I set out with the goal not just to finish my first Ironman, but to really take it al in and enjoy the full Ironman experience from start to finish. I'm competitive by nature and sometimes I lose track of what's important, obsess over individual workouts, guilt trip myself for perceiving that I cut some corner. Perhaps I should save my "everything will come together" speech for after the final RR, but the mere fact that I'm preparing for RR#2 really helped me put things back into perspective. Year(s) of hard work for many of us all coming up to the home stretch. So I suppose with that, good luck to everyone who may be doing their RR swim tomorrow, good luck to everyone else on Saturday and hopefully I'll see a few of you out there on the course this weekend, I'll be flying EN colors all day.
Well said Trevor. I especially like the thought of appreciating the IM experience from start to finish. So often I put my head down and grind something out without being aware of what I am doing. So often I go for a time (which implies the race is over) and forget to enjoy it. Sometimes on my training rides, runs, and swims I remind myself that this is my hobby, that it can be fun, and no matter how hard I'm struggling at least I'm not AT WORK! Ha!
I completely bailed on the FTP test this week. I took the bike out and realized I had no interest in riding. My shoulders were sore from swimming Tuesday night and I could not muster the strength to be interested in riding.
Yesterday I had some GI issues in the morning and wasn't about to go out for a 2:30 run. I was so, so tired. I looked at the schedule and saw a 150 min run and thought, "What??? I thought I had a 2:30 run today." Too tired for simple math.
Today, finally, I got the long run done. I went longer than I wanted because I had some gutchest pains that slowed me down. But, I got it done. Once again, my tunes got me through.
I'm taking off for Madison tonight around 5 after I drop the kids and dog off. I gotte get keyed up for the swim and bike tomorrow. Since I am planning on 2.4 and 112 I'll probably skip the run - or at least go only 30.
I am doing the long ride tomorrow with other ENers David and Heather, gonna do 3 laps of 31 miles each for the 6 hours, they are faster but will be on same course, I can bail at my car for emergency purposes.... and or refuel. I will run one hour afterwards. Supposed to be still hot so I have aabout a dozen water bottles laid out and some in the freezer! another hot one. gonna start rolling at 6:15 when it gets light. making the Carbo Pro now. thinking of "dropping" the water bottles every 1/2 mile so I can get thru the run... before I start the ride, just drive in and drop bottles.. and hope they are still there! ha. not wearing the EN singlet but old CF singlet due to the one large pocket in back and I can stow two water bottles in the pocket as i dont have rear hydration cages. think the plan will work but have high school football dinner tonight at 7, so food and getting home late and got up early today as well for RR swim which I am either very slow or I swam very long! either way it is done! okay gotta scoot and pack up all of this water! m
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!
Sounds like the fatigue has set up residence among the team.
Jennifer: Great to hear your better!
Michele: You get the Mental Toughness Overcomes GI issues award for the year! Glad you had a good swim RR.
David: I bagged the FTP test for this week too. The long run clobbered me. Good luck with the last RR!
Matt: Such amazing improvements to your swim! You've inspired me and my DH to find a good swim coach this winter and get working on our swim technique before Jan OS.
Heather: Totally agree about the pool RR. I can barely keep track of 500's---we need those people with lap counters at swim meets.
Linda: So so happy for you! That's quite the monster wind in NH today. More dollars in the mental toughness bank!
I'm in Lake Placid for my DH's Xterra. Slept in this morning and decided to move the bike/run RR to tomorrow. That long run really, really left alot of fatigue in my legs. So swim RR this morning in Mirror Lake. Blessed be those buoys with the white rope underwater to follow. It's like an OWS lane line. I swam my 4000m in 1:15----faster than my IMLP swim 3 years ago, before EN when I was swimming 3-4 times a week for a year leading up to the race. I was stunned and pleasantly surprised because I didn't swim at all in OS and my swim consistency has been poor this season. I attribute the improvement to spending 4 weeks of doing the drills from the Swim eBook.
Safe riding on our final RR's, my friends! We are soooo close!!
Today was HARD! legs were dead, head was so NOT interested, it was hot, it was a headwind for the entire 6 hours. in other words- it was a great way to test out that mental 6 pack.
Watts came in low (IF was .68 for the ride) as expected. Knew pretty quickly the legs were pooped. So worked on what I could control- riding steady. VI was 1.05 and I only had a few spikes but looking at the two files is night and day difference for the same course. My first one was all over the place, this one was nice and tight. On a plus side, was also faster this go around. finished the 107 miles in 5:55 versus 6:01. considering the wind, obviously a result of maintaining speed instead spiking and coasting like I did the first RR.
