hoping to beready to go full speed in aanother day or two.
@Paul, fingers crossed for a nice, safe swim this weekend. Cancelling that swim will likely remove me from future potential start lists, as there's simply too much time/$ devoted to these things. Choosing a race may end up becoming a statistical analysis of which race has the best chance of going off unaltered.
@Jimmy, keep in mind that I really don't ramp up volume until 8-10 weeks out. Any more of those 12+ hour weeks just isn't fun for me, so I don't do it. Thus, a camp weekend really throws a wrench at me and jacks my numbers big time. You, SS and others handle volume much better, train hard and very consistently, so a camp just isn't going to hit you quite as hard. Which is great, because it allows you to come back strong this week. I was lower than you (-47) yesterday after only two days of weekend workouts. But, at the end of the day, all it really means is you'll be passing a ton of folks in the marathon (probably me, which is fine as long as you don't lap me).
Meanwhile, I hope the water is glass for you guys. They couldn't possibly have weather like last year two years in a row!
I headed to the pool last night. This is the most mind numbing of all the training. When I am on my trainer, I can watch the computrainer screen, watch TV or Watch a movie. The same with the treadmill. In the pool, all I see is the bottom of the pool. All I hear is my breathing. Its a good thing my garmin counts the laps for me, because I would never know how many I do. I lose count after 3. Hope everyone has a great day today.
Train Strong, Train Smart!
I really want to nip 11 hrs. By my data it seems right on the edge of possible assuming good weather. I guess I really won't know till about mile 23 on the run.
Thought I was doing things right. Got home from work before my wife and planned on making dinner. She called and said she really wanted Chinese food. So, I got that for her. We had dinner and then we went for a walk. I headed to the pain cave around 7:00 pm only to find that I had forgotten to release the tension from my computrainer on the rear tire. It had blown. So, it was a tough start for today's WKO. After practicing a tire change, I got ready again. Fortunately I didn't just jump on because I had pinched the tube. I quickly released the air pressure, re-positioned the tube and then I started. During the warm-up, I was seriously thinking how was I going to get to the watts? During the first set, the watts were coming, but man was the time running slow. I made it through interval # 1 and I still felt pretty good. I started # 2 and it also went well. I hope everyone had a wko that felt as good as mine did.
@ Jimmy, How is your swimming? Some of our WSM have told me how important strength in the swim is for the rest of the race.I agree that long rides are very important. You can really set up the long ride with a strong swim.(Not necessarily fast swim)
Granted, I may have over swam a bit on this last rr as it was the only thing on the schedule for that day.
My swim vol is also higher than it was 2 years ago. So my best answer is "better". But who knows?
Good run this morning. Temps in the mid 60's make everything better!
Now, about time to pull it together to head off to the pool.
Athlete's Guide is up. Skimmed and didn't see any surprises, other than TA opening at a ridiculous 4am. Thousands of Type-A's will be sitting in the swim line for 2 hours.
Week's going pretty well so far. R ankle has been bothering me for nearly a week. Last night, decided to extend the foam rolling from the ITB down to the ankle. Found the problem. Those tendons/muscles running down the outside of my calf were really tight, and the roller lit things up. My love/hate relationship with the roller continues. I just have to get through 10 more days of running, intact.
@Jimmy, I really like the fact that finish time is one of your things. I do that too and have found it really helpful the last 5-6 miles. Before the race, I'll generally calculate the time of day I need to finish in order to break 12, 11:30, 11 hours or PR. Finish time isn't a priority, but for 90% of us, we have a deep, dark secret finish goal, even if we don't make it public. We start at 6:15am. If I cross the start mat at 5:00, I know that 5:20pm is 11 hours. The IMFL run is cruel in that Miles 14-20 have you running away from the finish line you want to cross so badly. But it makes the turn-around in St. Andrews Park feel amazing because every step from there leads straight to the line. At that point, I'll switch over to Time of Day and start doing some calculations, which both distract from the pain and challenge a mind that's very low on steam. If I see 4:20pm at Mile 20, I have an hour, so I need to run six 10-min miles to reach my goal. My box becomes each of the next six miles. If Garmin auto-laps at Mile 21 and shows a 9:51 last mile split, I get an adrenaline rush and look forward to beating the next mile. The rush only increases as I reach 23 and 24. May not work for many, but it's very effective for me (at NZ, my run was in shambles, but at 22 I calculated that I could finish with a 10:30-something if I ran 9:xx's to the finish, which I convinced myself sounded way better than a 10:40-something).
