I cant believe the year its been. I did my first triathlon - Ironman Buffalo Springs 70.3 a year ago and what a shock to the system that was! Nothing like jumping in the deep end and seeing what happens :p
After that race I was hooked, it was a wild ride to this point but I've loved it, hated it, stayed in bed avoiding it, and trained for it, annoyed friends and family with it, enjoyed the hell out of it! A stress frature of my pelvis got me started, but its turned me into a stronger athlete than I ever imagined I could be. Hell its still weird thinking of myself as an athlete.
8 Weeks to Ironman
I get butterflies in my stomach when I think about it. 2 years ago I first heard about Ironman at the finish line of my first Half Marathon, and said thats crazy why would anyone ever want to do something like that? I guess I've answered that. I wanted a challenge, something that scared me and took me to the limits of what I thought possible. This fits the bill.
8 weeks feels like so little time until such a big test of my mental and physical limits, it seemed years away when I signed up for this last fall but its coming up fast. I know I've put in consistant training, I dont think I could have prepared any better, its the last push before this Finish line I've been chasing becomes reality.
Training is going well at the moment. Its been interesting seeing my body recovery over the last week from Cotswold. Running pace has been the biggest indicator, in the same HR pace went down from 9min/miles to 8:10, to 7:51, to 7:48 on my long run.
Took some lessons from Cotswold, I was forced to start slowly because of some pain in my back, but ended up negative splitting the run, and feeling strong enough to go into the red zone the last 3 miles. So that was a good reminder in Ironman if I go out comfortably I will have something left in the race. Someone said that Ironman isnt about who goes the fastest, its about who slows down the least!
So I took that into my long run this weekend, 20 miles that turned into 22. Plan was 20 miles at MAF effort (basically zone 2) for the first 10 miles, then hold that pace for the last 10 as HR rises. These long runs I always try to pick something to focus on to improve my efficiency and this time it was arm swing, keeping them moving back and forth and not crossing over.
I usually start a long run in that MAF zone, but I get up into the upper HR of it a mile or two in, this time I stayed at the low end for 7 or 8 miles until I built into the middle of the zone. It was a windy day I was being blown around but had some good tunes, and legs felt their old spark. I was supposed to watch pace on the back half, but I was just in cruise mode feeling relaxed and happy so that kind of went out the window, just tried to hold what felt like the right pace and effort and floated along, spot checking once in a while not getting bogged down by the numbers.
Hit 20 miles and felt like I was in the first hour I was feeling so good, so I decided to add on a couple miles. I love finishing these long runs just feeling good, no muscles were complaining, I was upright and running strong, I was starting to get hungry but that was about the only indicator I had run that long. Turned out my pace was steady, 2nd half was slightly faster than the first and the whole run felt easy :D
With 8 miles on Saturday it made a 30 mile run weekend.
I'm off for a brick workout with some intensity on the bike. Carpe Diem ;)
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Holy Shit 4:56 in a 70.3!
Its taken me too long to write this up, this race was a breakthrough for me, hurt like hell but felt good to get it done!
Cotswold 70.3
The idea with this race was to just go in there and try to put together a solid day. I was disappointed with Barcelona 70.3 and frustrated I couldn't seem to get under 6 hours at this distance, when my training indicated I should be able to no problem. Scrambled online to find another 70.3 that was a decent time out from Ironman Kalmar and not filled up - Cotswold 70.3 fit the bill.
Pre-Race
So the best way to prepare for an Endurance event is to show up a few days early, have some time to relax and rest going into it.
Psh screw that, 7 hour drive the day before is how I like to roll :p Tightens up the lower back and gluteus nicely.
Then you would have an easy spin and maybe a swim the day before just to keep things loose and ready for race day.
Or...have some dinner, a beer and collapse into bed without anything organised.
Ok so maybe I was not taking this as seriously as usual but it was a last minute decision, just decided not to stress and go in with low expectations.
THE SWIM
The swim has been my nemesis...I've always panicked, and then proceeded to get lost which leads to more panic.
