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2016 IM Canada Week 18- The Line
#EN4Keys
/ THE LINE WEEK 18
Prepare your mental game. In so doing, remember there will be cumulative fatigue building throughout race day. So important to follow your plan, race your race and prepare for THE LINE.
EVERYTHING before The Line is simply about creating conditions for success for when the Line comes to you.
A successful race = a good run. There is no such thing as a good bike followed by bad run, period. In our world, if you showed up with solid run fitness, had a "good" bike and a poor run, we will ALWAYS assume you messed up your bike pacing unless you are missing a limb or are in the ICU with an intestinal parasite.
If you think you can ride faster than we're telling you, prove it by running well off the bike first (preferably not attempted for the first time on race day!).
Ride your "should" bike split vs your "could" bike split. YourCould split is what you tell Timmy you could ride on a good day, when you're out together for your Saturday ride. If you say you "could ride a 5:50," your Should split is likely 6:00 and defined as the bike split that yields a good run (see #1 above).
Don't be a Caboose, be an Engine! Ironman in general, but especially the bike leg, is an exercise in consistency. You don't need straight-A's to win your day, you only have to show up with your C game to be at the head of the class. If you find yourself doing the opposite of everyone else, you're doing the right thing. Lots of people passing you in the first 40 miles of the bike? Everyone else sprinting out of T2? These folks are making your race day easier by showing you what not to do; it's up to you to resist the urge to join in!
Think you made the mistake of riding too easy? You now have 26 miles to fix that mistake. Make the mistake of riding too hard? That mistake now has 26 miles to express itself, to the tune of X miles at 17-18' walking pace vs X miles at 8-10' running pace. Do the math. How is that nice bike split going to look as you are walking/shuffling the last 10 miles of the run adding another hour and forty minutes to your overall finish time?
**ADMIN ALERT**
* TEAM DINNER: There will not be an official team dinner. HOWEVER- I encourage you to use GroupMe which will begin on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday of race week to try and get together on Thursday night! If you are interested in organizing a dinner I have an excel sheet I can post to sign up! Just need someone to be the "leader".
*** If there are any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out. You're almost their rock star EN'rs can't wait to watch you unleash on the Canada course!!!!!!!!!!!!!**
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@ Doug. I only have my 17 yr old daughter left at home. Took her to see Tarzan today. I'm sending her to Alaska this Friday for a month ... her 3rd summer with Adventure Treks. I took her to Switzerland two years ago so this trip is with my wife -- it's been 5 years since we last had a destination race alone and she is really looking forward to it. Other than work, working out and yard work, it hasn't been much of a holiday weekend for me.
Today - 4000 yard swim per the plan - work - movie - then 54 miles outdoors hard ABP effort followed by yard work. Excitement abounds!
This is IM #2 for me and I am still not sure what pacing to aim for (in reality). Not sure about you guys, but after re-reading the wiki and going back through my notes from IMCDA last year, assuming we do not encounter 105 degree heat or another monsoon, I am planning for TRP+30" (~8:40s) for 6 miles, then TRP for the rest of it - is that what you are planning (or at least hoping for?). The wiki guidance is z1+ 30", but the training plan has had us at z1 for the first 6...
Bike is still sitting in the basement without brakes and tomorrow is not looking good for a LBS stop. I am stressed about getting it done before the weekends planned double century.
I am in a bit of denial about swimming. It has been a week since I have had a swim session. I need to get in the pool... but that damn bike is killing me.
I had a good long run today, much faster than last week. Steadily increasing effort through the run, ending with 15 minutes in z3. Total of 16.5 miles in 2 hours, with >1k vertical. Now the run taper can start!
Friday-Sunday is looking pretty wet. I'm not enthusiastic about taking the bike out in that two weeks before the race, but will if I can't come up with a better option. Over ten hours on the trainer just isn't going to happen. I'm looking at going east over the mountains where it will be drier.
