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.
Showing posts with label drafting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drafting. Show all posts
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
T57 - Body Buzz - Run/Bike Brick
Gainesville
Well, you knew it was gonna happen eventually: The Hangover workout. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to stay out until 4, going hard the whole time up to and including chugging White Zin out of a plastic bag. And in addition to several drunk texts to various people, I somehow managed to text Justin "Hey, I'm pretty fucked up and going to bed now. So if you wanna go later than 10:30, that's cool." He was hapy to hear it, and showed up around noon for the workout. I drank a ton of water and Gatorade, and did my Advil/Sudafed/Lipodrene stack with breakfast, so I actualyl felt pretty good heading out to run.
Run - 60 Minutes
2 Lipodrene
2 Sudafed
I like running with Justin, because while he runs faster than I do, he keeps his pace with me as one I can keep too. I'm not sure if this is the case, or I"m just getting to be a better runner. Justin had to be at work at 4, so we opted to cut the run a little short. We didn't do the whole campus loop, instead running down University to 2nd past the Law school. This is usually my 45 minute run, but when we got to my usual turnaround, we had only been out 20 minutes. So the pace he kept it at was defintely a faster clip. As he said "I bet I save you a solid 2 minutes on the Ironman." If I keep up this pace, it'll be a lot more than that.
And the hill was tough going back up 2nd, but I didn't chop my steps at all so I could keep up. The heat wasn't feeling nearly as brutal as it has in the past, although the weather said it was just as hot. (Except that day it was 104). All in all the run went very well, and we got back in under an hour to do a quick bike transition.
Bike - 2 Hours
Took a gel and drank a bunch of Gatorade while we transitioned at the apartment. Again, because Justin had to be at work at 4, my dream of a shady, car-free Hawthorne ride was shot because he had to drop his shit off at Campus Lodge on the ride. Basically, we ended up riding Williston to 34th, then back to our old friend 441. After being off the bike since Monday, I felt great pedaling down. So great, in fact, I let Justin pull the whole way down to Micanopy, which made for a very pleasant ride. But I started feeling a little light-headed about 5 minutes into the ride.
First I though dehydration, but that wasn't it. Then I thought maybe it was my being a little sick, but I had no other symptoms. Then I started feeling a burn in my quads as we went up a hill, but oddly the burn felt good. The only time my body ever feels like this is when I'm on massive amounts of stimulants, or ecstasy. Serisouly, like every sensation just feels awesome. The wind on the bike course felt awesome. Any time my leg brushed the bike frame, it felt awesome. And let me tell you, biking with a body buzz is pretty fucking cool. We turned it around at Cafe Risque and here I took the lead.
Now my computer is broken, but as Trevor has told me you know your body and how certain speeds feel, and with my quads having orgasms every time I pushed them harder (kinda like those girls who get off on being smacked around, but slightly less fun)I'm pretty sure I was doing a solid 23-25 a good part of the way back. Really, it was incredible. Just pushing yourself faster every hill and every straightaway, and feeling great while you did it. It didn't hurt I got a good 50-minute warmup drafting behind Justin, and had enough energy to just go balls out for the ride back. I also might have had a little ephedrine in my system, I know. Justin kept up with me, which I have to say was a little surprising. I've dropped him on bikes before when I've pushed it, but he was right there behind me all the way back to 34th. He did tell me, though, when we turned "I don't think I've ever worked that hard drafting before." I felt a little bad, but I'm not gonna lie, I kinda smiled.
The slowdown actually kidna killed the body buzz, as I think I wasn't flooding my brain with adrenaline as I had been for the previous hour and a half. Still made it back from Micanopy in about 8 minutes less than it took me to get down. The whole ride ended up being slightly under 2 hours because of it, but whatever. If you're out there less time because you hauled ass back, you deserve it. Dare I say, this ride was up there with that hour I keep up with Trevor as my best ride of the cycle. And it came after an hour of running in the sun. Hungover.
Yeah, I'm definitely getting there.
