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Week 8 of 12 IMAZ - Protecting your mental game
Welcome post camper peeps!
If you woke up this morning moving SLOW (like me), That might mean you had a successful CAMP!
You might also find yourself mentally exhausted at this point. Reminder here to protect your mental game as the next 3 week grind completes your cycle and stay healthy!
What are the things you do at this point to mentally rest?
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Envious of you guys with the successful camp week ... including the Kona Campers ;-)
THIS WEEK IS GOING TO BE A GREAT TRAINING WEEK!!!
Last week - NOT SO MUCH for me ;-(
Tuesday Swim 3000yd 57minutes - 2 minute PR - My Left elbow is better (mostly hurts if Isometrically straighten it)
Wednesday - Storms during planned FTP Intervals - so due to traffic and QUARQ being questionable (probably talking replacement - so sad) I did a 20 mile Race against the clock (which is really a series of intervals due to several steep twisty decents and 70+ turns or tight curves and 1,100 or 1,700 feet of climbing depending on where in Strava I look)
http://www.strava.com/activities/204984793/segments/4827787957
19.8mi 1:05:09 1,118ft or 1,759ft (shown as elevation for the 20 mile segment)
Distance Moving Time Elevation
Thursday - Second long run in a row that had to be cut short at about 9 miles for sudden onset of what seems to be hamstring tendonitis. So I'm doing the RICE w/NSAIDs and will not run anymore hills and see how it goes ...
Weekend - Nasty stormy weather in the Arkansas area, so after 5 weeks of century rides, this weekend was only 70 miles ;-(
THIS WEEK IS GOING TO BE A GREAT TRAINING WEEK!!!
WHAT IS UP WITH ALL THE AZ flats - is sabotage involved or coincidence????
These next few weeks are the worst for me mentally. Camp weekend is such a strong focus, it's almost like race weekend. After I tend to struggle for focus, especially for the next two weekend long rides.
I still have Kona 2013 on my DVR, I will probably watch that two or three time between now and race day.
I have lots of family in the Phoenix area and this will be their first time as spectators. I'm sure I'll spend time with many of them talking about the course and the best spots to watch and cheer.
Finally, my one-thing is my dad. I was so lucky to be able to share my first IM finish with him, but that was the only one. Training is one of the ways I keep his memory strong and that keeps me honest and on my game.
Keep you head down, do the work and come out stronger on the other side...
I did camp 2 weeks ago. Went well. 105 on Friday. long ride on Saturday (had to split into 2 rides though), and a 1/2 marathon on sunday. Last mon/Tues were just swim, felt ok, but tired. Got back on track wed with a good early morning ride. It was nice. I usually ride the bike at the gym at lunch on wed, but getting out on my own bike was great. Thursday managed an ok 14 mile run. Felt good for 12, then struggled home. Probably due to the previous weekends fatigue. Swam 2500 meter's on Friday.
Last weekend was rough. Too many other things to do. The 2 soccer games that I was coaching were 3 hrs apart. So, not enough time to ride before (dark) or between. After the 2nd game my daughter had girls over for her 9th birthday party/sleepover. So, I never got out on Saturday at all. After 4 hrs of sleep, I had to get up and go to a local sprint tri. I'm president of our local tri team and it was our last team race. I shouldn't have done it, I should have gone for a 4 or 5 hr ride. But oh well. Got 16th overall and 3rd in my age group on a super windy day (others in the Sacramento area can attest to the wind on Sunday). But I did get 40 miles in that afternoon before I had another family function at 4pm.
Life has been way too busy/stressful and the training was what had to be dropped. I'll get back on track this week though. I had a good 3000 meter swim this morning and I'm looking forward to a good run at lunch.
Keep up the great work everyone!
Welcome back Peter and David W.!
@Clark - your post moved the Mojo meter up a few more notches. thanks!
Things I do to protect my mental game:
1- Sleep
2- Watch Sponge Bob for several hours
3- Go snorkeling in Hawaii (like Al)
4- Eat a chocolate brownie
5- Go see the new Dracula movie with the kids at iPic
6- Clean my bike (and the rest of the house which has been neglected due to fatigue the last two weeks)
Felt a little groggy/weird getting up today. Got the swim in at lunch: http://www.strava.com/activities/207334481
Back on the horse tomorrow attempting those 2X15s!
Happy recovery all!
@Peter, Where is Sacramento are you? I am up in Rescue. I did my RR in that wind and although it sucked, AZ could very well be that windy. It WAS in 2010. Yuck!
@ Clark, I can relate to wanting to poke the eyes out during those long swims. Did my 4200 today in 1:13XX ( 7 seconds faster than last week.. ha ha at least I am consistent). This leads me to think 1:10-1:15 is realistic for the IM.
