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IMWI Week 14 Training- Yell it from the rooftops!
Hmmm, seems we've been a quiet group, time to shake it up! Let's hear about week 14 training. I think lots of folks are going to camp this weekend. Sadly, I have to work on Friday and Sunday so I can't officially join you all. I am planning to go up to Madison Friday night and do my first RR on the course Saturday, so good chance we'll see each other out there.
I had a great weekend of training and then took yesterday as an unplanned rest day due to getting caught at work too long and the pool closing. Plan to run at lunch and swim tonight.
Share the good, the bad, and the ugly!
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Did you mean week 14 (this week) or week 13 (last week)?
My week 13 was good although it sort of blended with week 12 since I started a family vacation in Michigan on the Friday of week 12 that featured 5 long bike rides over the next 6 days covering 20 hours of biking and ~425 miles in total. For me this was pretty epic although I'm sure many on the IM-experienced would snicker! See this link where I went into quite a bit of detail about the biking adventures (http://members.endurancenation.us/Forums/tabid/57/aft/19247/Default.aspx).
Due to the biking the rest of the workouts in week 13 were pretty sparse. After the biking was all done on Thursday I managed to get in runs of 10.6 miles and 15.4 miles on Friday and Sunday, respectively, and a 3000yd swim on Saturday.
As for this week, #14, yes, getting ready for the camp…although not how I originally expected since I was unexpectedly called away on a business trip to Europe requiring me to fly out on Sunday night right after my vacation ended. Upon landing yesterday I managed to get in an open-water swim of 3000m in London's Hyde Park, followed by a 54' run around the park's perimeter (2 circuits). Today I am targeting a 45' run (which would make for 35 miles in 3 consecutive run days, and 45 miles in 5 days) but depends on when I get out of the office…it's looking around 50/50 likelihood at the moment. Tomorrow I will attempt to get in a 4000 yd swim before heading to Madison a day early on Thursday to kick off 3 days of riding targeting 300 miles total (plus Sunday swim/run).
Cheers!
I had most of last week off from work, I headed up to a family cabin in northern Wisconsin and made a pit stop in Madison to ride the course. I got one loop done before a guy hollered at me "You better wrap it up, there's a tornado just south of town!" Quickly made the decision to call it a day. I got a lot of good riding and open water swimming done up at the cabin, and lots of family giving me quizzical looks . My biggest weekend yet at 153 miles, and a couple 26 milers into town & back throughout the week. 3x OWS around our bay of the lake that ended up being about 1.5 miles each. My running mileage was low last week - 14 miles total - boo. I just didn't make it a priority unfortunately, but this hasn't been a trend so I'm thinking it was just one off week and I'm back at it this week.
Also! I finally put some aero bars on my road bike last week so I've been learning to get used to them. I have a bike fit later this week. Feeling a little more like a real triathlete!
I skipped yesterday's swim work out and enjoyed a rest day. I need an ass kicking to get myself to the pool on Monday's, it's always the hardest workout for me to get motivated for.
Tonight the Chicago Triathlon is putting on an OWS (1500m) & Run (5k) at one of the beaches here in Chicago that I am going to attend. I am going to try to get out of work early so that I can extend the swim a bit.
@Rachel - I can't attend the full camp either. Asked Rich about attending for Saturday & Sunday, but if that doesn't work out I still plan on making the trip up so we should try to meet up again
@Matt - Those are epic bike numbers!! Nice job!
@All - We're in week 14, but it's camp week (week 15 in the plan). So, what's everyone doing next week? Or am I missing something here?
I am trying to worry about just the workouts now and delay my questions about the course and issues like riding or driving the bike course during race week.
For a variety of life reasons, I had a bit of a break in May/June between FL 70.3 and starting my IMWI training. The last 4 weeks has been decent and looking forward to testing/proving a few things in the home stretch.
The Good
- Finally up into the "teen" hrs last week (13 total:~1 S, 8.5 B, 3.5 R), after only managing 9-10 in the weeks prior.
- Did a successful "big day" 2 weeks ago w/ 3k yd Swim, 80mi Bike, and 7.5mi Run at a strong pace.
- Feeling strong on my runs and especially in the heat, which has been a challenge in the past.
The Bad
- Long Bike & Run only at 80mi and 11mi respectively, so want to ramp those carefully in the next few weeks. Planning ~100mi & ~60mi rides this weekend, and likely 13mi Run on Thursday.
- Still need to refine/prove my nutrition plan. I know I need 2bottles/hr (48oz) on the bike in the heat, but haven't always managed to get that in, and on my "big day" ended the 7.5mi run down ~5lbs. That could spell trouble if I don't get on top of it by race day.
The Ugly
- Swimming still rough. Did 1:21 last time in WI and would be more than fine with that again. Struggling to maintain 2:00/100yd's at the moment, and FL 70.3 split was ~50min (although weird M shaped course and no wetsuit so perhaps an anomoly).