This time we actually had 5 minutes to warm up so I waddled into the water (In my new to me slightly used wetsuit from a freaking awesome friend from the MaccaX triathlon group). I proceeded to warm up the same way I assume the pro's do....by putting my face in the water and blowing bubbles...
I figured my best bet at a decent swim was not getting lost, so I found some feet early that seemed to know what direction the buoys were in and proceeded to follow along. Its shocking how much faster the swim is when you dont zig zag along swimming a few extra 100m.
Out of the water in 38:xx, a big improvement over Barcelona where I swam like 52min.
THE BIKE
Once I meandered around a bit in transition, I got the the part I was looking forward to the bike! Hopped on all fired up, ready to go smash it, this is usually the only part of a 70.3 that goes well for me.
And....I felt like crap. Huh probably shouldn't have skipped that shake out spin...or well driven down 7 hours the day before. The first hour was rough, speed was still decent but effort was high, HR was high and it felt like I was peddling squares. After about an hour things started to spark up, and I took a risk and went high end of my watts range, because they just weren't there the first hour.
It was an odd bike course, no closed roads like the big races, a few places bikes were going either direction and you couldn't always pass because the road was too tiny. So it ended up being more like a fartlek ride, a couple shots right around lactic threshold and above to get around groups of people when the road widened, a few bits low watts having to stay back out of the draft zone of big groups until there was a stretch to pass them all. I think that kind of riding suits me more, I'm not as comfortable with the sustained long efforts, something I still need to work on for Ironman. The bike was a little bit short, Avg speed 21.3mph.
THE RUN - 3 Loops
Damnit I really need to learn to pee on the bike, I just cant seem to do it! First mile was around 10:30 because I had to stop for a bathroom break :p
Get of the bike and....PAIN...deja vue. I was wondering if this was going to be another appearance of the hunch back of Barcelona. Fortunately it was only on one side (same side that was aching on the car ride over, go figure, my mini needs better lumbar support!), and it wasn't causing me to hunch over, pain I can deal with so quick stretch in the first mile and just run. I did walk all of the aid stations for a little relief from the back and quick stretch.
First loop took it a little easier than I would have, back was aching. 2nd loop things started to loosen up pain was going away just felt tight, ok time to pick it up.
3rd loop - Suffer (in a good way :D) Because of the loops you couldn't tell who was in front of you and who was behind so at one of the turn around I saw a girl about 2 min ahead of me that looked crazy fit, and decided I was going to catch her. Sometimes I need play games with myself like choosing a target to push into that zone where everything is screaming to stop.
Target acquired, time to race these last 3 miles like a 5k. I was already starting to hurt, but just started digging. HR starting shooting up, I passed a girl, didn't know if she was on the last loop or not, so I surged just so she wouldn't come with me as I went by, everything started screaming at me to stop, breath started coming in gasps, but I didn't want to be passed in the last 2 miles. I started counting steps, something I hadn't tried before, counting to 8 and then starting back at one, anything to take my mind off of how much it hurt. I thought about the last set of 1k intervals I had done, and how hard the last one was but I went faster than I thought I could. And then the finish line came, and I felt...shattered. 1:43:xx I know it could have been faster without the bathroom break and walking the aid stations but I am ecstatic with that time.
I had absolutely nothing left. Just the way it should be, I hadn't felt that in a 70.3 before, the first one I did I gave in mentally, 2nd one I just was in bad pain, this felt so good to be just shattered.
Cotswold 70.3
The idea with this race was to just go in there and try to put together a solid day. I was disappointed with Barcelona 70.3 and frustrated I couldn't seem to get under 6 hours at this distance, when my training indicated I should be able to no problem. Scrambled online to find another 70.3 that was a decent time out from Ironman Kalmar and not filled up - Cotswold 70.3 fit the bill.
Pre-Race
So the best way to prepare for an Endurance event is to show up a few days early, have some time to relax and rest going into it.
Psh screw that, 7 hour drive the day before is how I like to roll :p Tightens up the lower back and gluteus nicely.
Then you would have an easy spin and maybe a swim the day before just to keep things loose and ready for race day.
