Panama City Beach - November 7, 2009
I’m not sure why, but I’ve always made a habit of getting to transition early before races. I think Trevor suggested I do it during my first race, and even though since then I’ve realized I always end up just hanging around for an hour and a half with nothing to do, I do it anyway. The Ironman was even worse, since you bring over your transition bags (essentially plastic bags where you put everything you’ll need to get from swim to bike and bike to run) and your bike the night before. So it’s basically just show up with your wetsuit and get in the water.
But I got there at 5:15 anyway for the 7 a.m. start. I wandered around transition for a while, took my Sudafed, took my Lipodrene with about half an hour to go as the sun came up, and took in the scene. It really was quite amazing. They make all the athletes get in this giant holding pen on the beach, and from there you can go warm up in the Gulf. Looking back from the water, the beach was full of spectators, and people were out on their condo balconies to watch the swim start. I have honestly never participated in anything that this may people had watched. The pros went off at 6:50, then it was the other 2700 peoples’ turn.
Swim - 2.4 Miles
If you’ve never seen the swim start to an Ironman, it really is one of the great spectacles in sports. Nearly 3000 people all getting in the water at the same time, all headed in the same direction. Knowing I was one of the larger competitors, I thought I’d use this to my advantage. I put myself in the front of the middle, since that is about how I figure I swim in relation to everyone else, and then just dove in. You can run in the water for probably the first 100 yards since tide is low in the morning, but once I jumped in, it was war time.
Basically, anyone I saw in front of me I just tried to swim through if they were slower. Everyone. It was just this mass of people everywhere you went, and it was every potential Ironman for him or herself. So you just beat people up. And in the water you can’t differentiate between guys and girls, so, yeah, I was probably hitting a few girls as I went by. Just swimming like I play basketball: bruising. Not to say I didn’t get my shares of elbows to the nose and kicks to the face, but I’m fairly sure I gave a lot more than I got. But even if people get pissed, what are they gonna say? “Hey ref, this guy in a wetsuit and a red cap pushed me out of the way.” Yeah, that narrows it down.
I kept a good pace, swam straight, and about ¾ of the way to the first buoy it stopped feeling hard. It was just like stroke, stroke, kick someone in the face, stroke. And look at the throngs of jellyfish under me and pray I didn’t get stung.(My mother would have been very worries). Ended up doing the first 1.2 miles in just over 37 minutes. So faster than I’d expected.
I took some water and hit loop 2, still in throngs of people. I did notice I was going from pack to pack, meaning it seemed to me I was passing a good number of people. But it’s hard to tell in the water. As I slowed and looked up to site myself at the turn at the first buoy, I hear this female voice say “Hey man, you’re being kind of aggressive.” It made me smile. Yeah, ok, I was shoving girls out of the way, but if you wanna swim with the boys, you gotta play rough.
The rest of the swim was rather uneventful, though I felt like I was definitely passing more people than I was passed by. Ended up doing it in 1:17, 3 minutes faster than expected, but not far off.
T1 – Swim to Bike – 9:18
I ran out of the water and got my wetsuit stripped by a “peeler” (they can’t call them “Strippers” anymore, apparently) and sort of jogged barefoot over the concrete into the changing “tent.” A volunteer handed me my swim to bike transition bag, and I ran through this hotel ballroom to a partitioned off section for the men. It was very strange, like this makeshift locker room with plastic chairs, with Gatorade bottles and Clif bar wrappers and all; this shit all over the places. And dudes just walking around naked, putting anti-chafe butter and sunscreen on. It was very odd. Anyway, I took my time in there, put on all my gear, and ran out in my bike shoes to the bike. It’s very nice at the Ironman, too, they bring you your bike, even though you end up running like 150 yards from the “tent” to the start. But whatever. One down, two to go.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
IRONMAN FLORIDA - Drafting, Cheating Fucks - Bike
BIKE – 112 miles
2 Lipodrene
3 Advil
I had remembered my training ride on this course, and how I’d sort of nuked my village on it by going to hard at the beginning. Similarly, every piece of advice I read on biking this course told me to avoid the temptation to fly on the bike early, so I decided to pace it a little.
By this, of course, I mean passing pretty much everyone I saw in the first 22 miles. I didn’t have the wind at my back like I did on the training ride, so I was doing a reasonable 22-24. But the funnest part was passing all these people on $5000 bikes with ease. I didn’t feel like I was pushing it either, like my quads felt fine. I was also encouraged that there wasn’t much of a tailwind, meaning I wouldn’t suffer on the way back like I had a month before. Then I hit the turn at mile 22.
The wind was blowing hard in my face, so much so that after about 5 miles, my back started to kill me. This is what happens to me in wind since it requires me to pedal so hard. Well, I went from cruising at 22 to struggling to get up to 20. I spent a good amount of time going about 14-16, as I knew this course was too long to expend too much energy fighting the wind. It didn’t help matters that my bike is not nearly as aerodynamic as the aforementioned $5000 bikes, and neither am I. I don’t have an aero helmet, and my shoulders are pretty fucking wide. Like a road grader going into the wind. Really not fun.
To make matters worse, all those people I’d passed had decided to form draft packs to combat the wind. Is that illegal in Ironman competition? Of course it is. And I wasn’t about to do It either, since I do have some integrity (I also don’t really know how to draft, but even if I did I wouldn’t. I don’t like cheating). But as struggled to combat the relentless wind, hundreds of people were passing me in scores of mini pelotons. I just kept looking over at them and thinking “You drafting, cheating fucks. How dare you.”
A little before mile 50, which marked the end of the windy section, we got access to our “Special Needs Bags,” which was basically a bag with any shit you might want halfway through the bike that you couldn’t pack. I threw in some Oreos, some gels, a Clif bar, and of course lots of Lipodrene and Advil and Salt tabs. I had been keeping to my one Lipodrene every 25 miles plan, even struggling to open the Ziploc bag while riding. But I took this opportunity to get out of the saddle for a minute and relax my back. It needed it. I was probably there a little over a minute before I pressed on.
About a mile later, we turned back south onto 231. But this time, there was no brutal headwind. Not only that, but it was a lot cooler than it had been a month earlier, and we got water every ten miles. It’s amazing the difference not being dehydrated makes on a ride like this. I was able to drop into aero on this stretch and do a solid 20-22 until the turn onto the real Camp Flowers Road. No dirt for me this time.
While I knew I was biking well, I also knew that the drafting cheating fucks were far enough ahead of me that I probably wasn’t going to catch them. Going back West II had the wind at my back,, and was able to go a solid 21-24 for most of that stretch, until the 7-mile down and back on perhaps the bumpiest road in Bay County. At the end, there was an aid station where I stopped to relieve myself, and again stretch out my back. It came at about mile 75, which seemed like a good time to take a break and another Lipodrene. So I used the bathroom, took my pill and had the rest of my Oreos, and pressed on for the final 38 miles. Just a trip down Hawthorne and back.
I kept expecting to slow down, but I just didn’t. We hit one stretch of about 18 miles from mile 82-100 that was not only closed off, but repaved like the week before. And a tailwind. It was like riding on silk. Just amazing biking, and I don’t think I dropped below 22 the whole time. Though I was happy to get to mile 100, I was sad to see that road go. But as I was on it, I realized that I had it. Like the 5+ hours I’d been on the bike had flown, I’d gone faster than I thought I would, and I was almost 2/3 done with the Ironman. I started to get a little sad, actually. Like this day was what my entire life had been about for the past six months, and it was almost over. I was happy with my performance, but I had under an hour left on the bike, then just a run to suffer through and then what? When I started thinking this, it was the only time I really slowed on that section. Then I told myself I could think about that shit at the finish line.
So I hit the Front Beach road, which is like the last 7 miles, and of course the wind is just brutal. I wasn’t overly concerned as I knew I was gonna average over 19 for the ride, so I just fought it a little and did about 16-18 on the way back. Then, at about mile 108, I got the worst gas pains of my life. Like it felt like a giant bubble was about to explode in my intestines. And it was funny, since Klueber had just asked me about the acceptability of shitting one’s pants during the bike section. I had decided I didn’t want to do that, and just gritted it out, promising myself I could demolish a toilet in transition when I got there. Of course, by the time I rolled up to the dismount line, the gas was gone. My dad and Trevor took some pictures as I got off the bike, I waved at them, and slapped Professor Limon, who works in my department, a high five as I went back into transition. Made the bike in 5:55, again slightly faster than expected. I was pleased.
T2 – Bike to Run – 8:45
Now that I was familiar with the layout of the transition, I found my way much easier. Of course, I was also a little more tired. So this time, I just walked it. Sat down, put on my black shirt. Took my time putting my stuff away. I think the volunteers in there were a bit confused, since this kid started laying out my gear for me. I was like “Thanks, but I got it.” He helped me out anyway, which was nice. I had a Vitamin water, took two more Lipodrene, a couple Advil, a gel and a salt tabs, and headed out for the run. I was right at 7:30 when I got onto the course. Breaking 13 hours was definitely an attainable goal.
2 Lipodrene
3 Advil
I had remembered my training ride on this course, and how I’d sort of nuked my village on it by going to hard at the beginning. Similarly, every piece of advice I read on biking this course told me to avoid the temptation to fly on the bike early, so I decided to pace it a little.
By this, of course, I mean passing pretty much everyone I saw in the first 22 miles. I didn’t have the wind at my back like I did on the training ride, so I was doing a reasonable 22-24. But the funnest part was passing all these people on $5000 bikes with ease. I didn’t feel like I was pushing it either, like my quads felt fine. I was also encouraged that there wasn’t much of a tailwind, meaning I wouldn’t suffer on the way back like I had a month before. Then I hit the turn at mile 22.
The wind was blowing hard in my face, so much so that after about 5 miles, my back started to kill me. This is what happens to me in wind since it requires me to pedal so hard. Well, I went from cruising at 22 to struggling to get up to 20. I spent a good amount of time going about 14-16, as I knew this course was too long to expend too much energy fighting the wind. It didn’t help matters that my bike is not nearly as aerodynamic as the aforementioned $5000 bikes, and neither am I. I don’t have an aero helmet, and my shoulders are pretty fucking wide. Like a road grader going into the wind. Really not fun.
To make matters worse, all those people I’d passed had decided to form draft packs to combat the wind. Is that illegal in Ironman competition? Of course it is. And I wasn’t about to do It either, since I do have some integrity (I also don’t really know how to draft, but even if I did I wouldn’t. I don’t like cheating). But as struggled to combat the relentless wind, hundreds of people were passing me in scores of mini pelotons. I just kept looking over at them and thinking “You drafting, cheating fucks. How dare you.”
A little before mile 50, which marked the end of the windy section, we got access to our “Special Needs Bags,” which was basically a bag with any shit you might want halfway through the bike that you couldn’t pack. I threw in some Oreos, some gels, a Clif bar, and of course lots of Lipodrene and Advil and Salt tabs. I had been keeping to my one Lipodrene every 25 miles plan, even struggling to open the Ziploc bag while riding. But I took this opportunity to get out of the saddle for a minute and relax my back. It needed it. I was probably there a little over a minute before I pressed on.
About a mile later, we turned back south onto 231. But this time, there was no brutal headwind. Not only that, but it was a lot cooler than it had been a month earlier, and we got water every ten miles. It’s amazing the difference not being dehydrated makes on a ride like this. I was able to drop into aero on this stretch and do a solid 20-22 until the turn onto the real Camp Flowers Road. No dirt for me this time.
While I knew I was biking well, I also knew that the drafting cheating fucks were far enough ahead of me that I probably wasn’t going to catch them. Going back West II had the wind at my back,, and was able to go a solid 21-24 for most of that stretch, until the 7-mile down and back on perhaps the bumpiest road in Bay County. At the end, there was an aid station where I stopped to relieve myself, and again stretch out my back. It came at about mile 75, which seemed like a good time to take a break and another Lipodrene. So I used the bathroom, took my pill and had the rest of my Oreos, and pressed on for the final 38 miles. Just a trip down Hawthorne and back.
I kept expecting to slow down, but I just didn’t. We hit one stretch of about 18 miles from mile 82-100 that was not only closed off, but repaved like the week before. And a tailwind. It was like riding on silk. Just amazing biking, and I don’t think I dropped below 22 the whole time. Though I was happy to get to mile 100, I was sad to see that road go. But as I was on it, I realized that I had it. Like the 5+ hours I’d been on the bike had flown, I’d gone faster than I thought I would, and I was almost 2/3 done with the Ironman. I started to get a little sad, actually. Like this day was what my entire life had been about for the past six months, and it was almost over. I was happy with my performance, but I had under an hour left on the bike, then just a run to suffer through and then what? When I started thinking this, it was the only time I really slowed on that section. Then I told myself I could think about that shit at the finish line.
So I hit the Front Beach road, which is like the last 7 miles, and of course the wind is just brutal. I wasn’t overly concerned as I knew I was gonna average over 19 for the ride, so I just fought it a little and did about 16-18 on the way back. Then, at about mile 108, I got the worst gas pains of my life. Like it felt like a giant bubble was about to explode in my intestines. And it was funny, since Klueber had just asked me about the acceptability of shitting one’s pants during the bike section. I had decided I didn’t want to do that, and just gritted it out, promising myself I could demolish a toilet in transition when I got there. Of course, by the time I rolled up to the dismount line, the gas was gone. My dad and Trevor took some pictures as I got off the bike, I waved at them, and slapped Professor Limon, who works in my department, a high five as I went back into transition. Made the bike in 5:55, again slightly faster than expected. I was pleased.
T2 – Bike to Run – 8:45
Now that I was familiar with the layout of the transition, I found my way much easier. Of course, I was also a little more tired. So this time, I just walked it. Sat down, put on my black shirt. Took my time putting my stuff away. I think the volunteers in there were a bit confused, since this kid started laying out my gear for me. I was like “Thanks, but I got it.” He helped me out anyway, which was nice. I had a Vitamin water, took two more Lipodrene, a couple Advil, a gel and a salt tabs, and headed out for the run. I was right at 7:30 when I got onto the course. Breaking 13 hours was definitely an attainable goal.
IRONMAN FLORIDA - The Easiest Thing You'll Ever Do - Run
RUN - 26.2 Miles
As I headed to the first turnaround for the run (about ¼ mile from the start) I saw Trevor and my dad once again taking pictures. Trevor yells at me “Easiest thing you’ll ever do!” I’m not sure if this was sarcasm or not. I mean, yeah, a marathon following everything else isn’t easy, but it’s also like, yeah, this is it and I’m an Ironman. So really, it’s not THAT hard. And the first mile, that’s exactly how I felt.
Then the gas came back. And worse this time. I suppose deluging your guy with pain killers, energy boosters, heavily processed gels and snack bars and sugar drinks may not be the BEST thing for your digestive track. So I suffered my way to the first aid station a little past mile 2, and decided I’d take as long as I needed to make the gas go away. Outhouses on a sunny day aren’t the funnest places to be. You tend to sweat a little, Throw in that I’d just biked 112 miles and run about 2, and had put massive amounts of thermogenics in my body, and I was sweating a little bit. Or a lot. I was probably in the outhouse close to ten minutes, listening to pretty much everyone I’d passed on the bike run by, with kids yelling “Water! Gatorade! Gels! Pretzels!” I thought to myself ‘If this persists, this run is gonna be the most miserable 6 hours of my life.”
I got done, pounded about 5 cups of Gatorade to rehydrate myself, and got back on the run course. I made it about another mile before the gas came back. Just as bad. I actually ran past the aid station about 100 yards, then realized I wasn’t going to make it another mile, turned around, and ran back to the porta-john. Another 8 minutes in that one, and I felt like I was done. But I told myself no more pills (those salt tabs are packed with magnesium too. Probably not the best either), no more Gatorade, and no food for a while. Just water.
This seemed to work s after that the gas was gone. Apparently my first 6 miles, though, I averaged 13 minute miles. I guess that’s what happened when you spend 15 minutes in the shitter. But had I not done that, it woulda been a much longer day.
The run course was pretty nice, starting on the beach and winding through some residential areas of Panama City Beach, before ending with a loop around St. Andrew’s State Park and then heading back the same way. Every mile had an aid station with all kinds of stuff, like cookies, grapes, water, Gatorade, pretzels, gels, power bars. I guess we really got our $500 worth, ya know? A lot were themed, like one was “That 70s Station” with people in afro wigs and 70s music playing. One was MASH themes, with the theme from the show playing and everyone dressed in army fatigues from the 1950s. I yelled at one volunteer as I went by “Man, you must be getting REAL tired of that song.” “Ugh,” he responded, “you have no idea.” I told him I’d trade him, which he didn’t take me up on. I think my favorite aid station, though, was the one with the unintentional theme of “Bad Part of Town” Like it was across the street from a ship-freight loading dock with some empty, run-down industrial buildings around it and some small houses with overgrown lawn. Oh, and the staff manning the station was a little, um, ethnic? Needless to say, there was nobody at this aid station the second time I got to it. It was dark. Nobody’s hanging around there after the sun goes down.
As I ran back from my first loop of the course, Trevor caught me on his bike, and I gave him my souvenir order. Then Justin, whose dad was doing the race, caught me on his bike and interviewed me on video. That was all kinda fun. Trevor even gave me my split for the first 6 miles, which, as I said, was awful. The urn back to the finish line/turnaround went right by the condo, so again my dad and Trevor were out there with cameras. I later learned they’d also been drinking pretty solid from the time Trevor left me on his bike until then. Or about an hour and a half. That section of the run was motivating, though, as it was lined with people heading out beer and playing music. Panama City, like everyone who lives there comes out for this race, so the streets were just lined with partiers.
I hit the turnaround and saw the finish line. For some reason, the MIley Cyrus song “I Can’t Wait to See You Again,” then proceeded to be stuck in my head for the next hour. But it was true. I saw the bright lights and heard the crowd and the announcer, and the adrenaline started going. Even though I had 13.1 miles to go. But fuck it. All I had was 13.1 miles to go. And it was all over. I got my special needs bag, changed into my 1st Battalion Drill Instructor PT shirt from boot camp, and headed out for the home stretch.
Trevor decided to run the beer mile with me, which was fun. He even gave me a Michelob Ultra to chug, which I did. It made me feel slightly better, actually. Got some good pics of me running backward, gave me some advice that I don’t remember, then it was all me for the next 2 and a half hours. My quads were hurting, it was dark, it was cold, but I felt fine.
When I got to the park, I was running in complete darkness for a couple of miles. This really allows you to focus on your running and actually made it easier. But at about mile 20, I was walking and stopping briefly at every aid station. I needed it, my legs were dying. At every one, though, I just said “Ok body. Look. You give me 6.2 more miles, and you can take the rest of the year off.” My body liked that deal, and kept going. Getting out of the park (which featured a giant digital message board where people could send messages to encourage the athletes, mine saying “Run, fat man, run!”) it felt like the home stretch. But it was easily the hardest part for me.
I just wanted to bet to the beer section. That I knew I could just breeze through like nothing. But the 4 miles through the residential areas was boring and tedious and I just wanted to get done. This was the only time in the race I started getting cranky and irritated. When the fuck was I getting out of there?!
But I finally did. I hit beer mile, and the crowd starting doing the Tomahawk Chop for some guy in an FSU jersey. It made me wish, for the only time in my life, I’d gone to Florida State. That shit had to be motivating. Of course, the guy stopped and walked, so maybe not. Then a guy with a megaphone gets in the middle of the road and yells at me “Hey, this guy wants a BEER!” I said “Fuck Yeah, I want a beer!” And his group went nuts. They handed me a beer, I chugged it (it was like a Dixie cup of beer, not a whole can) and I kept on. I saw the lights of the finish line. I could hear the crowd and the announcer. Another 5 minutes, and I was an Ironman. I heard some lady yell “12;50!” as I ran by my condo, so breaking 13 seemed pretty certain.
As I headed down the final stretch, I somehow missed that there was a short turnaround I had to do before I could turn into the finishing chute. I mean, it was like maybe 20 yards, but some volunteer had to steer me back to it. Just as I got steered back, Trevor runs up to me with a plate and a slice of pizza.
