Today's ONE workout

Ok, so it was a brick, which you could say is two workouts. One of my pet peeves is people who use the term "brick" for any 2 workouts done back-to-back. It's only supposed to be used for when it's bike and then run! Up until a few months ago, when my boss lady got pissed off for me disappearing for 3 hours straight in the middle of the day, I was doing all my workouts back-to-back on weekdays. Monday: swim, run. Tuesday: bike, run (I still do this on Tuesdays in season). Wednesday: swim, run. Thursday: run, swim. Friday: swim, run. Unless it's bike/run, IT AIN'T A BRICK. But feel free to use the term liberally not around me. Now I have to split my doubles up. It sucks. 2 trips to the gym, 2 costume changes, 2 showers. You know the drill! But in a way, it's been a good thing to split things up for a couple of reasons: I'm not dragging ass in the second workout and I think it kicks up my metabolism even a little bit more. When I first started splitting, I was like OMG I am so fucking hungry! But I've adjusted, and I don't think I'm eating too much more; I'm just timing it differently.

I putzed around this morning, so I started kind of late.

10:15 Brick: Bike 2 hours, run 30'. The bike ride had HIM and steady intervals in it. My Power Meter crapped out about 1 hour in, meaning I had to do the second hour by feel and heart rate only. Ughhhh....I HATE biking by heart rate. It's so iffy. But when I compared my calories burned this week from the same ride last week, they were about equivalent, meaning I probably dialed in the correct wattage ranges anyway.

I tried my super secret Infinit concoction today for the first time. I have to say it was nice not eating any gel, and just drinking. The powder contains all the carbs, salt and caffeine that I've specified. I felt great drinking it, polishing off a 20-oz. bottle each hour. Near the end of the ride, I felt like I maybe could have used more calories, but then as soon as I started to run, I realized I was right on, because my stomach immediately told me NOT MANY MORE CALORIES, OK? I can't believe it's taken me this long to switch over to 100% liquid nutrition, but I know I'll be glad I did. No more carrying salt tablets, bottles of pop or gels. Just one bottle full of concentrated Infinit, that I can supplement with water!

The last few weeks when I did the brick workout my legs didn't really feel bad at all--this week, my legs didn't feel bad, they just didn't feel right. Maybe this was because I made a point to spend more time in the aerobars today that had me using different muscles? Whatever, sometimes a brick run just doesn't feel good. Normally, I have no problems doing bricks, and I don't do them that often, really. I think the only reason my coach has me doing one this early in the training season is that 1) I did that silly HIM 2 (only 2!) weeks ago and 2) I need to run 5x per week, and what the fuck, may as well make one a brick run.

One of the things I really like about my coach is that he's not that big on brick workouts. Keep in mind he only trains people doing 1/2 or full IM distance (for now, anyway). His theory is that if you are running frequently (meaning 5-6x per week), then you are used to running, and it doesn't matter so much that you bike first. Since training with him for 2 years now, I can say that he is absolutely right. The more you are used to running frequently, the less of a big deal a brick is. This is not to say they don't sometimes suck (take today, for example); but there is nothing special about "running on tired legs" like some coaches think you need to do all the time! I NEVER do monster bricks--the most I will run off a bike ride is 40'. That's enough to make your legs go wtf why are we running, and yet keep going so you settle into "normal" running.

Sometimes my coach will have me ride in the AM and purposely NOT do a brick, but run later in the day. Why? Because this can simulate how it's going to feel to be running late in an IM marathon. You don't WANT to go out and do that run later, but you DO IT. Trust me, if you rode like 4+ hours in the morning, getting out again later to run sucks, but it has a purpose.

There is a recovery cost to an actual brick, which is why I don't think it's a good idea to do more than one per week if you are running 5-6 days.

All in all, I am happy I don't have to do too many bricks, but mostly I'm happy I'm done for the day! I have to go mess with some rose bushes, and then it's lay down for a bit.

Physique, or The Vain Triathlete

You have to forgive me. I don't yet have a digital camera (it's on my list, as is an iPod, I'm so behind in "normal" technology), but I DO have a camera phone, so these shots were taken by me of myself, and the resolution isn't so great, but it's good enough. Anyway, the point of this is to show my abs and one of my arms. I'm pretty happy with how things are looking, you be the judge! If I can get the same definition in my legs, that would be da bomb, but I'm a typical woman, and the legs are always last to come up.

I'm not specifically trying to bodybuild--it's just a byproduct of my usual strength program, kicked up a notch this fall with more weight, and I think I'm getting leaner, too. So put a spare diet on top of increased strength training and a pretty hefty triathlon training schedule and this is what you get!

I get some of my general motivation from maintaining my body in good condition. It's really nice to look in the mirror and see something I like. Since I've been doing strength work consistently for 14 years, and for the last 3 or so I really stepped up my core routine, I think I've got some pretty good definition. I used to be into just bodybuilding, but I no longer think female bodybuilders are attractive. Now those fitness contestants, I think they have absolutely beautiful bodies! I don't believe in just having muscles that look good, though--they need to DO something! I could never go back to straight bodybuilding, even though I've been told I could probably compete if I wanted to. Not for me! Those things bodybuilders do to cut weight are just not healthy in my book. I'll settle for looking good in lycra, thanks!

