Did I cook myself?
Could I have done more?
Should I have done less?
Ahh the questions are starting already. The four week 'reality check' can be tough because I think more often then not we ignore symptoms even though they are staring us in the face. So, to answer question one:
Q:Did I cook myself?
A: I'm typing this after a heavy weekend. Fri: 5k swim, run 7.5k (an 'easy' day.... cough) Sat: bike 180k @IM effort, 14k run afterwards. Sun: run 26k
I don't feel cooked, I'm eating very well and slept great last night. I'm actually in a very content and happy zone, so no, I don't think I fried myself. Hopefully by the end of my taper I'll be 'strong like bull'.
Q: Could I have done more?
A: Such a fine line between doing more, absorbing it and not self destructing. The vast majority of my workouts have been at a heartrate of 142 or lower. I've been able to stack on more miles and effectively recover just due to the fact I've kept the intensity low. The whole goal for this year was just to build a bigger engine. I think too few of us think short term, how many people are willing to take an entire year or two just to build their endurance base? The odd thing is, I have gotten faster without doing any speed work. Why? 10 months ago, when I set my HR ceiling, there were many times I had to walk up a hill just so I wouldn't go over my HR cap. Now, I'm easily running sub 5min K's on long runs, with the same HR cap. The effort was the same, but yet I'm faster.
Building endurance through more time on the bike. I can't believe the difference this had made over the last 7 months. The body can absorb alot of saddle of time. If I knew just how readily it does this, I probably would have done even more on the bike, or at least threw in more bike focused weeks in.
Bottom line, I feel really good on where I'm at and I've learned much about myself over the last 10 months. So to answer the question, should I have done more? No, because I didn't know then what I know now.
Q: Should I have done less?
A: Reality check. I'm 39, can I absorb vasts amount of training like when I was 19? Doubtful. However, with acception of April (sick), I've been injury and sick free - good signs. Every 4 th week, I'd cut mileage in half or more, just to rest up. I think the strategy worked. I'm sure the odd extra day off wouldn't have hurt, but on the other hand since I don't think I fried myself, my rest strategy seems to have worked.
Saturday was an awesome day. Rich Pady organized a group ride/run to help raise money for POGO. (the charity I'm raising $$ for) A great turn out, no big egos to contend with, just a bunch tri wienies training togethor and raising some extra dough for the kids. It was a 2X 90k loop affair designed to be as hard as the IMLP bike loop or harder. My strategy was simple: first loop keep HR to 135. Second loop, keep HR below 142. Try to negative split. Nutrition: 6X bottles of Infinit and 3 Power Bars.
Result: even split, almost to the second.
Notes: It's unbelievable how ridiculasly 'easy' you have to ride the first loop in order to negative split the 2nd loop. Scary. First loop 2:51. Second loop 2:51. Total: 5:42. Add race wheels, no traffic stops etc.. my estimated bike split at IMLP should be 5:25 ish. If possible consume 1 more litre of water and 1 more power bar at LP.
After the bike, did a 14k run. Felt very good, got the running legs within 2k and found my groove, kept HR @ 140.
Notes: drink more water! How much of a difference will swimming 4k before the bike make? Mental note, swim SLOW at LP!
A quick 'Hi!' to Stu and his sexsy P2C, you may not know it, but you will do IMC again and you will rock the course. Think about it for '08, I need more training partners! :) And of course Cliff was there grinning the whole time while grinding up the hills. Isn't it funny seeing someone grinning while you know they are suffering makes your own suffering seem not so bad??!
Gotta go EAT - again!
Cheers!
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
"You got beat by a girl??"
Muskoka Race Report
"You got beat by a girl?" Actually got beat by two of them. Having the likes of Samantha McGlone or Tereza Macel 'beat' me is actually quite an honour. I often use the pro women as a bit of a bench mark for my own performance. I know when my times start to near their times, I've attained a certain level of performance. I'm just happy I'm healthy enough to even consider hanging on their heals because they can certainly lay the smack down and kick a lot of ass!
Goal: Attain an IMLP spot.
Arrival
I'm a keener. Got to the site nice and early. It takes me awhile to feel completely warmed up and I wanted a good spot in the transition area. So I arrived early enough to take the bike for a spin, go through check in procedure, lightly stretch out, go for a jog and finally do a swim warm up. I had some extra time and met up with Cliff , who was so keen on racing, he got a speeding ticket on the way to the race site! Hmm.. racing to get to a race.. ironic?
