Big Tri Day
Did the Big Tri Day on Thursday instead of Saturday. 1 hour swim w/ a 1000 TT, went 7 secs. faster than last test, 16:45.
Did a 4:15:00 ride for 85 miles. Rode stronger than I should have and felt it at the end. Very strong head wind all the way home which pushed up the watts. Need to be more disciplined. Averaged 20 mph.
Ran for 1 hour, 8.16 miles, avg pace 7:21, also faster than I was scheduled to run. Suffered the rest of the day on the couch with hip pain, nauseau and some pretty good fatigue. Still getting use to my my new bike fit that I got from Todd, a much more aggressive position than I am use to.
Was going to do a 1/2 mary on Sunday. Will decide Sunday morning if I have recovered enough to have a good showing.
Those of you doing the 20 week IM program, how did your Big Tri Day Go ?
Comments
PB&J for breakfast at 8 AM along with coffee then a banana on my way to the pool.
Pool doesnt open till 10 so had to go for the late start. Was in the water by 10:10, swam 3x1000 all pull @ 1:51, 1:56 & 2:01.
Guzzled a Gatorade as I re-assembled my bike and filled the Speedfill with 2x Infinite.
Biked from the pool planned to target 147w @ .70 but since I have only been outside with a PM a few times found it hard to hold the numbers. The end of the first 30' PNorm was 161 @ .748 - 2nd 30' similar. Decided to give in and look at 160w @ .75. All was good till mile 58 when I flatted my rear. Went to fix it but couldn't - I never looked at the spare in my kit - it was a short stem tube and I was 12 miles from my car. Had to walk a half mile before I got cell service, and walked another half before the taxi showed up.
End result was 58 miles in 3:12; TSS 180; PNorm 162; VI 1.03; IF 0.754 Cad 82 @ 18.1 mph with 1600' vert. Nutrition worked well - my first long ride with Infinite running x2 (8 sc in Speedfill) and for water I had 24 oz on the seattube and 24 oz in my jersey. Was bummed I couldn't finish the ride, I felt like I could have gone another 2 hrs at that pace.
Run was delayed due to the flat and taxi but did it as planned. Ran 8:31 out and 8:05 back, 7 miles in 57:53.
Things I learned? A banana just before the swim is a bad idea..... Don't overfill the Speedfil or I'll be wearing it.... extra water in the jersey pocket works great...... Infinite on Gatorade makes me burp...... Over hydrating is a drag (3 pee stops).... make sure my repair kit is compatable..... always carry a $50 bill for a taxi....
Dispite the snafu with the bike it was a good day and a great ego booster. No issues with the new fit, Adamo Breakaway, shoes, or nutrition. Doing a long day with minimum biking the past 5 weeks helped convince me that I will do well with consistant training.
Looking at the plan there are only 4 'off' days between now and IMLP.... gonna be a lot of long days to come.....
Steve, way to be persistant and take what life dishes out. Best thing about the day other than all the work you put in was all the lessons learned. This certainly is a game of experience !!
Little late on this one, but i actually had a great "Big Day".
Started out the day fueling well then off to the Y. Completed 100oyd TT and knocked over 60 off last best time. (18:11) Not great, but happy as i'm really a non swimmer. Finished off the workout completing a total 3k swim.
Bike also went well. Did two, two hour loops of 35 miles each.Fairly hilly, but with a total distance of just over 70miles. 2005kj, TSS 302, IF .86, average speed of 17.6. Again, pretty happy.
Run is where the surprise came in. Never been good at running off the bike...and expected to be tired from weekday work, but really found my legs on the run. Ended up doing 8 miles at IF 1.02, 8:50 per mile.
@ Henry - Nice work!
On Sunday I flew out for a work trip at 7:00 a.m., and by noon I was feeling a vicious cold coming on. Wondering if that was impacting me on Friday, because my legs just felt much worse than I thought they should have given the effort. In any case, I got a 4 day forced vacation as a result of the travel and subsequent sickness.
Looking for a better result next time!
First big tri day for me and it didn't go all that well, but i have some thoughts about the experience. The swim was the best part in that i felt really smooth in the water and could just keep knocking off laps (all pull). I swam for the 60' but have no idea how far as at one point some weird guy just jumps in and says "circle swim". I try to protest because the guy on the other side is breast stroking at a rate of 5:00/100 yds, but the guy just starts swimming he then is always on the wrong side of the lane and is just trying to dolphin kick the entire length without using his arms. i could pass him 2-3 times before he completed a length of the pool, yet this dude wants to circle swim......and this was after a 10 y.o. had already jumped into my lane going the opposite way and we smacked heads.
the bike felt pretty good, although i called it after 3 hours because of extreme foot pain. i know this is an issue and i have some shoes on order. tried my new infinit and it seemed to be ok. had a slight cramp on the last uphill to my house, so i'm wondering if the 72 ounces of fluid (3 hrs. of infinite mix) wasn't enough and i also should have been taking in some plain water. I was way over my target NP of 163 (.7 IF), so that means I really need to back it off. I was pretty consistent with a VI of 1.02 so that part is ok.
