The Taper Cold is on it's way out so I've moved into the next taper phase which is List Making. Don't want to forget anything so I have started making exhaustive lists of every small item I could possible need over the entire Ironman weekend.
Might take a break from list making to get in an easy bike ride before lunch. Gotta test out the lungs.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Taper cold
Posting this for posterity: Yep. I caught a cold during my Beach to Battleship taper. Probably from one of the students on the weekend field trip. Nothing like 14 total hours in a small van to transmit germs. And it's been pretty harsh. Low grade fever with bad sore throat that has morphed into a stuffy nose, mild sore throat and mild ear ache. But my doctor's receptionist doesn't think I'm sick enough for an office visit because the office is packed with swine flu (H1N1) and normal flu patients. Bleah.
Hopefully, my immune system will kick it to the curb by the end of the week.
Hopefully, my immune system will kick it to the curb by the end of the week.
Friday, October 16, 2009
The Relentless Rides Again!
My bike is back from the mechanic's shop. After 3 years of service as my only training/race bike, several parts had simply worn out. To celebrate her return from dry dock, she and I shared a steady 4 hour ride on Thursday. The ride is about 35% nicer. It accelerates a little faster, holds speed longer if you coast, and all the gears work which makes climbing bridges much easier. The only thing left it to replace the aerobar arm pad. Yeah!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
A comparison
The memory of Ironman Florida feels like this:
Kill Bill
Looking forward to Beach to Battleship feels like this:
Pirates of the Caribbean
Kill Bill
Looking forward to Beach to Battleship feels like this:
Pirates of the Caribbean
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Taper Time!
Yes, I have reached the time in Ironman training where you begin The Taper. A few normal friends (i.e. not crazed endurance athletes) who follow me on Facebook have asked me "what is a taper?" In fact, one of them asked me that when I ran into her on my 2.5 hour run today.
So, I told her the taper is when you start backing off your training to get your body ready for the big day. She smirked "Backing off? And you're running how far today?"
OK, OK. Good point. Tapering is not like taking a 3 week vacation from workouts until race day. The idea is to back off the amount of time you workout but keep the intensity. Imagine the edge of a knife. You want to reach the sharpest edge right before your race. With three weeks left to go, an average athlete like me can't gain much more fitness that will help me on race day. But I can hurt my race.
As you back off your workouts, the body starts to repair all the dings and dents you've created during training. You still have a few hard workouts every week but they are shorter. For example 2 hours running instead of 3. Only a 4 hour ride instead of 7. It gets shorter and shorter as race day approaches. It's not uncommon for athletes to get sick during the taper so I'm trying to avoid sick people.
The other thing that happens is what I call Taper Madness. I've spent the last 6 months convincing myself that 4 hours isn't really a long bike ride and following that with a 2 hour run in Sunday is normal. As my physical focus starts to relax, my brain has way way too much time to think. About everything. Life. The universe. How fast I could go on race day. Everything that could go wrong on race day. Which chicken you choose becomes a HUGE decision.
Basically, the nervous energy builds and builds. It will be needed on race day but it's hard to accomodate this new mental roommate.
For Ironman Florida in 2007, the taper madness was tempered by the fact that I still had to finish my PhD manuscript. All that energy had a place to go. Not so much this time. It will be a fun ride to race day. To my husband: I love you, honey. :)
So that my friends is my opinion of the taper. Feel free to add your best stories.
So, I told her the taper is when you start backing off your training to get your body ready for the big day. She smirked "Backing off? And you're running how far today?"
OK, OK. Good point. Tapering is not like taking a 3 week vacation from workouts until race day. The idea is to back off the amount of time you workout but keep the intensity. Imagine the edge of a knife. You want to reach the sharpest edge right before your race. With three weeks left to go, an average athlete like me can't gain much more fitness that will help me on race day. But I can hurt my race.
As you back off your workouts, the body starts to repair all the dings and dents you've created during training. You still have a few hard workouts every week but they are shorter. For example 2 hours running instead of 3. Only a 4 hour ride instead of 7. It gets shorter and shorter as race day approaches. It's not uncommon for athletes to get sick during the taper so I'm trying to avoid sick people.
The other thing that happens is what I call Taper Madness. I've spent the last 6 months convincing myself that 4 hours isn't really a long bike ride and following that with a 2 hour run in Sunday is normal. As my physical focus starts to relax, my brain has way way too much time to think. About everything. Life. The universe. How fast I could go on race day. Everything that could go wrong on race day. Which chicken you choose becomes a HUGE decision.
Basically, the nervous energy builds and builds. It will be needed on race day but it's hard to accomodate this new mental roommate.
For Ironman Florida in 2007, the taper madness was tempered by the fact that I still had to finish my PhD manuscript. All that energy had a place to go. Not so much this time. It will be a fun ride to race day. To my husband: I love you, honey. :)
So that my friends is my opinion of the taper. Feel free to add your best stories.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Last big Beach to Battleship workout
Bike 121.4 miles, run 5.4. That was my interpretation of the scheduled ride 7 hours/run 1 hour. Got off the bike in 7:44 feeling rather spry but an hour of running in the Florida afternoon will kill any spring in your step. Still, managed to run 5.4 miles in an hour.
Passed mile 112 in 7:09 knowing that time would give me a bike PR on race day yet my HR spent its day on the edge of zone 1/zone 2. Good stuff.
