2016 IM Canada Week 15- Camp Week!

Laura Becker

Week 15

Week 15- Camp Week/ Race Rehearsal
Ok IM Canada Crew- You have made it to WEEK 15! WOOHOO!! With each week comes a little more excitement for the BIG DAY! So let’s talk about this week.  If you didn’t do camp week at the IMLP camp with Coach P- then this is your opportunity!! If you did do camp week- talk to the coaches about what else to do in the micro forum. Remember to pay extra attention to the Coach Notes in the plans.  They will give IMPORTANT information about this week. ALSO- Coach P did a great video about how to approach this week of training- check it out!, read more in depth in the forums on Race Rehearsal weekends.  I would recommend if you have specific questions for Coach Rich or Patrick, GET THOSE IN THE MICRO/MACRO forums NOW! Don't wait to ask them a questions on Friday night for Saturday morning!
Things to Remember:


Rest! Cumulative lack of recovery can impact race rehearsal - Can take a break Monday or Thursday if you need (If you're going to camp then this works out great as Thursday is your travel day)


Workouts that are focused and require the most dedication:


Good interval bike
Good Interval run


Think at the start of this week.


What do I need this weekend to get ready. Get your equipment dialed in.


Pacing


Get out there and JRA - 1 hour 1.5 then to steady pace


Fueling plan


Run - first three miles LRP plus 30” per mile. First three miles to settle in - mark the transition and take stock of how you feel


Keep on CRUSHIN’ it Canada Team!!!

Paul Hough

6 weeks to go. Race day coming on like a freight train!

I am always weakest on Monday mornings and this one was no different. I got up with my 5:00 am alarm - went to shave - and said to hell with it. Too tired to swim so back to bed. I did swim 3500 yards tonight. Pool closed before I could get the last 500 of the assigned workout.

Mike Westover

I'm still stiff today from Victoria, which went well. A few lessons learned for IMC, including don't get stuck near the back of the swim corral. 

This week is pretty light as I recover from Victoria and set up for RR1 in Whistler this weekend. Swim today, easy brick tomorrow, easy run Thursday, and RR swim Friday. Then I'm planning a 112 bike + 60' run Saturday and another 112 on Sunday (both on the course). 

Paul, I met your son! We were talking while waiting for the ferry and from your comments I figured out it was probably him.

 

Paul Hough

Mike - he told me he ran into an EN guy. I hope you lorded it over him since he sucked rocks and couldn't even run well. He did maybe 10-15 swims and the same number of bikes all year as prep...always thinking he can skate through these things! BTW, I am Pappa Smurf compared to my boys. I will meet up with him in Bend next week as he watches a long course TRIathlete get crushed by short course DUathletes.

Today - tried to get up early and failed again, but I had enough time to get in a short 3 mile run. PM - easy run (less than 1 mile) to the pool for a quick 1500 yards, then more running to get in 5 total including the 4 x 3 mins. Brutal humidity.

Douglas Sutherland

I am basically recovered from IMV amazingly, and more shockingly the ankle is basically apparently healed. I have no way to explain that one.

Though I feel ready to go, I am taking another mental and family day off. The three kids and wife need me. I will hit it tomorrow and will be doing camp this weekend as well.

Mike Westover

Great to hear about the ankle, Doug. You had a strong run coming off the injury!

I'm still pretty stiff from the race. I had a surprisingly good swim yesterday but only had time for 3500 yards. Now getting my bike back to training setup for the weekend long rides.

robin sarner

you Victoria folks, careful with the workouts over the next couple weeks.    

personally, I would not do a Big Weekend within two weeks of a half ironman race.       that is still the recovery period.

Paul Hough

Struggled out of bed this morning, but woke up quickly and got in a very solid 4600 SCY at the pool. However, I was exhausted all day long. Came home from work and took an hour nap and was still tired. No biking tonight...will try again tomorrow.

Mike Westover

@Robin, yeah, I'm not expecting to be 100% for the weekend rides. But it's hard to pass up the chance to do a test ride on the full course. I'll be paying close attention to my body on the second ride to judge when to pull the plug.

It looks like I will get another day of rest in any case; Saturday looks like a washout so I'm now planning to ride Sunday-Monday.

