It occurred to me last evening that a "hidden" issue of race rehearsal weekend is the inability to get enough calories back after Day 1 before starting Day 2. Yesterday I did the entire RR from Caesar Creek State Park; and with sunrise at 7:25 I couldn't get in the water until 7:20 or so. Then after biking 112 with refuel stops, and a transition to running, I didn't get home until 4:30.
And I was famished.
Ate as much as I could but it wasn't enough to ride outdoors again ... it would have been Snickers and Coke at every gas station I passed by. So I switched the format: early breakfast; another open-water swim; a 5-mile brick run; then home for a second breakfast. I'll take a power nap, hit the trainer, and see what's left in my body today.
I ahve to say that I am totally concerned about my race. I am clearly carrying a ton of fatigue from Last week. Reminder that this was a bike camp week in CO that ended with an Intense effort in an OLY.. I did not hit my long run mileage goal this week. I also faltered tremendously on my planned one day RR today.
I biked 45miles outside and got rained on quite a bit, decided to head home, dry off, warm up and get on the trainer, I managed one 25' set at high IM pace (.73IF) on the drainer... now trying to motivate for a run..
I am driving to middlebury VT tonight where my daughter is participating in a LAX recruiting event tomorrow, I plan on running 10 miles on trails there as well as swimming in a world class pool facility.
bottom line is that I think the fatigue needs to be respected at this point and plan on a solidly executed taper..
Got in Race Rehearsal #2 today. Overall a good day and I'd say it went better than RR1.
Swim - completed the 4200 yds in under an hour. Bike - managed to negative split my two 50 mile loops by about 2 minutes, which was a plus. What was most successful was MINIMAL GI issues! I drank 6 bottles of GE and I peed out every one of them. I peed on the bike 3 times each loop. Does this seem excessive? I didn't need any TUMS today so that was huge. Run - it was hot and had a bit of a struggle keeping the HR down with the hills. Walked a few steps each mile trying to get it back down.
@Sabra Gonzalez I peed a lot today as well. I think because I drank so much during and after yesterday's ride. It was also cold in Michigan this morning.
@Sabra Gonzalez, @Brian Hagan - x3 on the peeing. I was peeing about every hour on my bike plus before and after my brick run and continued a couple hours after getting home! temps here were much cooler...upper 50 to mid 60s with low humidity. My guess is I was using my normal hydration plan for warm and humid conditions. Since I wasn't sweating out 32+ ounces per hour, there wasn't a huge fluid replacement need...all that extra fluid had to go somewhere. This is an issue when your nutrition/calories are in liquid form and bundled with your hydration plan. If I cut back on my hydration, I automatically reduce my calories. I recall Coach Rich being an advocate of keeping hydration, nutrition, and sodium separate so you can dial up/down any of the three based on conditions.
@Scott Dinhofer -- saw your 10-mile run on Strava and it looked pretty good ... how did it feel? It will probably take another week to recover from your CO camp, but you'll get plenty of benefit in time for Lou. I'm curious what kind of taper you have planned; ,maybe some short-but-intense sessions to stay sharp without adding too stress
That's a great point @Derrek Sanks -- we definitely can't cut overall calories, but salt and water consumption could be cut a bit. However, if I drink only GE then I'll get GI issues, so maybe I'll plan to add more Clif gels and blocks
My RR#2 went well, even though I got a late start on Saturday and flatted around mile 80. I did my RR Swim Friday night and set a PR for the RR pool swim. Saturday was 112 mile bike followed by a 1 hr run. A couple things I noted: It's easy to start the bike too fast after the 20-30 mins of easy Z1 riding. Must stay on my target watts even if it feels easy in the first couple hours. Since the temps were much cooler than previous long rides, don't use a lower HR as a reason to push harder, ditto on the run. My average bike HR was 122, with the last 60-90' in the upper 130s. Normally my average is in the mid 130s, with the last 60-90' in the mid 140s. In cooler temps, use pace (Z1+30") for the first 6 miles on the run, not average bike HR. Remember to take in extra nutrition (front load) in the first 2-4 miles on the run when you're feeling good and HR is lower.
Besides having to stop about every 60-90 to pee and/or refuel bottles and the flat, which added 60 mins to my total bike duration, it was a good RR.
I took this morning to rest, eat a big breakfast and clean my bike. This afternoon, my plan is 150' ABP ride on the trainer followed by a 30-60' run.
I hope everyone is having a great training weekend.
so glad we are done lol! This week was really good for confidence but I must say that an additional week of serious training would had been hard on the fatigue side.
Need to execute a ninja taper, have to deal with major life changes this week.
Friday we did a zwift 112M ride which took 4h40, that was intense followed by a solid brick, took yesterday off.
