Leading up to the race I had my last week of tapering so on Sunday I did some easy biking, Monday some running at 8:20/mile pace for 5 miles to nail that down. Tuesday I ran 4 miles at the same pace. Wednesday I squeezed in a 17 mile bike ride in through the rest of what I had to do that day. Thursday was filled with driving 11 hours to get to Ottawa and get checked into our hotel. The city is amazing and I love how there are bike paths with a lot of people actually using them for running and cycling along almost all of the major roads! The traffic was pretty bad as we arrived at rush hour, but we eventually made it to our hotel. Friday I checked out the course some, but only rode on the bike path next to Colonel Bypass Drive where I would spend a long time on the next day. I ran through part of the run course and nothing real exciting to report.
The evening before the race I got checked in, went to the meeting and also ate my dinner which was spaghetti and meatballs. I probably took in an extra 250 grams of carbs throughout the day (not all at dinner) and kept hydrated with water during meals and gatorade between meals. I got to sleep around 8:30pm with a race time of 7:15am the next day. Woke up around 2am to use the bathroom and drank an Ensure to get some early calories in my system without hurting me by the time the race started. Alarm went off at 4am and I had a bagel with peanut butter with 16oz of water. On the way to the stadium I drank a gatorade bottle and ate another bagel with peanut butter. We arrived at 6am and set my bike up in transition, put my special needs bag for the run on the table (only had extra sunscreen in there but now I know what I really do need in there), and was ready to warm up. With the race length I only did about 1-1.5 miles of jogging to get my blood flowing and start the race ready. I turned on my watch with 5 minutes til the race and my heart rate was 120 while I was waiting for the start of the race.
My equipment:
Bike - 2003 Specialized Allez aluminum road bike converted to have bullhorns and aero bars
Shoes - Saucony Grid Profile shoes with 4mm drop
Me - Wore bibs the whole race with a race jersey
First run - 4k run plus T1 - 20:01
The weather was around 70 degrees at the start of the race and according to weather.com the humidity was 95% when the race started. It did feel humid, but my feelings were all over the place as I was anxious and nervous at the same time. We get a countdown and start from the finish line on the track of Terry Fox stadium. My plan is to run out at a 7 minute/mile pace and just hold that while not going too fast through the first run. There is one other competitor running that same pace so I just ran right behind him for about 1.1 miles until he sped up and that wasn't the pace I wanted to do. The first split was the 4k run and T1. In T1 I already had my biking gloves and sunglasses on so this was pretty basic. I changed my shoes, put on my helmet, put 4 gels in my biking jersey and started the quarter mile jog to mount my bike. Not sure of the exact distance, but this does not seem like an exaggeration.
180km bike - 5:50:39
The bike course goes up and down the same road that is closed off to traffic for a total of 12 laps that are 15km each. The race was set up so that different distances would start throughout the day so that it wouldn't just be the 11 of us doing the duathlon and the 32 people doing the triathlon version of the 226km race on the course all by ourselves. There was a super sprint, sprint, try a tri, olympic and half iron distances raced throughout the day. They were timed very well to where traffic was not bad at all. There was a night marathon that started at 5:30pm and half marathon at 7pm to liven up the run course as well.
I had a plan of taking the bike at an average heart rate of 130-140, but did not take into account that it is race day and I am also tapered, so it was a little tough to settle into the right heart rate. I rode the first lap, the course winds to the left and the right a little bit, but no sharp turns except the turnaround at the far end of the course and the turnaround at the beginning. It is right next to a river or creek so even when winds are low around there is some wind that you can usually feel and it didn't always seem to be in the same direction. The road had a lot of bumps on it where the road had cracked and my GPS had the course as about a quarter mile long, but every single competitor was on the same course, so I had to find my groove and go with it.
I did the first lap and my heart rate was steady around 145-150, but I was not pushing hard at all and riding right along at the pace I had planned. I knew my heart rate would be a little higher and with going by heart rate and speed as my only judges I made a decision and went for 140-150 heart rate and kept within that range, usually from 140-145 during the first 6 laps of the bike portion. I focused on drinking one bottle of water every 3 laps and taking two good drinks every lap of my nutrition bottle (1500 calories of powder gatorade, 180 calories of protein powder and 990mg of potassium). I followed that perfectly as planned. I took two gels, but my body did not feel right when I took them so I stopped after the second. After 6 laps I was at 2:48 for the bike leg and 3:08 accumulative race time. I started doing too many calculations and forgot to just keep pedalling, checking heart rate and knowing when to drink what. After my 9th lap my left foot started hurting on the ball of my foot. This is something I should have been able to find a solution to during training, but never did. All my long rides ended up with a sore left foot but it usually went away within a few minutes of finishing my ride.
Note to self - fix things that hurt during training.