“This is your finish line pizza,” he told me. “You gotta take a bite of this when you cross the line.” Great fucking idea. For a year, I’d thought about what to do at the finish line, and this seemed perfect. Given my penchant for pizza for which I am constantly mocked, and my perpetual demanding of slices at the end of the night, it seemed only fitting. So, slice in hand, I turned the corner down the finishing chute.
The lights hit me in the face and my eyes got wide like a little kid seeing a baseball
stadium for the first time. This was it. The end. The crowd I’d been a part of the year before, and seen when I saw Trevor finish 2 years prior. Thinking “I want that feeling. I want to cross that line and feel like that.” And there I was, running down the finishing chute at the Ironman. It was surreal, and I only wished that more people could have seen it. I heard my name, followed by someone else’s, and then those four words I’d been waiting to hear….
‘You are an Ironman.”
With that, I took a bite of my slice, looked at the camera, and crossed the line. Not the adrenaline rush I’d expected, but great nonetheless. I ended up finishing at 12:55:14 just making my goal (the marathon took me 5:26). I had done it. As my dad told me when I first walked out of the Athlete’s area at the finish line “An Amazing Feat.” And it was. No matter how mad I fuck up the rest of my life, whether I’m a roaring success or a miserable failure or just a slacker who never tried, nothing will ever take away what I did on November 7, 2009.
As I headed to the first turnaround for the run (about ¼ mile from the start) I saw Trevor and my dad once again taking pictures. Trevor yells at me “Easiest thing you’ll ever do!” I’m not sure if this was sarcasm or not. I mean, yeah, a marathon following everything else isn’t easy, but it’s also like, yeah, this is it and I’m an Ironman. So really, it’s not THAT hard. And the first mile, that’s exactly how I felt.
Then the gas came back. And worse this time. I suppose deluging your guy with pain killers, energy boosters, heavily processed gels and snack bars and sugar drinks may not be the BEST thing for your digestive track. So I suffered my way to the first aid station a little past mile 2, and decided I’d take as long as I needed to make the gas go away. Outhouses on a sunny day aren’t the funnest places to be. You tend to sweat a little, Throw in that I’d just biked 112 miles and run about 2, and had put massive amounts of thermogenics in my body, and I was sweating a little bit. Or a lot. I was probably in the outhouse close to ten minutes, listening to pretty much everyone I’d passed on the bike run by, with kids yelling “Water! Gatorade! Gels! Pretzels!” I thought to myself ‘If this persists, this run is gonna be the most miserable 6 hours of my life.”
I got done, pounded about 5 cups of Gatorade to rehydrate myself, and got back on the run course. I made it about another mile before the gas came back. Just as bad. I actually ran past the aid station about 100 yards, then realized I wasn’t going to make it another mile, turned around, and ran back to the porta-john. Another 8 minutes in that one, and I felt like I was done. But I told myself no more pills (those salt tabs are packed with magnesium too. Probably not the best either), no more Gatorade, and no food for a while. Just water.
This seemed to work s after that the gas was gone. Apparently my first 6 miles, though, I averaged 13 minute miles. I guess that’s what happened when you spend 15 minutes in the shitter. But had I not done that, it woulda been a much longer day.
The run course was pretty nice, starting on the beach and winding through some residential areas of Panama City Beach, before ending with a loop around St. Andrew’s State Park and then heading back the same way. Every mile had an aid station with all kinds of stuff, like cookies, grapes, water, Gatorade, pretzels, gels, power bars. I guess we really got our $500 worth, ya know? A lot were themed, like one was “That 70s Station” with people in afro wigs and 70s music playing. One was MASH themes, with the theme from the show playing and everyone dressed in army fatigues from the 1950s. I yelled at one volunteer as I went by “Man, you must be getting REAL tired of that song.” “Ugh,” he responded, “you have no idea.” I told him I’d trade him, which he didn’t take me up on. I think my favorite aid station, though, was the one with the unintentional theme of “Bad Part of Town” Like it was across the street from a ship-freight loading dock with some empty, run-down industrial buildings around it and some small houses with overgrown lawn. Oh, and the staff manning the station was a little, um, ethnic? Needless to say, there was nobody at this aid station the second time I got to it. It was dark. Nobody’s hanging around there after the sun goes down.
As I ran back from my first loop of the course, Trevor caught me on his bike, and I gave him my souvenir order. Then Justin, whose dad was doing the race, caught me on his bike and interviewed me on video. That was all kinda fun. Trevor even gave me my split for the first 6 miles, which, as I said, was awful. The urn back to the finish line/turnaround went right by the condo, so again my dad and Trevor were out there with cameras. I later learned they’d also been drinking pretty solid from the time Trevor left me on his bike until then. Or about an hour and a half. That section of the run was motivating, though, as it was lined with people heading out beer and playing music. Panama City, like everyone who lives there comes out for this race, so the streets were just lined with partiers.
I hit the turnaround and saw the finish line. For some reason, the MIley Cyrus song “I Can’t Wait to See You Again,” then proceeded to be stuck in my head for the next hour. But it was true. I saw the bright lights and heard the crowd and the announcer, and the adrenaline started going. Even though I had 13.1 miles to go. But fuck it. All I had was 13.1 miles to go. And it was all over. I got my special needs bag, changed into my 1st Battalion Drill Instructor PT shirt from boot camp, and headed out for the home stretch.
Trevor decided to run the beer mile with me, which was fun. He even gave me a Michelob Ultra to chug, which I did. It made me feel slightly better, actually. Got some good pics of me running backward, gave me some advice that I don’t remember, then it was all me for the next 2 and a half hours. My quads were hurting, it was dark, it was cold, but I felt fine.
When I got to the park, I was running in complete darkness for a couple of miles. This really allows you to focus on your running and actually made it easier. But at about mile 20, I was walking and stopping briefly at every aid station. I needed it, my legs were dying. At every one, though, I just said “Ok body. Look. You give me 6.2 more miles, and you can take the rest of the year off.” My body liked that deal, and kept going. Getting out of the park (which featured a giant digital message board where people could send messages to encourage the athletes, mine saying “Run, fat man, run!”) it felt like the home stretch. But it was easily the hardest part for me.
I just wanted to bet to the beer section. That I knew I could just breeze through like nothing. But the 4 miles through the residential areas was boring and tedious and I just wanted to get done. This was the only time in the race I started getting cranky and irritated. When the fuck was I getting out of there?!
But I finally did. I hit beer mile, and the crowd starting doing the Tomahawk Chop for some guy in an FSU jersey. It made me wish, for the only time in my life, I’d gone to Florida State. That shit had to be motivating. Of course, the guy stopped and walked, so maybe not. Then a guy with a megaphone gets in the middle of the road and yells at me “Hey, this guy wants a BEER!” I said “Fuck Yeah, I want a beer!” And his group went nuts. They handed me a beer, I chugged it (it was like a Dixie cup of beer, not a whole can) and I kept on. I saw the lights of the finish line. I could hear the crowd and the announcer. Another 5 minutes, and I was an Ironman. I heard some lady yell “12;50!” as I ran by my condo, so breaking 13 seemed pretty certain.
As I headed down the final stretch, I somehow missed that there was a short turnaround I had to do before I could turn into the finishing chute. I mean, it was like maybe 20 yards, but some volunteer had to steer me back to it. Just as I got steered back, Trevor runs up to me with a plate and a slice of pizza.
“This is your finish line pizza,” he told me. “You gotta take a bite of this when you cross the line.” Great fucking idea. For a year, I’d thought about what to do at the finish line, and this seemed perfect. Given my penchant for pizza for which I am constantly mocked, and my perpetual demanding of slices at the end of the night, it seemed only fitting. So, slice in hand, I turned the corner down the finishing chute.
The lights hit me in the face and my eyes got wide like a little kid seeing a baseball
stadium for the first time. This was it. The end. The crowd I’d been a part of the year before, and seen when I saw Trevor finish 2 years prior. Thinking “I want that feeling. I want to cross that line and feel like that.” And there I was, running down the finishing chute at the Ironman. It was surreal, and I only wished that more people could have seen it. I heard my name, followed by someone else’s, and then those four words I’d been waiting to hear….‘You are an Ironman.”
With that, I took a bite of my slice, looked at the camera, and crossed the line. Not the adrenaline rush I’d expected, but great nonetheless. I ended up finishing at 12:55:14 just making my goal (the marathon took me 5:26). I had done it. As my dad told me when I first walked out of the Athlete’s area at the finish line “An Amazing Feat.” And it was. No matter how mad I fuck up the rest of my life, whether I’m a roaring success or a miserable failure or just a slacker who never tried, nothing will ever take away what I did on November 7, 2009.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
T109 - Welcome to The Big Leagues - Swim
Panama City Beach
Panama City, I guess, is usually a big party location. This weekend, though, it's a bit different. This weekend, the place has been overrun by ridiculously healthy, slightly insane people biking, running and swimming all over the streets and beached usually occupied by falling-down drunk college kids. It's very surreal. On the drive in, I saw no less than four SUVs with bikes on the back, and this morning the streets were lines with cars with 140.6 and M-Dot stickers on them. And bikes. Fucking bikes everywhere.
My parents have reserved a condo less than half a mile from the starting line, so this morning I decided I'd go and try out my wetsuit, and swim one lap of the swim course. Trevor had said it was a good idea as a confidence builder, and it gives you an idea of what you're up against in the water. Of course, within 50 feet of my front door I ran into this guy from Louisiana who was in town for the race, and we made triathlete small talk all the way to the Gatorade Bag Check on the beach, where probably 300 people were preparing to or doing or finishing the swim.
I walked through the athlete's expo on the way. Pretty surreal to see all the booths and tents and trophies and serious, $10,000 bikes in there. This is it. This is the pinnacle of triathlon insofar as non-championship events are concerned. And it definitely looked it. Not one person there looked like they couldn't finish. Everyone looked sinewy and weathered. Like the kinds of people who do Ironman's on a regular basis. I'm not one to get intimidated, mind you, but this crowd was definitely the big leagues.
I got down to the beach area where the swim was and everyone was in wetsuits. Conversations I overheard were all about past Ironman's people had run, or about the experiences people had had in Kona a few weeks before. Like I said, this is the big leagues. Everyone also felt the necessity to wear their finisher shirts from past races, be they full Ironmans or 70.3s. I'm not sure if this is bragging or just fitting in or what, but I thought it was pretty funny that pretty much every single person had some sort of M-Dot attire on. Ok. We get it. We're at the Ironman. I was in a nondescript muscle shirt and some USMC shorts just for the record. Yeah, we get it. I was in the Marines.
Swim - 1.2 miles
3 Sudafed
I put my wetsuit on, at least the leg part, over by the gear check. Which was fine until I got in the water and once again realized I had it on backward. Nothing says "This is my first Ironman" like putting on your wetsuit backward, does it? I'm not sure if anyone notices, but I quickly sat down in the water, took it off, and then put it on the right way. That Cooking Spray really does help a lot in getting it on and off.
I walked out about as far as I could and then began to stroke, and for some reason, just could not breathe. No idea why, but I stopped, turned around, went back to where I could stand, and breathed for about 30 seconds. False start. Got back in the water, started stroking, and didn't really stop except to site.
Which I did not do well.
Sighting has never been a real strength of mine, but today was [perhaps the most ridiculous example. I knew something was wrong when I saw a lot of people swimming back in as I was swimming out. The course was a loop, after all. I figured they were just pussies and didn't want to do the whole thing and were turning back. I figured wrong. When I ran, head on, into a lady who looked at me like I'd just insulted her mother, I knew I'd probably fucked up. I made it out to a guy on a surfboard, who informed me that I had just swim in a diagonal from the starting line to the far turn back, essentially bisecting the entire course. Well, I wanted to do a full 1.2 miles, so he told me to just swim to the other far turn (essentially the end of the initial swim out) and then come back. I later realized this ended up being more that 1.2 miles, but hey, more training, right?
Anyway, I managed to do that, and sighing on the way back was easy because there was a giant condo tower to sight off. I seriously hope the buoys are bigger on race day, or I may be fucked. Seriously, these things were so small, I couldn’t see them at all from the water. Of course, the 2000 other people in the water may help that direction too. But I really need some fucking Lasik.
So this was my last training day. This was it. I’m going to take Friday off to rest up fully, then Saturday is the big day. This is the end of the training road, and this is the body I’m going to do the Ironman with. Ready as I’ll ever be. This swim definitely made me believe the swim will not be a big problem (Challenging, yes, but not deadly unless one of those jellyfish I saw gets me) and I’m ready to go. Now it’s just 2 days of check in a bag packing, and the hardest 12-13 hours of my life.
Panama City, I guess, is usually a big party location. This weekend, though, it's a bit different. This weekend, the place has been overrun by ridiculously healthy, slightly insane people biking, running and swimming all over the streets and beached usually occupied by falling-down drunk college kids. It's very surreal. On the drive in, I saw no less than four SUVs with bikes on the back, and this morning the streets were lines with cars with 140.6 and M-Dot stickers on them. And bikes. Fucking bikes everywhere.
My parents have reserved a condo less than half a mile from the starting line, so this morning I decided I'd go and try out my wetsuit, and swim one lap of the swim course. Trevor had said it was a good idea as a confidence builder, and it gives you an idea of what you're up against in the water. Of course, within 50 feet of my front door I ran into this guy from Louisiana who was in town for the race, and we made triathlete small talk all the way to the Gatorade Bag Check on the beach, where probably 300 people were preparing to or doing or finishing the swim.
I walked through the athlete's expo on the way. Pretty surreal to see all the booths and tents and trophies and serious, $10,000 bikes in there. This is it. This is the pinnacle of triathlon insofar as non-championship events are concerned. And it definitely looked it. Not one person there looked like they couldn't finish. Everyone looked sinewy and weathered. Like the kinds of people who do Ironman's on a regular basis. I'm not one to get intimidated, mind you, but this crowd was definitely the big leagues.
I got down to the beach area where the swim was and everyone was in wetsuits. Conversations I overheard were all about past Ironman's people had run, or about the experiences people had had in Kona a few weeks before. Like I said, this is the big leagues. Everyone also felt the necessity to wear their finisher shirts from past races, be they full Ironmans or 70.3s. I'm not sure if this is bragging or just fitting in or what, but I thought it was pretty funny that pretty much every single person had some sort of M-Dot attire on. Ok. We get it. We're at the Ironman. I was in a nondescript muscle shirt and some USMC shorts just for the record. Yeah, we get it. I was in the Marines.
Swim - 1.2 miles
3 Sudafed
I put my wetsuit on, at least the leg part, over by the gear check. Which was fine until I got in the water and once again realized I had it on backward. Nothing says "This is my first Ironman" like putting on your wetsuit backward, does it? I'm not sure if anyone notices, but I quickly sat down in the water, took it off, and then put it on the right way. That Cooking Spray really does help a lot in getting it on and off.
I walked out about as far as I could and then began to stroke, and for some reason, just could not breathe. No idea why, but I stopped, turned around, went back to where I could stand, and breathed for about 30 seconds. False start. Got back in the water, started stroking, and didn't really stop except to site.
Which I did not do well.
Sighting has never been a real strength of mine, but today was [perhaps the most ridiculous example. I knew something was wrong when I saw a lot of people swimming back in as I was swimming out. The course was a loop, after all. I figured they were just pussies and didn't want to do the whole thing and were turning back. I figured wrong. When I ran, head on, into a lady who looked at me like I'd just insulted her mother, I knew I'd probably fucked up. I made it out to a guy on a surfboard, who informed me that I had just swim in a diagonal from the starting line to the far turn back, essentially bisecting the entire course. Well, I wanted to do a full 1.2 miles, so he told me to just swim to the other far turn (essentially the end of the initial swim out) and then come back. I later realized this ended up being more that 1.2 miles, but hey, more training, right?
Anyway, I managed to do that, and sighing on the way back was easy because there was a giant condo tower to sight off. I seriously hope the buoys are bigger on race day, or I may be fucked. Seriously, these things were so small, I couldn’t see them at all from the water. Of course, the 2000 other people in the water may help that direction too. But I really need some fucking Lasik.
So this was my last training day. This was it. I’m going to take Friday off to rest up fully, then Saturday is the big day. This is the end of the training road, and this is the body I’m going to do the Ironman with. Ready as I’ll ever be. This swim definitely made me believe the swim will not be a big problem (Challenging, yes, but not deadly unless one of those jellyfish I saw gets me) and I’m ready to go. Now it’s just 2 days of check in a bag packing, and the hardest 12-13 hours of my life.
T108 - Saying Goodbye to Some Old Friends - Bike, Run
Gainesville
Today was my last training day in Gainesville. I left for Panama City at about 5, and won't be back until the Ironman is over. Kinda weird to look at my room and all the shit in there, and all the kids in my classes and everything, and think that the next time I see any of it, this will all be over. A long time coming, you know? But anyway, for my last bike ride, I thought I'd go visit the Hawthorne Trail since I'd done it probably 100 times by now.
Bike: warm up 10 minutes, 30minues cruise at race pace, cool down.
3 Sudafed
2 Lipodrnee
All semester, I had intended to work in some training during my 3 hour break on Wednesday. Hadn't happened once. Usually that was nap or sex time, often both. But today, I actually managed to get in an entrie trianing day between my morning and afternoon classes on Wednesday. On my next to last day of training.
Anyway, the "warm up" here was essentially a nice cruise down Waldo to the trailhead. and then I hit Hawthorne going only slightly slower than my usual good pace. about 20.5-21 all the way down to the first hill. I notcied, though, that there was a bit of a wind on Hawthorne today, not something you get in the summer. Yet another reason I hate winter training, the fucking cold wind. I made it just past the bottom of the hill in the hammock, turned aorund, and went back up the hill. Becasue I typically need that 20-25 minutes to warm up, I went back up the hill much faster than usual, and I was even able to maintain about 18 up the final incline. Not something I do even on good rides.
I ended up averaging about 17.5 for the ride, but this was more because I rode the hilly seciton of Hawthorne only, and my average speed usually goes up a mile or 2 in the flats that comprise the rest of the course. And really, this was not the most crucial training ride of the cycle. I felt good about how it went, and it kept my body loose. And that's all one can ask.
Run: warm up 5 minutes, 15 minutes cruise at slightly faster than race pace,
cool down
I got home, had a sandwich, answered some email, then hit the Treadmill at Jefferson. Again, my last time on the treadmill I'd used most often. Because I'd brought the iPod, I did a nice little warmup at 5.5 (which is a hopeful race pace, really) and then did 8.0 the final 15 minutes. It wasn't even as hard as I'd thought it would be. I sweated like crazy, but made it through without even feeling overly winded. Hmmmm, maybe I COULD have pushed the run a little more. But it's a bit late to start thinking that.
So after, I went to class, got home, packed up and headed up to PCB. Total focus, and that is exactly what I need.
Today was my last training day in Gainesville. I left for Panama City at about 5, and won't be back until the Ironman is over. Kinda weird to look at my room and all the shit in there, and all the kids in my classes and everything, and think that the next time I see any of it, this will all be over. A long time coming, you know? But anyway, for my last bike ride, I thought I'd go visit the Hawthorne Trail since I'd done it probably 100 times by now.
Bike: warm up 10 minutes, 30minues cruise at race pace, cool down.
3 Sudafed
2 Lipodrnee
All semester, I had intended to work in some training during my 3 hour break on Wednesday. Hadn't happened once. Usually that was nap or sex time, often both. But today, I actually managed to get in an entrie trianing day between my morning and afternoon classes on Wednesday. On my next to last day of training.
Anyway, the "warm up" here was essentially a nice cruise down Waldo to the trailhead. and then I hit Hawthorne going only slightly slower than my usual good pace. about 20.5-21 all the way down to the first hill. I notcied, though, that there was a bit of a wind on Hawthorne today, not something you get in the summer. Yet another reason I hate winter training, the fucking cold wind. I made it just past the bottom of the hill in the hammock, turned aorund, and went back up the hill. Becasue I typically need that 20-25 minutes to warm up, I went back up the hill much faster than usual, and I was even able to maintain about 18 up the final incline. Not something I do even on good rides.