After talking to a few people the day before the race and in the transition area, I found out that quite a few were looking for Ironman spots. Silly me, not signing up the year before and leaving it to the last minute to qualify. I just find it so difficult to pay a large chunk of change to IMNA a full year before a race. Too much can happen between then and now. So I take my chances and try to qualify. Hey, sometimes life is gamble.
Swim 2k: Time: 29:06 Age group: 4/95 Overall: 41/792
I'm in the 3rd wave. Not a big fan of wave starts, I'd prefer a mass start, but the format for this race is 'chase', so we do waves. The horn blows and we're off, nice clean start. I breath left, I breath right and appear to be leading the crew in the first 200m or so. I relax and think about doing nice long strokes. I'm sighting the bouys really well and put my head down and swim 20 or 25 strokes without sighting, pop my head up and still maintaining course. All good signs. I feel like I'm swimming about a 1:24 pace. I run into a little traffic during the last half of the swim, just due to catching up the previous waves, but navigation is good and had no problems swimming around them. A little dissapointed in my 1:28/100m pace, I know swimming, and I know I was swimming faster than that!
Out of the water in 4th place in my division. I have NO idea how 3 buggers in my age group managed to pass me - totally didn't see them. We exit within 30 seconds of each other - so it's a close race.
T1: I see one of the guys that exited the water me and compliment him on his swim. I get an odd look, which in turn I find odd.
Bike 55k. Time: 1:33:29 Age group: 14/95 Overall: 76/792
I liked the bike course. I think many people would say it's 'challenging', lots of rolling hills and a few good climbs. I even came out of the saddle once or twice and rarely do that on any climb. I was keeping my effort in check during the bike, wanted to get a few calories down and just gauge my overall feel. I was a little scared that I may experience nausea as I have in the past, but I didn't! Phew! In hindsight, I should have put the hammer down more on the bike - but hindsight is 20/20, right?
Run 15k Time: 1:02 Age group 10/92. Overall: 75/792.
A very solid run for me. I'm very happy with it. I can attribute my decent run performance due to my increased bike endurance. I just got off the bike and immediately ran ~4 minute K's for the duration. I used to envy the guys who could run after the bike.. I'm slowly turning into one of those guys! The hard work is starting to pay off.
I got passed by one guy in my age group and asked him if he was going for a IM spot and he said "No". (phew) So I wasn't sure at this point, I thought I was around 4 th in my age group and after I checked the official results I was suprised that 3 more guys managed to get by me. So I finished 7th. Eep, that's enough to make me sweat on whether or not I'll get a IMLP spot!
After the awards ceremony they give out the Ironman spots. There seem to alot of people here and more than once Sally and I saw the odd tear on someone who wasn't able to qualify. My heart goes out to them, to train all those hours and not get a spot. The competition was that intense. So they call the M35-39 division and a BUNCH of us trod up to the desk. Nerve wracking. (what is it with us mid-life-crisis-guys trying to capture the athletisism of our youth??) We are talking amongst ourselves.. 'what spot are you going for?', what's your time?' etc... I know there is at least 2 spots for IMLP, but the bad news FIVE out of the 6 guys that were faster than me showed up to claim a spot! They start the procedure... 1 guys take IM Florida, the next 2 take IM Canada, the next one take IMLP! I'm next, I got the other IMLP spot! PHEW! Didn't have to wait for roll down. But there were many dissapointed guys in my category and I'm kinda bummed for them. I think the level of competition at this race kinda took everyone by suprise.
Well I didn't want this to turn into a long convuluted report but it sort of ended up that way. :)
Cheers!
"You got beat by a girl?" Actually got beat by two of them. Having the likes of Samantha McGlone or Tereza Macel 'beat' me is actually quite an honour. I often use the pro women as a bit of a bench mark for my own performance. I know when my times start to near their times, I've attained a certain level of performance. I'm just happy I'm healthy enough to even consider hanging on their heals because they can certainly lay the smack down and kick a lot of ass!
Goal: Attain an IMLP spot.
Arrival
I'm a keener. Got to the site nice and early. It takes me awhile to feel completely warmed up and I wanted a good spot in the transition area. So I arrived early enough to take the bike for a spin, go through check in procedure, lightly stretch out, go for a jog and finally do a swim warm up. I had some extra time and met up with Cliff , who was so keen on racing, he got a speeding ticket on the way to the race site! Hmm.. racing to get to a race.. ironic?
