IMCHOO Build 6 recap

This last three weeks flew by! I love how well my body is handling the training load. I'm having some left hip aches after long or fast runs, which I also remember from marathon training, but it's not bad.

My brain is having a harder time with the training, and I have reached new levels of ongoing and pervasive crankiness. After vacation last week, I feel a lot better, so hopefully I can maintain this mental equilibrium for a while.

Mini-goal assessment

• Visit Mile marker 21 at Skyline - Success! I rode out to Hogback. I had a bit of disappointment when I realized I was almost exactly the same speed as I was last August, but I believe I did this ride at a more appropriate intensity.
• Do hilly Gran Fondo 100 miler -Success! I started off too strong and cocky, and paid for it in the last 17 miles, but it was a "learning experience" not a "bad day"
• Focus on nutrition - Success-ish! Except for vacation, I met my nutrition goals 13 of 20 days, which is a pretty good record when it comes to food and long training days.
• Celebrate recovery with a camping vacation - Success! 2 camping nights, including a three mile hike-in to Lena Lake. Hike-in sounds easier than backpacking.

Review of last three weeks

• 2 Monday bootcamp
• 1 Weds strength training
• 1 Yoga
• Swam
• at 3 swim practices
• 1 mi at lake swim
• 1 time at the outdoor 50m pool
• Ran
• 3 Monday night run lead
• 1 track practice, only one of which was "track"y, the other was 40 minutes easy
• 10 mi long run on "light weekend"
• 18 mi long run on build weekend
• Biked
• 2 flat workouts
• 1 hills workout, and proved the 4x hill wasn't a fluke
• 44 mi on "light weekend", at Skyline
• 102 mi at hilly Gran Fondo
• 20 assorted commute miles

Mini-goals for next build cycle

• Focus on nutrition
• Leave the cranky-pants at home for 20 mile peak run

IMCHOO Build 5 recap

I finished this build cycle feeling strong and confident. The 100 miler went really well. I tried out the DeSoto 400 miler bike shorts and had no negative feelings towards them.

I've recovered from my 90-miler induced hamstring ache, and have a number of new exercises to add to my PT regime.

Looking forward, I feel like if I woke up tomorrow and the Ironman was this weekend, I would be able to finish. It would be rough, but I'd finish. Over the next weeks, I want to bring a little more intensity back to my running so I can feel more optimistic about my dream run pace.

Mini-goal assessment

• Go to 2 Monday bootcamps - Success! I think I've gotten this back in my regular habits.
• Do 1 bike hills workouts with unprecendented 4x trippple hill - Success! I even paced it well so the 4th was the fastest. Having a day about 20 degrees cooler than the 3x hill workout helped a lot
• Responsibly address new leg ache with preventative PT - Success! Some new hamstring exercises and some ART and the acute ache has receded.
• Be independent with a long run on the holiday weekend - Success! I aimed for 10-12 miles, and came in at 10.5. Good enough
• Celebrate summer at 4th of July party - Success! Two parties and lots of celebrating! I managed to miss most fireworks, but that can be a goal for next year.

Review of last three weeks

• 2 Monday bootcamp
• 3 Weds strength training
• 2 Yoga
• Swam
• at 6 swim practices
• 3 times at the outdoor 50m pool. Only once was warm enough to feel like staying in a long time though. Brr!
• Ran
• 3 Monday night run lead
• 2 track practice, only one of which was "track"y, the other was 40 minutes easy
• 10 mi long run on "light weekend"
• 16 mi long run on build weekend
• Biked
• 2 flat workouts
• 1 hills workout, and nailed the 4x hill
• 60 mi on "light weekend"
• 100 mi -New longest! I was on my own (within the group) but felt great
• 56 assorted commute miles

Mini-goals for next build cycle

• Visit Mile marker 21 at Skyline
• Do hilly Gran Fondo 100 miler
• Focus on nutrition
• Celebrate recovery with a camping vacation

Skyline Review

I've been to Skyline Drive 3 times and am looking forward to going back out there this weekend. Views like this are what makes it worth the long drive and the climb. Below is a profile of the start of the drive headed south from Front Royal. This makes it look really steep, but it's not actually so bad.

My First Skyline

For my first trip out, I was intimidated, but also super proud of myself after getting to a nice overlook.

Climbed to mile marker 14

Skyline Revisited

My second trip out was a chilly day, but I was hoping to be a good support crew for my friend who was building for IM Mont Tremblant. We were hoping to ride for 4 hours, and made it up to mile marker 14 before getting turned back by the SAGs who were starting to wrangle riders for home.

It was awesome to get so much farther, and also great to feel strong, like we could have biked more, if allowed. Once we got to the park gate on the downhill, we turned around to climb back up for a mile or so to add some more time to the day.

Hogback Accomplished!

My third trip was in August 2014, which could have been brutally hot, but thankfully, it was gorgeous out. With a patient climbing partner, I made it all the way out to mile marker 21, which is the peak of Hogback Mountain.

All the way to Hogback

Happy Climbing!

 A post-Skyline highlight is the visit to Spelunkers for custard. I was able to use the bike-through

Looking forward

 I hadn't noticed until compiling these photos that I also climbed with more company in each of these three outings. That's a great trend!

This weekend I expect to climb to Hogback for a 3-4 hour ride. If I go super fast, I'll add some more climbing from the gate to the visitor center, which would be an awesome new milestone to achieve.

If no other bike practice goes well this summer, I want to remember this one

I've been having lack-luster performance at the Tuesday night bike rides for a few build cycles now.
With the new power meter, I could even quantify how it was going downhill:


5/5 - 12' Z4 - 200W
5/19 - 12' Z4 - 195W
5/26 - 14' Z4 - 196W
6/9 - 16' Z4 - 184W
6/16 - 16' Z4 - 185W

That's a bad trend. My average HR was decreasing as well, so I was mostly just lacking the muscles & will to push harder.

