IMWI Race Rehearsal #2....Time to report in everyone!!!
So how did it go!? I kinda liked having one thread where we all shared our lessons learned and experiences from the first RR, so I thought we'd do that again here.
I've got a story to tell, but I gotta eat first! Will be back later with details, but wanted to get the thread started.
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Put it in the week 4 thread, but I like having them altogether. Why is there no delete button around here?
RR #2 is bagged and tagged! Met the Boyle's at their house to tag along and ride in NH. OMG, it was HARD! Mentally, very rough. You know how long the ride's going to be, it takes focus, we're carrying a lot of fatigue, and there's the desire to just be done--at least there was for me. At the end Dave told me his brain wanted to check out at about 1:02
, I think I was within 35'. 
But we all hung tough and saw it through.
The day was nice to start, but then it got very hot, sun was blazing, and it was VERY windy. How windy? On one of the descents at the end of the ride, I was pedaling down a NH hill going 15 mph. Crazy. There was a head wind of a lot of the ride. Twice I literally almost got blown over--kind of scary.
I forgot to do my drink in the middle of the night, and I do think I felt the effects on the ride. I felt a lot hungrier on this ride than I did last time. I also could not seem to drink enough water. When I stopped buy some b/c I ran out before I could get back to the Boyle's house, I also bought a bag of almonds. I wolfed about 3/4 of the bag, and needed every bit of food that would stay in my stomach longer than gels and Infinit. Had 1/2 a Coke too, but that didn't seem to help much. In all, I ate about 250 cals/hour, which works well for me. I drank 140 ounces of water and Infinit. I was still parched at the end. Peed 6x last RR, 4x this time. Seems I was using it up!
I was surprised to download the ride and see that I rode .68 again--same as last time. I was happy with that b/c I thought it was way lower. The day felt much harder than RR #1, and I didn't think I was holding anywhere near .70. Given how I felt, given how knackered I am, I'm not going to sweat being a bit below .70. I did the best I could out there, and it turned out decent. Happy with that.
Run felt good after about 45'. Got close to LR pace with walking breaks. I like doing it that way. It allows me to run naturally, and not unnaturally slow, then I can take it down to EZ pace with a little walking. I did 10'/30". At 55' I just could not run around the Boyle's cul de sac one more time, so I called it.
Close enough.
I was very happy on my new bike set up, and comfortable on the saddle. I swear the legs felt fresher off the bike, and they feel springy right now. All in all, a solid day. Dave, Leigh and I (maybe Michele too?) will wrap it up with the swim RR here at Walden Pond on Sunday morning with a run after. Then I am taking it dowwwwwnnnnn into taper land!
Saturday, 3 laps of a 31 mile route, 1800 feet of elev. Lower elev than Thurs ride which was fine with me since I just rode 66 on Thur in an aborted RR due to storms. this is what I estimated I could do. I have come to place of acceptance on my pacing and "knowing myself" has given me a freedom to just either "get it done" or "enjoy the journey" and not mentally anguish over speed. don't get me wrong, I will continue but now that the taper is here, I am cooked and now ready to be served up on race day!!! lol Heather, James, David (normally has pics on FB and he is so clever that he took some of us while he was riding! )and Russ also doing IMWI were there.
Goals: 1. not drop a chain! been doing that seems like one per hilly ride so I concentrated on "finesse" and "perfect timing".. and didn't drop today.
2. Trying to do 2 hour laps. and be consistent. 1st lap was 1:59, 2nd lap was 2:03 and 3 lap was 2:04 which I am okay with since it got hotter and hotter and ended up being very warm & windy and I had some admin time trying to pour water over my head and generally higher HR for me with heat and I feel my head go "boom boom" so I back off!! ha.
my average power was registering though and by the end it had dropped down to a 70 but the reading of the power was a bit flaky, like I would be on the flat and it wasn't picking up (Garming 310XT with Powertap).. like it would be a zero thru 30 and I was pedaling coming down!! like I seemed to have trouble on flats or going down getting my power to 80 and then on hills it was over 80. I can see by the Garmin Adobe graph that it looks mountainous my power and heart rate too. seemed like that because I couldn't get the power to be an 80 on the flats then my average power dropped from a 81 down to a 70 by end of ride, plus it looks like I got slower. hmmm. I bet my V whatever ratings are not going to be as smooth as a 40kTime Trial I did! When I ride downhill or flats, I am not letting up on the gas and sometimes run out of gears but don't think I coasted too much, tried not to. hmm
I note that at mile 50 I was at 3:15 and on a flat route I would be under 3:00, it is what it is. I estimate 7.5 +hours for IMWI.
my right cleat, new shoe still felt very hot on the ball of my foot and now it feels sore/raw. wore socks to see if that would help but after lap 2, took them off. Then put anti chafing cream on ball of foot but by the end of the ride it was my #1 pain!! loosened strap as well. with shoulderblade on left side being #2 and I could not look back without electrical pain shooting, making me cry out loud!! when I turned left.. I did my RR lake swim yesterday so that might have made shoulders hurt worse. #3 pain was just sitting on the bike but I did ride 66 on Thursday so normally on race day, my saddle and me like each other!
hydration: that felt fine and I took a bit of time in laps 2 and 3 to open up a water bottle and pour some on me!! duh,next time bring regular water bottle and squeeze it on me rather than trying to loosen a cap! Heat was a factor on lap 3.
