2016 IMCHOO Training Wk Aug 15 - 21
Week 16 Rest/Run Focus/ Swim up a storm!
Hey ya’ll!! How did the weekend go? I loved reading about your plans and seeing some more posts in the forum!! KEEP IT UP!!!So this week has a few pretty important notes.
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Mandatory for Camp Week Completers! You must rest to consolidate the work you have done. If you did NOT complete camp week, you may do the workouts listed beginning on MONDAY.
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It also is a Run Focus Week! If possible, aim for 6 to 10 miles more than your "typical" week by either inserting another run day or adding a small amount to every run you do. BUT this is entirely optional, it simply plays into the coaches separate build / taper approach for managing fitness by discipline across your Race Prep phase.
This week you will also have another 4200 yard swim (which will be seen in the following weeks as well). These can be used as Swim Race Rehearsals. Here are a few notes about that…..
Anything that takes your mind off of your form is counter productive
Your primary pacing tool is counting your strokes allows you to focus on technique and you will be in a pace where you can maintain
Set yourself up for the artificiality of the chaos the swim start will have on race day — rather than warm up (since you most likely won’t have that on race day) dive in and swim faster to replicate how it will be on race day then drop into your race pace- however pay attention that you aren’t dropping into a pace that is slower than your goal race pace
You will never be able to fully replicate the “washing machine affect” like race day but work on your mental focus for that affect. Focus on your legs and try not to kick too much.
Only swim as fast as your ability to maintain form.
Practice siting : 50 meter pool site 2x per 50
25 meter pool site 1x per 25
OWS use judgement
Only site with your eyes so you don’t drop no chin out of the water
** Alternative **
You COULD just do this--- Train like you Race
Comments
Train like You Race is awesome! thanks for the cheers, Mariah!
This has been a rollercoaster ride so far and I am not sure what is ahead in the next couple of weeks. Four years ago I was never going to do Triathlon again after my second DNF at Lake Placid. Then I got over it and registered for Chattanooga. Excited and ready to accomplish a task on my bucket list for as long as I can remember (since watching Julie Moss at Kona as a kid on the Wide World of Sports), I dove into the training. A crash before Memorial Day, recovery and new bike came next. Training in Chattanooga to know the course. And, now with several weeks to go, there may have been something more than realized. I have been stopped dead in my tracks since Sunday afternoon with bad hip pain on the hip that I landed on in the crash. I stopped in to the trainer at my high school that I have worked with for the last 15 years and he set me up with a Sports Med Ortho doc and hour later. Manipulations, poking and prodding led to x-rays. Marked weakness and signs of pain were obvious, but X-rays showed nothing conclusive. He scheduled a rushed MRI at 9:15PM tomorrow evening - the soonest slot he could get me in. I asked for some type of indication as to what the outcome could be and what I should do for training. The doc said he wants to "get me back in the game as quick as possible," but really needs more results to provide the best info. So right now I have no idea what to do. I am trying to stay positive, but I have never had this kind of training leading up to an event. Usually I fly under the radar and just do it. Thanks for letting me express my frustration and fears.......
On this end, I drove from the house about 4:30 to put out a gallon of water about two miles away for my long run this morning. I sweat so heavy that I need about 16oz per mile or so. By the time I got there on the run someone had taken the water...it was gone! Altered my plans and just ran 10 with the 2 x 24oz bottles that were on my mailbox at home. I had already downed 1 full 24oz bottle after I had weighed in pre-run. Ended the run at 10 since I could tell I had lost a lot of weight by sweat. Post weigh in was 4.6 lbs down from my 166 lb starting point earlier. The run was in 99% humidity (76 degrees on a 75 degree dew point at 5am). Glad I got 10.
@Pat I saw you out there and I stole your water! That's what you get for making me look at your back side for the entire bike path section of the Chattanooga run!
I did 2 hours today, but man was it a slog. I was not feeling very energetic. I definitely was feeling fatigued and run-down. Also, pretty warm and very humid, which did not help. Glad it's over.