On the brakes, do you think it is something you could do yourself? I ended up replacing my own brake cables and housing a couple of months ago, and it wasn't too hard with the right tool. Yours might be harder than mine though with the cable going by the BB. I used this Shimano kit and Park tool:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0050LUBZ8/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000OZBINY/
More details here: http://members.endurancenation.us/Resources/Wiki/tabid/91/Default.aspx?topic=Defining+A+Good+Ironman+Run+Using+Heart+Rate
Long run on the TM last night bc wife had to work late. 6 miles @ TRP +30" (8:30), 45' @ Z2 (7:24), 15' @Z3 (7:00). Total of 14.2 in 1:50. Legs always start out so heavy after a high volume weekend, but found a good rhythm 3 miles in. Practiced race fueling, 2 big gulps/mi, gel at 45'. Nice long stretch and roll out after.
Doug and Mike, looks like we may have similar paces throughout the race. I aim to have a sub 60' swim, then you guys will catch me on the bike (6:15). If we can get in small pack on the run to keep each other going, that would be great.I drive into whistler on Monday morning. When do you guys get in?
Brian, I think you'll be way ahead of me after the swim; I may catch up in T2. With good weather and everything going to plan I'm looking at something like 1:20 swim, 5:40-5:50 bike, 3:30 run. I'll probably start a few minutes after you also; assuming the start seeding is done better than Victoria I plan to line up where I can catch some feet going around 1:15.
I'm driving up from the Seattle area on Friday morning.
I've got an ICED chain coming to me and will take my bike to the shop Monday evening with some beer to get it back before I leave.
Bike is back in the shop (relief), can pick it up Friday with new cables. @Mike - the trip over the mountain sounds super to avoid rain, but trying to coordinate a true RR - all three sports - not sure I could pull that off inside my this work week.
I have been very reluctant to spend effort predicting my race times since St George 2015 where I got skooled! Not to mention that my experience at CDA impressed upon me that the 140 distance make prediction incredibly hypothetical. I think IMC will be similar for me due to the 6600. If bestbikesplit is accurate, the ride will generate a TSS of 330 alone (they think I will finish in 5:52 which seems rather fast to me). Running a compact crank and 28 on the rear, I have never really seen a wattage of <250W up a steep grade, and most often I cruise up near 300W. That makes me nervous as hell when trying to guess the run pace. <br />
Planning to leave for Whistler Thursday am.
@Mike: thanks for the intel and advice. You are a super runner, I am looking forward to that 3:30.
@Brian: a sub 60' swim?!? Fantastic. I will be happy to run with you if I can catch you.
@Paul: not to get all sentimental, but I am sitting with my dog in a utterly silent house right now, first time in quite some time, and the thought of this being the future for me is depressing as hell. I miss those lil turds already.
Doug, I feel for you. My daughter has been waking up at 3 a.m. a lot lately which makes it hard to get great sleep.
Agreed on the predictions, Doug. If the weather is really hot or rainy then all bets are off. The bike time is still a big question for me which is one reason I'm keeping IF on the low side; if BBS is right and I end up in the 5:40s with ~260 TSS then that's more to put into the run.
I moved the RR swim up to today to make tomorrow's logistics easier. Probably my best ever swim. 4,300 yard piece in 1:24 with buoyancy shorts. I'm normally much faster on race day with wetsuit and feet to follow so that is very promising for the IM. And that was after z5 run intervals today, and a 4,600 yard swim and bike intervals yesterday. I went out at what felt like a 1k swim effort and held it as long as I could -- the answer was a bit over 3k before I started to slow down.
Tomorrow still looks rainy west of the mountains so I'm planning to drive over the pass (probably to Ellensburg) and bike from there. Saturday forecast keeps going back and forth so I may end up doing the same again. We considered a last-minute family trip to Chelan (the Chelan Century Challenge route looks really nice) but just too much going on this weekend.
Wed PM - 6 mile run. Started at 7:30pm at 92 degrees/106 real feel. Sucked. Walked a bunch.
Thu AM - 90 mins on the trainer with 2 x 20 mins @ .93 Watched the rest of the IM Switzerland bike course on youtube
Thu PM - 4 mile run. Better than last night - not quite as hot. It will NOT be like this in Zurich. Their high will be lower than our lows.
Wife gave me my race haircut tonight. All three hairs on my head have been buzzed off for a .0000000000001 gram drag reduction.