Nutrition was off today (i.e. wasn't paying attention). Needed way more water given the heat (took in 120 oz + 2 bottles infinit) or salt (I got lazy with the scaps and got myself in a hole as it got hotter). Peed 4x, but felt much better with powerbar endurance, cliff blockies and scaps for RR#1 than just infinit and water this time. I think the actual process of eating and the variety of sports drink/water is also a nice mental boost for me (something to look forward too and keep my head in the game).
Run felt pretty good. Settled in and the legs were fine. Was obviously dehydrated and at about mile 4-5 started to get cold and goose bumpy. I think going back to my old plan and following it will eliminate this. today was a mixture of gas tank on empty at the start and not doing enough during the day to counteract it.
All in all, happy with the two RR's. Definitely feel like the fitness is there and learned plenty on both of them. Two little things left for sunday and then ready to kick off this taper big time!!!!
good luck tomorrow everyone!! will be checking for updates to see how it goes!!
Felt pretty chilly at the 6 am start, but wanted to avoid traffic. Rode a much hillier route and goal was to ride steady, flatten the hills. I think I did a pretty good job overall. Every hill, I just visualized a hill at IMWI. Managed 99.3 miles in 6:10. VI 1.05, IF .66
1st loop: Stuck to my nutrition/ hydration plan and this resulted in a major need to pee by hour 1. But no where to stop, so had to hold it for an hour! Suffice it to say, I was WELL hydrated. I also opted to munch some dry saltines. Kept something semi solid in my stomach which helped. Took my Endurolytes and Inifinit. Refuel at the car and hit the porta potty AGAIN.
2nd loop: Just did not want to drink the Infinit. Took caffeinated gels, water, Endurolytes. Again had to pee BAD by 1 hour, again no where to stop, but this time only had to wait another 30 minutes. Decided to avoid having to stop and pee again, so cut back slightly on the water, but started back with the Infinit finally. Also had an occasional rumble in the gut that the saltines easily quieted.
Shut down nutrition at 5:45, backed off on my effort and rode it in easy for the last 25 minutes.
Transition was a bit long, but I had to get the bike secured. Just as I was about to whip off the bike shorts and throw on the tri shorts, I realized that there was someone sitting in a car 2 spaces over. Decided that I'd better get in the car to change behind the tinted windows.
Headed out and of course was fast despite purposely running uphill! Goal was 10:40- 10:50. Got it under control and felt great! Definitely was cruising along and felt like a I could go all day at this do no harm pace, but of course I was running a flat course. Anyway, felt so good that I decided to run until I got bored or something started to hurt. My feet hurt but that was to be expected. Finished with 7.7 miles.
Stood in the lake for a few minutes, then started shivering despite the temps, so I came home. A nap sounds sweet! So glad to be done!
Great Job on the RR's yesterday and today. Once again you MUST remember your body is tired and you are not supposed to feel great for the RR. The next 3 weeks of tapering will fix that. If something didn't go right, be glad you got it out of the way before race day and learn from it. I had an absolutely horrible RR last year and stopped running and just sat at a gas station for a while, probably the worst workout of the year for me...but we move on.
I channeled everyones RR energy today and went out for a solo 4.5 hour ride. I had two workout goals this year: a .85 IF for a 4.5 hour ride and to go over 100 miles in 4.5 hours. Today I was able to met one of them and was sooo close to the other. 4:29:31 ride time at .850 IF!!! However, I really pushed at the end and still came up a little short with 98.84 miles, I'm pretty sure if I just find a route with less hills (this one had 3000 ft of climbing) I can finally do a century in under 4:30 and catch up to Trent.
The best part was after completely trashing myself on the ride, I did a quick transition and pulled off a 5 mile brick in 33:00 and it wasn't too tough. I don't think I could have ran a full marathon, but maybe a half. Of course the rest of the day my legs were hurting pretty bad.
Thank you so much everyone for the motivation and Jim H for riding with me the last few weeks and getting me out of my comfort zone.
