2016 IMWI Training July 31 - Aug 7
This is the weird weeks where some are doing camp week now some next week (Also heard some of you are headed to WI to do the course, I am firing up a GroupMe for you -- THANK YOU ED FOR PUTTING THAT TOGETHER
I also made our reservation for team dinner (Thursday 6pm at La Franchescas) I will have that link up soon to pay. This is a new venue and RIGHT by the expo - much better!
I'm just going to leave this here on things to remember when you're doing race rehearsals.
Things to Remember:
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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 - I think correct? Thats when Im firing up your GroupMe anyway)
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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
Thank you for being rock star EN teammates! If I can do anything, don't hesitate to reach out!
Comments
A bit envious of those of you doing a camp week together. Wish I could join!
I did some spectating & volunteering @ Vineman this weekend. Taking bikes & racking them in T2 totally counts as a run, right? :-/ Interested to read ENer's race reports because from a volunteer/spectator perspective the race was a bit of a shit show. On Sunday I did my long ride on the Vineman course - it was beautiful and a welcomed change of scenery.
Took this next Friday off work and really pumped for a BIG week. I'm pretty nervous about the bike course change (DNFed WI last year by just a couple mins on the bike so all this talk about how the new course is more challenging/expected to add time to the bike is no bueno for the nerves) BUT getting this big week in the books will be a good distraction to just do what I can and ride my bike. lots.
@ Lindsay - don't sweat it. If needed, deviate from the EN plan and power up some of those hills and worry about the marathon when you get there.
Had a decent weekend. Biked 90 miles on Saturday. For the first half took it pretty easy and the second half I pushed myself. Didn't have time to run afterward, but felt pretty good after riding 90 miles. On Sunday, I did 90 minutes on my trainer with 5x10 minute interval at 85% of my FTP. My heart rate was well under control during these intervals so I am pretty happy with that. My guess is my current FTP of 215 is probably a bit low by 5 points or so. After my 90 minute trainer session, I ran 9.4 miles on a pretty hilly trail by my house. Averaged pace was 10:05/mile, avg HR was 140, but at mile 5 it started to creep up into the danger zone. At mile 8 my body started to hurt......
Looking forward to meeting as many as possible at Franchesca's come Thursday evening!!
Last week was a tough week for me managing the 1,200 TSS points I racked up. I dug a little bit of a whole Wednesday night with some 2X20' Z4 work on the trainer followed by a 2 hour, 14 mile run at 85 degrees the next morning at 5 a.m.....
From there everything else was a bit of a foggy slog....... Swam long in the lake on Friday, rode the trainer for 5 hours on Saturday (to avoid the 106 heat index) and did a swim bike on Sunday ......
Ok, now for CAMP week.
Long swim this morning: https://www.strava.com/activities/661072069
After doing many CAMPs, I very much appreciate the key points in the note from the race captain below. My key workouts will be one interval run and one interval bike. Rest/Travel on Thursday.
Friday, (many others have different plans/schedules) my goal is to swim early in the lake then get on the bike with 10 - 20 minutes and ride that darn course. Many of you may be leaving with a different group earlier or from a different place so, we can iron all that out at the dinner on Thursday night. Running stoopid slow off the bike will be my last goal of the day.
Hoping to ride with what is left in the legs and whoever is left on Saturday.
Sunday - goal is to get one foot moving in front of the other and see what happens before it is time to pack up and head out.
My favorite thing about CAMP is the time I get to build relationships with everyone else. Priceless!
SS
Got my 5 hour ride in (5:40) and decided to get to 100 Friday. I swam 3000 first, then biked. Wasn't having a great legs day, but got it done. No brick.
Planned a 4-4.5 hour ride Saturday, but storms ( that Rich and Kori rode through???) put an end to our ride only 1:10 in. After being stuck at the park rangers office, waiting for a ride, blah blah, we left and had breakfast. I was really tired when I got home, and my hubby had the recovery boots set up for me, so I sat in those for about an hour.
Sunday my buddy brought my bike to the park (handsome John) where I discovered I'd left my bike shoes out of my bag to dry in the garage. Super. Great. Fabulous. :-/ I was hoping to ride 1 hour, run 90', then ride a couple more hours. I settled for riding in the latest triathlon shoe model:Hoka One One Clifton 3's and run. Super fast transition.
