Beginner 1/2 Ironman Plan Group (Page 91)

This week was a recovery week for me which was good because I ended up out of town for work. I did a 30 minute run on Tuesday but the weather and long hours stopped all other training. I received a phone call on Thursday that my new bike was in and would be ready for Friday. I was very excited to get it and do a ride this weekend. After getting home I was playing on the bike making small adjustments to get it more comfortable and a Friend stopped by and asked if I wanted to do a Sprint in the morning. He had knee problems and wouldn't be able to do it. I decided to do it and bring the new Tri bike for a brake in.

The swim was in a pool and was 500 meters, everything went pretty smooth and I finished at 11:19. I was hoping for 10 but oh well. I ran into T1 and was out in 1:02. Getting on the bike course there was to quick corners about a half a mile then we had to cross some construction. After that it was smooth sailing. I pushed a comfortable pace that felt close to my road bike and I was at 24. I was loving the new Tri bike, then I hit a bump and the seat dropped about a half inch. I kept pushing trying to ignore the seat, but it kept dropping, I was going to stop and adjust the seat because it was only a 12 mile out and back. By time I finished the bike the seat went down 2 inches. I guess thats what I get for being careful when tightening the seat up. I ended up doing a 37:20 on the bike, I think I would of been faster because every time the seat dropped so did my speed. Went into T2 and was out in 32, I was happy with that time. Then there was the run, I have the hardest time getting a feel for the run. My legs hurt and I had to walk a little in the first mile and stretch my calves. I was able to get the run in at 27 minutes which wasn't to bad. My goal for the race was 1:20 which I just threw together thinking about the race before going to sleep. I ended up at 1:17 7th place in my division out of 15 and 30th out of 91. I feel pretty good about the race considering I found out about it  14 hours before. I need to work on the run but not to bad for my 2nd Tri. I could of been fourth if I could of shaved off 2 seconds. Had a blast hope everyone has a good weekend.

Why would we want to talk you out of it, have you done any Tri's? I think 15 weeks of training is plenty of time.

Sweet ride! You and I both need tri shoes ;-)

Does your roadie have aero bars? I gain 1-1.5 mph by being in aero position with my roadie and clip-on's. A tri bike is in my future!

2.5 hour ride went well today. Averaged 20.97 mph (doh - just short of race pace). I think it was 53.47 miles or something like that. Seems like not too long ago 50+ miles was out of the question. It's amazing the adaptations we can train our bodies for. Did a 20 minute run off the bike and the legs felt good. I'm not scared of the HIM distance, but know I need to respect the heck out of it. At my level of training, putting all three sports together for the HIM distances is a lot to do in one session, but I'm getting excited.

AHHHHHHHH and hip hip horray for recovery week! These past three weeks have been great :-) I'm already looking ahead to see what awaits me on the other side of recovery.

WHAT THE HEL??????

I just looked at the instructions for my upcoming recovery week and it says, "Eat less than you have the past few weeks."

I DON'T WANT TO EAT LESS. I LIKE EATING. WHY DO I HAVE TO EAT LESS???

Nice ride DV!!

No my road bike didn't have aero bars on it, and with the HIM getting close and I am thinking about a Full. I decided to pull the trigger on the bike. I am selling a dirt bike to pay for everything. And yes Tri shoes would be nice

Hey DV - You are about to hit that point in the plan where you can start really deviating from the planned workouts.  I wouldn't decrease the hours necessarily (in fact I upped them and added more time in the saddle).  For example, there are a lot of transition related trainings which I bagged out on because they were incovenient and I felt alright with my T1 and T2.  Quite frankly, for me, there were bigger dragons to slay on race day.  I would recommend a solid over distance ride (like 70 miles) and a work out of a 2 hr bike followed by a solid distance run (8miles or so).  I found these workouts to be a really big confidence builders.

Joe:

That's exactly what I am doing now in Week 4. My transitions are fine, so getting in more hours on the bike and runs. There are 3 recovery days in week 3, so I intend to use one of them for some longer steady session as well.

Steve

So glad I did not do the Week 4 - Sunday 8 x run/bike/run transition practice and opted for a long run instead. My last 3 long runs have been in 27/28C temps with brutal humididty and I have suffered accordingly, hence my confidence for the distance was low. However, today the temp was about 20C and overcast but windy so I set off on a long run - 2hrs 27mins later I had covered 25.2km and felt stronger as the time went by!!! Needless to say I am SUPER STOKED!! This was exactly what my confidence needed especially as I am not as strong on the run as I am on the swim and bike!!!!! But this is the furthest I have ever run in my life and loved it - amazing what happens when you get into a groove!!

Ok I'm rambling - but I feel sooooooooo good - no aches or pains!! What a day

Steve

Thanks for the advice Joe. My transitions are fine too!