I ended up averaging about 17.5 for the ride, but this was more because I rode the hilly seciton of Hawthorne only, and my average speed usually goes up a mile or 2 in the flats that comprise the rest of the course. And really, this was not the most crucial training ride of the cycle. I felt good about how it went, and it kept my body loose. And that's all one can ask.
Run: warm up 5 minutes, 15 minutes cruise at slightly faster than race pace,
cool down
I got home, had a sandwich, answered some email, then hit the Treadmill at Jefferson. Again, my last time on the treadmill I'd used most often. Because I'd brought the iPod, I did a nice little warmup at 5.5 (which is a hopeful race pace, really) and then did 8.0 the final 15 minutes. It wasn't even as hard as I'd thought it would be. I sweated like crazy, but made it through without even feeling overly winded. Hmmmm, maybe I COULD have pushed the run a little more. But it's a bit late to start thinking that.
So after, I went to class, got home, packed up and headed up to PCB. Total focus, and that is exactly what I need.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
T107 - My Kinda Sprints - Swim, Run, Bike
Gainesville
Well, it's race week. I've got this kinda strange focus going on right now. Like I really don't want to talk to anybody or be too social. All week, just thinking about Saturday. It keeps occurring to me that a week from now, it'll all be over. And nice as it'll be to get back to a semi-normal life, I'm not looking forward to it at all. But more on that later.
My wetsuit came over the weekend. When I get up to Panama City Wednesday night, I'm going to do some wetsuit practice, then go swim a lap of the course Thursday morning. Until then, I'm just trying to get in some good meals and some good sleep. I took Monday off to recover from the weekend's strenuous events in Miami. I figured the short, keep-loose stuff the cards has scheduled wasn't overly crucial, and the rest would do met better. That being said, I still need to keep in constant training mode, as too much time off seems to have led to some bad workouts. But today's didn't look overly daunting.
Swim: warm up 5 minutes, 6 x 50 fast!, cool down 5 minutes
3 Sudafed
2 Lipodrene
The only concerning part about today's swim was when I did my traditional drop to the bottom of the pool when I got in. At about 1 foot down, my head started to feel like it was in a vice. Like one might if they don't eqaulize enough while scuba diving. But I was at 1 freaking foot! This is obviously a sign that I have some serious sinus congestion going on in my head, and the Sudafed, while making me breathe ok, isn't doing much to help that. Not that it's gonna keep me form doing the race, and the swim does not include a 30-foot underwater portion, but I do hope I get better.
The swim itself was fine. I definitely needed the warmup, and the sprints were hard. But short. And few of them. I can't keep that kinda pace for 100 yards, especially since I really haven't done much sprint work here in the last month and a half. Still don't like sprints, and even though I let up a little at the 40-yard mark of a couple of sets, my muscles felt good and I did for the most part what the card had instructed. Not my best swim, but I do like short sprints.
Run: warm up 5 minutes, 5 x 1 minute fast!, cool down 5 minutes (Treadmill)
Anything involving keeping a fast speed, I pretty much have to do on the treadmill. And, of course, I used the iPod. This section also felt fine. My legs needed a minute to warm up, but once the muscles got warm I made it through the sprint sections (which I only did at 8.0-8.3, depending on the song I had on) without difficulty. Holding a sprint for a minute is doable even for me, and my strides felt good. I think they just do these sprints to keep your muscles a little challenged without wearing them out. Good strategy, I think.
Bike: warm up 5 minutes, 5 x 2 minute fast!, cool down 5 minutes (trainer)
I briefly considered just doing this on the stationary, but I want to spend as much time in the saddle this week as I can. So I went home, had a sandwich, and got on the trainer. This was a bit more of a challenge, since the fast sections were 2 minutes long instead of one. For each one, I slowly shifted into my hardest gear, got into aero, and just went as hard as I could. I'd drop about 1-2 mph in speed by the end of the two minutes, but kept it over 22 the whole time. Again, I know speed isn't that relevant a stat, but it does give you something to show how you're doing relative to the rest of that workout. And my biking muscles felt challenged, used, but not worn out as I still felt fine after. I think all of this was a good first workout for race week.
Trevor told me today that I need to sleep by myself in my own bed the rest of the week. Obviously, that's not happening Wednesday on, since I'll be in PCB. And while I'm not sure I can keep to that tonight, I am promising myself that I'll be in bed by 12, to ensure a solid eight hours sleep. That's my minimum (at least attempted mimimum) for all but race night. When we know you never sleep. Other than that, a short bike and run tomorrow during the break, and then I'm off to Panama City. Hopefully these condos have wireless. Otherwise, I'll have to do the full report when I get back.
Well, it's race week. I've got this kinda strange focus going on right now. Like I really don't want to talk to anybody or be too social. All week, just thinking about Saturday. It keeps occurring to me that a week from now, it'll all be over. And nice as it'll be to get back to a semi-normal life, I'm not looking forward to it at all. But more on that later.
My wetsuit came over the weekend. When I get up to Panama City Wednesday night, I'm going to do some wetsuit practice, then go swim a lap of the course Thursday morning. Until then, I'm just trying to get in some good meals and some good sleep. I took Monday off to recover from the weekend's strenuous events in Miami. I figured the short, keep-loose stuff the cards has scheduled wasn't overly crucial, and the rest would do met better. That being said, I still need to keep in constant training mode, as too much time off seems to have led to some bad workouts. But today's didn't look overly daunting.
Swim: warm up 5 minutes, 6 x 50 fast!, cool down 5 minutes
3 Sudafed
2 Lipodrene
The only concerning part about today's swim was when I did my traditional drop to the bottom of the pool when I got in. At about 1 foot down, my head started to feel like it was in a vice. Like one might if they don't eqaulize enough while scuba diving. But I was at 1 freaking foot! This is obviously a sign that I have some serious sinus congestion going on in my head, and the Sudafed, while making me breathe ok, isn't doing much to help that. Not that it's gonna keep me form doing the race, and the swim does not include a 30-foot underwater portion, but I do hope I get better.
The swim itself was fine. I definitely needed the warmup, and the sprints were hard. But short. And few of them. I can't keep that kinda pace for 100 yards, especially since I really haven't done much sprint work here in the last month and a half. Still don't like sprints, and even though I let up a little at the 40-yard mark of a couple of sets, my muscles felt good and I did for the most part what the card had instructed. Not my best swim, but I do like short sprints.
Run: warm up 5 minutes, 5 x 1 minute fast!, cool down 5 minutes (Treadmill)
Anything involving keeping a fast speed, I pretty much have to do on the treadmill. And, of course, I used the iPod. This section also felt fine. My legs needed a minute to warm up, but once the muscles got warm I made it through the sprint sections (which I only did at 8.0-8.3, depending on the song I had on) without difficulty. Holding a sprint for a minute is doable even for me, and my strides felt good. I think they just do these sprints to keep your muscles a little challenged without wearing them out. Good strategy, I think.
Bike: warm up 5 minutes, 5 x 2 minute fast!, cool down 5 minutes (trainer)
I briefly considered just doing this on the stationary, but I want to spend as much time in the saddle this week as I can. So I went home, had a sandwich, and got on the trainer. This was a bit more of a challenge, since the fast sections were 2 minutes long instead of one. For each one, I slowly shifted into my hardest gear, got into aero, and just went as hard as I could. I'd drop about 1-2 mph in speed by the end of the two minutes, but kept it over 22 the whole time. Again, I know speed isn't that relevant a stat, but it does give you something to show how you're doing relative to the rest of that workout. And my biking muscles felt challenged, used, but not worn out as I still felt fine after. I think all of this was a good first workout for race week.
Trevor told me today that I need to sleep by myself in my own bed the rest of the week. Obviously, that's not happening Wednesday on, since I'll be in PCB. And while I'm not sure I can keep to that tonight, I am promising myself that I'll be in bed by 12, to ensure a solid eight hours sleep. That's my minimum (at least attempted mimimum) for all but race night. When we know you never sleep. Other than that, a short bike and run tomorrow during the break, and then I'm off to Panama City. Hopefully these condos have wireless. Otherwise, I'll have to do the full report when I get back.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
T106 - Redemption on the Rickenbacker - Bike
Miami
Bike - 90 Minutes
3 Sudafed
2 Lipodrene
I made a deal with myself on Thursday that if I slept in and didn't do my 90 minute ride, I"d have to do it Sunday in Miami. And when I woke up after 10 hours of sleep, feeling congested and miserable Sunday morning, I seriously considered reneging on that deal. But I had nothing better to do and was in no hurry to get back to Gainesville, and after Friday's sub-par showing onthe Rickenbacker I needed to remind myself I still had it.
Well, it's amazing what a difference good sleep makes. Even after my 4 Hour training day Friday and the Half Marathon Sunday, when I got on the bike Sunday around noon I just felt better. Yeah, my legs were a little sore, but I felt like I could push it today. Maybe it was the sorter distance, or maybe it was the Sudafed (yeah, I gotta think that had SOMETHING to do with it) but once I hit the road out of Bill Baggs state park, I just felt strong.
I kept up a solid 20-21 through the Village of Key Biscayne, where you constantly have to be watching for cars coming out of luxury condos and stupid Miami drivers turning without signaling. I've crashed into one once last summer, it wasn't fun. And then I hit Crandon park and maintained over 20, and even kept up 19-20 when I hit the wind on the road out to Jimbo's. Heading back from Jimbo's I was going about 24 the whole time, and I used the tailwind to help me maintain that until I got to Mount Miami. Made it up that going about 14 and did about 32 on the way down, maintaining over 30 almost to the turnaround.
I figured the way back would not be so good as I had the headwind blowing in from the Atlantic, but it was fine. I still maintained about 20 up into Crandon Park (except for the bridge, of course) and ended up getting back to my car at `1:03. Or about 16 minutes faster than the day before. This was definitely the ride I had been looking for on the Rickenbacker.
To fill out the workout I biked to the end of Crandon Park and back, and despite the inherent slowdowns in Bill Baggs park ended up averaging 19.2 for the ride, going nearly 30 miles in 1:33. Definitely left me with some confidence, especially becasue my second trip through Crandon I didn't drop below 21 the whole time. The average on this ride gets fucked because of all the stopping and slowing and lights in the Village and for all the Sunday riders on the Key. Though one of the most scenic rides in America, it's also the only real bike course in a city of 2.2 millino people. On a hot Sunday, you do the math.
And it was hot, but I didn't even feel it. I biked with my shirt off, which was awesome. Made the ride feel like a day at the beach, and is something I'm starting to wish I'd done more this cycle. Oh well. Still a great ride to close out legit training.
Yep, this was it. This was my last real training day before the race. There's some keeping loose and warmed up stuff this week, but this closes the book on Ironman training. This is as ready as I'm gonna be. And today's ride was an excellent confidence builder going in. The next week will be minimal training hours, but I'm going to talk a lot about various race prep stuff too. Heading to PCB on Wednesday. This is it. One week form now, it'll all be over. And that, really, is much scarier to me than the race itself.
Bike - 90 Minutes
3 Sudafed
2 Lipodrene
I made a deal with myself on Thursday that if I slept in and didn't do my 90 minute ride, I"d have to do it Sunday in Miami. And when I woke up after 10 hours of sleep, feeling congested and miserable Sunday morning, I seriously considered reneging on that deal. But I had nothing better to do and was in no hurry to get back to Gainesville, and after Friday's sub-par showing onthe Rickenbacker I needed to remind myself I still had it.
Well, it's amazing what a difference good sleep makes. Even after my 4 Hour training day Friday and the Half Marathon Sunday, when I got on the bike Sunday around noon I just felt better. Yeah, my legs were a little sore, but I felt like I could push it today. Maybe it was the sorter distance, or maybe it was the Sudafed (yeah, I gotta think that had SOMETHING to do with it) but once I hit the road out of Bill Baggs state park, I just felt strong.
I kept up a solid 20-21 through the Village of Key Biscayne, where you constantly have to be watching for cars coming out of luxury condos and stupid Miami drivers turning without signaling. I've crashed into one once last summer, it wasn't fun. And then I hit Crandon park and maintained over 20, and even kept up 19-20 when I hit the wind on the road out to Jimbo's. Heading back from Jimbo's I was going about 24 the whole time, and I used the tailwind to help me maintain that until I got to Mount Miami. Made it up that going about 14 and did about 32 on the way down, maintaining over 30 almost to the turnaround.
I figured the way back would not be so good as I had the headwind blowing in from the Atlantic, but it was fine. I still maintained about 20 up into Crandon Park (except for the bridge, of course) and ended up getting back to my car at `1:03. Or about 16 minutes faster than the day before. This was definitely the ride I had been looking for on the Rickenbacker.
To fill out the workout I biked to the end of Crandon Park and back, and despite the inherent slowdowns in Bill Baggs park ended up averaging 19.2 for the ride, going nearly 30 miles in 1:33. Definitely left me with some confidence, especially becasue my second trip through Crandon I didn't drop below 21 the whole time. The average on this ride gets fucked because of all the stopping and slowing and lights in the Village and for all the Sunday riders on the Key. Though one of the most scenic rides in America, it's also the only real bike course in a city of 2.2 millino people. On a hot Sunday, you do the math.
And it was hot, but I didn't even feel it. I biked with my shirt off, which was awesome. Made the ride feel like a day at the beach, and is something I'm starting to wish I'd done more this cycle. Oh well. Still a great ride to close out legit training.
Yep, this was it. This was my last real training day before the race. There's some keeping loose and warmed up stuff this week, but this closes the book on Ironman training. This is as ready as I'm gonna be. And today's ride was an excellent confidence builder going in. The next week will be minimal training hours, but I'm going to talk a lot about various race prep stuff too. Heading to PCB on Wednesday. This is it. One week form now, it'll all be over. And that, really, is much scarier to me than the race itself.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
T105 - The Miami Beach Half-Marathon - Run
Miami Beach
Run - 13.1 miles
2 Lipodrene
Tony, first of all is about the best pre-race host imaginable. Not only did he give up his bedroom so I'd have a comfortable place to sleep, he also got me a bunch of bottled water, set 4 alarms, and knocked on the door at 5 a.m. to wake me up. He does triathlons too, so he knew the importnace. Anyway, I made it from his house in Flagami to the beach by about 5:30, had 2 bagles on the drive over, parked by Nikki Beach and took the shuttle over to Jungle Island where the race was starting.
This race was pretty fun. With all the people running it in costumes, and the shorter-distance, it just had an atmosphere of the sort of event that was full of people there for a good time. I figured given that you don't get much more serious than an Ironman, this would be a nice, fun final long run before the not-so-fun one in a week. Since I never dress for Halloween, my costume was "Guy in Black Shorts" and I did not bring the iPod. Nor did I bring any gels.
The emails I'd gotten had made it sound like they had gels at the aid stations, but it became pretty obvious by aid station 1 that they would not be providing anything other than water and Powerade at the aid stations. Good thing I brought a Cliff Bar with me, which I ended up eating half of at about mile 8. I started the race apparently running about a 9 minute mile pace, according to the guy running next to me who didn't shut up. Which I thought felt pretty maintainable, until he stopped and walked. "Break time," he said. Throughout the race I would see him pass me, then I'd pass him and his friend (female) and this went on until just before the turnaround on 48th Street.
The run was far and away the most scenic I've done this entire cycle, going across the MacArthur Causeway. through South Pointe Park and up the boardwalk to 48th Street, where you turn around, rtun back on the boardwalk along the beach, then do a loop of South Pointe Park before ending in front of Nikki Beach. And, fontunately, the sun really didn't come out until right at the end. I took a 3rd Lipodrene at mile 8-ish, and hydrated with 2 Powerades and a wter at every other aid station.
The miles seemed to go by quick, although my pace wan't much faster than usual, and I never felt labored or exhausted or worn out the entire time. Dizzy, a few times, but not once like I wanted to stop. The whole thing felt like it went pretty fast, I even felt like I hit the halfway point early. As it was, I finished in about 2:20, which is right where I thought I'd be. Yeah, I run slow. I know. The countless women 15 years my senior who passed me reminded me of this. But I also ran my pace. Meaning that I was in shape enough to run this and not get winded. Could I push myself more? Yeah, probably. But I think my mentality for these things is set towards Ironman. Like don't dog it, but don't push it too much. You got a long way to go.
And so that was how I ran this race. It was a lot of fun, and I ran exactly how I thought I would. Which is neither discouraging nor particularly motivating. It just lets me know that I know what I can do. And contrary to the Rickenbacker Ride of the day before, this actually felt good. So 2 for 3 on Miami workouts this trip (swim and run good, bike bad). A better percentage than ususal.
I will also note that there were a LOT of attractive girls on this run. Usually at triathlons, the girls look weathered and hard, and while their bodies are typically pretty good they look a little windswept. For some reason half-marathons just attract a different crowd. There was a girl standing next to me at the starting line wearing like a giant British Flag dress thing that was easily the best looking girl I'd seen at any endurance event. And the group of girls dressed as lifeguards who came and sat with me at the after party at Nikki Beach weren't bad either. I think when I get back to Miami, I'm gonna have to start going more of these.
Run - 13.1 miles
2 Lipodrene
Tony, first of all is about the best pre-race host imaginable. Not only did he give up his bedroom so I'd have a comfortable place to sleep, he also got me a bunch of bottled water, set 4 alarms, and knocked on the door at 5 a.m. to wake me up. He does triathlons too, so he knew the importnace. Anyway, I made it from his house in Flagami to the beach by about 5:30, had 2 bagles on the drive over, parked by Nikki Beach and took the shuttle over to Jungle Island where the race was starting.
This race was pretty fun. With all the people running it in costumes, and the shorter-distance, it just had an atmosphere of the sort of event that was full of people there for a good time. I figured given that you don't get much more serious than an Ironman, this would be a nice, fun final long run before the not-so-fun one in a week. Since I never dress for Halloween, my costume was "Guy in Black Shorts" and I did not bring the iPod. Nor did I bring any gels.
The emails I'd gotten had made it sound like they had gels at the aid stations, but it became pretty obvious by aid station 1 that they would not be providing anything other than water and Powerade at the aid stations. Good thing I brought a Cliff Bar with me, which I ended up eating half of at about mile 8. I started the race apparently running about a 9 minute mile pace, according to the guy running next to me who didn't shut up. Which I thought felt pretty maintainable, until he stopped and walked. "Break time," he said. Throughout the race I would see him pass me, then I'd pass him and his friend (female) and this went on until just before the turnaround on 48th Street.
The run was far and away the most scenic I've done this entire cycle, going across the MacArthur Causeway. through South Pointe Park and up the boardwalk to 48th Street, where you turn around, rtun back on the boardwalk along the beach, then do a loop of South Pointe Park before ending in front of Nikki Beach. And, fontunately, the sun really didn't come out until right at the end. I took a 3rd Lipodrene at mile 8-ish, and hydrated with 2 Powerades and a wter at every other aid station.
The miles seemed to go by quick, although my pace wan't much faster than usual, and I never felt labored or exhausted or worn out the entire time. Dizzy, a few times, but not once like I wanted to stop. The whole thing felt like it went pretty fast, I even felt like I hit the halfway point early. As it was, I finished in about 2:20, which is right where I thought I'd be. Yeah, I run slow. I know. The countless women 15 years my senior who passed me reminded me of this. But I also ran my pace. Meaning that I was in shape enough to run this and not get winded. Could I push myself more? Yeah, probably. But I think my mentality for these things is set towards Ironman. Like don't dog it, but don't push it too much. You got a long way to go.
And so that was how I ran this race. It was a lot of fun, and I ran exactly how I thought I would. Which is neither discouraging nor particularly motivating. It just lets me know that I know what I can do. And contrary to the Rickenbacker Ride of the day before, this actually felt good. So 2 for 3 on Miami workouts this trip (swim and run good, bike bad). A better percentage than ususal.
I will also note that there were a LOT of attractive girls on this run. Usually at triathlons, the girls look weathered and hard, and while their bodies are typically pretty good they look a little windswept. For some reason half-marathons just attract a different crowd. There was a girl standing next to me at the starting line wearing like a giant British Flag dress thing that was easily the best looking girl I'd seen at any endurance event. And the group of girls dressed as lifeguards who came and sat with me at the after party at Nikki Beach weren't bad either. I think when I get back to Miami, I'm gonna have to start going more of these.
