Tri Mark's Madness Group-Closed (Page 28)

Raced a Duathlon this weekend. On the plus side, I improved my time by almost 10 min. from last year and did better than I predicted by several minutes. On the downside, I almost didn't make through the FIRST run! Several hundred yards in and starting a  1/2 mile climb, I felt heavy in the arms (?) and legs. Granted I went out a little fast but corrected quickly. But soon my stomach bothered me (perhaps I shouldn't have had the Accelerade?). I stopped to walk 3 times! Got to the bike and felt better and the second run was fine--slower than the first but at least I didn't feel like I would die. I took two days off before the race but trained a little more than I probably should have the four days before that.

Next Sunday is my first sprint tri of the season--maybe this is where the hard workouts of last week pay off? Gonna go easier this week with easy runs and a couple of OWS since we've had a late start to spring here and I haven't been out yet.

Good luck with the taper, Garrunning and with racing everyone. Happy memorial day!

Well, after being away from my computer most of the weekend, I have lots to share.  finished my longest training week of the year on Sunday, logging a total 0f 15 hours.  The reward for that is about 21 hours this week.  Welcome to June, now get working.  Interesting weekend of training.  Had a 4000m swim Saturday morning followed by 2.5 hours on the bike in 25 mph winds, drained me pretty good.  Sunday had a 10 mile run, on which I was attacked on the head twice by the same nasty red winged blackbird, run off the trail by an old dude on a mountain bike, then about 1 mile from my car had to jump in a ditch when a driver coming at me apparently did not see me and veered into me, and finally, spent the final five minutes of the run in a torrential downpour.  Great way to spend 1:25:00. 

Yesterday I went up to the Madison, WI area to ride the IM Wisconsin bike course, specifically the Verona loops.  Had a great day.  It was 90 degrees so it really tested hydration and measuring your effort.  With the power meter I was really able to watch exatly what I was doing and make sure I left plenty for the second time around.  It is a huge advantage.  I had others with me, and on the second loop, I dropped them all, as they were just too slow (we had an arrangement and everyone knew I'd drop them at some point so I could get some work in).  It was  windy as hell and I'd never seen that course play so unfair.  It's incredibly hilly and technical, lots of false flats, but usually you can make tracks in a few sections and make up some time, but not yesterday.  Followed that up with a couple mile run.  Legs are barking today.  Total was about 90 miles for the day.

Today I've got to run a bit, that should be interesting.  I cap this week with a Century Ride on Sunday.  I have not gone 100 since last year at IM Wisconsin.  It is flat and fast, so unless there is extreme wind, I will try to do it in like 4:30:00 or so. 

How did everyone else do training this weekend?

Beth,

I'd suggest that you mention two things here that I generally recommend people do not do, and they likley both played a role in your slow start.  If you drank any significant amount of fluid before the start, you likely did create that stomach discomfort.  The sloshing of fluids on the run is something that kills people in the final run, because they typically drink too much on the bike.  I counsel people no to drink too much for at least 30 minutes before running in training, which applies at running races or a duathlon.  It's not practical on the bike, but must be guarded against. 

The other item is not tapering, and taking two days off before a race.  I used to take the day before a race off, but now will never do it.  I get in at least two short disciplines, and for my last sprint race, did all three.  It may seem odd, but it works.  You get all the muscles to fire the day before, making it all that much more familiar to them on the day of the race.  People who take the day off before a race often report that they were "just not quite right" on race day, or "heavy" or "off".  This is pretty common.  I would suggest you take a very easy week this week, take a day off two days prior to the race, then light workouts the day before, then rock out your race.

The good news is that you had a great race overall.  Congrats to you on that.  You take improvements where you can get it.

Great training weekend.  Woo hoo!

Question, what to you eat to ensure that you have something in the tank for the next training session.  For example, I had a 5 hour ride on Saturday and a 3.5 hour ride and a swim on Sunday.   I suspect that I need a better approach to nutrition on Saturdays to ensure that my workouts on Sunday go well.

Had to take Satuday and Sunday off to devote to my son's out-of-town AAU basketball tourney - felt really guilty about missing two days, but since this is my taper week maybe a couple days rest wasn't so bad.

Monday I rode the course for my first sprint next Sunday.  Felt like I was giving it 90+ percent effort and did the 14.5 miles @ 19.7 mph - should be able to hit my goal of 20+ mph on race day.  Lost the magnet for my cadence about 2 miles in, can't believe how much I have come to rely on that thing - felt like I was riding blind without it.  I got in my truck and drove along looking for it amongst all the pebbles on the road ...and actually found it in the middle of a four-way stop - talk about a needle in a haystack!

Today I plan a 4 mile run with some intervals thrown in and tomorrow a 1500 yard swim and a short, easy run.  Thursday I'm thinking a short brick.  Friday I'm taking off.  Saturday they are opening the swim course during packet pickup so I plan on putting on the wetsuit and doing a few hundred yards, followed by a short run, followed by a couple of beers that hopefully will put me to sleep - I have a feeling I'm not going to get much sleep that night.

There are a few keys to have success in handling high loads.  You must make sure that you are hydrating yourself extremely well BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER your workouts.  You need to have your nutrition during the workout (150 calories to 200 calories per hour for anything over 2 hours) and you must then make sure within the first 30 minutes after the workout, you have to get an additional 200-400 calories with a 2 to 1 or 3 to 1 carb to protein intake.  You can then accelerate things by doing ice baths or getting in the pool and just cooling down.  Sleep may be the most important factor of all in this too.  You need to sleep as much as possible.  When I get into 15+ hour weeks, it's often impossible to get by without a nap once in while.  The other thing you can do, and I suggest this as a "do as I say, not as I do" thing, but space out your workouts as far apart as you can.  The more time between them, the better off you are.