@Mark,
So my last IM, I had such severe injuries with my IT band that I had to take the last 6 or more weeks off of ALL running to just hope I could do the race. I focused on swimming and did the best i could with the biking which did not hurt my IT as much but my training was pretty minimal. I had no clue to what was going to happen come race day. I am not a natural athlete but over the years I learned a lot of this is mental. Yes, IM is of course physical but you have a huge base of training behind you. For me, came race day, I had no clue what was going to happen to me or if i could complete things but for whatever reason, it took all this pressure off of me and I thought i am just going out there and going slow and steady and enjoy this. No pressures on myself and no clue to what might happen. I was so rested for the race that I was just exctied to actually do something physical at that point (that is how little I was doing) I finished only 20 min slower than my first one which surprised me. I did this before in a marathon as well a few years back.. for i was going to stop at the half way cuz i wasn't totally trained for the race as I had only run up to 14 miles in training at this point. However i was coming off a HIM season. Anyways.. long story short, I didnt feel like waiting for the sag wagon to get me so i just kept running unitl i thougth i could find another sag wagon. Now i only had 10 miles left and i decided i wanted my tshirt and medal so i kept going. My friend saw me at mile 22 and he said i looked like i was out for a little jog. And it kinda felt like it. I took that experience and thought maybe the same kind of thing might happen in the IM that year. And it did.
The point is you have tons of training behind you even if you need more time to recover, Take the pressure off yourself, get extra rest and tell yourself you are just going to enjoy the day and the experience come race day no matter what. Stay positive. You have earned it, put your time and energy it it to go and have a great experience!
I took Friday off work so i can do the big day! Whoop hooop!
@Pat. Ok.. that is funny!
@Pat, too funny about your water...I guess you're not in Chattanooga anymore. I had that happen to me once. In this humidity, I also lose 4-6+ pounds so I understand the refueling concerns. I just hope by the end of Sep the humidity is much lower in Chattanooga.
I'm still trying to figure out my weekend workouts and where to put the LR (Thursday or Monday). I can't take off from work Friday so I'm thinking:
Thurs: 2 hr LR or swim
Fri: RR Swim, 4400 yds
Sat: 112 mile bike/1 hr run (swimming Fri in order to start my bike at 6 AM)
Sun:80-100 mile bike/20-30 min run
Mon: 2 hr LR or Rest
Everyone have a fun and very safe training weekend!
Thanks for the encouragement..... Just got a call from the doc. Insurance refuses to authorize MRI without 6 weeks PT..... I think that is a week after IMCHOO.... Made 1 hour on the bike this morning. 17.2 pace, but couldn't function on the bike any longer. Swimming tomorrow and Sunday. I will be speaking to Coach P on Tuesday. Cross your fingers for me... Just don't get them caught in your shifters.....
@Mark, praying for your recovery!
@Kim, tell us how it went today!
Hi everyone finally have time to join in. Love reading everyones stories.
Well it's RR for me so I reversed the weekend workouts so I could do my 112 bike at an organized ride on Sunday.
Thursday night my two hour run was not the best but I put the miles in. Ran 10 then had to walk the last 3 in and finished at 8:30PM. Went home, took a salt bath and went to bed. Woke up ready to do my RR swim managed to swim 3 miles and felt great.
Saturday AM off to bike and run. Have a great RR weekend everyone!
@ Yvette, great to hear from you...I hope today's ride went well. 3 mile swim! Awesome!
I hope everyone's RR went well today! I had a good, hilly ride and suffered through a 1 hr run. I started at 6:30 AM and had great weather until around 11:00 when it heated up.The good thing was I maintained my power/effort level and was able to keep my HR in zone 2. What I learned today is I need to run slower in my first 6 miles with walk breaks to keep my HR down, especially when it's HOT outside.
