If you get into triathlon and you're not a cyclist to start, you probably know this drill, buy a good tri bike cause I don't want to spend too much and I don't know how serious I'm going to be about this whole tri thing. My QR was a trusty ride (8,000 miles in 2 years) but it was time for a little stiffer frame. So after a couple of years getting my feet wet and getting more serious about this whole sport it was time to upgrade to a faster steed. Meet Eleanor.
Like all fast cars a fast bike should be named and like a car the norm is a womens name. Why Eleanor? If you've seen the movie Gone in Sixty Seconds (yeah not a cinematic classic) the name of the Shelby Mustang which is the big prize is Eleanor. She's shiny, fast and sometimes tempermental.
Click here for more pictures of Eleanor.
I got Eleanor out this past weekend for the inagural spin. A little six hour ride with a good mix of hills, descents and flats and Eleanor rocks. I figure she's worth a few extra seconds on the bike.... ;)
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.
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.
It was a good week of training last week with a great break through in the swim and a strong run and bike this past weekend.
The end of the week brought cold tempeatures and snow. The forecast was for more cold and snow on Saturday so I moved my long run to Saturday. The day ended up being more or less dry but cool but I had a good solid long run. I did a 2 hour run which covered 16 miles (7:31/mile pace). The best part of the run was my legs really never got that fatigued feeling and I actually ran a few seconds faster per mile the second half of the run. All in all a good showing 12 weeks out from IMCDA.
I had switched things around based on the forecast and the fact that Sunday was supposed to be warming up and drying out. Sunday morning was downright cold with temps in the low 30's and there had been snow overnight in the foothills. I waited a little later in the day to head out on my ride and changed my ride route away from the foothills due to the wet and snowy roads. It was a flatter ride so I was working to keep my cadence high for the entire ride.
Things were going great as I came around the north end of Lake Washington I was headed towards my option point of heading home to finish up my workout on the trainer or continuing on around Lake Sammamish. I opted for the extended route as I was feeling good and warm despite the tempeature just above 40 degrees. As I made the turn back north at the south end of the lake I could see the dark wall of weather headed across the lake from the north. A few minutes later mother nature opened a can of whoop-ass on me. A blustery monsoon of freezing rain and hail and what felt like a 5 degree tempeature drop. Needless to say I was soaked within minutes and no longer warm.
I arrived at home 40 minutes later freezing and ready for a hot shower but first I had to squeeze the water out of my gloves and socks and dump the water out of my bike shoes. It was a good ride all in all, 4:30 for 76 miles with an average cadence of 94 rpm.
March goes roaring out like a lion. The next week is supposed be back to more typical temps in the mid 50's which will feel tropical at this point.
There have always been those run workouts which I could point to and say that was a break through workout. Well I had one of those today in my swimming. Now I'm improved a bunch in my swimming since last fall mostly because I was swimming more and focusing on form.
Well after my trip to Tucson I picked up a few additional tips from the coaches and I've been working on fixing those things. The biggest was my stroke was coming across my body a bit so I've been working on keeping my stroke in line with my shoulder which has been tough.
Today I a set of 3 x 100 descending time by a few seconds, then 2 x 400 at steady state and finally 10 x 100 at a comfortable pace. This last set was fantastic and I really felt my break through. I did all of the 100's between 1:23 and 1:25 but most importantly these were all pretty comfortable. These are by far the fastest and most consistent 100's I've ever swam. I could really feel the extra power I was getting with my stroke keeping in line with my shoulders.
I needed this workout because I think the long run and ride this weekend are not going to be so positive as the winter weather is back and things are going to be cold, wet, and windy or more specifically miserable.
After a nice long ride on Saturday (cool and breezy but dry), we've got a return to winter today. I awoke to a wet snow and rain mix falling from the sky. It's getting old.
Since getting back from Tucson training has been going really well. I've been feeling good and keeping to the training schedule and feel like I'm well ahead of where I was a year ago.
I'm pretty stoked as my new bike frame is expected in a couple weeks early so I should have it built up by the second week in April and I'm expecting my gear from Zoot and Gu in the next two weeks.
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