Well, you knew it was gonna happen eventually: The Hangover workout. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to stay out until 4, going hard the whole time up to and including chugging White Zin out of a plastic bag. And in addition to several drunk texts to various people, I somehow managed to text Justin "Hey, I'm pretty fucked up and going to bed now. So if you wanna go later than 10:30, that's cool." He was hapy to hear it, and showed up around noon for the workout. I drank a ton of water and Gatorade, and did my Advil/Sudafed/Lipodrene stack with breakfast, so I actualyl felt pretty good heading out to run.
Run - 60 Minutes
2 Lipodrene
2 Sudafed
I like running with Justin, because while he runs faster than I do, he keeps his pace with me as one I can keep too. I'm not sure if this is the case, or I"m just getting to be a better runner. Justin had to be at work at 4, so we opted to cut the run a little short. We didn't do the whole campus loop, instead running down University to 2nd past the Law school. This is usually my 45 minute run, but when we got to my usual turnaround, we had only been out 20 minutes. So the pace he kept it at was defintely a faster clip. As he said "I bet I save you a solid 2 minutes on the Ironman." If I keep up this pace, it'll be a lot more than that.
And the hill was tough going back up 2nd, but I didn't chop my steps at all so I could keep up. The heat wasn't feeling nearly as brutal as it has in the past, although the weather said it was just as hot. (Except that day it was 104). All in all the run went very well, and we got back in under an hour to do a quick bike transition.
Bike - 2 Hours
Took a gel and drank a bunch of Gatorade while we transitioned at the apartment. Again, because Justin had to be at work at 4, my dream of a shady, car-free Hawthorne ride was shot because he had to drop his shit off at Campus Lodge on the ride. Basically, we ended up riding Williston to 34th, then back to our old friend 441. After being off the bike since Monday, I felt great pedaling down. So great, in fact, I let Justin pull the whole way down to Micanopy, which made for a very pleasant ride. But I started feeling a little light-headed about 5 minutes into the ride.
First I though dehydration, but that wasn't it. Then I thought maybe it was my being a little sick, but I had no other symptoms. Then I started feeling a burn in my quads as we went up a hill, but oddly the burn felt good. The only time my body ever feels like this is when I'm on massive amounts of stimulants, or ecstasy. Serisouly, like every sensation just feels awesome. The wind on the bike course felt awesome. Any time my leg brushed the bike frame, it felt awesome. And let me tell you, biking with a body buzz is pretty fucking cool. We turned it around at Cafe Risque and here I took the lead.
Now my computer is broken, but as Trevor has told me you know your body and how certain speeds feel, and with my quads having orgasms every time I pushed them harder (kinda like those girls who get off on being smacked around, but slightly less fun)I'm pretty sure I was doing a solid 23-25 a good part of the way back. Really, it was incredible. Just pushing yourself faster every hill and every straightaway, and feeling great while you did it. It didn't hurt I got a good 50-minute warmup drafting behind Justin, and had enough energy to just go balls out for the ride back. I also might have had a little ephedrine in my system, I know. Justin kept up with me, which I have to say was a little surprising. I've dropped him on bikes before when I've pushed it, but he was right there behind me all the way back to 34th. He did tell me, though, when we turned "I don't think I've ever worked that hard drafting before." I felt a little bad, but I'm not gonna lie, I kinda smiled.
The slowdown actually kidna killed the body buzz, as I think I wasn't flooding my brain with adrenaline as I had been for the previous hour and a half. Still made it back from Micanopy in about 8 minutes less than it took me to get down. The whole ride ended up being slightly under 2 hours because of it, but whatever. If you're out there less time because you hauled ass back, you deserve it. Dare I say, this ride was up there with that hour I keep up with Trevor as my best ride of the cycle. And it came after an hour of running in the sun. Hungover.
Yeah, I'm definitely getting there.
Monday, July 6, 2009
T30 - Score one For The Drafters - Swim/Bike
Sacramento
I had wanted to wait until a little later to get started today, but after being awoken by a series of text messages about Tim Tebow being made into a turtle and the idiot staff at the Alligator, my Dad came in wanting to know if I was swimming before we left for the Giants-Marlins game in San Francisco today.