T104 - Half Ironman Weekend, Part One - Swim/Bike Brick
Miami
I realized that between Friday's workout and Saturday's half-marathon, I'd be basically doing a Half Ironman over two days a week before the big race. But it's over 2 days. So I think I'll be ok. I stayed up in Miramar Thursday night, and had to be up early as Klueber had to meet with his CIA rep or whatever it is he does, at like 7:30. So I drove down to Key Biscayne and parked my car at Bill Baggs park for the open water swim and bike brick. I thought this would be a good race simulation, even if it was a bit short.
Swim: 75 minutes - open water if possible.
Continuous swim. 1st 200m at RPE 9-10, then settle into race pace
2 Lipodrene
The training card actually only called for 45 minutes today. But the thing is, I don't wear a watch. So I looked at the clock on my car when I left to go to the water and it was 8:57, figuring I probably got in the water around 9. I got out in Biscayne Bay and just got into my stroke groove and was like "Shit, I can do this all night." I was actually swimming into the current, although the waves were still battering me from my right side. Because I breathe to the left, this was not such a big deal on the way out. So I get to a bend in the beach and see the first condo past the park isn't that far and decide to swim to it. Those condos look a lot closer from the water than they really are, let me tell you. I started swimming completely with the current, into shore, and it took a loooong time. But whatever. I got to the beach, stood up, pissed in the water, and headed back.
Now on the way back I had the current at my back, which I figured would make for a faster return trip. But what I didn't account for was the waves splashing into my face every other breath, as well as the waves knocking me around while I swam. There was some decent chop out Friday morning, even that early. Also, sighting became a problem. I kept looking up to sight myself to the lighthouse in the park (where I started my swim) and all I kept seeing was ocean. Like I kept swimming out into the bay instead of staying on the shoreline. Eventually I decided to hug the shoreline, and about 300 yards before the lighthouse all I could do was grab sand. Too fucking shallow. So I just got out and walked it. Got back to my car and it was 10:37. Accounting for time spent walking and getting my shit together, I figured the swim was around 75 minutes. Might have been longer, who knows, but it definitely made the bike a lot more rushed.
Bike - 3 Hours
2 Lipodrene
I had biked the Rickenbacker probably 25 or 30 times in the summer of 2008 when I was training for my first half-Ironman. So I felt like I knew the course well. It's very flat, and very windy, but I felt like since I knew it and I was stronger I'd do well. Well, I thought wrong. I'm not sure if it was me still feeling ill, or me being tired from lack of sleep, or the swim kicking my ass, but I got on the bike, did 19 for about 2 miles, then could not get much over 16 for a long time. Like I just wanted to put the energy into going faster but for some reason just couldn't. Didn't want to go fast. A couple of times I got up near 20 and just held back, and I don't know why. Maybe it was mental pacing myself, knowing I have the half-marathon Saturday morning. But that won't fly come Ironman day.
Basically, I did the first trip around the Rickenbacker and to Virginia Key in 1:19. That's distance of about 21 miles, BTW. Essentially, a shitty ride. A really shitty ride. Just could not get anything going at all, and a little distressing after the good Century ride and strong trainer session. Even when I hit the few sharp turns on this ride, which I usually navigated ok a year ago when I was a worse biker, I just stopped, unclipped, and turned because I didn't have the energy to try and navigate them. It was a very strange ride to say the least.
The second trip wasn't so bad. I got up to 18 heading out and kept that speed, going a little faster on the road out to Jimbo’s and obviously slowing at Mount Miami. But as I turned around to head back Tony, the guy who cuts my hair and the friend I was staying with that night (he's straight, don't get any fucking ideas) texted me to see when was the soonest I could come in. My appointment was at 4, but he really wanted to take the rest of the day off, and since he was letting me stay at his place before the half-marathon I figured I do him a favor. I got back to my car at 2:40, and decided to call it a day. Yes, I cheated myself out of 20 minutes of a really shitty bike ride (averaged about 16, a record low for anything, ever)and that time was instead taken up by increased time swimming in open salt water. Probably something I needed more practice in anyway.
The swim felt good, though it was mentally tough. But man, did that bike suck., I'm not sure why I had nothing for it, I've done swim/bike bricks before, and done races where that certainly did not happen. I'll chalk it up to a shitty day. And fortunately I have one more ride of significance before the race to get my confidence back up.
I realized that between Friday's workout and Saturday's half-marathon, I'd be basically doing a Half Ironman over two days a week before the big race. But it's over 2 days. So I think I'll be ok. I stayed up in Miramar Thursday night, and had to be up early as Klueber had to meet with his CIA rep or whatever it is he does, at like 7:30. So I drove down to Key Biscayne and parked my car at Bill Baggs park for the open water swim and bike brick. I thought this would be a good race simulation, even if it was a bit short.
Swim: 75 minutes - open water if possible.
Continuous swim. 1st 200m at RPE 9-10, then settle into race pace
2 Lipodrene
The training card actually only called for 45 minutes today. But the thing is, I don't wear a watch. So I looked at the clock on my car when I left to go to the water and it was 8:57, figuring I probably got in the water around 9. I got out in Biscayne Bay and just got into my stroke groove and was like "Shit, I can do this all night." I was actually swimming into the current, although the waves were still battering me from my right side. Because I breathe to the left, this was not such a big deal on the way out. So I get to a bend in the beach and see the first condo past the park isn't that far and decide to swim to it. Those condos look a lot closer from the water than they really are, let me tell you. I started swimming completely with the current, into shore, and it took a loooong time. But whatever. I got to the beach, stood up, pissed in the water, and headed back.
Now on the way back I had the current at my back, which I figured would make for a faster return trip. But what I didn't account for was the waves splashing into my face every other breath, as well as the waves knocking me around while I swam. There was some decent chop out Friday morning, even that early. Also, sighting became a problem. I kept looking up to sight myself to the lighthouse in the park (where I started my swim) and all I kept seeing was ocean. Like I kept swimming out into the bay instead of staying on the shoreline. Eventually I decided to hug the shoreline, and about 300 yards before the lighthouse all I could do was grab sand. Too fucking shallow. So I just got out and walked it. Got back to my car and it was 10:37. Accounting for time spent walking and getting my shit together, I figured the swim was around 75 minutes. Might have been longer, who knows, but it definitely made the bike a lot more rushed.
Bike - 3 Hours
2 Lipodrene
I had biked the Rickenbacker probably 25 or 30 times in the summer of 2008 when I was training for my first half-Ironman. So I felt like I knew the course well. It's very flat, and very windy, but I felt like since I knew it and I was stronger I'd do well. Well, I thought wrong. I'm not sure if it was me still feeling ill, or me being tired from lack of sleep, or the swim kicking my ass, but I got on the bike, did 19 for about 2 miles, then could not get much over 16 for a long time. Like I just wanted to put the energy into going faster but for some reason just couldn't. Didn't want to go fast. A couple of times I got up near 20 and just held back, and I don't know why. Maybe it was mental pacing myself, knowing I have the half-marathon Saturday morning. But that won't fly come Ironman day.
Basically, I did the first trip around the Rickenbacker and to Virginia Key in 1:19. That's distance of about 21 miles, BTW. Essentially, a shitty ride. A really shitty ride. Just could not get anything going at all, and a little distressing after the good Century ride and strong trainer session. Even when I hit the few sharp turns on this ride, which I usually navigated ok a year ago when I was a worse biker, I just stopped, unclipped, and turned because I didn't have the energy to try and navigate them. It was a very strange ride to say the least.
The second trip wasn't so bad. I got up to 18 heading out and kept that speed, going a little faster on the road out to Jimbo’s and obviously slowing at Mount Miami. But as I turned around to head back Tony, the guy who cuts my hair and the friend I was staying with that night (he's straight, don't get any fucking ideas) texted me to see when was the soonest I could come in. My appointment was at 4, but he really wanted to take the rest of the day off, and since he was letting me stay at his place before the half-marathon I figured I do him a favor. I got back to my car at 2:40, and decided to call it a day. Yes, I cheated myself out of 20 minutes of a really shitty bike ride (averaged about 16, a record low for anything, ever)and that time was instead taken up by increased time swimming in open salt water. Probably something I needed more practice in anyway.
The swim felt good, though it was mentally tough. But man, did that bike suck., I'm not sure why I had nothing for it, I've done swim/bike bricks before, and done races where that certainly did not happen. I'll chalk it up to a shitty day. And fortunately I have one more ride of significance before the race to get my confidence back up.
Friday, October 30, 2009
T103 - Tapering with Trainer Trance - Bike (Trainer), Swim
Gainesville
After three days off, I began my last tapering week before Race Week. Tapering is where you actually decrease your training hours, although the way I'm going it I still have some long workouts, just more days off. I'm not sure if this is the best method, but I've found my motivation on the shorter ones to be lacking, so I try and create a situation where I can maximize the training value.
Bike: 60 minutes (Trainer)
wu: 10 minute RPE3
main: 40 minutes RPE 7
cd: 10 minutes RPE 3
2 Lipodrene
I opted for the trainer since I did this workout on Wednesday, and Wednesdays don't leave much room for me to train before dark unless I want to wake up super early. And that wasn't happening. And given that this was a tapering week and I had 2 other bike rides scheduled (including a long swim/bike brick) I thought this would be a good time to use the trainer. It is still hot as fuck in Gainesville, and more humid that some parts of the summer. So this evening session on the patio was still especially sweaty.
I used the iPod and after the initial 10 minutes spend the better part of the 40-minute interval in aero with my eyes closed trying to get into the trainer trace. the trainer trance is pretty awesome because you really don't even feel your legs working at all, but you still go a lot harder than you would if you were looking up. I broke the trance several times, but the middle 40 felt strong. I still had some problems with saddle sores or hemorrhoids or whatever they are, and found myself shifting a lot every time I stood up in the saddle. but at the end I ended up averaging 18.8 for the hour. And even though Trevor says that's a meaningless stat, I really have nothing else to go by. One of my faster trainer sessions and despite the sweatiness and monotonousness, it was a good workout.
Swim
main: 200, 2x100, 200, 2 x 100, 200,
long intervals at RPE4, short at RPE 7-8
2 Lipodrene
I actualyl went pretty much straight from the trainer to my car and headed over to GHFC. I really should have looked up the warmup before I left, because the first 200 felt a little labored and my lats felt really sore. In addition, it was getting late and as such I started feeling dizzy and overheated. I have noticed that those symptoms really aren't too bad until about 7 or 8 at night, so I'm trying to avoid training that late the rest of the cycle. And fortunately, the race starts early.
Anyway, I wouldn't say I exactly crushed this swim, and I felt short of breath a LOT. the water also felt expecially cool, meaning I was getting that overheated feeling again. I took long breaks betwen sets and managed to get the workout done in the manner prescribed. But I did not feel good during most of it. I am learning how to manage whatever this weird illness is, and working out earlier seems to be a good solution.
I then proceeded to miss Thursday's workout, meaning I have 3 hard workouts in 3 days in Miami. And as we all know, Miami workouts tend to suck. Hopefully, I can reverse that trend in my last real week of training.
After three days off, I began my last tapering week before Race Week. Tapering is where you actually decrease your training hours, although the way I'm going it I still have some long workouts, just more days off. I'm not sure if this is the best method, but I've found my motivation on the shorter ones to be lacking, so I try and create a situation where I can maximize the training value.
Bike: 60 minutes (Trainer)
wu: 10 minute RPE3
main: 40 minutes RPE 7
cd: 10 minutes RPE 3
2 Lipodrene
I opted for the trainer since I did this workout on Wednesday, and Wednesdays don't leave much room for me to train before dark unless I want to wake up super early. And that wasn't happening. And given that this was a tapering week and I had 2 other bike rides scheduled (including a long swim/bike brick) I thought this would be a good time to use the trainer. It is still hot as fuck in Gainesville, and more humid that some parts of the summer. So this evening session on the patio was still especially sweaty.
I used the iPod and after the initial 10 minutes spend the better part of the 40-minute interval in aero with my eyes closed trying to get into the trainer trace. the trainer trance is pretty awesome because you really don't even feel your legs working at all, but you still go a lot harder than you would if you were looking up. I broke the trance several times, but the middle 40 felt strong. I still had some problems with saddle sores or hemorrhoids or whatever they are, and found myself shifting a lot every time I stood up in the saddle. but at the end I ended up averaging 18.8 for the hour. And even though Trevor says that's a meaningless stat, I really have nothing else to go by. One of my faster trainer sessions and despite the sweatiness and monotonousness, it was a good workout.
Swim
main: 200, 2x100, 200, 2 x 100, 200,
long intervals at RPE4, short at RPE 7-8
2 Lipodrene
I actualyl went pretty much straight from the trainer to my car and headed over to GHFC. I really should have looked up the warmup before I left, because the first 200 felt a little labored and my lats felt really sore. In addition, it was getting late and as such I started feeling dizzy and overheated. I have noticed that those symptoms really aren't too bad until about 7 or 8 at night, so I'm trying to avoid training that late the rest of the cycle. And fortunately, the race starts early.
Anyway, I wouldn't say I exactly crushed this swim, and I felt short of breath a LOT. the water also felt expecially cool, meaning I was getting that overheated feeling again. I took long breaks betwen sets and managed to get the workout done in the manner prescribed. But I did not feel good during most of it. I am learning how to manage whatever this weird illness is, and working out earlier seems to be a good solution.
I then proceeded to miss Thursday's workout, meaning I have 3 hard workouts in 3 days in Miami. And as we all know, Miami workouts tend to suck. Hopefully, I can reverse that trend in my last real week of training.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
T102 - Santa Fe Century Ride - Bike
Gainesville
I am not a fan of group rides. But this weekend the Gainesville Cycling Club offers a couple of Century Rides that fit in perfectly with my training schedule. I chose this one because it had pizza afterward and was formerly sponsored by a Saturn dealer, and I felt like the challenge was the same as the next day’s Horse Farm 100. If that doesn’t sound North Florida enough for you.
Bike – 100 miles
2 Lipodrene
2 Advil
1 Endurolyte
The race started out a bit slow for my taste, with the pack of probably 300-400 riders all mobbed together. And since I don’t stop and start well, or really ride slow very well either, this was a bit frustrating. I found myself weaving in and out of people for the first 5 miles, not unlike the Komen Race for the Cure in New York. Except we were on bikes this time. By about mile 8 or 9 it has spread out enough that my only issue with crowds was the occasional large group going by me, and knowing when it was safe top re-enter the middle of the road. I tried to avoid drafting as much as possible, but didn’t mind at all if people did it off me. I’m really unfamiliar with the ethics and guidelines of group riding, so I just kind of went with the flow. I just didn’t want to make it too easy on myself either.
About mile 18 or so I had to piss like crazy. But knew it was at least 20 minutes to the next Rest Stop. It was raining lightly and I thought to myself “You know, Trevor has told me how a lot of people just piss while they’re on the bike and let it fly behind them There’s nobody behind me, and it’s raining anyway. Fuck it.” And so I found a downhill where I could just relax everything and let it rip. Rather disgusting, and my shoes and socks started feeling a little warm and wet, but within ten minutes I’d completely forgotten about it, and was like “Awesome. I just pissed myself on the bike.” It’s like an endurance athlete initiation, I think.
The first 25 miles felt really good, as I pulled into the first aid station at about 1:18 averaging about 19. The Rest Stops on this ride were incredible. Like they had M&Ms and whole packs of Oreos and Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches. It was like an elementary school lunch spread with water coolers at every 25-mile stop. I put my bike down, filled my Zephyrhills bottles (I am practicing with these as I’m planning on exchanging both bottles during the Ironman) and had about 4 Oreos and an Orange before heading back out.
1 Lipodrene
1 Advil
1 Endurolyte
Miles 25-50 were not as impressive. I once again found myself struggling to get up past 19, even though the wind was negligible on this gloomy Saturday afternoon. There was a lot of elevation gain, I think, over this 25 miles, and I got passed by a couple of groups I had no prayer of catching. And I wasn’t trying to draft, so I just had to let them go. It was at about the 2 hour mark that I felt that burst of speed and energy start to slip, and I realized I am a good cyclist for the first 2 hours of a long ride, then seem to fall off. “That’s the last I’ll see of 20,” I thought to myself, and resigned myself to a 6 hour ride. I hit the second rest stop at about 2:48, my average speed slowing to close to about 17.8. I had kinda hoped to break 18 today, but whatever. I had to finish the race.
1 Lipodrene
1 Endurolyte
My back wasn’t hurting so I skipped the Advil. Well’ once again I wasn’t feeling incredible coming out of the rest stop, but I noticed about a mile into this third leg that this was pretty flat and straight. SO I got back down into aero and a funny thing happened: I started going a solid 21-22. For a while. I mean I kept the speed up pretty much through the whole 25 miles of this section, save for one part where I went up to 25 to pass a guy. He drafted behind me, then offered to pull adding “I can pull if you want, but I can’t pull that fast.” Awesome. That was all I needed.
At that point I got back in aero, kicked it up a gear, and did a solid 25-27 for about 10 minutes. I still have no idea how I did that, and was wondering to myself at the time “”How are you doing this?” but then I realized that I’ve probably been able to do this all along. I just need something with no wind and no elevation to slow my momentum. For the first time, I raised the average speed of my ride a good .5 mps over the third 25 miles of a Century, and felt strong doing it. Yeah, that 4th Lipodrene may have had something to do with it. But who cares. I’ll do a pill every 25 miles on the Ironman if that’s what it takes. I got to Rest Stop 3 at the 77 mile marker at just over 4 hours, averaging about 18.6 Go hard enough and I’d be done in an hour and change.
1 Lipodrene,
1 Advil
1 Endurolyte
I will add here I was not using slat tabs but rather the Endurolytes sample I got with my race packet. Anyway, I was all jazzed up to crush the final 25 miles, when I strangely found myself once again unable to go over 15 consistently. I spent about the first 3-4 miles thinking “Fuck, this sucks. I guess I nuked my village going 27 up those hills.” Then I tried something: I shifted into a harder gear and used only a smaller amount of energy, and immediately found myself going 18. I got into Aero and was back over 20 for a good part of the ride.
When I got to the 441 crossing I had to unclip and stop, which was fine except for the fact that my left cleat came off save for one screw. As in the fucking cleat was hanging off the shoe so not only could I not clip in, but the fucking thing was scraping against the bike frame for the entire last 8 miles. Impressive, I was still able to go about 18-20 the last 8 miles and ended up averaging 18.4 for the ride. Funny how I haven’t averaged over 17 on any short rides in a while, but was able to turn in a pretty decent ride today.
Maybe I just have a better mentality on these longer rides. Like I know they mean something so I put in stronger effort. Either way, my 2 best workouts of the week were the 4000 meter swim and this 100 mile bike. And while ideally they’d all be good workouts, if you have to have 2 that stand out, those are the ones you want. I definitely got my bike confidence back today. My back barely hurt on this ride. My saddle sores didn’t bother me. And I had my fastest average speed on a ride over 50 miles. Can’t complain too much. And couldn’t ask for a better final Century ride before the Ironman. Except maybe for my shoe breaking.
I am not a fan of group rides. But this weekend the Gainesville Cycling Club offers a couple of Century Rides that fit in perfectly with my training schedule. I chose this one because it had pizza afterward and was formerly sponsored by a Saturn dealer, and I felt like the challenge was the same as the next day’s Horse Farm 100. If that doesn’t sound North Florida enough for you.
Bike – 100 miles
2 Lipodrene
2 Advil
1 Endurolyte
The race started out a bit slow for my taste, with the pack of probably 300-400 riders all mobbed together. And since I don’t stop and start well, or really ride slow very well either, this was a bit frustrating. I found myself weaving in and out of people for the first 5 miles, not unlike the Komen Race for the Cure in New York. Except we were on bikes this time. By about mile 8 or 9 it has spread out enough that my only issue with crowds was the occasional large group going by me, and knowing when it was safe top re-enter the middle of the road. I tried to avoid drafting as much as possible, but didn’t mind at all if people did it off me. I’m really unfamiliar with the ethics and guidelines of group riding, so I just kind of went with the flow. I just didn’t want to make it too easy on myself either.
