I made my annual trip to Coeur d'Alene for some focused training the last weekend of April. I headed into the weekend a little unsure of the conditions given that it snowed on Tuesday and the fact that my coach had a huge weekend on tap for me.
I arrived late on Thursday evening got settled in my hotel. I was lucky enough put in the same hallway with the busload of high school kids (not sure why they were there) but I was not excited about the prospects of the late night antics but suprisingly they quieted down by about 10:30.
Up early on Friday with a plan to ride the IM bike course. Cloudy, windy and cold to start the day. I eased into the ride along the lake and back to CdA before picking up the effort on the way out to Hayden Lake. The weather started to clear a little towards the end of the first lap of the bike and I headed back for the hills of Hayden. As I hit the hills the skies clouded up and the temp dropped. As I hit the big hill on Hudlow road the snow flurries started but I survived the ride with dry roads. The north end of the course was crazy riding on the road with snow banks on either side 2 feet high. Overall it was a good ride, no crazy efforts and I finished up the ride in 6:30.
Saturday was going to be interesting. Long run scheduled with an afternoon bike and t-run. I hit the road from my hotel at 7am. It was sunny and cold (temps in the upper 20's) to start and I cruised down to to the lake before heading out along the lake. I was comfortably cruising along at a pace in the low to mid 7:00 minute range. I hit my turnaround time just a half mile from the bike turaround and headed back to town.
Lots of bikers out as there were 3-4 camps going on this weekend. The Multisports camp group rode by me and Michael Lovato gave me the a look and said "Pick it up" with a big smile on his face. I was really working the hills with solid efforts near 7:00/mile pace. At 1:30 in I hit a 15 minute tempo holding right at 7:00/mile pace. I felt pretty good cruising back up the hill to my hotel finishing off the run 18 miles in 2:10. Very solid effort.
Back on the bike in the afternoon for a solid effort of 56 miles with one loop of the bike course. I was worried the legs would be cracked but they help up well and I finished off the day with a quick short transition run of 20 minutes. Quick dinner and good nights sleep before the final day.
Sunday morning I was up early, got breakfast and was on the bike by 7am. It was sunny but really cold, with highs forecasted for upper 60's I knew it would warm up so I was a little under dressed. I decided to ride a slightly different route and headed directly for Hayden Lake. It was very cool riding through upper CdA early in the morning as there were no cars on the road which was nice. I hit the Hayden Lake road and started the first little climb this would be the state of things for the next 20 miles. This is a great ride it twists and turns and undulates up and down with no huge climbs and the scenery was amazing (I even saw a wild turkey). Almost no cars on the road, I'm sure in the summer things become more busy on the road but it was pretty much just me. My legs were feeling the previous two days for the first 1:30. After coming off the lake I connected with the IM course north of Hayden Lake and started pushing the pace. I had a solid 2 hours on the hills and along the lake pushing hard.
I spotted a couple riders about a 1/2 mile ahead of me along the lake just before the big hill (where run turnaround is) and they became my new target to catch before we got back to Mullan Ave. I hadn't made up much ground by the turnaround so I put the hammer down. No excuses but they were pacelining on TT bikes and I was pushing solo on my road bike. I didn't think I was going to catch them when coming around a corner they were just 300 yards ahead of me just before the rise in the road (Ford motivational mile). I was closing fast just 100 yards before the crest of the hill I blew past them (I actually love this hill as I can hold 22-23 mph up it, last year I was doing 28 mph during the first lap of the bike). Having satisfactorily caught and finished off my prey. I backed off my cooked legs for the final 30 minute spin back to the hotel to finish off the 70 mile ride in 4 hours. I finished off the day with another quick t-run. Overall a great day.
Reflecting on the weekend I felt great putting in 230 miles on the bike and another 24 miles running in just 3 days. I've got two more big volume weeks to this block but am feeling good about my fitness. If I've got a weakness in my mind right now it's the bike but with a few solid weeks ahead I'm sure this will take care of itself as these big rides will really help and lets face it training isn't race day.