"Yeah,' I told him
"Well, go now. Because I need the card for the girls' swimming lessons at noon." Fucking kids. Fucking up my workouts again. So I crawled out of bed, had a bagel, took some lipodrene and got my swimming shit together. Half an hour after waking up I was in the pool. Not cool, Bob.
Swim:
wu: 5 x 75
main: 2 x 1000, both are RPE 4
2 Lipodrene
I am definitely going to miss outdoor swimming. It is a much nicer environment than the pool at GHFC, especialy in the warm sun like we have here in NorCal. At any rate, my Dad dropped my off at Rio Del Oro, and really nothing notable about this swim other than the warmup really helping the main part a lot. I think unless I have a seriosu time constraint, I am making a point to do it every time, because it helps your stroke so much. All the soreness is gone by lap 4 of th main swim, so you just go. And I felt like i was going faster on the second 1000 than the first.
I also kept feeling a little acid reflux again, as the molasses cookie I had as the other half of my breakfast kept burninig up my throat. I'm not sure if this is the lipodrene or just a reaction the the food I've been eating here. I'm thinking this wil go away on its own, so I"m not too concerned.
Bike: 90 Minutes
I walked home from Rio Del Oro, meaning I was officially going to be done training too late to take advantage of a free lunch with my dad and my brother. You know I'm serious about something when I'm passing up a free lunch. I did have a Power Bar in between though, almost as good. I changed the tire from yesterday, which is getting easier and easier, pumped it up, and hit the road. Probablt like 40 minutes from swim end to bike start. So I can't call it a brick.
I hit the AR trail at an easy pace, as the card had suggested, until this fucker starts drafting behind me. I will reiterate: I FUCKING HATE STRANGERS WHO DRAFT BEHIND ME!. I'm not here to make your workout easier, motherfucker. If you don't have any friends who will ride with you, don't use me to take your fucking wind. This isn't the fuckign Tour De France and we're not on Team USPS, so get the fuck off me. I don't know you, I'm not taking your wind. So, like last time some asshole decided I should take his wind resistance for him, I went balls to the wall, figuring I could lose him.
My dad's bike doesn't have aero bar, so it's harder to really get into position and hammer away. NOr does it have a speedometer. But I pushed it. I mean I was flying past people for about 3 miles. But every time I looked back, that fucker was still there. I didn't take any water and started breathing hard, fucker wouldn't go away. After abou six miles I decided I needed water so I slowed for a second as I stopped pedaling, and this fucker goes by me. Fine. I'll concede defeat if it makes my ride easier. This is the nice part about being the least-competitive person on the planet.
But this asshole just glided past me, probably because he'd been drafting for six miles. So he had nice fresh legs to conitinure his ride, and I was a little tired. Basically, this fucker used me to start his ride at a good clip, hen probably crushed the rest of it. Basically, I got pimped. I fucking hate drafters.
As a result, the ride was not fantastic. The next hour went ok, as i stopped at the hatchery for a gel and to turn around, but at about the 1:10 mark my back just started killling me. I mean, it was the worst it's hurt on a ride in a long time. I didn't stop (which may be why it hurt so much) but I realized that 2 days in a row and that extra effort I put in trying to lose the drafter probably didn't help. I'm gonna see how I feel tomorrow since it's scheduled to be a 2 hour bike ride followed by an hour run. I may switch it around with a long run or run-swim or something if my back isn't 100 percent. I'm not tying to wear it out, and this is a 14.5 hour week.
I had wanted to wait until a little later to get started today, but after being awoken by a series of text messages about Tim Tebow being made into a turtle and the idiot staff at the Alligator, my Dad came in wanting to know if I was swimming before we left for the Giants-Marlins game in San Francisco today.
"Yeah,' I told him
"Well, go now. Because I need the card for the girls' swimming lessons at noon." Fucking kids. Fucking up my workouts again. So I crawled out of bed, had a bagel, took some lipodrene and got my swimming shit together. Half an hour after waking up I was in the pool. Not cool, Bob.