About mile 18 or so I had to piss like crazy. But knew it was at least 20 minutes to the next Rest Stop. It was raining lightly and I thought to myself “You know, Trevor has told me how a lot of people just piss while they’re on the bike and let it fly behind them There’s nobody behind me, and it’s raining anyway. Fuck it.” And so I found a downhill where I could just relax everything and let it rip. Rather disgusting, and my shoes and socks started feeling a little warm and wet, but within ten minutes I’d completely forgotten about it, and was like “Awesome. I just pissed myself on the bike.” It’s like an endurance athlete initiation, I think.
The first 25 miles felt really good, as I pulled into the first aid station at about 1:18 averaging about 19. The Rest Stops on this ride were incredible. Like they had M&Ms and whole packs of Oreos and Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches. It was like an elementary school lunch spread with water coolers at every 25-mile stop. I put my bike down, filled my Zephyrhills bottles (I am practicing with these as I’m planning on exchanging both bottles during the Ironman) and had about 4 Oreos and an Orange before heading back out.
1 Lipodrene
1 Advil
1 Endurolyte
Miles 25-50 were not as impressive. I once again found myself struggling to get up past 19, even though the wind was negligible on this gloomy Saturday afternoon. There was a lot of elevation gain, I think, over this 25 miles, and I got passed by a couple of groups I had no prayer of catching. And I wasn’t trying to draft, so I just had to let them go. It was at about the 2 hour mark that I felt that burst of speed and energy start to slip, and I realized I am a good cyclist for the first 2 hours of a long ride, then seem to fall off. “That’s the last I’ll see of 20,” I thought to myself, and resigned myself to a 6 hour ride. I hit the second rest stop at about 2:48, my average speed slowing to close to about 17.8. I had kinda hoped to break 18 today, but whatever. I had to finish the race.
1 Lipodrene
1 Endurolyte
My back wasn’t hurting so I skipped the Advil. Well’ once again I wasn’t feeling incredible coming out of the rest stop, but I noticed about a mile into this third leg that this was pretty flat and straight. SO I got back down into aero and a funny thing happened: I started going a solid 21-22. For a while. I mean I kept the speed up pretty much through the whole 25 miles of this section, save for one part where I went up to 25 to pass a guy. He drafted behind me, then offered to pull adding “I can pull if you want, but I can’t pull that fast.” Awesome. That was all I needed.
At that point I got back in aero, kicked it up a gear, and did a solid 25-27 for about 10 minutes. I still have no idea how I did that, and was wondering to myself at the time “”How are you doing this?” but then I realized that I’ve probably been able to do this all along. I just need something with no wind and no elevation to slow my momentum. For the first time, I raised the average speed of my ride a good .5 mps over the third 25 miles of a Century, and felt strong doing it. Yeah, that 4th Lipodrene may have had something to do with it. But who cares. I’ll do a pill every 25 miles on the Ironman if that’s what it takes. I got to Rest Stop 3 at the 77 mile marker at just over 4 hours, averaging about 18.6 Go hard enough and I’d be done in an hour and change.
1 Lipodrene,
1 Advil
1 Endurolyte
I will add here I was not using slat tabs but rather the Endurolytes sample I got with my race packet. Anyway, I was all jazzed up to crush the final 25 miles, when I strangely found myself once again unable to go over 15 consistently. I spent about the first 3-4 miles thinking “Fuck, this sucks. I guess I nuked my village going 27 up those hills.” Then I tried something: I shifted into a harder gear and used only a smaller amount of energy, and immediately found myself going 18. I got into Aero and was back over 20 for a good part of the ride.
When I got to the 441 crossing I had to unclip and stop, which was fine except for the fact that my left cleat came off save for one screw. As in the fucking cleat was hanging off the shoe so not only could I not clip in, but the fucking thing was scraping against the bike frame for the entire last 8 miles. Impressive, I was still able to go about 18-20 the last 8 miles and ended up averaging 18.4 for the ride. Funny how I haven’t averaged over 17 on any short rides in a while, but was able to turn in a pretty decent ride today.
Maybe I just have a better mentality on these longer rides. Like I know they mean something so I put in stronger effort. Either way, my 2 best workouts of the week were the 4000 meter swim and this 100 mile bike. And while ideally they’d all be good workouts, if you have to have 2 that stand out, those are the ones you want. I definitely got my bike confidence back today. My back barely hurt on this ride. My saddle sores didn’t bother me. And I had my fastest average speed on a ride over 50 miles. Can’t complain too much. And couldn’t ask for a better final Century ride before the Ironman. Except maybe for my shoe breaking.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
T101 - The Yack and Rally - Swim
Gainesville
For Aaron Klueber...
I have this friend who likes to yack ("yack" is slang for vomiting, for the unaware). It is usually brought on by alcohol consumption, but this guy will generally empty the contents of his stomach into the nearest appropriate receptacle and/or sidewalk after drink 4 or 5. Sometimes multiple times in a night. But the guy never quits. He just yacks, picks his beer back up, and keeps drinking. And it's that kind of dedication that motivated me to fight through an otherwise uncomfortable swim on Friday.
Swim: speed day
wu: 3 x 200 - swim, kick, pull
main: 16 x 50 odds RPE 4, evens RPE 8-9
2 Lipodrene
This warmup was unpleasantly long. Especially for a day of sprints. Nonetheless, it felt fine (slow kicking, but that really is low on my list of things to improve at this point) until I got to the third lap of the "pull" section. It was at that point that I felt like my stomach had grown a garbage disposal blade and it was banging against my intestines. I somehow managed to make it through the last lap, and then just hightailed it into the locker room and let it rip into the toilet. And I get REAL loud when I'm yacking, like it sounds like someone is dying. I was just glad nobody stopped in asking if I was ok. I just stood over the bowl in my jammer spitting and yacking for about 2 or 3 minutes, gave myself a few minutes of sitting down by the pool to recover, then got right back at it. Yack and rally. It's the only way to go.
I did the 50s as one at race pace and one sprinting. This worked fairly well as the first set was a little shaky given the yacking, but after that I settled in to a solid pace. I did let up a few times on the last quarter lap of the sprints, maybe on some of the middle sets. Those were sprints where I'd give myself a nice long breather in between and then do pretty well on the next 2 or 3 sets of 50s. And as I got further along in the training day, the intervals got shorter. So the last sprints felt better than the first few. Again, maybe I just needed a sprint warmup, or, better still, needed to get further away from the yacking.
Either way I motivated myself with the yack and rally. Turning in a pretty solid swim after emptying my stomach in the GHFC bathroom is pretty fucking awesome. And maybe that was this illness' final exit from my body. I felt ok the rest of the day, which was good considering I had the Century ride on Saturday. Because the training card called for a 3 hour ride Saturday, I opted to give my legs a rest Friday and tack the 90 minute ride onto Saturday's workout, then add about another hour. Basically what I"m saying is I saw no point in tiring out my legs the day before a Centruy ride, and felt the 90 minutes of energy would be better spent elsewhere.
For Aaron Klueber...
I have this friend who likes to yack ("yack" is slang for vomiting, for the unaware). It is usually brought on by alcohol consumption, but this guy will generally empty the contents of his stomach into the nearest appropriate receptacle and/or sidewalk after drink 4 or 5. Sometimes multiple times in a night. But the guy never quits. He just yacks, picks his beer back up, and keeps drinking. And it's that kind of dedication that motivated me to fight through an otherwise uncomfortable swim on Friday.
Swim: speed day
wu: 3 x 200 - swim, kick, pull
main: 16 x 50 odds RPE 4, evens RPE 8-9
2 Lipodrene
This warmup was unpleasantly long. Especially for a day of sprints. Nonetheless, it felt fine (slow kicking, but that really is low on my list of things to improve at this point) until I got to the third lap of the "pull" section. It was at that point that I felt like my stomach had grown a garbage disposal blade and it was banging against my intestines. I somehow managed to make it through the last lap, and then just hightailed it into the locker room and let it rip into the toilet. And I get REAL loud when I'm yacking, like it sounds like someone is dying. I was just glad nobody stopped in asking if I was ok. I just stood over the bowl in my jammer spitting and yacking for about 2 or 3 minutes, gave myself a few minutes of sitting down by the pool to recover, then got right back at it. Yack and rally. It's the only way to go.
I did the 50s as one at race pace and one sprinting. This worked fairly well as the first set was a little shaky given the yacking, but after that I settled in to a solid pace. I did let up a few times on the last quarter lap of the sprints, maybe on some of the middle sets. Those were sprints where I'd give myself a nice long breather in between and then do pretty well on the next 2 or 3 sets of 50s. And as I got further along in the training day, the intervals got shorter. So the last sprints felt better than the first few. Again, maybe I just needed a sprint warmup, or, better still, needed to get further away from the yacking.
Either way I motivated myself with the yack and rally. Turning in a pretty solid swim after emptying my stomach in the GHFC bathroom is pretty fucking awesome. And maybe that was this illness' final exit from my body. I felt ok the rest of the day, which was good considering I had the Century ride on Saturday. Because the training card called for a 3 hour ride Saturday, I opted to give my legs a rest Friday and tack the 90 minute ride onto Saturday's workout, then add about another hour. Basically what I"m saying is I saw no point in tiring out my legs the day before a Centruy ride, and felt the 90 minutes of energy would be better spent elsewhere.
Friday, October 23, 2009
T100 - This is Just How It's Gonna Feel - Bike/Run Brick
Gainesville
Bike: 60 minutes at RPE 4-5
2 Lipodrene
Still not feeling well. But given my lackluster bike performance on my previous couple of rides on 441, I thought this would be a good opportunity for a little confindence builder on Hawthorne. The goal was to make it to the 30 minute turnaround from that first strong ride I did with Trevor, and I figured I had enough in me to do that and the long run. Didn't quite happen.
I won't say this ride was bad, but when it took me over 8 minutes to make it to the trailhead I knew I wasn't setting any records Thursday. Again, I was able to get into aero and I didn't feel particularly bad, but places where I had been doing about 21-22 a few weeks ago I was now doing about 20. Every spot was about a solid 1.5 mph slower than I'd been doing. Didn't even make it to nigbridge in 28 (I had been doing sub-25 my last rides) and fell well short of the turnaround when I turned around.
I thought maybe this was a case of having some sort of headwind, or maybe one of those times I just needed a warmup. And while I did make in it back 30 seconds faster than I'd made it down (pretty good considering the return incline on Hawthorne) my average speed somehow went down. Yeah, my computer is once again jacked up. So I will be taking it in. But despite that, this ride was better than the last couple, but still disappointing to basically have regressed back to where I was in June.
Run - 2 Hours
1 Lipodrene
I read in the Ironman athlete's guide that they will be providing chocolate chip cookies at the aid stations on the run. I believe they did this at the Half in Orlando too, but I was always skeptical to take them for fear of getting a sideache. But this, friends, is why we train. So I bought a box of the CVS Decadence cookies and put them in the Saturn Aid Station for the run. I even had one right before I started and felt fine. I think the motivation chocolate chip cookies may play a major role in my making my way through the marathon.
Run started out feeling good, but by about the 3 mile mark I again was feeling light headed and dizzy. I thought I was slowing down, but actually found myself ahead in the music on the iPod (and I've started to freeze the buttons on it in the hopes of keeping it from freezing up, so I don't skip any songs), so I guess I wasn't going any slower than before. But I just felt soooo lethargic and tired. And dizzy. And a few times just wanting to take a nap.
I got through the run fine, and did it in abut my usual time. Or so I could tell. I had cookies both times I stopped at the Saturn Aid Station, and they were delicious. And didn't hurt my stomach nearly as much as the Gatorade did.
Because I've never pushed my run much, it really hasn't bothered me. Like I never hurt that much, I just get used to a constant dull pain from about mile 5 on. And the difference for me between 13-18 miles isn't a whole lot. 18-26, though, I'm thinking might. Point is, because I go slow and steady, I think I can keep it up longer even feeling like I have. So I have come to accept that dizzy and short of breath and tired is how I may well feel through the entire Ironman. It'll suck, and I'm pretty sure it's gonna cost me some time. And while that is disappointing, I've now felt like this for almost a month and really see no imminent signs of improvment. Just gotta play the hand you're deal, I suppose.
A friend, who I passed on my run, texted me later that night and I told her about how I'd been feeling like shit. She mentioned a lot of her friends had been coming down with mild cases of mono. Great. That's just what I need. But, it's not going to stop me either. Slow me down, sure, but not stop me. And hey, I'm training with that feeling. So come race day, dizziness and lethergy will just be a part of it I'm used to.
Bike: 60 minutes at RPE 4-5
2 Lipodrene
Still not feeling well. But given my lackluster bike performance on my previous couple of rides on 441, I thought this would be a good opportunity for a little confindence builder on Hawthorne. The goal was to make it to the 30 minute turnaround from that first strong ride I did with Trevor, and I figured I had enough in me to do that and the long run. Didn't quite happen.
I won't say this ride was bad, but when it took me over 8 minutes to make it to the trailhead I knew I wasn't setting any records Thursday. Again, I was able to get into aero and I didn't feel particularly bad, but places where I had been doing about 21-22 a few weeks ago I was now doing about 20. Every spot was about a solid 1.5 mph slower than I'd been doing. Didn't even make it to nigbridge in 28 (I had been doing sub-25 my last rides) and fell well short of the turnaround when I turned around.
I thought maybe this was a case of having some sort of headwind, or maybe one of those times I just needed a warmup. And while I did make in it back 30 seconds faster than I'd made it down (pretty good considering the return incline on Hawthorne) my average speed somehow went down. Yeah, my computer is once again jacked up. So I will be taking it in. But despite that, this ride was better than the last couple, but still disappointing to basically have regressed back to where I was in June.
Run - 2 Hours
1 Lipodrene
I read in the Ironman athlete's guide that they will be providing chocolate chip cookies at the aid stations on the run. I believe they did this at the Half in Orlando too, but I was always skeptical to take them for fear of getting a sideache. But this, friends, is why we train. So I bought a box of the CVS Decadence cookies and put them in the Saturn Aid Station for the run. I even had one right before I started and felt fine. I think the motivation chocolate chip cookies may play a major role in my making my way through the marathon.
Run started out feeling good, but by about the 3 mile mark I again was feeling light headed and dizzy. I thought I was slowing down, but actually found myself ahead in the music on the iPod (and I've started to freeze the buttons on it in the hopes of keeping it from freezing up, so I don't skip any songs), so I guess I wasn't going any slower than before. But I just felt soooo lethargic and tired. And dizzy. And a few times just wanting to take a nap.
I got through the run fine, and did it in abut my usual time. Or so I could tell. I had cookies both times I stopped at the Saturn Aid Station, and they were delicious. And didn't hurt my stomach nearly as much as the Gatorade did.
Because I've never pushed my run much, it really hasn't bothered me. Like I never hurt that much, I just get used to a constant dull pain from about mile 5 on. And the difference for me between 13-18 miles isn't a whole lot. 18-26, though, I'm thinking might. Point is, because I go slow and steady, I think I can keep it up longer even feeling like I have. So I have come to accept that dizzy and short of breath and tired is how I may well feel through the entire Ironman. It'll suck, and I'm pretty sure it's gonna cost me some time. And while that is disappointing, I've now felt like this for almost a month and really see no imminent signs of improvment. Just gotta play the hand you're deal, I suppose.
A friend, who I passed on my run, texted me later that night and I told her about how I'd been feeling like shit. She mentioned a lot of her friends had been coming down with mild cases of mono. Great. That's just what I need. But, it's not going to stop me either. Slow me down, sure, but not stop me. And hey, I'm training with that feeling. So come race day, dizziness and lethergy will just be a part of it I'm used to.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
T99 - Relapse - Bike, Swim
Gainesville
Bike: 120 minutes with hills. Solid effort ranging from RPE 3 to RPE 7
2 Lipodrene
441 and I have never been friends when it comes to the bike. I can honestly remember exactly one ride I've had on it that felt good, and I was hopped up on all kinds of Sudaed that day. Tuesday, I opted against the Sudafed, but still felt this was the course I needed to be biking to prepare for the wind on on the Ironman.
Heading down, I was not flying through Alligator Alley as I had been on my last trip, so I decided I would do a solid one hour down and another back. Simple enough. I felt a good combination of headwind and tailwind, meaning that the resistance should be about the same both ways. Even looked like a bit of a crosswind going through Payne's Prairie.
The fucking computer was still acting weird, registering speeds like 10 and 15 when I clearly knew I was going faster. I didn't so much mind, but it was a little disappointing when I saw my average speed on the way down was about 16, and I knew full well I was going faster. But this was only one factor that led to a very sbu-par ride.
It was close to the end of the day, meaning I was getting this ride in as late as possible, and didn't really want to be out there. I have also noticed my effort on short workouts has also diminished, because the long ones seem so much more relevant. I mean, if you're not going to put in any effort, why even bother training? It was sad, really. I also was feeling light headed and dizzy and sluggish again. I thought I'd given my body enough rest, but it appears that that didn't do the trick. I just have no motivation to kick it into high gear (no pun intended) and it showed on the way back.
I'm not sure if it's the realization that I'm going to have to not fight the wind super hard on the Ironman that has led to this, but when the wind kicked up in some spots I just flat out didn't give a shit. I just up-shifted and let it slow me down. then I'd look at my speedometer and see "10" (which was wrong) and not know exactly how much I"d slowed, and cared even less. Just a lackluster effort altogether, and what's worse was it didn't even bother me. This is a bad sign. I've now come to hate being on the bike, where until maybe a month ago I loved it. It's starting to feel like last cycle, and I don't like it one bit. But my body is just not responding and because the only way I can go faster is if my body can do it (as in I don't really push myself much. I need to start responding but I'm just lethargic all the time on bike rides. All I can do is hope I start getting back into it in the next few weeks.
Swim: race-specific
main: 3 x 750,
1 is RPE 3, 2 is RPE9 for first 100 then RPE5, 3 is RPE 5
2 Lipodrene
I figured maybe more stimulants would help make for a better swim. Now I"m starting to think this bottle of Lipodrene is just an ephedra-free knockoff that the ephedra outlet scammed me on. I'm really feeling nothing. Anyway, I headed out to GHFC after about half an hour at home. The first 750 was a little tough, as my lats were still a little sore form the previous evening's 2x2000. Understandable. So my first 750 took about 17 minutes, much slower than the night before, but again I wasn't overly concerned. The second one went well, but I still felt short of breath and found myself dogging it a few times. It wasn't the soreness, but more the tiredness. Again, bad sign.
Strangely, the third one went well and I did it in 15 minutes, which while slower than I'd like to be doing a 750 was still right on my race pace. I got out of the water and was immediately dizzy and wanted to sit down. I sort of dazed through the locker room, slugged to my car, and drove home.
This sickness isn't going away. I've come to realize that it has caused training to regress, and the more I think about it, the worse training gets. I don't know why I feel slower and less motivated now than I did a month ago. Maybe it's the fatigue of training. Maybe it's the cooler weather. Maybe it's whatever this is that makes me dizzy and short of breath all the time (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome would be cool just cuz it was on Golden Girls). But it seems here to stay. Now I have to deal with it.
Bike: 120 minutes with hills. Solid effort ranging from RPE 3 to RPE 7
2 Lipodrene
441 and I have never been friends when it comes to the bike. I can honestly remember exactly one ride I've had on it that felt good, and I was hopped up on all kinds of Sudaed that day. Tuesday, I opted against the Sudafed, but still felt this was the course I needed to be biking to prepare for the wind on on the Ironman.
Heading down, I was not flying through Alligator Alley as I had been on my last trip, so I decided I would do a solid one hour down and another back. Simple enough. I felt a good combination of headwind and tailwind, meaning that the resistance should be about the same both ways. Even looked like a bit of a crosswind going through Payne's Prairie.