I was still going along at a decent pace and during the second half of the bike I was going the same speed as the first half but my heart rate was around 130-135. With 1km left to go in the 10th lap I used the porta-potty just to give my foot a break. I took my shoe off while I used it and found out that I guess I really had to go. 3 minutes later I get back out there and finish my last two laps (plus 1km). My foot did feel a little better, but not great. I get off the bike, I am still doing alright with the exception of the ball of my left foot.
T2 - 4:44
I jog my bike back, go to my rack and someone's swimsuit and stuff is all over my section, but oh well. I racked my bike, but it took me a few tries to get it to stay (had to move the other person's swimsuit and it took the third time before I realized I needed to move it, lol). I took my helmet off, gloves in helmet, sunglasses in helmet, shoes off and put my running shoes on. Had some vaseline to lube back up and then put on some more sunscreen. I put 6 gels in my jersey and planned on taking one of them every 4 miles on the run and I was ready to go.
Note to self - when sweating a lot use less or you will look like a white ghost when putting on sunscreen. Also, 6 gels in the back of a biking jersey bounces too much while running.
42.2km run - 4:48:30
The run was 8 laps through the park in Ottawa by the Terry Fox stadium and then went along Riverside Drive to a road where it went down to the 2.67km turnaround point. There were aid stations right by the stadium, half way out and at the turnaround point. The aid station at the turnaround point had the salt tablets, coke, bananas, bagels, gels and chicken broth. All of them had gatorade and water.
So I started off my run wanting to do a 8:20/mile pace and hold it as long as possible with a slow fade. I started off the first mile right on pace. Miles 2 and 3 were 8:25/mile pace. Miles 4 and 5 were 8:35/mile pace, and things were going well. I took a gel and went to drink some water at the mid-way aid station and there were no more cups so that aid station was closed down. I stomached the gel and kept going until the aid station by the stadium and then I drank some water. I wanted coke, but they didn't have it. I then proceeded to freak out as this is where I thought they were supposed to be fully stocked with everything for the iron distance competitors. I threw a fit while jogging and was told it should all be at the turnaround point (oops).
Note to self - pay more attention at pre-race briefing.
I let that get to me and during my 3rd lap my pace dropped down and luckily my watch ran out of battery so I couldn't see how slow I was going. I spent too much effort worrying about things I shouldn't worry about and let myself start to slow. I dropped down to about a 9:00-10:00/mile pace here and then my foot really started hurting on the way back. At the end of the 3rd lap I went to use the restroom at the stadium locker room, went pee and gave my foot another break. After this for laps 4-6 it was just a disaster, I was running at a 11-12 minute/mile pace probably and just trying to get to the finish line. I did, during that time, figure out what works nutritionally for me though. Drinking 4 cups of gatorade (was pretty watered down) and 1 cup of coke every lap helped a lot. After lap 6 I came a little more back into my senses. I realized that I was still in 2nd place, and I wasn't hurting as bad as I thought. I did cramp a little in lap 6, but took a salt tablet and it went away. I then started taking 1-2 salt tablets per lap. Lap 7 I went from running 40 minutes per 3.275 miles to running 34 minutes for 3.275 miles which felt better. During lap 7 it was like a burst of energy that came out of nowhere after exercising for almost 10 full hours already. Then lap 8 came and I knew it was the home stretch, the pain came back but it was easier to run through it knowing this was the last lap. I came into the stadium with a full head of steam and just ran the last 100 meters through to the finish and got my 2nd place overall finish!
Final Time - 11:03:51
Overall, it was an amazing experience and wrapping it up with a morning breakfast the day after with awards was a great way to cap off a great event. The staff that works the event is great and with how the course is laid out you see a lot of the same people so many times that when you see them the next day it's kind of like you already know them. I do have some key takeaways from this race though:
1. Don't go in with a time in mind that you will finish in as the day is long and the weather/conditions play a bigger part in how you finish than in shorter races.
2. Don't freak out ... you need to be able to roll with whatever comes your way.
3. Fix your problems during training because they won't fix themselves in the race.
4. Be ready to change your plan.
5. Special needs bag is less about nutrition and more about comfort - it would have been a good idea for me to have an extra pair of dry socks or two, another pair of shoes if I change my mind on what shoes to wear, a towel and sunscreen.
6. Apply small amounts of sunscreen so you don't turn into a mess.
7. With aluminum you feel every bump over 112 miles.
8. My aero position on the bike isn't all that aero ... think it is time for a real tri/tt bike.
9. As my wife stated, I need to run more. :)
Race pictures and a video of the finish line here (first 4 pics are of someone else, not me)
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Monday, August 26, 2013
Week 22 - Taper madness has begun!
This week I definitely felt a phantom injury on my ankle, another day my right thigh hurt but then everything was actually fine. I got feverish and sick feeling, but that cleared up with about 24-36 hours. Man, is this the reaction that my body gives when I drop my mileage down to taper? I tapered for a marathon before and had phantom injuries, but never phantom sickness, lol.
Sunday: easy ride, 20 miles on the bike trail and there were quite a few people as there are on most sundays so I just took it easy with a few race pace intervals.