Swim:
wu: 5 x 75
main: 2 x 1000, both are RPE 4
2 Lipodrene
I am definitely going to miss outdoor swimming. It is a much nicer environment than the pool at GHFC, especialy in the warm sun like we have here in NorCal. At any rate, my Dad dropped my off at Rio Del Oro, and really nothing notable about this swim other than the warmup really helping the main part a lot. I think unless I have a seriosu time constraint, I am making a point to do it every time, because it helps your stroke so much. All the soreness is gone by lap 4 of th main swim, so you just go. And I felt like i was going faster on the second 1000 than the first.
I also kept feeling a little acid reflux again, as the molasses cookie I had as the other half of my breakfast kept burninig up my throat. I'm not sure if this is the lipodrene or just a reaction the the food I've been eating here. I'm thinking this wil go away on its own, so I"m not too concerned.
Bike: 90 Minutes
I walked home from Rio Del Oro, meaning I was officially going to be done training too late to take advantage of a free lunch with my dad and my brother. You know I'm serious about something when I'm passing up a free lunch. I did have a Power Bar in between though, almost as good. I changed the tire from yesterday, which is getting easier and easier, pumped it up, and hit the road. Probablt like 40 minutes from swim end to bike start. So I can't call it a brick.
I hit the AR trail at an easy pace, as the card had suggested, until this fucker starts drafting behind me. I will reiterate: I FUCKING HATE STRANGERS WHO DRAFT BEHIND ME!. I'm not here to make your workout easier, motherfucker. If you don't have any friends who will ride with you, don't use me to take your fucking wind. This isn't the fuckign Tour De France and we're not on Team USPS, so get the fuck off me. I don't know you, I'm not taking your wind. So, like last time some asshole decided I should take his wind resistance for him, I went balls to the wall, figuring I could lose him.
My dad's bike doesn't have aero bar, so it's harder to really get into position and hammer away. NOr does it have a speedometer. But I pushed it. I mean I was flying past people for about 3 miles. But every time I looked back, that fucker was still there. I didn't take any water and started breathing hard, fucker wouldn't go away. After abou six miles I decided I needed water so I slowed for a second as I stopped pedaling, and this fucker goes by me. Fine. I'll concede defeat if it makes my ride easier. This is the nice part about being the least-competitive person on the planet.
But this asshole just glided past me, probably because he'd been drafting for six miles. So he had nice fresh legs to conitinure his ride, and I was a little tired. Basically, this fucker used me to start his ride at a good clip, hen probably crushed the rest of it. Basically, I got pimped. I fucking hate drafters.
As a result, the ride was not fantastic. The next hour went ok, as i stopped at the hatchery for a gel and to turn around, but at about the 1:10 mark my back just started killling me. I mean, it was the worst it's hurt on a ride in a long time. I didn't stop (which may be why it hurt so much) but I realized that 2 days in a row and that extra effort I put in trying to lose the drafter probably didn't help. I'm gonna see how I feel tomorrow since it's scheduled to be a 2 hour bike ride followed by an hour run. I may switch it around with a long run or run-swim or something if my back isn't 100 percent. I'm not tying to wear it out, and this is a 14.5 hour week.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
T23 - Drafting Strangers - Bike
Gainesville
So I had an odd last night. I went and met this girl over at her house, and my boy shows up about an hour later with a bunch of people. They all start drinking, as do I, we play a little Ring of Fire, and I got to bed around 5. Everyone else stays up, my host coming into bed, drunk and demanding, around 6 or 7 (or both, I was a little drunk and a lot tired) but everyone else stayed up drinking. All night. Without coke. I have no idea how people stay up drinking until 10 a.m. without drugs, but somehow they managed. 10 a.m. and both me and this girl get calls on our phones from my friend. We ignore it, and ten minutes later, he calls us again. I figured it must be something important, so she answers. Turns out the guy he was riding out to breakfast with crashed into a tree right in front of Haile Village (ah, memories...)and he needed a ride home. I was hungover, tired, and fucked out and still had to drag my ass out of bed at 10:15 to go get him. I demanded brunch at Sisters' as my incentive for going out there. I was the only one who ate, and I paid, but damn, I think those waffles gave me the energy I needed for the workout.