The fucking computer was still acting weird, registering speeds like 10 and 15 when I clearly knew I was going faster. I didn't so much mind, but it was a little disappointing when I saw my average speed on the way down was about 16, and I knew full well I was going faster. But this was only one factor that led to a very sbu-par ride.
It was close to the end of the day, meaning I was getting this ride in as late as possible, and didn't really want to be out there. I have also noticed my effort on short workouts has also diminished, because the long ones seem so much more relevant. I mean, if you're not going to put in any effort, why even bother training? It was sad, really. I also was feeling light headed and dizzy and sluggish again. I thought I'd given my body enough rest, but it appears that that didn't do the trick. I just have no motivation to kick it into high gear (no pun intended) and it showed on the way back.
I'm not sure if it's the realization that I'm going to have to not fight the wind super hard on the Ironman that has led to this, but when the wind kicked up in some spots I just flat out didn't give a shit. I just up-shifted and let it slow me down. then I'd look at my speedometer and see "10" (which was wrong) and not know exactly how much I"d slowed, and cared even less. Just a lackluster effort altogether, and what's worse was it didn't even bother me. This is a bad sign. I've now come to hate being on the bike, where until maybe a month ago I loved it. It's starting to feel like last cycle, and I don't like it one bit. But my body is just not responding and because the only way I can go faster is if my body can do it (as in I don't really push myself much. I need to start responding but I'm just lethargic all the time on bike rides. All I can do is hope I start getting back into it in the next few weeks.
Swim: race-specific
main: 3 x 750,
1 is RPE 3, 2 is RPE9 for first 100 then RPE5, 3 is RPE 5
2 Lipodrene
I figured maybe more stimulants would help make for a better swim. Now I"m starting to think this bottle of Lipodrene is just an ephedra-free knockoff that the ephedra outlet scammed me on. I'm really feeling nothing. Anyway, I headed out to GHFC after about half an hour at home. The first 750 was a little tough, as my lats were still a little sore form the previous evening's 2x2000. Understandable. So my first 750 took about 17 minutes, much slower than the night before, but again I wasn't overly concerned. The second one went well, but I still felt short of breath and found myself dogging it a few times. It wasn't the soreness, but more the tiredness. Again, bad sign.
Strangely, the third one went well and I did it in 15 minutes, which while slower than I'd like to be doing a 750 was still right on my race pace. I got out of the water and was immediately dizzy and wanted to sit down. I sort of dazed through the locker room, slugged to my car, and drove home.
This sickness isn't going away. I've come to realize that it has caused training to regress, and the more I think about it, the worse training gets. I don't know why I feel slower and less motivated now than I did a month ago. Maybe it's the fatigue of training. Maybe it's the cooler weather. Maybe it's whatever this is that makes me dizzy and short of breath all the time (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome would be cool just cuz it was on Golden Girls). But it seems here to stay. Now I have to deal with it.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
T98 - Hope in a Sea of Chlorine - Swim
Gainesville
There was a girl I used to date who was always asking me, like most women do, what I was thinking. But this one had a particular interest in what I thought about during long training sessions with no music.
"Well, on swims," I told her, "I think about girls I've slept with, in order, to keep track of laps. Like lap one is my college girlfriend who was my first, and so on.."
"Really?!" she smiled, "So do you think about me?"
"I'll be balls deep in Ironman training before I get to you," I told her. Not sure she liked that response. This girl was #81, so today's 4000 meter swim would be as close as I would ever get to her getting a lap. Of course, I don't really employ that method anymore, so the point is moot. But it takes a swim where you do the same distance as the Ironman race to get that far in my sexual history. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.
Swim - 2x2000
2 Sudafed
2 Lipodrene
I had been feeling a little sniffley and drwosy, so I took some Sudafed to clear that up maybe an hour or so before the swim, then knocked back a couple Lipodrene before heading to the GHFC pool. I didn't even bother with a warmup, as it was already about 9 p.m. and I knew I was going to be in the pool for a while. So I hit the water strong and found myself keeping a nice form with a good push for a while. Stroke felt good, glide felt good. Everything felt good. I looked up around lap 12 of the first set and saw I had done 12 laps in 10 minutes, pretty much the reverse of how it had been up until this cycle. I was pleased.
The first set went well, and I managed to get through the whole thing at a fairly even pace and finished it in 38 minutes. So looks like I went real strong the first 500 meters or so, then settled into a good race pace. Which is probably exactly what I'll need to do during the race. I took a gel and some water after the first 40 laps, but my break was probably less than a minute. I feel like this is a good simulation for the "break" between laps on the course, since you have to get out of the water and start again. I didn't feel like running around the GHFC pool deck either. That mighta looked weird.
The second 40 laps also felt strong, and I never felt myself really let up at all. About lap 20 I started to feel a small cramp in my hamstring when I pushed off the wall, and by lap 25 I started to feel cramps in my lats and forearms. Not so much I had to stop, but definitely enough that I felt it. I'm not sure if salt tabs will help this, but I am mildly concerned since if I cramp up 1000 yards from shore during the race, I'm pretty fucked. Throw in a wetsuit that makes you sweat more, and I gotta definitely figure out how to mitigate this in the next couple of weeks.
But the swim felt strong the whole time, and I ended up finishing in 80 minutes, including my break. This is right where I wanted to be, and it was nice to have a training day where I actaully met a goal and felt strong for once.
I used my outdoor goggles, since I need to get used to having those on for long periods of time. They left deep caverns on my eye sockets, making me look about 10 years more weathered than I am. And about lap 60 I really started wanting to take them off. But otherwise they worked great. I also was wondering if I can put a gel in my wetsuit to take at the halfway point on the race. I'll definitely have to look into that once the wetsuit comes in the mail. But the main thing I thought as I got out of the pool, feeling a little tired but still energized was, "Ok, pal. You ready to go and get on that bike?"
There was a girl I used to date who was always asking me, like most women do, what I was thinking. But this one had a particular interest in what I thought about during long training sessions with no music.
"Well, on swims," I told her, "I think about girls I've slept with, in order, to keep track of laps. Like lap one is my college girlfriend who was my first, and so on.."
"Really?!" she smiled, "So do you think about me?"
"I'll be balls deep in Ironman training before I get to you," I told her. Not sure she liked that response. This girl was #81, so today's 4000 meter swim would be as close as I would ever get to her getting a lap. Of course, I don't really employ that method anymore, so the point is moot. But it takes a swim where you do the same distance as the Ironman race to get that far in my sexual history. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.
Swim - 2x2000
2 Sudafed
2 Lipodrene
I had been feeling a little sniffley and drwosy, so I took some Sudafed to clear that up maybe an hour or so before the swim, then knocked back a couple Lipodrene before heading to the GHFC pool. I didn't even bother with a warmup, as it was already about 9 p.m. and I knew I was going to be in the pool for a while. So I hit the water strong and found myself keeping a nice form with a good push for a while. Stroke felt good, glide felt good. Everything felt good. I looked up around lap 12 of the first set and saw I had done 12 laps in 10 minutes, pretty much the reverse of how it had been up until this cycle. I was pleased.
The first set went well, and I managed to get through the whole thing at a fairly even pace and finished it in 38 minutes. So looks like I went real strong the first 500 meters or so, then settled into a good race pace. Which is probably exactly what I'll need to do during the race. I took a gel and some water after the first 40 laps, but my break was probably less than a minute. I feel like this is a good simulation for the "break" between laps on the course, since you have to get out of the water and start again. I didn't feel like running around the GHFC pool deck either. That mighta looked weird.
The second 40 laps also felt strong, and I never felt myself really let up at all. About lap 20 I started to feel a small cramp in my hamstring when I pushed off the wall, and by lap 25 I started to feel cramps in my lats and forearms. Not so much I had to stop, but definitely enough that I felt it. I'm not sure if salt tabs will help this, but I am mildly concerned since if I cramp up 1000 yards from shore during the race, I'm pretty fucked. Throw in a wetsuit that makes you sweat more, and I gotta definitely figure out how to mitigate this in the next couple of weeks.
But the swim felt strong the whole time, and I ended up finishing in 80 minutes, including my break. This is right where I wanted to be, and it was nice to have a training day where I actaully met a goal and felt strong for once.
I used my outdoor goggles, since I need to get used to having those on for long periods of time. They left deep caverns on my eye sockets, making me look about 10 years more weathered than I am. And about lap 60 I really started wanting to take them off. But otherwise they worked great. I also was wondering if I can put a gel in my wetsuit to take at the halfway point on the race. I'll definitely have to look into that once the wetsuit comes in the mail. But the main thing I thought as I got out of the pool, feeling a little tired but still energized was, "Ok, pal. You ready to go and get on that bike?"
Monday, October 19, 2009
T97 - Easing Back In - Bike, Swim
Gainesville
With the long swim coming up Monday, I wanted to get a training day in before jumping right back in to Iron-distance training days. The Recovery week has a short bike and short swim scheduled for one of the days, so that looked like the perfect day to transition from rest into the final phase of real training. I felt better Sunday. Not 100 percent, but a lot better. And the weather has cooled off. A lot. So I actually had to bust out the long spandex.
Bike - 90 minutes
2 Lipodrene
As I said before, it was fucking cold Sunday. Maybe 70 degrees, which meant this was the first time I'd have to train in cold all cycle. And, after seeing the brutality of the wind on the PCB course, I decided that my rides from here on out need to be windy. I fucking hate wind, but what am I accomplishing by avoiding it during training? So I opted to head down 441 to Cafe Risque, my favorite 90-minute ride.
I knew I was in for some shit when I found myself doing a blissful 24 through Alligator Alley, and not really dropping below 22 the whole ride down to the Cafe. I mean, I thoroughly enjoyed the tailwind but at the same time, I knew that trip back was going to suck. Made it to the parking lot (pulled in the same time as one of the dancers. I hope she's into spandex) at 41:20, and figured if I made it back in under 90 minutes, good for me for going so fast.
Yeah, notsomuch.
The wind on the way back was brutal, and my speedometer, once again, decided to be sporadic. Like I would be going 17, then 12, then 7, then 19. It felt like 19 in most of those spots, but I'm starting to get massively frustrated at my computer doing this shit after every time I clean the bike (which I did before the PCB ride) and this time it didn't help my speed at all. The wind was tough, and cold, and I fought it with little effort. I've realized this is going to have to be my strategy on the Ironman course, as I can't just fight it hard the whole time. If it slows my speed, it slows my speed, but I need to finish and killing my legs to maintain 18 in a headwind is not going to help that.
I made it back in 1:33, taking me almost 7 minutes longer to get back than get down. My average speed ended up at 16.8, not exactly blazing. Yeah, the wind kicks my ass. But this is why I'm training in it. Hopefully I can improve it a little before the race. But thus far avoiding wind I think has been my major misstep in training.
Swim - 4x300 (300 easy, 300 kick, 300 easy, 300 kick)
1 Lipodrene
I wasn't feeling super energetic after the bike, but I had planned to separate the workouts anyway. I ended up passing out for about half an hour, then headed out to GHFC at about 7:30. The swim felt good, and I think mentally I'll be able to do the 2x2000. My muscles felt ok, but the long kick sessions were not fun. I think I even said out loud at one point "This is fucking ridiculous!" 12 laps of kick?! I mean, ok, I did it and it's a good training value, but while my swim times have gotten better, my kickboard times have not and as such I spent 2/3 of the time on that. But I felt ok in the pool, and when I got out. Agian, didn't crush the swim but it was good for a first day back.
All in all, a decent first day back, but I need to get back into that ultra-distance mode. Monday's swim will be telling, as will the Century ride Saturday. I have a lot of dual workout days this week as well, which will be tough to fit in given my scheudle. Seriously, no idea how anyone with a real life does this stuff.
With the long swim coming up Monday, I wanted to get a training day in before jumping right back in to Iron-distance training days. The Recovery week has a short bike and short swim scheduled for one of the days, so that looked like the perfect day to transition from rest into the final phase of real training. I felt better Sunday. Not 100 percent, but a lot better. And the weather has cooled off. A lot. So I actually had to bust out the long spandex.
Bike - 90 minutes
2 Lipodrene
As I said before, it was fucking cold Sunday. Maybe 70 degrees, which meant this was the first time I'd have to train in cold all cycle. And, after seeing the brutality of the wind on the PCB course, I decided that my rides from here on out need to be windy. I fucking hate wind, but what am I accomplishing by avoiding it during training? So I opted to head down 441 to Cafe Risque, my favorite 90-minute ride.
I knew I was in for some shit when I found myself doing a blissful 24 through Alligator Alley, and not really dropping below 22 the whole ride down to the Cafe. I mean, I thoroughly enjoyed the tailwind but at the same time, I knew that trip back was going to suck. Made it to the parking lot (pulled in the same time as one of the dancers. I hope she's into spandex) at 41:20, and figured if I made it back in under 90 minutes, good for me for going so fast.
Yeah, notsomuch.
The wind on the way back was brutal, and my speedometer, once again, decided to be sporadic. Like I would be going 17, then 12, then 7, then 19. It felt like 19 in most of those spots, but I'm starting to get massively frustrated at my computer doing this shit after every time I clean the bike (which I did before the PCB ride) and this time it didn't help my speed at all. The wind was tough, and cold, and I fought it with little effort. I've realized this is going to have to be my strategy on the Ironman course, as I can't just fight it hard the whole time. If it slows my speed, it slows my speed, but I need to finish and killing my legs to maintain 18 in a headwind is not going to help that.
I made it back in 1:33, taking me almost 7 minutes longer to get back than get down. My average speed ended up at 16.8, not exactly blazing. Yeah, the wind kicks my ass. But this is why I'm training in it. Hopefully I can improve it a little before the race. But thus far avoiding wind I think has been my major misstep in training.
Swim - 4x300 (300 easy, 300 kick, 300 easy, 300 kick)
1 Lipodrene
I wasn't feeling super energetic after the bike, but I had planned to separate the workouts anyway. I ended up passing out for about half an hour, then headed out to GHFC at about 7:30. The swim felt good, and I think mentally I'll be able to do the 2x2000. My muscles felt ok, but the long kick sessions were not fun. I think I even said out loud at one point "This is fucking ridiculous!" 12 laps of kick?! I mean, ok, I did it and it's a good training value, but while my swim times have gotten better, my kickboard times have not and as such I spent 2/3 of the time on that. But I felt ok in the pool, and when I got out. Agian, didn't crush the swim but it was good for a first day back.
All in all, a decent first day back, but I need to get back into that ultra-distance mode. Monday's swim will be telling, as will the Century ride Saturday. I have a lot of dual workout days this week as well, which will be tough to fit in given my scheudle. Seriously, no idea how anyone with a real life does this stuff.
Friday, October 16, 2009
T96 - Listeneing to my Body, For Once - Run
Gainesville
So I am officially sick. I'm admitting it. Something is definitely wrong here as I've started to feel myself getting winded going from my bedroom into the kitchen. Not exactly what one should feel like 4 weeks before an Ironman, yeah? And while I'm definitely not one to puss out on a workout, I have also been asking a lot from my body these past 4 months. And for the most part it's given it to me. So now I feel like my body is asking something of me: Some significant rest time before the final three weeks. So I am giving that to it in exchange for an all out effort for the rest of this cycle.
I came to this realization during my run on Tuesday. Was supposed to be a nice little 90-minute trot to keep myself in shape. But it was not what I had hoped.
Run: 90 minutes. Remember when 90 minutes was the hard long run?!
2 Lipodrene
This was the quote from the training card. And yes, I do remember that. Sadly, Tuesday's run felt more like some shit from before I ever ran more than three miles. I did the usual Campus Loop Plus Stadium trip for this, and during the loop, I just felt like I was plodding the whole time. Like I was able to go, but my body just wouldn't respond to do anything faster than what felt like a slow plod. Judging by where I was in the music on the iPod, I was only about 45 second to a minute slower by the time I got to the turn up the hill on 2nd Ave., and only about 2 minutes slower for the whole loop. Not a good sign, but not as awful as I'd thought. But the whole loop I just would try and go a little faster, and my body wouldn't respond. It just didn't have the energy.
The stadium trip wasn't a whole lop better, as the trip out felt labored until I got to the flat ground in front of campus. By the end I was chopping steps and begging for the end. I was just dizzy and tired the whole time, and every time I had to stop for a light or whatever I seriously considered just stopping altogether. I did not, but this lack of energy is very concerning.
As I struggled upstairs, feeling just tired and sluggish after the run, I realized I need some rest. Like this is recovery week, and while I'm a fan of active recovery, my body needs more rest than that right now. I'm going to use my last 2 extra days this week, and skip a workout or two to get myself beck to where I need to be. Saddle sores gone. Energy back. I think continuing to push it during a week with no significant workouts will be counter productive in this state. My immune system can handle it. I may opt to do one or two workouts this weekend, depending on how I'm feeling. But if I feel dizzy or overheated during the day, I'm taking the day off.
Next Monday it's back to training with a 2x2000 swim. From there it's balls out to a century ride on Saturday, then another week of maintenance until tapering on race week. I just hope I haven't peaked too early, and this illness, or whatever it is, has subsided by race day.
So I am officially sick. I'm admitting it. Something is definitely wrong here as I've started to feel myself getting winded going from my bedroom into the kitchen. Not exactly what one should feel like 4 weeks before an Ironman, yeah? And while I'm definitely not one to puss out on a workout, I have also been asking a lot from my body these past 4 months. And for the most part it's given it to me. So now I feel like my body is asking something of me: Some significant rest time before the final three weeks. So I am giving that to it in exchange for an all out effort for the rest of this cycle.
I came to this realization during my run on Tuesday. Was supposed to be a nice little 90-minute trot to keep myself in shape. But it was not what I had hoped.
Run: 90 minutes. Remember when 90 minutes was the hard long run?!
2 Lipodrene
This was the quote from the training card. And yes, I do remember that. Sadly, Tuesday's run felt more like some shit from before I ever ran more than three miles. I did the usual Campus Loop Plus Stadium trip for this, and during the loop, I just felt like I was plodding the whole time. Like I was able to go, but my body just wouldn't respond to do anything faster than what felt like a slow plod. Judging by where I was in the music on the iPod, I was only about 45 second to a minute slower by the time I got to the turn up the hill on 2nd Ave., and only about 2 minutes slower for the whole loop. Not a good sign, but not as awful as I'd thought. But the whole loop I just would try and go a little faster, and my body wouldn't respond. It just didn't have the energy.
The stadium trip wasn't a whole lop better, as the trip out felt labored until I got to the flat ground in front of campus. By the end I was chopping steps and begging for the end. I was just dizzy and tired the whole time, and every time I had to stop for a light or whatever I seriously considered just stopping altogether. I did not, but this lack of energy is very concerning.
As I struggled upstairs, feeling just tired and sluggish after the run, I realized I need some rest. Like this is recovery week, and while I'm a fan of active recovery, my body needs more rest than that right now. I'm going to use my last 2 extra days this week, and skip a workout or two to get myself beck to where I need to be. Saddle sores gone. Energy back. I think continuing to push it during a week with no significant workouts will be counter productive in this state. My immune system can handle it. I may opt to do one or two workouts this weekend, depending on how I'm feeling. But if I feel dizzy or overheated during the day, I'm taking the day off.
Next Monday it's back to training with a 2x2000 swim. From there it's balls out to a century ride on Saturday, then another week of maintenance until tapering on race week. I just hope I haven't peaked too early, and this illness, or whatever it is, has subsided by race day.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
T95 - Signs that Something's Wrong - Swim, Run (aborted)
Gainesville
I was feeling a little dizzy Monday night before I headed to GHFC. It was a short swim and hour run, and I figured I'd knock both out late-night since I actually had to work all day. Again, I have no fucking idea how people with real jobs do this. Anyway, I was feeling a lot like I was the night before I went to Seattle, which is to say short of breath, dizzy and overheated. I also knew that I'd done a 3 hour run feleing much the same way a week ago, so even if this run wasn't spectacular, I was determined to get it in.
