Fred D and Jason's (Tri808) Half Ironman Mentor Group CLOSED! (Page 49)

Originally posted by Mike_D Hey everyone. Have been laying low getting ready for my 8/18 HIM (Timerbman 70.3). My hammy issue finally led me to the doctor last week, and I start PT tonight. Its *really* bothering me, and wtih the race only 3 weeks away, my run may end up being mainly a walk. Hoping for the best. . Regardless, the swim & Bike will be fine, then it will be an adventure from there....

Sorry to hear about the hamstring injury.  Have you tried ART?  Maybe your PT does ART?  I've found it to help with the hamstring issues I've had.

Hey everyone! Mike, glad that you are getting the hamstring checked out. I hope you heal fast! Matt, awesome job at your Oly. That's a smoking time, nice job!

So the short version of Racine from last Sunday: stupid slow swim, solid bike and a great run. Lake Michigan was pretty fierce that day and I struggled getting out past the waves and then swimming. I was pretty disoriented and had to sight a lot. This swim actually took me 9 minutes longer than last year, and I'm a faster swimmer now. The bike was fine and uneventful, but the run was great. I was runnings 9s like clockwork and my splits very consistent. This is a small thing, but a victory all the same: So there are two "hills" back to back as soon as you come out of transition, and you do them twice. Last year I only ran up the first and walked the other three and this year I'm pretty proud of running up all four (ha!). Ended up PRing by 15 minutes.  The long version can be found at my RR.

I have another HIM in about three weeks. At first I was thinking of that race as more of a victory lap, but now I definitely want to get revenge on the swim!

Finally getting back into the swing of training after the HIM.  I've run marathons and recovered within a few days such that I could get back into training, but this HIM kicked my butt.  In the week following I did get in a short swim, a really easy run where I let my body set the pace and it was at least 1 minute slower than training pace, and a gentle ride - but really had no energy at all for the whole week.  Yesterday was a 2 hour fun ride with hills and a couple of friends at a social pace, and it felt really good to get into the hills which tells me the legs are back.  I bought a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine fluid trainer and signed up with TrainerRoad, so am looking forward to focusing more on the bike as I go forward.

What's next?  I'm looking to do the Pacific Grove Oly in September, and may squeeze in a fun sprint before.  I do have a medical procedure that will take place sometime in the next month or so that could cause a hiccup in the plan, but we'll see how that all works out.

So what's happening with you?  It's been really quiet on the thread . . .

Definitely quiet on the thread lately, so I will have to unleash a picture of what I won in a local triathlon yesterday.  Is it the weirdest trophy ever or is it just me?

The wierd thing to me is the "1st Place" part - mine usually say "finisher"

Otherwise, that is the most Disney-esque bling I've seen outside the Magic Kingdom proper!

It has been quiet here...  I've been away the last week after my A race last Sunday (we extended for some tri-tourism and rented a house for the week in Nantucket around the race - hey, anything to get the family behind this somewhat odd obsession!).

Last week was a tough one of trying to get back into build mode for a 2 week or so block, followed by a week or two of peak/taper for Timberman (HIM on 18th).  It's my first at that distance and it's in my head a little - especially after doing a taper for this last race, the concern being that I've lost fitness that I'll need for the HIM.

Tried to push the volume back up immediately, and it worked fine during the week, but this weekend I finally caught the bug that made the rounds through the house.  Came back from a crushing run on Saturday (blisters halfway into an out and back 12+ miler after a 45' hard-ish ride) and had shivers and such - yep, ran a slight fever and felt terrible!  Tried to ride yesterday and cracked at an hour into it and pretty much soft-pedaled home for a 90' ride rather than the planned 2-3 hour hill-fest.

So, I'm hoping for a big week this week and an even bigger weekend - followed by a two week decreasing schedule to the HIM and then... A REST!  Today is a day off (maybe a 30' recovery swim tonight, if I feel well), then back to the track tomorrow and hitting it hard (I hope).

OK, so I admit that the above isn't very interesting, but it's activity on the thread. 

Here's a question, then:  My threshold HR is about 160, with a 179 max (can hold just above 160 for a bit above an hour, after ~an hour @ just below - at least in my last, and only, two Oly's that's what I did).  In the Oly's, I targeted the swim at "fast but not gasping," the bike at a couple beats below threshold until the last 15', and the run a couple beats over - to try to get 1 hour at threshold and be empty at the end.

Pretty much did that this last race and had a smidge left in the tank (1 hour 15' at or above 160bpm at the end of the 2 hour 15' race).

Soooooooo, for the HIM, any suggestions on HR/effort for the race?  I don't want to blow up, but hey, it's a RACE.    I'm thinking: same pace on swim, for the bike keep HR at 145-150 with a "do not exceed" of 155-160 on steep hills, on the run 150-155 for the first 6-7 miles, 160 for miles 8-10 and then whatever I have left (if anything) for the last 5k.

