Had to cut my bike intervals short this morning because I just didn't have it in me. However, on the way home tonight, I made it home in a new record 1:14:42 and made it up Serrano hill in under 8 minutes and have only done that 1 other time. Hopefully, I can get something out of my weekend workouts. If not, I will cut them short.
Trying to get the last little bit out of my body and then it will be time to shut it down and taper.
18 days to go...
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Hard Weekend - Part II
Today I did the 2nd half of my hard weekend. 119 mile ride (only 3000' of climbing this time) and a hard, 6-mile run afterwards that had about 350' of hills.
I started from my house and rode down to Folsom, then up to Beals' point. From there, I did the entire bike trail (32 miles) to Old Sac and then over to Davis. For the return trip, I reversed the route. It took my about 6:25 of ride time and since there are water stops on the bike trail, I didn't have to stop to buy water, but I did have to stop and pee twice.
In any case, I treated it like a race-rehearsal to see how I would do with nutrition and pacing. The nutrition was not bad - Perpetuem and Hammer Gel and Water and Endurolytes. Seemed to do fine because I had energy at the end for the hills back to my house. My power numbers over the hours broke down like this:
1 - 144 watts avg / 18.9 mph
2 - 177 watts avg / 19.6 mph
3 - 173 watts avg / 19.2 mph
4 - 170 watts avg / 17.9 mph
5 - 190 watts avg / 20.0 mph
6 - 181 watts avg / 17.6 mph
6+ - 190 watts avg / 13.0 mph (big hills back to my house)
Overall it was 118.6 miles and my average was 173 watts and 18.5 mph. It was a good race rehearsal. I'm not sure exactly how fast I'll be going in L'ville, but my power target seemed to be decent. After the ride, I did 6.1 miles in 44.5 minutes with some decent hills. It felt OK, I was a little fatigued, but not bad and I think I probably could've kept that pace for a while if it were flat. I did have a little issue with my hammy again, but I think with a good taper and proper race management, it will be fine.
I may even be able to push the bike a little more, but will probably stay very conservative because I'd like to have a really good marathon this time around.
I started from my house and rode down to Folsom, then up to Beals' point. From there, I did the entire bike trail (32 miles) to Old Sac and then over to Davis. For the return trip, I reversed the route. It took my about 6:25 of ride time and since there are water stops on the bike trail, I didn't have to stop to buy water, but I did have to stop and pee twice.
In any case, I treated it like a race-rehearsal to see how I would do with nutrition and pacing. The nutrition was not bad - Perpetuem and Hammer Gel and Water and Endurolytes. Seemed to do fine because I had energy at the end for the hills back to my house. My power numbers over the hours broke down like this:
1 - 144 watts avg / 18.9 mph
2 - 177 watts avg / 19.6 mph
3 - 173 watts avg / 19.2 mph
4 - 170 watts avg / 17.9 mph
5 - 190 watts avg / 20.0 mph
6 - 181 watts avg / 17.6 mph
6+ - 190 watts avg / 13.0 mph (big hills back to my house)
Overall it was 118.6 miles and my average was 173 watts and 18.5 mph. It was a good race rehearsal. I'm not sure exactly how fast I'll be going in L'ville, but my power target seemed to be decent. After the ride, I did 6.1 miles in 44.5 minutes with some decent hills. It felt OK, I was a little fatigued, but not bad and I think I probably could've kept that pace for a while if it were flat. I did have a little issue with my hammy again, but I think with a good taper and proper race management, it will be fine.
I may even be able to push the bike a little more, but will probably stay very conservative because I'd like to have a really good marathon this time around.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Hard Weekend - Part I
This morning, I did my hard ride / long run combo for the weekend. I started at the Hatchery and headed up towards Loomis and Newcastle, then to Auburn and back down to Folsom. It was 49.5 miles with somewhere between 2000 and 2500 feet of climbing (I forgot to check before I started the run portion). I averaged 19.1 mph and 204 watts. My normalized power was 223 watts for a VI of 1.09. It was a pretty hard ride.
