Gainesville
New training day, new attitiude. Every non-pool session I'd had this week had been terrible. So today I went out with the mentality that this workout needed to be crushed. I had done this before, and with good results. To make it better, the sun was out, it was hot but not brutal, and I was well-rested. All the makings of a good training day. Which is why today's workout was a little disconcerting.
Bike - 90 Minutes
2 Lipodrene
Bike started out feeling good, cruising fast down Waldo to Hawthorne at my usual cilp of 22-24. But once I hit the trail, something was wrong. I tried to drop into aero at the first straighaway, but still couldn't because of my right forearm. Like I'd manage to do it for a minute or so, but the muscle strain of keeping my weight off my right arm made me tired faster than I wanted to be. So I had to stay upright for the whole ride. The ride down was not impressive, nigbridge in 27, and the Pfifer Woods turnaround, which is where I'd turn on a bad 90 minute ride, I made in 43. Made it to the 30 minute turnaround at 32. So bascially, I was running a couple minutes slower than usual, but faster than a bad ride.
This would have actually been a pretty acceptable ride 6 months ago. Like the times I made it places was about what I was doing then. But I haven't improved this much, and worked this hard, to average 17.5 for a 45-minute bike out. I turned around with this mentailty, and managed to get back to my usual form for most of the trail before getting to the hammock.
I even did the hammock at my usual new speed, which isn't great but it was not a regression. I was averaging about 18.2 at this point, which, while not great, was at least enough to say "ok, that wasn't AWFUL." But when I got to the final incline, I realized I'd pushed it. Like going what had been my normal speed was pushing it, and I had nothing left. I couldn't get much past 16 on the final incline, couldn't get into aero, and even heading back up Waldo couldn't get over 18, even when I pushed it.
I have no idea why, my legs just weren't responding like they had been. I was well rested. My diet had been a bit off, but not awful. I am out of gels (and, more importantly, out of money to buy more until Friday) and had to have some Sharkeez at the turnaround, but does 120 calories really make THAT much difference? Once I realized I wasn't going to average 18, I just kinda dogged it down 2nd Ave until I got home. Ended up averaging 17.8. Again, might have been ok the last cycle, or even the one before. But not today. I was pissed, and wondered how to get out of this funk.
Run - 45 Minutes
1 Lipodrene
I didn't brick these in the hopes of being able to go strong into both. That and the training card didn't call for it, so I felt no need to do it. Anyway, I decided I needed to do whatever it took to have at least one good workout in the short sessions this week, so I took along the iPod. Which did a nice job up to about the 1.5 mile mark. I had a good stride going and gould feel myself pushing myself along. I hit the turnaound by the law school, and already I was feeling a little sluggish.
After the short climb back up to University, I was chopping steps. Just did not want to move fast like I had been. And it was a 45 MINUTE FUCKING RUN! I get like this sometimes an hour and a half into a 2 hour run on a hot day. But a 45 miunte run?! At night?! WTF?! I managed to get back to stride, but I pretty much just lumbered the rest of the way home. I had to stop for the light on 13th, and I felt so tired when I stopped I briefly considered walking home. I didn't, obviously, but still this was another disappointing effort.
I wouldn't characterize either workout today as bad. But definitely sub-par. I've been resting well, although my schedule of having to get up early twice a week may be fucking things up. Also, living off of pizza and chop chop all week may not be helping. Or maybe my body is using more energy than I thought to recover from the crash. I don't know. I IMed Trevor last night and he told me to take a couple of recovery days and get some good rest. This is my plan for the weekend, as I aim to be done with Week 6 with 6 weeks to go. My next two workouts are both super long, and need to be effective training. This trend cannot continue.
Showing posts with label slow starts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label slow starts. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
T37 - Nothing Like Tasting Tobasco Vomit - Bike/Run Brick
Gainesville
So I learned from my mistakes. After that long swim last night all I ate was the aforementioned Muscle Milk shake and some microwave popcorn, causing me to go to bed so hungry I couldn't sleep. So I got out of bed at 4 and had a bagel with peanut butte,r which seemed to do the trick. I had wanted to knock this workout out earlier (like 1 or so) but realized I was gonna need some real food before I could do what was essentially the back 2 legs of an Olympic-Distance triathlon. So when I went to buy gels today I stopped at Publix and got myself a half a pound of turkey and a sourdough baguette, which I then covered in my traditional Tobasco/Cajun spices mix. This was both a good and terrible idea.
Bike: 2 Hours small chainring work
2 Lipodrene
Trevor once told me there is absolutely no reason to ever use your small ring in Florida. And not that I'm one ever to be called out by stuff like that, but I was called out on that one. I have not used my small ring except on the trainer since the Escape to Miami, where I had forgotten to switch it back after my last trainer workout before I left and changed it back as soon as I could get it to. I can't even tell you when the last time I used it in training, outside of California. Maybe last summer on Mt. Miami. At any rate, I told the small ring to go fuck itself today, despite what my training card said.
And this is where I was reminded of that old Marine Corps saying "Hard is just a 4-letter word for stupid." For some reason, I just couldn't get it going on the bike, possibly because I'd done a 50-mile ride less that 48 hours earlier. The first half was just labored the whole way, as I was beginning to convince myself Hawthorne had a lot more hills than it let on. This was, again, until I hit the turnaround. I made it 17.3 miles in the first hour, not a good pace at all.
The way back was a different story. I was going 20-21 most of the time on the flatlands the whole ride back, and it literally felt like a completely different ride. Though I don't know that I shoulda done the small ring the whole time (where's the training value in THAT?) maybe the way down it would have been a good idea. The ride back was fantastic as I spent a good deal of it in aero and made it back in under two hours(1:57) despite taking 1:01:30 to get to halfway. I was happy.
