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2016 IM Maryland Week 19- SO CLOSE
THE BOX WEEK 19
Our WSMs are leading the crew!!! I know we are busy but the time is ALMOST here!! Give us a quick shout out to know you are with us and getting ready!!!
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).
And now I hand it off to the team....we have some experts here...what do you say???
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Perfect Fall day in the mtns...My course was a new one, chosen to minimize elevation gain. Two out n backs of 51 & 61 miles, all between 6000-7500'. First loop along a river road, second mainly on rail trail. Temp start @ 50, ended @ 80, with crystal clear sky all day. Slight (5 mph) wind, often in my favor.
Bike time was 5:50 for the 112. NP 134, AP 128, for VI of 1.04. Woulda been better, but for the usual admin start n stops on open roads and a public trail. Avg HR 102 (!), 107 for final 45'.Fluid intake 124 oz - all bottles were fully emptied @ end. Calories: Cliff bars, 1/3 every 40' first two hours, 600. EFS gel final 2 hrs, 250. Infinit, 700. Gatorade Endurance, 420. About 350/hour, again, I got it all down with no problems.
I kept my focus until mile 108/9, when I just wanted to be done. But overall, my fastest RR ever since training at altitude - probably due to to "minimal" elevation gain of 3700'. The run was in blazing 80 deg sun at about 1000' higher than my usual RRs around here, combining for my SLOWEST RR run ever, 59:45. I drank 1.5 20 oz bottles of 2/3 strength GE.
Even though the elevation gain seems a lot, the route was always either 1-2% up, or the same down, pretty steady. Looking at my interval NPs, I was pretty consistent on my effort both ways. I think a key on a flat course like MD is to get out of the saddle following a regular schedule, the same as we do for nutrition. 20 standing pedal strokes every 10 minutes should go a long way towards keeping the hip flexors loose, and prevent back and neck strain, setting up a better run.
Tomorrow, I plan on 4 hour Zone 1 in the mtns, and then I'll report on my last 7-9 days of training.
Finished up last week with 19hrs, 1241TSS, 19,663yds swim, 195miles bike, 35.7miles run..... My last RR weekend... Friday was a really big swim of 4.2 miles and the 5th swim day in a row so I skipped the swim on Saturday am , Saturday 112bike/6mile negative splitting both , chosen course was very flat and I was "lucky" to have some pretty good winds :-).... Sunday 14.6 mile run.....
IMO, the roads for the IM course are in better shape than the Eagleman course.
Is there an informal gathering of EN'ers? An early dinner on Thursday, perhaps?
Fingers crossed for good weather!
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1355099617
@Woody, I am not aware of any type of EN meet up, but would be open to it.
EN-Dinner- I think early thursday for dinner is perfect. Preferably a place I can get some plainish pasta anyway.
Just exiting training mode. Here are the numbers from my final week of training, which was Wed - Tues: 19 hours, 10,000 M swimming in 3:07; 200 mi biking in 12:20; 26 mi running in 4:30. TSS: 1040.
I ended exhausted, a bit dehydrated, with my brain a bit fried. Next two days devoted to travel and recovery, then a weekend of training, then back on the road again. Somewhere in there, I'll write a race plan.
I don't organize pre-race activities, but I will participate if something is happening.
Thanks everyone for all your motivation these last few weeks. Nice to see Al and Tim post all their numbers. I am not too technical so in a short summary my last 2 weeks have been - week 17 300miles bike with bike focus and week 18 was 40miles running and 9k swimming as I was at a work conference without a bike. Still managed 130mi on bike with a 115 on Sunday. This week will be swim focus as I taper bike and run. I still plan to add a bit to tomorrows run (90) and prob bike closer to 3-3.5 this weekend with an OWS Sunday to test out wetsuit since I have not used one in a few years. I wont be in town til later afternoon Thursday to register, but willing and hoping to meet up and say hi to folks if there is an EN meet-up dinner. Keep me posted. Enjoy the taper.
My husband & I will arrive Wed night and we are staying in Oxford, which is about 20 minutes away from Cambridge. I look forward to meeting everyone!