Swim: recovery swim
5 x 200 (50 Easy, 50 Build, 50 Easy, 50Hard)
2 Lipodrene
I knew something was off when I got in the water and it felt like a pleasant cool wave coming over my body. The GHFC never feels like that. A chilly cesspool, maybe, but never that refreshing kinda cold. I was mentally a little out of it, and ended up doing a 400 meter EBEH for the first set before recalibrating the math in my head and realizing I only had to do one lap of each instead of two. That was sign two that I was not doing well. Sign three came when I felt short of breath during the easy laps, and was dogging some short sections of them. Not much, as I don't really allow myself to do that much, but that kind of mental let-up is not something I've experienced in the pool in months.
The sets went ok, but it was not my strongest swim ever. I took long intervals in between to get my breath back, but couldn't shake the heavy-chested feeling I had. This is not cool. I finished the swim, changed over, grabbed my gel and my water and headed to the treadmill.
Run - Aborted
I got on the treadmill and programmed it as I always did. As it started to speed up, I felt my body being unable to keep up with even a 6.0 speed, and quickly brought it down to a walk in the hopes of getting in a good warmup. But as I walked, I realized I couldn't even breathe right walking. I was just tired and dizzy. I could have kept walking for an hour, but what's the fucking point of that. Better to save my energy and try to knock it out the next day.
But this is not a good sign. I have less than 4 weeks to go, and I can't rest too much going in. That being said, I understand the only way to shake this kind of illness is to rest. I honestly have no idea what to do. Hopefully this will go away on it's own, but every time I think, ok, that's over (like after the bike ride in Panama City) I have a workout like this where I keep feeling like I'm gonna pass out. Eating helps. I don't know. Hopefully I can use this week to rest up and finish up strong the rest of October.
I was feeling a little dizzy Monday night before I headed to GHFC. It was a short swim and hour run, and I figured I'd knock both out late-night since I actually had to work all day. Again, I have no fucking idea how people with real jobs do this. Anyway, I was feeling a lot like I was the night before I went to Seattle, which is to say short of breath, dizzy and overheated. I also knew that I'd done a 3 hour run feleing much the same way a week ago, so even if this run wasn't spectacular, I was determined to get it in.
Swim: recovery swim
5 x 200 (50 Easy, 50 Build, 50 Easy, 50Hard)
2 Lipodrene
I knew something was off when I got in the water and it felt like a pleasant cool wave coming over my body. The GHFC never feels like that. A chilly cesspool, maybe, but never that refreshing kinda cold. I was mentally a little out of it, and ended up doing a 400 meter EBEH for the first set before recalibrating the math in my head and realizing I only had to do one lap of each instead of two. That was sign two that I was not doing well. Sign three came when I felt short of breath during the easy laps, and was dogging some short sections of them. Not much, as I don't really allow myself to do that much, but that kind of mental let-up is not something I've experienced in the pool in months.
The sets went ok, but it was not my strongest swim ever. I took long intervals in between to get my breath back, but couldn't shake the heavy-chested feeling I had. This is not cool. I finished the swim, changed over, grabbed my gel and my water and headed to the treadmill.
Run - Aborted
I got on the treadmill and programmed it as I always did. As it started to speed up, I felt my body being unable to keep up with even a 6.0 speed, and quickly brought it down to a walk in the hopes of getting in a good warmup. But as I walked, I realized I couldn't even breathe right walking. I was just tired and dizzy. I could have kept walking for an hour, but what's the fucking point of that. Better to save my energy and try to knock it out the next day.
But this is not a good sign. I have less than 4 weeks to go, and I can't rest too much going in. That being said, I understand the only way to shake this kind of illness is to rest. I honestly have no idea what to do. Hopefully this will go away on it's own, but every time I think, ok, that's over (like after the bike ride in Panama City) I have a workout like this where I keep feeling like I'm gonna pass out. Eating helps. I don't know. Hopefully I can use this week to rest up and finish up strong the rest of October.
T94 - Saddle Sores Gettin Serious - Run, Bike
Gainesville
I took Saturday off. I figured I rated a day off after a 112-mile bike ride. That and it was actually a scheduled day off as I began my last recovery week. As I've started to do for RWs, I opted to do a mechanical workout today, 45 minutes on the treadmill and an hour and 15 on the bike trainer.
Run - 45 minutes (treadmill)
2 Lipodrene
My legs felt surprisingly good after the rigorous ride on Friday, so I set the treadmilll to 6.8, which is about an 8:40 pace. Faster than I'm sure I'll do in the race, but good to get my legs used to running. The treadmills at Jefferson are loose, so for someone my size running at a decent clip, the belts tend to stick a lot when I step down on them. There is not only one treadmill I can use there.
As it was, I ran well through it, feeling a little bit labored but keeping the pace well. I started to fade a little towards the end, but I chalk this up more to that mental feeling of being near the end than anything else. I did use the iPod here, as again, its a treadmill run.
Bike - 75 Minutes, Trainer
2 Lipodrene
I took a nice long break between workouts, maybe 3 hours or so. I set up the trainer around 7, and it was already dark outside. And it is starting to cool off a little (for Florida anyway, Probably only 80 when I started)so it was not the perpetual sweatbox that it can be.
What it was was extremely painful. Those long rides leave you with some hemorrhoids or saddle sores or something nasty on your perineum, that just sends waves of soreness up your groin every time you drop into aero. I was able to keep aero for about the first 15 minutes, but had to sit up periodically after that. I didn't really look much at the speed, as Trevor told me that's a pretty useless statistic. But I felt like I pedaled pretty strong, and even closed my eyes and just went for some extender periods.
Let me tell you, biking on the trainer in aero with your eyes closed is intense. It's like you really feel nothing but you and the bike, and if you have the right kind of music on you get in an almost trance-like state. I was able to do this 3 or 4 times for about 5 minutes each, just pedaling hard the whole time. Sadly, eyes-closed biking on the open road, not a good idea. But that's why sometimes the trainer is fun. Anyway, I almost got in an interval workout this way. The only reason I stopped was because the saddle sores were killing me and when the initial adrenaline rush wore off I could feel them.
So I'm opting to take as much time between bike sessions as possible this week to let this heal up. That pain is not excruciating, but if I can minimize it I will. Your ass gets to a certain level of conditioning, but like everything else once you start doing 100 miles-plus, it's a whole new level of toughness. So I'll use this recovery week for what it was meant for: revcovery.
I took Saturday off. I figured I rated a day off after a 112-mile bike ride. That and it was actually a scheduled day off as I began my last recovery week. As I've started to do for RWs, I opted to do a mechanical workout today, 45 minutes on the treadmill and an hour and 15 on the bike trainer.
Run - 45 minutes (treadmill)
2 Lipodrene
My legs felt surprisingly good after the rigorous ride on Friday, so I set the treadmilll to 6.8, which is about an 8:40 pace. Faster than I'm sure I'll do in the race, but good to get my legs used to running. The treadmills at Jefferson are loose, so for someone my size running at a decent clip, the belts tend to stick a lot when I step down on them. There is not only one treadmill I can use there.
As it was, I ran well through it, feeling a little bit labored but keeping the pace well. I started to fade a little towards the end, but I chalk this up more to that mental feeling of being near the end than anything else. I did use the iPod here, as again, its a treadmill run.
Bike - 75 Minutes, Trainer
2 Lipodrene
I took a nice long break between workouts, maybe 3 hours or so. I set up the trainer around 7, and it was already dark outside. And it is starting to cool off a little (for Florida anyway, Probably only 80 when I started)so it was not the perpetual sweatbox that it can be.
What it was was extremely painful. Those long rides leave you with some hemorrhoids or saddle sores or something nasty on your perineum, that just sends waves of soreness up your groin every time you drop into aero. I was able to keep aero for about the first 15 minutes, but had to sit up periodically after that. I didn't really look much at the speed, as Trevor told me that's a pretty useless statistic. But I felt like I pedaled pretty strong, and even closed my eyes and just went for some extender periods.
Let me tell you, biking on the trainer in aero with your eyes closed is intense. It's like you really feel nothing but you and the bike, and if you have the right kind of music on you get in an almost trance-like state. I was able to do this 3 or 4 times for about 5 minutes each, just pedaling hard the whole time. Sadly, eyes-closed biking on the open road, not a good idea. But that's why sometimes the trainer is fun. Anyway, I almost got in an interval workout this way. The only reason I stopped was because the saddle sores were killing me and when the initial adrenaline rush wore off I could feel them.
So I'm opting to take as much time between bike sessions as possible this week to let this heal up. That pain is not excruciating, but if I can minimize it I will. Your ass gets to a certain level of conditioning, but like everything else once you start doing 100 miles-plus, it's a whole new level of toughness. So I'll use this recovery week for what it was meant for: revcovery.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
T93 - Exercising the Ghosts of Panama City - Bike/Run Brick
Panama City Beach
Trevor, and many others, have told me it's a good idea to go and bike your Ironman course before you do it. So I took off Thursday afternoon for Panama City Beach, about 4.5 hours from home, to do the bike ride on Friday. The last time I was in Panama City, it was when I went to sign up for last year's race. And I have a lot of significant memories associated with that trip. I don't talk much about my last girlfriend here, because though about 5 people read this, it is still not the forum for that. But that trip was when we went form just fucking to more than just fucking. And nice as those memories are, that is not something I need to be concerning myself with when I'm there for the race.
So while the overwhelming primary purpose of the trip was to ride the course, I also wanted to be able to get all the nostalgia out of the way now. To look at the beach by the finish line and the Mellow Mushroom on the run course and the Origin at Seahaven and the Wal Mart and remember how it had been last year. And then get that out of my head and create some new memories. The first of which was one of the physically hardest days of my life.
Bike - 112 Miles
2 Lipodrene
3 Advil
1 Salt Tab
Note I put mileage today instead of just time. Becasue this was a set course. I drove the course the night before to get it down, marking the mileage on a piece of paper from turn to turn, then laminating and taping the directions to my aero bars, so I knew where I was going, and how far I had to go. I parked at the Boardwalk Beach resort, right at where transition would be, and headed off.
The first miles are on the beachfront, which is very pretty. I did nicely there with the bike lane and crosswind. Then I turned north and just flew. Yeah, I knew there was some tailwind, but it didn't look like much. So I was going a solid 24-25 for about 19 miles, even maintaining a speed over 30 for about half a mile on a downhill and straightaway. Yeah, that was fun. I stopped at a Shell station to buy some more water, as it was probably about 87 degrees outside, and found I had forgotten my phone and cash. Only time I've ever done that is on the most important ride I ever do. fortunately, the gas station people are very nice in the panhandle and let me fill my bottles in the bathroom for free.
Do I turned East onto Hwy 20 for a 28 miles stretch, which featured a water stop at mile 33. There were seom rolling hills from miles 38-45, which I took well. I had a crosswind, so it wasn't much of a factor, and by the time I hit the turn from 20 to Hwy. 231 South, I was averaging 20 over the first 50 miles. I was very encouraged. Then I turned south.
So that wind, it feels a lot harder when you're going the other way. I got some water at the Hardees at the 51-mile mark, knowing there was no more water for almost 40 miles. This was not fun. First, the wind started kicking my ass as I headed south, struggling to get over 18. When I finally got to the end of it, I turned onto a road that looked like packed dirt. It was not. It was almost sand. And that shit is hard to bike in. Like I almost ate it about 6 times, and could not get over 12 on the dirt. This only lasted about 3/4 of a mile, but I was not happy.I later found out I turned early, and the real course is paved. Thank fuck.
The next stretch of the ride was ok, and I headed up to the one turnaround on the course at about mile 73. At this point, I was almost out of water, and had 16 miles to go to the next water break.. I was also starting to fade. I stopped the bike at the turnaround, and just took a break. I needed the rest to get up to the next water stop.
It didn't get much better. I didn't have to fight a whole lot of wind, but I just kept going slower and slower. I'm not sure if I nuked the village on those first 50 miles, but I was going in the same gears, putting forth the same effort, and not getting over 18. At all. I was dying all the way to mile 87, where there was a Gulf Power and Electric office in the middle of nowhere, where they let me use the water fountain. Nicest power company ever.
I got to mile 92, and felt like I was about done. I stopped leaned my bike on a fence, and sat on a tree stump. This was gut check time. I had 20 miles to go and really felt like I had nothing left. But I took a gel, had a little water, and just decided to grind out this last hour and a half. Yes, at the speed I was going, that's what it was going to be.
Well, the wind got frustrating, but never more than when I hit the turn at mile 100 and the giant bridge that greets you there. That north-blowing wind is just brutal, and I struggled to get over 15 that whole stretch, It just seemed to go on forever. I hit the beach road with 7 miles to go, and that wind only let up when a condo blocked it. I have never been more grateful for Florida's rampant overdevelopment. I even biked by the Origin at Seahaven and looked up at the balcony where I had eaten breakfast naked the year before. I gave it a little smile, then went back into aero and actualyl managed to push out at about 18 for the rest of the ride.
As it was, I made it back in 6:28 of road time, averaging about 17.2 for the ride. Not stellar. Especially when you consider my water breaks and stoplights and everything else borught my total time to around 7 hours. So my goal of breaking 13 hours may not be as legit as I had though. On a course this long, I can't fight the wind too much, because I need those legs for the next 50 miles of biking and that marathon thing at the end. Energy must be conserved. I may just not be as fast as I'd hoped.
I took gels at chows 1, 2, 4, 5, and 7. Cliff Bars at 3 and 6. I didn't finish the third. I only took 2 lipodrene and 6 Advil, probably not enough. Also went thorugh 4 salt tabs. Didn't come close to cramping, even with the lack of water, so I guess that was enough.
Run - 30 minutes
I put my bike away, put on some shorts, and headed out for a brief half hour run. I did not look particualrly good, but I felt ok. I took maybe 5 minutes between the bike and the run, though I'm gonna guess my transition will be longer. My legs felt ok, different muscles I guess. And I ran back up to the Beach Road, then back down to Mellow Mushroom. I remembered seeing all those miserable people running the marathon as I ate pizza and watched the UF/UGA game last year. Again, gave it a small smile, turned around and ran back to my car. My legs started to feel the tinyest bit sore at the end, but I know that marathon is going to be ten times longer.
So all in all, an ok trip. I didn't do as well on the bike as I'd hoped, but then again it was my first ever ride of that length. I'll know it better next time and hopefully improve. There will also be more water. The run was short, not much to say there. When it was done I finished my 3 slices of leftover Mellow Mushroom, downed a Powerade and a litre of Diet 7-Up, and got in the car. I drove back and when I arrived in Gainesville, I realized if I'd kepy running, I'd have just been getting done then. That's a long day.
But I did what I set out to do. I even saw my Cosmo article for the first time at Wal Mart. The ride was so tough, that has replaced most of my associations with the city. Mellow Mushroom was my pre-ride dinner and my 2nd turnaround on the Run. Seahaven is the 5-mile to go mark on the bike. The beach by the finish line, is, well, the finish line. So as not-awesome as the bike ride was, I still feel like this trip was definitely a success.
Trevor, and many others, have told me it's a good idea to go and bike your Ironman course before you do it. So I took off Thursday afternoon for Panama City Beach, about 4.5 hours from home, to do the bike ride on Friday. The last time I was in Panama City, it was when I went to sign up for last year's race. And I have a lot of significant memories associated with that trip. I don't talk much about my last girlfriend here, because though about 5 people read this, it is still not the forum for that. But that trip was when we went form just fucking to more than just fucking. And nice as those memories are, that is not something I need to be concerning myself with when I'm there for the race.
So while the overwhelming primary purpose of the trip was to ride the course, I also wanted to be able to get all the nostalgia out of the way now. To look at the beach by the finish line and the Mellow Mushroom on the run course and the Origin at Seahaven and the Wal Mart and remember how it had been last year. And then get that out of my head and create some new memories. The first of which was one of the physically hardest days of my life.
Bike - 112 Miles
2 Lipodrene
3 Advil
1 Salt Tab
Note I put mileage today instead of just time. Becasue this was a set course. I drove the course the night before to get it down, marking the mileage on a piece of paper from turn to turn, then laminating and taping the directions to my aero bars, so I knew where I was going, and how far I had to go. I parked at the Boardwalk Beach resort, right at where transition would be, and headed off.
The first miles are on the beachfront, which is very pretty. I did nicely there with the bike lane and crosswind. Then I turned north and just flew. Yeah, I knew there was some tailwind, but it didn't look like much. So I was going a solid 24-25 for about 19 miles, even maintaining a speed over 30 for about half a mile on a downhill and straightaway. Yeah, that was fun. I stopped at a Shell station to buy some more water, as it was probably about 87 degrees outside, and found I had forgotten my phone and cash. Only time I've ever done that is on the most important ride I ever do. fortunately, the gas station people are very nice in the panhandle and let me fill my bottles in the bathroom for free.
Do I turned East onto Hwy 20 for a 28 miles stretch, which featured a water stop at mile 33. There were seom rolling hills from miles 38-45, which I took well. I had a crosswind, so it wasn't much of a factor, and by the time I hit the turn from 20 to Hwy. 231 South, I was averaging 20 over the first 50 miles. I was very encouraged. Then I turned south.
So that wind, it feels a lot harder when you're going the other way. I got some water at the Hardees at the 51-mile mark, knowing there was no more water for almost 40 miles. This was not fun. First, the wind started kicking my ass as I headed south, struggling to get over 18. When I finally got to the end of it, I turned onto a road that looked like packed dirt. It was not. It was almost sand. And that shit is hard to bike in. Like I almost ate it about 6 times, and could not get over 12 on the dirt. This only lasted about 3/4 of a mile, but I was not happy.I later found out I turned early, and the real course is paved. Thank fuck.
The next stretch of the ride was ok, and I headed up to the one turnaround on the course at about mile 73. At this point, I was almost out of water, and had 16 miles to go to the next water break.. I was also starting to fade. I stopped the bike at the turnaround, and just took a break. I needed the rest to get up to the next water stop.
It didn't get much better. I didn't have to fight a whole lot of wind, but I just kept going slower and slower. I'm not sure if I nuked the village on those first 50 miles, but I was going in the same gears, putting forth the same effort, and not getting over 18. At all. I was dying all the way to mile 87, where there was a Gulf Power and Electric office in the middle of nowhere, where they let me use the water fountain. Nicest power company ever.
I got to mile 92, and felt like I was about done. I stopped leaned my bike on a fence, and sat on a tree stump. This was gut check time. I had 20 miles to go and really felt like I had nothing left. But I took a gel, had a little water, and just decided to grind out this last hour and a half. Yes, at the speed I was going, that's what it was going to be.
Well, the wind got frustrating, but never more than when I hit the turn at mile 100 and the giant bridge that greets you there. That north-blowing wind is just brutal, and I struggled to get over 15 that whole stretch, It just seemed to go on forever. I hit the beach road with 7 miles to go, and that wind only let up when a condo blocked it. I have never been more grateful for Florida's rampant overdevelopment. I even biked by the Origin at Seahaven and looked up at the balcony where I had eaten breakfast naked the year before. I gave it a little smile, then went back into aero and actualyl managed to push out at about 18 for the rest of the ride.
As it was, I made it back in 6:28 of road time, averaging about 17.2 for the ride. Not stellar. Especially when you consider my water breaks and stoplights and everything else borught my total time to around 7 hours. So my goal of breaking 13 hours may not be as legit as I had though. On a course this long, I can't fight the wind too much, because I need those legs for the next 50 miles of biking and that marathon thing at the end. Energy must be conserved. I may just not be as fast as I'd hoped.
I took gels at chows 1, 2, 4, 5, and 7. Cliff Bars at 3 and 6. I didn't finish the third. I only took 2 lipodrene and 6 Advil, probably not enough. Also went thorugh 4 salt tabs. Didn't come close to cramping, even with the lack of water, so I guess that was enough.
Run - 30 minutes
I put my bike away, put on some shorts, and headed out for a brief half hour run. I did not look particualrly good, but I felt ok. I took maybe 5 minutes between the bike and the run, though I'm gonna guess my transition will be longer. My legs felt ok, different muscles I guess. And I ran back up to the Beach Road, then back down to Mellow Mushroom. I remembered seeing all those miserable people running the marathon as I ate pizza and watched the UF/UGA game last year. Again, gave it a small smile, turned around and ran back to my car. My legs started to feel the tinyest bit sore at the end, but I know that marathon is going to be ten times longer.