I am seeing some positive results, my 5hrs power curve is actually higher than it was for IMMT. Now I need to execute that bike correctly to setup the run which I got no expectations.
Rest well, looking fwd to read race plans this week !
@Francis Picard You were so strong on the Friday ride. I was enjoying the draft all day, but you were up front pulling for P and Tim. Your bike is looking stellar!
@scott Dinhofer I've never done the 2 IM that close together, but from everything I hear rest is the best. You've got some really smart people (including yourself) looking out for you, so I am sure you are reaching out to them for ideas. You have the fitness for sure, and the numbers to back it up! I think it is normal to feel fatigued based off what I heard from Coach P and Francis. Adjustments in favor of rest are very smart.
@Sabra Gonzalez You are killing it! I can't wait to share the course with you! That was some serious elevation backed up by a stout run this weekend.
@Derrek Sanks Awesome RR man! You are really peaking at the right time!
@Paul Curtin Thanks for sharing the videos. You made some very smart adjustments.
My week went very well for the most part. Tuesday - Zwift race (40K) - 3rd all time 10 minute power; 2nd all time 20 minute power; highest all time 1 hour power. Wednesday - 20 mile run - I was sick the previous week and the weather cooled down dramatically. I was going to cap it at 18, but some admin issues made me do an extra 2. Friday - Planned to do a full RR, but a semi knocked out an overpass on the expressway to the pool, so skipped the swim. I rode 112 on Zwift with Francis, Coach P, and Tim Sullivan. It took me a little longer than those guys (5:07). Also, I know I had a huge benefit of drafting, so I have no belief that that is a realistic IM time for me. I followed up with a 60 minute run. My pace settled at a very similar pace to my 20 mile run with my bike HR. Saturday - Long ride outside with a friend. It was pretty cold, so we had mostly winter gear on. I had no shoe covers, and my feet were pretty cold. We went at a very easy pace and did 101 miles, 4300 ft in 5:30. I ran 5 miles off that and felt good. Oh, I peed a ton. 4 or 5 times on the bike and once on the run. Sunday - Almost 3 hours on the Team EN Sunday ABP Ride (62 miles). The one issue I have with all the time on the trainer is saddle sores. I am a little worried, but I got some stuff today that is already helping. We had a blast on the ride today with a pretty big group at one point. The time flew by and I had a very quality ride with lots of intervals and recovery.
Overall, I ended up with 23 hours this week. 1374 TSS; 7000 yards swimming (cut short because of semi truck); 314 miles on the bike and 38 miles of running. I am looking forward to tapering and then heading down to Louisville to meet all of you!
Feeling woefully unprepared for this. -my CTL is low.... My weight is not for discussion, but evasive action is being taken! -last week felt like an epic fail.. Couldn't even do the swims I wanted to, RR was a bust. -10 mile trail run was good, I guess the fact that I banged that out with little issue says a lot... Hoping for a nice race day pop!
@Brian Hagan - save me a seat for the Kona viewing party, i think we will need to reschedule Saturday afternoon movies to just hang out at Hagan's!
Much better RR#2 than the last one! Didn't have all the mechanical issues this time, but did have killer wind!
Did the swim on Thursday night in a 25 meter pool: 3,950 meters in 1:31, the bike I ended up doing it in the city (lakefront trail in Chicago) which posed to be a bit of a hassle with the people traffic even in the early am, as well as some stopping and going, not to mention the north wind roughly 18-20 mph made for some crazy fast and crazy slow times, overall it was just ok though. Commuted to the lake front on the bike through the city and did 93 miles in 5:38 (Average 16.4mph) before commuting back home on the bike thought the city. Took Saturday free with the family to go to there ND game then did the second ride in the country on Sunday, much better of a ride, 56.4 (Average 18.1mph) in just over 3 hours. Some minor adjustments needed to the bike, but nutrition was better this time. I added some snicker bars to my gel and powerbar routine, as well as had 3.5-4 24 oz bottles of GE, so it kept my energy levels up and I felt good after. Much easier to ride in the country than the city for sure!
Lessons learned this time: - Pacing, need to pay attention to my heart rate, even if it means slowing down - Plan on packing a snicker bar or two in the special needs bike bag, it really helped, or at least it did in my head. - Need to change out tires today, need new rubber, getting thin. - Always pay attention to the cracks in the road so your front tire doesn't get caught and you almost crash, one legged save on this one. - Deer don't only like to cross in front of cars, and still freeze in their tracks when you are on a bike heading towards them... - Relax, enjoy and have fun...
Tough crowd here for the competition for sure! Wishing you all the best day out there coming up soon.
Back in 2009 IMLV was my very first IM and yes, I was with EN.