Monday: 6.4 miles with cooldown practicing race pacing. Ran at exactly 8:20/mile for 6.1 miles and that is right where I want my body to remember what speed to run at. Very good workout today!
Tuesday: Total of 21 miles with warmup. Did two laps at the local time trial and each lap is supposed to be 8.4 miles. I did the first one in just over 21 minutes which was just under 24mph average. The second lap took me 3 minutes longer, but I added about 1.5 miles since I missed a turn as I blew by a group of 5 cyclists out for a group ride. I must have went by them where I was supposed to turn and didn't realize until I was about 3/4 of a mile down the road. The 2nd lap would have been even faster than the first since I went 9.9 miles in just over 24 minutes. Felt very good about this workout until I was driving home. Got real feverish and had to roll the windows down to cool off.
Wednesday: Rest day was supposed to be Thursday, but I left work early feeling sick and just rested at home the rest of the day. Is this taper madness or did I just eat something that didn't sit right? 24 hour flu? Who knows.
Thursday: Felt better, went for a run after work and did a total of 7.5 miles. 7.2 miles was done at ... you guessed it, 8:20/mile pace and then I did a short cooldown and stretch. NAILED IT!!!! Felt good to do that after how I felt Tuesday and also it was at the hottest point of the day which will also be when I am running my marathon portion of the race.
Friday: 32 miles on the bike, got stopped at more traffic lights than normal, hit two railroad crossings when a train was going through and even hit a spot where they were freshly paving the roads. Did manage to get some sweet spot intervals in there though.
Saturday: 4.5 miles at 8:20/mile pace, nailed it again.
Great week, feeling good about my race pacing of heart rate at 130-140 during bike, running the first run at 7:00/mile and the marathon starting at 8:20/mile and controlling the fade as much as possible so that I don't go over 9:00/mile. I have my nutrition plan in place for the race, I plan on taking a total of 10 gels, 4 on the bike and 6 while running (one every four miles). On the bike I will have a nutrition bottle mixed with 7 scoops of gatorade (1400 calories), 1.5 scoops of protein powder (180 calories), and 990mg of potassium powder. During the bike leg I will drink one bottle of water (20-24oz) every 45km, and during the last lap I will take a bottle of gatorade instead. During the run I can only drink about 4-6oz of gatorade every 30 minutes from previous efforts, but am able to take on gels without a problem. I am bringing my own so I use exactly what I am used to. I will alternate between water and gatorade at the aid stations and I will also bring a 16oz water bottle with flat coke in it that I will carry in my cycling jersey. Special needs bag will have bananas, clif bars and flat coke if I need them.
Before the race I plan on taking in about an extra 100 grams of carbs from normal on thursday and another 200 grams extra on friday. This will be in the form of spaghetti that has extra noodles and the same amount of spaghetti sauce/meatballs. On race day I plan on getting up at 4:15am and having an ensure and a bagel with peanut butter. I will drink water with that and then I will drink a 32oz gatorade on the way to the race site and when I am there. I will eat another peanut butter bagel about an hour before the 7:15am start time and finish my gatorade. No drinking or eating on the 2.5 mile run to start. I have a plan in place and the special needs bags will be for if my plan needs to change! Race is one week from Saturday, so now it is time to make use of all the training and to trust the training.
Sunday: easy ride, 20 miles on the bike trail and there were quite a few people as there are on most sundays so I just took it easy with a few race pace intervals.
Monday: 6.4 miles with cooldown practicing race pacing. Ran at exactly 8:20/mile for 6.1 miles and that is right where I want my body to remember what speed to run at. Very good workout today!
Tuesday: Total of 21 miles with warmup. Did two laps at the local time trial and each lap is supposed to be 8.4 miles. I did the first one in just over 21 minutes which was just under 24mph average. The second lap took me 3 minutes longer, but I added about 1.5 miles since I missed a turn as I blew by a group of 5 cyclists out for a group ride. I must have went by them where I was supposed to turn and didn't realize until I was about 3/4 of a mile down the road. The 2nd lap would have been even faster than the first since I went 9.9 miles in just over 24 minutes. Felt very good about this workout until I was driving home. Got real feverish and had to roll the windows down to cool off.
Wednesday: Rest day was supposed to be Thursday, but I left work early feeling sick and just rested at home the rest of the day. Is this taper madness or did I just eat something that didn't sit right? 24 hour flu? Who knows.
Thursday: Felt better, went for a run after work and did a total of 7.5 miles. 7.2 miles was done at ... you guessed it, 8:20/mile pace and then I did a short cooldown and stretch. NAILED IT!!!! Felt good to do that after how I felt Tuesday and also it was at the hottest point of the day which will also be when I am running my marathon portion of the race.
Friday: 32 miles on the bike, got stopped at more traffic lights than normal, hit two railroad crossings when a train was going through and even hit a spot where they were freshly paving the roads. Did manage to get some sweet spot intervals in there though.
Saturday: 4.5 miles at 8:20/mile pace, nailed it again.