@ Al , Thank you for confirmation on the target Watts. I really don't want to screw this one up!
Way to get it done everyone. 5 weeks left...
All of this showed in the Tuesday swim, which I cut way short. Tuesday night went much better so I have higher hopes for the brick tonight.
Kudos to those of you that pushed through and got the entire swim in last night. Well done!
@Shaughn, nice list. I washed both bikes on Monday. The RR left my Tri bike covered in perform and then the thin layer of dirt that sticks to the perform - yuck. My Saturday ride was on a rail trail so my gravel grinder was covered in mud. Of course that trail ride was a mental recovery after the RR.
@Clark - you are always ahead of me. I badly need to clean my bike and will have to do so before the Sat long ride for sure......Nice work on the recovery swim!
I managed the 2X15s on the trainer this morning but lost power meter half way through the second interval and just went by HR from there: http://www.strava.com/activities/207645708
Did the run immediately after and felt the residual fatigue of last week on mile 5 of this run: http://www.strava.com/activities/207645694
Noted the run is optional and I prob should have just skipped that to allow for a bit more recovery.
I am moving long run to Sunday and Sunday bike to tomorrow with a shortened duration and higher intensity set to accommodate work issues.
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felt better weds morning, swam 5000 yards
ugly storms last night prevented a run, and then really ugly this am prevented a long, run, about to leave office to bang out the long run...
Ran 14 miles this morning. Felt good. Had someone catch me at mile 8 and I ran with him for 3 or 4 miles. It was good because he was going about 2 min/ mile faster than me. I had hit that long run funk zone where I was slowing down. He helped get me out of it. So, I went from running 9:30's to 8:10's.
I'm trying to figure out my weekend rides with 2 soccer games, one at 9 and one a 1. So no time to ride between them. I may have to get on the trainer from 6-8 and then ride for 2 hrs from 3-5. I should be able to get a 5 hr ride in on Sunday morning before select soccer tryouts (I got chosen to coach a select team this year). I can honestly say I'm ready for this IM to happen. I've got so many balls in the air right now and Its all I can do to get all these workouts in. Thanks to everyone for motivating me. Because I hate coming her and saying I missed X workout.... ;-)
@Jennifer-- I'm out in the flatlands of Davis. So I get wind coming/going to Winters/Vacaville on all my rides. Going out in the AM the delta breeze is going and coming back it stops and the valley breezes start. But I wish I had hills like you ;-)
@Scott - Nice 5K long swim!! Good luck on the long run today! Let us know..............
@Peter - strong work juggling it all! I have 3 boys and a girl and I understand your schedule. Strong work getting that 14 miler done today!
I opted to move my Sun ride to this morning, shorten it and increase the intensity: 5X10' (2') @ .97 then 5X1'(1') @ 1.21
http://www.strava.com/activities/207976190
Moved my long run to Sunday because of logistics at work.
Its Thursday - keep fighting all!
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@Scott-sounds like the week can only get better!
@Shaughn and Clark-I washes my bikes Sunday-all perty!
I Loved my Monday off??! Tuesday am got 1st MS swim in before work-2000. Worked late so got the remaining 3000 in last night. Wed am 2x15 was painful. .9 iF then mustered up .97 on second round (and that was a strong finish at 1.1-1.2 the last minutes!) actually got 70' in before work.
Slept in today and plan long run tonite. It's been cloudy so I hope it clears today and I have the moon to run with.
Long run today. 18 miles in 2:42 ( I know it was only supposed to be 2:30, but I miscalculated...) . 1st hour at 9:08 pace, remainder at 8:40ish. Felt strong all the way through. Did not try to hit MP pace ( 8:12), just wasn't feeling it, but aimed for negative split.
Good day mentally. Last week's long run had me doubting, but feeling encouraged today. Weather was cooler too which helped.
You all are doing an excellent job of managing work, kids, and life in general! It sure gets tough trying to balance it all!
http://www.strava.com/activities/208178725
I did this at :03 faster than LRP, but have been doing all of my long runs at 35secs/ per mile faster than that.
Bottom line is this:
1-I felt like shizz going in and was happy to get it going
2-it was VERY humid which wasn't a great help :-(
3-I ran more hills than my usual long run (something I want to do more of)
4-got lost when I made a wrong turn into a nature preserve
5-felt good that I ran the last two miles feeling strong and pushing the pace!
when I got back to my office, I did some work, Cancelled a date (head cold necessitated it) and then got called by my oldest (15) daughter asking to go to dinner (how could I not take that up?)
Got a good night's sleep, feel much better now, jumped in the pool at 5:40am, was 3000 yards into a 5k wko when they asked me to get out of the pool because they needed to bomb it with chemicals and I was shockingly the only person in there after the first group of 5 o'clockers were gone...
