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2016 IM Canada Week 19- THE BOX
THE BOX WEEK 19
The biggest thing to remember is that you are TRAINED and ready to EXECUTE this race. Your MIND and ATTITUDE play a huge part in this….SO lets keep our AWESOMENESS GOING!!!!
This week think about YOUR box, what you learned in RR1 and RR2 and how you can keep the box as large. Remember you are not out there trying to make anything happen on race day. You are keeping that box as large as you can for as long as you can, you're focused, calm, collected and executing ninjas.
All day long you are going to race inside a box defined by what you can control. Ask yourself "What do I need to do right NOW to create the conditions for success at The Line? Is what I'm doing right now counter to this goal?
Advice: On the swim, the Box is the space your body occupies in the water: focus on your form and the rest will come. On the bike, the box is probably about one aid station long. On the run, the box begins as 2-3 aid stations long but often diminishes to "from here to the next lampost/manhole cover/mail box." Regardless:
Keep The Box as big as you can for as long as you can.
Keep in The Box only the things you can control. Let go of the rest.
Exercise this decision-making process inside your Box: Observe the situation, Orient yourself to a possible course of action, Decide on a course of action, Act (OODA Loop).
Start writing out your race plans my friends! TONS of wisdom in this group! Take this week to get yourself organized and planned!
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Mon AM - I had set 2 alarms for the optional swim. Slept through both...was dead tired from 220 bike miles in the heat Sat/Sun.
Mon Lunch - Dropped off tri-bike at LBS for race prep and overdue mtn. Will install race tires Saturday.
Mon PM - 1 hr painful sports massage on the legs.
Are we there yet?
Robin,
I do not have an EN top and would be proud to wear one during the run! I would love to borrow one for the race if possible. I usually wear medium or large, so it might be a good fit!
josh. sure. I will bring my two extra tops.
I will be there Wednesday PM with wife. leaving Tuesday.
onoohia@gmail.com 253 229 5488
paul. race in the big Lake Zurich ? cold ?
I'm thinking about clothing choices for the bike. In average or hot weather I will just wear the LG M2 suit. If the weather is like last year (50 and pouring rain), that won't be enough. I'm going to bring at least shoe covers, wool socks, insulating layer, a rain jacket, and heavy cycling gloves. Maybe plastic bags also for my feet. 95% chance it won't be as bad as last year but I'd rather be ready.
Tue PM - Spinervals "Dropping the Hammer" which just happens to include 3 x 6 mins at FTP+
Current race day projections: 57 low, 77 high ... possibly a little rain in the morning. So "cool" to have a high that is lower than our low. We've been starting out at 83 the past week.
Did not want to WKO today. Up until 1am putting together a chewed up scrotum, then back up to do a big 6 hour whack at 730. Spent the afternoon staring at a computer trying to catch up. But I got it in tonight - the full prescription for the day. And the rest of the week is looking good from here on out.
I will be up in Whistler Thursday - Tuesday, without any plans. Super happy to make an RSVP for a team dinner Friday or Saturday night. Seems most are at Italian food joints. If I can get a roll call for interest, I will set it up Thursday.
DS
I'm still fatigued from the weekend. I took yesterday off. Today when I went out for the bike intervals my legs just couldn't hold z4, so I turned the ride into an easy recovery spin. The short tempo run later on went fine.
After Sunday's ride I gave the bike a good cleaning and switched it over to the race setup -- disc cover on, single aero bottle carrier in back. It's nice to have the extra speed back. I've dropped the chain in front and back a few times lately so need to figure out how to adjust the limit screws, or find a mechanic I trust.
Doug, I would be in for lunch or dinner on Saturday, but I understand if Thursday or Friday works better for everyone else with final race prep that day.
Tandoori Grill is our favorite.
Old Spaghetti Factory is below where we are staying.
probably would be up for dinner early Thursday or early Friday night. definitely not Saturday night.
probably up for breakfast or maybe lunch on Saturday.
Hey all!!
Awesome mojo goin on!! Check this out tomorrow afternoon if you are able!
EN Office Hours: Final Race Thoughts for Placid & Canada
Join Coach Patrick on Thursday 7/14 at 12:30pm EST for a midday webinar with your training and racing questions. If you are racing LP or CA in the following week, this is your chance to connect!
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@ Doug - "chewed up scrotum!!" Makes me queezy thinking about that, but begs the question, how did that happen? Dog attack?
@ Robin - so a big zero for Wednesday's swim, eh?
Wed AM - Got up early and put in 4000 SCY. Had no oomph though. Very tired.