After a quality 9 hours of sleep, I cracked open a bottle of 4000 yards this am in just over an hour - wore out three lane mates and the master's swimmers. Since the tri-bike-without-brakes is in the shop I did a ignorance is bliss (no PM or speed/cadence) 45' ride on the roadie on the trainer. Plan to do Thursday's z5 interval run tomorrow am.
The $64k question is what to do this weekend. Race rehearsal #2 in the rain? 112mi x 2 in the rain? I guess I could drive 3-4 hours over the mountains to find some sun tomorrow night, but working till 5pm on a friday before I can pick up bike - drive until 10pm? sounds like a crap plan. @Robin - you seem to have opted to start tapering early, what are you doing this weekend? @paul - thoughts?
Doug, I'm going to ride from Ellensburg tomorrow (and maybe Saturday). Under 2 hour drive for me, probably just over for you. You could even start from Cle Elum which is a half hour closer. My planned route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/14951650
If you do go out in the rain, stay safe...nothing to prove on the downhills this close to the race.
Hour vasa ergometer swim today.
Sat.. 4 hr Kickr. Hopefully at at least 10 watts over race goal.
Then 4 mile run.
Sun.
11 mile run. Fastish.
Optimistic plan for the weekend:
Sat - 112 miles, 4 mile jog, work a couple of hours
Sun - 112 miles, 2000 SCY, maybe run, work a couple of hours
I had a low training week when I went to Bend for the Du Nats, so last week and this week are high volume. Way too hot here for any long runs. I'm so looking forward to the taper!
RR #2 is done!
When I was about to leave this morning I saw that I had at least a few hours' break in the rain, so I decided to stay local. The roads were still wet until the last hour of the ride, so I had to ride carefully downhill.
On my week 11 big day I crashed in the rain at 25 mph (not fun). RR #1 was a week after Victoria 70.3 so my power was a little low. I went into today's ride with two goals:
Since I would be going easy downhill, I went harder uphill to compensate to keep NP around the target. I ended up with IF of 0.68 for 6:06 and 282 TSS.
For the run, I held heart rate around 140 for the first 6 miles / 48 minutes on rolling terrain, then let it creep up toward my long run AHR of 150. It's challenging to keep the heart rate that low on the hills but the legs felt good.
Overall a successful day. The one thing I didn't get was as much time in the aerobars as I'd like, given the wet roads, traffic, and careful descending. For tomorrow's long ride I'm still considering going over the mountains for some dry, straight roads where I can stay in the bars for a while.
Weather.com is showing a 15-20% risk of rain tomorrow on my local hilly route. I think I am going to take that - I can swim in my local lake, get close to 6000 elevation using my house as the turn and run location. Seems like a plan. I expect this loop will make for an interesting run! If pouring Sunday I might just take Truscott's advice and head to Ellensburg.
Got in a 850SCY warm up waiting for my training partner, Josh Underman (who is also doing IMCA and is an amazing swimmer). We did 10 x 400 on a 5:30 base. I avg 1:18s, Josh was about 5sec faster/100. Ended with 200 cool down for 5050yds.
Bike: 2 x 33.4mi loops, one more 45.2 loop to make it an even 112. My goal is to avg 142w, (67.6% FTP) on the bike (It's ok, Josh snickered at that number too. I'm 5'4", 126lbs, He's 6'2" and ripped). 1st loop 142, 2nd loop 138 (Josh asked me to bring it down a little), last loop 145 (Josh said he felt good so I opened it up a little). Fueling went perfect: 10 Rice balls on the 30', 30oz Skratch/hr, 1 gu/hr. Peed every hour. 6:03 moving time. https://www.strava.com/activities/634481939
Run was good. We both monitored our HR and had to slow/walk several times to keep it down. One gu at 20', should have had one before the run because I started to feel the onset of bonking but caught it in time. Drank 24oz of scratch. 6 mi in 54:39
I feel pretty good overall, looking forward to getting this last day done. Hope everyone has better luck with weather, family, etc.
TSB tomorrow will be -73.