Or...have some dinner, a beer and collapse into bed without anything organised.
Ok so maybe I was not taking this as seriously as usual but it was a last minute decision, just decided not to stress and go in with low expectations.
THE SWIM
The swim has been my nemesis...I've always panicked, and then proceeded to get lost which leads to more panic.
This time we actually had 5 minutes to warm up so I waddled into the water (In my new to me slightly used wetsuit from a freaking awesome friend from the MaccaX triathlon group). I proceeded to warm up the same way I assume the pro's do....by putting my face in the water and blowing bubbles...
I figured my best bet at a decent swim was not getting lost, so I found some feet early that seemed to know what direction the buoys were in and proceeded to follow along. Its shocking how much faster the swim is when you dont zig zag along swimming a few extra 100m.
Out of the water in 38:xx, a big improvement over Barcelona where I swam like 52min.
THE BIKE
Once I meandered around a bit in transition, I got the the part I was looking forward to the bike! Hopped on all fired up, ready to go smash it, this is usually the only part of a 70.3 that goes well for me.
And....I felt like crap. Huh probably shouldn't have skipped that shake out spin...or well driven down 7 hours the day before. The first hour was rough, speed was still decent but effort was high, HR was high and it felt like I was peddling squares. After about an hour things started to spark up, and I took a risk and went high end of my watts range, because they just weren't there the first hour.
It was an odd bike course, no closed roads like the big races, a few places bikes were going either direction and you couldn't always pass because the road was too tiny. So it ended up being more like a fartlek ride, a couple shots right around lactic threshold and above to get around groups of people when the road widened, a few bits low watts having to stay back out of the draft zone of big groups until there was a stretch to pass them all. I think that kind of riding suits me more, I'm not as comfortable with the sustained long efforts, something I still need to work on for Ironman. The bike was a little bit short, Avg speed 21.3mph.
THE RUN - 3 Loops
Damnit I really need to learn to pee on the bike, I just cant seem to do it! First mile was around 10:30 because I had to stop for a bathroom break :p
Get of the bike and....PAIN...deja vue. I was wondering if this was going to be another appearance of the hunch back of Barcelona. Fortunately it was only on one side (same side that was aching on the car ride over, go figure, my mini needs better lumbar support!), and it wasn't causing me to hunch over, pain I can deal with so quick stretch in the first mile and just run. I did walk all of the aid stations for a little relief from the back and quick stretch.
First loop took it a little easier than I would have, back was aching. 2nd loop things started to loosen up pain was going away just felt tight, ok time to pick it up.
3rd loop - Suffer (in a good way :D) Because of the loops you couldn't tell who was in front of you and who was behind so at one of the turn around I saw a girl about 2 min ahead of me that looked crazy fit, and decided I was going to catch her. Sometimes I need play games with myself like choosing a target to push into that zone where everything is screaming to stop.
Target acquired, time to race these last 3 miles like a 5k. I was already starting to hurt, but just started digging. HR starting shooting up, I passed a girl, didn't know if she was on the last loop or not, so I surged just so she wouldn't come with me as I went by, everything started screaming at me to stop, breath started coming in gasps, but I didn't want to be passed in the last 2 miles. I started counting steps, something I hadn't tried before, counting to 8 and then starting back at one, anything to take my mind off of how much it hurt. I thought about the last set of 1k intervals I had done, and how hard the last one was but I went faster than I thought I could. And then the finish line came, and I felt...shattered. 1:43:xx I know it could have been faster without the bathroom break and walking the aid stations but I am ecstatic with that time.
I had absolutely nothing left. Just the way it should be, I hadn't felt that in a 70.3 before, the first one I did I gave in mentally, 2nd one I just was in bad pain, this felt so good to be just shattered.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Craving my workouts
I said I was feeling fired up, and my body has started to recover and the numbers are showing it.
Last two days of training have been a dream. Yesterday I had a double run, both of them at MAF effort (aerobic runs), and today it was a long ride of 5 hours with some intensity.
