SBR Utopia Season II - OPEN (Page 23)

Had to add that the winner was 14 years old. Sorta similar swim & bike splits to mine, but 17:35 on the run! About 2 full minutes faster than any and everyone else. He was just ahead out of the water, so I never really saw him. But the guys up front did not like getting run down!

Just another reason to avoid working hard on the swim...

Everyone may be a bit lethargic from the heat....

Keep us updated on how it goes Neil, I find that program really interesting.

Ha - I wish it was the heat - it is actually relatively cool here (mid~high 70s) because of all the rain. My long ride from this time a year ago the high temp was 107.

Just finished up a breakfast meeting with my coach to talk about this final little bit before IMLP - wierd to only have a handful of "key" workouts left: Pilates then my "longest" run today (only 2:15 running which I suppose is fairly short by most IM training standards). A 5 hour ride on Sunday (not really "key" just time in the saddle). A 10k progression run mid next week and then my longest brick of the build (4.5/1.5) next weekend. Obviously a bunch of other "sharpeners" in there, but that is pretty much the key stuff.

Really looking forward to today's long run - planning to run it on fairly rugged trails and it will definitely be raining. Should be nice and messy - Fun!

Neil - I agree with Arend - I hope you keep posting your progress here - I too am very interested to follow along with your progression. I know I really should be doing something similar at the end of this race season if I want to make any more swim gains. It is often difficult to take a "long view" of our training. You are very smart to take the time to do it now.

Uneventful here.  Well, except for my daily game of cat & mouse with Birdzilla.  Just trying to remain consistent with the run and not eat garbage.  Debating an October half marathon, but probably won't. 

I've been trying to keep the volume and intensity up here, even with the heat.  We're on vacation after last weekend's race (VT last weekend and this week/weekend at the beach with family in Plymouth), so I've got the time and am using it.  It's just soooo dang hot!

Matt

I went for a 50ish mile ride yesterday morning...except I had a total brain fart as it seemed like out was out of my normal routine.  First of all I was planning to run afterwards, but I forgot my shoes and was wearing bike shorts instead of tri shorts.  Then I forgot any type of food or calories.  So there was a pretty humbling fade in effort on the second half.  Normally a 2.5-3 hour ride doesn't require me to have a more than a gel, but I didn't eat too much for dinner the night before.

This mornings run was great though...so much easier to run in the morning when there wasn't a PM workout the day before.

Great riding, Jason. I'm coasting a little this week, more than usual. I have an Oly next Saturday, then we are off to Chicago for a week of playing around.

I was swimming at my lake, paused out at the buoy, looked up and I thought a bald eagle was dive-bombing me.  Scared the crap out of me.  2 seconds later, away he goes with a fish!

They like to circle way above us when we're out swimming... maybe just curious.  Or maybe mad that we're scaring the fish?

I'm thinking about IMMT for next year - maybe I'll finally meet some of you guys over on the wrong coast.

The new Boulder race is tempting, but I think I'll be done with altitude for awhile after Tahoe.

It's a great venue Mark, highly recommend it!

I was out for a 2.5 hour ride with my wife yesterday.  It was her longest ride since she got back on her bike and her re-introduction to her aerobars.  I was on my road bike so she was making me work at times when she went aero!  Some rough comparisons showed approximately a 50-60 watt difference between her in aero and me on the hoods.  Our power numbers are very similar when she sits up on the hoods.

One week to race day for me (how the hell did that happen?!?!).  Tri Team Transport picked up my bike yesterday and will be delivering it to CA on Friday.  I finally put on the GP 4000s tires and latex tubes and I'm not convinced I can feel a difference....hopefully, though, it actually does make a difference, even if it's not noticeable to me.

Couple more swims and attempting to keep myself healthy and not over-eat during the week.  Excited, nervous, and as ready as I'm going to be.

You've done the work, now trust the training and race your plan.  If you do, you'll crush it.  

As for the tires, I hear you on that one, too.  I've gone back and forth this season among Gatorskins, Sprinters and 4000, and haven't noticed the difference while riding (except in ruggedness - the Gatorskins are demonstrably more bulletproof).  Thing is, it's a minimal difference that you likely wouldn't notice on its own (I don't notice my aero helmet, either), but with all the other little things adds up.  

I certainly DO notice the difference on 4000's, a disc/808, aero helmet, tri bike and race day adrenalin over riding my roadie on a training jaunt!

Good luck and have a blast!!

Matt

Right, perception is terribly inaccurate. Changes need to be big for them to be noticeable. I often need to be maybe a gear faster than normal, or more, which is near a couple mph. 

How much do you find it affects your pace?  I ran in 27C / 80F this morning (which is really hot for me...) and my pace was about 10-15 seconds/km off.

I have to back off significantly in the heat, as well.  Yesterday's intervals were targeted at 7:30-8:00 m/m (6x9-10') with an 8-9m/m aerobic endurance run after.  After the first couple, I hit either the slow end of the target or was juuuuuust over, whereas I'm usually at the faster end.  So, nearly 30 seconds per mile slower when the heat gets to mid-80's(F) and heat index is 90's.

Doesn't bother me as much on the bike, although I drink prodigious amounts of fluids on days like this (6x24oz bottles over 3 hours today, with a couple extra sips from a water fountain).  

My concern is not only about a "survival run" at Timberman if the weather is like this week, but also just how I can slam any more fluid than that on the bike.  Not sure if THREE by 24oz bottles per hour would put me over the edge - but I might find out!

Matt

Probably at least double that difference. On this route I'll normally do low 7's/mi in nicer for running weather. Today I had to keep everything above 8, and it was still harder. HR was a bit higher, but I was actually able to sort of keep it in check. HR is way more sensitive too. If I actually did 8 or just faster for even a minute or two, HR would take off approaching Z4 in that time whereas normally it might take a couple miles to make a similar jump, if it even went that far. I felt things getting a bit better, but feel they may be plateauing a bit.

I can keep going with this, running in the hot parts of the day. It just helps to know if this will keep on working though. Or if there are other things to do that may help as well.

I have a Strava segment that's messing with me.  It's one of the big floating bridges out here between Seattle and Mercer Island - about a mile and a half.  My problem?  I can't catch a break with the wind.  It is completely unpredictable.  Headwind, crosswind, tailwind, you never know.  And the few times I had favorable wind, I seemed to be on my road bike carrying commuter gear.  Check it out:

http://app.strava.com/segments/627375

Yes, we have really good cyclists in my area and yes, some of those top guys on that list were riding pacelines.  But even with the paceline you need a tailwind day to get high up on that list.  Today I rode it on my TT bike solo at 252 watts in a crosswind to average 21.1 mph.  Contrast that with a ride last year where I was loafing it at 160 watts and went 21.3mph.

Oh and the bridge crosswind is no joke.  Like make-it-hard-to-breathe sort of thing because of how much it hits across your mouth.

Someday I'll get a tailwind on the P4.  Someday.

I think that may be what gets to me the most too.  My run this morning only had 60% humidity.