Then, my training plan called for a 22 mile run with the first 13 at 7:20 pace or better and whatever I could manage for the remaining 9 miles. When I got off the bike, I was a little nervous about the pace, but for the first 5.5 mile portion of the first out and back, I got into a good rhythm. I was holding the pace fairly well on the way back to the car, too. Then I got to the car and swapped Coke for Gatorade in my 2nd bottle and kept on motoring. My mile splits on the run were as follows:
1 - 7:10 - HR 141
2 - 7:10 - HR 141
3 - 7:09 - HR 142
4 - 7:22 - HR 140
5 - 7:19 - HR 141
6 - 7:18 - HR 142
7 - 7:36 - HR 142 (missed the marker)
8 - 7:03 - HR 142
9 - 7:19 - HR 141
10 - 7:23 - HR 144
11 - 7:23 - HR 143
12/13 - 14:43 - HR 143 (missed the 12 marker completely)
14 - 7:21 - HR 145
15 - 7:23 - HR 146
16 - 7:30 - HR 148
17 - 7:45 - HR 145
18 - 7:31 - HR 144
19 - 8:03 - HR 149
20 - 7:48 - HR 149
21 - 7:53 - HR 162 (I think my HR monitor wasn't working well for this mile)
22 - 7:38 - HR 160
There are a few hills on this route in the 2nd half, which caused me to slow a tad. Then, around mile 18, my right hamstring was touch and go and I wasn't sure if it was going to completely seize up. I started popping the salt pills and managed to do OK and hung on to an ~8 minute pace for the rest of the run. The idea behind this workout was to see where I could pace myself for the marathon without blowing up completely. I think it helped me get an idea...
Then, my training plan called for a 22 mile run with the first 13 at 7:20 pace or better and whatever I could manage for the remaining 9 miles. When I got off the bike, I was a little nervous about the pace, but for the first 5.5 mile portion of the first out and back, I got into a good rhythm. I was holding the pace fairly well on the way back to the car, too. Then I got to the car and swapped Coke for Gatorade in my 2nd bottle and kept on motoring. My mile splits on the run were as follows:
1 - 7:10 - HR 141
2 - 7:10 - HR 141
3 - 7:09 - HR 142
4 - 7:22 - HR 140
5 - 7:19 - HR 141
6 - 7:18 - HR 142
7 - 7:36 - HR 142 (missed the marker)
8 - 7:03 - HR 142
9 - 7:19 - HR 141
10 - 7:23 - HR 144
11 - 7:23 - HR 143
12/13 - 14:43 - HR 143 (missed the 12 marker completely)
14 - 7:21 - HR 145
15 - 7:23 - HR 146
16 - 7:30 - HR 148
17 - 7:45 - HR 145
18 - 7:31 - HR 144
19 - 8:03 - HR 149
20 - 7:48 - HR 149
21 - 7:53 - HR 162 (I think my HR monitor wasn't working well for this mile)
22 - 7:38 - HR 160
There are a few hills on this route in the 2nd half, which caused me to slow a tad. Then, around mile 18, my right hamstring was touch and go and I wasn't sure if it was going to completely seize up. I started popping the salt pills and managed to do OK and hung on to an ~8 minute pace for the rest of the run. The idea behind this workout was to see where I could pace myself for the marathon without blowing up completely. I think it helped me get an idea...
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Midweek Intensity / Back in the Pool!
Well, this week's intensity has really kicked my butt. Tuesday night I did a track workout that was back-to-back 3K TTs (after a ~5 mile warmup). That was fun.
First one I did in 10:29, which is 6 seconds off my PR. I started fairly conservatively but tried to dose out the effort in a way that I had a little more left at the end than I did last time, but it turns out I was a tad slower. Last time I went out really hard and just tried to hang on...