After talking to a few people the day before the race and in the transition area, I found out that quite a few were looking for Ironman spots. Silly me, not signing up the year before and leaving it to the last minute to qualify. I just find it so difficult to pay a large chunk of change to IMNA a full year before a race. Too much can happen between then and now. So I take my chances and try to qualify. Hey, sometimes life is gamble.
Swim 2k: Time: 29:06 Age group: 4/95 Overall: 41/792
I'm in the 3rd wave. Not a big fan of wave starts, I'd prefer a mass start, but the format for this race is 'chase', so we do waves. The horn blows and we're off, nice clean start. I breath left, I breath right and appear to be leading the crew in the first 200m or so. I relax and think about doing nice long strokes. I'm sighting the bouys really well and put my head down and swim 20 or 25 strokes without sighting, pop my head up and still maintaining course. All good signs. I feel like I'm swimming about a 1:24 pace. I run into a little traffic during the last half of the swim, just due to catching up the previous waves, but navigation is good and had no problems swimming around them. A little dissapointed in my 1:28/100m pace, I know swimming, and I know I was swimming faster than that!
Out of the water in 4th place in my division. I have NO idea how 3 buggers in my age group managed to pass me - totally didn't see them. We exit within 30 seconds of each other - so it's a close race.
T1: I see one of the guys that exited the water me and compliment him on his swim. I get an odd look, which in turn I find odd.
Bike 55k. Time: 1:33:29 Age group: 14/95 Overall: 76/792
I liked the bike course. I think many people would say it's 'challenging', lots of rolling hills and a few good climbs. I even came out of the saddle once or twice and rarely do that on any climb. I was keeping my effort in check during the bike, wanted to get a few calories down and just gauge my overall feel. I was a little scared that I may experience nausea as I have in the past, but I didn't! Phew! In hindsight, I should have put the hammer down more on the bike - but hindsight is 20/20, right?
Run 15k Time: 1:02 Age group 10/92. Overall: 75/792.
A very solid run for me. I'm very happy with it. I can attribute my decent run performance due to my increased bike endurance. I just got off the bike and immediately ran ~4 minute K's for the duration. I used to envy the guys who could run after the bike.. I'm slowly turning into one of those guys! The hard work is starting to pay off.
I got passed by one guy in my age group and asked him if he was going for a IM spot and he said "No". (phew) So I wasn't sure at this point, I thought I was around 4 th in my age group and after I checked the official results I was suprised that 3 more guys managed to get by me. So I finished 7th. Eep, that's enough to make me sweat on whether or not I'll get a IMLP spot!
After the awards ceremony they give out the Ironman spots. There seem to alot of people here and more than once Sally and I saw the odd tear on someone who wasn't able to qualify. My heart goes out to them, to train all those hours and not get a spot. The competition was that intense. So they call the M35-39 division and a BUNCH of us trod up to the desk. Nerve wracking. (what is it with us mid-life-crisis-guys trying to capture the athletisism of our youth??) We are talking amongst ourselves.. 'what spot are you going for?', what's your time?' etc... I know there is at least 2 spots for IMLP, but the bad news FIVE out of the 6 guys that were faster than me showed up to claim a spot! They start the procedure... 1 guys take IM Florida, the next 2 take IM Canada, the next one take IMLP! I'm next, I got the other IMLP spot! PHEW! Didn't have to wait for roll down. But there were many dissapointed guys in my category and I'm kinda bummed for them. I think the level of competition at this race kinda took everyone by suprise.
Well I didn't want this to turn into a long convuluted report but it sort of ended up that way. :)
Cheers!
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Scared?
Nah, not really. More like 'healthy nervous'. Why? Racing this weekend and it's been much too long since I've last raced. I'm ready. I'm fitter. (fitter?). I'm faster (hopefully). I'm excited. I'm nervous. I'm a little more experienced and I'm really looking forward to 'test' myself.
Everynight before I goto sleep, I take the opportunity to focus on breathing and goto my 'happy place'. It's a meditation ritual that usually sets up my sleep rather well. Waaaay back when I swam seriously, I used this time of 'twilight sleep' to visualize my swim technique. It was almost like having a DVD of proper swim technique, I'd put it on slow motion and visualize exactly how I wanted to swim. Program the mind and the technique and more importantly the muscle memory will follow. Hey, it worked for me then, so now I still do it. Only this time I'm running over race strategy, transitions etc... you know.. tri stuff.