Douglas Sutherland

I got a good interval bike in this am, but had to spend the afternoon on conference calls and installing a new dishwasher with a newly retired mother-in-law in town... it became beer o'clock rapidly and so took a rain check on the run.

Weekend is looking good for some bikes down here. I feel surprisingly fresh, so will go for it. (I think I just need to follow another Robinism - just do more IMs!) I will go slower on the bikes, ad will drop be duration or intensity of the run.

I "invested" in some used 808s this morning. At present, I believe my bike is worth more than my truck.

Paul Hough

What a difference 10 hours of sleep can make! Last night I was nearly out of it from exhaustion. My arms felt achy like I was starting to get a fever but I wasn't sure whether it was from the hard swim that morning. Regardless, I'm glad I put off the bike last night. This morning I got in 26 miles on the trainer with 40 mins FTP work, but instead of 2 x 20, I did:
2 x 12 mins @ 93%
1 x 6 mins @ 98%
1 x 6 mins @ 102%
1 x 4 mins @ 107%

Tonight I'm going to Snap Fitness for my weekly strength maintenance session. The girls are out of town until late Saturday so I'm on my own. Tomorrow I'm following the schedule as best I can -- more to come. Like Mike, Saturday is supposed to rain a lot. If there isn't too much lightning and we get extended showers I will definitely be running in that! 2nd long run shifts to Sunday.

Mike Westover

Nice, Doug! Are you getting a disc cover to go with the wheels?

Good luck with the race rehearsals, everyone. I'm doing the RR swim tomorrow morning before driving up to Whistler. Then RR bike + 60' run Sunday, and 60-100 on Monday depending on the legs. It sounds like there is still a lot of debris on the shoulders of the Sea to Sky (I saw a Facebook post from someone whose bike was destroyed after hitting a rock and crashing), so I'll be taking it easy on the highway sections.

Douglas Sutherland

Definitely plan to get a wheel cover. Decided the 808 made sense (assuming thousands spent on aero wheels ever make sense) to give maximum flexibility - 808 for the restricted races, can convert disk to 808 if race day conditions mandate, etc.

Had a difficult time building momentum this week. Victoria sorta zapped my mojo for IMC (not in a bad way, just feeling an abundance of satisfaction) and I have been cleaning up messes at work as a result of time away. I did get in a nice interval bike Wed, 5mile run Thurs, swim 2000y this am (shorted due to work) and a sweet little 5mile lunch today. Ankle is holding and I am looking forward to a long run Monday morning (2 hours before work - ouch). Looks like rain Saturday and inlaws are here, so I am calculating how much time I actually have. Looks to be nice Sunday, so will definitely have bike time then.

@Mike: looking forward to your assessment of the course. Good luck and be safe.

Paul Hough

OK - so I'm the only one sort of following the camp week protocol. I took off Friday morning to get in what I could. Unfortunately, I slept through 2 alarms but woke up on my own only 23 mins after I was supposed to be up. Went into high gear to get ready and drive to the pool. I thought I had time for 3500 yards, but I really pushed the pace and made 4000 yards before the pool closed at 7am. Then I went home and got on the trainer for 80 miles (4 hrs, 6 mins) following a Spinervals program - way harder than riding outside. After that, time to go to work for half a day. I waited for the sun to go down and didn't start my run until 8:15pm but jogged the 6 miles ... nothing great other than I put in the work on tired legs. Day 1 done. Tomorrow's predicted rain looks pretty wimpy so I'm going to go for the 112 mile bike outdoors. By the way, our low temp this morning was 81. Sort of like 24-7 hot and humid! It makes me wonder why anyone wants to race at Kona.

Paul Hough

Camp Weekend, Day 2: Got some sleep and didn't worry about the heat since it was going to be hot all day anyway. Made 114 miles in 6 hrs flat. Spent an hour rehydrating then hit the pool for 1900 yards (finishes the week at 15,500 yrds) and waited for cooler temps at 8pm to jog 5K on dead legs. Passed a 3 ft Eastern Diamondback on the bike trail this afternoon. He bared his fangs at me, but was stretched out crossing and I had come behind the tail ... got my adrenaline up just the same.