At any rate, I am a little vain (as I think many triathletes are), and I think that looking good can be rewarding in and of itself. Of course when people ask me how/why I look like I do (this is at my Y where they are seeing me typically with running shorts and a bra top, a swimsuit or naked in the shower), I tell them it's exercise and eating right! There is no other way. But if they ask me how much of this or that I do, I don't like telling them, because then they might think they must be as hardcore as me to achieve a good physique. What I usually end up saying is that I firmly believe (and can attest to from my pre-triathlon days) is that anyone can have a really good physique if they eat cleanly and exercise 1 hour a day. ONE HOUR!!! Not the crazy 2+ hour shit that I do now. If I were to go back to a "normal" life what I would do is strength train 2-3 hours per week and do 4-5 hours of cardio (of course, at a respectable intensity). That's enough to kick up your metabolism, allow you to eat at least a couple hundred extra calories per day, and you can be lean and mean! Actually, that's what I did when I started running in 1999. I kept up my strength training at about 2-3 hours per week, ran 4-5 hours, and added maybe a little cardio class or might jump rope for 30' once a week just to keep things interesting.

I had to laugh yesterday at the grocery store--this man (who appeared to be at least 10 years older than me) and I were discussing dry skin, and I remarked that with my 2 a day workouts I was showering twice a day and 3 or 4 times a week I was in a pool, and that it really dried out my skin, but that it wasn't that bad, since my skin is normally a little oily. He then asked me why do I work out so much? I smiled and said, "Because I enjoy it." Damn it, I keep forgetting that most of the world, especially when you get into your 40's, doesn't really buy into the whole exercise thing. And of course, if you do it more than once a day and you are considered a lunatic!

One of the things I plan on doing when I quit my job (which may be in as soon as 1-2 years; I just have to work out the math) is to get a personal trainer certification and also a coaching certification. I would like to train others, but really be more of a lifestyle coach to help people get their bodies and exercise regimes where they want them. I've dabbled a little in this already, but I had to be honest with myself and know that with my own job and my chosen level of training and racing goals, it was just too much. I've learned a ton about exercise physiology, strength training, endurance conditioning and training, nutrition and mental training, and would really like to use my knowledge to help others. For now, though, blogging and mentoring are about as far as I can go. But I do know that when I get into the business for real, that it will be important for me to look the part. There are some coaches and trainers that don't to me. But then again I have pretty high standards, and I belong to a Y, and my Y doesn't exactly hire the cream of the crop (although I will say a few of them look really good).

Believe me, I know looks aren't everything. But they help!

OK, time to get on my bike and be a triathlete. Enjoy your day!

Today's Workouts

Today was a relatively easy day for me, workout wise. Thank God, because I needed one!

7:16AM Swim 2700 yards. Warmup: 300s, 300k, 200dr Main Set: 6x150 pull desc 1-6 20"RI pull buoy only; 6x100 pull desc 1-6 15"RI pull buoy+band; 6x50 pull desc 1-6 10"RI pull buoy+band+paddles cd: 100

I didn't have to do this workout at all, but I'm so used to swimming at least 3x per week, that I went ahead and added this on my own. Please note, my coach is well aware that I do this from time to time, and that I know what I'm doing and would not do anything to compromise the completion of my BT (breakthrough, which are generally the long run, long bike, quality bike and sometimes the long swim, but I'm not doing them just yet) workouts. This is what's called a "force" workout because of all the pulling, and I have the book Swim Workouts in a Binder, which is where I got it from. In the fall and winter, when I feel like it, I'll add a 3rd or 4th swim that's one of the force workouts, because I like doing them, and they are like doing another strength workout. I assume everyone knows what a pull buoy is. The band is a tense, elastic band that I put around my ankles in a figure eight twist. It makes pulling even harder. The paddles I use are the Tyr Catalyst, size medium, which when you add them to the pull buoy plus band, makes the swimming pretty damn hard! I'm usually kind of tired out by the end of these workouts, but more muscularly tired than aerobically.

I noticed while pushing off from the wall today (I don't do flip turns--I only began swimming in 2000) that my mid-/low-back did not go "hey" when I pulled my knees up towards my chest. This means my new commitment to lower back and hamstring stretching is working! Just goes to show you, small changes can have a big impact! There are other ways I'm noticing my greater flexibility--my massage therapist told me last night that she could feel my hamstrings relaxing into the massage much more quickly than usual. But I know I still have a ways to go. I don't think I'll restore my 135-degree flexibility by the end of this month, but I think there will be a significant change.

2:11PM Run 60'. I just ran easy to steady, and "wound it up" for the last 5 minutes. Treadmill running can be pretty boring!

I had a short call with my coach today. He sent me an email accusing me of cheesing out on my bike workout yesterday. I almost emailed him back, but then knew it would be a better idea to talk live, so I called, we straightened things out, and then he proceeded to tell me if I needed to dial it down that I could. I told him that no, I'm hanging in there, as long as I'm good about my nutrition, sleep and stretching, I'm doing fine. He does recognize that I have a pretty tough schedule right now. But hey, it's of my own doing--I'm the one that signed up for the Goofy Challenge!

