Filed under: bike fit, training update | Tags: bike course preview, bike fit, lake stevens 70.3, mock tri, peak phase, T1, T2
Monday – off as usual
Tuesday – 2×14:00 @ threshold intensity + 10:00 active recovery (1:15:00) on trainer (rain)
Wednesday – am swim (2500yds) & noon run (1×22:00 @ VO2m (42:00))
Thursday – early morning 2hr moderate bike & evening 2k open water swim
Friday – moderate run 65mins (9:15/mi pace!)
Saturday – mock triathlon, sprint distance (800m, 20k, 5k) (skipped scheduled long run)
Sunday – Lake Stevens 70.3 course preview ride (58mi)
Training volume has been pretty consistent, and I’m feeling pretty healthy. My knee is a little twingey on the bike, but I think it’s fixable based on the adjustments made during my recent bike fit. Here’s the graph of my recent training volume.
Mock tri notes:
Somehow I’ve managed to schedule myself out of all the weekends where there are local races, so I had to, at least, hit my tri club’s season-starter mock tri. My goals were to make sure I had all my gear and that my transitions were smooth and concise. I didn’t want to hurt myself by going too hard, but I’ve never raced a sprint so I wanted to see how I would do. Also, I have a bunch of friends who’ve been training all winter, and I wanted to see how I stack up. I can’t help myself that way! We had a great turnout, almost 100 people racing!
So, of course the best way to start is no warmup![sarcasm] I waited a bit at the start of the swim, and let some folks clear the beach, and then I waded in. I wanted to not feel rushed by others pushing from behind. I started my watch on my own start. The swim was a triangle setup (+/-75yds, then 300, then 325 back to the beach). The water was a little chilly, but not bone-jarring-shivery chilly. I probably should have just started with the group because soon I was swimming over some folks as politely as I could (it was unavoidable in the density of people approaching our first “buoy” (a kayaker)). I was swimming polo style until I turned onto the second leg. Contact lessened as we spread out. I felt like my sighting was fairly good, and I didn’t stray too much. I started to hit a rhythm around 400yds. The second “buoy” came up and before I knew it I was headed back to the beach. I pulled down the neck and got a little water in the top of my wetsuit, and it rolled off very easily. It looked like I was in the top quarter coming out of the water. T1 was a challenge because I chose not to sit down. My lack of sea-legs made me almost fall over trying to put my shoes on. I didn’t bother with socks. So, it blew some time trying to steady myself. Lesson learned: next time, just sit down; get the shoes on; and get moving. I noticed two friends out of the corner of my eye. I was right with them exiting T1. I hopped on the bike and HAMMERED away from T1! Boy, that was fun. I think a lot of people were easing into their pace, and I blew by a whole bunch. My quads and hamstrings started to burn, of course, so I let up not wanting to pull anything. I settled into my bars and hit my pace. About then I remembered that I hadn’t hit my watch split button getting out of the water or getting on the bike. Oh well, who needs splits? I passed a few folks and only got passed by two. Not too shabby for me, still in the top quarter. T2 went a lot better. Shoes off, sat down, rolled socks on, slipped on shoes, hat on, hit watch button, and off! The run felt pretty good. This is where I expected to get passed. I actually didn’t get passed by all that many people, maybe four. Since I actually did get this split, I later discovered I ran 7:56/mile coming in at 1:22 for the full event. I can’t remember EVER running that pace for 5k! So, that was pretty gratifying. I did get caught by a friend at the end, but it was nice to go over the line together. I toyed with doing a long run later in the day but decided not to push my luck on such a nice day.
HIM course preview ride:
It’s definitely rolling hills. Everything that seems flat is at a slight pitch one way or another. But, for all the slopes, it wasn’t killer, so I left the preview ride feeling good about my prospects of getting around the course in reasonable shape. I did get down into my 34×25, but it felt smooth, not a grind. It’s definitely going to be all about protecting my running legs and not fighting to keep moving forward on the bike. There are even a couple of descents that can be bombed so that should be fun. One is fast enough that I couldn’t bring myself to stay in the aerobars. I was happy to tuck it in the drops, but staying aero was too sketchy. And it kept my hands near the brakes in case any dopey drivers decide to do something rash.
Filed under: bike fit, physical therapy, training update | Tags: 3hr bike, bike fit, build phase
Things have been going well. I’ve been getting in 90+% of my workouts over the last few unblogged weeks. The consistency has been pretty good. This week went very well with no interruptions. I’m three weeks into my “build” phase. Next week is a recovery week with a recommended sprint race on Sunday (yay!). I’ll probably have to do my own race starting at the gym.
Monday – Saw PT for continuing therapy and massage on left hip. She gave me running form tips and added to my stretching routine. Saw 2nd PT for bike fit; he recommended shorter stem, moved my arm rests back, and futzed with my cleat positions. I’ll go back to see him after I get the stem and put a few miles in this revised position.
Tuesday – 6×5:00 long hills + 3:00 active recovery (I went over to Thurman St heading up to Forest Park, and it was just the right time/distance). I got the new stem over lunch and got caught out in a hail storm for half an hour!
Wednesday – 2450 swim with 100’s, 9×75 @ VO2 & 6×50 sprint in the main set. 40:00 lunchtime run w/ 10×1:00 intervals +1:00 active recovery.
Thursday – 1:45:00 moderate ride on the trainer since weather was off.
Friday – 2450 swim with 200’s & sprint 50s in the main set. 50:00 lunchtime run w/ strides afterwards.
Saturday – 3:00:00 ride…great ride, but lost my license! I think it came out of my back pocket when I pulled out some shot blocks to eat. I went back to find it in the car, but I didn’t see it anywhere.
Sunday – 1650 time trial (1:37/100!! I’m a little leery of my lap count since the lap time is so good; although I have done 1:43/100 before so maybe I’m improving my efficiency.) 1:20:00 run this afternoon felt great; my HR was solid even though my legs felt a little heavy from yesterday. I ended up with a 9:40/mi pace (pretty good for me!). And, I FINALLY cleaned the drivetrain on my bike which has been squeaking at me for two weeks (poor bike!).
I worked out a ride with a friend to go pre-ride the course at the end of the month. That should be an eye-opener. I have yet to ride 50 mi, though I got close this weekend (48.4mi). I’m looking forward to getting over that hump soon. It scares me a little to think of the HIM distance with my level of fatigue this weekend. But there IS still 9 weeks to go. The swim feels good; the bike feels good for where it is now; the run is improving, but still scares me in the “can-I-do-it?” way. Today’s 1:20:00 was a good mental boost in the right direction.