Wow. So I just realized this forum was here! Better late than never. Glad to read and hear about others going through the same things as me--my training has been rather lonely. So, like Kim, I took off Friday as well to do the BIG RR. Planned everything out, swam on Thursday and planned on doing the long run today (Sunday). Well...I guess this is why EN makes us do this stuff, right? I learned so much. My Friday RR was an Epic Fail! So, I started my swim around 5:45 am (had pre race meal and gel as I plan on race day. Approx. 480 calories). Felt a little sluggish on swim, but I don't usually swim in the morning so figured it was that. Now, I did get into a pretty nasty bike accident the Saturday before at mile 87 of my 100 mile ride--had to gut it out because my phone died and my husband didn't know where I was--even though I told him...ugh. Anyways, I was still feeling the whiplash from hitting my head on the asphalt (I bought a new helmet) which made the swim a little uncomfortable. Drove to bike start--took longer than planned. Didn't start bike until 7:50 am (it was 87 degrees already). Immediately didn't feel well on bike. Decided to stick to my power zones and hope that I would feel better within the hour. My bike nutrition is 1 gel every 45 and about 1.25 bottles of GE/hour. I started to get a massive headache around mile 35 and felt like I was pushing my target watts (about 135) but was actually only doing about 90. Sad face. By mile 58 I was hot and feeling sick. I decided to call it quits and rest the remainder of the day and HOPE I could get it in the next day. Saturday I completed 112 miles at a 131 watt average with absolutely no nutrition mishaps. I felt amazing. It was an overcast day, so that definitely helped. I only did a 4.2 mile brick because the temps were getting higher and there was no shade, but I felt great and I couldn't believe I had just biked 112. Felt great the rest of the day, too. I was supposed to get up and run 2 hours this morning but really wasn't feeling it. I could have made myself do it, but felt like I needed to listen to my body. Next RR at week 18 I won't take Friday off, I'll do my long run Thursday and RR swim Friday night with the bike and run on Sat and Sun. Hopefully it will go much better!
@Cicley Glad you found this forum!
So I took Friday off and started my swim about 7am at the pool. I tried to get there a bit earlier but i needed my coffee and knew it would be a long day. I did a 400 yard warm up and then did the 4000 swim and was very happy with my swim time. Yay. I had done a 4000 swim on Thurs night too so I was happy that I didnt feel much swim fatigue. Glad it was done though.
Then i had a bit of a 35 min drive to get to my bike start. I have to go out a bit from where I live to feel comfortable and finally found a route i can do by myself (almost) without getting lost. I was a bit tired on the bike but plugged along. I was pretty uncomfortable from 66 miles on. Can't really explain how or why but i took it meant fatigue. I think it is also my tank I am wearing. I am a brand ambassador and really love the tanks but on long bike rides, it pulls on my neck. I decided that I cannot wear it and now how to figure out what i am wearing (sorry brand but I can't mess up my ironman race.. but will switch to the brand for the run. Anyways, i did a double loop and tried to add in a few extra miles to get to 112 because the course is 49. At one point I started my watch over by accident so i has to guess. I did 107-109 and called it done for my bike. I wont lie.. I mentally struggled. Physically, I was a tad slower than i had been riding this course which again, due to the swim, and physically i felt fine but i was very distracted or something .. at one point i think at mile 90 I told myself to get my shit together and focus cuz I will still have miles to go at the race. I had to seriously practice staying in the box.. like BIG TIME at one point. Ha, I keep telling my husband the end of IM and some of these long long workouts almost mentally feels like when i was in labor with my kids... I almost go crazy trying to "grab" something but once I find a focus point, I get a grip on things again. But sometimes finding that focus point is difficult. My nutrition was good. I confirmed it that i need solid food about hour 3 and hour 5 on the bike. So I used peanut butter crunch clif bars. Soooo good.
Then started my 60 min run. It was awesome. I felt so good and I was very happy to be off the bike. I was surprised how good i felt. Amazing. My garmin battery died right at the start of my run so i just timed myself on my phone so i dont really know my pace but i made myself slow down.
Then Sat I changed my plans from what was going to be the 2nd bike ride to just my long run, 15 miles. I had to work a tri at my brand's booth on sun (today) and come home and put in a bunch of work and decided that putting a 15 mile run on top of that is probably not the best for my personal and mental health. And I am so glad i decided that (which i also decided that at mile 90 on my Friday ride. ha).
My run was actually awesome. I am soooo surprised. I was worried that last weeks run was not great and way less miles, etc. So this run put me at ease that I will be ok. amazed no blisters, no issues. i stopped to stetch my hips at one point.. felt a slight IT but after stretching the hip it went away. I did have to practice staying in my box and focusing on the here and now. AGain, i was so glad when it was done and SO glad that the run went very well.
So that was my weekend. It was nice. I am really glad I am resting today. Great weekend workouts but glad this week is done. I am so proud of myself that I did the friday workout. I still find it hard to believe that I did all the distances (ok few short on the bike) that i was suppose to do. I mean I usually do what the plan calls for but I still dont feel like IM is this close.
Glad you found us!
So sorry about the crash! Glad you were able to come back so soon. Saturday sounds like you had an great day,good job! Defiantly, listen to you body for recovery.