Great week, feeling good about my race pacing of heart rate at 130-140 during bike, running the first run at 7:00/mile and the marathon starting at 8:20/mile and controlling the fade as much as possible so that I don't go over 9:00/mile. I have my nutrition plan in place for the race, I plan on taking a total of 10 gels, 4 on the bike and 6 while running (one every four miles). On the bike I will have a nutrition bottle mixed with 7 scoops of gatorade (1400 calories), 1.5 scoops of protein powder (180 calories), and 990mg of potassium powder. During the bike leg I will drink one bottle of water (20-24oz) every 45km, and during the last lap I will take a bottle of gatorade instead. During the run I can only drink about 4-6oz of gatorade every 30 minutes from previous efforts, but am able to take on gels without a problem. I am bringing my own so I use exactly what I am used to. I will alternate between water and gatorade at the aid stations and I will also bring a 16oz water bottle with flat coke in it that I will carry in my cycling jersey. Special needs bag will have bananas, clif bars and flat coke if I need them.
Before the race I plan on taking in about an extra 100 grams of carbs from normal on thursday and another 200 grams extra on friday. This will be in the form of spaghetti that has extra noodles and the same amount of spaghetti sauce/meatballs. On race day I plan on getting up at 4:15am and having an ensure and a bagel with peanut butter. I will drink water with that and then I will drink a 32oz gatorade on the way to the race site and when I am there. I will eat another peanut butter bagel about an hour before the 7:15am start time and finish my gatorade. No drinking or eating on the 2.5 mile run to start. I have a plan in place and the special needs bags will be for if my plan needs to change! Race is one week from Saturday, so now it is time to make use of all the training and to trust the training.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Week 21 done!!! Another race report too
Week started off with a race and then I didn't really hold back at all this week as it is the last real week of training before I start to taper. Only thing that I did back off from a little bit was running towards the middle/end of the week as a precaution.
Sunday: Sprint Duathlon (originally planned for July 14th, but got switched due to the park being closed on the 14th because of high water levels in the park). Distance was a 2 mile trail run / 17 mile bike / 3.1 mile trail run. I knew that I had one strong competitor against me and didn't really know much about the other 24 people (26 total in the race including me). Started off for the 2 miler and did what I considered a comfortably hard pace and finished that in 12:49, though I was 40 seconds behind first place. He had passed me about 1/4 the way through the run.
Transition 1 he added another 30 seconds to his lead on me as he does not change shoes and I do. So about 1:30 for my transition (kinda long transition area). Bike leg begins and my plan was to hammer it and gain as much time as I could. I am hammering along and about 1/3 the way through the course I see a person that looks like a spec in the distance. I had already seen the course before and planned on hammering the easy uphills to hold pace and the longer ones just taking it a little easier as to not burn myself out. Eventually that little spec gets bigger and bigger and my highly technical timing method of counting seconds I was narrowing from 40 seconds, to 30, to 15 and then eventually I passed him and took the lead. 17 miles in 42 minutes at a 23.7mph pace. Coming into T2 I was ahead by about 10 seconds (made up 1:20 on bike).
T2 comes and I am behind by about 20 seconds coming out of T2 and he throws the hammer down running the first mile in 5:40 of the 5k and mine is a 6:45, so I am behind by 1:30 now and don't gain anything the rest of the way. I ran a 23:04 on the 5k and felt that was good for a trail run. I wound up in second place by 2 and a half minutes, though I beat 3rd by about 4 minutes. Good race and can't wait for USAT rankings to update from my last two races.
Monday: Easy bike ride, no plan on how far I would go, but just wanted to keep legs fresh. I wound up going out for a 38 mile ride in 2 hours. Can't believe how fun riding my bike was the day after a race.
Tuesday: Last "long run" before my race on August 31st, and it was a 9.5 mile run in 1 hour, 26 minutes. Nice and easy, not to push too much but to get some more mileage in.
Wednesday: 16 mile bike in 40 minutes on gym bike, legs felt great! Did a VO2MAX test on bike machine and it showed my score as 57, this was 53 back in March when I last took one. Finished up the day with 40 minutes of strength training.
Thursday: Rest day that I totally nailed!
Friday: Fueled up real good the night before with a large spaghetti dinner and in the morning I had a bagel with peanut butter and some gatorade/pre-workout drink. I did 87 miles at an average pace of 20.9 on mainly rural roads and only a few traffic lights/stops. Took 4 hours and 10 minutes, heart rate was 131 (wanted to stay in the 130-140 range) with a max of 150. So I did good at keeping it steady and it is encouraging that 20.9mph is on the low end of where I want to be. I finished my 1300-1400 calories that I wanted to take in during the ride and remembered to drink plenty of water.
Saturday: Easy 5.5 mile run, though I wanted to do around 8:20/mi pace and wound up at 8:13/mi. That is good, but on race day 8:13/mi off the bike will lead to me slowing a lot more than 8:20/mi. Most of my runs from here on out will be focusing on getting my body used to 8:20-8:30/mi pace so that I try not to blow up on the run.
