The Memorial Day Weekend Epic Training Thread
With the long weekend, I'm sure many of you have some epic training in the works. The Pasadena Tri Club is doing it's 5th annual "PTCMan," modeled after the "Crucible" training camps I did out of my place back in the day: 3-4 days of as much SBR'ing as you can stand. I'm adding some miles to their plan. Today I'm doing about 75 miles with 9-10k of gain, featuring much of the ToC Stage 7 route that some EN members had the opportunity to sample. I'm on the tri bike all the time now....but I think I might throw the 26-11 on this morning vs the 25-12 . Joanne is working so no excuse to not go to the Rose Bowl afterwards for an easy 4-5 mile run and 2k swim.
Sunday they are riding the bike paths down to long beach and back, about 75 miles. I plan to leave early and get in about 15 on my own first. This will be my first long, flat, in the aerobars all the time ride on the bike so a good test of the position and an opportunity to continue to dial my body into the tri bike. Another short run and swim afterwards.
Monday is a 10 mile run from the Rose Bowl and cookout afterwards.
Got similar plans? Post them, and your training, here!
Comments
Yesterday:
Encanto Park, Hwy 39, East Fork, backside of GMR, Glendora Ride Road, Mt Baldy Village, ski lifts, Glendora Ridge, frontside GMR, back to cars. Totals: at the ski lifts I had 39 miles, 2489kj, .86 IF, 223 TSS, 3:00, 7188ft gain. At the end of the ride: 71 miles, 3300kj, 302 TSS, .82 TSS, 8600ft gain, 4:28 ride time.
I rode the tri bike, my first climbing ride on it. No issues climbing in the hoods, though the hoods suck and make my hands numb, as it they should, as a reminder that I should be in the aerobars and likely not climbing 7200ft in 39 miles on a tri bike . Standing was ok, though there was no dancing on the pedals per Phil and Paul. I'm too bent over.
Recovery meal #1 was a chicken salad and thirty four (34) ounce Guiness followed by a nap with 3 dogs. Recovery meal #2 was chicken and carne asada tacos, a variety of beers, and a viewing of Stage 7 of ToC where I watched the pro's ride the course above. Seeing Levi and Horner climb to lifts literally twice as fast as me was humbling! If you've seen this stage, the speed and cadence these guys have is just insane considering how steep the grade is on this thing.
For the three of the riders with us this was their first time up to the lifts, a cycling benchmark in the San Gabriel mountains. Very cool. One guy was riding with me and said he was going to turn around. I told him if he did I was going to shame him relentlessly all summer so shut up, nut up and get it done. He didn't flip it .
Today: 4 mile run then 75-80 mile flat, aerobar ride down the bike path to Long Beach with my triclub. Darwinism will be in effect, as I plan to drill it early in the ride to create the selection so I'm only riding with a small handful of folks down the path. I'd like to swim later today, as a cool down.
Yesterday:
Decided today was the day to check out Fiddler's Elbow, which is reported one of the tougher climbs here in Central Jersey, 1.5 miles with 1800 ft gain. Nothing like CA but not too shabby. This road is 65 miles from my house so decided to move start to a park a little but closer. Goal was to ride 40 miles to the hill, climb and the 40 miles back with a total of 6K ft gain.
Obviously I am riding nothing but my tri bike these days. Stayed aero for everything but the climbs. Like Rich, climbing in the hoods of the tri bike sucks. Need to research CDA course to check out the length of the climbs. Hopefully I can stay aero the entire time and just roll through the hills.
Unfortunately I never made it to Fiddler's Elbow. Hit an unexpected major highway that I didn't expect and didn't feel safe riding on it. Will have to readjust route for next attempt. Overall ended up with 60 miles, 2166kj, 291 TSS, .91 IF, 4 ft gain, 3:30 ride time.
