IMoo Loops: More Than I Can Chew

I'm not sure if today was an act of insanity or stupidity.  I'm leaning toward stupidity.  I'm leaning heavily toward stupidity.  

The plan was a 7.5 hour workout.  I know it sounds long for March,  but my first 'A' race of the year is a half iron in early June and I'm about to start my build phase.  I wanted to end my base period with a big workout, mainly to give me a benchmark and see where I'm at and what I need to do to accomplish my goals.

The big problem with this workout, which become obvious early on, is that I didn't really do the proper workouts to prepare for it.  The original plan was to swim for 30 minutes at the Y, drive home, bike for 100 miles (two loops of the IM course) and then run 10 miles.  

The swim was good.  I swam with my H2O Audio, which I haven't done in a while.  I forgot how cool that thing is.  I had a good playlist going and kind of wanted to swim longer.  I didn't count laps, but I did check my pace occasionally and I was consistently around a 1:35 pace so I estimate I swam 1850 yards (a tad over a mile).

The bike was a disaster.  It started out with me discovering that the firmware update on my powertap computer made it an ANT+ computer and it no longer recognizes my hub (which isn't ANT+).  I screwed around with it for a few minutes hoping I could load the old firmware and be good to go.  Nope.  So I grabbed my Garmin so I could collect my data, but I don't have a Garmin mount on my tri bike so I stuffed the computer in my pocket.  So I rode without seeing data.  No power, time, speed....nothing.  

Early into the ride my sunglasses got caught by the wind and blew off and broke.  $200 sunglasses....gone.  This workout was quickly going downhill.  So I stuffed the pieces in my pocket and continued without glasses.  I ride without glasses a lot so it's not that big of a deal, but it was only 38 degrees when I left the house so my eyes were watering a lot without glasses on.

My expectations were low for the bike since it's early in the year, this would be my first century for the year, it was cold and windy....lots of reasons.  I figured my speed would be between 18-19 mph, hopefully closer to 19, but I would've been really happy with 18.5.  Every time I checked my computer: 17.5-17.8.  Crap.  Without my power meter, I wasn't sure if my power was low or if I was slow because of the wind (which I swear was ALWAYS a headwind).  I like to think it was the wind, but I think the truth is that I just wasn't riding hard enough. 


17.5 was the number I saw the most when I checked my computer so I figured I'd try to hold that pace the rest of the day.  Around the 75 mile mark, I began to realize how dumb I truly am.  This was my first ride on my tri bike this year, and I was hurting.  100 miles for a first ride on the tri bike is not a good idea.  My neck and shoulders were really sore from the aerobars and I had to sit up quite a bit.  My legs were getting tired, and the climbs were getting to me.  


In the end, I was on the bike almost 6 hours.  My average speed ended at 17.1.  My legs were really tired, and I could tell I didn't take in enough calories.  Not having the time in front of me reminding me to eat proved to be a problem.  I still had a lot of calories left on the bike, and I didn't bring enough for a 6 hour ride in the first place so I suspected I was pretty low on calories.  I was also really cold.  I was warm for the first 30 minutes of the bike, cold for the rest.  I hate spring in Wisconsin.


The run was terrible.  I wanted to run an 8:30 pace or better.  I also wanted to do 10 miles, but since I was on the bike so long I cut it down to 7.  I didn't want to the workout to go longer than 7.5 hours.  Clearly, I wasn't ready for a workout that long, so going longer wasn't going to help matters.  Plus, I start my new job tomorrow and I don't want to be completely destroyed.  


I only managed a 9 minute pace.  And I was still freezing.  I couldn't warm up.  Long workouts in 45 degree weather is not a good idea.  It's hard to dress for that.  Never again.


Looking back on this workout, I think it was a mistake.  I wasn't ready for it.  I learned a few things, but I also feel very discouraged.  It's early in the year, but I feel like I was way off pace and should have been faster if I'm actually going to achieve my goals.  I keep telling myself there's a lot of training time left, but I also keep telling myself that qualifying for Kona is way out of my reach.  I feel like I set my sights too high.  I was hoping this workout would go fairly well and I'd be encouraged to put in hard work and get where I need to be.  Instead, I'm discouraged.


*sigh*


I have a lot of work to do.  


A LOT!


On a positive note: I just finished a good base building block.  For three weeks I did every workout and hit all of my goals - except today.  I did 16 hours, 18 hours, and 20 hours.  Next week is a recovery week so I have 11.5 hours on the schedule.  And tomorrow is a rest day, my first rest day since Feb 23.  I'm looking forward to a day off, but I start my new job and I'm kind of nervous about that.

My Other Significant Other

It’s no secret that Training Peaks runs my life.  So much so, in fact, that my significant other calls Training Peaks my other significant other.  When dating, everyone has their baggage that they need to bring out into the open at some point.  Some have kids. Some have a crazy ex. I have Training Peaks. 

Like any relationship, me and Training Peaks have our rough patches and right now we’re just coming out of one of these rough spots.  A while ago, I spent quite a bit of time creating my ATP (annual training plan).  In one of Training Peak’s many updates recently, my ATP was completely wiped out.  It was frustrating to say the least.  All that work….gone.  And without a plan, I wander around aimlessly.  It was chaos.