After the first one, I recovered for about ~8 minutes and did it again. This one I did in 10:45, which I considered to be pretty good since I was already really fatigued. Overall, I did about 10.5 miles on the evening.
Then, the next day I rode to work and on the way home, did my interval set of 12, 10, 8, 6, and 4 minutes at E5 (hard, race pace or higher) effort. The first one I did on the way South down the canal, which was like a wind tunnel! I was putting out 280-300 watts and only going 18 mph. Then, on the 10 min interval on the way back, at the same power, I was going 25-27 mph and when I got to the 8 minute interval on the North side of the canal, I hit almost 30 mph and made it down the entire canal in 8:20, which is a new record! I finished the ride home with 2 more intervals and was so cooked by the end almost didn't make it up the hill to my house. It's about a 560 ft climb over 1.2 miles, so it's a significant hill, but still...
Then this morning, I was back in the pool! I did 3100 yards and my main sets were supposed to be 4x250 on 4:08 and 5x100 on 1:37. After 2.5 weeks off of swimming, I could only do the 250s on about 4:15-4:18 and could only do the 100s on about 1:42-1:45 or so. I've lost a bit in the water, but hopefully I'll be able to get it back in the next 2 weeks or so, although I won't be back in the water again until Monday and Tuesday of next week.
This weekend is another huge weekend - more on that later.
First one I did in 10:29, which is 6 seconds off my PR. I started fairly conservatively but tried to dose out the effort in a way that I had a little more left at the end than I did last time, but it turns out I was a tad slower. Last time I went out really hard and just tried to hang on...
After the first one, I recovered for about ~8 minutes and did it again. This one I did in 10:45, which I considered to be pretty good since I was already really fatigued. Overall, I did about 10.5 miles on the evening.
Then, the next day I rode to work and on the way home, did my interval set of 12, 10, 8, 6, and 4 minutes at E5 (hard, race pace or higher) effort. The first one I did on the way South down the canal, which was like a wind tunnel! I was putting out 280-300 watts and only going 18 mph. Then, on the 10 min interval on the way back, at the same power, I was going 25-27 mph and when I got to the 8 minute interval on the North side of the canal, I hit almost 30 mph and made it down the entire canal in 8:20, which is a new record! I finished the ride home with 2 more intervals and was so cooked by the end almost didn't make it up the hill to my house. It's about a 560 ft climb over 1.2 miles, so it's a significant hill, but still...
Then this morning, I was back in the pool! I did 3100 yards and my main sets were supposed to be 4x250 on 4:08 and 5x100 on 1:37. After 2.5 weeks off of swimming, I could only do the 250s on about 4:15-4:18 and could only do the 100s on about 1:42-1:45 or so. I've lost a bit in the water, but hopefully I'll be able to get it back in the next 2 weeks or so, although I won't be back in the water again until Monday and Tuesday of next week.
This weekend is another huge weekend - more on that later.
Monday, August 3, 2009
One Final Big Push
This past Sunday I did a huge ride - 110 miles with 9000' of climbing. I had always wanted to try to do the lake loop twice and since my schedule had a 110 on it, I thought I'd give it a shot. I even had to extend it a bit up towards Forest Hill. And surprisingly, I wasn't completely flattened by this ride. For the first 50 miles, I rode with some friends of mine on a tandem so that helped me temper the effort a bit. I averaged 15.4 mph and about 167 watts for the first 50. For the second loop with the extension, I averaged like 16.7 mph and 183 watts. The wattage doesn't really represent how hard the ride was, though, with all that climbing. Then afterwards, I put on my running shoes and did 8 miles in 59:30 or so. I felt pretty good throughout, which was very encouraging.