Calories: felt fine there but I note that at higher heat, not as hungry so consumed most of mine before the 5:15 mark. race day wont' be as hot so not worried. After each lap, went back to car and yes turned off Garmin and guess what it was hot out there so I was fine, refueling standing in some shade! I consumed one coconut water and one baby coke and a PBJ sandwich back at the car, and had Carbo Pro on the bike.
Mental: first part of first lap is always the hardest for me, "warm up" always is but I saw David coming towards me and took a pic and just the mere act of smiling perked me up! good to see everybody else out there too! Once I got in the groove, I was dead on to finish 3 laps but initially the thought of riding 6 hours today when I just rode on Thursday seemed daunting! at 5:15 I thought of last night's HS football kickoff dinner and the slogan this year "Expect to Win" and I knew I was close to finishing but it took everything I had but "expect to win" helped. I don't like to lie to myself or let myself down.. so I told myself 3 laps in 6 hours and I was focused on that goal although minute to minute could tighten up the mental focus so there would be no lolly gagging.
Physical: legs felt tired when I started which I won't have on race day so that will be nice. Five hours into it every part on my body hurt, my lips were chapped and my lip gloss buried deep in my Bento! note to self: get that out! my hands felt the vibrations of the road, my eyes were mesmerized by the gray/white chip and seal, my ears burned from the heat, sweat glistened on my body, my legs itched from nasty sweat running down into my shoes, did my right IT twinge with my mashing? I popped out of my saddle to get some relief, I sat down, I lost cadence while drinking! aargh, then got back low!
Spiritual: yep it was. After the 5th hour, I prayed to God to 1. protect me as I knew I was fatigued and asked for alertness and for the cars to see me! and 2. I literally said audibly "Holy crap!" when I hit the highway with the full force of the sun... oh my goodness. it felt hotter than predicted 97 degrees. it came off the asphalt 3. so I said "come on God, where is that 30% cloud cover you promised me?.. no more sun, no more 4. and about 10' later a cloud cover came upon me... I know, you would have to be here to appreciate the effects of no glaring sun! 5. "thank you God for the clouds" and I really did cry! which then made me wonder if I was bonking!!! but then I was about 30' away from car.
I pulled back into the parking lot, turned off the Garmin and was breathing hard..... "how many miles did you do?" says Heather "what is wrong with your neck" says David..... uhh.. dunno, I finished... did it. and yes my neck hurts am I doing something weird with my head???!!! threw my stuff into car and then off to run....
straight out onto the road where I had carefully placed frozen water bottles, except it was dark and then Heather and I couldn't find them!!! and when we did they were boiling hot, like I coulda made tea. We came across the Ironman Perform which she hadn't tried, and she said "this is like fish and salt!" and I laughed, "you want more!"
Run: Ran 5 miles in one hour which is what I estimated. At the end, parked on a shaded bench eating icy cold watermelon that David brought, listening to music from his Iphone, I asked David what the temp was??
99 degrees, 110 heat index... " oh well, it won't be that on race day" I said! 5 miles in 99 degrees. I look over and said "not bad, not bad at all"
and thus the end of the last long bike, and we all said "hey it is only 3 hour ride next week!" wow, we can sleep, what else can we do??!!! I remarked that today was my best race rehearsal as in the past, I have had emotiional letdown (last one), migraine and wreck (2 years ago), flats, dogs, heat, mosquitoes and the like. This one I actually executed like I said I was gonna do and sure I would like to be faster but I celebrate that Heather got in 104 miles and David 110 miles to my 93! David said "well, this is a good predictor of race day..."and I said, "what that we are all good friends??" as I sat there staring at the sweat that had accumulate in my belly button, thinking abstractly, hmm, good thing I am an innie!! smile....
m
** Granted this was not 112 miles for me as I have done in the past but a 6 hour ride, which was rewarding as we finished at the same time and could hear each other's tales.
so right now I would estimate my IMWI time to be: 14:30 give or take 30'!!
I put mine in the 4 week thread. Too lazy to transfer it over. I would add to what is in there-
For most of the ride, my quads ached. I just kept thinking "I'm not rested. Race day will be better."
Doing it alone was boring- again. After 2 hours I started talking to myself out loud. I tried to imagine what the race day would be like if we have torrential rain or blazing sun.
I never got that foggy head feeling. I started the caffeinated gel earlier, and I was on the road, so I had to pay attention all of the time.
Since I was riding my normal loops, where I charge up hills and do FTP intervals- I had to pay attention and not go too hard. This was great practice for riding even.