So I started from scratch and put the ATP back together.  It’s more or less that same, except it looks like the Rockman Half Ironman may be off the schedule.  They haven’t updated their site with a date for this year, and when I tried to e-mail the race director to find out if a date has been set the e-mail was bounced back to me.  So I found a half ironman in MN one week after the Rockman that I think I’m going to put on the schedule.  That will force me to rework things a bit, but at least I can count on that race actually happening so there shouldn’t be any last minute changes.  And that race is one week after one of my favorite races: The Lake Mills Sprint Triathlon.  This will give me a chance to do that race AND get in my early season half.  Perfect.

My plan is to have two ‘A’ races this season; an early season half ironman (most likely the Liberty Triathlon in MN) and Ironman Wisconsin.  I’ll taper for these and give them everything I have.  I’ll have one ‘B’ race: Door County Half Ironman, and the rest of my races will be ‘C’ races, meaning I’ll go into them tired and do the best I can. 

Once I had the race plan set, I adjusted my training phases and then went one step further than I did last time.  I’ve had a few long key workouts in mind, so I decided to plug those into the schedule to make sure they fit and that I’m not trying to squeeze them in at the last minute.  I knew I wanted to do three long bricks this year, and I knew I wanted one of them to fall at the end of my base building phases prior to my first ‘A’ race.  I’ll do two more later in the summer.  I’ve got a lot of bricks planned, but only three really long ones. 

What’s really long, you ask?  30 minute swim, 100-112 mile bike, 13-16 mile run. 

The first one on the schedule is the shortest at 30 min swim, 100 mile bike, 13.1 mile run.  It wasn’t until I actually plugged it into the training plan that I realized how quickly that day is approaching.  I’m entering my last month of base training right now, which means that workout is only 3 weeks away.  *gulp*

My swim will be at a steady pace, probably about IM pace.  The bike will be below my goal IM power, but not much.  This is where the workout has potential to fall apart on me.  The run will be as close to goal IM pace as possible.  So basically, I hope to hold about 200-210 watts on the bike and run 8 minute miles (I’ll be happy with anything under 8:45 at this point since my bike fitness isn’t up to par yet so I’ll probably be pretty worked after 100 miles). 

You might be wondering why I’m doing such a long workout so early in the season.  Two reasons: build endurance and test my fitness.  I expect to struggle a bit on this one (or perhaps A LOT), but I think it will be a good way to see where I’m at and what I need to do to close the gap between where I want to be fitness-wise and where I actually am.

Then I enter into my build phase where I start to do more race-specific workouts for my half ironman.  I’ll be doing a lot of tempo bricks where I hold tempo power for 2:30-3:00 hours and then run for about an hour.  I did several of those last year, and they helped me prepare for my half ironman more than any other workout I’ve done.

So now that the ATP is back in place, me and Training Peaks are on speaking terms again, and I no longer wander around aimlessly.  A man with a plan. 

Now for the tough part: executing that plan.

The Longest Ever

I was nervous about today's workout for a few reasons:

1. It was going to be my longest workout ever (not counting the IM last year)
2. I made a lot of changes to my bike set up and nutrition plan
3. My last long brick didn't go very well
4. This was my last long brick before the race so I don't have any more chances to test and/or change my strategy.

The changes to my bike set up weren't that drastic, but any time you change things there's potential for problems. I love the rear bottle cages Matt designed, but I don't really like rear bottle cages in general. Plus, due to the design of my bike those cages sit kind of high and it's tough for me to get on and off my bike quickly. Plus, I only want two bottles on my bike (I can only mount one cage on my frame). So I mounted a bottle cage between my areobars.





I loved this set up. It was great having the bottle up front. It's really easy to get a drink from and there's no more wondering if you've dropped a bottle. The bento box was new (well, kind of) and worked out, but it rubs my knees sometimes and drives me crazy, but I liked having Fig Newtons to eat and may eat two packages of them on race day. Solid food worked great today. So I'll stick with the bento box unless I figure out a way to carry Fig Newtons on my bike without it.

As for the workout, it was really tough but I survived it. There was good and bad, and one thing that I swear could only happen to me. Unreal.

Total workout - 1 mile swim, 112.8 mile bike, 13.1 mile run. 126.9 total miles.
Total time - 30 minute swim, 5:44 bike, 1:52 run. Total = 8:06.

The Swim.

I swam at the Y and started at 7:30 (that's what time the Great Floridian starts). I swam the first 4 laps hard to simulate the stress of a mass start and swimming too hard early in the swim jockeying for position. Then I settled into IM pace and tried to focus on form and staying relaxed. It was going to be a long day. I wanted a 1:40 per 100 pace or better, and every time I checked my splits they were between 1:36 and 1:40 so I hit my goal. Good swim.

Transition.

Like any good triathlete, I ran out of the pool and into the locker room at full speed. I elbowed the old men, pushed them out of my way and changed as quickly as I could. I put my pants on over my wet swimsuit...no time to take it off. TRANSITIONS COUNT!

I'm kidding. After my swim I drove home and got in my tri gear. I figured it would take about 30 minutes to get home and get on the bike, so nutrition-wise I would be starting the bike roughly the same time I'd be coming out of the water if I swam a full 2.4 miles. I was on the bike by 8:30 so it was pretty close.

The Bike.

My goals were 205 watts and a VI of 1.05. Nailed it. Exactly.



The VI for hour 6 isn't really accurate. Coming through my neighborhood and coasting up to my apartment building screws up the VI a little. If I cut out the last minute of hour 6, the VI is 1.05.

