I'm back, and going to Norseman after five years away from iron distance
Not sure if this is the right forum, but what follows is a mixture of training thoughts/questions and re-introduction.
I joined EN in 2010 having signed up for IMLP. I followed the plan religiously in the OutSeason, logging the miles on my Computrainer in the basement. I followed the plan as best I could through the spring and summer, and had a decent first IM, though I walked more on the run that I would have liked. After the race in late July, I continued on and set a bike power record four days after the race and a 5K PR a couple weeks later. This led to a Savageman brick in September and a BQ marathon by 3 seconds in December. And then I burned out.
I thought I was one-and-done for IM distance, or at least that's what I told myself and my wife. But I put my name in for the Kona lottery and got selected on my first try. This was enough to re-motivate me, and I had great preparation through August. That's when the union at my company went on strike, and as a management employee (a lawyer), my strike job was to climb telephone poles to install and repair phone service for 12 hour shifts, 13 days out of 14. This went on for a couple weeks, then the strike ended. But in the meantime, I had a stress reaction/fracture in my shin and didn't run for six weeks. My shin felt fine by race day, but the lack of run fitness showed and I walked miles 10-18 of the marathon before finding a second win and running it in.
Since then, I've stayed active though never followed a training plan. In 2012, I slogged through Boston in the heat, finishing 74 minutes slower than my qualifying time. I had a great race in the fall at Survival of the Shawangunks. I had a great run year in 2013, breaking 40 minutes for a 10k, but barely biked or swam.
2014 was the year of the bike, and a 220 watt ride for 96 minutes at 4 mph up Mt. Washington was the climax. 2015 was all about swimming, and while I didn't have a breakthrough, I did knock about 15 minutes off my time for the Chesapeake Bay 4.4.
Interspersed throughout there were periods of hot yoga and weightlifting. Right now I'm the strongest I've ever been in the weight room, but only run once a week for about 4 miles with the dogs. Cycling is a 28 mile R/T bike commute three days a week. Swimming has been sporadic since the end of summer.
If you're still with me and remember the title of this post, I'm going to have to stick with a real plan and get my ass in gear for Norseman. For those who haven't heard of it, it's an iron-distance race in Norway, with the swim in a 55 degree fjord, 10,000' of climbing on the bike, then a marathon with 15 miles of flats followed by 9 miles of climbing more than 5,000 feet to a mountaintop finish.
So, my goal for the next 269 days is to find a way to get my running mileage up from 4-8 per week without hurting myself. (I've had nagging hallux rigidus and MCL issues for the last couple years. I run once or twice a week on dirt trails with my dogs.) To get on my tri bike for long rides for the first time in years. (I've never liked aero position despite a good bike fitting, and ride my road bike whenever possible.) And to learn how to swim in 55 degree water without screwing up the rest of my day. (Just had the first signs of Raynaud's syndrome a couple weeks ago--my fingers went cold and white on a mid 50s day when coaching soccer for 90 minutes despite wearing gloves. Hasn't happened again, knock on wood.)
My run fitness isn't bad considering the minimal amount of running I do. I ran a 21:30 5k last month. Bike fitness isn't bad, though no rides longer than an hour for many months. Swim is OK--will try to do it once a week during the winter with a friend.
But I'm excited about being back at EN and relearning how to focus and not just winging it. Norseman is at least two hours longer than a normal IM, and probably more like three to three and a half hours longer. The logistics are tough--there are no aid stations--all support comes from your personal sherpa driving the course as you race. Nutrition has always been a weak point for me, so I'll need guidance there.
My goal is simple: a black t-shirt. That requires some explanation. There are 250 people in the race. The first 190 people to the 32.5k checkpoint on the run finish with a four-mile rock scramble that gains several thousand feet to the top. They get a white t-shirt and a ride back down the mountain in an underground cog railway. The required helper/escort has to walk back down. The last 90 people to the checkpoint finish on the road and get a white t-shirt. The reasoning is that the race organizers don't want people on the mountain in the dark, and the cog railway has limited capacity to 40 people an hour. I think on a good day, I can be in the top 190 at the cutoff.
Not sure if anyone read all that, but I'm glad to be back and hope to see some familiar names as well as some new ones.
Comments
I'll be interesting to read about what hacks you are going to do to the EN plans. You'll need the best FTP you can muster and a ton of hill work. And if you follow Tim Deboom's advice, everytime the weather sucks, you should be out training in it. Good luck!!
Keith,
Good to have you back for an epic adventure. Beyond what Paul said get the w/kg down with over 10K of climbing making the kg as small as possible is important if that's an issue.
The good thing is you have time and take the integration of running with care especially as you ramp up the mileage. The new plans have more run durability build in but if you have lingering issues ease in for sure.
As for the water there's not much you can do about that other than jump in early season, buy some booties and a cap or two.
Keith - It will be instructive watching you train. And then, you get to race for all the rest of us! Here's hoping you set and meet a goal of getting to run that last uphill segment.
You're right, it's 160 that finish at the top, not 190.
I did a little analysis of who makes the black t-shirt cut off and who doesn't. My previous PRs are right in the ballpark of those who just make the cutoff: 5:19 HIM, 12:15 IM, 3:13 marathon. Rather than repeat it here, you can see it on slowtwitch:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/cgi-bin...93#5761993
I'm lucky, but not that lucky--this was my second try for the Norseman lottery. I think it's about a 1 in 15 chance these days. Kona was about 1 in 50 when I did it in 2011.
I don't have too much work on the weight front. I weighed in at 157 at 5'11" in Kona on race dayin 2011 and I'm at 169 now, but it's probably an extra 9 pounds of muscle and 3 of fat. I'm a hard gainer and worked my ass off in the weight room to get those 9 pounds of muscle, so I'll be kind of sad to let my upper body atrophy over the next year.
I've got my sights set on the ultimate training race: Sea 2 Summit triathlon in New Hampshire in late June. It starts with a 1.5 mile cold water swim, followed by a 90 mile bike ride with 5000' of climbing to the base of Mt. Washington, then a five mile rock scramble up 4,600 vertical feet, similar to the Norseman finish but without the 21 miles of running to get there.
Unfortunately, that's the same weekend as the Garrett County Grand Fondo, created by the brain behind Savageman, which would also be great training. The Diabolic Double has 16,900' of climbing over 124 miles. Can't decide which to do. I think the Mt. Washington race is better training but more of a hassle. There's another hilly ride in Virginia, the Mountains of Misery, that's in late May with 125 miles and 13,000' of climbing.
I'm not sure how to acclimate to the cold over a Virginia summer. Even a cold shower doesn't help as the water out of the tap is 80 degrees in July.
congrats & welcome back!
In 2011, I also got selected in the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler lottery, the Escape from Alcatraz lottery, and the Chesapeake Bay Swim lottery. I think the 2014 Norseman was the first race lottery I ever didn't get selected. I bought PowerBall tickets in 2011 after getting the Kona slot, but didn't win.
Welcome back