Now these next 2 weeks will be my last push to IM Louisville. I'm doing an over-distance ride this weekend and a 22-mile run, with a 50 mile ride preceding it. Should be quite the weekend. Throw in some more track work on Tuesday, some serious bike intensity Wednesday AM, and it will make for a pretty tough week! Then, I'll repeat it for one more week if I can, but we'll see how the body responds. This past week I did 260 miles riding and 51 miles running and racked up 22+ hours of training. These next 2 weeks, if I can hang on for the final extend week, will probably come close to that. My motivation is still pretty good, but the long rides are definitely a grind!! I am getting VERY excited for the race, though. I can't wait to see what I can lay out there on the course!!
Now these next 2 weeks will be my last push to IM Louisville. I'm doing an over-distance ride this weekend and a 22-mile run, with a 50 mile ride preceding it. Should be quite the weekend. Throw in some more track work on Tuesday, some serious bike intensity Wednesday AM, and it will make for a pretty tough week! Then, I'll repeat it for one more week if I can, but we'll see how the body responds. This past week I did 260 miles riding and 51 miles running and racked up 22+ hours of training. These next 2 weeks, if I can hang on for the final extend week, will probably come close to that. My motivation is still pretty good, but the long rides are definitely a grind!! I am getting VERY excited for the race, though. I can't wait to see what I can lay out there on the course!!
Friday, July 31, 2009
That Was Long
I did part one of my hard weekend today. Took the afternoon off work and used a half-day PTO so I could make sure to spend Saturday with my family. I started my ride around 1 and went up toward Auburn and did some good climbing. I did my normal loop in reverse and went up Auburn-Folsom and back down Indian Hill and back through Newcastle. Covered about 37 miles in 2 hours prior to my long run.
Then I made it back to the car, locked up my bike, changed my shoes and was off on my 22 miler. I decided to do 2 out-and-backs so I could come back to the car halfway through and switch my 2nd bottle from Gatorade to Coke. So I went off on the North side of Lake Natoma first all the way down to Hazel (almost). First 30 minutes were supposed to be easy and the next 30 were supposed to be slightly harder effort. My HR was particularly high because of the heat I think so on my pickup pace, it was in the low 160s which is really high for this kind of run. I managed OK though. But boy was it hot! When I started I think it was about 90 degrees. Plus the North side does not have a lot of water options and by the time I got all the way back to the drinking fountain, I was already dehydrated. After the 30 minute pickup I slowed down for 10 minutes and started another one. I made it back to the car before the 20 minute pickup was over though so I switched out my Gatorade for Coke and kept on going, trying not to take too long. My first out and back was about 1:24 or so because of the tempo pacing. Unfortunately, I did not have enough ice and the car was really hot so everything in the cooler was melted. I drank some of the cold water out of the cooler (I know, kind of gross, but it tasted good) and went out on my way.
The 2nd out and back was on the South side of the lake. I started at the slightly higher pace to finish off the 20 min pickup and then recovered for another 10 minutes after that. Finally, had one more 10 minute pickup. I was still feeling OK, but the heat was getting to me since I had no ice and was only able to drink warm water and luke-warm coke. I still hung tough though and chugged along. Got to the 2nd turnaround at about 2:08 and that was about 16.5 miles. On the way back I filled up my water at Nimbus flat so that was nice. It was still warm, but I could at least keep drinking. The coke works well although this time since I didn't have any ice, it went a little faster and was kind of fizzy in my bottle. I stuck to my gels every hour and did my final one at 2:30. With about 3 miles to go I was still motoring along. Pretty slow, but a decent, steady effort. My legs were doing OK, but my energy level was a tad low. I think the gel helped a little and the last 25 minutes were not horrible. It was a really, really, long run, but I finished. I was really dehydrated at the end and was dying of thirst, so I went to the Circle K and bought 2 32 oz Gatorades and a chocolate milk with my bags of ice for the ice bath. And boy did that Gatorade taste good!!! It was a solid workout and I seem to be able to hold about 8 minute miles or better on these long, tough runs after 40 mile rides. I am thinking I may shoot for about a 3:30 marathon split if I am feeling good off the bike in L'ville. Who knows what the day will bring, though...
