The last few weeks were a littel rough in the training department. Not feeling particularly good on the run or fast in the pool. I had a really solid bike ride up in Penticton so I'm feeling pretty good on the bike.
What I'm happiest about right now is my run fitness. I think it's taken to now to shake out the Ironman race from my body completely. In the past two weeks I've had some solid run workouts.
This weekend I had a solid 1:45 run this weekend and had a solid long negative split tempo run last night. Basically a short warm-up then 32:30 at a omfortable tempo (7:00/m) then run the same distance covered in the first tempo faster. In the case of last night that was in 30:13 or 6:31/m pace, then a quick cool down. Total last night was 12 miles in 1:22:30 or 6:52/m pace. If you're doing the math that is just under 1:30 for the half marathon. The best part was I really didn't feel like I was stressing myself much at all last night and the entire run was relatively comfortable which I haven't felt in few months. I'm feeling good about my running right now which is critically important heading into the Kona. I've got a few more big training weeks before the taper (can't believe I'm even talking taper, it's almost here).
I've got races the next two weekends so these should be a good little indicators of where I'm at, but no taper for these races. This weekend is the Escape from the Rock (1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike and 2.5 mile run) which I'll hardly get warmed up for and it will be over. Next weekend is my return to the Grand Columbian Half Ironman. It'll be my third trip to this race and I'm hoping for a top 10 finish (first attempt I was 50th, last year I was 27th). It's a brutally tough bike and although the run is flat it's on a gravel trail so it's not exactly easy footing but it should be a good effort.
Hoping for a couple more good solid workouts this week and I'll be posting race recaps after the races.
My vacation has turned into a pretty intensive training camp. The first few days were a good mix of workouts and windsurfing but the heat has been turned on and the wind has dried up.
Last weekend and the first part of the week had temps in the mid 80's and it has slowly increased into the triple digits with the high tomorrow expected to be 107 degrees. Despite all of the heat the training has been great with a focus on the bike.
So far this trip (since Sunday I've logged 320 miles on the bike and with one more ride scheduled for tomorrow I'm going to top 420 miles. I've also logged 35 miles since last Saturday with another long run scheduled for Sunday.
Saturday through Monday was either runs or rides followed by some solid windsurfing sessions. As the tempeatures began to heat up the wind dropped off and the focus became the training.
Tuesday I tried a new route from Lyle to Goldendale up highway 142 (and back). The route climbs very gradually for the first 12 miles along the Klickitat river. Before finally climbing up a steeper grade for 4 miles up to the plateau where the road rolled up and down through wheat farms for the final 12 miles or so. The ride was beautiful but the road was rough and tough on the body. On the way back to Lyle I was fighting a serious headwind roaring up the canyon and just wished that I could get done. It was maybe the hardest 72 miles I've ever ridden (hard on the body).
Wednesday was a good run in the heat of the day. A negative split cruise but not too fast as the temps were in the upper 90's.
Yesterday was supposed to be the big day of the week but with temps forecasted in the low 100's. I didn't swim I just got out on the bike before it got really hot. I explored another new route east of The Dalles on a road called fifteen Mile Road. It was a great ride out this canyon the road wound it's way past farms and scrub brush. I turned around at 15 miles although the road continued to go on for who knows how far. I was tempted to keep going but was running low on water and though that around each corner would be just a little sign of civilization but not place to refill my bottles and knew I had 20 miles to the nearest refill. The wildest part of this ride was all of the coyotes I saw. I saw probably 20 including a pack of about six. Pretty unusual to see them out in the heat of the day. I also had a run in with a ground squirrel, well actually I ran over the ground squirrel. Thankfully I wasn't going too fast otherwise it could been ugly for me. I don't the the squirrel was any the worse for wear.
I finished off the day with a short one hour run up the Rowena Grade and back about 3 miles up at a steady 7-8% grade. Of course this was in the hottest part of the day. My frozen water bottles were turned into hot water by the end of the run.
Today was my "off" day but given the forecasted high of 105 degrees I hit the river for a standup paddle board adventure, I did a 90 minute trip from our house in Rowena to the mouth of the Klickitat river and up the river a ways and back, it's a pretty cool way to see the river.
Two more fairly big days with another long run tomorrow and a 2 hour run on Sunday. I plan to hit it early.
Hope to post some pictures and possibly some video at the end of the week.