Run # 1 - 8 miles
Last week my legs felt heavy after my bizarre hunch back-esque running form in Barcelona. I was disappointed in my run there, a couple weeks earlier I ran 7:40 pace for a 22 mile long run, and Barcelona I end up around an 8:30 pace with legs feeling good but back not cooperating. It felt so good to have a run where they felt like they were back to their pre-race smoothness. I chose a hillier route and it felt like everything was just moving in sync. One of those runs where you feel like you are floating along, just running for the joy of it. Smiling to myself the whole time, enjoying the feeling. I just wanted to keep going.
Luckily for me there was Run #2 - 5 miles
Nothing too exciting here, legs felt good from the first step and enjoyed a bit more time on my feet. Went for a flat course, put it in cruise control and just felt relaxed comfortable effort at 7:40 pace.
Bike Ride!
I've been just loving my time on the bike lately, I'm miles away from where I was a couple months ago. I procrastinated getting out on the roads to ride, because the small roads with no shoulders in Scotland made me really nervous. I've been riding for about a year and I stayed on the trainer longer than I should have out of fear of the road, something I definitely had to get over.
Well I'm over it baby. I looked at my schedule and was excited to see 5 hours on the bike today with some work in Zone 3, and playing with Threshold. Time to play!
I think I got complacent with my bike riding before Barcelona, I would hit the prescribed watts, but on steady rides I would just go easy on the low end of the scale. I was not even getting my HR into zone 2 on most rides, but the watts were just inside the prescribed range, no reason really just complacency and lack of focus. No more of that crap, I realised there is a difference between just doing the workout, and really making the most of the workout. As long as my body feels good, I'm going to make the most of the workout (listening to my body will still be priority though!).
It was a typical Scottish day (damn do I miss Texas) with some blustery wind and rain. I started off and my legs felt average, not great, not bad. Usually I do a weight training session before my bike ride that seems to spark up my fast twitch muscles fibers and usually has me feeling good from the start, but it wasn't on the schedule today because I was planning on swimming in the evening. So started pretty relaxed hoping they would warm up, I got through my intervals feeling pretty good just enjoying the speed and feeling of my legs turning over.
The last one was 20min just going hard, TT effort. I have a hard time out on the road doing a TT effort, on my trainer I just put my head down and push until I can barely breath and everything is screaming to stop. I cant seem to come near replicating that on the road, part of it is I'm still working on being able to apply even power with the constantly rolling hills. Texas and on the trainer it was easy, just pick a gear and keep pushing it until you are about to explode!
Whew glad thats done with...1.5 hours to go after a hard effort and my legs feel...AWESOME! Well it only took 3.5 hours but I had this burst of energy, and my legs felt like they were firing on all cylinders finally feeling their usual spark. So I kept it in my MAF heart rate, but went closer to the high end and just powered along enjoying the hell out of it. I think this is the 3rd time I've gone over 4 hours (2nd time was last Friday) and so happy to finish something like that feeling great.
90 miles, 4900 ft, 18.4 mph
12 Weeks to Ironman.
Last two days of training have been a dream. Yesterday I had a double run, both of them at MAF effort (aerobic runs), and today it was a long ride of 5 hours with some intensity.
Run # 1 - 8 miles
Last week my legs felt heavy after my bizarre hunch back-esque running form in Barcelona. I was disappointed in my run there, a couple weeks earlier I ran 7:40 pace for a 22 mile long run, and Barcelona I end up around an 8:30 pace with legs feeling good but back not cooperating. It felt so good to have a run where they felt like they were back to their pre-race smoothness. I chose a hillier route and it felt like everything was just moving in sync. One of those runs where you feel like you are floating along, just running for the joy of it. Smiling to myself the whole time, enjoying the feeling. I just wanted to keep going.
Luckily for me there was Run #2 - 5 miles
Nothing too exciting here, legs felt good from the first step and enjoyed a bit more time on my feet. Went for a flat course, put it in cruise control and just felt relaxed comfortable effort at 7:40 pace.
Bike Ride!