Mileage for the week wound up at 157 miles biking and 21 miles running. Total training time was 12 hours. I have been averaging around 10 hours/week for the past 21 weeks training for this which is not a lot compared to some hardcore people, but with a full time job, household care/maintenance and trying to be a good husband with a pregnant wife I think I have balanced them all well and gotten in some quality training. I really started a training schedule 6 weeks before that even and since then have really improved my biking and running paces. Taper is starting and now all the questions and phantom injuries will start to fill my head so I will have to ensure not to go mad. I will still be training 5-6 days the next two weeks, just with a much lower amount of volume/intensity to hopefully wind up race fresh on August 31st.
Sunday: Sprint Duathlon (originally planned for July 14th, but got switched due to the park being closed on the 14th because of high water levels in the park). Distance was a 2 mile trail run / 17 mile bike / 3.1 mile trail run. I knew that I had one strong competitor against me and didn't really know much about the other 24 people (26 total in the race including me). Started off for the 2 miler and did what I considered a comfortably hard pace and finished that in 12:49, though I was 40 seconds behind first place. He had passed me about 1/4 the way through the run.
Transition 1 he added another 30 seconds to his lead on me as he does not change shoes and I do. So about 1:30 for my transition (kinda long transition area). Bike leg begins and my plan was to hammer it and gain as much time as I could. I am hammering along and about 1/3 the way through the course I see a person that looks like a spec in the distance. I had already seen the course before and planned on hammering the easy uphills to hold pace and the longer ones just taking it a little easier as to not burn myself out. Eventually that little spec gets bigger and bigger and my highly technical timing method of counting seconds I was narrowing from 40 seconds, to 30, to 15 and then eventually I passed him and took the lead. 17 miles in 42 minutes at a 23.7mph pace. Coming into T2 I was ahead by about 10 seconds (made up 1:20 on bike).
T2 comes and I am behind by about 20 seconds coming out of T2 and he throws the hammer down running the first mile in 5:40 of the 5k and mine is a 6:45, so I am behind by 1:30 now and don't gain anything the rest of the way. I ran a 23:04 on the 5k and felt that was good for a trail run. I wound up in second place by 2 and a half minutes, though I beat 3rd by about 4 minutes. Good race and can't wait for USAT rankings to update from my last two races.
Monday: Easy bike ride, no plan on how far I would go, but just wanted to keep legs fresh. I wound up going out for a 38 mile ride in 2 hours. Can't believe how fun riding my bike was the day after a race.
Tuesday: Last "long run" before my race on August 31st, and it was a 9.5 mile run in 1 hour, 26 minutes. Nice and easy, not to push too much but to get some more mileage in.
Wednesday: 16 mile bike in 40 minutes on gym bike, legs felt great! Did a VO2MAX test on bike machine and it showed my score as 57, this was 53 back in March when I last took one. Finished up the day with 40 minutes of strength training.
Thursday: Rest day that I totally nailed!
Friday: Fueled up real good the night before with a large spaghetti dinner and in the morning I had a bagel with peanut butter and some gatorade/pre-workout drink. I did 87 miles at an average pace of 20.9 on mainly rural roads and only a few traffic lights/stops. Took 4 hours and 10 minutes, heart rate was 131 (wanted to stay in the 130-140 range) with a max of 150. So I did good at keeping it steady and it is encouraging that 20.9mph is on the low end of where I want to be. I finished my 1300-1400 calories that I wanted to take in during the ride and remembered to drink plenty of water.
Saturday: Easy 5.5 mile run, though I wanted to do around 8:20/mi pace and wound up at 8:13/mi. That is good, but on race day 8:13/mi off the bike will lead to me slowing a lot more than 8:20/mi. Most of my runs from here on out will be focusing on getting my body used to 8:20-8:30/mi pace so that I try not to blow up on the run.
Mileage for the week wound up at 157 miles biking and 21 miles running. Total training time was 12 hours. I have been averaging around 10 hours/week for the past 21 weeks training for this which is not a lot compared to some hardcore people, but with a full time job, household care/maintenance and trying to be a good husband with a pregnant wife I think I have balanced them all well and gotten in some quality training. I really started a training schedule 6 weeks before that even and since then have really improved my biking and running paces. Taper is starting and now all the questions and phantom injuries will start to fill my head so I will have to ensure not to go mad. I will still be training 5-6 days the next two weeks, just with a much lower amount of volume/intensity to hopefully wind up race fresh on August 31st.
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Adding some life to this blog!
This is a picture of my right after my Olympic Duathlon a couple weekends ago.
Week 20 in the books, 3 weeks left!!!!
Week 20 is finished and wow, it is really getting close to race day. A lot of work has been put in and now is the time to get all the pacing and nutrition down so I don't waste all the work that I have been putting in for the last 20 weeks and base building before that. Foot started feeling better after I got some new work orthotics to replace the 7 year old ones I had before and this was an overnight win. I also bought a new pair of cycling insoles on Friday morning after realizing my left foot has a high arch and right foot is basically a normal arch. My old cycling inserts had lost their compression and may have been the wrong arch.
