2016 IM CDA Week 13- Bike Focus!

Laura Becker

Week 13 - Knowledge burst
Does anyone have a 70.3 this weekend? Those of you who raced last weekend how did it go?!?! We want to hear about it!  Coaches like to have you break up your race season into A, B, C races and this is traditionally the last weekend you can have a 70.3 leading up to your full.
This week is a Bike Focus Week. Coaches have strategically put in some volume bumps within the plan to prepare you for your race! This will be a chance for your to push your boundries in cycling. So what do you have on your plan for cycling this week? Going anywhere beautiful and exciiting to enjoy the time outside?
A couple more notes: Make sure you are tweaking your nutrition plan as needed if the weather around you is getting HOT!!


Camp is in two weeks - see how this is going to work into your schedule.  Any questions, don't hesitate to ask myself or Coach P.So now I turn it over to the fantastic CDA Crew- I want to hear all about your training weekend and what you learned.  
Let me know if you need ANYTHING at all!! Let’s GET IT!!  Let's get these forums going my friends!! You will all be out there on race day together supporting and helping each other 

Mark Maurer

I did a 70.3 last weekend on the CDA course no less. It was a race rehearsal for the full in August. I went in not knowing if I could finish the run since I've only run a handful of times in the past 3 weeks and then 7 miles was my longest. I finished in 5:44 and 6th place in my AG. Not bad given my training lately. It took a lot of discipline and mental toughness to finish though. There were plenty of times I wanted to walk. I'll be writing a full race report shortly. 

If you haven't done CDA before you're in for a treat on the bike. To say I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement. If you've looked at the course you'll see that quite a bit of it goes along highway 95 on the west side of the lake. Highway 95 is mostly a 4 lane highway through there and what they do for the bike is block off 2 lanes of traffic and use that for the bike course, so essentially it's a closed course. SWEET!!! There are some long up hills that you can settle down and just work you're way up like good EN athletes and then long downhills with sweeping turns and great sight distance. The only time I had to hit my brakes was when there was too many bikes and I couldn't pass them. I hit a max speed of 43 and loved it, but then again I love fast downhills.IMO, it's the only reason to spend the time pedaling up hill. So practice your downhill skills between now and the race, it's the key to "leveling out" the course. The race guide said that the half had 3300' of climbing but my Garmin file was closer to 2600 and Susan's was around 2580. So the full should be in the 5200' category.

My legs are sore from the race so I'll be modifying the training plan this week. In addition my daughter and her boyfriend are going to be visiting for the weekend so super long rides are out of the question. But I do plan on 2.5-3 hours on Friday, 4+ on Saturday, and 3+ on Sunday. The good thing is that they tend to sleep in and it gets light here early so I can get up and get the rides in before they wake up. 

Stay hydrated and safe out there this weekend.  

Marc Taylor

Awesome job Mark! We're the uphill portions as ominous as they look on the bike course profile on the website? On my 70 mile ride this weekend I had ~ 3,500 ft of elevation gain so that should serve me well on race day. I am still new so are hills hills? So proud of you and glad the hamstring didn't hold you back. Congrats!

Mark Maurer

Thanks Marc, If you did 3400' in 70 miles you're right in the ballpark. There is one hill at 6% about 2 miles long and there is another at 5% that's about that long as well. The others are just long hills. Here's the link to my Training Peaks file so you can zoom in and see the percentages and how long they are. http://tpks.ws/eTL2D

Mark Maurer

Here's the link to my race report. http://members.endurancenation.us/Forums/tabid/57/aft/21208/Default.aspx

Mark Maurer

Marc, I didn't see the question about hills being hills at first. From a strength and training perspective l would say yes; however, from a race strategy/execution standpoint I'd have to say no. CDA is a good case to compare two types of courses. The bike used to go north towards Hayden. The roads were narrow and the hills steep and short. It's harder to get into a rhythm on those types of hills IMO. Also, the sight distances and the sharper curves means that you have to slow down more on the downhill. The course now has long climbs that I find easier to manage by getting into the proper gear and climb steadily. The downhill sections are faster because the curves are gentler (it's a 65 mph highway) and you can see a long way down the road. So you will probably be able to go faster on the course than you can in training, at least on the downhill. I hope that helps.

Scott Imlay

I also did the CdA 70.3 this last weekend. I ended up finishing in 6:50 - far from breaking six hours (my goal). That put me 70 out of 111 in my division (55-59 male). The problem was back spasms that began during the last half of the swim. T1 was 16 minutes of stretching and self massage trying to get my muscles to loosen up, and the rest of the day I kept a conservative power and pace. Still, the back spasms returned in the last 2 miles of the run. So, I didn't reach my goal but the majority of the race was great fun!

The weather was about as good as it gets. Little wind and only a tad bit warm in the afternoon. Like Mark said, the bike course is a real treat.This was my first Ironman branded race so I was a bit surprised by the amount of traffic in the swim and the bike. The first 15 miles of the bike was totally crazy with bikes riding two or three abreast. How do you follow the drafting rules when the road is that packed? 

 

Mark Maurer

Scott, you really can't keep from drafting when it's like that, but once it opens up you have to follow the rules the best you can.

Marc Taylor

All ... I've done quite a bit of biking this week ... and running ... AND my first OWS of the season, KANSAS style ... I envy those of you that have crystal clear lakes, cool temps, and benign wildlife  ... no snakes dropping out of willow trees yet but I'm sure it will happen ... here are the deets and my thoughts.

1.3 miles swam / 42 minutes / full wetsuit / water temp was 86F

I found the fitness portion to be much less impactful than I thought and the sighting and swimming straight (water clarity was poor) still an issue ... so for the seasoned vets, according to the 4 Keys video I watched, is the best plan on race day to follow the feet and bodies?

Pics attached!

Marc

16:59:59 Or Bust

Mark Maurer

Hi Marc, the swim is a rolling start so you will seed yourself according to your predicted pace. When you get in the water you'll probably be surrounded by people all moving more or less in the proper direction. By that I mean that people will be stopping, treading water, swimming, doing breast stroke, swimming over you, etc. There will be big yellow buoys on your left on the way out and orange buoys on the way back. There will be kayaks and stand up paddle boards on your right so it will be pretty hard to get off track. The trick is to minimize the distance you travel so you'll probably want to do some sighting. To practice that when you're swimming you should pick out a landmark and swim towards that. FWIW, the lake was very clear last weekend, so clear that I could see the bottom most of the way, but there's no lane line so I had to raise my head to sight on the buoys.

Scott Imlay

CdA 70.3 was my first Ironman brand race and I found sighting to be a little more difficult than I expected, given the large buoys marking the course. It wasn't waves, although I'm told you can get quite a bit of chop in Lake Coeur d'Alene, but all the other competitors surrounding me and blocking my view. I had to sight a bit more frequently than I have in other races.

I didn't have a lot of luck drafting in the swim. As soon as I'd get on someone's feet another swimmer would swim into me, forcing me off to the side. That, or the guy I was following would decide to stop and get a good look at were he was. Then, just as I realize he'd stopped, he'd go horizontal and give a good hard breast-stroke kick. It may have just been the people I was following, but I finally just sought out clear water so I wouldn't get beat up.

Jay Lakamp

Scott, I did the 70.3 also. Yes, there can be a lot of chop on CdA lake but I didn't think it was that bad that day. Super Al would pick a spot on the hillside above the bouys to use as a sighting tool I believe. I stayed to the left of bouys and it seemed to workout well for me. The only scrums I got into were on turns past the red bouys...the norm. It's not always easy to find someone to draft off of the swims in a straight line and stays consistent. Breast strokers can be killers.