Shellback1998 Group - FULL (Page 62)

Pumpkinman Race Report

Saturday Morning 9/10/11

7:00 Woke up early 

8:00 had my big breakfast. I had Pancakes, eggs and toast.  I have to eat before 9, and start tapering throughout the day. I had a bag pretzels,  set my watch for every 30 mins to drink at least 8 oz of water.  11:00 travelled up to Maine checked into the hotel

12:00-15:00 relaxed feet up and  hydrated and watched some college football.

16:00-17:00 pre registered for my race, got my shirt and race packet

17:30-18:45 drove the bike route with some teammates.

19:00 Dinner at Chili’s,  not my idea pre race meal but I had kids Pasta and ½ a chicken breast.

21:00 Bed Time

04:00 Woke up, had my two cups of apple sauce, banana, bottle of Gatorade and my Whey Protein Shake

04:30 Departed for the Race

05:00 Arrived at the race, temp was 44 degrees out, very foggy. Had my head  lamp on, putting my wheels on my bike and  pumping the tires.

05:20 Had to get my timing chip

05:30, set my bike up in transition, unpacked my wetsuit, laid out everything.

06:00 had my Powerbar

06:30 Warmed up swimming.

06:50 Star Bangle banner, moment of silence, RD said that the race was going to be postponed could not see the buoys 150 yards away

07:45 Elites start (First Wave)

07:46 Aqua Bike Starts (Second Wave)

07:47 Third Wave

07:50 Fourth Wave

07:53 Fith wave

07:56 Six wave start mine, started out hard for the first 400 yards, fell into my groove. 2:20 min/100 yards (Told you I am slow)

Finished my swim with a PR for me at that distance 49 mins and change.  

T1, there is a hill that is about 250 yards, it’s actually a challenge for the fastest person  to get up it, I walked up it. I was not going to burn a match for something like that.

The bike course is a lollipop, what I mean by that is that there is an out to a certain distance then two loops then back the same distance.  Now, on the bike, my coach says I have to Pee on the bike at least once for a ½ marathon, so around mile 49, I couldn’t hold it anymore and went.  Man what a relief, but I was hydrated, it was hot at times but cool. I definitely got sunburn but felt great. I came back after a good bike for me, averaged 19.3 for the 56 miles.  I have a restricted wattage on long distance; I can’t go above 320 watts so, on the hills but had to average 272-280 watts for the entire ride. My Average HR on the bike was 157. I finished with 279 watts. So far so good, I still can’t believe I was only doing 3-6 mph on some of the hills which SUCKS because I see all these people just passing me. 

I finished the bike, got into T2, feeling great. Put my socks on, running shoes, grab my visor and some cliff blocks and off I went. Mile one, felt great, pace was 8:08, second was slower and then I knew I was getting fatigue as each mile after that was positive splits. I finished the 13.1 miles with an average pace of 12:20 which is slow for me, especially when I can run a flat out ½ marathon at a 7:09 pace.  I had all my nutrition, each mile a cliff block, introduced caffeine after mile 7, felt great but just need to work on hills more. Well, that’s my Race report. Scott already posted my times.  So, hopefully next year this will be much faster 

Enjoy the recovery phase Roland!  Whenever I hear someone say shark fin drill I think of Everlong and his sharky (snarky) friend at the begining of the year race. Ha, ha.  Great race by the way.

I am so enjoying this stage.  I am in the last week of my "prep" phase before I go back to build. I know I should have started with build phase 1 but I was just overtraining and burnt out so decided to do the prep phase I never had when I started this year.  I am running more and just enjoying it.  I have my new heart rate zones and I feel so much more comfortable staying in zone 3.  My runs are FUN, my bikes are longer and less intense and FUN.  The swim......well I am excited to start my masters class that starts the second week in Oct.  Alittle nervous though. But after the first class I'll know what to expect.

Linda

I hate sharkboy. If he shows up at your event rodeo him to the bottom.

I've just been building. I think I may have hit a point where I actually need to cut back my run volume a bit as it's grown every month and I feel it's taking a toll on my body that biking and swimming don't. It's supposed to be only in the mid 40's tomorrow morning and I plan on biking. Time to spend the coin and get the trainer.

Does anyone do weights in the off season?  What do you do? I go to a gym so I could use the equipment but I had taken a barbell strength class that I really enjoyed.  It was with the BIG barbell not the little hand weights.  I think most of it was psychological but I really enjoyed lifting using free weights as opposed to the equipment.   Do you think this would be good????

Linda

Does anyone do weights in the off season?  What do you do? I go to a gym so I could use the equipment but I had taken a barbell strength class that I really enjoyed.  It was with the BIG barbell not the little hand weights.  I think most of it was psychological but I really enjoyed lifting using free weights as opposed to the equipment.   Do you think this would be good????

Linda

Cool!  Z4 training range should be around 10-15%.  I think you should spend more time in your Z2 though than Z3.  Training in Z2 will benefit your durability overall.  For one you build more capillaries for your muscles and more capillaries = more O2 transport = better efficiency and speed. =)

~Roland

Joy, on Sprints, you won't to be in Zone 4 and Zone 5... PUSH YOURSELF

Scott and Joy - Thanks for the advice about the weights.  It's time to start to up my game and this is one of the things that I haven't done since I started training for sprints in Feb.  Had a great bike ride today and was able to stay in Z2 and Z3 95% of the time on my 23 miler.  At the end I was able to adjust my gears and cadence going up the long gradual hills so if I did go over 148 (bike upper limit of Z3) it was only by 1-2 bpm and I could get hr back where it should be in short order.  I am starting to feel when I am going too fast.

Linda

What was your cadence for this ride? During the offseason and in the base, all rides should have a cadence of 95+ build those small twitch fibers up... Stay in Z2 as much as you can.

Scott - I don't know my cadenance exactly but when I trained over the winter on the stationary bike (shudder hate indoors) I would try to keep over 90.  On my bike I don't have an easy way to tell but I'd guess it was around 80-85.  Do you use an easier gear and keep your cadenance at 95 so your heartrate stays low?

Also, do you think it matters if you do the weights after your workout?  I'm thinking of doing them after the swim or bike, because last time I hurt my IT band it was because I was running before and after the weights....stupid I know. I'm  trying to be smarter this go around.

Linda

Find a gear where you can maintain 95 throughout the ride while keeping your HR in the particular zone. Once you've become stronger aerobically, you'll be finding that you can go to harder gears and maintain the same HR. If you haven't, I'd look to get a cadence sensor this off season. You've been good this year. Ask one from Santa!

I'm biking tomorrow so I will try to find a gear to fit the bill.  Also, not to early to check out goodies for Christmas.

Linda

Well off to Huntington Beach, California in February. Booked my wife a half marathon for her 40th. 

I may do a 1/2 just for the hell of it. Looks like a nice flat scenic course...i think!

Hmm, I wonder if there are any triathlons on the saturday before her race...

Scott - Went to the club today and biked for 60 minutes with cadence of 94-97 and was able to keep my hr in zone 2.  It was raining, windy and cold so I decided to utilize the indoor option.  Then got a short swim in afterwards.  My masters class starts soon and I'm starting to get nervous. A run club and I'm all set but a swim class freaks me out.

Linda