Looking forward to a hard weekend of training!
@Betsy - How did the evening long run go?
@Jennifer and Scott - BOOM! Solid, long and fast Long Runs!
I gave myself 2X1s early: http://www.strava.com/activities/208349404
Not a great idea to following up Z4 intervals with a long swim, but I did it: http://www.strava.com/activities/208434916
Biking long tomorrow and running long Sunday...........
Have a great Friday all!
@Shaughn-impressive z4s!!
OMG!! My long run last night was aweful painful miserable the shits-how can I make the point?
First hour started out a stiff z1 and never improved. Did make 14mi in 2:20- horse saw the barn and called it quits. Clearly I still have not recovered adequately from back to back centuries over the weekend. My quads are still sore and my knees felt stiff and achey (not pain really).
On the bright side, the kids (one doberman and 2 pit bull mixes) each got alone time with Mom (my 2:20h doesn't include change dog time or potty breaks) and weather was lovely. I still used my microfiber towel around neck which you won't need after sundown in a month. Is slept in Today and plan on swim after work.
Long bike tomorrow then Sunday is SOMA HIM-I put together a relay team and am doing the bike. So many locals think they need it to gain confidence for AZIM-the EN philosophy of 'too close to the IM' doesn't play well here
Have a great weekend!
Husband out of town all weekend so I will have to move long bike to Monday. Treadmill and trainer for me this weekend.
Keep your updates coming. Reading them will make me that much hungrier once I'm back in the game.
came back and plugged in battery, went for an hour brick. then drove to NJ. dropped girls, found parking. Went up an insane hill to the top of the palisades on to 9W. 9W is a very nice road along the Palisades and it is the biking superhighway for Manhattanites, they take the GW bridge over and then go straight up 9W and eventually turn around, and yes there are lots of hills on it.
totally wrecked, but got in 5:40 for 87 miles and 4500ft of climbing plus a good run, also, the towns along the way many restaurants have bike racks out to be biker friendly, stopped for a muffin & coffee in Nyack NY, made some biker friends, nice vibe
Bike 1 - http://www.strava.com/activities/208914859
Run - http://www.strava.com/activities/208915520
Bike 2 - http://www.strava.com/activities/208914838
Long Run today: 16 mi in 2:12.26. (8:18 pace, 4-5 miles of MP @ the end, 2 miles of 9-10 min/mi warm-up @ the start, with 8:20's in the middle.Three weeks earlier I did the exact same run in the same conditions of 63F/partly cloudy. My avg HR for both was the same. This one was 34 seconds faster, mostly because I worked the final mile harder. My legs and mental focus felt better today than 3 weeks ago. This all tells me I have not lost ground despite the 10 day hole that my Hawaii vacation put into training - it may have actually helped; we'll see tomorrow when I do a 4+ hr trainer ride of 25' 75% intervals while watching football. (I'm getting tired of riding outside, for some reason).
2.5 more weeks of quality training, I'm planning an 18 mile run then a 12 mile run, to be ready for a 4:08 marathon race day.
slept in friday am after the miserable Thursday PM long run. Friday swim never happened-stopped by a happy hour to see a colleague who was visiting and 'stop' turned into an hour then went home as dinner guests were early. Actually enjoyed hors d'oeuvres and a glass of wine like normal folk on a friday night.
Saturday was on call but got coverage until 11am-got the run in and hit my paces which was reassuring after thurs night. Then got 3 hours in at the .8IF, then off to work. I think I had finally recovered from the double centuries.
Today I put a relay team together for the annual SOMA HIM-and I did the bike. It is a miserable course with at least 15 turns per loop and 3 loops, I haven't done it for 3 years and now I remember why (that and the run is miserable hot-I seemed to remember that part) I raced it .8-.85 as much as I could-2:55. Whohoo-broke 3 hours! Then went over to the tempe 24 hr fit and got 1000 of friday's swim in, showered, then back to tempe beach town park to see friends come in from the run and awards ceremony. Our team took 3rd in the 'all female relay' category, look at our big ass medals:
@ Betsy - beautiful medal/pic! Nice work this weekend.
@Al - very much appreciated reminder for the upcoming run. Wise advice I expect to follow. great run you had!
Scott and Rian both laid down fast 19 mile runs! Incredible! Damn!
Clark nailed the long bike even in the rain after nailing a 17.7 Mile run on Thurs! Unstoppable!!
Great reports for Week 8! IMAZ mojo meter is in a good place!
Saturday I did an EZ 5K to start the day: http://www.strava.com/activities/208686402
Then had a windy, mind numbing, long bike and survived: http://www.strava.com/activities/208871129
Deferred my Sun activities until about 12:30 and completed a somewhat successful long run: http://www.strava.com/activities/209423385
Slow moving this morning........
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