Last week's numbers:
Swim: 10k
Bike: 425K
Run: 67K
Pretty much exactly what I wanted. The highlight was the weekend, Sat: an open water swim! (3.3k), a 140K bike followed by a 12.5k run. I felt awesome. Capped it off with a long run of 30k on Sun.
This is an easy week. I have Mon, Wed and Fri scheduled as easy days, Saturday is travel and chill with Sally day. Sunday.. it's off to the races!
Everynight before I goto sleep, I take the opportunity to focus on breathing and goto my 'happy place'. It's a meditation ritual that usually sets up my sleep rather well. Waaaay back when I swam seriously, I used this time of 'twilight sleep' to visualize my swim technique. It was almost like having a DVD of proper swim technique, I'd put it on slow motion and visualize exactly how I wanted to swim. Program the mind and the technique and more importantly the muscle memory will follow. Hey, it worked for me then, so now I still do it. Only this time I'm running over race strategy, transitions etc... you know.. tri stuff.
Last week's numbers:
Swim: 10k
Bike: 425K
Run: 67K
Pretty much exactly what I wanted. The highlight was the weekend, Sat: an open water swim! (3.3k), a 140K bike followed by a 12.5k run. I felt awesome. Capped it off with a long run of 30k on Sun.
This is an easy week. I have Mon, Wed and Fri scheduled as easy days, Saturday is travel and chill with Sally day. Sunday.. it's off to the races!
Saturday, June 09, 2007
The economy... of movement.
Odd, a Saturday blog update. I haven't had the urge to update lately, but tonight I just felt like writing - so here I am. Now the question is what to write about? Lately, my blog has pretty much degenerated to mileage totals etc.. blah blah blah. The main reason is due to lack of time. As regulars know, I try to take training as serious as I can at any given moment, so alot of stuff gets put on the back burner. Can't update, must get to bed. When I focus on training, I train. I use up all my SAPs (spousal approval points) and focus on the task at hand. That means no TV, little internet and I'm usually too tired to read more than a page of my book before off goes the lights. What's even wierder is that I love doing it.
Part of me wonders just how narcissictic a blog is. I guess there is component of that which is bothersome. There is time a factor, I mean I just spent 15 minutes writing a paragraph and half! Even though I don't have many readers, I still feel compelled to update. So why do it? I guess it's sort of like opening a door, take a peak inside and if you like what you see, hang out with me, if not, move along, there's nothing to see here.
So, I was the pool the other day and someome says "how do you make it look so easy?" A simple question that demands a long answer. The easy answer is "practice", which is absolutely true, but it's much more than that. It's about econonmy of movement, being relaxed, thinking about technique, being fluid, looking 'effortless' and of course practice. I'm always thinking of that whenever I swim, bike or run. I'll try to emulate a pro that makes it look 'easy', I'll visualize what he/she does and start to incorporate it into my own technique. When I run, I always try to be fluid, strong, have quick feet, rythmic breathing, good posture, relaxed shoulders, loose fingers etc.. Eventually it becomes habit. Soon everything will 'gel' and you may get that feeling once. Remember it. You'll get it again. Soon enough it will be habit and now you're in the 'zone'. Embrace the zone because that's when the shit really starts to get interesting.
Well it's past my bedtime, so I must be off. Cheers!
Part of me wonders just how narcissictic a blog is. I guess there is component of that which is bothersome. There is time a factor, I mean I just spent 15 minutes writing a paragraph and half! Even though I don't have many readers, I still feel compelled to update. So why do it? I guess it's sort of like opening a door, take a peak inside and if you like what you see, hang out with me, if not, move along, there's nothing to see here.
So, I was the pool the other day and someome says "how do you make it look so easy?" A simple question that demands a long answer. The easy answer is "practice", which is absolutely true, but it's much more than that. It's about econonmy of movement, being relaxed, thinking about technique, being fluid, looking 'effortless' and of course practice. I'm always thinking of that whenever I swim, bike or run. I'll try to emulate a pro that makes it look 'easy', I'll visualize what he/she does and start to incorporate it into my own technique. When I run, I always try to be fluid, strong, have quick feet, rythmic breathing, good posture, relaxed shoulders, loose fingers etc.. Eventually it becomes habit. Soon everything will 'gel' and you may get that feeling once. Remember it. You'll get it again. Soon enough it will be habit and now you're in the 'zone'. Embrace the zone because that's when the shit really starts to get interesting.