Apparently I never pay attention to where porta pottys are located because I run myself dry during training rides. Today I had to pee so bad I was looking in every construction site to see if one was situated near the road.
I was surprised that my TSS was 265. Makes me feel more hopeful about the run.
Riding with power really does make things easier.
Hope everyone is safe.
Well, I had probably had one of the most hateful days on a bicycle in a long time. I'd say today was in the Top 3 Worse Days on Bike for me---which compared to any day at work is still an awesome day.
The long run this week really, really left me hobbled but I woke up this morning feeling. I figured on doing 2 loops of the IMLP course without the Haselton out and back. The first loop felt great. Hydration and nutrition spot on (250 Cal/hour, 650mg sodium/hour, 20 oz fluid/hour---all good for 74 degrees and overcast) I knew the hydration was good as I peed at the end of both loops. IF=0.69, VI= 1.05 at the end of loop 1. Loop 2 starts off just as well until 4 hours in. I was working very hard to maintain the watts. So OODA loop: Calories? Salt? Hydration? all okay. My hips are aching but not terrible. I just CAN NOT turn the pedals to make watts. Now I start thinking that maybe my FTP is lower than what I think it is. However, I've done 4.5-5+ hour rides at IF>0.8 and felt fine. Maybe it's all the fatigue, but c'mon, this BAD?! REALLY?! At 5 hours I'm checking out all the hikers at the trailheads and almost went up to one of them with pickup truck and said,"I'll give you $20 to drive me and my bike back to town." I don't cuz with my luck they will turn out to be ax murderers.
For the last hour, I can't look at my normalized power drop anymore. I'm in a DARK PLACE: I nearly convince myself to pull of this race, I vowed to NEVER do another IM, I vowed NEVER to be on a bicycle for more than 1 hour. When I get back to the car, I don't want to EVER want to look at Infinit again. The run: I felt okay---so couldn't have been THAT tired, right? Looking back, I probably didn't eat enough for breakfast (440 Cal). Mentally, I just did not want to do this but wanted to be done with it. Physically, yes I'm tired. So I've chalked it all up to bad breakfast, bad attitude, and fatigue.
I will do that FTP test this Tues: The workout is 2 x 20---a bike test. Just to confirm that I had the right power zones.
Kitima,
note that I was in a bad spot on my last one... so good that it was today and NOT in 3 weeks! looking on the bright side, you got in a dark place, stayed there and finished thank goodness for ax murderers so you didn't get picked up. and don't forget you will be rested by 3 weeks and not have run 2.5 hours beforehand. I say way to go.
Linda, way to go! and get that done... and with the boyles too. interesting on the thirst though. but sounds like you did a good job. yes on tough ride. m
Kitima- So sorry about those hateful moments when all you want to do is be done and never get on the bike again. I am guessing that Kevin had that feeling and it is part of the reason he sold his TT bike, Don't give up on it.
Marianne- So glad that you finally had an uneventful ride. No crash, flat,migraine, etc. You are certainly ready for heat and humidity on race day.
Nemo/Gina- Where are the reports? You two OK?
Guys?? Your reports?
@m--read every word, and SO glad you had the day you had. I can't imagine riding in those conditions (never mind running!). That ride went a looong way to gettting your confidence back up and feeling strong. Wonderful!
@K--good gawd, you know I know exactly how you felt on that one! Reading that was like being on the bike with you. I had the "benefit" of having those two weeks off during our crisis here, and know how animal hungry and strong my body felt after a rest. I also remember my RRs #2 for '06 and '08 both being unspeakable. The races turned out great. It's fatigue, it's boredome with all this, it's enough already! Race day will be altogether different, chica!
@michele--you are solid as a rock, and that's all I have to say. Well done--every single bit of this season!
2.4 mile swim in Walden coming up this morning with Leigh, Dave, and Michele. Then a run. We'll top it off with breakfast for all at my house. Great way to start the taper!
Michele- Report to come. I am fine.
First, before I say anything else, let me shout a huge THANK YOU!!! that it appears everyone has finished their last RR and there were no accidents. Praise God!
Second, I'm so grateful to read these reports! Yesterday was a rough day for me, my worst RR ever (actually about as bad as my first IM in Florida- where I blew up bad) and I've been having lots of doubts and worries. But you guys have really made me remember that it's just another day and it doesn't foreshadow anything about race day. I have some things I gotta figure out and learn from, but that doesn't mean it will be a bad race day.
RR#1 went pretty well, so my race rehearsal plan was pretty identical to RR#1 with just a few tweaks:
1. nutrition (different 2:00/Morning smoothie that went down easier and 1/2 of a Mojo bar at the 2 hour mark 'cause that improvised change in RR1 worked well).
2. wardrobe change (wore the planned raceday kit but no aerohelmet- too hot). Also wore my new cycling shoes with the shoe inserts
3. modifications to the bike fit with TTBikefit.