Sunday - went to the gym and did 25 miles cycling after work since my bike was still waiting for the front derailleur to come in. Was good to get some spinning in and just work on getting my legs moving while my ankle didn't have much stress on it.
Monday - I did nothing at all.
Tuesday - Cycling for 10 miles at the gym as my bike still wasn't ready, but wound up being ready around the time they closed at 8pm. I did the elliptical at the gym for 2 miles also and felt good. Busy day overall as I got up, did my workout, went to work at 11pm, did a local festival for work serving food, setting up a tent, tearing it down and we were out by 7pm, pickup the bike by 8pm, go shoot in pool league and win my match, in bed before 11pm.
Wednesday - been looking forward to this day and dreading it for a while now. My last big brick workout and longest of my entire training schedule. Wife set up an appointment for a guy to come out at 1pm to look at our gutters so I wouldn't have time for a 90 mile bike ride and 15 mile brick run. Instead I did a 2 mile warmup run, then I biked for 75 miles. During the biking section I was getting worried as I was only holding a 19-20mph pace consistently and sometimes over that. That was until I hit the gas station 37.5 miles out and turned around. I started coming back and was going 23-25mph consistently and realized that the wind was my limiter, lol. I did well on the bike portion, averaging 19.5mph on a ride on roads is normal for going around 21-22mph when I get some open ground. I got stuck at one light through two whole cycles because the guy wouldn't pull up to the sensor and there was too much traffic to go across. After that I did a 10 mile brick run and after about 9.5 miles I felt my first lactic twinge where if it were a race I would keep pushing and run through it but pay for it the next few days. This wasn't a race day so I stopped at that point and jogged at about a 10:00/mi pace the rest of the way home. Before that I started at a 8:13/mi pace and held that comfortably for 6 miles when I started to slow some and by the time I stopped I was still going 8:40/mi.
I had 1220 calories in my bottle (5.5 scoops of gatorade mix, 1 scoop of protein powder and 900mg of potassium) and used 2 gels while I did the bike portion. I finished all of that and while running I just had regular concentration gatorade and a couple gels so around 300 calories. The only thing I think I did wrong nutrition wise was not enough water on the bike portion. I need to be able to drink closer to 1oz of water per mile or at least 0.75oz per mile. I only had 40 ounces roughly over a 75 mile ride. That is why I cramped I believe. Race day I plan on bringing a 240 calorie clif bar with me and my nutrition bottle will be 7 scoops of gatorade mix, 1.5 scoops protein and 1000mg of potassium. I don't have a problem with the thickness of the mixture and there will be a bottle exchange every 15km so I should finish a bottle of water every 3 loops. During the run I have realized from past runs that I do well with water and gels primarily. I can handle gatorade every 5k or so.
Thursday - rest day, nailed it, did nothing but work.
Friday - Did a 3.3 mile run in the morning at recovery pace and a 14 mile ride on the bike trainer with a few intervals in the afternoon. Felt good!
Saturday - I felt great during today's jog and feel pretty well rested overall. Did a 3.3 mile run at an easy pace which started at 8:40/mi and ended with the last mile at 7:26 and it still felt easy. Stretched out well after the run and will be getting all my stuff ready for tomorrow. That way I can just get up, pump some air in my tires, eat and go basically. Less stuff to worry about on race morning.
Finished this week with 20.6 miles running (fine with that with how week started having tender ankle that healed wonderfully) and 124 miles biking which is fine also since I didn't have a bike for half the week and had to use gym bikes (uggggghhh).
Sunday - went to the gym and did 25 miles cycling after work since my bike was still waiting for the front derailleur to come in. Was good to get some spinning in and just work on getting my legs moving while my ankle didn't have much stress on it.
Monday - I did nothing at all.
Tuesday - Cycling for 10 miles at the gym as my bike still wasn't ready, but wound up being ready around the time they closed at 8pm. I did the elliptical at the gym for 2 miles also and felt good. Busy day overall as I got up, did my workout, went to work at 11pm, did a local festival for work serving food, setting up a tent, tearing it down and we were out by 7pm, pickup the bike by 8pm, go shoot in pool league and win my match, in bed before 11pm.
Wednesday - been looking forward to this day and dreading it for a while now. My last big brick workout and longest of my entire training schedule. Wife set up an appointment for a guy to come out at 1pm to look at our gutters so I wouldn't have time for a 90 mile bike ride and 15 mile brick run. Instead I did a 2 mile warmup run, then I biked for 75 miles. During the biking section I was getting worried as I was only holding a 19-20mph pace consistently and sometimes over that. That was until I hit the gas station 37.5 miles out and turned around. I started coming back and was going 23-25mph consistently and realized that the wind was my limiter, lol. I did well on the bike portion, averaging 19.5mph on a ride on roads is normal for going around 21-22mph when I get some open ground. I got stuck at one light through two whole cycles because the guy wouldn't pull up to the sensor and there was too much traffic to go across. After that I did a 10 mile brick run and after about 9.5 miles I felt my first lactic twinge where if it were a race I would keep pushing and run through it but pay for it the next few days. This wasn't a race day so I stopped at that point and jogged at about a 10:00/mi pace the rest of the way home. Before that I started at a 8:13/mi pace and held that comfortably for 6 miles when I started to slow some and by the time I stopped I was still going 8:40/mi.