As for strategy on how to beat 11, I currently like to break things down to T2 Exit Time + Run because I know my realistic marathon capabilities. That is, you probably want/need to exit T2 at or before 6:45 into the race. If you see 7:30, you're not gonna run a 3:30, so you modify the goal. You can swim 1:15 or faster in normal conditions. You need a simple 3-minute T1, not 6 or 7 minutes of lounging. You need a sub-5:30 bike, which you've done before and are very capable of repeating (BBS probably supports this as well?), assuming no porto stops, no BSN stops, and you save enough power/energy to tackle the challenging Miles 80-104, which are usually into a head wind when you no longer have any desire to ride. If you get out of T2 in 3 minutes or less, you should have 4:15 or more to break 11. And you know how to run a sub-4:15 marathon. You obviously need to devise your own personal plan, but that's how this outsider would break it down for you from the macro level. FWIW, I finished my first two IMs in 12:3x and 11:3x and concluded that I would probably never break 11. But as I hit Mile 20 in St. Andrews' Park in '07 in a dazed funk, I calculated by time of day that I had nearly 75 minutes to beat the previously-unthinkable 11. Spirits lifted through the roof, I buried myself all the way to the finish. When I woke up in the med tent, my wife confirmed that I did break 11, could have jogged the last mile, and definitely should have finished in a more dignified manner.
Unsolicited advice: for those who haven't calculated their bike nutrition plan, I strongly encourage you to do so. Jessie at Core Diet likes the 0.6 x weight = grams of carbs per hour. I've used this a couple of times and it seems dead-on for me. Unless you're a big guy, there's no way you can digest more than 100 g of carbs/hr or 400 calories/hr. But I see lots of RPs that call for 2 bottles of GE per hour and a Gu every half hour. That's 128g and 520 calories. That simply cannot be processed. Thus, the bloat begins (if you were running, you would notice the sloshing, but the bike masks the slosh). A very large % of racers at IMFL will make this mistake. I'll have a nutrition plan going in, but I'll also have memorized that I need/can process about 90g/350cal/1000mg of sodium each hour (based on math, confirmed in practice) and that each bottle of GE has 42/160/600, four GE chews have 31/120/105, a Clif gel has 24/100/60, and each salt pill contains 215mg of sodium. This gives me the essential tools to improvise if it's hot, cold, or I move to water and need to supplement with salt. If you err on the high side of calories, do it the first two hours. After that, eating more than your stomach can handle is a perfect recipe for a long shuffle/walk, probably porto-to-porto. Just my $0.02.
I can't think of a topic more important to bring up than what Mike points out below regarding bike nutrition.
One way to put his thoughts to actions is to first ask yourself how you felt upon dismount of the bike during your RR1 last week going into your run. Are you practicing and refining that nutrition week over week? By the time you get to the race date, you have had 5,6,7 or more long rides completed to dial this in. Race day then becomes executing what your body already knows will work with no surprises. If you don't get it dialed in now, it will not magically happen on race day.
I keep this top of mind every long bike I do. I know my sweat rate at 80, 85 and 90+ degrees. I weigh ~175lbs. I know that during the first 3 hours I must dial in ~400+ calories / hour (mostly liquid) 50 ounces of fluid/ hour and 1,200 - 1,500 mgs of sodium / hr. I practice this every time I ride 5 hours or more and so far I have 4 of those rides in this cycle to validate it. I also know, that during the 4th and forward hours I need to go with only liquid calories and no solids to keep it clean on the run.
Use this team to share each of your long ride experiences in regards to nutrition so that we can help you Dial It In. It can make all the difference in your race day execution.
I did rest Mon/Tues with swim only days.
Finally got on the saddle this morning for some FTP work (that sucked):https://www.strava.com/activities/408153232
Happy Hump Day peeps!
SS
I ended up not doing much of a camp(weather), and did my long run last Thur. instead of Sun., so I just picked up on the plan Mon. Like Mike R. said we have two long runs left, and three long bikes. For the bike my goal will be 100 mi. instead of time(can't get 100 in 5 hrs), and focus on hitting nutrition plan. For the run, stay healthy and get it done. My R IT band has been acting up, and so far the foam roller and Trigger Pt. rolling stick are keeping it in check-ouch!
Mon. Had a good effort on swim sprint intervals.
Tues. Run intervals 8:20ish, IT band did ok. Long swim intervals a tick off, felt a little fatigued from Mon.
Wed. Bike 2X18's @ .96 and .93 Second interval tough, faded at the end. Plan to run this evening.
If I'm not there for whatever reason my fallback goal is to neg split the run. That was my only goal at IMCoz last year and it really resonated for me the whole day. The whole day any decision was evaluated on the basis of how it would impact my ability to neg split the run. I ended up doing it too. First and only time.
Nutrition wise, I have been on the low lend lately. I weigh 160 and have been at 200cal/hr and 1000mg sodium.
I can't say that it has been a problem but this weekend is a perfect time to experiment with upping it by 75 or so cal per her and seeing how it goes.
Some really great discussion about racing. When you read Mike R's post, you can really see how much this is a mental sport. If you follow the EN workouts, you are going to be physically ready. Success in the race depends so much on your execution. This is my biggest hurdle. My excitement level is rising with every day.
Today's plan calls for 4 X 5' intervals. To the Pain Cave.
Happy Friday. I actually thought it was Thursday until about 30 minutes ago, so that was a pleasant surprise. I'll chalk it up to the Week 16 Daze. One month to go!