Otherwise, everything else was the same including the route and pacing plans. The other change I couldn't control was that it was hotter (70 w/ 95% humidity when I started which turned to 85 and 88% humidity as I rode) and I had no cloud cover at all this time around.
I started out the ride and checked my Garmin 310 to make sure it was reading the Hub (during the first RR it didn't read for the first hour for some reason). It was working fine as I headed out from the park, and about 15 min later it stopped reading the hub again.
Swell, last time it came back after about an hour so I just figured I'd ride that first hour on RPE and trusted it would come back. It never did. So I had to do the entire RR on RPE. My ride is flat flat flat, so you'd think that wouldn't be too big of a problem- but as you know, we get in those aerobars and it becomes all business- you find yourself going 80% without thinking. So as you'll see in a minute, I think I may have overcooked myself by riding a bit too hard.
I finished up the first 3 hour loop feeling pretty good, changed out bottles, took a pee break (good sign, right?) and headed out with a smile on my face 'cause I knew this would be the last time I rode some of these desolate roads all alone for a looooooong time. I thought of all of you a LOT on that second loop. I saw snakes and thought of Kathy, saw Turkey Buzzards and thought of Kate (and yes Kate, Tell James they had red heads), I saw Ospreys and thought of Kitboo, I saw hunting dogs and thought of Gina and Linda, I saw a bobcat and thought...........HOLY CRAP!? Yeah, a bobcat crossed the road right in front of me! That's when I thought of you Matt, cause I pulled on those break levers I bought from you pretty hard! The cat quickly ducked into the swampland and disappeared from sight so I couldn't get a picture
Bummer!
Anyway- around the 4:30-5:00 mark things started to go south fast. I got a little stomach upset/acid indigestion and spit up a little gu (I'm a pro at throwing up on the bike, turn the head, spew, keep peddling, just wish I could do the same with peeing). My stomach seems to be rejecting the 4:00 Hammer Gel and I can feel that discomfort/pressure in my stomach start to grow. I decide to try taking a Pepcid AC to counter act the indigestion. (in retrospect, I think this may have made things worse? Shutting down the acid in the stomach that is needed for digestion?? Any help on this would be appreciated). I slow down taking in any more calories and focus on just continuing to drink at my 15 min intervals. The last hour ride was a death march- my sole focus was to get to the run because then it would be all over with.
Back at the car I grabbed a mini coke from the cooler and drank 1/2 to try and resolve the tummy. Grabbed my water bottle, ipod, shoes, racked the bike, and headed out on the run. No problems this time running race day pace. I was more than happy to go easy and my body didn't want to go very fast either. Like Linda- I find if I run LRP and use the walk breaks to bring that to LRP+30 I'm in a pretty good place. Except for the tummy, everything felt fine- legs had spring, no hot foot this time around, energy, but oh the tummy, and the heat!!! I ended up walking a LOT of that 1 hour "run". I just couldn't get my stomach back in check. I tried hitting the reset button by doing the finger down the throat thing- but that just never works for me (I would never have been able to be bulimic) as I just don't have a very strong gag reflex.
When I got home I downloaded the Power data just to see whatever I could see. It seems it did pick up readings but would jump back and forth from 110 to 0 constantly. I've sent the file to Coach P for a crucible analysis to see if he can gleam anything from it. I also did a bottle count. I drank 43oz total. Not nearly enough- but considering I couldn't drink much after that 5 hour mark, I'd say it's about the same as RR#1 up to that point. Either way- it's not enough for when it heats up like that. I've got to drink more and I need to consider upping my timer to 10 min intervals if it is gonna be a hot day out there.
I couldn't eat or drink anything for about 2 hours after the ride. But when the tummy finally resolved itself I was STARVED!!! I ate well last night, including a small cup of chocolate chip ice cream for dessert!
Joe made me homemade waffles with whipped cream and blueberries for breakfast too! Now I need to start the taper- and I've gotta remember to eat accordingly!
Nemo- Is that a mis-print? 43 ounces TOTAL????
I have the somewhat dubious honor to report that my tradition of horrible luck during RR's is perhaps stronger than ever. I can't claim this was my worst RR, because someone got hit by a car during one of my previous ones and I had to abandon that RR to sit in the ER all day. Anyway, yes thank god everyone is ok and I'm keeping everything in perspective, yesterday was a fantastic time to learn lessons and have bad luck compared to race day. Ok, so without further adieu, race rehearsal #2:
Part 1: The Swim
The swim was fun! It was on the official swim course and organization was good. A few hundred people out there, almost all in the 2.4 mile wetsuit division (as was I). Ran into Jim and David before the race which was cool. Water conditions were great, NO SNAKES, algae wasn't that bad, water temp was about 77. The swim felt just like a triathlon swim to me, lots of nervous energy, I positioned myself right on the inside buoy line to intentionally get a beating to try and replicate what even the less-crowded areas of Moo will be like. Horn went off, immediately got a huge elbow to my face knocking my goggles half off. Shook it off, fought the crowd for about half of the first lap then ended up in no mans land for most of the second lap. Came out of the water at 1:18 feeling great. I had no idea how fast I'd finish, was hoping faster than that, but I definitely was not pushing myself during the swim, I was swimming slow and fluid, I think I have more in me for race day.
