Water temp was 79 this morning. The sunrise was pretty nice as usual and it seemed like a good morning for a slow single. Now if only Smolak Farm would open before 7am like the used to!
Putting the race wheels on tonight to get some more time in the saddle and get more of a feeel for them since I’ve only used them once so far.
Today was the last of the really long rides. If you consider 4 hours a really long ride. I actually haven’t minded the 4 hour rides. It was when it started to get into the 5 and 6 hour time zone that it felt like work. Today was a great day to be out there, maybe a little warm toward the end of the ride but it was very comfortable for most of it.
I think my nutrition plan is coming together. Today I used Ironman Perform with two Salt tabs in each bottle. During the ride I drank all 4 bottles and had 3 Honey Stinger Waffles. I practiced pulling them out of my back pocket and eating them rather than waiting until we stopped. Hopefully during the Ironman I will be able to do that and not have to stop. I also had 3 shots of EFS Gel during the ride, alternating the Waffle and the Gel every half hour. That should give me plenty of calories during the bike and a few extra for the start of the run. If the weather is bad on race day I may have to stop and get my stuff to eat, but I guess you deal with the conditions you get.
The Ride: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/98283417
Saturday Run: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/97891949
It’s getting closer and closer. Today I was e-mailed the Athlete guide and found my race number in the participant list. Only 16 days away! I’m looking forward to finally doing this race and getting it done! Hope I remember to enjoy it on the day of the race.
Forgot the entry from yesterday. I did a 2.5 mile swim at Stiles with no wetsuit. Water temp is 79 degrees now, going to be warmer tomorrow probably. Followed that with a quick 5 mile run. This morning I went for a ride with Julie, Jan and Karen. It was a fun ride, a little over 30 miles. Didn’t work too hard most of the ride, only on the hills would I push harder.
Went out for the usual tuesday morning time trial and didn’t have much today. Legs are still feeling a little beat up from the long ride and run from the weekend. I only managed to get to 19.2 on the way out to the turn around. I was able to pick it up some on the way back and get to 19.6 for the entire ride. My power was down about 15 watts from my previous tuesday morning ride. After the ride I went for a 10 mile cool down ride. Just taking it easy through town and my legs felt pretty good by the end of the ride.
I had never run more than 13.1 miles until today. Training program called for a 3 hour run. I didn’t make it 3 hours and really didn’t have any intention of running that long. I don’t have a fuel belt so I had to run out and back on 1 Gel. I ran out 1 hour and back so that I could stop at the car and get something to drink and another Gel. Having 14 miles done I went back out and ran to the other side of the Dam and back for 19.5 total.
The weather for the run was kind of lousy, started out very warm and humid and then at about mile 6 turned into a thunderstorm and just a down pour for the next 6 miles. After that it was just a steady rain. Glad it is over. Maybe it will be severe thunderstorms on race day, I’ll be ready!
Today was the last of the 6 hour rides. Now the taper begins, not that next week will be a short ride, still 4 hours. It was good to get another century ride in today. This ride was a solo ride because I’m visiting my family in NY. That was probably a good thing because there is no drafting on race day and you are pretty much on your own for pacing and riding how you feel. I mapped out a out and back course that would take me out 18 miles for 36 mile round trips. That way I could stop at my car for additional fluids because you just can’t carry enough with you for that long of a ride.
The ride itself went pretty well I thought. Bad news was that one of the roads I wanted to use was closed and under construction, the good news was it was the one with the big hill :). As you can imagine I was pretty upset about not being able to climb hills. The course still had 4400 feet of elevation, while no serious climbs it is more like ride uphill for 3 miles, then down for 3 miles. The great thing about riding on 28A is there is not much traffic so it was a nice quiet day and I actually got to see plenty of deer right by the side of the road. They are so close it actually makes you a little nervous because you don’t if they will bolt and accidentally just come right at you. Also saw the Eagle today that nests up there. Overall a good ride, Lake Placid will not be at that pace, but it was a good workout.
