June 2018 Totals

57+ hours of working out this month. Highest total ever.

Epic Bike - Old Mission

On road and at Old Mission

Epic Bike - First Leg

Leaving HQ and first part of Old Mission

5:30 AM

Time to ride!!!

Ironman TC Training Camp

Headquarters

Summertacular Grocery Party

Getting ready for the morning bike ride nutritional needs!

Superstition Admission

I bought the pictured bowl during an injured phase in time back in 2015 I think…and I'm noticing that I'm avoiding using it in these past months. Today is no different. Not touching it…

Three weeks to go. Really want to get myself to starting line uninjured. As all Ironman athletes know, this is not a given. I think this is especially true this year for me given the highest volume training I've ever done.

Leaving today for peak training weekend to Ironman Training Camp in TC. Almost RTG.

Smiling as I write....

Long Ride Nutrition Test

Hopefully the nutrition pictured will work for Sunday's five hour long ride. If yes, it becomes the Ironman plan.

- Perpetuem - 3 servings, 780 calories, 156 grams of carbs
- Maurten 320 - 2 servings, 640 calories, 160 grams of carbs
- Clif Bars - 2 servings, 520 calories, 84 grams of carbs
- Gu Roctane - 4 servings, 400 calories, 84 grams of carbs

Totals: 2320 calories, 484 grams of carbs

Workout: 5 hours ... so 464 calories and 96.8 grams of carbs per hour.

Training and Lake Placid Updates!

1. Less than four weeks to go.  Feeling good.  
2. Did some Ironman Wisconsin data analysis. Some interesting stats:
• Average bike HR: 133
• Average run HR: 138
• Why are those interesting?  12-15 beats lower than "normal" for a 70.3 race. In other words, there was possibly more in the tank if I was rested and paced the race well.
3. My time from the Triceratops Sprint Tri last week was the 4th fastest I've run on that course in 14 races.  I liked finding that out.  It was the 4th fastest swim ever in that event also....good!
4. Ended the last week of training with a CTL of 109.  Highest fitness ever according to the TrainingPeaks.com software.  FWIW...I think it is one indication that things are good. Just gotta stay uninjured.
5. As of 6/26, there has been 48 hours of training this month.  Wow. That is a lot.
6. Mirror Lake Boat Rental reports the water temp is 68°.  #wetsuitswim I'm thinking about a slow, calm swim start building to a strong middle and end of swim.  Calm waters...please and thank you.
7. I was glad to find this bird's eye view of the Lake Placid swim to bike transition:
   
8. Bib numbers are up!!!!

Triceratops Sprint Tri 2018 Race Recap - RCK AMAZING!!!!

Ran the Triceratops Sprint Triathlon last week.  It was a lot of fun!

First and foremost, congrats to RCK for his fifth place overall finish.  Holy cow!!!  I so enjoy that he and I do these events together.  Given this moment of amazement, it is good to look back to another past milestone HERE.  Love you, Ry!

Congrats also to MHilton for his awesome 2018 tri kickoff.  You are awesome!

Photo credit: SJCK

For me, it has been two years since I've been able to show up and run this event because of injury.  I was really  happy to be back at it and see some old friends.  I beat a couple guys I've never beaten before....ran them down in the last 1.5 miles ;-).  We need to disregard the fact that they are 57 and 60 years old though..... #oldfastguys

Photo credit: SJCK 

Here is a little more on how things went:

Swim - felt really good, but time still slow, slow, slow.  I will go back to look at previous results. I think I was probably on the fast side for me overall.  In my age group, I was 3+ minutes slower than first place finisher in age gruop.   The swim is what keeps me from winning my age group. Damn.

Bike - felt like I was FLYING.  Often riding 24+ mph.  I think I was about a minute slower than my fastest time on this course...which makes sense given the volume of my recent training and the fatigue I'm carrying.  Overall happy.  I was second fastest on bike in my age group so that was encouraging.

Run - Good.  I was fastest in my age group but one minute slower than my fastest time for this course.  Again, carrying lots of fatigue so all is good.

We are now less than four weeks until Ironman Lake Placid. Final race prep, staying uninjured, having fun are what's on my mind now.  

I also have a thought on Boston 2019 and seeing Eileen at mile 20.  Can't wait!

Long Run Nutrition

After an Ironman swim this morning and a great afternoon nap, I'm heading out for an 18 mile evening run. 

I am planning three loops from the house and will stop back a couple times to hydrate and get some Ken provided nutrition.  Thank you, Kenny!

On deck nutrition: 

Maurten

Coke

Water

Clif Blocks

Salt Sticks

We will see how it goes.

Post Workout Perspective

5 Hours

Five hours on the bike is the schedule today… Let's start with some time on the mountain bike. :-)

I’m Back On The Cordyceps

Channeling my inner Zach today!

Evening Dirt Road Ride

After a fabulous easy spin outside tonight, I want to echo Mark P's sentiment: "Nothing beats riding outside (and not on the trainer). It is the whole reason we love riding so much."

Peak Training: Week - 5 and Week - 4

So here we are....peak training is coming this week and next.  Despite feeling a little bit like I am crawling to the starting line, I am also encouraged by the new (or re-learned) knowledge from Madison. 

The schedule in these next two weeks calls for a combined 37+ hours of training. 
- 7 hours of swimming
- 18 hours of riding
- 12 hours of running
That's a lot, like a part-time job of training.  It is the most that's ever been on my schedule. 

We'll see what happens.  If I can keep the intensity low enough, maybe I can finish all of it. 