I had 1220 calories in my bottle (5.5 scoops of gatorade mix, 1 scoop of protein powder and 900mg of potassium) and used 2 gels while I did the bike portion. I finished all of that and while running I just had regular concentration gatorade and a couple gels so around 300 calories. The only thing I think I did wrong nutrition wise was not enough water on the bike portion. I need to be able to drink closer to 1oz of water per mile or at least 0.75oz per mile. I only had 40 ounces roughly over a 75 mile ride. That is why I cramped I believe. Race day I plan on bringing a 240 calorie clif bar with me and my nutrition bottle will be 7 scoops of gatorade mix, 1.5 scoops protein and 1000mg of potassium. I don't have a problem with the thickness of the mixture and there will be a bottle exchange every 15km so I should finish a bottle of water every 3 loops. During the run I have realized from past runs that I do well with water and gels primarily. I can handle gatorade every 5k or so.
Thursday - rest day, nailed it, did nothing but work.
Friday - Did a 3.3 mile run in the morning at recovery pace and a 14 mile ride on the bike trainer with a few intervals in the afternoon. Felt good!
Saturday - I felt great during today's jog and feel pretty well rested overall. Did a 3.3 mile run at an easy pace which started at 8:40/mi and ended with the last mile at 7:26 and it still felt easy. Stretched out well after the run and will be getting all my stuff ready for tomorrow. That way I can just get up, pump some air in my tires, eat and go basically. Less stuff to worry about on race morning.
Finished this week with 20.6 miles running (fine with that with how week started having tender ankle that healed wonderfully) and 124 miles biking which is fine also since I didn't have a bike for half the week and had to use gym bikes (uggggghhh).
Friday, August 9, 2013
Week 6 (Capped off by Cap City Half Marathon)
This week was a major cutback on cycling as running is my main focus going into the half marathon. I may have been trying to hit my running paces too early and pushing too hard as I am not able to hold race pace on my training runs that are only half the distance of the actual race.
Sunday: 32 mile bike with 4x12 min at FTP. Very good workout!
Monday: 7.9 miles total with 5 miles at 7:01 pace for tempo run, still 9 seconds off of race pace to break 90 minutes for half marathon.
Tuesday: 4.3 mile run at easy pace.
Wednesday: 5 mile run and still at about 7:03 pace, starting to accept that 1:30 isn't going to happen this saturday.
Thursday: Rest day
Friday: Busy with work, packet pickup and everything else, might be best just to rest today as well.
Saturday: Race day and it feels great, did about 2 miles of warmup jogging with a couple pickups to remind my legs how to run faster than 7:00/mi. Started out way too fast, but quickly pulled that back and did the first mile in 6:47, ran the second mile at 6:50 and then proceeded closer to 7:00/mi for the first 4 miles. I realized by mile 5 that I wasn't going to be able to run the second half fast enough to make up the time, but my goal was to run my best race. I stayed consistent until mile 8 and ran 6:45 in the 8th mile. After that I couldn't break the 7 minute barrier and finished with some 7:20-7:30 miles. Final time was 1 hour, 35 minutes. A new personal best by over 26 minutes! I feel great about this time as my original goal was to get under 1 hour, 40 minutes.
Sunday: 32 mile bike with 4x12 min at FTP. Very good workout!
Monday: 7.9 miles total with 5 miles at 7:01 pace for tempo run, still 9 seconds off of race pace to break 90 minutes for half marathon.
Tuesday: 4.3 mile run at easy pace.
Wednesday: 5 mile run and still at about 7:03 pace, starting to accept that 1:30 isn't going to happen this saturday.
Thursday: Rest day
Friday: Busy with work, packet pickup and everything else, might be best just to rest today as well.
Saturday: Race day and it feels great, did about 2 miles of warmup jogging with a couple pickups to remind my legs how to run faster than 7:00/mi. Started out way too fast, but quickly pulled that back and did the first mile in 6:47, ran the second mile at 6:50 and then proceeded closer to 7:00/mi for the first 4 miles. I realized by mile 5 that I wasn't going to be able to run the second half fast enough to make up the time, but my goal was to run my best race. I stayed consistent until mile 8 and ran 6:45 in the 8th mile. After that I couldn't break the 7 minute barrier and finished with some 7:20-7:30 miles. Final time was 1 hour, 35 minutes. A new personal best by over 26 minutes! I feel great about this time as my original goal was to get under 1 hour, 40 minutes.