As soon as the swim was done I grabbed some water and then was itching to get on my bike and start riding. My boss, a triathlete, came up to the event with me and I had to wait another 30+ minutes or so for him to finish the swim, then probably another 30 minutes after that to get him moving and in the cars to Verona to stage our bike. I started to get pretty frustrated, MOWS started pretty late in the day, swim kicked off at 8:30, I could have been out and on my bike by 10 but ended up waiting even longer at the Verona BP for him to show up and did not even get to start the bike until 11:30. This may seem minor, but turned out to be a very tough mental blow.
Bonus: Used the rest room in the Verona BP and saw that I got hit so hard in the face during the swim that I got a black eye, probably within the first 5 seconds of the start. The black eye is in the shape of my goggles, Swedes, from where they were jammed in my eye socket. I like my swedes... but now I'm seriously reconsidering them for IM since they have zero padding and or give and transfer all energy straight to your eye socket.
Part 2 The Bike:
Starting so late immediately began to take a mental toll. Big groups of riders were heading onto the loop having left for Madison and I was heading the wrong direction on Whalen to do an out&back on the stick. Passed a ton of people heading down Whalen, turned around, but didn't really seem to be catching that many on my way back to the loop. Start the loop at 12pm, not ideal to say the least and immediately start having mechanicals. Stop to fix brake rub on my rear wheel, continue on, hit a section where I need to get up on the brake hoods and my aerobar pad flies off the bike!? Long side-story on this one involving hunting for a pair of aerobar pads I like, had switched back to my stock pads before the ride and the adhesive on the velco was no longer effective. It was fine at first, but as soon as I sweat some the adhesive went out and bye bye pads. I went back and picked up the pad, then spent the next hour or so fighting to stay in the aerobars so that my pad wouldn't fly off. Any time I went on the brake hoods my pad would fly off. This makes doing stuff like say climbing or braking or turning (stuff you never need to do at Wisconsin!) very difficult and very annoying because every time I did, the freaking pad would fly off! I think I went back and picked it up at least 4-5 times, including the absolute worst on Garfoot road during the downhill section. It flew off and I had to stop at the steepest section, run back up half of Garfoot road on foot, find it in a ditch, then run back to my bike. By the time I was on the bike again the entire 'fun' part of Garfoot was over, everyone I was near was long gone and I gave away all that free speed. I ran into a few EN'ers out there who made a big difference in trying to keep a positive attitude, chatted quite a bit with Kathy if I remember correctly. Less than 5 minutes later the pad fell off again and I left it. I'm way too angry at this point. Then the second one flies off... right before Stagecoach road. I ride Stagecoach road, and the remainder of the second loop on the metal cups that hold the pads. Stagecoach road was incredibly painful, my forearms were hurting for the remainder of the loop so much that I was not paying attention to my watts. Oh, and my bike which hasn't dropped a chain in months, dropped it twice on the foot of climbs. When I made it back to my car every part of me wanted to just call it right there and not do the second lap. I searched in my car for anything I could make new aero-pads out of and the best I could up with was socks. I took athletic socks and stretched them over the pad cup holder and folded the excess material over the top. It looked incredibly dumb, but it felt incredibly good compared to riding on the metal cups.
The short version of the second lap is that either I was way behind everyone due to the late start, or everyone else who did MOWS and started late only did one lap, because I was virtually alone out there on the second one. Gray overcast skies, lots of traffic, more dropped chains, headaches which I wasn't sure whether they were from caffeine or dehydration (I'm pretty sure both), more sore forearms. The second loop seemed like it lasted forever, I passed a total of probably 3 people the entire time? Made it back to Verona and hit every red light, on the 3rd one I paused my Garmin and forgot to restart it. I went for another out and back stick on Whalen road and was looking down at my mileage to see how much further I needed to go when it dawned on me that the mileage wasn't increasing, nor had been for the last 20? minutes. Immediately turned around and headed back to the car, thoroughly downtrodden. Bonus, it was after 5pm, that swim seemed oh so long ago.
Downloading my power file confirmed what I expected, my ride sucked. My watts were lower than target on both laps, my VI was unforgivably high, 1.09 and I felt like crap for most of it. My right quad even completely cramped up during the second lap climb of Old Sauk, I very rarely cramp on the bike, and it turned out I was riding at an IF of 0.68! Not like I was cooking it so hardcore my legs couldn't take it. I kind of expected bad news, I was so distracted and frustrated by everything that was going wrong that I just was not able to concentrate and ride smooth. However, some pills were harder to swallow. Since the last time I rode Wisconsin I changed out my rear cassette from a 12-25 to an 11-28 on my standard crank after being completely unable to stick to wattage targets on the big climbs. This time I found virtually the same thing, I lost count of the number of hills that I could not climb in 39-28 at under ~260 watts. To get down to ~210, my high level range, I had to drop my cadence down to the 50-70 range which just did not feel like effective riding. I don't weigh a ton, my Watts/kg is decent enough, I just don't get how I can not ride these hills effectively no matter how hard I try.