Got in a nice run this morning, giving me 20 for the week thus far. Uphills felt fantastic (decent fitness), downhills felt terrible (old, over-used joints). Crossing my fingers for a good 18-miler on Sunday. After 3 straight weeks of nothing but flood-producing rain, we have about 10 days of perfect sunshine forecasted . . . except for 36 hours of more torrential rain starting tonight and continuing through tomorrow. I'm signed up for a great century ride tomorrow, over 5k+ feet of mountains, and was really looking forward to it. But the rain is going to be heavy, which just isn't safe around here. Excited about the thought of doing another 4+ hours on the trainer (aka the Iron Maiden)? Not so much. So, I'm currently trying to convince myself that 4 hours of steady trainer riding is actually better for IMFL than 6 hours of mountain climbing. I've scheduled an "off site work meeting" this afternoon with the pool.
My HR strap crapped out. Ordered a replacement yesterday, along with race goggles (same make/model, tinted for FL sun), more TriSlide, race chews and race gels. Gonna start running a few times a week with my race socks and shoes, starting next week.
Oh, wife just texted me: "I didn't want to say it in front of the kids as you left, but you shouldn't wear short-sleeves to work again until after the race. Your arms look gross." So . . . I've also got that going for me on this Thursday, I mean, Friday morning.
Yes, Friday... I put in a fairly large day yesterday. I got in all 3 parts. A little out of order, but everything went well. The swim was the toughest wko of the day. I felt like I was dragging an anchor the entire time. I did 20 X 50 yards to start the set and they really kicked me hard. The wors part was that I was swimming in a lane next to a woman who appears to be around my age. I am easily a foot taller than her. Her steady pace was faster than my fast 50. Isn't it great that just when you start feeling ok with how you swim, there is someone who just humbles you?
The bike on the other hand went very well. I did 4 X 5' and hovered right around 110% for each interval. I finished with an hour at what I hope is my ironman pace. I showed up at the middle school track last night to finish my day with a run. The track lights were on and I was concerned I a sporting event was happening. As I turned to corner to the parking lot, the lights went off. That was great because I had the track to myself. It was a little tough to get the run started, but after 2 miles, It felt good. I finished the last mile with a good pace. Tomorrow the weather calls for sunshine, but it will not get to 50 degrees until well into my ride. I think the trainer will serve me better.
Train Hard & Train Smart
Swam today. pool is still there. line is still in the same place. Week 16. So much done. So much to do.
Long run for me tomorrow morning. Looking forward to it now tht the weather seems to be cooling in south texas. Not many chances left to practice race fueling. Gotta make the most of this weekend. See yall out there.
This was a real long week. For me it was the second week with total time over 14 hours and my Tss points were 981 & 976. Today's run was serious work. I tried to start with a slower pace keeping the race in mind. Even at a pace that is 30 to 45 seconds slower than my normal run pace, I was feeling it. I ran the first 2 miles on the street, then hit the track for 7 miles. After that, I moved back out to the road for 4 miles and finished on the track. I pushed the last 2 miles on the softer surface and was definitely done at 15 miles. I have not been doing a lot of long runs leading up to this point. 15 miles is 3 more than last weeks long run. Tomorrow I will not be running or riding. I am looking forward to the swim and the lack of impact on my legs. I hope everyone had a great weekend.
I am hugely proud of everyone and how strong all wrapped up week 16, a tough week after the load of CAMP volume last week.
Some seriously strong individuals in every aspect on this team.
Today was kind of a slog for me. Several competing priorities, office work, yard work, etc........capped of the evening with a 2 hour ride and was lucky to get that done. 93 degrees and 15 mph winds when I headed out to make it that much more enticing......
I had both a solid 17 mile long run on Thursday, 1X4200 yds swim Friday and solid century ride yesterday - my priority workouts for week 16.
Everyone posting gives me added strength, mojo and makes all the difference.
Keep leading all!
I had a good session saturday then today not so much.
Saturday is long run day for me. 2:30 total covering 16.4mi with a controlled, low heart rate. That was the really exciting part. Very little drift at all and a very high (for me) EF score. Then in the evening i spun for an hour but mostly to just speed recovery.
Sunday was 5hr bike then a little trot after and today my heart rate crept the entire session. Might have been the return of the heat. Might have also been leftovers from yesterday.
I'm happy to have completed this week with some good solid work. After camp, with a couple of more full weeks to go this week is like mile 18 for me. A lot of fatigue and a long way still to go.
Finished out the week pretty good. Thurs. 15 mi run, Fri. 1x4200y swim, Sat. century ride in the wind and light rain, Sun. more bike time thou the power was a little low. Sill got in almost 10.5 hrs on the bike this training week.
QUESTION: On a cooler day, when the fluid intake is lower, and I use a little more solids, do you supplement to still try to get 1000 mg Na?
On to week 17- Quality and Quantity!
@ Mark - damn solid week for you! Nicely done! Regarding your question, theoretically your sweat rate is lower with lower temps and therefore, given your sodium loss is directly correlated with your sweat rate, you needs would be less, all other things equal.
Keep fighting and moving forward!
SS