Actually it wasn't that fast, because I got the chance to crash my local teammate's conversation with Ryan and Desiree Linden!!! My marathon crush! She trains at our local metro park quite often with the Hanson's team. She was kind enough to take a photo with me! I'm sure I sounded like and idiot..I was totally starstruck!
The run went great though. Best long run in a while! She is very motivating!
@all 40 days to go
@WI Camp Good luck in Madison this weekend
Got 40 miles of running this week with the extra run focus.
Raced a half on Sat, about 20 min faster than LY (but it was hotter LY). Placed 2nd in AG (out of 4). Sometimes thing work your way, if I had aged-up, I would not have finished in top 3!
I will move everything this weekend up one day, as I won't be able to ride that far on Friday. Long bike Sat, Sun and long run Mon.
Good luck this week everyone!
Hello All, thought I would check in. Sorry I won't' be joining you in Madison. I would really love to go and check out the new hill and meet some of you. I've had a mixed time of training.
The good, Starting to feel my grove on the bike and getting some good brick runs in. Getting a new power meter (Garmin Vector) and a new chain on my bike has made a great difference. Don't forget about bike maintenance with all the miles. Easy to wear out those chains and cassettes. I'm lucky because my backyard is Wisconsin hills and this time of year is great here. Here is my Saturday long ride minus a couple miles when my computer battery died. Felt good during the ride. I am noticing though that I've either lost fitness or the new power meter is not as generous as the stages was. I don't think my FTP is anywhere near 279 any longer. I'm guessing it is more like 250 based on what I can sustain over the 5 hours. Will think about testing tomorrow. http://tpks.ws/bX9a9
Sunday, I did some hill repeats on a tough hill that is about 1 mile long and 8% avg grade to begin preparing for the Barflow hill. Not sure what the official name of that new hill is. Had a good brick run afterwards.
My long run on Thursday went well. Finished the week with 33 miles, the most I have run so far in a week this year.
Swimming is where I'm nervous and would welcome input. I've been getting in one swim a week consistently. I'm able to complete the 4000 plus swims at my average goal race pace no problem. However, I have rotator cuff pain that will not go away. When it comes to trying to get two more swims in each week, I don't have the desire to do it and end up dropping those swims. How much damage am I doing to myself if I only get in one long swim a week? I'm worried about being more tired at the start of the swim, but I also don't want to hurt my shoulder.
@Stephan - first, just HUGE work all around getting it done man. This close to the race, I would not want to do or risk anything that could drive injury. While the swim is only 10% of your day and does effect the run performance later in the day, IMO, at this point, it is not worth trying to pick up a few seconds or minutes at the risk of hurting your shoulder. Stick with the once a week, long OWS if you can. Add another short recovery swim if possible and listen to your shoulder.
Checked off the interval run this morning with my 13 year son: https://www.strava.com/activities/661840201
Hoping to swim today and start laying things out for the weekend trip.
Have a great day all!
SS
Had a good weekend up in Madison for WIBA... Did not make the swim due to getting out of work late and traffic due to stroms in the Chicago area messing up traffic - But I did swim Friday morning so my Friday Swim was not lost.
Rode the new Loop #1 & Loop #2, feels like a completely different course now... I kind of like it. Yes, the Barlow Hill is a BEAR - but it is what it is. Get up that hill once and move on. Sunday I ran much of the run course, plus some extra due to choosing not to drive to Monona Terrace for a total of just over 15 run miles on Sunday.
Looking forward to CAMP Weekend. I will be up in Madison on Thursday Night, probably around 6:30 - 7:00pm - so I will not be able to join you all for dinner.
Not sure what everyone was planning to ride, originally (before the course change) I was going to ride the entire course. Now that they've changed the course, I am planning on riding 3 loops (2 x Loop #1, 1 x Loop #2) on Friday starting from Rocket Bikes in Verona. I have already ridden 'The Stick' this year, so I do not feel this part of the course is as important as getting new loop time. Saturday morning I will probably ride Loop #1 once before heading home.
-Mike
@Mike, look forward to meeting you.
Happy Wednesday all!
Checked off the interval run yesterday morning. 5 X 3' RPE felt very difficult trying to hit Z5.....too many slow twitch muscles in there right now it appears.....
Reluctantly made it through the 2 X 20s (Z4) bike interval work this morning. Two words: It sucked!
https://www.strava.com/activities/663083935
Time to disassemble and pack the equipment
for travel tomorrow.
I'll prob do a TM run later today and avoid the TX heat.
Can't wait to meet Barkow come Friday.......
