Brent Bills Year Two Micro Thread
The quick recap:
- Mile 40 wreck…tried to grab food…and fell. Knee and forearm pretty good. Water bottle thing was loose.
- IMTX Goal was to finish…into Santa Rosa. Sub 4 Santa Rosa run, bike 5:30 (very low).
Since year two is all about the bike, your focus makes sense. I suggest you read up on the Bike Wiki stuff (here) just to see what's low hanging fruit for you.
My coach self thinks that you don't really need to do a lot of LONG EASY rides -- Texas = been there, done that. I want more 2.5 to 3.5 hour ABP rides, unless you want to ride with friends. But step one is just getting that new sweet ride dialed in (and pics!!).
I'd also like to unpack the nutrition issue. Sometimes that can happen when you aren't going at race pace and also when you have adrenaline in your system (post crash) but we'll want to practice it more in training. When you can, please lay it out for me here.
~ Coach P
Ps, when you can please send over your strava info so I can follow up on you (aka stalk).
Comments
Nutrition worked well in St George. Stayed well highdryated on the bike and run with no issues. I drank 5 24oz bottles of GE on the bike and half a cup GE on the run each hour. I used a cliff shot every half hour on the bike and a Rocatane at mile two of the run. I also used Base Salts on the run. I think the GI issues on the bike in Texas where due to the crash. I will continue to work on nutrition during my long rides in prep for Santa Rosa.
my strava info for IM Texas and 70.3 St George are at:
https://www.strava.com/activities/977524526/embed/291c90bdbc6fccbcea7919f24b78a5ca7827060a
https://www.strava.com/activities/977677894/embed/ed2d941fbbcf5c0412f3b92ad601fa0f5d8cafdb
https://www.strava.com/activities/977525003/embed/c8fe51e3a362c3ccbce204183c537582f222a3e2
https://www.strava.com/activities/977677878/embed/abdc04acaa8a18387fddfbc943cf8d4426dfaf72
FYI P5 should be ready for pick up on Saturday. I will post pics.
So I can't speak to the swim difficulty, but it could be just that your fatigue has manifested itself in the need to get a good warm up in..and a mass swim start is NOT that place. But maybe your GPS tells a different story. Would be interesting to hear what others say re the swim.
Otherwise your bike was smart (not as hard as you could but the right bike) as seen in your great run performance. It's hard to compare as the courses couldn't be more different...but I am impressed with how well you did carrying the IM fitness over.
Your nutrition has to be working as your performance would have faltered...let me know re your swim data!
~ Coach P
1) Better Bike Salt - I recommend Salt Stick Pills...they have a good amt of sodium, and I do 1 per hour on the warmer days.
2) Heading into your marathon, frequency of short runs is best. Don't worry about "long" right now. Time spent running at 5" faster per mile than your goal Marathon pace will help you normalize what you are planning to do. As for beyond that point, you can plan on a 90' run about 12 days out as the "Big" one, but not much more. Feel free to share more info as you go and I can advise.
3) I'd like to review your info on Strava; can you point me to your account so I can dive in a bit?
4) Transitioning to Florida means more aerobar time and getting used to some bigger gearing. If you can ride the trainer, great, as both are easily practiced there. Take your "normal" cadence in an IM and work in intervals riding 5 to 10 rpm lower than normal so you can get used to the "push" that comes with IMFL. It's a nice break for you to stand every 30 minutes for a few pedal revs; this work will get you ready for the TT time that is IMFL.
Let me know how else I can help!
~ Coach P