Douglas Sutherland

Dialed in a perfect 6.5 at TRP yesterday, zero issues, just a fun am run. I tried to channel Paul's ability to watch TV on the trainer due to rain - just can't do it! I was able to clock exactly 1 hour. Less than good, but hey, I am recovering from IMV, right

Set out today for my first 112 mile ride at 6am. I was able to keep inside the box for about 2.5-3 hours. R trap spasms/searing pain built up over that time though. At 3 hours it prevented aero for more than 10 minutes at a time, hard to concentrate on anything but the neck. I also botched my nutrition. Sunny but cool - 48-52. As a result I got in just 1.5L and 400 calories by the 3 hour mark - just didn't feel any internal notion to drink or eat. At the 4 hour mark I was done. My effort, NP, and speed plummeted. Very frustrating. I tried to catch up with a 10 minute rest, 3 gels, and a liter of Gaide, though the neck prevented any effort at a 'second wind'. Though my final NP looked acceptable (190), the last 2 hours came in at NP 177 or IF 0.62 - weak. Was very happy to see my truck, a 30 min run at that point was a joke. I have seen coach R talk about "going to very dark places". I was ready to unspeakable things that last hour!

Easily inhaled 1200 calories and 1.5L once back in the kitchen.

Days like this... this 140 shit is insanely difficult. A 100 mile bike split remains a massive obstacle. I really cannot fathom 6600! Todays botch came in at 2600.

Paul Hough

Camp Weekend, Day 3 - Ran 5 miles in the woods this morning and 10.6 on the road this afternoon. Too hot to do all at once, but this was good. Raise the flag and declare victory! Total week running = 33 miles which counts as run focus since my last 3 weeks have been 25, 25, 25. If the intent was for the run to feel like the end of an IM, then I achieved that goal because I was DYING.

Doug - not sure why some people are partial to bike trainers and others can't stand them. Its odd because I despise treadmills which are like torture devices to me. But you should be able to blow through 2 hours easy on a good action movie. With Spinervals "Showdown" - a 4 hr training program - you have Coach Troy telling you that you aren't allowed to quit. That helps!

Mike Westover

Good job, guys. I did my RR swim yesterday and the bike / run today. The bike was an adventure. Broken bottle cage, dropped chain in front, dropped chain in back (!), and a bear sighting! I saw the bear going up Callaghan, about 10 yards off the road. Riding on the shoulder of 99 for training is not a lot of fun (bad pavement all over and lots of debris, plus cars going by at 70 mph a few feet away). That shouldn't be a problem for the race with the road closed; the pavement in the travel lane looked pretty good overall.

I did the full course, except for the first section from Alta Lake. Between the training setup, carrying 6 bottles, and going really easy downhill I wasn't expecting a fast time. I also felt some fatigue in the hamstrings which is probably carryover from Victoria. I ended up with 105 miles (my first century) in 6:18, at 0.63 IF. On race day if the weather is good I think I'll be around/under 6 at 0.68 IF.

A few comments on the course:
- Lots of fast downhills starting before you even get to Callaghan. Expect to be spinning out a lot
- Callaghan is a long climb but it isn't sustained; there are some fast downhill sections on the way up. Also some pretty steep sections. I was glad to have the 34x32 gearing in spots (though 34x28 would have been okay). In places I was going 60 rpm at 3 W/kg
- Callaghan descent went by quickly; after the first couple of miles you could open it up here if the roads are dry (I was behind someone who did the whole thing in aerobars). It was cold at the start but after I got going it didn't bother me
- One of the toughest sections for me was the Pemberton flats. 30 miles locked in the aerobars. There just aren't many places locally to practice that. This was also the warmest section of the course. The forecast had a high of 60 but it felt like mid-70s in this section. Keep your jersey zipped up through here; I took a lot of bug hits (fortunately no stings)
- Lots of climbing heading back to Whistler. It's a net of 1400' or so, but the ascent is a lot more than that. Many sustained, steep climbs (glad again for the 34x32) broken up by descents and flats
- One steep descent on the way back to watch, about 3 miles out of Pemberton. The first curve isn't bad but then there are 1-2 sharp, long bends where you want to watch your speed
- In total about 6,300 feet of climbing. Probably 6,500-6,600 with the Alta Lake section. Doug, for Victoria I had 2,550 so about 2.5x that

Paul Hough

Pretty cool that you scoped the course out. I rarely do that. I will do one loop of IM Switzerland with a group on the Wed before race day.