Month: May 2011

Categories
Ironman Lake Placid

Boxford, Georgetown, Newbury, Newburyport….

Long ride today that took us through many towns and into another state. All the way up to Kingston,NH and back. 77 miles in all for me today. It was a very good ride, my legs felt good the entire time and felt like I could have gone further. With last few miles home I was able to get up to an average of 18 mph. While that isn’t going to break any records it is a pretty good time for me for that distance.

Nutrition on the ride:
4 – 24 oz bottles of EFS (1st Endurance)
1 – 5 oz EFS Liquid Shot
Calories: 1168
Sodium: 2800 mg
Potassium: 1570 mg
Magnesium: 1320 mg
Chloride: 4200 mg
Calcium: 950 mg

I think I was a little light on the calories for the ride. I’ve ordered some different types of bars to experiment with eating them and seeing what works. The big increase in Electrolytes has definitely helped my legs, after 3 hours today there was no pain or cramping. Also noticed that my weight was the same after the ride as before so it would seem I did pretty good staying hydrated. Can definitely see the need to get some solid food down though.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/84389662

Weight: 165

Categories
Ironman Lake Placid

First Stiles Swim

Finally made it back into the pond. Not sure what the water temp was, yesterday there was a reading of 61 degrees. If I had to guess it was probably 60 because it was cold over night. What was strange though was how warm it got out near Rohr’s dock and actually the rest of the way. Wasn’t really sure if it was that I just got used to the cold or it actually got warmer. Turns out that it actually did get warmer, because when I came back just as I passed that same spot coming in toward the beach it got very cold again. The full crossing probably took around 40 minutes and felt kind of slow to me. Last year I seem to remember being able to cross in 35 minutes. Of course that wasn’t in the cold water when you spend the first 400 yards gasping and just trying to get your face back in the water!
First Swim at Stiles
First Swim at Stiles

 

Categories
Ironman Lake Placid

Friday Swim Workout

Over slept a little bit this morning and showed up a few minutes late at the pool. I had been hoping it was going to be a pond morning but no one seemed interested in going out in the cold air. Supposedly tomorrow morning at 5:15am will be the first swim. Not sure if I will be able to make that one, may have to go over in the afternoon instead.

300 warmup
800 pull
100 free
1000 1×400,1×300,1×200,100 free
500 10×50
600 pull
Total: 3300 yards

Weight: 165

Categories
Ironman Lake Placid

Recovery day

After the 12 mile run yesterday and the CompuTrainer ride the day before my legs were feeling a bit heavy and tired so I made today a recovery day. I tried to work on keeping my cadence up and also my Spinscan numbers to keep my pedal stroke more efficient. I did ride for 1 hour and 15 minutes, but kept my heart rate under 140 and averaged 128 for the ride. Cadence was 91 for the ride, right around where I want to be. At least that seems to be the cadence where I feel most efficient right now.

Weight: 165

Categories
Ironman Lake Placid

Another long run

Did another long run this morning. This one was for 12 miles and it seems like this could be pretty close to the limit unless I loop past the car and make sure I have some Gatorade/water and/or Gels. I’m doing loops anyway so stopping at the car wouldn’t be a problem, but I would have to start out earlier and I’m already starting at 5:10am.

Today I did the a 5 mile loop and then Julie met me for the 2nd loop that we made a 7 mile loop. I’ve been running from the Y for so long now that I pretty much know how long all the streets are and where to run to add or subtract miles from the total distance. Overall the run was pretty good, in the beginning my legs felt tight but loosened up finally after about 7 miles.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/83404182

Weight: 162

Categories
Ironman Lake Placid

CompuTrainer – IM Kona ride

Woke up a little late this morning so I changed the plan from doing the intervals that I normally do to just riding the IM Kona bike course. I managed to hold 200 watts for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Felt better than I expected at the end, my legs were still a little sore from the yard work this weekend and the fast pace bike ride, but by the end of the ride they didn’t bother me at all.

I’m going to start to jot down nutritional intake here on the blog for the longer rides. I’ve been making adjustments to my nutrition and feeling better on the rides, but I think a more detailed account of how much I’ve actually taken in calories and electrolytes will help dial in what I’m going to need for race day. I’ve come to realize that I need a lot more electrolytes than I have been getting because even though I have been drinking a lot on the bike my legs had been hurting after about 3 hours. I would have attributed this to fitness level except that the efforts were not extremely hard and after 3 long rides like that my fitness level should have improved. The last couple of long rides have been better though I’ve added a SaltStick to the bike and that has definitely helped.

Weight: 163.2

Categories
Ironman Lake Placid

The Pond is warming up!

Headed to the Y this morning to swim, but was really wondering if George was going to show up with the latest temperature readings from the pond. George did not disappoint and said the water was 64 degrees on Sunday afternoon. That is plenty warm enough to swim, a bit surprising though I really would have thought the temp in the mid 50s. Looking forward to hopefully getting in this weekend.

500 warmup
500 pull
350 free
500 4×125
300 1×300
300 1×300 Breast
500 4×125
600 12×50
Total: 3550 Yards

Weight: 165

Categories
Ironman Lake Placid

Disqualified!!!!

Today instead of the normal long ride our training program called for doing an Olympic distance triathlon. It’s a little early in the season for doing those in this area so we just did a 23 mile bike followed by a 6 mile run. Well, I guess the run was supposed to be longer but I went the wrong way.

The bike ride was an out and back. I think I over dressed for the bike today, my legs were getting warm and had to open up the jacket at one point. I almost got dropped just before that on Ipswich Rd!!!!! I was able to recover and draft out to the turn around and that is where I picked up a 2 minute penalty from Coach Bri who caught me drafting. After the turn around I was able to pick up the pace a little bit and managed to push the average speed to 19.6 for the total ride including the ride over.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/82758033

Then the run, yup, this is where I DQ’d! That does not stand for Dairy Queen either. Although I could go for a Blizzard right now. I thought we were doing an out and back run as well, apparently on the way back I was supposed to turn at a different spot than I did and cut the run short by about .4 miles. So, I didn’t win any awards or trophies today. I was happy with the run though, after the first mile I was able to do negative splits and hold 7:30 pace for the last 2 miles.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/82747965

The slow ride home http://connect.garmin.com/activity/82757978

Weight: 165.5