After inhaling half of a pizza, I was completely tired. In bed by 8:30. But it was a good day.
And I'm sending positive vibes out to Holly because I know she has a 120 ride this weekend as well. She was part of my inspiration to ride 120. Technically, I only had to ride 7 hours which at my 15.7 pace would only have been about 107 miles.
But there were no riding routes that would give me 107. Or 110 for that matter. And I knew my brain needed a 112 mile ride to feel ready for race day. It was a very low tech day. We ran out of Carbo Pro and hammergel (thanks to the Saturn's new starter) so 6 hours of my nutrition came from homemade oatmeal cookies and plain old koolaid.
The run did suck (because I ran out of salt, too) but my only goal was to run 15 minutes and "just see". The "just see" strategy seems to work best for me.
Passed mile 112 in 7:09 knowing that time would give me a bike PR on race day yet my HR spent its day on the edge of zone 1/zone 2. Good stuff.
After inhaling half of a pizza, I was completely tired. In bed by 8:30. But it was a good day.
And I'm sending positive vibes out to Holly because I know she has a 120 ride this weekend as well. She was part of my inspiration to ride 120. Technically, I only had to ride 7 hours which at my 15.7 pace would only have been about 107 miles.
But there were no riding routes that would give me 107. Or 110 for that matter. And I knew my brain needed a 112 mile ride to feel ready for race day. It was a very low tech day. We ran out of Carbo Pro and hammergel (thanks to the Saturn's new starter) so 6 hours of my nutrition came from homemade oatmeal cookies and plain old koolaid.
The run did suck (because I ran out of salt, too) but my only goal was to run 15 minutes and "just see". The "just see" strategy seems to work best for me.
Sunday, October 04, 2009
B2B Long run
Today was my longest long run before the Beach to Battleship full ironman race. My running volume has been lower this time around so I was anxious to see how it would go. I ran 80 minutes on Monday, wanting to make up Sunday's 2:12 run but my coach and reason prevailed, knowing that 3 hours waited for me at the end of the week. Today's run was also the longest run I've attempted since the disastrous Orange Blossom Half Marathon in Nov 2008. There have been big runs on the schedule but I always backed off. Only once did I have a good reason.
Fear or no fear, the ironman does not offer extensions for "triathletes who need to get over their bad races". Time to cowboy up and get out there. Mentally, I needed to finish feeling strong more than I needed to run fast. My goal was to keep the pace very comfortable. Thanks to Mr. Garmin Taskmaster 305, it was easy to keep my HR in zone 2. Much to my surprise, that led to an 11-11:20 pace. When I let my mind go, the pace would drop down to 10:30 with my HR moving up to zone 3. The ironman is a long, long day. It will be a 26 mile run that day, not 8. Focus, keep it easy. Stay out of my ego. Focus, keep it easy. The route was an awesome SHADED loop through multimillion dollar houses. The home owners make sure there are no parks or water fountains out there so normally, I can only make one loop before running out to find water. But not on Sundays. On Sunday, a couple who are members of the Mad Dogs tri club put out cold water and Gatorade for runners until 9am. Imagine 8.5 miles under the oaks next to spectacular landscaping and views of the bay. Did I mention SHADE! Really nice.
Much to my surprise, I felt better and better as the run progressed. It took more focus to keep the pace slow. In fact, my HR was higher trying to "hold back" than when I let my mind go. So I made a promise to myself: if you still feel like a supergenious at 2:30, run the last 30 minutes like a 5K.
Ready. Set. Go. 10:06/mile for the last segment. Bam! Fast AND strong. The best of both worlds. 11:08 average for the entire 3 hours. Faster than any of my IMFL 2007 long runs (~11:30). Yes, Ye Olde calves and right flexor/aductors are tired but it's a good tired. I've just got to keep the faith a little bit longer.
Fear or no fear, the ironman does not offer extensions for "triathletes who need to get over their bad races". Time to cowboy up and get out there. Mentally, I needed to finish feeling strong more than I needed to run fast. My goal was to keep the pace very comfortable. Thanks to Mr. Garmin Taskmaster 305, it was easy to keep my HR in zone 2. Much to my surprise, that led to an 11-11:20 pace. When I let my mind go, the pace would drop down to 10:30 with my HR moving up to zone 3. The ironman is a long, long day. It will be a 26 mile run that day, not 8. Focus, keep it easy. Stay out of my ego. Focus, keep it easy. The route was an awesome SHADED loop through multimillion dollar houses. The home owners make sure there are no parks or water fountains out there so normally, I can only make one loop before running out to find water. But not on Sundays. On Sunday, a couple who are members of the Mad Dogs tri club put out cold water and Gatorade for runners until 9am. Imagine 8.5 miles under the oaks next to spectacular landscaping and views of the bay. Did I mention SHADE! Really nice.
Much to my surprise, I felt better and better as the run progressed. It took more focus to keep the pace slow. In fact, my HR was higher trying to "hold back" than when I let my mind go. So I made a promise to myself: if you still feel like a supergenious at 2:30, run the last 30 minutes like a 5K.
Ready. Set. Go. 10:06/mile for the last segment. Bam! Fast AND strong. The best of both worlds. 11:08 average for the entire 3 hours. Faster than any of my IMFL 2007 long runs (~11:30). Yes, Ye Olde calves and right flexor/aductors are tired but it's a good tired. I've just got to keep the faith a little bit longer.
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