Well it's past my bedtime, so I must be off. Cheers!
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Anatomy of a 'big' week, monthly totals etc..
Just finished a big week of training. I was on vacation and decided to make training the number one priority. Tried to train like a pro, ok well maybe a pro's easy week. :) Here's the low down:
Monday (easy day): swim 3k (a.m.) run 7.5k trails. (p.m.)
Tuesday: bike 129k, run 7.5k trails. (brick)
Wed: bike 108k, run 10k road. (brick)
Thur: swim 4.8k (a.m.) bike 90k (computrainer)
Fri: swim 2.7k (a.m.) run 10.5k (noon), bike 30k(p.m.) on computrainer. (recovery ride)
Sat: bike 208k (!)
Sun: run 30k
Totals for the week: swim 10.5k, bike: 565k run: 65.5k. Exceded all goals for each sport - good stuff. Things to consider when doing a 30 hour training week:
1) Sleep. I made sure to get to bed early and every night I was logging 8.5 to 10 hours of sleep. If I felt I needed a nap midday, I took one.
2) Nutrition. Had to be hyper aware of getting good quality food into me. Between getting lots of zzzz's and eating well, I was able to recover effectively.
3) Massage. Paying attention to the IT bands and the quads. After every leg workout, I'd message my quads for 5 min. I also felt this made a difference in my recovery.
4) Stretch. 20-25min of stretching after every workout.
Highpoints: I'm swimming faster than I should be. Not sure why as swimming is my best sport and hence trained the least - but I'll take it! Mileage PR on the bike. I'm a firm believer in logging lots of miles on the bike as this is a very effective way of increasing overall endurance. Met up with Cliff on Saturday, he was doing '3rd line climb' hill repeats. Hard man stuff. So a salute goes out to him. Lastly, after a tough week, today's 30k run felt good. Hey anytime a 30k run feels good, it's a highlight.
So in the end, my attempt to train like a pro for a week was a success. I enjoyed every minute of it and suprisingly, don't feel beat up at all. Back to work and the real world tomorrow.
Totals for the month of May:
swim: 36.9k
bike: 1706k
run: 237.5k
The goal for the month was to log bike K's and 1700k is a mileage PR. Not bad in the run department either, alot of short runs (7-8k) does start to add up over time. The other bonus for May was my half marry PR.. so yea, May was a good month. Cheers!
Monday (easy day): swim 3k (a.m.) run 7.5k trails. (p.m.)
Tuesday: bike 129k, run 7.5k trails. (brick)
Wed: bike 108k, run 10k road. (brick)
Thur: swim 4.8k (a.m.) bike 90k (computrainer)
Fri: swim 2.7k (a.m.) run 10.5k (noon), bike 30k(p.m.) on computrainer. (recovery ride)
Sat: bike 208k (!)
Sun: run 30k
Totals for the week: swim 10.5k, bike: 565k run: 65.5k. Exceded all goals for each sport - good stuff. Things to consider when doing a 30 hour training week:
1) Sleep. I made sure to get to bed early and every night I was logging 8.5 to 10 hours of sleep. If I felt I needed a nap midday, I took one.
2) Nutrition. Had to be hyper aware of getting good quality food into me. Between getting lots of zzzz's and eating well, I was able to recover effectively.
3) Massage. Paying attention to the IT bands and the quads. After every leg workout, I'd message my quads for 5 min. I also felt this made a difference in my recovery.
4) Stretch. 20-25min of stretching after every workout.
Highpoints: I'm swimming faster than I should be. Not sure why as swimming is my best sport and hence trained the least - but I'll take it! Mileage PR on the bike. I'm a firm believer in logging lots of miles on the bike as this is a very effective way of increasing overall endurance. Met up with Cliff on Saturday, he was doing '3rd line climb' hill repeats. Hard man stuff. So a salute goes out to him. Lastly, after a tough week, today's 30k run felt good. Hey anytime a 30k run feels good, it's a highlight.
So in the end, my attempt to train like a pro for a week was a success. I enjoyed every minute of it and suprisingly, don't feel beat up at all. Back to work and the real world tomorrow.
Totals for the month of May:
swim: 36.9k
bike: 1706k
run: 237.5k
The goal for the month was to log bike K's and 1700k is a mileage PR. Not bad in the run department either, alot of short runs (7-8k) does start to add up over time. The other bonus for May was my half marry PR.. so yea, May was a good month. Cheers!
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