Week 19 - Olympic Duathlon this week
Sunday: Feels good to have a race since I haven't had a race for 8 weeks! Got up with just enough time to eat, make sure bike is ready, put air in the tires, get it on the car, eat my bagel with peanut butter and get a bottle of gatorade ready to drink on the way there. I had my bottle for my race already made the night before, so no worries there and brought a couple gels too. Got there about an hour and a half early (duathletes usually get the pleasure of starting last). Warmed up with a guy that races a lot and did about 2 miles of warmup jogging along with three 100 meter sprints to get the legs loose.
Started off the 3k run at a good pace and held it throughout and finished the first leg in 10:44, I was in 2nd place behind a guy that did 10:06 out of the 15 people doing the olympic. First transition was about 1:30 and that wasn't bad since it was a long transition area. On the bike I was tops by quite a bit over the field, it was a 40k bike leg that I did in 1:04. Had a sizable lead after that part of the race. Another 1:30 transition to the last run which I did the 10k run in 46:17. Started off the run at about a 7:45-8:00/mi pace. The first 5k was just over 24 minutes and I finished with the last 5k being 22 minutes flat. Probably had a little more in me on the run but I think I gave it pretty close to all I had fitness wise. I finished in first place by over 8 minutes and was proud of my performance.
Monday: easy 4 mile recovery run at 9:00/mile pace.
Tuesday: 45 minute strength workout hoping this will lead to a quicker post race recovery.
Wednesday: 1 hour bike ride where I only did 15.5 miles. Planned on an easy ride, but my front derailleur was stuck in the big chainring and I spent a lot of time trying to shift it by hand and figure out what was up. Turns out that the spring broke and I needed a new derailleur.
Thursday: Went to get a derailleur at a local bike shop and found out they install parts for free that you buy there so I left my bike and part should be in on Friday (didn't come in til the following week though). Did a 10.5 mile run in 1:35 earlier that day as a long run for the week.
Friday: Ankle was a little tender, not sure if it was Thursday's run, the race on Sunday or just fatigue in general. Took the day off and I didn't have to work that day either.
Saturday: Did an easy 4 mile run and some more strength. Still no bike back and wound up having to work 10 hours instead of the planned 4 hour day.
Overall it was a good week and was happy with my result on Sunday. Wound up buying a new pair of orthotics for work since it had been 7 years since I got the other ones. They are the ones for 49.95 that you get from taking the test on the Dr. Scholl's machine at some stores. Old ones were really beat up and were not helping my feet at all anymore. More to come next week!
Total miles were 29.5 running and 40.5 biking. Really low number for me, but better to make sure my body is ok and with only a month til my race it is best to make sure I don't get injured as my base is already set, most of my work is done and now pacing, sharpening and nutrition will be the keys to my success.
Started off the 3k run at a good pace and held it throughout and finished the first leg in 10:44, I was in 2nd place behind a guy that did 10:06 out of the 15 people doing the olympic. First transition was about 1:30 and that wasn't bad since it was a long transition area. On the bike I was tops by quite a bit over the field, it was a 40k bike leg that I did in 1:04. Had a sizable lead after that part of the race. Another 1:30 transition to the last run which I did the 10k run in 46:17. Started off the run at about a 7:45-8:00/mi pace. The first 5k was just over 24 minutes and I finished with the last 5k being 22 minutes flat. Probably had a little more in me on the run but I think I gave it pretty close to all I had fitness wise. I finished in first place by over 8 minutes and was proud of my performance.
Monday: easy 4 mile recovery run at 9:00/mile pace.
Tuesday: 45 minute strength workout hoping this will lead to a quicker post race recovery.
Wednesday: 1 hour bike ride where I only did 15.5 miles. Planned on an easy ride, but my front derailleur was stuck in the big chainring and I spent a lot of time trying to shift it by hand and figure out what was up. Turns out that the spring broke and I needed a new derailleur.
Thursday: Went to get a derailleur at a local bike shop and found out they install parts for free that you buy there so I left my bike and part should be in on Friday (didn't come in til the following week though). Did a 10.5 mile run in 1:35 earlier that day as a long run for the week.
Friday: Ankle was a little tender, not sure if it was Thursday's run, the race on Sunday or just fatigue in general. Took the day off and I didn't have to work that day either.
Saturday: Did an easy 4 mile run and some more strength. Still no bike back and wound up having to work 10 hours instead of the planned 4 hour day.
Overall it was a good week and was happy with my result on Sunday. Wound up buying a new pair of orthotics for work since it had been 7 years since I got the other ones. They are the ones for 49.95 that you get from taking the test on the Dr. Scholl's machine at some stores. Old ones were really beat up and were not helping my feet at all anymore. More to come next week!
Total miles were 29.5 running and 40.5 biking. Really low number for me, but better to make sure my body is ok and with only a month til my race it is best to make sure I don't get injured as my base is already set, most of my work is done and now pacing, sharpening and nutrition will be the keys to my success.
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