My focus was riding steady and being conservative in the beginning. I felt like I was being too conservative early on and riding slow, but I did hit all my goals so it worked out. It was a good strategy, but it's really hard to hold back the first two hours when you feel really good and want to hammer the hills and get your average speed as high as possible. On lap two I still felt really good so I pushed a little harder and pushed a little harder on the hills.

Hour 3 had my highest VI, but that also included the three hills after Cross Plains so I expected it to be higher than the other hours. Hour 6 included those as well.

My nutrition worked out great, and Infinit was much better than Perpeteum. The only problem, I think, is that I didn't go with enough electrolytes. Luckily, I bought a small bag so I'll adjust that and reorder before the race. I didn't think I'd need so much sodium, but it got to me at the end (ugly).

THIS COULD ONLY HAPPEN TO ME: Two hours and fifteen minutes into the ride, I got stung by a bee. Two weeks ago I got stung on the palm of my hand while riding and that hurt. Today...well...I got stung in the balls. Right through my tri shorts. Sweet Jesus that hurt.

Being a slave to my power meter, and having a great ride going, I swatted him away and got right back at it and tried to block out the pain. Not easy. That's worth repeating: Not easy. Eventually the pain went away...eventually. That was some serious mental training. Next time I will forget all about the power data and lay down by the side of the road and cry for a while, which is what I should've done today.

And yes...I do expect there to be a "next time."

The Run.

Kia Kaha.

That means be strong. That's what the run was all about. Go out easy, settle into goal pace and hopefully hold it the whole time. Kia Kaha.

I kind of pulled that off, but I fell apart at the end because I didn't replace my electrolytes. Three miles to go, I got nauseous, lightheaded and dizzy. What really frustrates me is that I knew it was an electrolyte imbalance and I had salt pills with me but I was too tired to screw with them. I thought I could hold my pace and make it home and then deal with it. I hadn't had anything to eat or drink in a few miles so I was on the edge. It was a stupid move. I should've stayed on top of that. I never would've made it another 13.1 miles today. I had an 8:32 average going until then. I finished with an 8:36 so it wasn't all bad, but it was a struggle. Here are my splits:



The 9:08 came from standing on the side of Cross Country Road dry heaving. Once I realized I wasn't going to puke, I decided to just gut it out and get home. One foot in front of the other. Kia Kaha.

Post Workout.

I was lightheaded, nauseaus, dizzy and I couldn't catch my breath. I just ran 13 miles, and now suddenly I can't breathe. I took my blood pressure, and it was very low just like it was after the Ironman. I took a salt tab and drank some water and within minutes I felt much better. It was amazing, really. I took my blood pressure again about 10 minutes later and it was close to normal, still a little low but not bad.

Sometimes when I come home from tough workouts I feel like hell for a while and I think it might be low blood pressure due to low sodium levels. So from now on I'm going to add a salt tab to my post workout recovery after long workouts.

Overall, the workout was a success. Some things went really well, others not so well but I've learned from them. I know that Infinit is going to work for me, but I need to tweak the formula a bit. I also know that Fig Newtons worked great (I felt so much better after I ate some solid food). My new bottle mount worked. My pacing was great, and I ran well until the last few miles. I know what I need to do to fix that, so hopefully I can execute those things on race day.

And I got through my first 8 hour workout....which wasn't easy. I was hurting toward the end. It's not easy to go into a workout that long without much rest.

Kia Kaha.

A new strategy

I think the toughest workout is the long brick. Not just because it includes more than one sport and is, well, long but also because it brings into play two of the most challenging aspects of triathlon: nutrition and pacing.

Tomorrow is the last of my two *key* workouts before the Great Floridian. Aside from the Ironman last year, this will be my longest training day ever. 30 minute swim, 112 mile bike, 13 mile run. It's about getting in a lot of volume and training my body to go for hours on end, but it's also about testing my nutrition and pacing strategies, both of which I have recently made changes to.

Nutrition

I've been using a mix of Perpeteum, Powerbar gels, Gatorade Endurance, water and Saltstick caps. I've decided to throw that entire plan out the window and start over. Crazy? Maybe.

The new plan is built around a new product for me: Infinit. It's similar to Perpeteum (except it doesn't go bad in the heat and doesn't have soy) but allows you to customize the formula to meet your individual needs. Here's my formula:



I'll still use some Gatorade Endurance, but not much. I'll use one gel on the bike, at the end, to start the transition to my run nutrition which will be all gels, Gatorade and water. The salt tabs are gone. I don't need them unless it's crazy hot. I'll have them with me just in case, but they tend to overload me on sodium and it screws me up. The other change is solid food. I eat Fig Newtons on a lot of my long rides. I like them and they never upset my stomach, so I decided to try eating some solid food early in the ride to see if that helps me later in the workout. It's tough to be fueled only by liquids for half a day.

Here's the bike plan for tomorrow:




Pacing

Pacing an ironman ride is tough. My power meter makes it much easier, but only if I pay close attention to it and respect the watts. You typically feel good at the beginning of the ride and it's easy to go too hard. Another thing that kills your ride, is having a VI (variable intensity) that's too high. Basically, that means your intensity varies - you're attacking the hills, surging... An even, steady pace is best. An ideal VI for an ironman distance ride is 1.06 or less. Tomorrow my goal is 1.05.

Here is an hour by hour analysis of two of my rides, which kind of illustrates how varying your intensity will catch up with you over time. This first one is from my brick a few weeks ago, which didn't go very well. I was worked over pretty good by the time I got off the bike.