Yeah I'm in the Motherland of triathlon..... Kona. I'm loving it. I'm splurging and staying at the Mauna Lani Hotel and Resort which is hosting the IM 70.3 Hawaii race next Saturday. It's great.
The race isn't really the focus it's getting the final big training days in before my taper to IM Coeur d'Alene. I love this place. Running is tough but the swimming and riding are phenomenal. I've been swimming every morning in the ocean at Mauna Lani Bay Beach Club it's like high speed snorkeling. Today besides a crazy assortment of fish over the coral reef, I saw a bunch of rays, a big school of rather large something or others which I was swimming through and one little shark cruising about 30 feet below on the bottom.
Today my coach scheduled a 25 minute "race" effort. I took my GPS watch and put it in a zip lock and placed it in my swim cap to see just how much I've improved over the past year in the swim department. When I downloaded the data I was shocked. 25 minutes = 1 miles. That would put me just under 30 minutes for a half IM swim. My fastest ever was a 34:30 which I think was a short course every other swim of that distance has been consistently 36:30. If I can take 6 minutes off my swim time it would be crazy and today wasn't really race pace as I wasn't racing I was swimming solo.
Riding here is also fantastic. I'm sure over time it would get a little boring as it is an island but so far the roads I've been on all have great shoulders not a lot of debris and the drivers have been pretty cool. The part I like best is I seem to be riding really fast here, part of it no doubt is the fact that I've got my race wheels on (Zipp 808 front and 1080 rear which has been a mixed blessing with the wind), or the aero helmet but I think it's just the terrain and I actually am enjoying the heat. It's been really windy, there is no direction that I haven't been hammered either by head winds or side winds.
I rode on Sunday the day after a long trip and hit 84 miles at just under a 20 mph average. Today I rode 73 miles at just under a21 mph average. Crazy as neither of these were crazy race efforts so I figure I'm good for about another 2-3 mph average in the race Saturday and it's giving me big confidence going into IMCDA in a few weeks.
Running is tough, it's hot and humid. I did manage an 8+ mile negative tempo run in the heat of the day yesterday with my negative split at sub 7:00 pace. Needless to say it's going to be a long hot run.
My coach has changed the race plan. Put in a hard solid swim effort to see how the winter swimming has paid off and then ride like a man possessed. The run is now just get through it as close to 1:40 as possible. I was quick to inform him that a 1:40 would be a half IM run 2 minute PR for me.
I'm feeling great with the final hard training and feel like I would really love to be back here in October for the big dance. Now just to put it all together on race day. I'll post how things went.
Well I'm in my final few weeks leading up to IM Coeur d'Alene and just 14 days from IM 70.3 Hawaii and I'm just trying not to do anyting stupid.
Well so much for not doing anything stupid. I had two workouts scheduled for yesterday a run and a swim. I did the run in the late afternoon a solid netative tempo. 10 min warmup followed by 30 minutes at a moderate tempo which was just over 7:00 per mile pace. The negative tempo is run over the same distance I had run in the first 30 minutes but you want to go faster. I had a good day doing the second tempo at 6:34 per mile pace. Overall a good solid 11+ mile run. It was the first warm day we've had here in Seattle this year with temps during my run in the mid 70's and a bit humid.
Now here's where the stupidity comes into play (although innocently enough). After my run I headed home to refuel the body and hydrate which I did a good job. Then about 2.5 hours after my run I hit the pool for my swim workout. The swim workout went fine and I was in my last set whcih was a number of 25 yard all out sprint efforts. On my second 25 about 2 yards from the wall suddenly my whole thigh (inside of leg) cramped, well pretty much siezed. After about 5 minutes I was able to move it enough to get out of the pool (yeah no more 25's or cool down). Basically swim before I run or bike or leave half a day between workouts to prevent cramping issues swimming.
Where it had cramped was sore, crampy and swollen last night and still is today although not nearly as painful. I don't think I did anything serious (tear, strain, etc...) but I also couldn't run or bike on the leg today if I wanted to. Thankfully today is my rest day. I'm hoping that it's loosened up by tomorrow as I've got a long run in the morning and a follow up run in the afternoon scheduled with a visit to the Walk for Aidan in between.
Needless to say I need to be much more thoughtful of when I'm doing the my training here in the last few weeks leading up to the races and with the increasing tempeatures to ensure that I minimize stress on the body.
Besides this incident training has gone well of late and the body is feeling good. I raced last weekend in a half marathon and it went well with a 10th place finish overall in 1:25:27 on a hilly tough course.
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.
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.
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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