I usually really look forward to this time of the year because I'm not training so much. But I AM training a lot, relatively speaking, and I have the fatigue to prove it! I am pretty much toasted by 7PM. But I know that after the Goofy Challenge, I'll be able to cut back a little on my running, which is what takes the toll on me, and my strength program will settle into more of a maintenance mode, although I have to say I'm very happy with my muscle bulk right now. If I get a chance, I'll take some pictures and post. You make the call. I think I look good, but I could be full of shit. If I had a tan, it would be better, but I'm not one for fake tanning, definitely not by UV light--I get more than enough of that in the spring through early fall--so I'm OK with being more pasty white in the winter. Luckily, my natural skin color is olive so I don't look like a total albino!

Work has not been too fun this week. Lots of angry customers and sales guys in my face. But I never take it personally, and I realize there's only so much I can do in any given day. Thank God for exercise!

I'm having a salty snack attack now--guess I'll break out some Pringles--but what I REALLY want it cheese popcorn. I'm going grocery shopping tonight, so I'll see if I can get one of those tiny bags, which will be enough to satisfy me. And there is a beer with my name on it, too.

Sobering Thoughts

Successful athletes have the ability to look at themselves objectively and set reasonable goals based on their time available to train, commitment to sport, etc. Take a look at the following to see where you fall, and then take a moment to think about where you want to go and what you are doing about it. I do this exercise about once a month.

Athlete Development Matrix, care of my coach: http://www.cruciblefitness.com/etips/athletetable.htm

Success by Marc Becker. It has applicability well beyond triathlon.
http://xtri.com/article.asp?id=1112
http://xtri.com/article.asp?id=1113

Workout Abbreviations

I guess there must be a lot of self-coached peeps out there who haven't seen all the abbreviations that I fly around here. So I'll try and define those that I remember off the top of my head.

WU=warm-up
CD=cool down
RI=Rest Interval
'=minutes
"=seconds
FT=Functional Threshold. This is an approximation to your CP60 watts. If you don't know what CP60 watts are but you want to know, head to http://cyclingpeakssoftware.com and read all about power and stuff. If you don't have a power meter on your bike you probably don't care about this. Watts are a more reliable way of measuring your effort on the bike than heart rate. I won't go into a discussion about training with power (which is what I do). You can read about it at the above website or my coach's website, http://cruciblefitness.com.
HIM=1/2 Ironman
IM=Ironman
wtf=what the fuck :) <==had to throw that in, I'm a wiseguy, after all
Running "zones" I use: Easy=low end of aerobic zone. Steady=middle range of aerobic zone. Upper Steady=upper end of aerobic zone. Mod-Hard is like tempo (just below 10K pace). Hard is, well, HARD.
MS=Main Set. Used to signify the beginning of the "work" part of a workout.
TT=Time Trial

If I post any other ones as part of a workout I did, I'll be sure and explain them!

Today's Workouts

9:40AM Abs/core 30'

1:17PM Bike 1:15 as WU: 15', Spinups 3', 3x(2'Z3, 1'cd), 4x(10'FT, 2'cd). I was smart today and drank some Ultra Violence while I worked out. Coach said I don't have to do 2x(20'FT, 2'cd) on Tuesdays and Thursdays, that I can mix up whatever intervals I like. So I made things a little easier today by doing 4x10'FT. Don't get me wrong, FT intervals SUCK THE BIG ONE, but doing 2x20'FT twice in one week did seem a little extreme, even for a Crackhead. I will still keep either Tuesday or Thursday as 2x20', though. Just to keep myself honest and have a good baseline test for my CP60.

Today's thought: Silence is a wonderful thing. I have recently learned the fine art of silence. It doesn't feel awkward to me to be in a conversation with someone and just go silent. Sometimes it's because the other person is talking too much while not really saying anything. Sometimes it's so I can really collect my own thoughts in preparation for what I want to say next. Sometimes silence can be a way of honoring what you just heard. Silence can also register your refusal to buy in to what you just heard. If you are constantly talking, you sure can't be listening! We are programmed to feel we have to respond and react to everything. It's a good habit to unlearn! This can be part of your self-observation practice, which should be incorporated into your mental training for sport and life. Instead of listening with an ear towards how you will respond, really just listen and observe how you are already preparing a counterargument, a clever response, an acknowledgment, an opinion. If you can quiet the desire to do those things, only then can you truly listen, which is truly being in the moment. Try the same thing when you read an email or read someone else's blog posting. Are you preparing a response before you've finished reading? Or do you take a moment to think about what you just read and then decide whether 1) a response is needed, and if so 2) what is most appropriate?