Sunday: I slept 9 hours, and am still lazy with coffee, my upper body aches. and I am a vegetable, !!! ha. very nice to have a quite house and other than the dog itching to go out, I am chillin'. I think I did not get power readings on lap 2 and lap 3 I got caught in huge storm on thurs so hope nothing is wrong but yesterday it was flaky or was it me??? ha. so I have an avg power reading for lap 1 but not the other two laps, each lap of 31 miles..... and my bike was un necessarily loud yesterday. so will take in bike too... and need them to move cleat to come off the ball of my foot. so to the bike store this week.
good job Matt, I am gonna count that as a century!! in 4:30! great job and with hills too very impressed. m
Arrived home around 1ish today from Madison. Had really great weekend. Stayed at Clarion with Sheryl and drove out to Verona on Sat am. parked at Fireman's park and stashed water etc. in van. Did 2 loops ended up being around 86 miles in 5;24. Put bike in van and ran 6 miles. I have not downloaded info yet, but great on run and my times were much improved from RR1. I biked and ran in my new zoot compression tri shorts and Mancona u r right....LOVE (if one can love clothing) them!!! just found my racing outfit....zoot shorts + EN singlet. The days was humid, but overcast which was such a blessing!! Sun came out with 1 mile left in run...worked perfect for me. If weather is like that race day...I will be a happy person Met Heather, Hasan and Michele for a light supper at the Memorial Union Terrace. Great spot, lovely evening and conversation with some great people! Fun way to end an awesome day! Oh also saw Trevor and Jennifer on bike course. I love seeing that EN singlet out there...lifted my spirits for sure! Both Jennifer and Trevor had mechanical bike issues...I was thankful nothing went wrong on my bike!! Course was crowded...noticed people riding 2 abreast...locals were driving fast on G and 92 ( my unfavorite portion of the course) also noted several discarded tubes lying on the side of road. KInd of makes me mad to see cyclists leaving trash...gives our sport a bad name. Now it is time to take a nap...I don't sleep very well in hotels
Glad everyone is done with RR#2!! It will be so fun to ALL be on the course approximatley the same time in 3 weeks!!!
So...question: after about mile 75 on the bike I get a sharp pain between my shoulder blades. It clears up pretty quickly off the bike but I'm thinking I'll head to Gear West this week and get the fit tweaked....what are the thoughts? Too close to IMWI??? It's annoying.
I'm with Kathy. There were a ton of very aggressive and angry drivers out there yesterday. Many were laying on the horn and I saw one guy ream the two in front of me riding two abreast. There was a lot of aggression on both sides. Be nice if riders would be as considerate of the drivers as we want them to be of us. Unfortunately our not riding according to the rules won't kill a car driver...they will. It was a little scary out there.
@Kathy, I'm glad to hear the compression shorts work well for you. I pretty much ride in them 100% of the time now and have ever considered putting them on for long runs as well.
@Everyone - thanks for the comments on my swim and great job on getting RR #2 done. I don't have time tonight, but I will be reading through the full RR#2 thread soon. I did take a quick look already.
As for me... yesterday was probably the single best ride of my life and a great brick after so of course today sucked. I had nothing on the bike. warmed up for 30 minutes super easy. Then held .78 for about 1.5 hours and next proceed to watch my watts drop for the rest of the ride. Ended up at .73 for 2:55, but at least I made it 60 miles :-)
On the positive side, I swam today as well and did a 1000 M TT in 15:29. In some sick way I'm actually looking forward to my RR swim next weekend, well I'm looking forward to seeing how much I have improved since last year... I'm definitely not looking forward to counting all those laps.
Comments
Well said Trevor. I especially like the thought of appreciating the IM experience from start to finish. So often I put my head down and grind something out without being aware of what I am doing. So often I go for a time (which implies the race is over) and forget to enjoy it. Sometimes on my training rides, runs, and swims I remind myself that this is my hobby, that it can be fun, and no matter how hard I'm struggling at least I'm not AT WORK! Ha!
I completely bailed on the FTP test this week. I took the bike out and realized I had no interest in riding. My shoulders were sore from swimming Tuesday night and I could not muster the strength to be interested in riding.
Yesterday I had some GI issues in the morning and wasn't about to go out for a 2:30 run. I was so, so tired. I looked at the schedule and saw a 150 min run and thought, "What??? I thought I had a 2:30 run today." Too tired for simple math.
Today, finally, I got the long run done. I went longer than I wanted because I had some gutchest pains that slowed me down. But, I got it done. Once again, my tunes got me through.
I'm taking off for Madison tonight around 5 after I drop the kids and dog off. I gotte get keyed up for the swim and bike tomorrow. Since I am planning on 2.4 and 112 I'll probably skip the run - or at least go only 30.
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!
