Week 3
These workouts are putting me in a weird place. I have the energy to do them at the time, but am completely drained in between. Perhaps that's the point. Yesterday, I did the 60' run with 3x1 mile z4 intervals and felt fine doing them. I was then a complete slug all day at work, wishing I could do a George Costanza and nap under my desk. But at 6 pm, I hit the pool and had my fastest and best ever swim workout. Today, I'm a slug again, but will probably find my mojo in the pool tonight.
Tomorrow, I'm going to change the bike workout and go do the daily lunchtime free "crit" in DC at Hain's Point. It's a 3.2 mile loop, and all the roadies go do laps at lunch, with an intense pace for most of each lap and and all-out sprint at each lap at the end, followed by a couple minutes slow to deal with traffic and regroup. Just to stay in the pack requires be to be at 110%, so the workout ends up being essentially 6x5' (3' rest). I've been dreading the bike intervals, so maybe this will be a good change of pace.
I've found a good way to keep the spouse approval points up. My wife wants to go to an antique show about 35 miles away from home that starts at 10 am Saturday. So I'll hit the road at 5:50 or so, ride out there, then do some loops on hilly roads in the area that I've always wanted to ride. At 10 am, I'll pull into the parking lot, find the family car, change clothes, and watch the youngin's while my wife looks for things. Then all drive home together. Next weekend, we're going to see my parents for Memorial Day. It's about 150 miles away. The schedule has only a 3 hour ride (can that be right?), so we'll leave really early on Saturday to avoid traffic, and I'll have my wife drop me off 55-60 miles away and I'll bike in. Perfect!
Comments
Keith I hear you on being a slug between workouts. I am off today, tried to get up early, called my mom then fell back to sleep again with really weird dreams. Last night after work, I had a great swim with some pool running afterward
Last week was a struggle for me, but this week feeling better. I won't be able to do the big workout on saturday, as I am doing an Olympic tri Sunday( Columbia). I plan to do Saturday"s workout next Thursday
How is everyone else doing?
I'm really focusing on the post-ride/run recovery meal as the key to keeping my energy up and it's working so far. On the weekend I used to try to space out my lunch throughout the day. This year it occurred to me to see what would happen if I ate it all in one sitting about 1-1.5 hours after finishing the workout. Ta da! I'm not pigging out by any means, but trying to include plenty of good fats and protein, which I'm learning is the key to keeping a nice full belly and keeping sleepytime at bay.
Keith I'm with you on biking places and figuring out how to fit training in with life. I will be biking to in-laws next weekend too most likely. Having Michelle 'sherpa' the mini tri Saturday so need to build those SAUs again! I have to say as this is my first IM, I am little overwhelmed with the training. Much different than a marathon or even the 1/2 IM I did last year (non EN).
I was glad that I got out today (80 degrees and sunny) for my long run. Not quite as long as it should have been, but honestly the other option was sleeping on the couch so I will take it for what it is worth. Actually looking forward to something different this weekend and a DAY OFF on Sunday!!! Really gonna lay on the SAUs thick
Onward and upward people!
Keith, be careful doing that kind of bike workout midweek. It will easily put you in a hole. Get some extra sleep around bikes like that.
Mike
Mike- sorry to hear your bad news!
Whatever it is, we are here for whatever you may need. Hang in there. I know from your potss you have been working hard, so the lost week really should not be a problem.
Suzanne, IMO, ( for what its worth) I say don't worry about the swim. especially with your background! Are you still doing Columbia Tri this weekend? Are you still doing big workout as well?
I am doing the tri, but moving the big workout to Thursday. I am not expecting a lot for Columbia, just happy to toe the line. It will just be a workout day for me. No taper. Actually getting ready to go run/walk the run course in a little bit and doing a short but hard ride tomorrow
Sorry I've been out of the loop. I took a fall doing a century this past Sunday. They tell me I was hit by a reckless rider while I was in the bars. After a trip to the ER i was cleared to go home. I got some nice road rash and a bruised hip. I managed to get some bike intervals on the trainer yesterday. Hopefully I can start running without hip pain this weekend. I think I'm going to do the Big day next weekend.