As I write this, many of you reading are deciding whether to make a comment on it. When you decide to comment, is it because you think I need to be validated? I do not. Do you think making a comment makes you look good because it shows you are reading others' blogs in an effort to gain knowledge and perspective? You shouldn't care. There are plenty of other reasons to comment, for example to thank a person or provide your opinion or expand on what you just read. I just wanted to let you all know that I know how precious your own time is and that if you choose to read what I write, great, but don't feel compelled to spend extra time to comment. I know most people are really good and here we are talking about finding all this extra time to do our sports and become better people, so I will be most happy knowing that you are spending as much time as you can doing that!

Have a great rest of your day!

The Dreaded DNF

If you read my previous post, you now know that I have 2 of these under my belt. And you asked to understand what happened. No problem!

First off, notice both were at IM WI. That is an EVIL race. Toughest bike course I've ever done. I LOVE training on it, but I am done racing on it....maybe.....

At any rate, in 2003, I was well trained for sure, but my previous 2 IM races had been in relatively cool conditions. At IMLP in 2001, I left my arm warmers on for the entire bike ride, and at IMWI in 2002 (which had PERFECT weather), I also rode with my arm warmers, and even put on a long sleeve running shirt after dark.

2003 IMWI the conditions were mid-90's, 90%+ humidity. I had never had to deal with this before, and ultimately what happened was that I didn't take in enough sodium. Although I will say racing an IM in those conditions is just plain WRONG. At any rate, as the bike wore on, I was overheating and under-salting, and 1/2 way through the marathon, my hands were so puffy I wanted to quit because the stupid band was cutting into my wrist. Could I have finished? Sure. But (and please learn from this), I was given poor advice. First off, a friend who is a nurse, said I was dehydrated. WRONG!!! Then another nurse at an aid station made the same remark. WRONG!!! If they had both been RIGHT by observing hyponatremia, and I had started drinking lots of chicken broth, I would have been fine. Good thing I pulled myself out, because if I kept drinking but not replacing sodium, I would have been in deep doo-doo. I didn't feel like walking 13.1 miles, so I made it to transition and took myself out of the race. Funny thing is that after getting back to my hotel and eating some pizza LIBERALLY SPRINKLED WITH SALT, I felt fine! Lesson learned: if you are puffy, odds are you are hyponatremic.

So my big takeaway from 2003 was that I needed to take in more sodium. And so now, whenever I'm doing an Ironman race, I take 2 Succeed capsules per hour. I just sweat very concentrated.

Cut to 2005, IMWI again. Guess what? This year, it was 110 with that 90+% humidity! I had my sodium under control and my calories and hydration, but that heat just did a number on me. I stopped at about mile 60 of the bike under what seemed like the lone shade tree. As soon as I dismounted, I felt dizzy. I took this to not be a good sign. But, I did not want to be scraped off the road like I'd seen a lot of other bikers taken away in ambulances (IMWI 2005 had the HIGHEST EVER DNF RATE FOR IMNA--close to 20%), so I thought I'd try and make it to the next aid station and see how I felt. Next aid station was 20 MILES AWAY! See, I should have learned from 2003, where after the inaugural race in 2002 (where the bike stations were 10 miles apart, which, IMHO is IDEAL AND REQUIRED FOR IRONMAN), IMNA cheesed out and spaced the bike stations 15-20 miles apart. That' s fine if it's cool, but IMWI is no longer in that category, so 20 miles to wait for cold liquid was a long time. When I arrived at that station, I found out they had run out of bottled water, and if you wanted water it was coming out of a hose into USED water bottles, and they were also out of Gatorade. That sealed my deal. I felt I would be endangering myself to continue under those conditions. So I dropped out.

Now I had nothing to prove this year, and there's always another race. But I decided no more IMWI for me! Keep in mind I completed IMC and IMH back to back (7 weeks apart in 2004), and IMH was pretty hot, but they had cold liquid every 5 miles on the bike. So at IMHI 2004 I was able to keep my core temperature from getting too high by taking in cold stuff rather frequently. Plus there was a lot of wind. IMWI 2005 had let's see--high heat, high humidity, AND high winds! But hotter and more humid than Kona will ever be, plus the IMWI bike course is a lot harder than IMH.

Actually if you look at all IMNA races, the one with the most consistent weather is IMFL. So for those of you for whom this is your first IM, good on you!

So there you have it. Even the great (ha ha, I'm not great) have fallen. I have never gone into an IM race thinking I didn't train enough. It took me my first DNF to lock into my body's needs for sodium, and the second DNF, well, I thought I might get into trouble if I continued--I have limits! I was just respecting myself.

There are those who say finish at all costs. I am not in that camp. I don't belittle a pro who decides to drop because they had mechanicals or were puking or were having a bad day. If you were at a really horrendous movie, would you stay and watch the whole thing? Not me. I have better things to do with my life than obsess about having made a choice to stop doing something I was not enjoying or that I felt might be endangering my health. In the end, it's a personal choice. You will learn from whatever it is you decide to do. I will tell you I know that many athletes had plenty of trouble recovering after finishing the 2 races that I DNF'ed at. So did I make a smart decision? I think so. Besides, I think I needed a year without a completed Ironman race. It's been quite humbling, and on the positive flip side, I am freaking fit!