Wishing all of you tremendously great weekend!
Jennifer: Great to hear your better!
Michele: You get the Mental Toughness Overcomes GI issues award for the year! Glad you had a good swim RR.
David: I bagged the FTP test for this week too. The long run clobbered me. Good luck with the last RR!
Matt: Such amazing improvements to your swim! You've inspired me and my DH to find a good swim coach this winter and get working on our swim technique before Jan OS.
Heather: Totally agree about the pool RR. I can barely keep track of 500's---we need those people with lap counters at swim meets.
Linda: So so happy for you! That's quite the monster wind in NH today. More dollars in the mental toughness bank!
I'm in Lake Placid for my DH's Xterra. Slept in this morning and decided to move the bike/run RR to tomorrow. That long run really, really left alot of fatigue in my legs. So swim RR this morning in Mirror Lake. Blessed be those buoys with the white rope underwater to follow. It's like an OWS lane line. I swam my 4000m in 1:15----faster than my IMLP swim 3 years ago, before EN when I was swimming 3-4 times a week for a year leading up to the race. I was stunned and pleasantly surprised because I didn't swim at all in OS and my swim consistency has been poor this season. I attribute the improvement to spending 4 weeks of doing the drills from the Swim eBook.
Safe riding on our final RR's, my friends! We are soooo close!!
RR#2 is DONE.
Today was HARD! legs were dead, head was so NOT interested, it was hot, it was a headwind for the entire 6 hours. in other words- it was a great way to test out that mental 6 pack.
Watts came in low (IF was .68 for the ride) as expected. Knew pretty quickly the legs were pooped. So worked on what I could control- riding steady. VI was 1.05 and I only had a few spikes but looking at the two files is night and day difference for the same course. My first one was all over the place, this one was nice and tight. On a plus side, was also faster this go around. finished the 107 miles in 5:55 versus 6:01. considering the wind, obviously a result of maintaining speed instead spiking and coasting like I did the first RR.
Nutrition was off today (i.e. wasn't paying attention). Needed way more water given the heat (took in 120 oz + 2 bottles infinit) or salt (I got lazy with the scaps and got myself in a hole as it got hotter). Peed 4x, but felt much better with powerbar endurance, cliff blockies and scaps for RR#1 than just infinit and water this time. I think the actual process of eating and the variety of sports drink/water is also a nice mental boost for me (something to look forward too and keep my head in the game).
Run felt pretty good. Settled in and the legs were fine. Was obviously dehydrated and at about mile 4-5 started to get cold and goose bumpy. I think going back to my old plan and following it will eliminate this. today was a mixture of gas tank on empty at the start and not doing enough during the day to counteract it.
All in all, happy with the two RR's. Definitely feel like the fitness is there and learned plenty on both of them. Two little things left for sunday and then ready to kick off this taper big time!!!!
good luck tomorrow everyone!! will be checking for updates to see how it goes!!
RR#2 is DONE!
Felt pretty chilly at the 6 am start, but wanted to avoid traffic. Rode a much hillier route and goal was to ride steady, flatten the hills. I think I did a pretty good job overall. Every hill, I just visualized a hill at IMWI. Managed 99.3 miles in 6:10. VI 1.05, IF .66
1st loop: Stuck to my nutrition/ hydration plan and this resulted in a major need to pee by hour 1. But no where to stop, so had to hold it for an hour! Suffice it to say, I was WELL hydrated. I also opted to munch some dry saltines. Kept something semi solid in my stomach which helped. Took my Endurolytes and Inifinit. Refuel at the car and hit the porta potty AGAIN.
2nd loop: Just did not want to drink the Infinit. Took caffeinated gels, water, Endurolytes. Again had to pee BAD by 1 hour, again no where to stop, but this time only had to wait another 30 minutes. Decided to avoid having to stop and pee again, so cut back slightly on the water, but started back with the Infinit finally. Also had an occasional rumble in the gut that the saltines easily quieted.
Shut down nutrition at 5:45, backed off on my effort and rode it in easy for the last 25 minutes.
Transition was a bit long, but I had to get the bike secured. Just as I was about to whip off the bike shorts and throw on the tri shorts, I realized that there was someone sitting in a car 2 spaces over. Decided that I'd better get in the car to change behind the tinted windows.
Headed out and of course was fast despite purposely running uphill! Goal was 10:40- 10:50. Got it under control and felt great! Definitely was cruising along and felt like a I could go all day at this do no harm pace, but of course I was running a flat course. Anyway, felt so good that I decided to run until I got bored or something started to hurt. My feet hurt but that was to be expected. Finished with 7.7 miles.