Well...maybe not. Here's why:
1 - Wednesday, June 20 at 6 PM is beer league triathlon at Island Lake...so Wednesday's tempo run workout isn't going to happen.  The tri will be more fun.  The last time I ran this course was in 2016 and came in under one hour, ten minutes.  We will see where things are on Wednesday.  I'm not making any predictions because hyperventilating during the swim really slows things down :-).

2 - There are 3 hour runs scheduled for both June 24 and July 1.  I will be close to 3 hours on one of those, but the other will be 1.5 to 2 hours.  Just can't see what I would gain from doing both of those, so one of them will be reduced.
Otherwise, I'll try to stick to the schedule in a low-intensity sort of way.

Other things on my mind:
- Need to make a decision on what to wear on race day in Lake Placid.  At Mont Tremblant and Boulder I wore TYR Carbon shorts.  They worked well, and it looks like the company still sells them, but who came up with the white pinstripe side panels that show dirt like nothing else???
- Need to practice the nutrition the next two weeks before the ride.  The Maurten and Perpetuem seem to be OK as long as I'm taking the SaltSticks.  Hmmm....really like the Maurten too though.  I am wondering about eliminating Perpetuem and just going with Maurten and on-course nutrition.  Need to think those things over.
- Pacing, pacing, pacing.  Gotta keep the wattage on the low side to do this endurance.
- Feeling some real enjoyment in the training and the adventure right now.  Funny how that happens when things slow down.

Ironman Swim Morning

Good swim this morning followed by Leo's breakfast for Father's Day. Thank you, Ryan!

Always happy to finish these long swims. This year I feel stronger than in 2012 or 2015. If I don't freak out to start the swim, things could be good :-). While swimming today I was envisioning Mirror Lake as flat on race morning, five weeks from today. #hoping

Week -5 to IMLP

I am happy to share I had a strong 5-hour workout today. I didn't push hard but finished four hours on the bike and one hour of running feeling pretty darn good. I would love to feel just that way on race day in Lake Placid, New York.

With five weeks to go before Lake Placid, a few topics on my mind....most about last weekend's half Ironman.
- Wisconsin 70.3 was a tough pill to swallow. Let me give an idea of why.
- Generally: I arrived in Wisconsin a bit tired and stressed but also very fit. Race morning was a downpour with thunder and lightning that caused a late start. Issue: felt a little unsettled by this.
- Swim: When I got in the water, I experienced what has become an almost annual freak out with choppy water and some mild hyperventilation. I did some self talk to calm myself, got through the swim about five minutes slower than I had hoped and onto my bike. Issue: the swim is tough for me to feel settled about.
- Bike: The bike is always a strong leg for me and for the first 40 of the 56 miles I was killing it. But then I just started to feel flat and couldn't push. I attribute this to a combination of pushing too hard at the beginning of the bike while going up hill and maybe needing more calories. Issue: I will (need to) learn from this part.
- Run: After getting off the bike and feeling a little disappointed, I really didn't want to push on the run, so I didn't. I just ran. And then I stopped at the bathroom - TWICE - in the first four miles. By that time I was ready to be focused again and starting running close to 8 minute pace :-). Issue: need to get my mind straight and find something to wear that is easy to get off and on.

All in all, I didn't love the results of this event but I did learn a lot:
- Just let the swim be what it will be. Zen Swim.
- Study the bike course ahead of time to better understand where to push, where not to and, most of all, make a plan for how to ride the course.
- Pace the bike carefully. Start off slow especially in Lake Placid as the course starts with climbing.
- Don't get discouraged by perceived failure. I didn't do a great job pacing in Wisconsin but I still was in the top 18% on the the bike...but in my head I felt like I had failed compared to other similar events. Mistake.
- Eat 100 calories every 15 minutes on the bike.
- Start taking salt tablets earlier on the bike. Don't wait for the run.
- Wear a two piece outfit so as to more easily facilitate bathroom breaks.
- Pace the run carefully...just go out easy. It won't be time to run hard until mile 20 of the marathon.

In other thoughts, the Wisconsin 70.3 medals were pretty cool:

Racked!

#RTG

Final Bike Prep

#IM703Moo

Athlete Check-In

#trilyfe

Boys Weekend + Dash The Triathlon Dog

Found Ry on 94 with Dash. Dash is going home and we are headed to Madison!

Ironman Rules Primer

With Ironman Wisconsin just over a week away, I decided it would be a good idea to read the official athlete's guide to the event.  While reading it, I thought a review of the top Ironman racing rules might be interesting to some.  So here you go....

First, it is OK to crawl:

That's right, the rules state athlete's are allowed to crawl.  If you haven't seen Julie Moss' historic Ironman finish during in the 80s, check it out.

Next, no nudity....at least anymore. Nudity shenanigans used to be a thing in the transition area back in the early 90s but it isn't allowed nowadays.  That is unless there is a changing tent where volunteers will even help you get nude by assisting with clothing removal (if asked).  Not kidding but YMMV.

Don't show too much skin.  See rule 19 below.  

That's not all that fun is it?  

Try to avoid violations.

It might be interesting to you to find our there are red, yellow and blue card violations in triathlon.

The blue cards violations I'm familiar with but I need to find out more about the yellow card for blocking. I am not actually sure what that means.

Violation = Penalty Box

I've actually never been to the penalty box.  Maybe I should take my chances and try it out this weekend in Madison.

I might add to this post later on if I can think of some other good primer type information.