So all in all, an ok trip. I didn't do as well on the bike as I'd hoped, but then again it was my first ever ride of that length. I'll know it better next time and hopefully improve. There will also be more water. The run was short, not much to say there. When it was done I finished my 3 slices of leftover Mellow Mushroom, downed a Powerade and a litre of Diet 7-Up, and got in the car. I drove back and when I arrived in Gainesville, I realized if I'd kepy running, I'd have just been getting done then. That's a long day.
But I did what I set out to do. I even saw my Cosmo article for the first time at Wal Mart. The ride was so tough, that has replaced most of my associations with the city. Mellow Mushroom was my pre-ride dinner and my 2nd turnaround on the Run. Seahaven is the 5-mile to go mark on the bike. The beach by the finish line, is, well, the finish line. So as not-awesome as the bike ride was, I still feel like this trip was definitely a success.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
T92 - If You Feel Light-Headed or Dizzy...SACK UP AND KEEP GOING - Swim, Run
Gainesville
S: race-specific
wu: 6 x 75, last 25 in each is backstroke.
main: 3 x 700, 1 is RPE 3, 2 is RPE4, 3 is RPE 5
2 Lipodrene
I made my return to the GHFC pool after nearly a week off Wednesday. Not for any particular reason, just only 2 swim seesions in this training week. Which has been longer than expected. I started out the warmup and was immediately concerned. I was stopping short of the wall and felt very lethargic. Like didn't even want to finish the sets of 75, and coasting into the wall. But that's why they call it a warmup, I told myself. The last 75 went ok, and the sets were satisfactory.
I say satisfactory because I knew I wasn't swimming as fast as I had previously. Even without a watch, I could just tell. My chest felt heavy, like I was never getting enough air, and I even felt dizzy in parts of set 2. I have gained about 4 pounds, which I blame on the extra rest days. This also happened last year when training for the Miami Man, when I got a little gut starting around October. I'm not so worried about that, but even though this swim went ok, and my form felt good and I felt some power and glide, it just didn't feel as fast as it had. In the water, you don't feel it as much as you do on land. But this feeling of lack of oxygen and lethargy became much more apparent later on.
Run - 3 hours
2 Lipodrene
1 Salt Tab
I did something I've rarely done and did a long, multi-workout day on a work day. My schedule allowed for it, so after teaching I set out on my almost-18-mile run. I used the iPod, and again, I just felt like I was going slow. I felt heavy. Yes, I've gained some wieght, but not enough that I really felt like it was slowing me down. The funny thing is, I was getting to the same spots on the run that I usually do in this running mix, so apparently I was not really going much slower at all. But I FELT like I was.
My gel fell out of my pocket when doing the first campus loop, which pissed me off as I felt super-hungry the last 2 miles back to my Saturn Aid Station in the Jefferson garage. I did the loop in about 1:16, which did end up being a little slower than usual. I feverishly downed a gel and a Gatorade when I got there, then did the 45 minute run for my second session, which is about 4.5 miles. As I headed out, I started feeling light headed. Almost like my teeth wanted to start chattering, and then really sleepy. I figured if I passed out, it would be a funny story. But I did not feel good.
The feeling came and went throughout the second leg, and by the time I got back I was ready for my last gel and another lipodrene. 2 more stadium-and-backs and I was done. But as I headed out again, I felt like I needed a nap. Maybe ths flu has had a little more effect than I thought. But I figured, hey, on race day you probably wont be sick. But you will be a LOT more fatigued. So this is how you're gonna feel for about 18 miles. Get used to it. And so I did.
The rest of the run wasn't fun, and the dizziness and light-headedness continued throughout the workout. Every time I had to stop, I knew that if I stopped for more than a minute I was going to stop alotgether. It allowed me to feel all the body aches and other things I don't when I'm still running. So I just kept lumbering away as long as I had to.
I ended up doing 18 miles in three hours and 20 minutes. Which is slow. But like the bike the day before, I had a route planned out. If I did it faster, good for me. If I did it slower, well, that's bonus training. I think in the next month I am going to do some more treadmill work, and I will also start including cookies and oranges at my aid station, to see how my stomach handles those. The Ironman offers them, and I'm wondering if they will help fuel the machine better. Maybe fight a little fatigue.
S: race-specific
wu: 6 x 75, last 25 in each is backstroke.
main: 3 x 700, 1 is RPE 3, 2 is RPE4, 3 is RPE 5
2 Lipodrene
I made my return to the GHFC pool after nearly a week off Wednesday. Not for any particular reason, just only 2 swim seesions in this training week. Which has been longer than expected. I started out the warmup and was immediately concerned. I was stopping short of the wall and felt very lethargic. Like didn't even want to finish the sets of 75, and coasting into the wall. But that's why they call it a warmup, I told myself. The last 75 went ok, and the sets were satisfactory.
I say satisfactory because I knew I wasn't swimming as fast as I had previously. Even without a watch, I could just tell. My chest felt heavy, like I was never getting enough air, and I even felt dizzy in parts of set 2. I have gained about 4 pounds, which I blame on the extra rest days. This also happened last year when training for the Miami Man, when I got a little gut starting around October. I'm not so worried about that, but even though this swim went ok, and my form felt good and I felt some power and glide, it just didn't feel as fast as it had. In the water, you don't feel it as much as you do on land. But this feeling of lack of oxygen and lethargy became much more apparent later on.
Run - 3 hours
2 Lipodrene
1 Salt Tab
I did something I've rarely done and did a long, multi-workout day on a work day. My schedule allowed for it, so after teaching I set out on my almost-18-mile run. I used the iPod, and again, I just felt like I was going slow. I felt heavy. Yes, I've gained some wieght, but not enough that I really felt like it was slowing me down. The funny thing is, I was getting to the same spots on the run that I usually do in this running mix, so apparently I was not really going much slower at all. But I FELT like I was.
My gel fell out of my pocket when doing the first campus loop, which pissed me off as I felt super-hungry the last 2 miles back to my Saturn Aid Station in the Jefferson garage. I did the loop in about 1:16, which did end up being a little slower than usual. I feverishly downed a gel and a Gatorade when I got there, then did the 45 minute run for my second session, which is about 4.5 miles. As I headed out, I started feeling light headed. Almost like my teeth wanted to start chattering, and then really sleepy. I figured if I passed out, it would be a funny story. But I did not feel good.
The feeling came and went throughout the second leg, and by the time I got back I was ready for my last gel and another lipodrene. 2 more stadium-and-backs and I was done. But as I headed out again, I felt like I needed a nap. Maybe ths flu has had a little more effect than I thought. But I figured, hey, on race day you probably wont be sick. But you will be a LOT more fatigued. So this is how you're gonna feel for about 18 miles. Get used to it. And so I did.
The rest of the run wasn't fun, and the dizziness and light-headedness continued throughout the workout. Every time I had to stop, I knew that if I stopped for more than a minute I was going to stop alotgether. It allowed me to feel all the body aches and other things I don't when I'm still running. So I just kept lumbering away as long as I had to.
I ended up doing 18 miles in three hours and 20 minutes. Which is slow. But like the bike the day before, I had a route planned out. If I did it faster, good for me. If I did it slower, well, that's bonus training. I think in the next month I am going to do some more treadmill work, and I will also start including cookies and oranges at my aid station, to see how my stomach handles those. The Ironman offers them, and I'm wondering if they will help fuel the machine better. Maybe fight a little fatigue.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
T91 - Improvment can Throw you Off - Bike
Gainesville
I had to get my oil changed Tuesday, and for whatever reason every single shop in Gainesville takes 2 hours to do it. Even Jiffy Lube. So I figured that window would be a perfect amount of time to get in a bike ride while I waited. I took my car to a shop by my old apartment in Duck Pond so, for old times sike, I decided to bike up Waldo Road to Waldo and back. That used to take me about 2 hours from my old apartment, so I figured it would be close enough.
Bike - 2 hours, easy spinning RPE 3
2 Lipodrene
I immediately remembered why I never bike Waldo anymore. It's not so much the constant parade of semis once you hit the highway, but the street crossings at the begining. Waldo has this nice greenway bike lane park thing (usually populated by Gainesville's finest meth addicts and homeless) but when it crossees a road, it almost always includes at least one 90-degree turn. And despite all my time on the bike, I still can't do those. So I'd have to either slow down to an almost-stop, or stop completely, unclip, and start up again when I got to the straightaway. I even off-roaded a bit to avoid one turn. Basically, the course sucks.
But I did find myself going a lot faster than I used to. I was going probably 22 the whole way up, a fact that forced me to lok over at the plants on the side of the road and see I had a pretty nice tailwind. I'm not a fan of tailwinds on the way out either. Because I had to be back to the shop before it closed at 6, I had to bike by real time instead of road time, especially on Waldo where theres a lot of lights and stopping you don't want to do. Anyway, I left at 3:38 so I figured I'd give meself an extra 8 minutes to get back, accounting for the wind, so I'd turn around at 4:34.
Problem was, it doesn't take me an hour to get to Waldo anymore. I rolled up to the Hardee's at the junction to U.S. 301 at about 4:22. Well, there's no bike lane on 301, and i'ts a pretty crowded road, so I opted to turn around. Had a gel, and headed back, pruposefully going 25 through the area where I got my school zone speeding ticket. Sadly, there was no school zone today.
The wind on the way back was not fun, and even though I didn't feel tired, I felt achy and fatigued. Like my shoulders got sore immediately, and my hips were aching for some reason. I even felt a little dizzy and tired and found myself standing up at about the 55 minute mark (in the saddle, I didn't stop). I'm hoping this is just residual sickness, but who knows. I fought the wind ok, I guess, but my average speed dropped from 19.2 on the way out to 17.9 by the time I finished. I seem to be coming up just short of all my goals lately. I finished in 1:42 minutes of real time, which included stopping at the turnaorund and the endless parade of lights on Waldo. So the increased return time didn't concern me a whole lot. And for whatever reason once I've biked my planned course for the day, I don't extend it. If I got it done too fast, oh well. I have plenty that take longer than expected too.
What did conern me was the fact that I felt tired on a pretty short bike ride. I'm not sure if I've just lost my enthusiasm for short, non-intense rides like this one, or if I still feel sick. But I'm not sure how this bodes for Panama City this weekend. I gotta do 112 miles on Friday, that's no fucking joke. And the fact that I felt realy ytired and lathargic after the ride is not a good sign. This is a new thing, and maybe it is just part of the virus still lingering. But I need it to go away and go away fast.
I had to get my oil changed Tuesday, and for whatever reason every single shop in Gainesville takes 2 hours to do it. Even Jiffy Lube. So I figured that window would be a perfect amount of time to get in a bike ride while I waited. I took my car to a shop by my old apartment in Duck Pond so, for old times sike, I decided to bike up Waldo Road to Waldo and back. That used to take me about 2 hours from my old apartment, so I figured it would be close enough.
Bike - 2 hours, easy spinning RPE 3
2 Lipodrene
I immediately remembered why I never bike Waldo anymore. It's not so much the constant parade of semis once you hit the highway, but the street crossings at the begining. Waldo has this nice greenway bike lane park thing (usually populated by Gainesville's finest meth addicts and homeless) but when it crossees a road, it almost always includes at least one 90-degree turn. And despite all my time on the bike, I still can't do those. So I'd have to either slow down to an almost-stop, or stop completely, unclip, and start up again when I got to the straightaway. I even off-roaded a bit to avoid one turn. Basically, the course sucks.
But I did find myself going a lot faster than I used to. I was going probably 22 the whole way up, a fact that forced me to lok over at the plants on the side of the road and see I had a pretty nice tailwind. I'm not a fan of tailwinds on the way out either. Because I had to be back to the shop before it closed at 6, I had to bike by real time instead of road time, especially on Waldo where theres a lot of lights and stopping you don't want to do. Anyway, I left at 3:38 so I figured I'd give meself an extra 8 minutes to get back, accounting for the wind, so I'd turn around at 4:34.
Problem was, it doesn't take me an hour to get to Waldo anymore. I rolled up to the Hardee's at the junction to U.S. 301 at about 4:22. Well, there's no bike lane on 301, and i'ts a pretty crowded road, so I opted to turn around. Had a gel, and headed back, pruposefully going 25 through the area where I got my school zone speeding ticket. Sadly, there was no school zone today.
The wind on the way back was not fun, and even though I didn't feel tired, I felt achy and fatigued. Like my shoulders got sore immediately, and my hips were aching for some reason. I even felt a little dizzy and tired and found myself standing up at about the 55 minute mark (in the saddle, I didn't stop). I'm hoping this is just residual sickness, but who knows. I fought the wind ok, I guess, but my average speed dropped from 19.2 on the way out to 17.9 by the time I finished. I seem to be coming up just short of all my goals lately. I finished in 1:42 minutes of real time, which included stopping at the turnaorund and the endless parade of lights on Waldo. So the increased return time didn't concern me a whole lot. And for whatever reason once I've biked my planned course for the day, I don't extend it. If I got it done too fast, oh well. I have plenty that take longer than expected too.
What did conern me was the fact that I felt tired on a pretty short bike ride. I'm not sure if I've just lost my enthusiasm for short, non-intense rides like this one, or if I still feel sick. But I'm not sure how this bodes for Panama City this weekend. I gotta do 112 miles on Friday, that's no fucking joke. And the fact that I felt realy ytired and lathargic after the ride is not a good sign. This is a new thing, and maybe it is just part of the virus still lingering. But I need it to go away and go away fast.
Monday, October 5, 2009
T90 - Feelin' Sluggish - Swim/Bike, Run
Gainesville
Swim - 30 minutes continuous
2 Lipodrene
As this was a swim/bike brick day, I opted to head down to Campus Lodge and train with Justin. It always makes for good bike rides, and they have a nice outdoor pool there that;s perfect for training days like this. I woke up about 11, on maybe 8 hours sleep (not enough after my cross-country odyssey to Seattle)and was a little lethargic in getting over there.
I still made it early, and Justin didn't join me in the pool until I was about 5 minutes into the swim. Lacking a watch, I just went for 30 laps, figuring I do about a lap a minute. I'm not sure if the pool there is exactly 25 meters though. It's close, but it feels about one stroke short. Anyway, I was able to keep my regular, good pace, but my breathing felt labored. Like I had a weight in my chest. This may be ok for a 1500 meter swim, but is not promising for longer ones. I think this may be a remnant of the "flu," such as it was. But even though the swim went fine, I wasn't overly thrilled with how it felt.
Bike - 90 Minutes
I'm not a fan of drafting, but I thought today I'd let Justin ride out so I could go balls out the 45 minutes back. Well, Justin hadn't been cycling sine our last workout a month or so ago, and was understandably a little slow. I didn't mind, as I wasn't exactly dying to push it going out on 441 with all the fucking wind. But we averaged about 17 on the trip down to Cafe Risque and the Country store on 441. (Our usual turnaround). Granted, there was a serious headwind, and I definitely felt it when I took over the front at the road to Cafe Risque. Justin enjoyed the increased speed, and I led the rest of the way.
I took gels 15 minutes and one hour in, despite not having a lot of time left. I just do it to keep in practice, ya know?
We hit the Country Store at about 43 minutes, so I thought we'd end up making it back at about 1:24-ish. Short, but not horribly short. Well, as it was we had a nice tailwind, and despite my shoulders being insanely jammed and not being able to drop into aero for very long, we still made it back in about 1:17. So I cheated it by 13 minutes. I'm not going to get too upset over that, but not something I need to make a habit of. Justin also pointed out that doing 112 miles in 6 hours or less is going to require a lot of aero time. I just hope my shoulders get conditioned like the rest of my body over the next month.
Run - 45 minutes
1 Lipodrene
I took about 2 hours in between these workouts, as the training card suggested. This was another day where I was just realyl fitting this workout in between other things. Well, getting it all in before I went up to Jacksonville for the Silversun Pickups Concert. So I got on the road, and just felt heavy. I can tell I've gained a few pounds the past few weeks, since my workouts are less frequent. But sans iPod and in regular gym shorts I just felt sluggish and heavy. I kind of lumbered the run at my usual pace. Which always feels like it's good until I look at myself in a window or someone passes me and I realize I look like a heavy guy just kinds shuffling. Whatever. I wasn't laboring on the run, and made it through well. But there wasn't much of a spark.
My concerns here are two today: First, I think I may have some residual after effects from whatever sickness I had. Which I am going to just have to deal with and thank God it wasn't worse. But I've never been good at pushing it when I'm really not feeling it. And I think it's too late for that kind of attitude adjustment. Second, I really need to take advantage of days when I have nothing scheduled. Workouts where I have to fit it in around anything else just are never as good. Period. So aside from ym training trip to Panama City this week, I am staying home as much as possible on my off days. I need to have these workouts count.
Swim - 30 minutes continuous
2 Lipodrene
As this was a swim/bike brick day, I opted to head down to Campus Lodge and train with Justin. It always makes for good bike rides, and they have a nice outdoor pool there that;s perfect for training days like this. I woke up about 11, on maybe 8 hours sleep (not enough after my cross-country odyssey to Seattle)and was a little lethargic in getting over there.
I still made it early, and Justin didn't join me in the pool until I was about 5 minutes into the swim. Lacking a watch, I just went for 30 laps, figuring I do about a lap a minute. I'm not sure if the pool there is exactly 25 meters though. It's close, but it feels about one stroke short. Anyway, I was able to keep my regular, good pace, but my breathing felt labored. Like I had a weight in my chest. This may be ok for a 1500 meter swim, but is not promising for longer ones. I think this may be a remnant of the "flu," such as it was. But even though the swim went fine, I wasn't overly thrilled with how it felt.
Bike - 90 Minutes
I'm not a fan of drafting, but I thought today I'd let Justin ride out so I could go balls out the 45 minutes back. Well, Justin hadn't been cycling sine our last workout a month or so ago, and was understandably a little slow. I didn't mind, as I wasn't exactly dying to push it going out on 441 with all the fucking wind. But we averaged about 17 on the trip down to Cafe Risque and the Country store on 441. (Our usual turnaround). Granted, there was a serious headwind, and I definitely felt it when I took over the front at the road to Cafe Risque. Justin enjoyed the increased speed, and I led the rest of the way.
I took gels 15 minutes and one hour in, despite not having a lot of time left. I just do it to keep in practice, ya know?
We hit the Country Store at about 43 minutes, so I thought we'd end up making it back at about 1:24-ish. Short, but not horribly short. Well, as it was we had a nice tailwind, and despite my shoulders being insanely jammed and not being able to drop into aero for very long, we still made it back in about 1:17. So I cheated it by 13 minutes. I'm not going to get too upset over that, but not something I need to make a habit of. Justin also pointed out that doing 112 miles in 6 hours or less is going to require a lot of aero time. I just hope my shoulders get conditioned like the rest of my body over the next month.
Run - 45 minutes
1 Lipodrene
I took about 2 hours in between these workouts, as the training card suggested. This was another day where I was just realyl fitting this workout in between other things. Well, getting it all in before I went up to Jacksonville for the Silversun Pickups Concert. So I got on the road, and just felt heavy. I can tell I've gained a few pounds the past few weeks, since my workouts are less frequent. But sans iPod and in regular gym shorts I just felt sluggish and heavy. I kind of lumbered the run at my usual pace. Which always feels like it's good until I look at myself in a window or someone passes me and I realize I look like a heavy guy just kinds shuffling. Whatever. I wasn't laboring on the run, and made it through well. But there wasn't much of a spark.
My concerns here are two today: First, I think I may have some residual after effects from whatever sickness I had. Which I am going to just have to deal with and thank God it wasn't worse. But I've never been good at pushing it when I'm really not feeling it. And I think it's too late for that kind of attitude adjustment. Second, I really need to take advantage of days when I have nothing scheduled. Workouts where I have to fit it in around anything else just are never as good. Period. So aside from ym training trip to Panama City this week, I am staying home as much as possible on my off days. I need to have these workouts count.
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