I logged my RR2. I will call it "Hunger Games". Didn't seem to matter what I ate, I was hungry the entire day (and I ate a lot, including the prescribed breakfast at 330am). Swim was uneventful, except I was starving 1 hour into it. 4400 in 1:26 in a speedo. I devoured a bar and nearly a liter of gaid en route to the bike start. I stayed local as well for the bike. My route totaled 103 miles, 6350 ft gain. First loop went better than the second because by that time Gig Harbor was full of traffic/people and I had to slow and stop many times. But got it all in in 6:12, NP of 203 for an IF 0.71. VI was 1.1 - I will take it given all the damn stopping/starting. I was hungry about every 90 minutes despite taking in a ton of food, at least 450-500cal/hour. Has never happened before. Also felt like I could fall asleep immediately if would have tried during that last hour. I used Cardinale's banana start trick - needed the calories. Legs felt like crap for 1.5 miles. I took all your advice, capped the HR at 140 for the run (based on AHR of 135 or so at the end of the bike). That generated paces of 8:20-8:50 depending on elevation. Legs were back by mile 6 - though I was starving again despite gels and G-aid. So odd. Finished in 51:24.
The bike elevation lead to a TSS of 350. That can't be good. I finished the run strong, but doubt remains in my head about going another 20.
This was also my first ride on the new zip 808s. Wow. Crosswinds make handling tricky. And these wheels are super stiff. Mighty uncomfortable ride.
My TSB is sitting at -53. I am not sold on the idea of another 112 tomorrow, which would get me to -75. Clearly, I am not going to Kona. It might be my numb penis talking right now, but I am thinking of chilling out tomorrow!
Second - Whatever you do, don't do lunges the night before a long ride. I woke up with my ass killing me. So sore!!
Today - 112 miles in 5:49 (net of water stops) in the Tampa furnace. How hot is it? The Gulf of Mexico over at Clearwater Beach hit 92 degrees today. OWS anyone? Despite a very sore ass, I hung well through 5 hrs flat when I was still at .766 IF but I was fizzling after then finishing up with .751. I'll probably target .72 at Zurich. On second thought, I'll probably ride about 90% by feel like I always do.
Finally, I've read about TSB -once and forgot everything. Not something I track.
Way to hammer out the day Mike. And way to stave off the bonk Doug. I've been racing on 808s for 3yrs. They are great wheels. It takes a little more effort to lean into crosswinds and they are stiff. I've been riding at 70psi per the new research about lowering pressure and it seems to soften the ride substantially without lowering speed. I also get thrown around a little more with my small size on any wheels, so I'm used to it.
I also thought about chilling today and I did sleep in till after 8. I had to be somewhere from 2-5 so I ruled out going 6hrs straight. Hopped on the trainer (daughters were home alone) to see how much I could get in. It took 30' before I could sustain IM pace. Finished 2hrs, 3w under pace with lots of 2' spins. Went to my meeting and came home to wind and rain. Didn't want to go trainer again so I suited up and braved the elements. Got in another 2hrs right at IM pace. Sunset and I was done. No run.
I definitely consider myself closer to the beginner camp so not getting in the full day didn't bring my confidence down. I'll try to get in another 50 or so tomorrow and call it good.
Does anyone know who "KMF man" is on Strava, that guys cool.
If you can get a cover on the rear wheel it might make the bike less twitchy in crosswinds (and faster). For IMC the biggest winds are usually coming back to Whistler from Pemberton, and tend to be headwinds. On my day looping Callaghan I did have a breeze come up in the afternoon that made the descent a bit squirrelly, but we should be through there early enough on race day to avoid the wind.
Today - another 108 miles (5:38, .71 IF) in the blast furnace. I finally hit QT2 critical bike volume (300 mile week)! However, he advocates 2 weeks at critical volume in each discipline. For this build, I have 264 and 300. I've got swimming critical volume covered. My best two run weeks are 30 and 33, only half of the recommended 60. I'm going to be weak there, but that's simply a function of the heat here. Even if it was cooler, I doubt I would get over 45.
I also bought the new Catlike Rapid Tri helmet. It is a great helmet so far. Used it all 3 days this weekend. The ventilation is perfect. The visor has a 180° view and can even see pretty well in turtle mode. And it looks badass. I haven't sweat in it profusely so can't comment on sweat hitting the visor (heard that can be a problem). Retail about $350, got it during trisports 20% off, and it was a bday present, so I'm happy.