jsnowash's training group - FULL!! (Page 31)

cspreiter - 2010-09-07 6:51 PM

Well I had a rough first olympic tri.  Here are my results: Overall 3:04:59, Swim 31:15, Bike 1:18:46, Run 1:09:39.

I was shooting to be below 3 hours and I think I would have made it if I hadn't had the problems I had.  The swim went well.  I was a little faster than I expected and felt really good coming out of the water.  It was all downhill from there.  As soon as I got started with my ride, my stomach started cramping.  I don't know what was causing it but it was making me feel sick to my stomach.  I knew I needed to get some fuel in me but I wanted to vomit just thinking about eating a gel or anything so I didn't which I knew was going to come back to bite me.  About halfway through the bike, it started raining pretty good but luckily it stopped before I was finished.  At least I didn't crash.  After I get off the bike, I put my running shoe on my left foot and as soon as I touch the ground I have pain in the balls of my foot.  Don't know why, didn't do anything to it that I know of.  Hadn't had any issues with my foot leading up to the event either but ever time I took as step it hurt. So now my stomach and my foot hurt as I start to run.  For the first three miles, I was somewhere between 9:00-9:30 minute mile which is about a minute slower than my usual pace.  Right after passing the 3-mile mark, I bonk.  Like I said, I knew it was coming, I was just hoping it would wait till I was almost done.  My legs were wanting to cramp up because I flushed my electrolytes.  Tried to stop and do a quad stretch but when I bent my leg, my hamstring cramped.  So, the last three miles I had to walk/run. 

It was frustrating because I didn't make my goal but I have to remind myself that one, I finished and two, I would have been well below 3 hours if I didn't have the issues I had.  At least it will be easy to set a new PR at the next one, lol.  The next one will probably be a little closer to home so I'm not having to mess with travel and eating on the road.  I think that probably was the main culprit to the stomach cramps which led to everything else. 

Caleb

jsnowash - 2010-09-08 8:49 AM Hey Carl, Sorry to hear you didn't have the race you hoped for... I think every time you bump up to a new distance, it's a new learning experience. One thing you might to consider is trying to figure out what might have caused your stomach issues. Did you eat something different for breakfast than normal? Use a new sports nutrition product? Use a product you have used before, but not during a high intensity effort? In one of my first Olympic distance races, I was using Accelerade for nutrition. I had used it in training, but mostly for longer bike rides at more of a zone 2 type effort, not at "race pace". Well, I found out during the race that my stomach didn't particularly care for Accelerade when I was working at a higher intensity (I think it was the protein in the mix...) I actually think you did really well for your first Olympic distance race, especially considering all the troubles you encountered! Keep up your training, nail down your nutrition, and you will definitely break that 3:00 goal in the future!

jsnowash - 2010-09-15 6:22 AM

Lovey,

Are you following a specific HM training program? If so, what is the length of the longest run, and when will you do that run? At only a month out from your HM, I don't think there's a whole lot you can or should do to modify your training... I think your best bet would be, like you say, to stay on track with your HM training plan. You might consider modifying the HM plan slightly by adding a SMALL amount of distance - no more than 1 mile - to each long run, but ONLY if you can complete the extra distance without feeling completely trashed.... Then you can pick up where you were when you are recovered from the HM, giving you a couple of weeks to add some additional distance to your long runs to prep for the metric marathon. Good luck!

jsnowash - 2010-09-16 12:53 PM

Lovey - do you think you'll be recovered enough from your HM to do a long run (10+ miles) the following weekend?

jsnowash - 2010-09-17 5:26 AM

Sorry.... One more question - how important is the 10K at the end of October? Do you plan to race it or treat it more like a training run? Oh, and do you have any flexibility regarding when you can do your long run (i.e., could you do it toward the end of the week, like maybe Th/Fri or the beginning of the week, Mon/Tues?)

jsnowash - 2010-09-17 1:34 PM

I was just thinking you might be able to shift your long run by a day or two the week of the 10K so that you could have some rest/recovery between the two.... It would be good if you could get a long run in that week, but I'm afraid if you try to do a long run on Saturday and then the 10K on Sunday (and we all know that even when we say we're not going to "race", we tend to push a little harder in races than we do in training), it might be too much.

jsnowash - 2010-09-17 11:10 PM

Hmmm, well, your schedules a little tight for the metric marathon, especially with the 10K thrown in there. The first thing you might want to consider is shortening your taper for the half-marathon. My guess is you won't really need three weeks of taper, and you could get another longer run in closer to the distance of your metric marathon. I think I would also suggest trying to make your long runs leading up to the half-marathon on the longer side (i.e., if the plan calls for 10 - 12, try to do 11 or 12 vs 10), but keep them at an VERY easy pace. I'm a little worried about your long runs constituting too high a percentage of your total run volume (I like to keep my long run to about 1/3 of my total weekly volume, though maybe a little more for my longest marathon training runs), but I think if you keep the runs easy, you'll be okay.

Your long run schedule might change to look something like this:

9/18 – 12 to 14 miles
9/25 – 13 to 15 miles
10/02 – 14 to 16 miles
10/09 – 8 to 10 miles
10/16 – race day for Half Marathon
10/23 – 9 to 11 (if you feel up to it)
10/30 - (Perhaps 11 - 13 on Friday); 10K on 10/31
11/06 – 8 to 10
11/14 - race day for Metric Marathon

I hope that helps!

Keiren - 2010-09-20 9:38 AM

Hi everyone,
I've been out of the Triathlon loop. I bailed out of my last tri for the season due to an elbow injury. I was worried with an 800 meter swim in the bay. I don't have anything planned and probably should look into some 5Ks. Do any of you find your motivation wanes as the tri season comes to an end. I feel like I need to work towards a goal in the foreseeable future. I'm really having to convince myself to get moving. Maybe I need to try some different types of exercise. Any suggestions?  

guticur - 2010-09-20 11:48 AM

Hi gang. My wife and I did the ING Philly half mary yesterday. What a perfect weekend. Weather was awesome, the venue was great, and we hooked up with some friends who also did the race so we had a great time (kids stayed home )

We were able to beat our goal by a tinny fraction. I have to confess it was my wife who made it possible. My tapper week was not the best due to schedule conflicts, and I think I wasn't rested enough (excuses, excuses). She was basically my pacer. Throughout most of the race I thought we were going too hard based on my HR, so I kept suggesting to slow down to be conservative. We ended up never doing it, and I found out we had enough in the tank.
At one point I asked he: "why are you going so fast?"...he answer: "this is a race, isn't it?"
Anyways, it worked out great. She says maybe it was better that I held us back a bit (I think she is just being nice).
If planning any 1/2 of full marathons I would recommend the Rock 'n' Roll series. What a fun event, well organized, great music.
 

Keiren - 2010-09-20 9:38 AM

Hi everyone,
I've been out of the Triathlon loop. I bailed out of my last tri for the season due to an elbow injury. I was worried with an 800 meter swim in the bay. I don't have anything planned and probably should look into some 5Ks. Do any of you find your motivation wanes as the tri season comes to an end. I feel like I need to work towards a goal in the foreseeable future. I'm really having to convince myself to get moving. Maybe I need to try some different types of exercise. Any suggestions?  

guticur - 2010-09-22 7:47 AM

Finally got back in the pool! I still remember how to swim. I took it super slow just to check my form. It wasn't to horrible. Looking forward to building up strength again.