In my previous HMs, I've held above 160 for most of the race (90 out of 100-115 minutes and averaged 165 in my last hard one), for what that's worth.

Any suggestions?  Next thing you know, this will be a predict the finish time thread (and I will not partake in that!  Probably.  Maybe.  Well, it's still a race, even if it's my first, right?  Right??). 

OK - super long post now done.

Matt

What's really weird to me is that the winner of the Olympic 30-34 AG also posted a picture of that trophy in another mentor thread (SBR Utopia).    I think it's an awesome trophy.

Nice job! And I love that your trophy is holding a trophy. It does look like a character in Beauty and the Beast.

Matt - are your bike and run HRs the same? Mine are about 10 beats different (run is higher).

In aero, my bike is a few beats lower (like 5ish) for a similar RPE, so I'm probably right at or above "threshold" for a lot of my Oly bike time even though it looks like I'm below.  That said, I CAN get my max bike HR to within a beat or two of my max run HR - but I'm usually sitting up and cranking my azz off to finish a hill segment to do that, so the max numbers are close.

I think (hand wavy BS alert!!!) that going from the bike to the run lets me hold a higher effort across the two sports than I could for that combined amount of time in either alone.  This particular piece of hand waving could really bite me in the hinder in a couple weeks, though!

The slightly lower HR on the bike is also why I'm targeting a bit lower than just under threshold on the bike, while drifting closer toward the end. 

I'm really curious to see what I can hold, but you know what they say about curiosity (not that I'm particularly feline, mind you)...

Matt

Somehow managed 3rd in my AG in my race yesterday.

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=496514&posts=6&page=1#M4816082

A little sore today, but not that bad. 

Taper started today for my 70.3 on 8/11.  Feeling good, almost wish the race was this weekend just to get it over with.  Question:

Nutrition/hydration/electrolyte wise, what has worked well for me and what I plan going into the race is honey stinger gel (my own) every 30 minutes on the bike, and concentrated skratch in three bottles on my bike.  The course provides clif shot blocks and gels, and cytomax, in addition to plain water of course.  I have single serving skratch packets so I can make my own if necessary.  I did not have a chance during training to try out cytomax.  Clif shot blocks don't work for me, but clif gels do, as long as it's not the caffienated ones.  But in training I really liked the honey stinger ones, they go down a lot easier.

I'm not looking to compete to win, just to finish and put forth the best effort I can in doing so.  If I were looking to podium, I'd have spent time (and perhaps will next year) getting used to whatever it is that the course is offering.  But for this one, I'm wondering how to handle the run.  They'll be handing out clif blocks, gels, cytomax, and water.  I'm fine with using the clif gels they're handing out, and I anticipate only taking 2 anyways, at most 3, but how should I handle the liquid?  I know everything is different, but the skratch worked for me so well that I just stuck with it.  Gatorade and similar sports drinks I can only take so much of because they taste so sugary my teeth feel funny, heed and the like give me gas, make me feel bloated, so I gave up on that immediately.  I may get a chance to get my hands on some cytomax this weekend, but obviously it's too late to test it on a long run/ride.  I can test it on a medium run/ride at best.  Should I aim to do that, hope it works, and drink that?  Should I bring my own bottle of concentrated skratch mix on the run and drink that with the water they hand out?

Edit to note: Again it's not that I haven't experimented.  I just haven't experimented with cytomax which happens to be what they are handing out.  Of the options that have been available to me, what has worked best for a two hour run is 2 24 oz. bottles of skratch, with 2 honey stinger gels, one at about 45 minutes, the next at 1:30.

I guess at this point I would bring Skratch for the run. I'm not familiar with Skratch, so what does it offer to you that the gels do not? Could you increase your gels and then just grab water at the aid stations? If you are unable to digest all of the calories from a gel at once, there is no reason why you have to take the whole packet all together. How often are your aid stations? You could take 1/2 or 1/3 at something like every other mile.

Did my last long ride yesterday, too.  63 or 64 on the Timberman course, plus rode the first hills a second time to loop back and pick up a friend, then transitioned to one loop of the 2 loop run course.

Really glad I pre-rode/ran that one, as having seen the hills and the run course is super helpful for me in strategizing pace/effort (first HIM, and obviously also first time at Tman).  I'm going to post observations on the courses on the Tman thread if anyone is interested (anyone here aside from me and Mike D doing this one?).

Fitness felt pretty good.  This week was fairly heavy, so to ride feeling good and then run feeling not terrible was encouraging (wasn't sure where my fitness would be after a taper for and a short recovery from race a couple weeks ago).

Now on to a short week of peaking workouts and then a week of taper workouts… and then my first HIM!  Woot!

Matt

ETA:  Good luck to those actually racing this weekend, too!  RR, or it didn't happen.  

Michael - so great to see you back.  I'm glad things have settled down for you, and I just checked and CDA is still open...so I'm excited to track your journey.

For those that don't know Michael, he is one of the top notch BT members with a ton of wisdom to share.