2016 IM Louisville- Week 13- Big Bike

Laura Becker

Week 13 - Knowledge burst
Way to get it done last week team!! I know some of the tests may have not gone as planned but know that is OK!! I have actually talked to Coach P MANY times about testing...especially on the bike. It is not always necessary and you can figure out your zones with your training numbers! If you have questions about it- post in the micro and Coach P can help you sort it out!
Does anyone have a 70.3 this weekend? 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 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 Louisville 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!!

KyleK

Hi everyone. Just settling back in from a week long vacation. Overall, generally happy with how I was able to mostly maintain my wko's while on vaca (now eating - whole different story!). I did get my big day in last Monday, and it felt good. Legs felt surprisingly good after the bike. The run, including the split run Thursday, was a different story. The course I had available had some killer hills, over and over, and my calf's did not know what hit them. My hr pacing was way off as a result of the hills, and my overall pace was slow compared to my normal running routes. I'm chalking the slower pace to the hills and the terrible way I treated my stomach last week.

Looking forward to getting back to normalcy - normal hours, normal food, and normal routes. Probably have some weight to lose, to get me back down to 150, so not looking forward to watching the calories a bit.

Paul Curtin

Good update Kyle - the good thing about Louisville is we don't need to worry about hills on the run. The bike is another story. But keep running on hills if you can, that can't hurt (at least any worse than last week).

I hit a wall last week ... TSB numbers were way south of where they should have been. Thankfully today was swim only. Taking it day by day for now.

Elizabeth Hornak

I have a tough schedule this week - sports begins for my two daughters which throws available time into the blender until they go back to school,, and we are traveling to see my sister and her family this weekend. I planned to adjust the plan so that I could do most of the rides, but as Murphy's Law goes, we've been in a drought for the whole summer, and this week, it's supposed to rain. Usually I would not have an issue of riding in the rain, but we are looking at severe t-storms. So, drop the five hour ride, or suck it up buttercup and do it on the trainer?

Also, need intel on hills. I live in the Finger Lakes of NYS and we have hills, and plenty of them. I just don't know enough about the course to know if I am riding enough hills to prepare me for the course.

Thanks and happy riding everyone!

Paul Curtin

I'd pick the trainer over riding in the rain, even for a longer ride. There's a theory that you don't have to ride as long indoors to get the same benefit. I use the two-thirds rule: a two-hour indoor ride is roughly equivalent to a 3-hour outdoor ride.

As for hills on the bike, ride them as much as you can. They don't need to be Alpe d'Huez climbs, just steady rollers. Pick a few rides where your total climbing is over 3K feet. MayMyRide has a nice feature to create routes - it includes elevation.

Good luck this week!

James Helie

Since this is a big bike week, are we suppose to add to the bike time where we can? I have time to add an hour or two to Sunday. Is anyone else feeling like they need more bike and run fitness? The race is coming fast and I just don't feel ready.

KyleK

@James. Lou will be my first IM and I realtively new to EN, so take this all with a grain of salt. The extra Bike time is already baked into the schedule. Extra 15 minutes tomorrow, 2 hrs. Friday, and some additional time added on the weekend (up from last week).

Regarding your second question, I'm the direct opposite. I'm not sure I could handle any additional volume at the moment (physically, mentally, or logistically). I have not missed very many wko's since January, so if my fitness is not up to snuff, then it will never be. Plus, I'm fairly certain that the EN plans are tested and vetted to give one the volume one needs for the race. That said, your personal goals/expectations for the race may be drastically different than mine (finish, have some fun, and compete against my personal expectations). If that is the case, maybe a note in your micro thread to the coaches to discuss some added volume is what you need.

steven cummings

@ James. The week 13 plan has all the extra bike volume planned in but if you need to move hours around to Sunday instead of Friday's I would do so. You still have a lot of time to build volume for Lou....the next 6-7 weeks are tough mentally and physically. Do what you can when you can! Always try to get the key wko's of the week in...usually Thursday long run, Saturday brick, and long swim on Friday.

I'm switching up some wko's this week by moving up some bikes to early in the week. I'm headed to Louisville this weekend for a friends bachelor party so it's not really the training weekend I would like to get in while there. I will see what I can manage to do run/bike wise and report back.

James Helie

Kyle and Steven, thanks for the input. My runs off my long bikes just have not felt good so I think I'm just over thinking the process. My one goal is to run well off the bike, so am a bit nervous as the race gets closer.

Ed Eovino

Trust the plan... You follow it... You'll rock it on race day!

Julie hupp

This weekend I am going to get my bigger bike volume in by "duing" the full aqua bike at the Michigan Titanium.  Treating it only as a training day and not changing much this week.  Long Run today and will get in 3 hours on bike tomorrow (per Patrick).