This isn't exactly about training but it is related. I continue to be amazed at how unaware drivers are around cyclists. Now I'm not talking about everyone because there are lots of drivers who are very respectful and safe when passing cyclists, giving them the appropriate due respect, but there is a surprisingly large number of drivers who seem to be oblivious to cyclists and have no intention of sharing the road with cyclists.
I've had seen several examples of agressive drivers in the past few weeks. One honked at me when riding to a Y in the road (the road natually went to the left, with the right actually a turn), I was about 20 feet in front of them as far over on the road as I could be and signaled that I was going to the left and this guy layed on his horn because he was going right.... the best part of this whole story is that I was doing 28 mph at the time in a 25 mph zone.
Another on the same ride was a descent on a road which had no shoulder and I was hugging the edge of the road (probably should have been further out in the lane for safety) and going close to 40 mph in a 30 mph zone when these two pickups raced by me crossing the center line flipping me off and honking at me before pulling back into the lane and hitting his brakes. Apparently I was slowing them down.
I've become more hyperaware of cars and it's amazing how many people who are driving like this are talking on cell phones, texting, watching their GPS units or simply not paying attention.
The Cascade Bicycling Club has a program called "Give 3 feet" to promote sharing the road with cyclists after a number of auto/bike fatalities in the last few years in the area. I came across this video which is an awareness campaign in the UK which promotes sharing the road with cyclists.
Just be aware out there, slow down and expect the unexpected if your driving and if your on your bike signal give as much room as you can to the cars and wear blinkers anything to make you more visible even during daylight hours. Safe riding.
http://www.dothetest.co.uk/
I do enjoy a little suffering in my training a few wet, cold windy days during the winter out on the bike or run. It gives you this great sense of accomplishment surviving a long day in the crud and let's face it there are few things better than a hot shower after a long cold day. At a certain point in the spring it's time for the clouds to part, the sun shine down and to be able to begin to worry about getting too warm instead of getting hypothermic.
I've now officially had it with the weather. It's mid April and the forecast for the weekend is snow here in Seattle, enough is enough. I'd go back to Hood River this weekend but the forecast is no better there. My only hope is that it stays dry for my long ride on Sunday. To give you an idea how bad it is we're 10-12 degrees below our average this time of year every day and I did my first open water swim last year on April 21st (yeah it was refreshingly cool but it was above 50 degrees), at this rate I won't be in the lake until the end of May.
I headed south to Hood River, Oregon last weekend as the forecast was for warmer temps, it was forecasted to be nice in Seattle but frankly I don't trust the weather here this year, so I went for the sure thing.
Saturday I did a 5 hour ride heading out with just knee warmers and arm warmers and sans gloves at 8am. There was a lot climbing in the first hour, followed by a mind bending switchback laden 5 mile descent to The Dalles at over 31 mph avg and a max of 49 mph. After a casual cruise through The Dalles I did my 20 mile hard effort on fifteen mile road. It's a surreal ride the road seriously looks like it's going downhill at a 2-3% grade but is in fact an uphill grade where you're lucky to top 18 mph with the pedal down. After 10 miles you hit the turnaround and then the fun begins with averages above 25 mph back to town. Back through The Dalles and on to Rowena where I did three intervals up and down the climb to Rowena Butte. It's 2.2 miles of perfectly even 7.5% grade and I love this climb, I got progressively faster each interval by 10-15 seconds which is great at the 75 mile mark of the ride. Next I rode back to Mosier, there is a lot of slightly downhill riding in this section but this was the first time I've ridden this ride without fighting the famous gorge winds, normally I'm lucky to average 15 or 16 mph working my ass off but today there was no wind and got to enjoy the 8 miles ride at a 25 mph average. My final few miles I did the easy spin back to Hood River. The temps topped out in the low 80's which was heaven.
Sunday I did a very comfortable 90 minute run on the twin tunnel trail and actually ran negative splits. It was great running comfortably for 90 minutes at 7:30/mile pace and I feel like my run form is finally returning after being absent for several years.
This weekend I'm expecting a tough couple days with the weather and next weekend I'm supposed to be in Coeur d'Alene for my long training weekend but I'm just hoping that it warms up or it's going to be a miserable couple of long days.