How I Train

My 2005-2006 season began officially 9/12/2005. That was the day after the DNF at Ironman Wisconsin. Someone asked about what I'm now training for, so to put it into perspective, let's step back a few weeks, and then I'll clue you in on how I train at a macro level.

Here are my actual weekly training hours since IMWI and events I completed during those weeks:

Week Beg. Hours Event
9/12/2005 10.92
9/19/2005 14.04 Solo 1/2 marathon 9/24. PR'ed
9/26/2005 10.64 Solo marathon 10/2. PR'ed (4:10). Notice lack of taper!
10/3/2005 10.61
10/10/2005 13.10 10K 10/16. PR'ed
10/17/2005 14.08
10/24/2005 13.86
10/31/2005 13.27
11/7/2005 13.94
11/14/2005 15.01 Solo Indoor 1/2 Ironman 11/19.
11/21/2005 12.65 5K 11/24. Slight PR (windchill was -5!)

10-12 hours per week is pretty standard far for me in my "off season." But remember, I've been training at a pretty high volume now for 5 years. Here are my annualized training hours for the past few years:

Season Annual Hours Bike Miles Avg. Weekly Hours
2000-2001 684.96 3791 13.70 Ironman Lake Placid
2001-2002 681.82 4250 13.64 Ironman Wisconsin
2002-2003 730.54 4960 14.61 Ironman Wisconsin (DNF), GFT Ironman
2003-2004 790.70 5697 15.81 Ironman Canada, Ironman Hawaii
2004-2005 709.52 5307 14.19 Ironman Wisconsin (DNF)

My highest training volume will occur within the 8 week run-up to an Ironman race. I'll hit 25 hours or so.

Here's what else I'm currently training for:
1/7/2006 Disney 1/2 Marathon ("B") race)
1/8/2006 Disney full marathon ("C" race)
3/18/2006 Ralph's 1/2 Ironman ("B" race)
5/28/2006 Ironman Brazil ("A" race)
6/17/2006 Horribly Hilly Hundreds 200K Ride (come do this ride, it ROCKS!)
7/23/2006 Spirit of Racine 1/2 Ironman
10/14/2006 Ironman Hawaii (if Brazil pans out!!!)
11/4/2006 Ironman Florida

I'll be throwing in at least 2 "big weekends", one probably in February, another definitely in August, where I do about 250 miles of biking over 3 days plus some running and swimming. I did 2 of these last year, and I love them, and they aren't for beginners obviously, but give a huge boost to one's fitness. I will also do 1-3 2-mile open water swim races and 1 or 2 sprint or Oly races in my "rest" weeks.

Last season I got in (10) 100+ mile rides. For my first Ironman race in 2001, my longest ride was 90 miles! I have a coach, Rich Strauss of Crucible Fitness. I began working with Rich in 2004. I used a different coach for my first season of Ironman training, and was self-coached for the next 2 seasons.

You can see that my very first season of Ironman training I cranked out a good number of hours. How? Because I had already been doing combined run and strength training of about 10 hours per week through 1999, and then in the 1999-2000 season was when I began triathlon training and hung out at about 11 hours per week average. So going up to almost 14 hours per week was "safe" for me considering what I had been training at previously. One way a lot of athletes end up sick or injured training for their first Ironman is they quickly bump up the number of hours of training they are doing, which is a recipe for disaster. Or they don't sleep enough. Or they have crap nutrition.

Here are my cardinal rules of success for Ironman training, and let me give credit to my coach and others I have read and studied from, since a lot of what comes out of my mouth can and should be attributed to others!