SS
Once again life gets in the way. Heading up tomorrow, but after Friday's ride and short bric run afterward, I'll be heading home.
Where are we meeting up? The Clarion on Rimrock road at 6:45am ready to roll out at 7am?
Looking forward to putting a face to the all the names.
BTW - all my pants are big on me........
Have fun in WI, all you campers!
@Chris - funny you mention the pants. I was walking to work yesterday and noticed that I kept pulling my jeans up over my hips but it kinda felt like they were about to rip, or at the very least, were being held up around the calves.
My monday swim was good, skipped the Tue Swim to sleep and bailed on my run due to a blood blister on my toe from Sunday's run. :-(
This morning I set out to do my 2x15 FTP Workout this morning, got through the 1st block and I was of course tired. When the second block came my trainer (Kickr) did not increase the power, I played with Trainer Road a little to try and get the power up, but then decided it was okay (er, I was grateful) to spin through the rest of the workout at 65%. #ThankGodForTechSnafus
See you all in Madison... Probably somewhere on the course, wave as you zoom by. I am riding 3 loops starting at RBS, rolling out at 7am. Have we decided where to go for dinner Friday night? If no one has a suggestion, I will toss out 'The Old Fashioned' on the square in Madison, Burgers & such.
As for the pants - I hear you all. My wife told me yesterday I was getting too skinny, I think I am starting to look good - LOL!
-MikeWas exhausted yesterday as I picked up my daughter at LGA from her Peru trip on Monday night. So an added rest day to IMLP recovery. Got on the road bike this AM and banged out 3x6@FTP so legs are coming back. Trying for a run later this afternoon.
Leaving for CO on Friday for an epic week of MTB, running & swimming..
Feeling an increase of positive energy entering the beautiful state of Wisconsin. Have a great time. I'll be thinking of you a few hours north.
Thanks for the positive words. Yesterday, I got in a 2800 swim (shoulder is hurting today), also got in my 40 minute run in the morning. In the evening, I decided to put the old spinnervals FTP test in. I've been curious about my power output lately as it has dropped a lot on my long runs since I got my new power meter. The old one wasn't working and I don't trust the numbers. But, the test today I couldn't hold 250 watts for the 20 minutes, when I was at 290 in February. I think I've lost some power, and realize that fatigue is a factor as well as the potential that my power meter may be more accurate. Hard to tell. I know I won't have the same results as last year and I am ok with that since I have had difficulty keeping my motivation up and my work load has increased a great deal this summer.
Overall, I feel good and happy and look forward to what happens this weekend as I join my team in hitting out those big days!
Woke up this morning and it's raining in SF - WTF? the ONE time?
In the end, decided it'd be best for me to push camp week out by a day
Sat: Long ride + run
Sun: Ride + run
Mon: long run
Tues: Rest
I did RR swim last night in a pool but I'm going to see if I can't turn today into an OWS opportunity.
Great but tiring weekend of training on the course! We had a large group which = lots of stops and starts, (flats, chain drops, fuel, regrouping) and an accident with 2 riders on day 1. Not ideal. Day two was a bit better with (Thankfully!) no accidents or flats, but a little more fatigue. We only rode the loops as our injured riders were our first concern, and had ridden the stick the day before. We ran off the bike both days, but only 40' Friday due to being out on the course over 8 hours with stops. Several in our group swam, but I know how to swim, and the water didn't look any wetter than what is in my back yard! Met the swimmers at the helix and ran a loop of the course. Except I was the "I got lost!...Please run with me up Observatory!!!" character.
We all get by with a little help from our friends, no? Luckily we had a wonderful support Mom sagging for the weekend and after I hit 13 she brought me back to the helix.
Overall, very glad to have ridden and run on course. I now know where I will be riding and running leading into the race to grab any bits of fitness left on the table to take on IMOO. I hope everyone had a great experience over their camp weekends wether they were on course or at home!
Biggest bummer was with our group being big and slow, I missed all the socializing after training. It was great to meet Steve, and Shaun and Ed hauling around the course! Looking forward to seeing you at the team dinner and in town next month though! EEEK! NEXT MONTH!
Agree with Trish, HUGE week on many fronts, meeting incredible, humble, hard working, smart people, .......fitness building bonanza, .....course familiarity, .....beautiful weather and the surrounding Madison WI. Really hard to beat that for an effective CAMP week. Well worth the time/travel/money to do this and escape a weekend of the TX heat!
