Fred D and Jason's (Tri808) Half Ironman Mentor Group CLOSED! (Page 33)

single arm drills?

I've never done a HIM myself, so take this for what it's worth....

But remember that right now, you're working with some accumulated fatigue from a few months of solid training.  You did a loop of the HIM run course one day and were feeling good....you followed it up with the entire HIM bike course the following day (on tired legs!!).  When you actually go into your race, you'll have a week (or two) of taper to really recover, thus you end up racing on pretty recovered muscles, so you'll be feeling better.  Plus, the adrenalin and environment of a big race will kick in and you'll be likely to feel better.

As for structuring your bike training, I see you do trainer rides.  What kind of trainer rides are you doing?  Do you use TrainerRoad?  If not, I'd suggest checking it out and picking out some good rides (think shorter intervals above your FTP to simulate / build muscles for hill climbing, and longer intervals at/near your FTP to simulate long rides at a constant pace).

Keep at it -- I'm sure you'll be able to finish the race, and I think you might surprise yourself on your performance coming off strong training and a good taper. 

Question for the group about hydration:

I know I've read it somewhere, but I seem to be having issues searching and finding the answers I'm looking for (maybe due to dehydration ).  What is an acceptable weight loss over a workout?  

Yesterday, I did a 65 mile ride (3:30); I took in two 16oz bottles of Skratch and one 24oz bottle of water.  I weighed myself before the ride and after the ride -- I lost 3 pounds over the ride, which is about 2.5% of my body weight.

Today, I did a 38 mile ride (1:58); I again took in two 16oz bottles of Skratch and one 24oz bottle of water.  This time I lost about 2 pounds (1.7% of my body weight).  

For reference, the weather is 80-85F and somewhere in the 80% humidity.  I am a reasonably heavy sweater, but curious how much is too much.  Three pounds seemed like a lot....but taking in more fluids seems like it'd become excessive at some point (I feel like I'd get side stitches and have fluids sloshing around in my tummy if I were to run after and had drank too much).  

I'm taking an extra rest day today.  The long ride last Thursday, the big hill climb on Sunday and a Pilates/Swim/Run yesterday followed by 3 hours in the kitchen preparing a family Memorial Day dinner have cumulatively taken their toll.  Feeling a distinct lack of energy and my MRH has jumped from mid 40's to 56 over the past few days.  Time to listen to the body.

I actually consider this an achievement, taking the extra rest day, as I've always been a slave to my training schedule.  It is hard for me to do, though, as I've always worried about falling behind, but I think I'm finally getting it.   I'm curious though, how do you know when it is time to catch your breath, and how easy is it for you to actuall pull the trigger on an extra rest day?

I definitely did not drink only 24oz of water -- I drank 56oz of water (plus two scoops of electrolyte powder mixed into two of the bottles)!  I would certainly agree that 24oz of fluids would be nowhere near enough.

Texas summer just came back about two weeks ago.  Up until then, we'd had an unseasonably cool, dry winter/spring....and now it's back to "normal".  So what was sufficient for the past four months no longer seems to be cutting it....unfortunately, that's about all the room I have on my bike, which means I'm now going to have to take convenience store locations into account on my rides. 

It shouldn't be a big deal to grab an extra bottle on the race course (that said, it will probably not be as hot/humid on race day), but it is mildly inconvenient to have to stop mid-ride to buy more fluids. 

As for how I felt after the rides, I felt pretty good.  Of course, I'm currently not running, so it's impossible to say how I'd feel if I were going to try to run 13.1 after!  Regardless, I'm going to try to increase both fluid and caloric intake on rides over the next month to see where I want to be for Vineman.  Thanks to everyone for the input!

I had my bike fit on Thursday, went pretty well I think (although really I have no basis for comparison and no knowledge sufficient enough to give me an informed opinion).  My previous long bike ride was about 30 miles.  Friday I went for a relaxed 37-ish miles, but it had some intermittent stops so it wasn't really a 37 mile ride.  But yesterday I went for a solid 46 miles.  The first 10 miles or so my sitbones were having trouble getting comfy, then either I got numb or hit the sweet spot because I felt great for awhile.  I wanted to push it hard and go 25 miles then turn around, but at about the 22 mile mark the road got pretty bad, so at mile 23 or so I turned around.  At which point I realized that the wind had been to my back nearly the entire time.  So going back was a lot rougher than the first half.  But the weather was cool, I needed very little nutrition and very little water.

Maybe at about mile 30-35 my sitbones started complaining so I noticed myself standing every couple miles or shifting around in the seat a bit.  And at about mile 40 or so I turned my head to look behind me and realized my neck was very stiff.  But no lingering issues, not stiff at all as I walked around when I finished nor this morning.

All in all happy with the experience and looking forward to spending more time in the saddle.  I assume it's a vicious circle such that with more time in the saddle more comfort will come.  11 weeks to go so I don't have that much time.  Swim and run are going according to plan but now that I've got all the pieces and the bike fit is done I don't really have any more excuses for the bike, have to get out there and get a ton more mileage.

Mike,

That's how I would approach it, as well.  The only thing I might do is modify how many weeks of peak before the taper to the August HIM if you're trying to fit more or less training in (as in, one week of peak and one of taper, rather than 2 and 1, if you need another hard training week or an additional recovery/light week in the first 5-6 weeks of the 8 week block).

That, and maybe alter the length and/or intensity of some of the key workouts based on what you learn from the fun/test races.  Otherwise, I think that if the plan is working for you for the Patriot HIM, it should be easy to minimally morph it to what you need for the August race (Timberman, right?  See you there).

I'm doing a shorter version of the same thing.  Oly June 30 is at the end of a rest/test week at the end of a 4 week build, training through a July 14th on the way to a now B+/A- Oly on July 21st at the end of a 1 week build/1week volume heavy peak/1 week taper (demoted from my A race when I signed up for Timberman), then doing 2 weeks of build and one of peak, one of taper.  Kind of reprising the build from the June season, but with HIM distances for the 2 weeks after the Oly.  If that all makes sense... 

Good luck!

Matt

Mike, is HIM #2 also a "just fnish" event? If it is, then I think your plan of repeating those 8 week sof your training plan for HIM #2 is good. If not, another option (and I don't know if it's better, but just another option), would be to re-organize your training sked so it ends/peaks at HIM #2 and treat HIM #1, the sprint and the Oly as training/fun-to-do races.