Not entirely sure what was going the end of the weekend and into the first part of the week but things weren't right. I think I picked up an intestinal bug but needless to say I wasn't feeling good and took Monday and Tuesday off. Thankfully it's a lower volume week but I've cut back from what was planned to give my body some rest and get things right heading into a couple big volume weeks.
I did head out yesterday for the first time since my disaster of a run on Sunday and things were good. Had a 25 minute tempo followed by 1 minute rest then the plan was to run the same distance I had covered in the first tempo faster than the fist 25 tempo.
As I picked up the pace for the fist tempo I was feeling good holding my HR in the upper 140's lower 150's and holding near 7:00/mile pace. At 25 minutes I had just passed the 5 mile marker on the trail (same distance I had run on Sunday) and jogged a big before spinning it around and ramping up the pace again (I had held 6:57/mile pace for the first 25 minute tempo). I was a little worried that I was going to crack on the way back but I didn't and felt really strong the whole way and covered the same distance in 23:50 (6:37/mile pace).
What a difference between Sunday and yesterday. I'm still watching my volume to ensure I'm getting good rest as I'm down near where I thought I'd be weight wise on race day already and didn't have much appetite the last few days.
Headed to Oregon this weekend for some warmer training weather in the Gorge. Hopefully it will be windy too..... ;)
After a good ride on Saturday I was supposed to go long on the run on Sunday with a 2:20 run scheduled.
My stomach was feeling quesy Saturday night and when I awoke on Sunday. I waited a couple hours then decided to make a go of it. In hindsight it probably wasn't the best decision. I was about 40 minutes into my run (out and back) and decided I better call it a day and head back. Good thing as my stomach was still quesy and my energy level was very low to the point I ended up walking the last mile. I ended up running about 10 miles in 1:30 and was glad to get home and in a reclined position for a nap.
I'm hoping it was something that I ate that caused the uneasy stomach. In all my years of running I've only had a handful of days that were as bad as Sunday's run. Not the way I wanted to finish off a really strong week of training but I guess those days will happen. Next week is a slightly lower volume week before beginning another 3 week build.
I think I'm going to Hood River next weekend in search of warmer and dryer weather.
It's getting to that time t-minus 11 weeks and counting to IMCDA and it's time to start turning up the bike mileage.
It was yet another cool day but thankfully the rain held off. I'm really looking forward to not having to put on layers and layers to head out on the bike but not today it was cold and the roads were wet and I really wasn't excited about riding today but consistency and hardwork will mean the difference between giving me a chance to qualify for Kona.
I headed out early as the forecast was for rain late in the day. I headed north along Juanita and back to Redmond via the trail before heading out along Lake Sammamish. I headed up and over the plateau and eventually up to Snoqualmie where I rode the climb up to the falls a couple times (faster each time by 20-25 seconds). I finished up the ride back up and over the plateau and back along Lake Sammamish and up and over Rose Hill to home.
It was one of my best rides of this distance not necessarily in time or speed (by no way slow) but in overall consistency in energy level. The ride ended up being 85 miles and just under 5 hours but my favorite part was the cadence at 91 average and my energy level.
I quickly transitioned to a 20 minute transition run and felt great. I threw in some high tempo pace in the middle of the run for 10 minutes and was clicking along at 6:40/mile pace and felt great (if only I feel like this on race day).
Overall a great day and confidence building workout now I can only hope for some dryer and warmer weather. Tomorrow my long run (2:20 on the schedule).
With all of the cool wet weather I really haven't had much chance or need to run in shorts but yesterday it was borderline shorts weather. Now normally when it's borderline shorts weather (upper 40's) I tend to get pretty well chaffed on a longer run.
Problem is now solved. The new Zoot Ultra Run Short solves this problem. Unlike almost all other shorts these have a compression short liner instead of the traditional mesh liner. They're like a little slice of heaven lots of support, super comfortable and they look good.
Check them out and order a pair today.
http://www.zootsports.com/product_info.php?cPath=2_10_17&products_id=133
BTW....good run yesterday. 2 x 12 min tempo first was on a moderate 1-2% uphill grade and I felt comfortable at 6:40/mile pace. The second one was on the flats at 6:27/mile pace. Overall run was at sub 7:20/mile. Things are on track for some strong performances on the run this spring and summer.
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