Sending you all the vibes of victory from that great experience. I will have all locked and loaded in my tracker simulating a Gerbil on crack following you guys on my phone!
Feeling woefully unprepared for this. -my CTL is low.... My weight is not for discussion, but evasive action is being taken! -last week felt like an epic fail.. Couldn't even do the swims I wanted to, RR was a bust. -10 mile trail run was good, I guess the fact that I banged that out with little issue says a lot... Hoping for a nice race day pop!
@Brian Hagan - save me a seat for the Kona viewing party, i think we will need to reschedule Saturday afternoon movies to just hang out at Hagan's!
@Scott Dinhofer - give it a few days. The last days before the taper are always a reality distortion. But curious ... what's your plan to shake the fatigue? Have you reached out to Pat or any of the other WSMs?
@Dave Tallo - i think the fatigue was based on a few factors - big bike week in Aspen capped with a PR, Podium placing OLY trying to put together a big swim/ run week, fail after ^^that^^ @tim cronk's given me some advice privately - go easy!
so I did a crazy weekend... up early Saturday, biked 45 miles patially in the rain, then 30 miins on trainer, felt blah... Had to head into NYC for a Yom Kippur break the fast, then head back to westchester, pick up my daughter and drive as far North as I could before needing to sleep, we got a room in Clifton Park NY (Albany) hometown of Chris Gleason!
next morning, finish drive to Middlebury VT. I went for a 10 mile trail run while my daughter participated in a LAX recruiting event, then did 2000M in the pool. Started feeling blah in the car, and by yesterday had some kind of bug working, so i went FULL STOP yesterday... Will try to do the bike/ run workout this afternoon based on how I feel. Possibly toss in a short swim...
@Scott Dinhofer .. I am not a WMS, but if I was you, I would only go swim today, just swap today's wkout with tomorrow. The main reason ? I wouldnt want to feel pressed to do BOTH. But its your call
Comments
And I was famished.
Ate as much as I could but it wasn't enough to ride outdoors again ... it would have been Snickers and Coke at every gas station I passed by. So I switched the format: early breakfast; another open-water swim; a 5-mile brick run; then home for a second breakfast. I'll take a power nap, hit the trainer, and see what's left in my body today.
Here's my race rehearsal video update
I biked 45miles outside and got rained on quite a bit, decided to head home, dry off, warm up and get on the trainer, I managed one 25' set at high IM pace (.73IF) on the drainer... now trying to motivate for a run..
I am driving to middlebury VT tonight where my daughter is participating in a LAX recruiting event tomorrow, I plan on running 10 miles on trails there as well as swimming in a world class pool facility.
bottom line is that I think the fatigue needs to be respected at this point and plan on a solidly executed taper..
Swim - completed the 4200 yds in under an hour. Bike - managed to negative split my two 50 mile loops by about 2 minutes, which was a plus. What was most successful was MINIMAL GI issues! I drank 6 bottles of GE and I peed out every one of them. I peed on the bike 3 times each loop. Does this seem excessive? I didn't need any TUMS today so that was huge. Run - it was hot and had a bit of a struggle keeping the HR down with the hills. Walked a few steps each mile trying to get it back down.
Tomorrow will be a Zwift day.
https://youtu.be/kyh8vLgkVGI
In cooler temps, use pace (Z1+30") for the first 6 miles on the run, not average bike HR. Remember to take in extra nutrition (front load) in the first 2-4 miles on the run when you're feeling good and HR is lower.
Besides having to stop about every 60-90 to pee and/or refuel bottles and the flat, which added 60 mins to my total bike duration, it was a good RR.
I took this morning to rest, eat a big breakfast and clean my bike. This afternoon, my plan is 150' ABP ride on the trainer followed by a 30-60' run.
I hope everyone is having a great training weekend.
This week was really good for confidence but I must say that an additional week of serious training would had been hard on the fatigue side.
Need to execute a ninja taper, have to deal with major life changes this week.
Friday we did a zwift 112M ride which took 4h40, that was intense followed by a solid brick, took yesterday off.
I am seeing some positive results, my 5hrs power curve is actually higher than it was for IMMT. Now I need to execute that bike correctly to setup the run which I got no expectations.
Rest well, looking fwd to read race plans this week !
@scott Dinhofer I've never done the 2 IM that close together, but from everything I hear rest is the best. You've got some really smart people (including yourself) looking out for you, so I am sure you are reaching out to them for ideas. You have the fitness for sure, and the numbers to back it up! I think it is normal to feel fatigued based off what I heard from Coach P and Francis. Adjustments in favor of rest are very smart.
@Sabra Gonzalez You are killing it! I can't wait to share the course with you! That was some serious elevation backed up by a stout run this weekend.