I've been just loving my time on the bike lately, I'm miles away from where I was a couple months ago. I procrastinated getting out on the roads to ride, because the small roads with no shoulders in Scotland made me really nervous. I've been riding for about a year and I stayed on the trainer longer than I should have out of fear of the road, something I definitely had to get over.
Well I'm over it baby. I looked at my schedule and was excited to see 5 hours on the bike today with some work in Zone 3, and playing with Threshold. Time to play!
I think I got complacent with my bike riding before Barcelona, I would hit the prescribed watts, but on steady rides I would just go easy on the low end of the scale. I was not even getting my HR into zone 2 on most rides, but the watts were just inside the prescribed range, no reason really just complacency and lack of focus. No more of that crap, I realised there is a difference between just doing the workout, and really making the most of the workout. As long as my body feels good, I'm going to make the most of the workout (listening to my body will still be priority though!).
It was a typical Scottish day (damn do I miss Texas) with some blustery wind and rain. I started off and my legs felt average, not great, not bad. Usually I do a weight training session before my bike ride that seems to spark up my fast twitch muscles fibers and usually has me feeling good from the start, but it wasn't on the schedule today because I was planning on swimming in the evening. So started pretty relaxed hoping they would warm up, I got through my intervals feeling pretty good just enjoying the speed and feeling of my legs turning over.
The last one was 20min just going hard, TT effort. I have a hard time out on the road doing a TT effort, on my trainer I just put my head down and push until I can barely breath and everything is screaming to stop. I cant seem to come near replicating that on the road, part of it is I'm still working on being able to apply even power with the constantly rolling hills. Texas and on the trainer it was easy, just pick a gear and keep pushing it until you are about to explode!
Whew glad thats done with...1.5 hours to go after a hard effort and my legs feel...AWESOME! Well it only took 3.5 hours but I had this burst of energy, and my legs felt like they were firing on all cylinders finally feeling their usual spark. So I kept it in my MAF heart rate, but went closer to the high end and just powered along enjoying the hell out of it. I think this is the 3rd time I've gone over 4 hours (2nd time was last Friday) and so happy to finish something like that feeling great.
90 miles, 4900 ft, 18.4 mph
12 Weeks to Ironman.
Monday, May 27, 2013
Fired up!
So Barcelona didn't quite go to plan. I was so excited to get out there and do a half with some consistent training, especially since my run is in a place I've only dreamed of and I'm loving my time on the bike. I thought it was a given that I would crush my PB even with the extreme bike course and ocean swim, but that didn't quite happen.
Well that just got me fired up.
Brush it off and I just want to go out there and nail every training session, I'm back to just craving every bike run and swim (well maybe not the swim but ill get it done) Unfortunately I picked up a bit of a cold on plane ride home that has had my HR high the last few days, but I slept like 10 hours last night and woke up feeling good. So I'm ready to push, hungry for some solid hard work.
On the bright side I learned a lot from this:
1) Don't do something new on race day (duh, I know) I'm always so worried about riding aero on training rides, well maybe (just maybe) I should race that way then - rode a recovery ride today all upright and my lower back was aching, it's usually the opposite for people! I have never had so much as an ache in my back, but learned a weakness before Ironman - I could stumble through a half looking like a hunch back, a marathon is a whole other beast.
2) Get out and swim in the damned open water - 2nd open water swim, 2nd near panic attack where I can't put my head in the water the first few 100m. Huh doesn't take a genius to see that pattern. It doesn't matter what I can swim in the pool if I loose 10 minutes just freaking out.
3) I can eat a hell of a lot on the bike and feel good.
4) Transition is not the time to rest, just because everyone is is taking their damned time and doing their hair doesn't mean I should too. I've never done transition well outside of Duathlon, and there is no good reason for it, just need to get my head in the right place and ass moving!
5) Post race beers are the best beers, and hot sauce is terrible on fries.
So I signed up for another 70.3, it won't be a priority like this race I just want to get together and put together a good day for Ironman. I'm starting to learn that experience is a valuable asset that I dont have much of, this was triathlon #4 (2 sprint 2 70.3).
Even writing this, all I can think about is my run tomorrow, I cant wait to get out there!
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