But I didn't make it to the end of Hawethorne and got incredibly thirsty. The salty turkey and Tobasco has something to do with this, as I was through 2 bottles before I even got a quarter of the way back. I'm going to consider a third bottle. I also took 2 gels on the ride, as I am becoming very disciplined about this given how lethargic I seem to get when I don't/ Oh, and all that spicy food for lunch? Didn't help the reflux, I was belching up, borderline vomiting, Tobasco sauce and sour cream and onion chips for most of the ride. So the food helped, but maybe I gotta pick something milder next time. My stomach didn't hurt, but that taste is not one you like to have coming up when you're trying to hammer down.
Run: 50 Minutes
I took another gel with me to take at the 15 minute mark as, minus my 8-minute transition, this would have been the logical time to take another one. I started out with some good strides and made it to about the stadium before I started getting really choppy. There were a ton of people out running today, and you really never realize how slow you are going until a group of black middle school girls passes you. And these were not like mini version of the Williams Sisters. These were like mini versions of girls you see on the Maury show. Actually, now that I think about it, a lot of those people are about the same age as these girls. Anyway, the point is at the halfway point (which I also use as my 45-minute halfway point but I knew I was slow today) I knew I was doggin in. No excuse really except that it was exceptionally humid. Gonna have to get used to these long bricks.
Once I hit the stadium I was able to stride it back pretty well. the run was not fantastic, but was a decent confidence booster after what I felt like was a strong biking effort for the previous hour.
I am running out of Lipodrene. We may have our first ephedra-free workout sometime next week. That's gonna suck. Thank God its recovery week. I'm also looking ahead and trying to figure out how August training is gonna work. That's a HUGE month and I"m only home for 10 days. Definitely gonna have to sit down and figure out what I"m gonna do where. The bike will be tough. I can rent one in Kona, for sure. And maybe in Charlottesville or something. But I don't really wanna ship my bike to PIttsburgh. We shall see.
So I learned from my mistakes. After that long swim last night all I ate was the aforementioned Muscle Milk shake and some microwave popcorn, causing me to go to bed so hungry I couldn't sleep. So I got out of bed at 4 and had a bagel with peanut butte,r which seemed to do the trick. I had wanted to knock this workout out earlier (like 1 or so) but realized I was gonna need some real food before I could do what was essentially the back 2 legs of an Olympic-Distance triathlon. So when I went to buy gels today I stopped at Publix and got myself a half a pound of turkey and a sourdough baguette, which I then covered in my traditional Tobasco/Cajun spices mix. This was both a good and terrible idea.
Bike: 2 Hours small chainring work
2 Lipodrene
Trevor once told me there is absolutely no reason to ever use your small ring in Florida. And not that I'm one ever to be called out by stuff like that, but I was called out on that one. I have not used my small ring except on the trainer since the Escape to Miami, where I had forgotten to switch it back after my last trainer workout before I left and changed it back as soon as I could get it to. I can't even tell you when the last time I used it in training, outside of California. Maybe last summer on Mt. Miami. At any rate, I told the small ring to go fuck itself today, despite what my training card said.
And this is where I was reminded of that old Marine Corps saying "Hard is just a 4-letter word for stupid." For some reason, I just couldn't get it going on the bike, possibly because I'd done a 50-mile ride less that 48 hours earlier. The first half was just labored the whole way, as I was beginning to convince myself Hawthorne had a lot more hills than it let on. This was, again, until I hit the turnaround. I made it 17.3 miles in the first hour, not a good pace at all.
The way back was a different story. I was going 20-21 most of the time on the flatlands the whole ride back, and it literally felt like a completely different ride. Though I don't know that I shoulda done the small ring the whole time (where's the training value in THAT?) maybe the way down it would have been a good idea. The ride back was fantastic as I spent a good deal of it in aero and made it back in under two hours(1:57) despite taking 1:01:30 to get to halfway. I was happy.
But I didn't make it to the end of Hawethorne and got incredibly thirsty. The salty turkey and Tobasco has something to do with this, as I was through 2 bottles before I even got a quarter of the way back. I'm going to consider a third bottle. I also took 2 gels on the ride, as I am becoming very disciplined about this given how lethargic I seem to get when I don't/ Oh, and all that spicy food for lunch? Didn't help the reflux, I was belching up, borderline vomiting, Tobasco sauce and sour cream and onion chips for most of the ride. So the food helped, but maybe I gotta pick something milder next time. My stomach didn't hurt, but that taste is not one you like to have coming up when you're trying to hammer down.
Run: 50 Minutes
I took another gel with me to take at the 15 minute mark as, minus my 8-minute transition, this would have been the logical time to take another one. I started out with some good strides and made it to about the stadium before I started getting really choppy. There were a ton of people out running today, and you really never realize how slow you are going until a group of black middle school girls passes you. And these were not like mini version of the Williams Sisters. These were like mini versions of girls you see on the Maury show. Actually, now that I think about it, a lot of those people are about the same age as these girls. Anyway, the point is at the halfway point (which I also use as my 45-minute halfway point but I knew I was slow today) I knew I was doggin in. No excuse really except that it was exceptionally humid. Gonna have to get used to these long bricks.
Once I hit the stadium I was able to stride it back pretty well. the run was not fantastic, but was a decent confidence booster after what I felt like was a strong biking effort for the previous hour.
I am running out of Lipodrene. We may have our first ephedra-free workout sometime next week. That's gonna suck. Thank God its recovery week. I'm also looking ahead and trying to figure out how August training is gonna work. That's a HUGE month and I"m only home for 10 days. Definitely gonna have to sit down and figure out what I"m gonna do where. The bike will be tough. I can rent one in Kona, for sure. And maybe in Charlottesville or something. But I don't really wanna ship my bike to PIttsburgh. We shall see.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)