Beer Drinker Appreciation Society (BDAS)--OPEN (Page 43)

Egypt sound like it will be amazing!

I booked my yearly holiday-ride over the weekend! A friend & I are cycling from Innsbruck (in the Alps), down through the Dolomites and into Venice. About 350km over 5 days. Very excited

https://www.strava.com/routes/8112327

This is also about 2.5 weeks before my first OT, so probably the last strenuous exercise I'll do before the event. How long do you normally taper? 1 week or 2? (NFI)

Cheers

Ben

So exciting!  That trip is going to be epic.

I raced Galveston 70.3 on Sunday....I'll put together a race report shortly, but here's my cliffs notes version:

Felt good on the swim....but was dismally slow.

Felt great on the bike and came in just under 2:29....I think it was something like the 22nd fastest female bike split, including the pros!

Run was tough, but I managed to hang tough.

My 910 died on the swim (it's been bullet-proof for almost five years, but seemed to kick the bucket on Sunday), so I had no idea what my time was.  When I asked a friend what time it was right when I finished, she said it was 12:48, which was exactly five hours after I started.  I'd already been finished for over a minute, so I knew I broke five hours and I completely broke down, overcome with emotion!  My hard work paid off and I finished in 4:58:20!

Still have plenty of room for improvement (a couple years ago, I was consistently swimming 3-5 minutes faster, so I'm sure I can get back there....and I know my running hasn't peaked yet).  Recovering this week and then will start looking toward my next race (a 40k TT in May and 70.3 WC in September).

Holy #^%#^$!!!!  That's AWESOME!!!  Congratulations!  I don't need me to tell you but that's is a damn fast bike split.  Wow.

About 7-10 days out, I would drop volume but keep up intensity, plus do some "dress rehearsals" and try to mimic race day as much as you can.  It all depends on how hard you've trained, and for how long.  Some people need a longer taper, some people just take the day off before and they're good.

Here's my volume graph from the last one I did (the final week includes the race...you can look at my logs from May 2014 if you want the details):

Green = cycling, Yellow = running, Purple = swimming, Blue = strength or yoga

<facepalm>

That's crazy.  Remind me not to ride on an airplane with you. 

That's amazing! What a good thing you're doing.

(see Dave not all Ravens fans are bad. hahahaha)

Gretchen - Great work on getting the book out (seriously - I don't think I can write 30 pages never mind 300+) and best of luck with the Egypt trip!

Juan - KL=Kuala Lumpur?  Anyway safe travels and good on you getting workouts in while there!  

Also - I found the book you recommended 'Accidental Ironman' used on amazon and picked it up.  Thanks!

ON - Good luck with the swim meet this weekend!

Ben - Wow that sounds like a glorious trip!  Don't know that I'd want to ride through the Alps AND Dolomites, but I don't like riding up imperceptible hills either  never mind actual mountains!

BTW I taper for about 3-4 days for my sprint tris, with the day prior completely off.  Never done an Oly or anything longer, so take it for what it's worth.

Nicole - CONGRATS on Galveston!!!  Well done!

Dave - how close are you to tapering for Boston?  Terrible timing on the sickness!  Hope it's over quick!

Cheers Nicole & Michael

Michael- Thanks for sharing your reports. That's really helpful so I can see what to expect. How can I see your training plan? (The embed is bust) :D

Riding in the mountains is really beautiful once you get your head around the climbs! I'll post some pics afterwards so you can check it out

I have another n00b question. I just signed up for a 10km fun run on Saturday evening (first 10k!). 'Normally' I run 6-7km on Saturday morning & try for another 6 on a Thursday morning. 

Should I still do the Saturday morning run & the 6 tomorrow? Honestly, I have no idea what I'm doing :D

Wow, well done! That looks hardcore & fast too :D

Thursday should be fine, I'd back off the pace a bit but either way you'll still have a couple days to recover.  I'd skip the morning run the day of the race for sure, just take the Friday and Saturday daytime off (since it's a night race).  You're not adding any fitness in those couple days.  It's like everyone around here tells me - cramming for a race like trying to cram before a test won't work

Yeah, I would just go normally on Thursday and take it easy during the day on Saturday.  I tend to perform better a little over-rested and under-trained vs. the opposite, if that makes sense. 

You can't - you can only see my activities.  I did pretty much follow my plan pretty well over a 24 week period, minus a few blips here and there, so if you look at my training plus my comments, that should get you more or less there.  That was a TOUGH training plan for an Oly, but I was trying to qualify for Age Group Nationals (missed by about 4 minutes...oh, well).

Great question!  Pre-race was a Brett DIPA dry hopped with citra hops.  Immediately after the race, we went to Galveston Island Brewery (about a mile from transition) and I had a flight that included an IPA, a DIPA, a porter, a stout, and a sour.  And the next night, I had a bourbon barrel aged imperial stout from Clown Shoes