Haven’t done many brick workouts. Well, I haven’t done many bike to run brick workouts. I’ve been doing mostly swim to run bricks, which are much easier. The ride was on the easier side today, usually my thursday rides are a bit slower as I try to give my legs a break from the harder effort on the bike on Tuesday. I rode with Julie and Heidi this morning and Heidi is just getting on the bike for the first time in a while. She did ok, once we explained a few things to her about what gears to be in and when. When I got home after the ride I threw on the sneakers and headed out. As usual the legs didn’t really like it, but within a half mile they relaxed a bit and I was able to hold a nice steady pace. I wanted to try to keep it under 8 minute miles for the entire 6 miles. I have to remember to tell myself to breath more, at mile 4 I felt like I was holding my breath! I kept telling myself to just relax and run, took another half mile or so to settle back down and get my pace back.
The Ride
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/95837367
The Run
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/95836121
Weight: 160.8
Got to the pond at 4:45 this morning for a double crossing. The water is starting to warm up and make it a little uncomfortable to be in a wetsuit. I could still feel the cold water with my finger tips when I pulled through the water though. The next few days are going to be very hot so Friday will probably be a wetsuit free day.
Did a short run after the swim. Easy pace to start and then pushed pretty good on the little hills on the way back.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/95638259
Weight: 159
Went out for my tuesday morning 20 mile time trial this morning. I wasn’t sure what to expect after the long ride and run over the weekend. I did take it easy yesterday and just swam 2.5 miles to give my legs a bit of a rest. I really wanted to make sure that I pushed hard the entire ride, the hills I was going to stand and power over today instead of spinning up and I wanted to focus more on pushing on the downhill and flats. Sometimes I work so hard to get up the hill that I just coast down the other side or I don’t push hard enough on the flats. I kept an eye on my power meter the entire ride and tried to make sure I never went below 200. It was harder to do than I thought it would be. Overall it was my fastest ride of the year, power was a little lower than I wanted. Must have been the extra air in the tires that gave me the higher speeds at the lower power output.
After the 20 mile ride, I did an easy 10 mile ride through town for a cool down.
This past weekend we headed up to Lake Placid to ride the course and do some training. Lake Placid is quite a drive from here in MA. The car GPS says 5 hours, but with the stops for lunch and the ferry, it is longer. I did like going the way we went up through NH and VT and crossing the ferry. I travel on the Mass Pike so much that if I can go a different way just to see some different scenery it is worth it.
Saturday morning we were scheduled to head out at 7:00 am for our course ride. It was pouring, I looked out my room at 6:30 it was just coming down in buckets and I was not happy. My thoughts were, I’ll do one loop in this crap and that will be good. I just wanted to see the course and know what to expect. We waited until 7:30 when there was a tiny break in the rain and headed out.
Lake Placid to Keene – This is definitely one of the hardest parts of the course, you have to climb for 10 to 12 miles and then you have the killer decent. The decent in pouring rain is rather frightening, lucky for me it was dry the second time around because I was thinking after the first time and it was pouring that I wasn’t going to see that again until Ironman. I’m glad the rain let up so I could do it again in drier conditions.
Keene to Jay and Out and Back – This part of the ride is rather enjoyable and will definitely be the time to take in as much nutrition as possible. I’m sure people will be hammering away on this part of the course, but it seems to me that you would want to be in control here and save your legs for the next section.
Jay to Willmington – I think this may be the toughest part of the course if the first section isn’t. It is just a very long climb and steep in a few spots. I didn’t feel like I needed to get out of the saddle on any sections of the course so while I say that there are some steep sections there is nothing that you can’t shift down to an easy gear and spin up.
Willimington back to Lake Placid – This section is easier than I thought it would be, not that it is easy, but it certainly not as hard as other parts of the course. Coming through High Falls Gorge it is important to stay down in the aero position as you are going into the wind. Once through that section though there are few more climbs but nothing killer. The Bears are not bad at all. I didn’t even realize I had gone over them the first time.
The bike course is definitely a tough course and I will really need to pay attention to nutrition and keep myself from working too hard on the hills.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/94827005
Sunday morning we went out for a run on parts of the run course. The run is two loops like the bike. The run is pretty much a down hill followed by a long flat, easy rollers stretch and then back up the hill. I can imagine that the second time down the hill my quads are going to be screaming at me. I did 13 miles on Sunday and my legs felt a little heavy from the ride the day before so I didn’t try to push too hard. Kept my heart rate down except for the last push up the hill.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/95129794
Very happy I went up for the training weekend. The weather sucked for that first loop on the bike, but other than that it was a good time. It is so important to know the course you are riding and running or at least know the major portions of it.