Feeling pretty good/healthy b/c I had a lighter week early on as I dropped my son off to College in Boulder CO (lucky kid).

I am nervous about this weekend as the most I have ever biked is 80 miles.  (and not with a 2.4 swim before it). I am thinking of it as a mini camp before my camp weekend in 2 weeks. 

 

 

Julie hupp

@elizabeth

Listened to your podcast today during my long run.  Nice to get to know you!  Looking forward to connecting in Louisville.

Elizabeth Hornak

@Julie,

Thank you! It was fun to do!

Elizabeth Hornak

Ok, I slammed three of the four rides into three days - YAY, my own mini camp week. Today I did Saturday's workout, and it totally sucked. I kept my loops somewhat close to home because my teenagers are not back in school yet, and it is outside my comfort zone to bike far away from home.
Here is the way the ride went - My speed was one MPH slower than yesterday's ride, and despite some very swanky bike shorts, I have a saddle blister. I came back home about 30' in and used spenco second skin to protect the blister - that stuff rocks! From that point, my speed dropped and dropped. I am working on my nutrition - and have been working on eating 3 chunks of Rx Bars with 3-4 sips of Scratch Lemon Lime every 15-20'. A preliminary look at the numbers puts me in the safe zone of calories and sodium. At about 40 miles, my left leg and foot felt like it was on fire. My left quad felt so weak, which stunk because I had a climb to get back to my house for a refill of food and drink. I have had three bike fits and am feeling like I may need another one with a different bike shop (would love to hear all thoughts on what could cause this - perhaps it is because my left leg is shorter?

I am going to see my chiro tomorrow and will share his assessment.

Trying to find the win in this ride, and feel like my confidence in the IM is shaken.

Planning to go to the pool tomorrow and will swim again and run during the weekend. We are going to see my sister and her family as our last hurrah before school starts. We have tickets in the Mayor's Box at the Saratoga Springs racetrack, and my daughters are beyond excited.

Next week will be another during the week long ride as my eldest daughter and I are relaying a tri next Sunday. Last year, we captured the women's relay division and we are hoping to repeat again this year.

Thank you for reading my stream of consciousness.

Beth

Elizabeth Hornak

@Steven, if you get out to ride, would you be willing to report back? I feel like I am having trouble finding hills to replicate the LOU hills. I've found a couple of entries on MapMyRide, and there seem to be two - at mile 20 and 24.

Thank you, travel safely and have fun. 

Paul Curtin

Hi Beth - nice work on the mini-camp! Regarding the bike issues, it seems like you're doing the right things. Chiropractors are good at getting hips aligned, which minimizes impact from leg-length discrepancies. (My right leg gets shorter when I'm not aligned - it impacts running too)

Definitely go back to the fitter and tell them about your left leg being shorter. My guess is that you'll need wedges to deal it. There are two types: one goes between the cleat and the shoe bottom; and the other goes inside the bike shoe.

Here's an example of one: https://www.amazon.com/Bike-Fit-Cleat-Wedge-Screw/dp/B00RYC1BUA
And here's the other: https://www.amazon.com/Bike-Shoe-Wedge-mens-4-Pack/dp/B00PUBT23U

I use the ITS-type wedges (2 in my right shoe, 1 in my left shoe). My fitter watched where my knees were tracking when I was pedaling, and after a few tries with different wedges we found a good setup.

Paul Curtin

Julie - that aquabike looks really cool! I think it's a great way to get the distance. Before I did the Chattanooga Camp, I was worried about my longest ride being 75 miles. But the camaraderie with other riders made it easier to go longer (wound up doing 114). Good luck on Sunday!

John Henault

Like Paul said, for those worrying about the long rides back to back, don't! As long as you have been putting in work and you stay on your nutrition, you will get them done. I had never done a century before and was worried about Choo camp last year. I ended up doing back-to-back 116 mile rides at camp. It hurt, but I got it done and that work paid dividends several weeks later in my first IM.

Have a great big bike weekend, and I look forward to meeting everyone in Louisville in about month and a half.

Paul Curtin

Well, once again I've completely hacked up the week's plan. Yesterday was supposed to be the split run, but my body politely and firmly said "no" to that. Wound up doing today's workouts yesterday, and just did the first split run this morning. We'll see how the rest of the workouts go ... carrying a lot of residual fatigue.

Julie hupp

Completed a full aqua bike yesterday.  Times a bit slower than expected but I learned alot in prep for the full Ironman.  It was a very tough day with lots of wind, and 2 doses of hard rain.  Temps finally cooled off so that made the rain and wind very cold.  But perservered.

Nutrition seemed fine and today I actually feel very good.  Contemplating a workout but think I should likely take a day off.

I am still not sure how a marathon will be done after that but I know it will.  On to the run focus week!