Today:
Went out for ABP ride. Decided to head out to the reservation to diminish the amount of climbing other than that need to get onto the ridge. Legs were still feeling yesterday's effort and Thursday's long run. Goal for today was to simply work! At the end of the ride: 40 miles, 1200kj, 135 TSS, .80IF, 1200 ft gain, 2:15 ride time. Next up was the brick run: 3.7 miles in 30' with last 2 miles @ 7:30 pace.
Memorial Day:
Haven't check the plan yet, but the thought is to get into the pool and swim 1.5 to 2 hours since I have no place to be. May add a 5-6 mile run as well.
In the completed column:
Saturday - 121 mile solo bike in the heat (as in topped out at 111 heat index), followed by 2000 yards swim (mostly pulling); and 6 mile run at 6pm. Mowed the yard also.
Sunday - up early to drive to San Antonio, FL...hill country. 60 miles on the bike with repeat hills and 6 mile brick run in the hills with baking heat. Swam 1600 yards.
On the to-do list:
Monday - Sleep in, then bike 80 miles and swim 3000 yds. No run.
Family focus: Sat night - Kung Fu Panda 1. Sun night - Kung Fu Panda 2. Dinner out...works every time!
Sunday done:
Finally had time for a 4 hour ride! 74mi in 3:52. Broke the 300 TSS mark for the first time.
T1
Strawberries, bananas, and water. Change into running clothes.
Run
3mi in 18:12 to the deli
T2
Picked up lunch for the family. 2 chicken parms on a hero and an eggplant parm.
Run
3mi in 21:00 back home
T3
Ate 1.5 chicken parms and .5 eggplant parm in 00:06:08
T4
Walk to whole foods with my daughter and get a scoop of ice cream.
Swim
Between 3-4k yards in an hour
Memorial weekend triathlon complete in about 7 hours. Hardest part of the day was convincing my daughter in T4 to go with the chocolate ice cream and not vanilla.
Happy Memorial Day everyone!
Not strictly a weekend, more like a week - the middle portion of my 19 day crash training program for IM CDA.
WED - Planned a climb to the top of Independence Pass, 12,092 feet, due to open the next day. I made it to 11,600, and then turned artound when I encountered GIANT snowplows and bulldozers, moving the last of the snow from the road (plus the 3-4" which fell the night before), and throwing it up and over sidewalls which in some places were 30 FEET high. The DOT claims the snow depth (not water content) on the east side of the pass is at 400+ % of average, and on the west side (my side), over 300%. There's so much snow here they opened Aspen Mtn ski area for this weekend, something they have NEVER done since it opened in the late 40's. Anyway, the temp was about 36F at the top, I climbed a total of 6000' in 57 miles (the categorized climb would be 17 miles/3600'). In the evening, I ran 4.5 miles while my son lifted weights.
THURS - Swim 45 minutes, weight work on my arms and shoulders for 45 minutes in the AM, then another 45 minute run in the PM, doing 8 uphill strides.
FRI - Ride 70 miles from my house @ 8300' down to 6900, then up the Fryingpan river, then back into town and out to my house. TSS=180, elevation gain 4650'. Swim 230 minutes in the PM
SAT - I need a rest, so I just swim for 45 minutes and try to eat all day. I gain 0.5# by the next morning, enough to manage
SUN - Ride downvalley to Glenwood Springs and Back, While my TSS was 202, and my total climbing was 4800', the real epic nature of the ride was revealed about 1.5 hours in. Winds had been predicted to be 20-25 mph, with gusts to 45 mph. I suddenly found myself not in a gust, but in a sustained wind of at least 35 mph, coming at me off my right shoulder. Some geographic anomaly was funneling it all right at me, pushing me from the fog line to the double yellow in one pedal stroke. I angled back to the side, and touched my right foot down. I stopped there for 5 minutes, waiting for it to die down, but if anything, it got stronger. I couldn't even get off my bike without risking getting blown over. Finally, I managed to wrap my head around the idea of turning around, and aiming for a bike path which parallels the road, and was some what protected. But the rest of the ride was cursed by the variable winds; one other section had me sailing along at 30 + mph and feeling NO wind in my face - a > 30 mph tail wind! I was doing OK on fluids until about 3.5 hours into the ride, when I found my usual water source at a local high school had been labelled "Non-potable water, not sutiable for drinking." I didn't risk it, even though I was 15 miles from home, all uphill, with less than half a bottle left. I came home a little dehydrated 2% down in weight from the start of the ride. That convinced me to bag the brick I had planned. Besides, the purpose of this training time is to mainly get some saddle time in more than anything else. My swim is what it is, and my running seems quite up to snuff, so ...