@Derrek Sanks Awesome RR man! You are really peaking at the right time!
@Paul Curtin Thanks for sharing the videos. You made some very smart adjustments.
My week went very well for the most part.
Tuesday - Zwift race (40K) - 3rd all time 10 minute power; 2nd all time 20 minute power; highest all time 1 hour power.
Wednesday - 20 mile run - I was sick the previous week and the weather cooled down dramatically. I was going to cap it at 18, but some admin issues made me do an extra 2.
Friday - Planned to do a full RR, but a semi knocked out an overpass on the expressway to the pool, so skipped the swim. I rode 112 on Zwift with Francis, Coach P, and Tim Sullivan. It took me a little longer than those guys (5:07). Also, I know I had a huge benefit of drafting, so I have no belief that that is a realistic IM time for me. I followed up with a 60 minute run. My pace settled at a very similar pace to my 20 mile run with my bike HR.
Saturday - Long ride outside with a friend. It was pretty cold, so we had mostly winter gear on. I had no shoe covers, and my feet were pretty cold. We went at a very easy pace and did 101 miles, 4300 ft in 5:30. I ran 5 miles off that and felt good. Oh, I peed a ton. 4 or 5 times on the bike and once on the run.
Sunday - Almost 3 hours on the Team EN Sunday ABP Ride (62 miles). The one issue I have with all the time on the trainer is saddle sores. I am a little worried, but I got some stuff today that is already helping. We had a blast on the ride today with a pretty big group at one point. The time flew by and I had a very quality ride with lots of intervals and recovery.
Overall, I ended up with 23 hours this week. 1374 TSS; 7000 yards swimming (cut short because of semi truck); 314 miles on the bike and 38 miles of running. I am looking forward to tapering and then heading down to Louisville to meet all of you!
-my CTL is low.... My weight is not for discussion, but evasive action is being taken!
-last week felt like an epic fail.. Couldn't even do the swims I wanted to, RR was a bust.
-10 mile trail run was good, I guess the fact that I banged that out with little issue says a lot... Hoping for a nice race day pop!
@Brian Hagan - save me a seat for the Kona viewing party, i think we will need to reschedule Saturday afternoon movies to just hang out at Hagan's!
Did the swim on Thursday night in a 25 meter pool: 3,950 meters in 1:31, the bike I ended up doing it in the city (lakefront trail in Chicago) which posed to be a bit of a hassle with the people traffic even in the early am, as well as some stopping and going, not to mention the north wind roughly 18-20 mph made for some crazy fast and crazy slow times, overall it was just ok though. Commuted to the lake front on the bike through the city and did 93 miles in 5:38 (Average 16.4mph) before commuting back home on the bike thought the city. Took Saturday free with the family to go to there ND game then did the second ride in the country on Sunday, much better of a ride, 56.4 (Average 18.1mph) in just over 3 hours. Some minor adjustments needed to the bike, but nutrition was better this time. I added some snicker bars to my gel and powerbar routine, as well as had 3.5-4 24 oz bottles of GE, so it kept my energy levels up and I felt good after. Much easier to ride in the country than the city for sure!
Lessons learned this time:
- Pacing, need to pay attention to my heart rate, even if it means slowing down
- Plan on packing a snicker bar or two in the special needs bike bag, it really helped, or at least it did in my head.
- Need to change out tires today, need new rubber, getting thin.
- Always pay attention to the cracks in the road so your front tire doesn't get caught and you almost crash, one legged save on this one.
- Deer don't only like to cross in front of cars, and still freeze in their tracks when you are on a bike heading towards them...
- Relax, enjoy and have fun...
Back in 2009 IMLV was my very first IM and yes, I was with EN.
Sending you all the vibes of victory from that great experience. I will have all locked and loaded in my tracker simulating a Gerbil on crack following you guys on my phone!
SS
big bike week in Aspen capped with a PR, Podium placing OLY
trying to put together a big swim/ run week, fail after ^^that^^
@tim cronk's given me some advice privately - go easy!
so I did a crazy weekend... up early Saturday, biked 45 miles patially in the rain, then 30 miins on trainer, felt blah... Had to head into NYC for a Yom Kippur break the fast, then head back to westchester, pick up my daughter and drive as far North as I could before needing to sleep, we got a room in Clifton Park NY (Albany) hometown of Chris Gleason!
next morning, finish drive to Middlebury VT. I went for a 10 mile trail run while my daughter participated in a LAX recruiting event, then did 2000M in the pool. Started feeling blah in the car, and by yesterday had some kind of bug working, so i went FULL STOP yesterday... Will try to do the bike/ run workout this afternoon based on how I feel. Possibly toss in a short swim...