1. Train a reasonable number of hours based on the time you actually have available to train and will commit to 80% or better of every week, week in, week out. If you can't do that, either train less or pick a less stressful sport. If you can only commit to 8 hours per week, hey, you probably CAN complete an Ironman that way, but you may need to adjust your outcome goals downward.
2. Get/keep your body composition under control. Do you honestly want to be carrying around a 20+ lb. bag of rocks on your back while you are doing all this training? Try that sometime. Run 3 miles with a backpack filled with 20 lbs. of stuff. Then run a mile without it. If you are carrying around any extra weight, you are just hurting yourself--your performance, your joints. Not to mention, you will gain FREE SPEED. Notice how much faster you can run without that bag of rocks!
3. Corollary to #2 is eat enough, particularly carbs, and high enough quality, to support your training and racing. If you don't know how much you need, get measured (body fat %, RMR) so you can do the very best job of fueling yourself. Would you put crap into your car's fuel tank? No! Would you forget to change the oil in your car? No! News flash--your car is only going to last maybe 10 years, but that body of yours, well, it depends on what you put into it. I find it amazing how much time some triathletes will spend on reading magazines that have little to no applicability to what they are actually doing, tooling around on the Internet, fussing about gadgets, etc., but when it comes to their own nutrition they plead "I don't have time to learn how to ." Get your priorities straight!
4. Recover! You might be laughing and saying who am I to talk about this--look at all the training I do! But, this is all predicated on me sleeping at least 8 hours every night. Right now I'm averaging close to 9. Yes, this means I have no social life EVER on weeknights, because I have a fairly stressful job, and yes, I'm fortunate to live alone without kids. But I've known for years that as my training hours go up so does my need for sleep or else I feel like total crap. Another element of recovery is not overcommitting to everything under the sun. Trust me, people will still like you if you aren't trying to be social chairman of the world, and why do you care if they like you anyway? (That is another topic entirely, which some of my older posts get into and you'll see more). It's important to find that magic number of training hours that you can both do AND recover from. They go hand in hand.
5. Work on your mental game. How? There are a number of ways. But I will say that if you are sitting around thinking, "I suck" or "I'm not as good as her" or "I can't ever accomplish that" then that is what is true for you. There are some good books: The Power of Now, Flow in Sports, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values , and Awareness that I would personally recommend. These are not books you read and go, "that was a good story." You need to write your story. From here on out. Remember that anyone who appears to be successful at any endeavor did not get that way overnight. It may seem that all of a sudden a particular athlete got fast or that all of a sudden an author became popular, but that is not the truth. Success and inner fulfillment take time!
6. It IS all about the bike. Sorry, but pick up any good book about Ironman training, and fact is, you need to spend a lot of time in the saddle, quality time in the saddle, and gosh, it will help if you like riding your bike (particular credit for these statements go to my coach). Look at the table above for how much biking I've done. One tenet I use in my training is "extra time on the bike never hurts." So let's say your training plan says ride 4 hours, with some focused intensity in there. You go riding with some buddies, and some of them need to go 5 hours. Is it OK for you to go 5? Sure, as long as you hold down the intensity and don't do a hammer-fest for the extra hour. The point is, as long as you are careful with the intensity, you almost can't bike too much! The reverse is true, too. Don't ever let someone talk you into riding less than you need to!
7. Don't race too much! This is especially true when it comes to running races. If you want to do them, do them in your base training (or whatever you call the beginning of your training year). In general, marathons done during the meat of Ironman training are a stupid, stupid idea (I've said this before). You will lose 3-4 weeks of your Ironman-specific training. 1/2 Ironman races are not good race simulations for Ironman races. Pacing is way different, you can blow your nutrition and still not blow up. But 1/2 Ironman races are OK provided they are 6-8+ weeks out from your Ironman race(s). If you are trying to be a long distance athlete, then do long distance races! Sprints are fun, but unless they are either early in the season, or you have the base and muscular endurance to say, do a sprint and then ride 100 miles the next day (which is how I do it), then don't bother with the sprint or Oly at all.
8. Seek guidance in choosing your races and creating and maintaining your training program. Personally, I believe coaching is the way to go. You can go self-coached, but if you do, I assume you are very well-read, know your body extremely well, understand some degree of exercise physiology, understand concepts of periodization, and you do all of the above #1-#7! If not, you will probably benefit from a coach. I've known some people who year after year say "I'm going to qualify for Kona," and they are self-coached, and they implode every single season, and these are people with the cash to pay a coach. I don't know what they are thinking. On paper, swimming, biking and running are quite simple--assembling a performance program to achieve specific objectives in a fun and safe manner is the result of the equivalent of a studying for and earning a college degree, if you ask me, and to have the commitment to accomplish that while holding down a full-time job and keeping family and social commitments is a huge deal.
9. Set reasonable goals, and always include a definition of SUCCESS. Face it, if you are going to carry around that 20-lb. bag of rocks, miss 1/3 of your scheduled training, fail to work on your personal limiters, not get enough recovery, and on top of that you think you are going to set specific time goals for your race, you are truly delusional. On the other hand, don't limit your goals/success definition to time-based only. Improving your economy from season to season, for example is HUGE. Let's say I rode 6:15 in an Ironman race, but I ran 6:30. Let's say the following year I work like hell on my biking, and I go and ride 6:15, but it's easier, and I run 5:30. HUGE! What if I swim 2.4 in 1:15 one year at an average HR of 125, and the next year I swim the same time, but at an average HR of 115? HUGE! You need to have these success definitions in advance or as you look back at your past season so that you don't get locked into negative thinking. Take me, for example. My big A-race, IMWI, I DNF'ed last season. However, I became tremendously strong on the bike (as measured during my training), I was running stronger and faster, and swimming more economically. How do I know? Look at what I've done this fall so far.
10. Build/manage your support network. If you are trying to do big things, associate with others who are doing those big things. If you are trying to be mentally strong, associate with others who are mentally strong. If you have a family to cope with, get their buy-in to what you are doing, and if you've scheduled an appropriate amount of training, make sure they know that that is a priority. Find people to train with who are slightly stronger than you. The only way to lift heavier weights is to LIFT HEAVIER WEIGHTS. Duh.
11. Enjoy the process! Wow, look at all these things she's saying I need to do to be successful. How can you call that fun? First of all, I'm not sure "fun" is always the right word. Sometimes it's fulfillment due to the sense of accomplishment. But I hope the word fun is in there, too!