Plan for the next 3 days:
MON - Swim, weights in the AM, then run intervals "down" @ 6400' in the PM
TUE - Ride up to the Maroon Bells @ 9600', this is a 38 mile ride with 3000' of climbing, plus world class scenery.
WED - Ride up the Fryingpan again, see if I can get 6 hours or 100 miles in.
My goal is 18 hours of cycling for NEXT week, after 16 this week, culminating in Sunday's race rehearsal, and including a 2.5 hour run on Thursday. I'm keying in very heavily on rest, calories, and visiting with my son, who is living here in Colorado.
I wouldn't call my weekend "epic" as I am not truly in-season yet, but after a few months in a holding pattern I got out and did some riding. Bought a new bike road last week and did some WORK this weekend:
FRIDAY - Short and fast - 1:30 bike @ .941 IF. Short bursts and some hill attacks. All new to this tri geek.
SATURDAY - Family SAU day.
SUNDAY - 101 kilometer ride total ABP. Spent first 30k with a newbie tri group helping them learn pace lining, shifting, etc. and ended that session @ .62ish IF. Then spent the next 70k building up the overall IF to .827. The last 70k was .887 IF
MONDAY - Hit a local mountain (Mt. Diablo) for a 3,500 climb @ .924 overall to the top. Legs cooked and hami barking. Cold and windy above the clouds. Froze my arse off going back down because of the sweat on the clothes.
Today:
Good session!
Just getting back to it after another prolonged cough illness. And of course St. George.
saturday. 50+ miles on the road bike. Strong first 3/4.
sunday. 40+ miles on the tandem. Wife and I have learned to coordinate pretty well. We love our sweet ride. Co-motion. Steel. Drum coaster brake for the downhills. Travel couplers allow the whole bike to go into two standard size suitcases. Hopefully some international travel with this in the future.
monday. 8 miles tandem kayaking. Great day to live in the Puget Sound area. Lunch on a beach. Otter playing nearby. By the way, kayaking and canoe paddling ( I used to do outrigger canoe racing), if done with correct form, uses very similar muscles to swimming. At the start of my triathlon career, at short distances, I would do minimal swimming. Just the outrigger paddling as my "swim" workouts.
Went up to Madison WI to stay with some friends. Saturday we did a Loop + mini loop of Imoo course (52 miles If .75 of something close to that), ran into Beith and Becky at Uphill Grind. They were there doing the EN Memorial Day weekend get together.
Sunday, threw a bib on and ran in the Madison Half Marathon....spent time in every blue office, I blame the Great dane and their cheese curds but it was okay, the plan was to just run and not race. Something like 18 mins off my PR.
Monday, hit the Imoo course again and did almost 60 miles on the nose.
The good news, after getting buzzed on RT92 one too many times, we discovered a new Route into Mt Horeb and more riding southwest of Mt Horeb. Hello new routes!
@ Jennifer - I'm glad to hear you're back on the saddle - good luck with your next two months.
I was up in Lake Placid this weekend. Lots of folks out training even in sub-standard weather.
Friday - 25 miles of riding, followed by swim in Mirror Lake
Saturday - 2 loops of IMLP course - cut short the second loop due to Thunder/Lightning - end up 102 miles - bagged the brick due again to storm.
Sunday - One loop on IMLP course - followed by 8.2 mile loop on IMLP run course on River Road - then agan storms...
Monday - Swam in Mirror Lake before hitting the road....
Great weekend of fun and getting a little better in shape...