As you can see, my VI continues to rise as my average watts continue to drop over the course of the ride. I wasn't holding my wattage steady. I was hitting the hills too hard and surging, possibly out of corners. Eventually it caught up with me and the end result was pretty ugly.

Below is the analysis of what is probably my best ride over 56 miles ever:



This ride was shorter, and my wattage higher, but I rode more consistently. My VI varies a bit more than I'd like to see but I kept it under control much more than the previous ride. The biggest differences I notice are hours 1 and 3, especially hour 1. It's very important to start out under control and not waste energy too early in the ride. With the IMWI course being pretty hilly, it's going to be tough to keep my VI really steady but that's my goal. I will be focusing very hard on this early in the ride.

Tomorrow, I'm shooting for 205 average watts. Hour 1 is going to be done at 200 watts to get warmed up and try to avoid going out too hard. Then I'll step it up a bit and try to average in the 205-208 range for the next few hours and dial it back a bit toward the end to get ready for the run. I'll be focusing on keeping my power very steady hoping that helps me come off the bike feeling strong so I can have a good run. And hopefully my nutrition plan works and everything goes smooth.

The wheels came off today...

Although I said my taper was 3 weeks, it's more or less a 2 week taper. Last week I dropped my training volume, especially my running, and took it easier than previous weeks but still had one long brick planned for today...then it's a full on taper until the Ironman.

Today's workout was a 2.3 mile swim followed by a 100 mile ride. I kept the intensity down and just wanted to get in the volume. I wanted to test my nutrition again and get in one last long ride following a long swim. No running today.

I got a little risky and swam with my Garmin Edge so I could get my distance recorded (risky because it's not waterproof). I sealed it in a zip lock bag and put it in my swim cap and it worked out great. It didn't get wet and still got a strong enough signal to record my distance. Unfortunately, it didn't get any heart rate data.

I swam for 1:10 and covered 2.3 miles. I've heard about a guy who runs around the arb and then swims in Lake Wingra, and today I saw him. He runs, then strips down to his tighty whities and goes for a swim. That guys needs to buy a swimsuit or swim in his running shorts. That's all I have to say about that.

The bike....I felt fine for the first 50 miles, and then I started to get a little tired. The triathlon yesterday took a little more out of me than I thought. I should've cut the ride short and gone back to my car, but I wanted to get in one last century. About mile 80, my knees started hurting and my right IT band started to tighten up again. Just what I need....knee problems 2 weeks from IM.

I decided to play it safe and take it really easy from here on out....and see if I could figure out where that irritating chirping sound was coming from. I found out.

My front wheel.

I noticed it was out of true and touching my brake pads with each rotation. For those of you familiar with my wheels....you guessed it...loose front spokes.

If you haven't followed my blog since the beginning, let me fill you in. It started out about this time last year when I was offered a set of Reynolds MV32 wheels with a Powertap in them. Brand spanking new, built for some industry race and they're not going to use them, a $3500 wheelset for $900 I was told. Great deal, right? I couldn't pass it up. What I wasn't told was that these wheels are guaranteed to let you down, disappoint you and generally make you feel ripped off.

The spokes have come loose many times, and I finally had to send the wheels back to Reynolds. They fixed them, and they've been good until now, but it took about 4 or 5 weeks to get them back. And I've had this feeling ever since that they would have problems right before IM, and here we are 2 weeks away and I have loose spokes again (see above guarantee).

The problem is there's only one shop in town I trust with them - Crono Metro. And they're going to be super busy this time of year getting bikes tuned up for IM. I really hope they can squeeze me in and get my wheels trued this week so I can go out for a short ride or two before IM to make sure they're good to go.

If I get my wheel fixed and the spokes come loose during Ironman, you might see something like this...



I'm tempted to throw on my Mavic front wheel and ride mismatched wheels. I trust Mavic wheels. Now I'm going to spend the entire race worrying about my wheels.

Yesterday I was loaded with confidence. I felt like everything was in place for me to have a good Ironman and I was coming off my best triathlon finish ever. It was a great day.

Today....zero confidence. I don't trust my front wheel and I'm afraid my IT band is going to tighten up on the bike, and I have no idea how I'm going to run a marathon with IT band problems. I did too much volume in a short period of time. In the past 4 weeks, I've ridden a century every weekend and followed it up with a long run the next day on tired legs. I feel like I screwed up an entire year of training by cramming in too much volume at the last minute. What frustrates me the most is that I knew I would do this. I knew I wouldn't take enough rest days.

As much as I want to do well at the Ironman, I'm not risking a serious injury for a one day race. IM doesn't mean that much to me. If my IT band tightens up too much on the bike and run, I'm walking to the finish line. If it gets too bad, I'm dropping out. There's always 2010.

The plan now is to get a lot of rest in the next two weeks and do some stretching everyday to see if I can get my IT band to loosen up.

So this post isn't all negative... Robbie Ventura finished his first IM today - IM Canada. 1:18 swim, 4:51 bike, 4:30 run - total time: 10:49. Awesome (check out that bike split). Here's a pic from when we met him at the Saris Gala.


Here's a quote from that post...

"...I ate everything in sight, layed in the middle of the floor and declared, "there is no way I'm going to finish the Ironman." Even after getting a good night's sleep and recovering from the workout, I'd say it's about 50/50 on me finishing."

Right now? Yeah, 50/50.

7 hours in the sun and all I get is spoiled milk

They're not the healthiest treats, but after a long, brutal workout I want one of three things: a Snickers Marathon bar, an M&M Candy Freeze from Frostee Freeze or a donie with chocolate frosting and sprinkles.

