IMCDA Race Rehearsal #1--Uh Oh
During the last few long bike rides I have experienced bonking at about 70 miles or so. I haven't been too surprised by this since I have been really pushing the training zones this year as opposed to last time (2010) I was just happy with completing the duration in Zone 1 or Zone 2. Since I have been rockin' this year's training, I tend to go out way too hard still and riding in Zone 1 is difficult let alone trying to ride in a JRA effort for 60-90 minutes! So I have had my mind set on this RR for quite some time.
To give me a little extra recovery I decided to do the long run on Wednesday evening and got in almost 14 miles hitting all of my paces and executed the run really well. Friday morning's swim went really well, too. Was able to pull a 1:09 and negative split the last half of the swim. Sweet!
Saturday's Ride/Run:
So I got some good rest and got up and ate a toasted sandwhich thin with peanut butter and jelly, took my vitamins and prepared my nutrition bottles for the day. I am using Infinit and made two-2hr bottles and put water in my aero jug. I also packed some powergels and snicker's bites in my bento box.
Chose a relatively flat course of 56 mile loop around the scenic hometown of Vancouver, WA. Temps started out at about 60 and climbed to 83 by the end of the ride.
JRA=Stoopid Easy: I need to remember this! Too many times I got caught up in the Mo-jo and I was knocking on Zone 3. How in the heck am I going to keep the Mo-jo of the Ironman Bike course under control? So after about 30 minutes of fighting the urges, I finally got my head wrapped around the sense of easy pressure on the pedals (I do not have a powermeter). My Zone 1 Hr goes to 113 BPM. First 90 minutes I made it 25 miles with an average HR of 108.
Zone 1/Low Zone 2: Okay, first 90 minutes are done, time now to settle in. I purposely planned to reach the point in my ride where I usually do my bike tests. It is a very flat section out by Vancouver Lake and the Columbia River. There is usually a head/tail wind and very little to look at so it really tests me mentally. But, as luck would have it, the local tri club was having a mock-triathlon training session and I filtered in with their athletes on the bike course. With the new tri-bike, I really like passing folks. Once again, my HR creeped up into Zone 4 this time as I found myself looking for victims. After telling myself to keep my head in the game and stick to the plan, I finally got myself back into my proper zones. My average speed jumped from 16 to 20 mph and my avg Hr for this stretch was 118 (Zone 2 is 114 to 120).
The next 14 miles or so had some good hills in it as I climbed away from the water and back onto the plateau where I live. I kept it pretty steady and easy trying to execute proper technique in climbing. I am much better at this part of the plan because I really don't like climbing hills, but I sure love the speed on the other side. Finished the first loop in 3:06.
2nd loop: Refilled my bottles and restocked my nutrition. By the way, I went through 1-1/2 bottles of Infinit and a full aero jug of water. Downed 2 PowerGels and 4 snickers bites. As I took off on the 2nd loop I ate a flintstones multi-vitamin and took an endurolyte.
Tried to keep it at a low Zone 2 or high Zone 1 as I took off. I was feeling pretty good. I was experiencing some chafing with the tri-shorts, but nothing too serious. My body felt fine, no real aches anywhere with exception of my achilles which has been acting up lately. I pressed on. The temps were getting warm and I was guzzling the water quicker on the 2nd loop. The first section (25 miles) took me a little longer 1:36 and my avg HR was 114. I knew I was going to be over 6 hours if I went the entire 112 mles, and was considering cutting it short, but decided to press on for this first RR. I did the full loop out by the lake/river in just under an hour (17 mph) and my Hr was 116. I had to stop and refill my aero jug with water and douse my head and face to cool me off. The wind had picked up and I despised riding into the wind, but kept things steady and tried to stay as aero as possible.
At about mile 90 or so, I started hurting. Just fatigued in my quads. My left shoulder was a little sore but surprisingly my back and everything else felt fine. Well, my tush was sore, but not too bad. I was pleased that I had been locked in the aerobars for most of the ride.
The last 20 miles or so was pretty rough, I was feeling depleted. I ate my last power gels and snickers bites and guzzled both Infinit 2-hour bottles. Total time for the 113 miles was 6:40 (by the way I went 7:35 at IMCDA in 2010). Time for the run.
RUN:
Legs were pretty jacked from the ride and it was pretty hot out. I had G2 gatorade and water in my run belt. I also run with a wet rag to cool my face and neck. The first mile was spot on at my proper pace of about 10:40. Walked the 30 steps and then got back to running. the first 3 miles were pretty good, but then the fatigue was just too much. I saw my Hr creeping up and up and I felt hotter and hotter. I finally had to start walking. After walking about 2 minutes, I had to fight off the twinges of leg cramps coming on. Uh oh. After that, there was no way I was going to get back to running. I tried several times, but too many body parts were in revolt. I walked the rest of the way in and completed 4.5 miles.
RESULTS:
It was a successful RR because I MADE SOME MISTAKES!!! Very much a learning experience and I am already looking forward to the next one where I expect to demonstrate more discipline.
Thanks everyone!
Comments
Hey Mike, glad you're back! It looks like the combination of the heat of the day along with the frisky riding in the first half drove home to you the lesson on pacing the bike properly and maintaining hydration as the temp goes up. The counterpoint is that, sometimes, especially when we're first exposed to the temps of summer like this past weekend, only by slowing down as well as topping up the fluids can you be ready for the stress of running in the heat. Also, remember that your run paces must slow down when it gets that warm - check out the heat pace app under Resources above. It may be you were trying to run at a pace you can handle in 60F weather, but not @ 83 - I bet you needed to slow down by at least 60 seconds/mile.