Stood in the lake for a few minutes, then started shivering despite the temps, so I came home. A nap sounds sweet! So glad to be done!
I FEEL LIKE I AM READY!!!!!
but okay got it done! my body feels friend too! my house is a wreck, I think the dog might be out of food too! ha. m
I channeled everyones RR energy today and went out for a solo 4.5 hour ride. I had two workout goals this year: a .85 IF for a 4.5 hour ride and to go over 100 miles in 4.5 hours. Today I was able to met one of them and was sooo close to the other. 4:29:31 ride time at .850 IF!!! However, I really pushed at the end and still came up a little short with 98.84 miles, I'm pretty sure if I just find a route with less hills (this one had 3000 ft of climbing) I can finally do a century in under 4:30 and catch up to Trent.
The best part was after completely trashing myself on the ride, I did a quick transition and pulled off a 5 mile brick in 33:00 and it wasn't too tough. I don't think I could have ran a full marathon, but maybe a half. Of course the rest of the day my legs were hurting pretty bad.
Thank you so much everyone for the motivation and Jim H for riding with me the last few weeks and getting me out of my comfort zone.
good job Matt, I am gonna count that as a century!! in 4:30! great job and with hills too very impressed. m
Arrived home around 1ish today from Madison. Had really great weekend. Stayed at Clarion with Sheryl and drove out to Verona on Sat am. parked at Fireman's park and stashed water etc. in van. Did 2 loops ended up being around 86 miles in 5;24. Put bike in van and ran 6 miles. I have not downloaded info yet, but great on run and my times were much improved from RR1. I biked and ran in my new zoot compression tri shorts and Mancona u r right....LOVE (if one can love clothing) them!!! just found my racing outfit....zoot shorts + EN singlet. The days was humid, but overcast which was such a blessing!! Sun came out with 1 mile left in run...worked perfect for me. If weather is like that race day...I will be a happy person
Met Heather, Hasan and Michele for a light supper at the Memorial Union Terrace. Great spot, lovely evening and conversation with some great people! Fun way to end an awesome day! Oh also saw Trevor and Jennifer on bike course. I love seeing that EN singlet out there...lifted my spirits for sure! Both Jennifer and Trevor had mechanical bike issues...I was thankful nothing went wrong on my bike!! Course was crowded...noticed people riding 2 abreast...locals were driving fast on G and 92 ( my unfavorite portion of the course) also noted several discarded tubes lying on the side of road. KInd of makes me mad to see cyclists leaving trash...gives our sport a bad name. Now it is time to take a nap...I don't sleep very well in hotels 
Glad everyone is done with RR#2!! It will be so fun to ALL be on the course approximatley the same time in 3 weeks!!!
I'm with Kathy. There were a ton of very aggressive and angry drivers out there yesterday. Many were laying on the horn and I saw one guy ream the two in front of me riding two abreast. There was a lot of aggression on both sides. Be nice if riders would be as considerate of the drivers as we want them to be of us. Unfortunately our not riding according to the rules won't kill a car driver...they will. It was a little scary out there.
Whoops, put the post in the wrong thread. I'll be darned if I can find a delete button.
I posed this question to both Linda & Nemo over on FB and thought I would bring it here as well.
For those of you that use WKO. Where do you plan/hope for your TSB to be on race day??
@Everyone - thanks for the comments on my swim and great job on getting RR #2 done. I don't have time tonight, but I will be reading through the full RR#2 thread soon. I did take a quick look already.
As for me... yesterday was probably the single best ride of my life and a great brick after so of course today sucked. I had nothing on the bike. warmed up for 30 minutes super easy. Then held .78 for about 1.5 hours and next proceed to watch my watts drop for the rest of the ride. Ended up at .73 for 2:55, but at least I made it 60 miles :-)
On the positive side, I swam today as well and did a 1000 M TT in 15:29. In some sick way I'm actually looking forward to my RR swim next weekend, well I'm looking forward to seeing how much I have improved since last year... I'm definitely not looking forward to counting all those laps.
Gina- my 2008 IMWI bike looked like this (FTP was 165 at the time)
Duration: 6:53:38 (7:02:20)
TSS: 292.6 (intensity factor 0.657)
Norm Power: 108
VI: 1.13
My FTP is 155 now and if I can ride at .68-.7 watts I'll end up with TSS over 300.