I went out on my run close to 6pm, the good news was that I could hold LRP+30 well enough, the bad news was that I was feeling pretty defeated and really lacking motivation. I knew my TSS was lower than my race day target but I also knew even so there was no way I could run a marathon. My boss called me during the run and asked if I wanted to go grab food at the Great Dane instead. I turned back early and have been feeling even more defeated because of it.
Drove home that night with a lot to think about, certainly lacking the sense of accomplishment that I usually have after a solid workout. I was trying to be pretty positive and upbeat last night about how it was great for all of this bad stuff to happen now rather than race day, and I do agree with that. I'm still upset though about the climbing, the only thing I can think of to keep my VI down is just to climb all of the hills on race day at stoopid low cadence? Getting my hands on a compact at this point is out of the question. Anyway, I've already gone on way too long. I do sincerely hope that most everyone else had a better day than I did. I'm going to try and give myself an attitude adjustment, I certainly learned some big lessons for race day.
Ironic update: checked the mail from yesterday. New aeropads came in the mail, CeeGee Cushys. Could have used those yesterday
I wish I could say it was. And that includes 8 oz of water I drank while driving to the start of the ride [insert EN 3.0 smiley getting the thwack stick upside the head by the other smiley] I brought 6 24oz bottles to drink on the ride and 1 20 oz bottle for the run. I returned home with 3 of those 24 oz bottles still completely full.
Trevor- Gotta tell you- I thought about a lot yesterday during that last hour of the bike, the run, and all afternoon as I beat myself up trying to figure out what went wrong with my nutrition plan. I thought it quite ironic that I gave you all this tough love advice to get your nutrition plan worked out and then I ended up following my own plan into a brick wall. There's another lesson there for both of us. Don't beat yourself up so much! .68 isn't horribly low and 1.09 isn't all that terrible of a VI on a course like IMWI. If you can get your hands on a compact crank before race day I do think that would do you a world of good.
Let's hope we've all shaken out the bad luck karma on these rides!
Oh- and there was another note to myself that your race rehearsal reminded me to do. I recall Kitima mentioned she found a way to carry a strip of duct tape in her toolbag. I think it was wound around a pencil or something like that? I think having a little duct tape in the bag for odd emergencies (like your aero pads) would be a nice idea.
Kitboo- how did you do that again?
Wait, check that. I'm obviously still bonked in the head! That should be 88 ounces total!
Good God I need a nap!
Nemo- I wrap a big piece around one of my C02 cartridges
Patrick
Oh, so tired I was heading into this. Mentally, more than anything.
A good nights sleep is hard to come by right now and Friday was no different. A great deal of tossing & turning, hot & cold, sweating. The same pattern has occurred with every IM. Crawled out of bed @ 0520.
Like RR #1, I skipped the 2am Naked Juice, as I don’t think it necessary without the swim. Had my same breakfast as RR #1 = ~ 600 kcal. Arrived @ my starting point by 6:30, still way to dark, so I set my watch for 6:50 and fell back asleep in the car.
On the bike @ 7, wondering how I am going to stay in the saddle for 5-6 hours AND run. It was super muggy, thick, still air. Fortunately, it is always beautiful as the sun rises.
First hour uneventful, taking in nutrition and fluids Q15min. 200 cal/hr between Infinit & Clif Blocks, 20-25 ounces h20. As usual I have to pee from the get go & tried, tried, tried to go on the bike . Nada. Although I could have gone several times, I only stopped once.
At about 1:05 into the ride my PT wattage goes haywire. 14 watts climbing a hill?? 0 watts? 80 watts @ a RPE of about 120? All I was thinking was how am I going to handle this? Not much I could do, so I just figured I would go on RPE. (Thinking to myself, that’s like using the rhythm method for contraception) About 45 minutes later I came to a stop sign and when I resumed the watts seemed appropriate. Of course, by now, all my data was skewed. No idea what my .IF or VI was, just have time, distance, mph. GRRRRR!!
I spent the rest of the time just focusing on actual watts and nailing my nutrition. Knock on wood, I am happy with my nutrition plan. It was served me well through both RRs in hot, humid conditions. I took in ~ 1000 calories and 130 ounces fluid.
I didn’t take Vivarin this time because I thought it made me tachycardic. Instead I did 2 Powergels with caffeine in hours 4-5. No issues there.
Focus was a REAL issue for me during this ride and overall I feel like it was sloppy. It was getting hotter, I was miserable, and like others just wanted to be done!! I called it a day @ 90 miles and headed out on the run.