Tomorrow is off - spending time with the family. And Sunday is a 110 miler with a ton of climbing - should be about 10k feet or so. I am feeling fairly confident at this point, but I may feel differently 6 hours into that ride.
Then I made it back to the car, locked up my bike, changed my shoes and was off on my 22 miler. I decided to do 2 out-and-backs so I could come back to the car halfway through and switch my 2nd bottle from Gatorade to Coke. So I went off on the North side of Lake Natoma first all the way down to Hazel (almost). First 30 minutes were supposed to be easy and the next 30 were supposed to be slightly harder effort. My HR was particularly high because of the heat I think so on my pickup pace, it was in the low 160s which is really high for this kind of run. I managed OK though. But boy was it hot! When I started I think it was about 90 degrees. Plus the North side does not have a lot of water options and by the time I got all the way back to the drinking fountain, I was already dehydrated. After the 30 minute pickup I slowed down for 10 minutes and started another one. I made it back to the car before the 20 minute pickup was over though so I switched out my Gatorade for Coke and kept on going, trying not to take too long. My first out and back was about 1:24 or so because of the tempo pacing. Unfortunately, I did not have enough ice and the car was really hot so everything in the cooler was melted. I drank some of the cold water out of the cooler (I know, kind of gross, but it tasted good) and went out on my way.
The 2nd out and back was on the South side of the lake. I started at the slightly higher pace to finish off the 20 min pickup and then recovered for another 10 minutes after that. Finally, had one more 10 minute pickup. I was still feeling OK, but the heat was getting to me since I had no ice and was only able to drink warm water and luke-warm coke. I still hung tough though and chugged along. Got to the 2nd turnaround at about 2:08 and that was about 16.5 miles. On the way back I filled up my water at Nimbus flat so that was nice. It was still warm, but I could at least keep drinking. The coke works well although this time since I didn't have any ice, it went a little faster and was kind of fizzy in my bottle. I stuck to my gels every hour and did my final one at 2:30. With about 3 miles to go I was still motoring along. Pretty slow, but a decent, steady effort. My legs were doing OK, but my energy level was a tad low. I think the gel helped a little and the last 25 minutes were not horrible. It was a really, really, long run, but I finished. I was really dehydrated at the end and was dying of thirst, so I went to the Circle K and bought 2 32 oz Gatorades and a chocolate milk with my bags of ice for the ice bath. And boy did that Gatorade taste good!!! It was a solid workout and I seem to be able to hold about 8 minute miles or better on these long, tough runs after 40 mile rides. I am thinking I may shoot for about a 3:30 marathon split if I am feeling good off the bike in L'ville. Who knows what the day will bring, though...
Tomorrow is off - spending time with the family. And Sunday is a 110 miler with a ton of climbing - should be about 10k feet or so. I am feeling fairly confident at this point, but I may feel differently 6 hours into that ride.
Let the Games Begin!
This week hasn't been too bad. I bounced back on Tuesday night for the track workout and although I was still a tad sore, I did fine and covered the 800s (10 of them) in reasonable times. My splits were, of course, nowhere close to my "new" target based on my last 3K TT, but it was still a solid effort. Then I had a good riding day on Wednesday with 3x10 at max effort (~300 watts or so) and 10 minutes in between I felt pretty good about my riding that day and the legs were getting better. Yesterday was fairly easy, but today, the real work starts!!
I have a 2 hour ride followed by a 22 mile run with tempo. And then on Sunday, I'm doing a double lake loop, which will be about 110 miles with ~10K feet of climbing. Should be fun. Actually, I am quite looking forward to it. I guess that's the weird thing about triathlon. We're all gluttons for punishment!!
I have a 2 hour ride followed by a 22 mile run with tempo. And then on Sunday, I'm doing a double lake loop, which will be about 110 miles with ~10K feet of climbing. Should be fun. Actually, I am quite looking forward to it. I guess that's the weird thing about triathlon. We're all gluttons for punishment!!
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