Thankfully, bad days don't last forever and this week's workout had a glorious return to earlier numbers.
6/30 - 20' + 5' Z4 - 194W + 208W

The wind was light, and the temperature was gorgeous, which, combined with feeling strong and confident led to a qualitatively great ride as well


Next week will add a new challenge of a Z5a interval after a long Z4, and then it might be time to try a FTP test again and possibly shift the zones!

IMCHOO Build 4 recap

The search for the bike shorts continues. I was really enjoying the Coeur shorts, but the way I sit on my bike led to chafing on the rear seam. I think the DeSoto 400 milers have a wider rear seam, so hopefully will get the pad under my weight instead of a seam in the middle of it.

I really like the look of the Coeur shorts and expect I will wear them often for shorter things and maybe even change into them for the IM run.

Overall this was a great build cycle. I've talked with other Choo people and we are all slower now than we were at the training camp, so I'm going to try to not worry about whether my race goals need to be changed based on my week-to-week training performance.

Mini-goal assessment

• Go to 2 Monday bootcamps - Success! I felt pretty rough on the one after the brick, but made it.
• Do 1 bike hills workouts with 3x trippple hill - Success! Not my best times on the course, but I did it three times
• Celebrate summer at post-biking picnic/potluck - Success! It was a gorgeous night and we hung out until like 9pm, enjoying a pink sunset and the magic of fireflies
• Celebrate friends marriage - Success! A beautiful afternoon in a park with great company.

Review of last three weeks

• 2 Monday bootcamp
• 2 Weds strength training
• 2 Yoga
• Swam
• at 6 swim practices
• at 1 post-run welcome-to-outdoor swimming
• at 1 Friday afternoon HH swims
• Ran
• 2 Monday night run lead
• 2 track practice
• 7 mi in long brick 
• 14 mi long run completed
• 0 run commute miles, but 1 right-hand-run recovery run
• Biked
• 2 flat workouts
• 1 hills workouts
• 1 trainer ride when thunderstorms cancelled the hills workout
• 50 mi in long brick
• 90 mi - New longest! Great until the end when my shorts got too irritating
• 28 assorted commute miles

Mini-goals for next build cycle

• Go to 2 Monday bootcamps
• Do 1 bike hills workouts with unprecendented 4x trippple hill 
• Responsibly address new leg ache with preventative PT
• Be independent with a long run on the holiday weekend
• Celebrate summer at 4th of July party

Tri games: Right hand Run

I find it challenging to get my recovery week workouts in, since there aren't group workouts on the schedule. Last night, I was supposed to do an easy run and I left work on time in gorgeous weather, so no excuses.

I live near a lovely bike path, which is a standby for running, but I was looking for a little more adventure, so I tried out a new idea for a running game, the intuitively named "Right Hand Run"

The rules are pretty simple

1. Start running
2. When you get to an intersection, either
1. Go straight, or
2. Turn right
3. If you get to a cul-de-sac, U-turn with airplane arms over the right shoulder, and continue as before
4. If you end up in a warren of alleys, hope desperately to cross over onto a road that bends to the left to get you back on your way again. Not that I did that.

This appealed to me because right-hand turns don't necessarily involve crossing roads, and it also gave me a reason to practice my right-shoulder airplane turns, which are embarrassingly awkward.

I had to start thinking about the end game pretty early in the run. By crossing a particular major road, I was committing myself to pretty much 1 route home, so I knew I had to try to connect up with that end segment.

It worked quite well. I was saved from having to do a looking-like-a-stalker loop around a playground by using an alley and having a road curve fortuitously left. I was still on the same road, so it wasn't that *I* made a left hand turn :)

I think it will be even better for an early weekend run where I can be on the road more vs. having to hop on and off of sidewalks -- I've been spoiled by running on trails, or for a run if I'm traveling in a new area.

IMCHOO Build 3 recap

This build cycle introduced the need for the occasional car-nap during the work day. I need to figure out how to get more sleep into my day. I took the recovery week very seriously, with a massage to work out some potential hip aches and some more real-food eating and prep that I hadn't made time for in the work weeks.

Mini-goal assessment

• Go to 1 Monday bootcamp - Nope! Memorial day group bootcamp was cancelled and I did not motivate myself to do it on my own.
  
• Do 2 bike hills workouts with 2x and 3x trippple hill - Nope! All the fun extracurricular activities came on Thursday night this build cycle, so I missed these, and then did not make them up.
  
• Race the lake swim mile with good sighting and body position - Success! A lake swim PR!
• FTP test on the bike - Success! It hurt, and I did a 20 minute test instead of pacing better for a 40 minute test, but I earned the numbers I wished for.
  
• Enjoy evening off for theater - Success! This was one of the Thursday extracurriculars, but it was worth it. Complete with pre-theater dinner and great company
  

Review of last three weeks

• 0 Monday bootcamp
• 3 Weds strength training
• 1 Yoga
• Swam
• at 6 swim practices
• 1 mi lake swim
• Ran
• 3x Monday night run lead
• 2x track practice - got the whole workout done, but it was rough with the heat
• 10 mi long run completed, but it was rough
• 12 mi long run in solid Z2
• Skipped recovery week run, and no run commute miles
• Biked
• 2x flat workouts
• 0 hills workouts with 2x and 3x trippple hill
• 70 mi - New longest! Felt great! Great company!
• 80 mi - New longest! Getting toasty, got it done.
• 12 assorted commute miles

Mini-goals for next build cycle

• Go to 2 Monday bootcamps
• Do 1 bike hills workouts with 3x trippple hill
• Celebrate summer at post-biking picnic/potluck
• Celebrate friends marriage