Since Frostee Freeze is in Janesville and I was in Madison today, that wasn't an option. Marathon bars are great, but I eat a lot of them so they're not much of a treat sometimes. So that left a donie, which I had been thinking about for the last 2 hours of my workout.

I went to Pick N Save to pick up a bag of ice for my ice bath and a donie. Pick N Save never fails to disappoint me. It's usually at the cash register, but today it was at the bakery. Nothing. So I picked up some ice thinking I had a Marathon bar at home....nope. So I had V8 V-Fusion and an Odwalla bar....healthy crap.

Anyway, this was my big workout today. About 112 miles on the IM course followed by a one hour run. My goal for the bike was to average between 190-195 watts. I was hoping that would be 19+ mph, but I was more concerned about watts than speed. My goal for the run was to go harder than IM pace...if possible. I figured I would shoot for an average pace of 8:4x. If I could pull that off after a long ride, I would be very happy with my workout.

When going over my bike yesterday to make sure it was good to go, I noticed that I did brake hard enough to ruin my tires the other day. My tires skidded enough to wear through the rubber and expose the white fibers that hold the tire together, but not enough to pop the tube...whew. I have a new set of tires I'm saving for IM, and I didn't want to put those on yet so I dug through the closet to see what I could find. Luckily, I had saved a set of Michelin Pro Race 2s that I was going to use on the trainer until Dennis decided he wasn't going to put enough miles on the trainer over the winter to justify the trainer tire he bought. So I bought it off him and saved the Michelins. They're worn, but I think they can get me through the next few weeks. I'll have to thank Dennis for buying that trainer tire.

Here's the nutrition plan for the day...



1 Gat = 1 bottle of Gatorade Endurance formula
1/3 Per = 1/3 of my bottle of Perpeteum (a little less than a serving)
Salt = Salt tab (Saltstick)
(c) Gel = Caffeinated gel
Rocktane = Gu Rocktane - a caffeinated gel with amino acids

About 300 calories per hour, plenty of sodium and lots of water.

I also bought a saltstick, which you can put in the end of your aerobars and it holds 3 salt tabs. All you do is turn the knob and out pops a salt tab. Pretty schnazzy.



There's not a whole lot to say about the ride. It went well, and I figured out how my bottles are dropping (I didn't drop any, but it was close...I caught them a few times as they were falling out). It turns out they're dropping out the bottom of my bottle cage instead of the top like I thought. I'm going to tape a little extension on the bottom of my cages so I don't lose bottles (carbon bottle cages and I'm going to tape a piece of plastic to them...it's not right).

My average watts were a little lower than I wanted, but that's mainly from stopping at stop signs, lights and gas stations for water. I was close to my goal, so it's good enough...

Distance = 113.42 miles
Time = 5:58:49
Ave Watts = 187
Ave Speed = 19.0 mph
Max Speed = 44.4 mph
Ave HR = 134
Max HR = 158
Ave Cadence = 84


I quickly put on my running shoes, grabbed my gels and water and was out the door. (note to self: no propel on the run...it doesn't mix with flavored gels very well). I ran in my new Sauconys Tuesday and got some pain in my right knee so I was little nervous about this run. I wasn't sure if it was the shoes or the 20 miler last Sunday. Luckily, it must have been the long run because the shoes felt great today. Very comfy and more room in the toes than my other shoes - no blisters.

I usually get over the heavy leg feeling within a mile or two and settle into a good rhythm. Today it took about 4 miles, a lot longer than I expected but that's good to know so I don't get worried when I'm still feeling sluggish at the 3 mile mark raceday.

The run went surprisingly well. I expected to bonk or fade or throw up or (you name it). But instead I felt decent and eventually found a good rhythm. The good thing about doing really long runs is that 7 miles doesn't feel that long any more.

Here's the data...


The run felt good, but there's no way I could hold that pace for 26.2 miles.

After my long workouts, I immediately drink some Endurox then I go get a bag of ice for an ice bath. I like vanilla, so I switched to vanilla Endurox from the fruit punch....bad decision. It smells like spoiled milk...the last thing you need to smell after 7 hours in the sun.

Speaking of that, the weather was phenomenal today...upper 70s with white puffy clouds and 5-10 mph winds. I hope we have conditions like this raceday, except I'm really hoping for low 70s (or even better - upper 60s).

I still have some long workouts coming up, but this my biggest one and it went really, really well. I feel ready for the race and confident that I'm going to have a good day. Anything can happen, but I feel like I've done everything I can do to make sure I'm prepared.

Tomorrow is a long swim. Sunday a long run. Monday...rest day.

Sometime this weekend, I'm going to get the donie.

Long brick

The forecast for this morning was upper 30s and a rain/snow mix so I was second guessing doing the Harvard time trial. What sealed the deal was my post Crazylegs ride. I planned on an easy 90 minute ride, nothing that would wear me out. I knew it was windy, but I figured I'd keep my power down and not worry about how slow I was going.

The wind was a little scary...well, really scary. We had gusts of 25+ mph. A headwind or tailwind wasn't that bad, but a crosswind was pretty scary. I had to lean into the wind and I had a tough time staying out of traffic when the gusts hit. I should've stayed home. Some days aren't safe to ride.

Anyway, the wind wasn't the killer. It turns out it was Crazylegs. I had nothing left in my legs and holding my power in my endurance zone was really hard work. There was no way I would be ready for a TT, so I figured I would stick with my original plan - a long brick.