@Trish - when I saw you on the run, you looked so strong I almost had to stop and find a recovery drink!
Rest day today for all who did CAMP soooo important then we have about 20 days left of some pretty important IM training volume/work relative to our race date. Can be overwhelming so, my technique is not to look to far ahead and do my best to get through it each day.
Thank you all sooooo much for making my CAMP memorable, effective, fun, and hard work!
SS
Last Tuesday I had my seat post raised a bit and a new saddle installed. Rode it this weekend and it was a big improvement in comfort over my old set up. My power numbers seemed higher (just a touch) at the same effort level out on the course this weekend (as far as I could tell with the terrible VI I had on both days). Looking at my ride data this am, I was at or above my FTP 8% of the ride both days.
My question's are these:
1) would the change in seat post height bump my power out put a tick or no?
2) is that percentage over my ftp reasonable for the course considering as a gal, my ftp is lower than a dudes, and as a tall gal, my climbing abilities are proficient, but not goat like at all? (aka I gotta do what I can do to get up the hill!)
I am an ok adult onset runner with a goal of NOT WALKING THE BACK HALF OF THE MARATHON like I did last year at IMCHOO. This is my overall goal at IMOO this year!
I'd love your input!
Adjusting the seat to a more correct fit will can most certainly improve your efficiency and output. 8% would definitely be on the high end but not out of question.
You have a few more long rides to validate that number coming up. I would be focused on pairing my known avg 5 hour HR up with that new fit/power output and focusing on driving an ever improving (lower) VI on the race course itself during the last few rides.... #killingit!
SS
1) Almost always I feel much stronger and better running after I bike vs. just going out for a run. Ii'm sure I'm not alone, but why is that? Is it just that I'm super warmed up?
2) Barlow Rd. Like to get everyone's thoughts on how to approach for race day. I can power up the hill, but at a tremendous cost. I consider mysef to be a good swimmer, slightly better than average cyclist and a weak runner. I was thinking about just walking up Barlow Rd. vs. powering up and riding it. The upside is I save myself the hugh spike in HR and watts, which I think will benefit me during the run. The downside is walking up the hill in shame. I'm sure my ego will get the best of me on 9/11 and I'll power up, but wanted to get your opinions.
Cheers,
Chris
I'm no expert... But after riding it 3 times I know what I'm going to do. The beginning of Barlow offers a few places to get your speed up and help carry the next hill. I would use that to reduce the total cost of it. Other than that... I'm breathing full breaths and trying to ride with consistent power to the pedals.
Hey Chris -
Great question on Barlow Rd...I have been thinking about that for the last 2 days! Personally, I powered up the hill on the Friday bike (with a huge HR and Watt spike) and walked up the hill (the final hill at the end of Barlow) on the Saturday ride. Don't know about you, but it took me approx 5 or so minutes to fully recover from riding the hill on Friday...I also think I felt the affects of this decision a bit on the run. On the Saturday ride when I walked it, I had a few guys ride up the hill and pass me, but I quickly passed them post hill while they were still recovering.
So, putting ego aside, I am leaning towards walking the last portion of Barlow to keep a few of those "matches unlit" for the run.
I'll be very interested in everyones perspective on this one as well!
Stephen
@Chris, great thoughts / questions!
1) As Ed advises, running off the bike I am also always faster the first mile primarily because my leg muscles are already filled with blood, or as you said, you are already warmed up.
2) I think the answer will depend on your w/kg ratio. For those with a w/kg ratio approaching, at, or in excess of 4.0, Ed's strategy is a smart one. However w/kg closer to 3s and your decision to walk vs. ride becomes more interesting and possibly a better choice to walk it from a strategic perspective given your cost is going to much higher.....who cares about what other people think, you can thank them later as you run past them on the back half of the marathon while they shuffle they're way on in.....
SS
@ Rachel - completely agree. I'm a pretty agrressive biker and very comfortable going through turns at high speeds - took many hairpin turns last Saturday at 25mph+. Very doubtful I'll be able to do that come race day.
Some other thoughts on my hydration strategy. I train using a combo of Infinit and Gatorade Endurance. Come race day I will leave T1 with 2 bottles of Infinit - one between my aero bars and one on the downtube. I'll have 2 bottles of Infinit at special needs and supplement with the Gatorade on the course. Of course I'm getting ahead of myself about strategy, but we are 5 weeks out and I'm getting pretty excited! I'll be posting a detailed strategy in a few weeks.....