My pace should be 12min miles for the start, but even with walk breaks, my average was 11:10. Despite the heat, I felt really good on the run.
When I got back to the car I checked TWC and the temp was 91 and inde* was 100. HUGE mental victory for me to know I ran in that.
I changed the batteries in my PT today. My friend Andy says he thinks it is the humidity and suggested a light silicone seal around the hub.
A little taper and let’s get this party started!!
Feeling a bit better since this morning, most of the problems that I encountered during my RR are pretty easy to address. My nutrition actually went pretty well despite a much longer day than I had anticipated. My hydration was not perfect, I plain and simple didn't drink enough water either (separate from my nutrition bottles) because I was not carrying enough. I don't anticipate this being a problem on race day due to the aid stations, plus I'm planning on swapping out my low-capcity Aqualite aerobottle for my standard Aerodrink.
As for the crank, I actually have a compact crank sitting down here I could easily throw on my bike... except I have a Quarq Cinqo, so if I took my double off I'd lose power. I contacted Quarq about the cost / feasibility of re-building into a compact crank but that seems unlikely. Unless anyone has any better tips I'll probably just have to stick to the low cadence up the hills to keep my watts down.
One more thing I learned though, I really didn't have a great idea of what my bike split was going to be to target in the TSS tables. When I rode the course at the IMWI camp my garmin gave me a total time of 5:58 and a moving time of 5:30, that was with a lot of sight seeing and other un-focused riding along the way. I did a 2:30 bike split on my last HIM on a pretty hilly course, IMKS 70.3, so I had been guessing to target the 5:30-5:45 range for my bike split, followed that guidance on my 1st RR (not on the Wisconsin course). Yesterday I definitely learned 5:30, at least how I was feeling yesterday, was much more of a *could* split than a should split. I'm thinking closer to 6 hours is more likely if I ride smart. Honestly I was pretty ignorant of what a typical bike split for someone of my fitness should be on a course like WI, but it was definitely a lot more humbling than my last 70.3 where I was top 20 on the bike in my division.
Anyway, reading everyone else's reports here, it was no picnic for anyone but again great job to everyone for struggling through. Let's all hope for a nice cool and mechanical free race day.
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Trevor- Ugh- really frustrating when you have to wait for other folks and you just want to get on your own schedule. Those aero pad problems- a nightmare. Sounds like you held it together well and your MacGyver pads worked out for you. When we were at camp, we were climbing a hill on the early section of Garfoot talking about going 4 mph with a cadence of 40 in order to keep the watts down. It's better than burning matches.
Good work everyone. I think we can say that the hay is in the barn now. Taper time is here!
Trevor....stop beating yourself up....u looked great out there
Despite all your mechanical problems...glad to hear your pads were in the mailbox when u got home! I remember passing one on the road thinking. wonder if that belongs to Trevor...should have picked it up for you but figured u might get it on the second loop. Really great chatting with you...so fun to see other ENers out there...feels like family..even though we had never met before. I also saw and chatted with Jennifer. She had trouble with her bike also. Way to finish the sbr...u r going to do great!!
Nemo- guess what was crawling down a brick wall on my long run on Thursday? A BLACK SNAKE!!!!!
Yesterday: MOWS swim.
First, a confession. Hi. I'm Beth. I breaststroked most of Steelhead last year. So, the swim is the big, crazy deal of Ironman for me. I swam slowly, happily, and learned a lot about sighting. I swam stupid slowly -- but there was no breaststroking. And I kinda fell in love with swimming. Huge mental victory. I also know that a) I will make swim cut-off. b) I need some serious sighting drills, but look forward to swimming with the crowd, so I can sight off people, c) the more open water time, the better until race day, and d) I'm finally ready to actually become a good swimmer. I've done it backwards of EN protocol: I know I can do far. Now I want fast, or at least MOP. So, awesome, cool Ironman 2012 goal already in place.
And then, THWARTED in bike race rehearsal for today. THWARTED. By fog. Madison and everywhere around it with cool places to ride bicycles was covered in dense fog. (I was considering subbing in the Dairyland Dare course if it was okay.) It was a tough call, but with far less than a 1/4 of a mile visibility, I knew I couldn't ride the course very safely (yeah. those descents. ugh.) and knew cars wouldn't be able to see me, so I played it safe and called it a day. I have race director empathy now. Calling it quits sucks. And a love that course! I'm feeling pretty dialed in, and RR #1 went well, so I'm not worried. Waiting to hear from RnP on how to proceed - rehearse next week? Get in some good ABP this week?
It sounds like everyone is tired, but ready!
Trevor, that is a seriously tough day of mechanicals and waiting.
Trevor....I'm not elite but you certainly looked strong to me going onto 92. Good luck with the race. I had to use my old tri bike for a week this summer and my pads kept coming off so I pulled the pony tail holders out of my hair and used those. Probably not helpful advice for you but I know what you mean about the aeropads coming off.