I got lucky and the weather cleared up. No rain or snow, but it was a little cold - upper 40s and kind of windy - nothing like yesterday, though. I decided to try out the time trial routes I mapped out. I did 2 40k TTs and 1 20K TT with a few minutes of rest between time trials. I kept my power in my endurance zone so it was far from 3 all out TTs, but it was hard work and very tiring...especially since I still haven't recovered from Crazylegs.

After the TTs, I ran for an hour.

After the run, I...well...I thought I was going to die. This workout got the best of me, that's for sure. The worst part about a long workout in the cold is the 30 minute coughing fit afterwards. Cold air really tears up my throat. You'd think I'd be used to it by now, but clearly I'm not.

Next Saturday is my first multi-sport event of the year - The Peanut Butter Duathlon. It's a 2 mile run, 14 mile bike, 2 mile run. I'd like to do well, so I'm going to keep my workouts pretty easy this week so I'm well rested for the event. I also need to find some time to practice my transitions because they're pretty weak and I haven't practiced them yet this year.

McMillan Running

A few weeks ago I discovered the McMillan Running website (www.mcmillanrunning.com) and have been using their pace calculator to determine my pace zones for workouts. It's pretty cool. You just enter a race result (I did my 5K time from the Shamrock Shuffle) and it gives you estimated race results along with pace zones for long runs, tempo runs, intervals...

So far it has proven to be very accurate. I've been using it for my workouts as well as Cheri's, and we've both been able to run in the zones it's giving us even though we sometimes doubt we can hold that pace for a long time, but we always do.

Yesterday, I did the Black Earth Brick. According to McMillan Running, I should be able to run a 10 mile race in 1:11 - a 7:08 pace. I had my doubts on holding that pace for that long, but so for McMillan's has been accurate so I decided to stick with it. Since I rode hard on Friday and I was biking to the race, I figured I would shoot for somewhere in the 7:20-7:30 range. That's probably about the equivalent of running a 7:08 without biking before the event.

I was a little worried about my legs being tired from Friday's ride, but they didn't feel too bad in the morning, a little stiff and sore but not as bad as I expected. My plan was to take it easy on the way out and stay in the pack as much as possible. It was really windy so I didn't want to do any pulling. I just wanted to sit in and save it for the run. Things don't always go according to plan.

There was a group of maybe 40 or 50 cyclist and triathletes at Fleet Feet. I was planning on getting a group of triathletes figuring they would take it a little slower thinking about the run, and the cyclists - some of whom weren't running - would push the pace more. I headed out with the first group. The pace was pretty moderate, and I stayed in the middle of group. After about 5 miles, the pace picked up on a descent and I looked back and discovered we had become a group of 5 well out in front of the rest of the pack...oh yeah, I was with a group of cyclists, not triathletes...no aerobars in this pack. After the descent, the pace stayed at 20 mph the rest of the way and we had a really strong headwind. There were 2 cyclists up front who were pulling and having a conversation and they seemed content to pull the whole way so I hung in and took advantage of the draft. About 4 miles from Black Earth, one of the cyclists got tired of pulling into the wind and pulled over so that left the pulling up to me. I didn't want to do it, but I had no choice and I ended up pulling the group the last 4 miles into Black Earth...and that hurt. That wind was brutal.

Luckily, we had about an hour to kill before the start of the race so I had some time to recover. The race went really well, and I now have even more confidence in McMillan's than I did before. It's a great resource. I headed out running between 7:20-7:30 hoping to pick up the pace a little toward the end if I felt good, and that's exactly what I did so I'm really happy with my performance yesterday. Negative splits at a 10 mile race is a great way to boost your confidence and build enthusiasm for an upcoming half marathon. Here are my splits:

Mile 1 = 7:23
Mile 2 = 7:24
Mile 3 = 7:23
Mile 4 = 7:24
Mile 5 = 7:24
Mile 6 = 7:19
Mile 7 = 7:13
Mile 8 = 7:17
Mile 9 = 7:11
Mile 10 = 6:50

According to my Garmin, the course was 10.07 miles and my time was 1:13:15, a 7:16 average pace. I didn't stick around to see results so have no idea how I did.

Even though there was a tailwind on the way back to Fleet Feet, it was still a tough ride because the climbs on the way back are tougher...plus I was pretty tired from the run. Black Earth is only 15 miles from Fleet Feet - not the 20 that was advertised. I live 5 miles from Fleet Feet so I ended the day with 40 miles on the bike and 10 miles running. I'm glad it wasn't 20 miles to Black Earth because another 10 miles would've been a killer.

It was a great training day, but now my legs are really sore this morning. Good thing today is an easy day.

Practicing Nutrition

We got about 6 inches of snow yesterday, so riding outside wasn't an option today. It's not easy getting back on the trainer after a taste of outdoor riding. Luckily, it looks like the snow is melting quickly so it shouldn't be too much longer before I'm back on the roads.

Last weekend I did a long brick and didn't eat enough so I got really hungry on the run. It was a short run, so I survived, but I realized I need to start learning what and how much to eat on long workouts. I've gotten lazy eating during workouts, and many times I eat very little. In fact, I didn't eat anything during most of my 2 1/2 hour trainer rides this winter.

Today's brick had more of a run focus, so nailing the nutrition on the bike was going to be key or the run would be a killer. The bike was 2 hours on the trainer followed by a 90 minute run. I picked up a packet of Hammer Nutrition's Sustained Energy at the bike shop to try on the bike. It's a powder you mix with water and it has about 350 calories.

