16 months, still suck! (Page 10)

Very true.  The BBSC events in the Lake Mead area are no joke.  Finishing one of those HIM courses is a great accomplishment.

Think about this, no matter how fast or slow you are. You have finished a race that most people would never dream of attempting to do, you finished a race that even a lot of competitors wouldn't dream of doing. You beat the lazy bums on the coach and most importantly you lost a ton of weight doing exactly what you love. appreciate the accomplishments you have done and enjoy them, sometimes it isn't about how fast or slow you are but the guts and determination you have and I can tell you're probably full of them!

Except when you factor in cutoff times the person won't make.  It then becomes an exercise in futility and lack of self-awareness.

Not really following along, as the thread is kind of maddening, but is the advice that someone who signed up for an IM shouldn't start because there is a risk they won't meet the cutoff?  Personally, I think anyone that can complete a Lake Mead based HIM in approx 8 hours can complete a less hilly IM in 17.  Just my ,02, knowing nothing about the OP's training etc

This isn't a feel good cheerleader "you can do it" post, only based on the raw numbers.

Whether it's a good idea or not is another issue.

WOW.  I just read most of this thread.  Does your coach know you are getting all of this information (some conflicting) on the internet??  Does she care?  She should IMO.   I would listen to her...and her alone.  If you aren't getting the results you want (and are capable of) and have discussed with her and modified you plan as a result.....then get another coach.  

For $300 a month.....you can get one hell of a coach that will get you where you are wanting to go.  I am not sure why people keep giving you advice when you have a coach....or why you are seeking advice when you have a coach you should rely on.  You have worked with her awhile...she knows your body better than anyone on here...and she is a coach.  If she is worth a flip....and you are following the plan, you should see results.

If it's hand holding (not being harsh so dont take it that way) you want....then just ask for it.  There is plenty of encouragement on BT and people who will help you get through a hard time without giving you 1,000 things to do to improve your athletic endurance.

Well, the test didn't go as I planned.  Could only average 143 for those 20 minutes.

gsm - there were 42 hours in-between the Sunday ride (which ended before noon) and the LT test, which I started around 6:20a on Tuesday.  Monday was a rest day.

Had 7 MPH crosswinds so it was windy all the way through this morning.  Flat road and 16.6 MPH and my highest on that terrain had been 15.2 MPH so there's that.

My previous LT test had an average of 152.  I degressed haha.

I did it after work so I don't know if it would have been different if I slept but I wanted to beat the sun.  It goes from cold to stifling in an hour, as I was packing away it was heating up pretty quickly, and since the test was fairly short decided to do it after work.

But I think I'm getting a better handle on RPE.

So CDA is LESS hilly than Lake Mead?  I thought they were comparable.  That's even better.  15-20 MPH on that 8 hour Lake Mead HIM, too, for most of it, and we had about 20 miles of crosswinds, 18 miles of headwinds, and 18 miles of tailwinds (and what fun those 18 miles were... the other 38, not so much).  Downhill with a tailwind is quite an awesome experience

During the test, are you constantly looking at the numbers? That could be a distraction and put up a mental, but unconscious block of, "I can't go higher than this". I used to race with HR, but found that the mental block would limit me. My Z6 is supposedly >188 and I always go higher than that after I come out of the swim, and I automatically have red flags telling me to slow down. Well, the past 6 months, I got rid of the HR training and went off feel in addition to learning to control my breathing. I've noticed that I push myself to the limit now, because in a sense I'm not bound by numbers (only cramps ha). After a sprint or oly, I legitimately want to pass out or puke. This summer will be my first HIM, and I should have the same sort of controlled chaos during the race. I don't think your intentions are to be that aggressive in racing, but just a thought.

Afterwards, did you want to pass out? An LT test should push you to the brink if you're going to do it. Otherwise, those numbers and the zones that accompany it will be useless.

Push yourself to the limit sometimes and embrace the pain. You'll be surprised at what your body can do. I never thought in my life I'd go from 10mph biker complaining about his arse after a 2 mile ride to a 24mph biker for an oly in 17 months. Training shouldn't always be fun~

Don,

1. She is either misinterpreting what her coach is telling her.
2. She's not properly articulating to us what her coach is telling her.
3. Her coach sucks.

Probably a combination of the three after reading this entire train wreck.  One thing is for certain... she's getting fleeced at $300/month anyway you want to look at it.

And, sometimes it's not that black and white.

I have a running client who despite me emailing, texting, and calling her regularly to try to keep her on track, frequently doesn't log sessions for a week at a time, seems to ignore her HR monitor half the time while running, frequently does treadmill runs and doesn't enter the distance in her logs, doesn't always include how she felt during a session in her logs, logs runs with obviously bad HR data (loose strap, dry strap, or low battery), etc.  She frequently works 12+ hour days while balancing family life, and she has told me that she loves running and it helps relieve stress, but counts on me to manage all of this for her.  I regularly remind her that the quality of my services is only as good as the information she provides me, and she says she is very happy with what I do for her.

Many of us in endurance sports are type 'A' personalities who want things in nice neat little boxes with a lot of structure to achieve very specific goals, but not everyone is wired that way.  IMO, sometimes that makes it hard to understand the people who approach these sports from a different angle.  It doesn't mean one way is right or wrong, or better or worse.  We just need to understand that not everyone is the same as us.

Two days after one of the hardest rides in your life is probably not the best time to do a test to set your zones. Fortunately, that ride and your HIM rides should provide you and your coach with enough information to guide the rest of your IMCDA training.

I remember my first IM and the pressure I put on myself. I can only imagine the additional pressure associated with knowing that a large group of people that I don't know are all monitoring my progress during training and then during the event itself. That's what the internet can do.

Fortunately, in spite of all of that, that anonymous crowd will have its fair share of well wishers. Keep training and I wish you good luck!

Accdg to IM site, CDA has 2300 feet total elevation gain over 112 miles.  Rage has 6200 feet over 56 miles.  Pumpkinman has 7000 over 56.  I'd say most people who have done HIMs here on BT have not done ones with near that amount of climbing

CDA is considerably less hilly

yes, good post.

Is pumpkinman that hilly?  7000 feet is like Savageman territory.  The only searches I found on Pumpkinman through mapmyride have it just over 1k feet of gain.  And pros riding in the 2:10 range.

According to their website it is a total climb of 1024 feet.

Vegas

??  Half course description says "Elevation: +7143.8 ft / -5826 ft / net: 1317.9 ft"

Vegas.  Not Maine (broken record here)

It is run on the same roads as Silverman, which was massively hilly, incluidng a long climb up to Boulder City (for p man, Henderson for s man). 

Definitely not 1K of gain, the elevation from the lake to Boulder city is almost 2K alone in the last 5 miles

Are you all looking at Pumpkinman in *Maine*?  or Pumpkinman in *Vegas*?  That may be the problem here....  she did Vegas