Terrific to meet other EN'rs
Now I consider myself DONE!
1:22 swim in Walden Pond. Who knows how long that really is, but it's close to or over 2.4. My goal today was to swim the whole time continuously with no 2nd loop break back at the shore. Did it, and it felt pretty good. Before my last two IMs, my swim always felt in the bag. I just don't feel the ease and comfort I usually do in the swim, but it's good enough.
Ran 4 with Leigh from my house out the Battle Road trail. Rock star Michele did the swim and part of our run--after the RR yesterday. Takes kahones.
Back to our house for eggs, fruit, baked goodies, and lots of talking. So nice to have everyone there and to finish it up with friends.
So that's a training wrap for the weekend. Lots of fatigue, but lots of good mojo flowing. Can't wait to put all together with all of you in three short weeks. It will be here before you know it!
"Sloppy"--that is the perfect word. In looking back on Friday, I was way sloppier on the focus than I wanted to be, and had planned to be. At the time, I was trying to zero in, but looking back it was sloppy for sure. Fatigue--100% fatigue is responsible for that. This was TOTALLY the mental game--that horrible pull of "just wanting to be done," makes it so much harder. So I hope this makes you feel better--so many of us in the same exact boat.
Really, it just fills my heart (here ya go Nemo) to read everyone's posts
Today, I was cutting our "back hill" I was 1) reveling in the fact that it was only 90 degrees 2) and thinking about how incredibly wonderful this group is
The stories, the human drama, life. All working toward that common goal.
It's all good, people. All good.
I learned so much on RR 2
This is what I kept telling myself as the day started off poorly and continued downhill. I left my hotel at 7am to ride a "stick" of 8 miles to hook up with the course just outside Verona. I get on the bike, start pedaling, and realize there is no way I'm only pushing 17 watts at a 80 cadence. So I attempt to zero the PT, and it says I did, but still reading really low watts. So I get off the bike, fiddle with it, pull out the iphone to pull up the manual to fiddle some more, but after 45 minutes I can't seem to fix it. I decide to do the ride by RPE since if the PT goes out on my on race day that's what I'd be left with.
So off I go, an hour behind schedule but not so bad. Get into Verona, head out, make my turn on Valley Road, get ready for the first hill, and shift and my rear dérailleur starts acting up skipping all over the place. I'm frustrated but figure I must be mashing too hard or something. Continue up and down and that dérailleur continues to skip all over the place, even when I'm not shifting! And I've never dropped a chain on the rear dérailleur before, but I did during the RR multiple times. So by Mt. Horeb I'm just trying not to get so angry to call for my ride to just come get me, but to at least get to Cross Plains and the bike shop there. After what seems like an eternity of frustration with shifting, I got to Uphill Grind, the bike store.
While we, the awesome bike mechanic Dave and I, thought it was going to just need some adjustment and I'd be on my way, it turned out to be much more difficult. Dave diligently worked for 3 hours (!!!!!) to figure out what was wrong and get my bike into perfect working order. It turned out to be a lot of very very very little issues that all came together to throw my whole shifting system out of whack (the perfect shifting system storm). Once the shifting was all fixed my PT started reading correctly as well. Another wonderful thing was that I had managed to bring my medical card instead of my credit card, so he did everything on credit trusting that I'd come back and pay.
So I want to send a huge shout out to Dave, and all the guys at Uphill Grind, for their work, kindness, and making a very frustrating day much better. If you are in Madison, or riding past U.G. definitely stop in for free water, $1 scoops of Gatorade, coffee, bike repairs, or gear. And if you ever get stranded because of bike issues you can call them and they will come pick you and your bike up to help out, which I think is a totally awesome service. And they will definitely be out there on race day cheering too, and they said they'd keep an eye out for ENers.
I headed out from Cross Plains on my now perfectly working bike. I was worried that I was going to be angry from the frustrating part of my day, but I really do love riding the hills in WI and checking out the beautiful scenery made my mood for the remainder of the loop shift immediately. I held my watts pretty well, and generally was happy with my finish. I bagged a second loop and the run since the extremely long delay had stiffened my knee significantly, I was severely hungry, and I decided I learned all I was going to learn for the day. Decided to take mom out to dinner and then went back to the hotel and went to bed very very early as it was a draining day.
Overall I think I'm prepared for the race. Good things I took away from the RR: 1. my knee brace worked fantastically in preventing water on my knee; 2. I do really love the course, and as long as I can remind myself that I'm riding properly and others are really going to booger themselves for the marathon I'll be fine; 3. thanks to the awesome work of Dave at U.G. my bike is completely ready for race day with everything checked out, tuned, and old stuff replaced; 4. taking a minute to reassess and find the positive, even if its small and only one thing, is really helpful in creating a snowball effect of positive.
Glad to get home and read that everyone learned some things as well and made good decisions too. Looks like everyone is prepared and ready for taper!
Gina- thanks for the heads up ;-)