I did a bit of research and figured 250 calories per hour on the bike should be sufficient. Then I planned on another 180 calories of Hammer Gel on the run. I dug out my Fuel Belt, which I've only used once before and didn't like, to give it another try for the run. I don't know any other way to carry gel and water on the run, so I figured I better get used to it.

Here's the plan for the bike: 1/2 bottle of Sustained Energy and 1 Fig Newton and 1 bottle of water (1 bottle of Nuuns, 1 bottle of Propel) per hour.

The run: 90 calories of Gel about 35 minutes in, another 90 at the 65-70 minute mark. Water when needed.

Afterwards: Endurox with extra Glutamine mixed in for recovery.




Then I layed out my gear for the run...




Then I got the bike set up...




Before...





During...





After (not smiling anymore)...




Then the best part of every brick workout... The Ceas (Little Ceasars)...





Here's a picture of Cheri returning from her workout, an 8 mile run. I'm not supposed to post this because she doesn't approve of close ups post workout, but I don't listen very well...





All in all it was a good workout. I'd say I nailed the nutrition because the run went well and I wasn't hungry at any point. I'm not used to eating that much on the bike so I had to force it down a bit, but it was worth it. I'm on the fence with Sustained Energy. It doesn't taste good, which is okay, but it made me belch for the entire 2 hours on the bike. Considering some of the other options, that's not that bad but I think I might try some other drinks to see if there's something else out there I'll like better. The true test will come on a brick that has a 3 or 4 hour bike ride, but this was a good starting point.

First annual snot rocket ride

First brick workout of the year. This is a weekend of firsts...first outdoor ride, first brick and first race (tomorrow).

I decided to do the Belleville ride I did last year on March 10th, although it would be more aptly named the New Glarus ride since I ride through Belleville on my way to New Glarus and then home. New Glarus is Wisconsin's Little Switzerland. It's a fun town to ride through on a long ride.

When I left the house the temperature was about 35 degrees and I think it may have dropped a bit on my ride because it was frosty out there. So I've decided to rename this ride the Snot Rocket Ride. I will do this ride every year in the middle of March and leave a 50 mile trail of frozen snot.




Like last year, this ride tore me apart. It was rough out there. It was good on the way out. The temperature was good and I had a tailwind. I wasn't working that hard, and my average speed when I hit Belleville was 20 mph. I didn't check my speed in New Glarus, but I'm guessing it was around 19. I stopped briefly at the park in New Glarus to eat a Clif bar and bundle up a bit more. The wind was getting cold and I needed to put my headband on to keep my ears warm. My skull cap doesn't do a great job covering my ears.

This is when things got ugly. I had a headwind most of the way back from New Glarus, and it was a cold, cold wind. The hills didn't get to me like they did last year (well, not as much as last year), but the temperature did. I was having a hard time staying focused and I was dreaming of a hot shower. By the time I got home my average speed had dropped to 17 and I couldn't feel my fingers or toes. But no hot shower for me. Not yet....

I had a short run scheduled for today, so I figured I may as well do that right after my ride to save time and get my first brick workout in. I was so cold when I got home I did not want to go back out. It took me a little while to get changed into my running gear and then I ran my hands under warm water for a few minutes to get the feeling back because they were hurtin. Then I threw on my new Zoots, and headed out.

My legs were spent from the ride so the run was a little rough. Plus, I quickly discovered I didn't do a good job with my nutrition on the bike. After ten minutes of running, I was no longer dreaming of a hot shower. I was dreaming of Little Ceasars.

The Zoots were good, but the back of the shoe feels a little weird. I think they'll be good for short races because you can get into them so fast, but I wasn't as impressed as I was hoping to be. They're light and comfortable enough (I wore wool socks so I don't know what they're like barefoot yet), but the back of the shoe is really tall and feels a little goofy. Plus they don't have a lot of support so they won't be good for long races. Maybe I just need a little more time to get used to them.

My expectations for the Shamrock Shuffle tomorrow have lowered to nothing. My legs are trashed right now. I'm not used to long outdoor rides with hills and wind followed by a 30 minute run. Just think about how sore I'm going to be after the Ironman. Compared to that, this workout was nothing.

Here's the cycling data from MotionBased, easily the slowest website on the web. I need a new website to upload GPS data to.


Here's the run data...




While I was waiting for the temp to warm up this morning, I came across this picture. He didn't even let go of the umbrella...

Saris Gala

It might be the British accent. I'm not sure. But whatever it is, chicks dig Phil Liggett. Cheri is one of those chicks, and Thursday she got a chance to meet him at the Saris Gala. The event started at 6, but we didn't show up til a little after 7. We registered and immediately ran into Mark and the gang. As we were talking to them, someone pointed out that Phil was wandering around. Immediately, Cheri headed straight toward Phil for a picture. As soon as she got close to him, she got nervous and turned into a bumbling idiot. She got a couple of pictures with him, they talked a little and then Phil headed on his way. Then he turned around, came back, grabbed Cheri's hand and off they went. Everyone looked at me and said, "You should be worried." Luckily (for me) they didn't make it too far before Phil was mobbed by people wanting pictures and eventually Cheri returned to the group. I'm sure I'll be hearing about Phil for the next few weeks (years). Hey, there are worse men to lose a girl to.

Later in the evening, Phil got on stage and spoke for about an hour. He's very entertaining...and a little feisty. Afterwards, I hung around to get a picture with Phil too...