Duration: 3:03:48 (3:11:35)
Work: 1858 kJ
TSS: 163.8 (IF 0.738)
Norm Power: 173
VI: 1.02
Distance: 55.602
Ave HR: 153
Cadence: 85 rpm
Speed: 18.2
the run was tough. I felt like I was upper chest breathing the whole time and couldn't get my diaphragm to relax. Only managed about 4.7 miles in about 44:10 as I was starting not to feel well. just tried to maintain my LRP.
Lessons:
1. get new bike shoes
2. need to drink water in addition to my infinite mix. 24 ounces per hour just isn't enough for me.
3. need to back off on the bike some
4. still playing with the nutrition stuff. my stomach just doesn't do well with longer training/racing. need to figure this out. took the protein out of my new mix as the foaming really upsets my stomach.....
Big day today - good results, maintained control and executed to plan.
Swim - feeling frisky I went for 2x1600 (2'). First at 1:46 second at 1:47. Smooth and consistant, still fresh when done. 57:10 total.
Bike - 52*and overcast, chance of showers... Rain started 25 minutes in and continued for an hour. Road spray kept me soaked till I stopped at the 2 hour turn around to put armwarmers on my calves. Infinite in the Speedfill @ 2x for 1100 total cals on 15' intervals. Still havent tested outside so used indoor FTP @ 75% - NP of 161 target. Every 30' hit the Interval to keep my NP and IF relatively current. Overall bike 3:54; 69 miles; TSS 223; NP 163; VI 1.03; IF 0.758.
Run - feet had been numb since mile 30 on the bike, no better at the run start. Couldnt feel then till after mile 3 or so. Starting out I felt like I was going stupid slow, numb feet made it worse. Dispite everything, my pace was at 8:34 - my goal pace. Felt strong thru mile 4, started to struggle a bit after that. Last mile was really starting to be a struggle but ended with a 8:20 for the mile. Overall 59:25; 7 miles @ 8:29.
Lessons:
Need toe covers for riding in the cold rain.
Armwarmers make great calf warmers - especially from road spray.
Nalgene bitvalve not so good, need to put the Speedfill bitvalve back on.
My butt needs more time on the Adamo.... or more flesh between my sit bones and the seat .... ouch!
Infinite rocks - 4th long ride and have'nt had an issue (GI or bonk). All liquid nutrition is the way to go.
I did the Big Tri Day on Thursday because I had a conferance all day on Sat. Swam for 1 hour in the pool and did the prescribed intervals, upper body did get a little fatigued after doing a hard one hour swim the day before.
Got right on the bike and rode for 4:02:00 for 76.5 miles, avg 19.0 mph. Did a pretty good job riding consistantly and hit the watts of 195 for 30' 200 for 2 1/2 hours and the remainder at 210 W. Legs felt a lot better on this BTD because I was very careful not to spike my watts and rode much smoother.
After a quick change I did the 1 hour run, covered 8.45 miles for an average pace of 7:10. Faster than I was suppose to but I just ran at what I felt was a comfortable smooth pace. I could not have been happier with how I felt running, breathing was never an issue and legs felt strong. I obviously did a much better job pacing the bike appropriately due to how I good I felt.
Came out of todays workout feeling pretty confident with where I stand fitness wise with 9 weeks of training left. Finished the day with an ice bath and long stint in the hot tub. Had a great massage on Friday, and now I'm ready for another hard week of training.
Did the big day yesterday as scheduled. Overall, I'm very happy with the way things went.
Swim:
Followed workout as written. 2,500 yards filled the hour for me.
Bike:
Felt pretty good the entire ride. Stayed aero almost the entire time, except on harder/longer hills, and was pretty comfortable the whole ride. Little aches an pains would come and go from time to time, but not bad.
Using 275 as SWAG outside FTP, gears were:
1 - 185
2 - 195
3 - 205
4 - 215
Overall:
NP = 190
VI = 1.05
Cadence = 82
Ave HR = 132
Speed = 17.2
Distance = 69.7
Time = 4:02
TSS = 190
IF = .69
Surprised that NP was lower than target by 5 watts. Based on looking at LYC during the ride, I thought I was sticking to 195 fairly well. Coasting, downhills, etc. come into play I guess, which you don't get on the trainer. I wonder if I should be shooting a little higher than my target in the future? Or just trying to hit all the gears a little better? I noticed this on other outside rides as well, where the NP is 5 - 10 watts lower than what I would have guess by watching the numbers during the ride.
Cadence was also a little low, and I though I was averaging more like 90, at least on the flats. I'm thinking this is biased by some of the long, very low cadence hills I had to climb (I'm 206lbs, so hills really slow me down).
Overall very happy with ride. Felt pretty good for 70 miles. However, expanding the TSS out over a full Ironman distance ride and I would have burned up about 304 TSS - too high according to the charts. I will be testing outside on the bike next week to get better outside power number, and should have a better handle on things after that and the first real race rehearsal. I think if I can get my average speed up to 18 mph, the picture gets much better. Number one priority right now is to get weight down below 200!