Bike: 90 Minutes
2 Lipodrene
Given the heat and my exhaustion from the night before, I figured this workout would be quite sub-par. The first half was not fantastic, aside from making it to nigbridge in 26 and 30, but the headwind slowed me down until I turned around. I have a gel, and start to head back.
Maybe 4 miles into the return trip I pass this guy who looked about 40, also on a sport bike. I'm going about 19 or 20, and all of a sudden I hear this voice behind me after I pass him. No idea what it said, but I look back and this fucker is right on my ass. Uh, excuse me bro, but why the fuck are you drafting behind me? I don't even fucking know you! What the fuck makes you think I wanna make your workout easier for you?! But, you know, I don't say things like that unless it involves someone putting mayonnaise on a sandwich or taking too long to make a burrito, so I just decided to try and go so fast he couldn't keep up. I took it up to about 23 and the fucker was still there. Kept it up at 23.5 and seriously started to fell some labored breathing. I really didn't want this old fuck to pass me. Fortunately after about 3 miles he could no longer keep up and I let up a little.
I thought this burst of speed would wear my legs out, but fortunately I found myself still able to have a pretty solid ride back, no slower than usual. What this showed me is that I can probably push my bike rides harder than I have been. I just need some stranger to come and draft for no reason. Maybe he did me a favor, who knows. Trevor told me what he did is actually perfectly acceptable among cyclists. Of course, so is pissing yourself on the bike. So we'll see how long it is before I"m doing either.
So I had an odd last night. I went and met this girl over at her house, and my boy shows up about an hour later with a bunch of people. They all start drinking, as do I, we play a little Ring of Fire, and I got to bed around 5. Everyone else stays up, my host coming into bed, drunk and demanding, around 6 or 7 (or both, I was a little drunk and a lot tired) but everyone else stayed up drinking. All night. Without coke. I have no idea how people stay up drinking until 10 a.m. without drugs, but somehow they managed. 10 a.m. and both me and this girl get calls on our phones from my friend. We ignore it, and ten minutes later, he calls us again. I figured it must be something important, so she answers. Turns out the guy he was riding out to breakfast with crashed into a tree right in front of Haile Village (ah, memories...)and he needed a ride home. I was hungover, tired, and fucked out and still had to drag my ass out of bed at 10:15 to go get him. I demanded brunch at Sisters' as my incentive for going out there. I was the only one who ate, and I paid, but damn, I think those waffles gave me the energy I needed for the workout.
Bike: 90 Minutes
2 Lipodrene
Given the heat and my exhaustion from the night before, I figured this workout would be quite sub-par. The first half was not fantastic, aside from making it to nigbridge in 26 and 30, but the headwind slowed me down until I turned around. I have a gel, and start to head back.
Maybe 4 miles into the return trip I pass this guy who looked about 40, also on a sport bike. I'm going about 19 or 20, and all of a sudden I hear this voice behind me after I pass him. No idea what it said, but I look back and this fucker is right on my ass. Uh, excuse me bro, but why the fuck are you drafting behind me? I don't even fucking know you! What the fuck makes you think I wanna make your workout easier for you?! But, you know, I don't say things like that unless it involves someone putting mayonnaise on a sandwich or taking too long to make a burrito, so I just decided to try and go so fast he couldn't keep up. I took it up to about 23 and the fucker was still there. Kept it up at 23.5 and seriously started to fell some labored breathing. I really didn't want this old fuck to pass me. Fortunately after about 3 miles he could no longer keep up and I let up a little.
I thought this burst of speed would wear my legs out, but fortunately I found myself still able to have a pretty solid ride back, no slower than usual. What this showed me is that I can probably push my bike rides harder than I have been. I just need some stranger to come and draft for no reason. Maybe he did me a favor, who knows. Trevor told me what he did is actually perfectly acceptable among cyclists. Of course, so is pissing yourself on the bike. So we'll see how long it is before I"m doing either.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)