Thanks!  I think that it's the after workout nutrition and perhaps additional sleep that I need to focus on for the time being.  I appreciate the help.

Thanks, Mark. I will follow your advice very closely this week and look forward to feeling better and faster on race day.

Can't imagine 15 +, not to mention 20+ hour training weeks. But you sound like you are doing great! Careful of those red winged blackbirds--they are nasty.

How's the plantar fasc., kimberly? Hope you are healing up quickly.

Happy training this week, folks.

So far my wife is keeping up, figuratively at least.  She did kick my buddy's as$ yesterday on their second loop around the course, as I knew she would.  I asked them both when we started the second loop if they'd save some for the next.  He said yes, but I knew he hadn't.  She said yes, and I knew she had, plus she's downright tough.  I had given her a lecture the night before that resonated about being focused on the bike and working the whole time, not just drifting off in thought.  That's what makes the 140.6 distance so hard.  Physically you can get by, mentally you have to stay present for the entire thing or you screw up and it's over. 

It just occurred to me that this week, with a century on Sunday, I'll log about 250 miles.  I've never logged that in a week before. 

As for the cortisone, give it 48 hours, then see where you're at.  If you don't have relief by then, you need more.

good luck on your sprint! I have just been running and small amounts of road and mtb.  I'm really missing the triathlon scene.  The only sprint I have in stone is not still SEPT!!! 

Glad you found our cadence sensor.  Always nice to have on race day as adrenaline and nerves throws off timing in ALL disciplines. 

Go get em!

Went for a good ride today 22 miles at 19 mph. I held back with a few bursts to get my legs ready. I really needed it and I feel great. I'm planning a little run tomorrow, then a quick run through of everything on Fri. Then plan on killing my first tri on Saturday, I CANT WAIT.

Good Luck on the Sprint on Sunday!!!

Are you doing Liberty? I've been swimming in a lake north of there this week and the water has been about mid 60s. I've been using sleeves but swam yesterday with a friend who wears sleeve-less with those neoprene arm-warmers and said she'd go without them next time. I'm doing a tri tomorrow and the temp in Buffalo Lake was 66 mid-week and it's not too far from Independence. We are expecting a pretty warm week in MN (finally), so lake temps climb fast.

There is a Minnesota forum on BT. People have been OWS-ing all over the state, so if you pose a question about a race lake, someone  will have been swimming in it by now.

Good luck!

Woohoo I am officially a triathlete race report is up

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=254998&posts=1&start=1

I missed my goal by 2 minutes but overall it was great. The run killed me but ended up beating a guy from my past that drove me crazy. It made my day!!!

Congratulations, Garrunning!  Great times!

I had a really good sprint tri today.  Thank you Mark for the good advice about how to do two races in two weekends. I don't think I could have had a better race, except for my worst event--transition. Seriously, 6 min total. Need to work on that.  Swim splits were almost as good as in the pool in spite of the crowd. Bike computer totally failed me but turned out that I hit the time I expected anyway. 5K run was faster and felt better than the first 5K of my duathlon last weekend. At my current level of training and fitness, I don't think I could have done much better. So, now it's time to kick it up a notch! Next race is 6 weeks and I can't wait!

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=255133

Hope everyone had a great weekend of racing and training.

Great job to garunning and Beth.  The advice is only as good as the execution of the plan.  You both did the work, now enjoy the results.....for about a day, then get back to work on the next one. 

I did a century ride today, right at 5 hours.  I was targeting 4.5, but had a brutal training run yesterday and I wore out my riding partner today.  He stayed with me hard for the first 60, then I told him I'd back off, but didn't as he didn't have anything to measure speed so was none the wiser, but by 70 he was dragging and I stuck with him to the end.  He's a great man and awesome training partner, and 3x the runner I am.  Ended the week at 235 miles on the bike, 19 hours of training, and a boatload of beer tonight!!!!!!

Thanks, Your race looked good as well.

Bricks are probably not the answer to your concerns.  You should not do more than one a week, if even that.  The key to HIM or more is to run, run, run, but you have to put in the mileage when your body is ready to accept the training.  For the HIM, your weekly long runs should be 1.5 to 2 hours, and your long rides should be in the neighborhood of 2.5 to 3 hours.  It wouldn't kill you to do some overrides, even a century or two, as the risk of injury is pretty low.  Keep your bricks to less than 30 minutes of running after a ride, 20 is probably more than enough.

In general, the key to running after longer rides is to hold back a little bit at the beginning, the first mile or so in any race longer than a sprint, then start negative splits once from mile 2 on.  In a HIM, however, or an IM, you come out slow and steady for 3 to 4 miles, then start dropping your splits if you've got it in you.

Can you get someone to video you on the bike?

garunning and Beth, congratulations on your races! I finally have my first tri under my belt and logged my first race report:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/races-edit.asp?raceid=181941

Somebody posted a short YouTube video - it's not good coverage of the race, but it kind of shows the setting.  I do make a cameo appearance at the 1:59 mark - checking the preliminary results (I'm the guy in the white baseball hat) - I was shocked that I wasn't at the top of the list with all the young bucks next to me .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqpHuAg7mu8

Considering it was my first, I am fairly pleased with my performance - 2nd in 50-54 AG and 46/118 overall.  But, I keep going over it in my head and I know I could have done so much better - I guess that's one of the signs you're hooked.

Even though I've heard it over-and-over, I discovered the hard way - there is no substitute for OWS experience... my swim was not fun and about 2:30 slower than my goal.

Bike was pretty much on target, but I feel like I saved too much for the run.  And then when the run came, I felt like I held back too much in the first two miles.  I should have had more faith in my training and realized I could go all out and still finish fairly strong.

Can't wait for the next one... five weeks to improve!