Today's Workouts (and, as always, random musings)

I slept 9 hours last night like a freaking log. My current training block is HARD, and the amount of sleeping I'm doing reflects it. Tempo run intervals 3x per week, 2x20' FT bike intervals 2x per week, and now we are getting back to very little rest in the swim workouts. I fucking LOVE IT!!! Remember the Crackhead mottos:

- Harder, longer, faster, tougher, REPEAT
- If it ain't hard, I AIN'T DOING IT (new as of today)

I feel extremely fit and strong right now. Some of that is physical, but a lot of it is mental. I think it can take years in this sport (at least if you're doing Ironman distance) to develop the deep mental skills and well, just serenity, that will allow you to perform at your best. I'm not saying I'm 100% there yet, but I am much closer than I was even 6 months ago. Why? Several reasons.

One: I'm at the statistical age where many people have the realization they are mortal and that there needs to be a purpose in life beyond just getting through it. Some people think the whole marriage/house/kids/full social life is the bomb and is somehow the epitome of fulfillment; I have come to know that true fulfillment lies within--that exterior stuff is just window dressing. This is not to say I don't need skills to exist in the society that I am a part of; it's just that I am making more space in my life for the inner fulfillment. Most of that other stuff is taken care of, besides. I have a good job, a house, friends, nice stuff (and lots of it), good health, I've done a good deal of traveling. Basically I have no "situational" complaints. Although finding Mr. Crackhead would be a true bonus. But I don't obsess about that, either.

Two: While I entered this sport for different reasons than why I am still in it (see earlier post on why I got into it in the first place), I have found this to be "my way" of traveling The Path. I am not particularly fast (my Ironman PR is 13:21; I'm shooting for 12:30 or less in 2006), but I am consistent, and face it, you HAVE to like training to be successful at the long distance stuff. If you don't like training, get the fuck off the train....there are plenty of other passengers who would like a seat! I LOVE training. I love the feeling of accomplishment that I can get my body to do these things, even more so during training than racing! That's why I "got over" a DNF at my only Ironman race in 2005, Ironman Wisconsin (2nd time I DNF'ed there). My training was FUCKING AWESOME, I was on fire, I was set up to do great things. And I DID THEM IN TRAINING. I just didn't get to bring it all to fruition at the race, oh well. But I digress. If you can get yourself into that magical zone, or "flow" state during 30% or better of your training, my my, let me tell you that IS Nirvana. I get that in almost all my runs (and I am running 5x a week), and certainly during my bike interval workouts. Swimming I'm not so concerned with right now, and my swimming is suffering from all the strength training I'm doing (although my upper body is pretty buff right now, if you ask me), but when I do get the opportunity to swim straight >2000 yards (2000 yards just isn't very far, don't you agree? It's like did I just swim or what?), I am just floating in my mind and literally in the pool. I know I'm really rambling here, but bear with me you might find something useful in this. Even though I live alone, and you'd think I have all this alone time, I relish my training time, because it's the place where I learned to JUST BE. And I'm learning to take that outside the training and into my everyday life as much as possible. I understand that I still have a commitment to abide by certain social norms and such, but I can do that in the context of my own being rather than the silly so-called "truths," prejudices, opinions, emotions, etc., that run around in my brain. I'm sure that doesn't make too much sense to those of you reading this, but it does to me.

Three: I went through some rather interesting (read CRAPPY) emotional experiences over the last 6 months. I could sense there was something happening to me that I needed to take notice of. It happened to coincide with the most focused training I'd ever done. But it took a toll on me mentally because I didn't honor what was happening. So I made it my business to reflect on all of that this fall in a big way.

Four: I now consider this "just being" to be another skill for me to master. Yet I fully understand that I can never achieve 100% mastery. It's not like that! Hell, if I could master the entire I Ching, I might think I'm *close* but that's not going to happen anytime soon either! But, if I can progressively increase the time I spend "just being" without intrusion of thought, emotion or action, then I will consider myself successful.

Oh--I was supposed to talk about workouts. Here they are:

7:30AM Swim 2650 yards :57. WU: 200 swim, 200 pull, 200 kick, 4 x 50 (10") Swim Golf MS: 6 x 150 (15") as 100 Hard, 50 Easy. 100 easy swim. 3 x 200 (15") pull, Steady with excellent stroke. 6 x 25 (15") as 25 Hard, 25 Easy CD: 100 easy swim.

I LOVE (HATE!!!!) these 150 workouts. Obviously, this is a shorty, and I will build up to 15x150. But you can't get bored doing this workout. And it KICKS ASS for building Muscular Endurance.

1:34PM Run 1:00 as WU: 15' Easy, 15' Steady MS: 20' Mod-Hard/z4 CD: 10' Steady

Gotta love tempo work!

I'm tired, I need to eat!

Remember: It's not suffering if it's something you WANT TO DO.

November Training Totals

I don't really care what I did for a calendar month, but some people do, so here are my totals for November, including what I am supposed to do today, which, of course, I know that I will be completing:

Swim: 32,900 yards; 11.71 hours
Bike: 19.8 hours (no mileage totals; all on trainer)
Run: 20.03 hours (I train strictly by time)
Strength: 6.91 hours
Total Hours: 58.45

I track my workouts both on Training Peaks (free through my coach) and in a whiz-bang spreadsheet that I designed. My spreadsheet shows me planned and actual training and the deviation in hours/yards from the planned to actual, and I can see all of it at once!