Nice run Steve! Sounds like exactly what Joe was talking about. It's nice to have a good weather day to test out a longer workout. I was thinking this morning on my recovery run that I hope it's either perfect weather on race day or pouring rain. None of this no wind, humid, sticky, full sun nonesense I've had the past two days - LOL

So seriously .... what am I supposed to do with myself during this recovery week?

Smart to get the bike fit. What's nice is the LBS asked you to ride around a bit to see what's good and what may need adjusting. Tops to your LBS.

Nice job with your sprint! I hope the guy who got 4th didn't pass you in the last 100 yards like happened to me in my first race - ;-)

What are the increments?

Question about nutrition...

I have my nutrition plan all worked out, just wondering what other's bring on the bike? How many bottles do you bring with you on the bike? I do a 3hr bottle/gel of Perpetuem and NUUN in my aerodrink and usually one extra bottle of water/NUUN in my back cage.  I know there's water stops on the course, but having never done that before should I play it safe and bring extra water or take advantage of the water stops (and having less weight on the bike).

It's always good to know that you can take water if you need it. During my first IM, my nutrition plan was quickly thrown out the window when I tasted my 4 hour bottle of Infinit and it tasted like soap! I had to switch to what was on the course - water and Gatorade. If you can ride with one hand, you will be fine taking a bottle from a volunteer. Just slow down as much as you need to. Practice at home if you want to feel more confident on race day.

Garrunning - nice job on the brick. I find bricks to be real confidence boosters when they go well!

So an anecdote:

As some know, the plan says to eat less in the recovery week 5 weeks out from the race. I'm in that week ... and because I'm following the plan as much as possible, I figured I'd eat less - despite my desire :-)

So yesterday, after "eating less" on Monday and Tuesday, I had the most miserable 30 minute bike ride so far. My energy was flat, I had no power, and my state of mind was just all wrong. It was pathetic, no fun, no sense of accomplishment or improvement, just plain sucky.

I know we all have good and bad days, but I'm absolutely convinced that this bad day was due to my reduced calorie intake during the first few days of the recovery week. Everything else in my life has remained constant.

Moral of the story - Don't eat less during this recovery week! I started back eating my normal amount after the failed ride yesterday, and just had an awesome swim; albeit only 1200 yards due to the recovery week.

Another anecdote: I gain and lose weight pretty easily (often going to bed around 165-167, waking around 163-164, and weighing 158-162 after a hard workout. I'm also a heavy sweater. What I've found is that if I'm right around 164-165 lbs prior to a workout, my energy is strong. When I drop below 163, I either have to supplement with calories from the start, or I start to lose energy pretty quick. Yesterday morning before my ride I only weighed 161 lbs. As I suspected, eating less during this recovery week is not the right choice for me.

Finished Rhode Island HIM this past weekend.  Below is the race report if you want some comments from a first timer.

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=260703

Nice job Brian! Looks like a sucessful race despite the difficult road conditions. Nice run too!

Congratulations!  Potholes suck, glad you got through them w/o any problems.

Speaking of road conditions, I experienced my first ever flat tire the other day during a recovery ride.  Was surprised how quickly the CO2 cartridge filled up the tire (less than a second), and how it froze the valve stem.  Glad I had a plastic sleeve on the CO2 cartridge, it seemed it would have frozen to my hand w/o it. 

Definitely practice roadside repair if you haven't done so.

After I was off again, I realized I used my only spare tube.  Forgot my cellphone, so if I got another flat, would have been a long walk home.  (Thinking I'll carry a patch kit as well).

So what do others do in case of a SECOND flat in races:

A) carry a second tube;

B) carry a patch kit;

C) Wait for the support vehicle;

D) Do a Normann Stadler bike throw? 

Couldn't agree more!!  My husband's been traveling this week and I've been slacking on meals (pancakes for supper...why not!) and it's been hurting my last few workouts.  Last night was family camp night at the kids camp...a burnt hot dog and a couple of handful of chips equals a really sad 90 minute run this morning (lots of belly bloat issues).  No amount of gels and NUNN can fix what's in or not in your system.

Last week, ate a ton of sushi, downed 3 pear martinis, woke heavy headed but carb loaded and had a best run of my training thus far.  

Trying to turn it into a positive in the sense that if for any reason this happens during the race I know that I just need to stop (not just walk, but stop) and get myself in check and I can survive another 2-3 miles before it takes over again.  Better yet...I'm just going to make the best effort to eat well balanced meals for the next 5 weeks!!!

Last long brick completed without a hitch (week 3 - short bike/long run) . Only problem was  the bloody mosquito's that swarmed me from 15-18km despite using bug spray below and on top of clothing. Little buggers just go straight through tri clothing!!!

Anyway 15.5km bike followed by a 20.5km run = another great confidence booster. I have a 3 hr bike ride and a 30min recovery run on Sunday then its the final 2 weeks of taper. Holy s**t its that close to Calgary 70.3 HIM!!!! OMG - panic!!!! LOL