Swim: My swim is looking great all things considered. My collarbone is finally healed and I have wrapped up PT. I have been doing the Mike 9 step approach with pink mist (Not quite ready for Red Mist) on Wednesdays and slowly lowering my metronome. I am now ticking every 25.5 which equates to starting at a 1:42 pace and descending from there. Last week I did a 1 hour swim TT to see where I am at and I averaged 1:43 which puts me on target for a swim of 1:12-1:13, which for me would be a huge PR! (1:23 at IMCDA last year).
Bike: I have built up to 3 hour ABP rides on the weekends. I have now done this two weekends in a row and did 212NP followed by 214NP which is a great place for me to be! I was going to target 214NP for St. George 70.3, but expecting to be on the bike about 2:30-2:40. My HR on these have been well within reason, in fact lower than my very first 70.3 where I had a good run.
Run: I have been doing split long runs, the last of which was this past Sunday with a 10/10 split. This week I plan to do an 18 miler and again target 40 miles for the week. It has been quite hot and humid around here the past few weeks so running has been tough, but it finally got a bit better and I was able to finally nail that last split run which is a nice confidence booster going into the next few weeks of longer runs.
The plan is to have two big weekends in August. I am going to do back to back 5 hour rides on one weekend, and then 2 weeks later I will do a big bike week of 300 miles over 4 days, otherwise I am going to stick with my current volume. We will see how this all works out, my TSB is at -45 right now!
Great to here from everyone else and I am excited to meet you all! I am bringing quite the entourage to Madison, Wife, 2 kids, and my Parents!
Swim: I did my first training swim since last November this weekend before my bike ride. Was great to get in OW.
Bike: I tagged on to a group ride Wednesday night (at the end of my commute) and somebody said "So YOU are the maniac on the fat bike we've been hearing about"... Needless to say I was able to keep up with the group and they were all pretty surprised. Also did a 60mi loop near my house with my tongue hanging out trying to keep up with a buddy riding his P3.
Run: had my biggest run week in a while logging ~38mi.
I won't be at camp, but will be excited to meet everyone during Race Week.
As a side note, I haven't actually gotten accommodations for the race weekend yet. Any suggestions?
@Matt- We can share how it's been going last week and before, but then let's keep this thread going for accountability across THIS week.
@Lindsay- very exciting with the aerobars and fit! Where are you doing the fit? My opinion on an abbreviated camp weekend for you would be to bike Sat and Sun, forget about the run on Sunday. As you know, the bike course is the tricky part, nothing tricky about the run. While you are up there, time would be best spent biking.
@JW- when I did IMWI in 2013, I stayed about 9 miles east of the action. Parking is pretty easy, so not a big deal. My mom was envious of the folks staying at the Monona Terrace Hilton and was sure to book it as soon as it opened this year. Lots of $$ but good convenience.
Keepin' on keepin' on. Packing everything up for IMWI camp this weekend and flying out tomorrow so I can do a high quality RR-type ride on the course on Thursday before the camp officially starts.
Last Week Milestones:
Yesterday I did a hilly 9+ mi run in the AM, bonked in my lunch swim, then rallied for a good ride in the hills in the evening. Put up an awesome PR on a segment I've been benchmarking for years. Diesel fitness + a good w/kg equation is definitely fun, though I'm not looking forward to having '15 Rich taunting me on Strava for years to come in the future...
Rachel - Thanks for starting the thread!
Reading all the posts makes me excited for all of you, you are all crushing it in your own way and being smart about what you are doing.
Love it!
John,
Last year I stayed at the Residence Inn Madison West/ Middleton. It was a very short drive and I had no trouble parking. It was nice to have a Suite. Call the hotel directly, they may have reservation that are not on the web yet...
-Mike
The bike is still my weak link, but I got in a century ride with NP near 200, so while I don't have as big an engine as some, it is what I have to work with. I am hoping with the camp this weekend I can get a little better at the application of those watts to the course.
The run has been good and bad. Good in that I am pretty steady right below 8 min miles, the bad is that it has turned surface of the sun hot here so I have started to use my "heat protocol (meaning go slower dummy!)" more than I would like. I have been splitting my long run and did 10 and 9 last Sunday. Going forward the long run split ends and it just becomes the long run.
I'm not antsy or wound up yet, but I can already tell it won't take a lot to get me there. Glad I was able to focus elsewhere for as long as I could this year!
Well my pre-camp workouts for week 14 are totally done.
I ran last night from my hotel on a lovely road in the English countryside, 40' @ around MP (6:43/mi)...https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/847588588
Then I got up this morning after 4 hours sleep and two of my clients took me open water swimming with their swim club. The water was beautiful although the last part of each loop of the swim coming east was tough due to bright sunlight right in the eyes. Overall 2624 yd at 1:43/100yd pace. I was shooting for ~4000 yd today but we didn't have time to do a third loop of the course...https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/847980174
Now off to my flight back home and onto Madison!!
That is some hardcore training!!
Safe travels to camp for all of you lucky folks, learn a lot and have fun! I'll be out on the course riding and running on Saturday, I'm sure I'll see some of you!
You must have been swimming @ Centennial Beach in Naperville... Love the 50 meter lanes, the safety break (while I understand) is frustrating sometimes. Glad you had an awesome swim!