Wed PM - Came home a little early and took a nap. Felt much better. Yardwork plus 13 miles on the trainer w Spinervals "Recovery & Technique" to spin out the legs.
paul. I was asking you to respond to my questions about your race. will swim be in lake Zurich ? will the swim be cold ?
bring me back a case of Rivella (Swiss drink). I love that stuff. basically milk protein soda. I like the red the best.
south of Zurich is Luzern south of Luzern is town of Sarnen and Lake Sarner. possible family roots area.
some year going to do Swiss bike tour through these folks::::
http://www.swisstrails.ch/swisstrai...tional.asp
Also logged a 3500yd swim yesterday. When I woke up this am my deltoids were salty.
Good luck all!
Question for all, I am curious why the uptick in intensity this week? Feeling very strong, but surprised to see Z4 bike/runs efforts. What is the philosophy behind this change in intensity?
Josh, as I understand it the idea is that you want to keep some intensity (at very limited duration) through the taper, so that you don't feel flat on race day. For me the plan has a downtick in intensity this week -- the last couple of weeks had z5 run intervals, this week <15' at z4. And the bike intervals went from 2x20' to 3x6' z4. There is a podcast called Taper Demons that discusses some of this: http://enation.libsyn.com/taper-demons-episode-575</p>
I had a solid swim yesterday -- 600s at 1-5"/100 faster than last week's RR (which was a really fast pace for me for a long swim). All the yards seem to be paying off, as I'm finding I can hold what feels like a pretty hard pace for longer than expected. After today I'm going to do as many swims as I can in the lake, to get back in OWS mode. Hard to simulate the Alta Lake temp of 62, though -- local lakes are more like 70.
Last long run is done too, 6 miles TRP and 5 in z2. Legs are starting to feel recovered from the weekend.
Do you all know if the webinar will be posted? I just noticed that it was going on today. I have watched the 2013/2014 ones but any additional knowledge from this one would be great!
ok maybe josh.
yes short ticks of intensity, at this stage, seems to have been the important thing for me.
Josh, I'd expect the webinar to be posted but not sure how long it will take. A lot of the discussion was on dealing with rain -- close the top of your transition bags (and maybe put a cup over the top), rear brake is your friend, clothing adjustments, make sure you keep drinking. Some on what to do if you think you haven't been getting enough calories on long rides. Some specific comments on the IMLP course. Only about 25 minutes total.
Thu AM - slept like the dead. PM - 80 min run. (Garmin 610 appears down for the count). Feeling the usual taper blah. Seems like after working hard for months, as soon as I cut back, my body is ready to stop completely.
Picked up bike from shop today...ready to rock. Headset bearings shot and replaced. Bottom bracket bearings shot and replaced...that ought to be 10 watts right there!! Drive train cleaned. ICED race chain on.
I had a nice RR swim yesterday at the Lake Meridian race (and met Robin, who won the men's 2.4 wetsuit division!). One of my goals was to practice drafting, which is hard for me to do outside a race. I also wanted to see how much of a difference the drafting made. I got on the feet of someone a few hundred yards in, he started slowing down, then I tagged on to someone else going by. Swan off her hip for a while, then dropped back to her feet which I found easier. Swimming in the draft felt really easy, and the water was clear so it wasn't hard to stay right on her feet. If anything I had to slow down several times when she was sighting. Finally for the last 1k I went out hard on my own to the finish.
Here is what I saw:
First 1k - 1:55/100 yd upwind, drafting, RPE 3-4
Second 1k - 1:51/100 downwind, drafting, RPE 3
Third 1k - 2:04/100 upwind (wind was picking up), drafting, RPE 3. I came out of the draft at one point and was surprised how much rougher the water felt
Fourth 1k - 2:03/100 downwind, not drafting, RPE 8 (hard to the finish)
So at least for me the drafting seemed to make a big difference. Ideally in IMC I'll catch on to the feet of someone going a bit faster and swim more like RPE 5-6. But even if I end up drafting someone going a minute or two slower than my goal, it's probably worth it to stay on their feet with the energy saved.
Today I had a good short run and 2 1/2 hour ride. Really nice weather for the ride, a pleasant change from last weekend. The ride was pretty easy except for 20 minutes in z3 on my favorite TT stretch. With my bike back to race setup I almost set a Strava PR on the segment, despite my power being lower than my other efforts there.
Weather is looking better for race day! I'm still bringing all my cold weather gear, but the forecast is now low 54 / high 70 and 20% chance of rain.
Today ... biked 56 miles on the trainer doing one loop of the Switzerland course on youtube. Ran 4 and swam 1500 yds easy. More yard work. Installed brand new Conti TT tires on the bike, short checkout ride, then dismantled and packed the bike into my case. Fly out tomorrow night.
Have a great swiss trip paul.