Then, as we were leaving Cheri noticed Robbie Ventura was just hanging around and suggested we get a picture with him. After getting a photo, we were ready to leave...but then Robbie asked us what kind of riding we do. Then the conversation turned to triathlons and the Ironman. We talked to Robbie for about 10-15 minutes. He's planning on doing Ironman Canada, so we talked about the Ironman for a while. It was a fun conversation. Robbie is really cool and down to earth. He's also really motivating (good trait for a trainer) because he's so excited and passionate about cycling and triathlons.




All in all, it was a very fun evening. Saris does a good job with the Gala, and they raised about $60K for the Bike Federation of Wisconsin. Very cool. I'm looking forward to next year. I wonder who the guest will be. Bob Roll?

On the training front...yesterday was a tough day. I did the Ironman loop again and tore it up. 56 miles in just under 3 hours. That's the first time I've ridden the route in under 3 hours without aero bars. I ended with an 18.8 average, which I was very happy with since a good part of the last 20 miles or so were into a strong headwind. I pushed really hard and stayed focused the whole ride. I wish I had my power meter because I'm curious what my average watts were. Right after the ride I went for a 3 mile run with Cheri. This is when it became painfully clear that I didn't eat and drink enough on the bike. I bonked hard...immediately. By immediately, I mean the first 1/4 mile. Those were the toughest 3 miles I've ever run. I was barely moving and wanted to quit. I had no food with me and was craving sugar big time. Cheri wouldn't let me quit and kept me moving til the end. I managed a 9:38 pace, and I'm really glad I had Cheri with me to keep me going. Alone, I may have quit and walked home to make a pig out of myself. It was a great workout, but I need to get my nutrition under control.

Hitting the wall like that on a 3 mile run makes you wonder why you signed up for an Ironman. When I got home, I ate everything in sight, layed in the middle of the floor and declared, "there is no way I'm going to finish the Ironman." Even after getting a good night's sleep and recovering from the workout, I'd say it's about 50/50 on me finishing. I have a friend who's barely going to train for this thing, and I think he has a better shot at finishing. He'll be slow and steady and keep making progress toward the finish. I'll go all out and explode on the run and get taken to the medical tent. 50/50. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

The pain, the agony...

I'm in pain. Pity me.

I know. Self inflicted pain gets no sympathy. Today I did my first long brick workout. I've done several bricks, but they usually last around an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes. Today's workout was one of the toughest of my life. A 4 hour brick. I did the Ironman loop again - this time hoping to increase my average watts to above 200 - and then ran 7 miles - hoping to average 8:30 per mile.

I got through the workout all right, but I felt like crap afterward. I hit my goal on the bike but fell a little short on the run. Oh well. This was really just a test to see where I stand, and I'm happy with how the workout went. My average watts was higher on the bike this week and I did more work, but my average speed dropped by .1 mph. It was windy today.

The toughest part...I had tickets to the Badger game this afternoon. So I had to get ready for the game right after my workout. And I got a crappy parking spot and had to walk a couple miles to the stadium. Ouch. The Badgers won so that took away some of the pain. But standing and sitting and standing again was a little difficult since I was starting to feel the pain in my legs.

Tomorrow I have to run a slow 9 miles. With the way my legs are feeling I think those may be 9 very slow miles. Then...my first rest day.

Bike stats:
Time: 3:05:33
Distance: 56.33 miles
Ave speed: 18.2 mph
Max speed: 43.8 mph
Ave watts: 202
Max watts: 491
Work: 2283 Kj
Ave HR: 147
Max HR: 167
Ave cadence: 84 rpm
Calories: 3197

Run stats:
Time: 1:01:20
Distance: 7 miles
Pace: 8:45
Ave HR: 157
Max HR: 165
Calories: 953

It's On!

I'm 3 days into my training. So far I've logged a total of 57.5 miles - 5 hours of training. I've swam 1.2 miles, biked 49.3 and run 7. So far it's going well, but it's not without challenges. I have tendinitis in my left knee which has been giving me quite a bit of pain in the past few months. It doesn't affect my workouts and doesn't slow me down so I'm not too worried about it. I'm supposed to go in for physical therapy so hopefully that will help and the pain will disappear before the first of the year. The other challenge...my wheels. The spokes came loose again today...even after taking them to the bike shop to be professionally trued. They're awesome wheels, but this is the 3rd time the spokes have come loose. You'd think a $3500 wheelset would be trouble free....you'd think.

So far the only workout I've done worth talking about was last night. I did my first brick workout of my Ironman training...many more to come. I haven't done a brick in a while, and it felt great. I pushed hard on the bike and learned a little more about training with power. The power meter is like a video camera. You get to see the real story, and it's not always the same as your perception of the truth. I noticed I tend to back off when riding into a headwind. It felt like I was working harder, but my watts dropped from 240 to 180. So I stepped it back up to 240 and tried not to think about the wind. This power meter is definitely going to take my training to next level. I forgot how tough the bike to run transition can be. I felt sluggish and slow on the run. I can tell I haven't been running much lately. Time to step it up and get some miles in. Here are the stats:

Bike
Miles = 24.26
Time = 1:14:47
Ave Speed = 19.45 mph
Max Speed = 33.18 mph
Average Watts = 212
Max Watts = 757
Ave HR = 147
Max HR = 168

Run
Miles = 3.51
Time = 27:33
Pace = 7:51
Ave HR = 153
Max HR = 167