Ironman Coeur d'Alene : Official Thread (Page 112)

Wishing you a speedy recovery.  Take care. 

I was thinking the same thing.  The temperatures have been so mild in Michigan as well.  I'm feeling good about my nutrition plan, but I know I will need to make adjustments due to the heat.  My long rides have been in temps between 55 and 68.  I haven't needed the water or electrolytes that I'm sure I'll need race day.  I'm hoping for a nice hot day Saturday; I have a triple planned.

First of all, welcome!  Second, those rules go into effect in 2013, so you're all right for the next two years 

Post'em up for May......

Swim: 15.75 hours ~ 37,800 meters (first 2.4 mile swim race)

Bike: 42.25 hours ~ 819 miles (4 century+ rides)

Run: 26.75 hours ~ 212 miles (4 runs between 18-22 miles)

Total: 84.75 hours  (I did 66.50 hours in April with a HIM race) 

No wonder I feel like total crap.  One day off in the last 36 days.  That was a really, and I mean REALLY, hard month for me given family, work, weather, and what's left of what I call sleep.  I'm healthy, but mentally and physically beaten down.   

I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel.....       

Well done y'all! Here ya go from the Slayer's blog:

Goals were 800, 220, 40,000 so I was short on the run but fine elsewhere. My long run got shifted to Wed. due to Memorial day so I could've easily came a bit closer on the run. Overall a solid final build month considering I raced and had a decent day there.

I'm late to replying to this (had been 44 messages since I'd logged in here... apparently as a non-racer I'm one of the few without taper madness setting in).  Anyway, let me add to the several who have already said I'm sorry to hear about your crash, the pain you must be going through, the frustration of not getting to race, the anxiety of losing possibly losing your housing deposit, etc).

I hope it's encouraging to know that you're not alone in this.  As mentioned it is all to common... it happened to me in 2009 and I did not toe the line at what was supposed to be my first ironman.  I've said this before, but I actually consider that 2009 season-ending bike crash to be one of the best things that ever happened to me in terms of fitness... while rehabbing the broken bones and treasuring my titanium party favors, many long-term running injuries were also healing (though I was unaware).  These had been the injuries that had nagged me for years... I'd rest them, feel better, start running, and they'd come back.

It turned out that for me, what I really needed was about two months on the couch... and then to come back to my training starting from scratch with zero fitness.  It let me start over, injury free, and train smart for the first time in my life.  Prior to that, even when I had known what it looked like to train smart, I had too much baggage from the days of training stupid and I was still always getting hurt even when I was being conservative... cuz there just isn't really any such thing as conservative large volume running when you are already injured.

Anyway... I hope these help you but here I am at lake Placid 2009 where my goal all season had been to break 13 hours... this is the afternoon after I had had surgery to re-arrange my hand/wrist bones:

And here I am at Lake Placid 2010, after 9 months of injury-free smart training...

Hang in there!!!!  Like I said to kkcbelle about the hamstring injury... everyone gets some sort of unplanned obstacle or hurdle thrown into their path to Ironman, and that makes the finish that much more special.  For some of us, unfortunately, that obstacle is one that will prevent us from doing it this time.  But that really truly does make it that much more amazing when you get there next time.  When you're ready to start thinking about that, here's my race report from my Iroman dream deferred.

For now, though, you have some space to be upset and frustrated... so let me just join you saying this sucks!!!!

There is no strong evidence, in my opinion.  Most of the science says 3 weeks makes the most sense from a physiological perspective.  Many people have great success with that.  But there are also many people who do not feel good at all, after having felt great on days 12-16ish of their 3 week taper.  Part of it will just be you experimenting with different things in different races over the years to find out what works.

What I can almost guarantee you would be a mistake, is to try to cram make-up fitness into that the three-weeks-out schedule.  As already mentioned, what's done is done at this point for the most part.  An extra workout to two that goes way beyond your current fitness level is for more likely to leave you injured or overly fatigued in a way that you won't fully recover from in 2 weeks than it is to make a big difference on race day.

If I was in your shoes, I would consider something slightly less than a 3 week taper... but I would simply maintain my peak level training for a little bit.  You do not want to make a huge jump to compensate for being not where you wished you would in terms of training so far.  Being injured to not fully recovered on race day will more than cancel out any fitness gains from an epic workout.

So sorry to hear about people's injuries, especially the season-ending bike crash!  It's things like this that really have me nervous now.  Here's to a speedy recovery.

I'm currently nursing a running injury (add me to the club, I guess).  My right something (feels like whatever is between the IT band and hamstring) has been bugging me so I've shut the run down for a week to see how it feels.  Because of this, my run total this month wasn't on target.  Ah well.

I have a computrainer workout tonight, so add another hour and probably about 18ish miles to the bike.  After 5 century+ rides, I am feeling REALLY solid on the bike now   I'll likely do one more this weekend, and slowly taper off over the next few weeks.  In the meantime, I'll be focusing on the swim and finally jumping in the lake for some OWS! 

s- 24,325

b - 738

r - 127

feeling good just hope this "flatlander" does not get smoked by the hills.

May totals-

Bike- 439 Miles 23 hours

Swim- 18 miles 10 hours

Run- 62.5 miles 12.5 hours 

That also includes 2 trips were I wasn't training

You and me both!

My biggest unanswered quesion at this point is how to pace once I'm out of the water.  First race at this distance + lots of variables + hilly course = confusion. 

I raced my last two 70.3s balls to the wall, but this distance/course has me confused.     

I lost most of last week to the stomach flu, but I bounced back in time to do my trail race on Saturday.  It was suppose to be a 19.5 mile race that got re-routed to a lower elevation 20.5 race that was additionally re-routed to ~22 miles to allow for access to an aid station.  I'm still in my first year as a trail runner, so I planned on this being a challenge day and not a race.  That plan worked.  It was a super challenge day added to by my illness earlier in the week.  I met my main goals: 1) don't get injured 2) finish 3) have some fun.  I fell once, but it was on the snow so it wasn't the kind of fall I was worried about.  It's hard to mimic the feeling (body, mind, and spirit) you have during the last 6-10 miles of an ironman, but this race nailed it for me. (best part of the day was my family running me into the finish...can't do that anymore at an ironman)

I'm sorry to hear about the accidents and injuries.  They suck! Please please stay safe out there!!

I start getting really nervous to be on my bike on the road at all this close to the race.  I have one more century+ ride this weekend, and then I will probably stick to the trainer and spin bike.  I'm so mentally ready to taper, but I feel that I need to maintain volume a few more days than I originally planned because of this unplanned flu taper.  A three week taper works for me, but with the flu taper I'm afraid I'll peak early if I don't push at least until the middle of next week.

From doing it last year, my advice: go nice and easy -- easier than you think you need to until you get out of Coeur d'Alene and up into Hayden.  Then settle into your target pace.

Obviously if you're pacing by power, you have numbers to pay attention to.  But just keep in mind that it's easy to start too hard.  The early section of the bike has TONS of spectators that get people pumped up and it's relatively flat.  You have to consciously control your excitement and make sure you're at a nice aerobic pace when you get into the hills.