Forgot to mention, my new specialized transition with about 6 hours road time on it is on its way to the factory for inspection. Visually it's fine, but i'd rather not chance a micro-fracutre in the carbon. A new road Helmet was ordered as well.
@Mike - sorry about the news, I hope everything works out.
Cary, Sorry to hear about your crash but glad no broken bones. I was hit last year by a driver doing an illegal u turn and t boned her on my giant road blke(carbon) and my lbs that I deal with wouldn't repair the bike with no visable cracks in the carbon because depending on the speed of the crash the carbon can fail with no visable signs of damage. It worked out because the drivers insurance bought me a new specialized road bike
After racing the Rev3 1/2 Im last weekend, I hit all of the bikes and runs with 3 bricks this week and 120 run today so good week. After watching the TOC, I 'm goig to have to bribe my wife for next year, it looks like the team is getting in some killer miles.
@Suzanne - enjoy PR! (i signed already up for the 70.3 in march)
@mike hope everything is ok.
Had a weird up/down week. Had to skip most workouts after Tuesday had a bad sinus infection. After a trip to the dr got told I had allergy related asthma. So I decided to skip the harryman 1/2 im I was planning to do. Figured it would put a huge dent in the training, plus considering friday afternoon still had problems breathing didn't make sense to a B race.
Decided to do the sat workout as a self/spouse-supported tri. Finished the swim workout at the local pool. Biked 4:24 76mi . And then ran 1hr on the local loop. Felt pretty good on the bike, was laughing when I realized I could use an inhaler while biking 20mi/hr. Felt I could have had a faster run , especially for the negative split, but I will take what I can get.
I did the epic workout - what's the commercial, "I can't believe I ate the whole thing!"? Well, I can't believe I did the whole thing! I did it bike-run-swim, partly because of the pool hours and partly because rain and t-storms were predicted for the afternoon and I wanted to get as much of the outdoor stuff done sooner. Biking that slow is kinda boring, but I felt great when I finished. Not pushing the big gears definitely saves some knee fatigue and pain. The run was also great though I took it out too fast. I looked at my pace, slowed down, looked again and was getting FASTER. Doh! After the run, I started my recovery by sipping a chocolate milk on the way to the pool, then fit in 3700 or so. A pretty slooooow 3700. I really wanted to pull but holding the pull buoy between my legs at that point was hard because they were fatigued.
Some good lessons from the day: The run pace after the bike - the legs were tired but I was going about 40 seconds/mile faster than I needed to. Eating on the run - I took three sports beans 20 minutes into the run and immediately got horrible heart burn that persisted for the rest of the run. I need to find another tolerable food for the run and also make Tums a key part of my tool bag.
Anyway, the workout was a great confidence builder as I sailed through it. I'm really starting to see evidence of the enormous well of endurance that we're building here and it's cool!
Hope everyone's weekend is going well too!
going to go for an easy 20mi bike ride to rack up sau's
@Cary! Phew! Glad you're ok. Healing ok?
@Mike...thinking of you.
Finished the big workout on Saturday and with Carly and Michelle! Michelle was an awesome sherpa for us and even drove back home to get my forgotten bike shoes when we had just gotten to the pool! (I bought her chipotle for lunch!) Swim was a little slow, run was good. Walked for 2 minutes every 10 minutes and seemed to do just fine. I learned that espresso gel with 50 mg of caffeine is great for the body and soul after doing all that biking! Surprised at how good the legs felt after all that riding!
I'm nervous about the bike...I did IMLP in 07 and had no problem finishing the bike. On Saturday, I rode my zone 1 for the appropriate time and it just seems so slow. I am now very worried about finishing on time this IMLP. I was watching the PM the whole time...we had lots of hills and some head wind for awhile. I'm going to retest the zones on Wednesday night and see how it goes.
Happy training this week...hope everyone has some nice weather!
P.S. I got a PM from Coach P telling me he's glad I’M OK!!! That was a morale booster for sure. Patrick you're awesome.
@Dana, just keep going, everyone's zone 1 speed is 'slow', you've got to trust the system.
That night, I didn't feel any fatigue. Yesterday, I felt great. This morning, though, I did the optional swim and felt like a rock in the water.
That was what I noticed too, Keith, was that I wasn't as fatigued as I though I'd be! Kinda cool!