Peak weekend

This peak weekend was pretty awesome. I have watched many waves of IM-trainees struggle through the 120 mile bike and the 20 mile run to various degrees and, while I was hoping for some good days, I also knew there was a chance for meltdown, as I'd seen many other athletes end up in that condition.

We continued to have the luckiest summer weather ever. For the 7AM bike start, I was happy to have arm warmers, which bodes for a perfect day.

Bike

My riding partner and I had agreed to experience our own days, so she started earlier, and I was sort of on my own. I certainly took advantage of friends riding the same direction for some wonderful drafting, but I didn't try to adjust my pace to keep up with or hold back for anyone. This meant I also got to deploy my primary triathlon super-power of "not messing around" and was able to bike for 8:05 hours and be moving for 7:45 of them.

That means I had 2.5 minutes of stopping time per hour, counting traffic lights, refuels and a bathroom break!

Next year, I would like to ride a little more assertively sometimes, and on the completely opposite side of that coin, would also like to ride a little more socially, which would mean stopping with others. But for this weekend, a result like that was an amazing training result for me.

I had a nutrition plan that would have been good for 9 hours, and ate all of the Gu's and bars, but fell behind on liquids a bit. One of my take-aways was that my backup run nutrition plan needs to have an option to rely less on liquid calories because there is a chance I will be tired of drinking after the bike portion.

The random musical selection continued. The biking song of the week was "76 Trombones," which proved remarkably adaptable. "One hundred and 10 miles I have biked today, with 8 more miles to go...." or "70.1 miles and I will turn, turn turn turn turn right". There were short intervals of "3 blind mice" but the trombones were with me on & off for about 3 hours.

Run

Then Sunday came around and it was time for a 20 mile run in a moderately hilly neighborhood. I was super lucky to have run company for the 2nd hour, and then company again for the last 4 miles. As rough as my hip and foot started to feel, for that workout, the hardest part was finding a reason to keep going. If I had walked the last mile, I would have made my time goal, but it sure felt good to run it in, so I need to feed the loud mental voice that says "keep going!" instead of the one that says "good enough", especially on race day.

This run 4 loops, so I had 3 chances to refuel, and I got to use my super power again, with 5 minutes difference between total time and moving time, or less than 90 seconds per hour. While I'm proud of that, I also need to remember that it is like running 15 seconds per mile slower, at the speeds I would like to be going. Any stopping is not forward progress, but less stopping is better than more.

I'd been feeling a little stalled in my running progress this summer, but when I looked at some numbers for runs over 15 miles, and this weekend's run fit really well in there

Three of these dots are from Spring marathon training and three are from Ironman training, and I am super pleased to see them melding well together. Next weekend, I hope to add another point to the data set with a 16 mile run, then taper should start to actually kick in

Better than Christmas?

Biking gives you a lot of time to think, which can lead to a lot of time to stew, or grouse, or whine, or on a glorious day like Sunday can lead to a lot of time to imagine and laugh.

I present the result of a collaborative effort from Saturday's ride

10 Things of Monocacy (to the tune of 12 days of Christmas)

On a sunny summer Saturday, we went riding together, with

10 ounces of milk
9 llamas looking
8 scoops of Skratch

7-ty-plus Z'ers riding

6teen hundred calories
5 covered bridges
4 15 crossings
3 descents on Blacks Mill
2 cue sheets
and a 1 hour drive to start


I love being at a point in my training where an 80 miler on a nice day can be so achievable that it leaves energy for creativity like this.

Nutrition practice

The long rides have been a great chance for me to practice and refine my nutrition plan and my method of displaying and remembering the plan.

From working with a nutritionist, I aim for 60-90 grams of carb per hour of exercise (after the first hour, since I can coast off breakfast for a while). Usually I aim for the low side end and feel fine. I also have an awesome stomach that will eat anything, and only got sort of cranky at me when I drank 20 oz of improperly diluted Gatorade Endurance during a hot ride (like possibly not diluted at all when it was supposed to be 1 part concentrate to 5 parts water).

So, for example, this was my plan for a ride that should take between 5-6 hours

The section on the left in the black box is what I taped to my handlebars. For each hour (row), at each 15 minute increment (column) what am I planning to eat?

I always plan to take a drink every 15 minute interval. For this ride, I started with two half-strength bottles since it was going to be hotter and I wanted to get more liquid in me, so my first two hours have 80 calories of Skratch.

Then I started eating 1 gu per hour and half a bar on the half hour. This ended up calculating to be at the high side of my nutrition goals, but it was a long ride early in the season, and I didn't want to feel hungry and I was just starting to work out my plan.

The plan has been refined, and a recent Gran Fondo gave me a chance to try out my IM plan, which hopefully will not also feature poorly diluted Gatorade Endurance

I used the aid stations to refill liquids, filling up with Gatorade Endurance once I had emptied a Skratch bottle, and then mixing two bottles of Skratch up about half way through the day.

Since that early ride, I've learned that I can delay starting the bars until I've finished two hours of riding without feeling hungry or tired later. This is nice because it gives me something to start looking forward to when the day gets longer without getting sick of the snacks early.

For that particular Gran Fondo, I was excited to substitute an Oatmeal Creme Pie for one of my packed bars, even though it meant carrying the bar around with me all day long :)

Looking forward to Ironman, I think I'm going to go with a plan remarkably similar to this, with two refill Skratch bottles waiting for me in special needs, and one Gatorade Endurance bottle from an aid station in each half of the ride.

If it's a hotter day, I'll drink water in between these calorie drinks, but I'm not a heavy sweater and don't get super thirsty, so I don't expect that to be a significant factor in the day.


For my longest training bike ride, it will have three loops and one thing I've discovered is that I love Gu's even more when they are cold, so I'll be mixing up the order of bars and Gu's to make it so I can eat two fresh-from-the-cooler Gu's when I come back around to refuel in the middle of the ride. :)

I also predict that there will be team mates with snacks out on the course, especially for the third loop, so I might replace the Gu or bar calories with surprise snacks -- maybe Cheetos!

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!