Nutrition was one 750 cal bottle of Infinate (a three hour bottle for me), supplemented with a bag of Powerbar energy blast things over the last 45 min of the ride, and a gel before the run. Seemed to work well, although my stomach got a little queasy for some reason near the end of the run - was only drinking water during the actual run.
Run:
Felt pretty good considering the long ride, but it got hot and humid (not Texas hot, but hot for me at this time of year!). Was shooting for 45 min at EP and then the last 15 minutes at MP. HR was gradually climbing to about 10 bpm faster than usual for EP part, and did not quite hit the pace for the MP part - about 10 sec/mile slower than usual. So I guess I was a little fried from the bike.
Overall very happy with the way it went for 9 weeks out. Was nice having the day off today!
Quassy in a couple of weeks, followed by the training weekend in Placid.
Conducted a "Big Day" of training this Friday.
HR Athlete training for IM Lake Placid...This will be my first IM. Did full 20 Week October OS.
Stats:
1:00:31 Continuous Swim = 69 Laps in a 25 yard pool=1.96miles 1:45/100yards average
40 minutes from out of the pool/change and drive from pool to bike route
3:53 Hour Bike-62 miles (16MPH ave.) First hour was 75% Average HR remainder was 80% Average HR-stopped 4 times to pee and refill water bottles.
2 minute Transition
48.57 minute Run- 5.8 Miles (8:26/mile ave).
Wore EN tri shorts and bike jersey for the bike, switched to the tri top for the run. No issues.
Beginning Weight: 158.2lbs (I'm getting light; 24 months ago I was 174lbs)
Ending weight: 154.4lbs
Weather: started out in the 60s working its way up to 75 and sunny.
Nutrition
Day before;
60 ounces of Gatorade day before while at work
Big lunch
Normal dinner (not stuffed)
420 calories at 9:30pm night before of Naked Juice protein
Day of;
Breakfast at 5:30am 1/2 Bagel with cream cheese, small coffee, small OJ, 6 oz of water(should have added in a Gu or more sports drink)
8 ounces of water between Pool to Bike (Basically T1).
On the bike:
1 -750 calorie 24 ounce bottle of infinit (250 calories/500mg sodium/3g protein per serving)
1 Gu 100 calories
5 -24 ounce bottles of water-total of 120 ounces of water
On the Run:
24 ounces of Perform (well actually 20ounces of perform plus 4 ounces of water mixed in)
Immediately after the run
32 ounces of Gu Recovery drink- 250 cals
Lessons learned/observations.
- Swim, Very excited by my performance in the pool. Swimming continuously for an hour in a 25 yard pool isn't much fun, but was able to keep a very steady pace not spiking my HR once. Got out of the pool feeling like I could have swam for another 30 minutes easily. Swim wasn't a big deal. Will continue to work at getting faster and more efficient. Need OW time. Big confidence builder here.
- Did a sweat trial and results are that I should have had between 42 and 46 ounces of water/hour instead of the 33 ounces/hour I averaged. Overall, I felt pretty good most of the day. I chose sleep over any sort of Get up at 2am type protocol. Naked Juice sat well through the night. I will do the 2am feeding for my RR.
-I peed 6 times during the entire event. Pee was clear. I feel like my hydration level was pretty good all day. However, I was surprised that I lost 3.8 lbs during the day even with 208ounces of water/sports drink consumed to include my recovery drink.
-Riding easy by yourself is at times boring but I was pretty good at keeping to my intended paces. Kept Aero about 85% of the time, stretching and drinking fluid the remaining 15% of the time. Stayed high zone 1 to low/mid zone 2 most of the time.
- Off the bike, I ran 8:26/mile for 5.8 miles on a rolling/flat course. I wanted to see how my legs held up if I tried to push a little. It hurt some but I was able to maintain. Walked twice to simulate aid stations. No stomach issues, no cramping. Last 5K run test netted me a VDOT of 44. Easy Pace is 9:27. I did a 2 hour (13.35 mile) run earlier in the week and averaged 9:08/mile on a hilly course. I think this means there is room to push the bike just a bit harder but those might be dangerous thoughts for a newbie. Will learn more at the Lake Placid Camp in a few weeks.
-Really liked PERFORM on the run. No issues. Will most likely use Perform to fill the gap between a 3 hour infinit bottle and SN bag. Not a huge fan of taking too much Gu if any for longer sessions.
-Funny observations: saw 1 fox (2x), 2 Turtles (1 small 1 Fookin huge) 50 or so frogs as I ran past them and they jumped back in the water.
Overall, had a great day. Was happy with my fitness. Of course I wish I could have average a slightly higher pace on my bike but there is still lots of saddle time to go. My speed will go up just by taking away so many stops to refil water bottles and to pee. Yup, I know how to pee on the bike..
Afterwards I felt pretty good. I was a little sore, legs were tired but managmeable. No headache. Gained back most of the weight by that night.