2017 IMTX Week 12- Test and Manage the Run

Laura Becker

Week 12 - Testing and Managing Long Run

Hello Texas Crew! I am going to make sure everyone gets into the right thread. Here were are in week 12! Hope everyone had a great BIG DAY!! Let’s hear about it!! I know some posted in week 9- but lets all get in here this week.  I really love seeing your posts---keep the mojo flowing!!

This week is a test week.  The coaches want us to focus on the following:

- Measure

- Gather Data

- Don’t forget to Sweat Test

When you head to an Ironman event, you will see lots of athletes suffer because they did not know something as simple as having a nutrition plan.  However- in the “haus”, EN’rs know how important EXECUTION is because we practiced and show up prepared. Lots of little things can take a toll on you over 140.6 miles.  Having muscles be so tight on the run from poor form on the bike. Not knowing sodium totals to account for the change in temperature on the course.  Not knowing their power meter numbers, not knowing their heart rate numbers in case power meter fails, etc. Coach Patrick has said how important it is to have multiple "A games" because so many things can change within a race. This is what we talk about when we say "stay inside your box" You can adapt and change to the things outside of your control on the course but that comes from testing, gathering data about your body, how it reacts to nutrition, heat, cold, rain etc. And those results are gathered now. Be a scientist, a student of your body as an athlete in this sport. This is another reason why posting in the forum and weekly training recaps is critical!!!

Here are the sweat test rules in case you forgot or haven't done one in awhile

1) Weigh yourself nude right before a run.

2) Run at race pace for one hour, keeping track of how much you drink (in ounces) during the run.

3) After the run, strip down, towel off any sweat, and weigh yourself nude again.

4) Subtract your weight from your prerun weight and convert to ounces. Then add to that number however many ounces of liquid you consumed on your run. (For example, if you lost a pound and drank 16 ounces of fluid, your total fluid loss is 32 ounces.)

5) To determine how much you should be drinking about every 15 minutes, divide your hourly fluid loss by 4 (in the above example it would be 8 ounces).

6) Because the test only determines your sweat losses for the environmental conditions you run in that day, you should retest on another day when conditions are different to see how your sweat rate is affected. You should also redo the test during different seasons, in different environments (such as higher or lower altitudes), and as you become faster, since pace also affects your sweat rate.

ALSO..........

Coach Patrick does a GREAT video this week on managing your long run and all its effects.  CHECK IT OUT! He explains how to get the most out of it with the least amount of impact on everything else.  

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P.S. Ya'll Rock - Now go out there and crush it!

Gordon Polozola

I'm calling an audible and am interested in your thoughts.  The steep increases in the bike and run typically catch up with me -- and they did -- resulting in tendonitis in my knee.  So, my strategy is going to be to maintain my fitness level as much as I can until my body adjusts to this level of stress, then start increasing again. For those familiar with TrainingPeaks' Performance Management Chart, I have a Chronic Training Load of around 100, but my Training Stress Balance has been in the -30s for some time.  That's obviously too much. So, I'm going to try to average 100 TSS for the next week and bring down that Balance - maybe with more swimming.  I did IMFL with a CTL of 125.  So, with close to two months to go, I thinking I have plenty of time. Does anyone else use the PMC?  What CTL have you had going into an IM?  
P.S. The long swim was awesome - love those.

Paul Hough

I'm 3 weeks ahead of you guys - racing 5 wks from tomorrow.  Gordon - I started tracking my bike PMC on my own this year...first time ever.  The measurement process for swimming is too fuzzy in my opinion to use.  My bike TSB last week was -20, but I rode 290 miles which really drove it up.  I think your plan is good...just maintain consistency and fill in with swimming if your knee flares up. Getting to the start line healthy is better than getting there with a higher CTL but injured.

Gordon Polozola

@Paul (what you racing?) and thanks. So right. No CTL in the world will help if I can't run. I wasn't really chasing a number per se, just doing the prescribed workouts. But it was a bit too much too soon for where I was in my fitness. Sounds like my TSB was way out of wack, which I should have recognized.  I need more swimming anyway.  I'm also tracking CTL in an excel spreadsheet I created. If anyone else wants it, message me your email and I'll send it over. 

Paul Hough

I'm doing IM South Africa.  I have years of training logs in excel in my own format.  I can pull TSS off my Joule when I ride indoors or my Garmin outdoors.