I've been keeping track of my workout hours for 8 years now. I think it's a good idea for any serious athlete to keep track of their workout hours. Why? Because if you decide you are going to up the ante, there are "safe" increases and "unsafe" increases. Basically, the bigger your base (i.e., years of endurance training and annual training hours), the safer it is for you to make, say a 10-15% overall increase in volume from one year to the next. Novice athletes are much safer in the 5-10% overall increase range. And then you've got to consider weekly %increases by sport, etc.

I could go on and on about constructing training plans--I've done it--I am just here as an example, and I'm getting most of my training from my coach, and from a volume perspective I am never surprised. What he does for me is give me the right workout to do at the right time, given where I am in my season. I can make up periodization plans until I'm blue in the face! I do, however, design my own strength program. This is because when I first signed up with Rich, we discussed my knowledge of strength training and program construction, and since I've been strength training consistently for almost 15 years (yes, that's why Crackhead has fabulous abs), he lets me do my own thing with the strength program.

Today's Workouts

First off, I'm feeling a lot better today than I have for the past 3 days, which was, oh, perhaps a cold, perhaps accumulated training fatigue. I slept 10.5 big ones last night!

11:00AM Lift 2x12, decrease weight, 1:02. It was nice to decrease the weight, and also seemed like a good thing since I had been feeling under the weather over the weekend. I inserted a few new things ad hoc from the program in The Core Performance. Those reverse back hyperextensions on the stability ball are a buzz! When I looked at the picture of them, I wondered if I could do them, but I should have known better. My core is really strong. I also did my biceps curls and military presses sitting on the stability ball rather than my weight bench. Anything I can do to force more frequent engagement of the core muscles is a good thing. I'm doing my reverse crunches with a 10 lb. medicine ball now, and fuck, I got used to that weight in like 3 weeks, so I guess I'll have to spring for a 12-pounder. That's the fun thing about fitness--you can't stand still--you need to keep upping the ante, or at least periodize things in a way that you drop down and build back up. I am already stronger in my core and abs now than I was last year, so part of the changes to my strength program have involved adding a few exercises, dropping a few, and where I'm using weight, adding more.

3:27PM Bike 1:15. OK, we did the 2x20' (2') FT intervals again. Now I am doing these twice a week--Tuesdays and Thursdays, for the next 4 weeks. Talk about fucking torture! I made an executive decision today--no more doing these without the use of Ultra Violence! For those of you playing at home, if you haven't already discovered the pleasures of training and racing with caffeine, well let's just say I think you're missing out. Depending on your stomach, it might take some getting used to, but there are studies that show you get enhanced fat metabolism when you add caffeine. And I can attest that workouts on the trainer, looooooonng rides by yourself and long treadmill runs are way less boring with caffeine!

In fact, I just recently concocted my custom mix of Infinit. I received it today from my (I keep him busy) UPS guy. I had caffeine put in my mixture. I made another executive decision about a week ago that it's about time I switched over to 100% liquid race nutrition. Until now, I've progressed from bars/Gatorade to gels/Gatorade to gels/Ultra Violence/Gatorade on the bike. For the past 2 1/2 years, I've been using only Coke/Ultra Violence during the run leg of my races. I'm so small now (5'3", 113-115 lbs. depending on hydration, approximately 12% bodyfat), that I only need to take in maybe 250 kcal/hour in training or racing. I can go up to 300 kcal/hour in training, but for me now, in racing less is more. This is a byproduct of years of focused training, my personal body composition and my hyper-fitness level. The more fit you become, the less calories you burn per hour (I run about 450-500 biking or running), meaning the less calories you need to ingest (a good rule of thumb is to take in 1/2 the calories you are burning unless you are very large or slow in case you will need to try and take in more; most people can ingest up to 400 kcal/hour. Read this article.)

While I'm writing this, I am seeing a number of changes I've made in my lifestyle and training protocol. Sometimes we get caught up in the flow of things and forget about the good things we've done. Change is good! Here's a summary of changes I've made since mid-September:

1. I don't worry about the number on the heart rate monitor. It's just a number. I'm running more by feel now. I still wear the HRM, but it's just "interesting information."
2. I've committed (as of 2 days ago) to regaining the hamstring flexibility I've lost over the last 5 years. So far, so good, I can already notice a difference!
3. I am going to fine-tune my race nutrition with the objective to convert to all-liquid bike nutrition during racing. I think I'll still continue to use Gatorade/Ultra Violence in training, since there's no mixing involved.
4. I'm mixing up my abs/core routine to move myself to the next level of strength there.
5. I'm reading a number of books on self-awareness. This is not something I'm doing specifically for sport, but I know that the impact on sport will be tremendous.

On that note, I'm going to get a little more work done and then call it a day.

Crackhead Logic

Here she is, the original Crackhead! At least she was a crackhead for awhile. I have no idea where she is now.

I am also known as Crackhead, but for a different reason than the lovely Whitney. It's because of some of the allegedly "extreme" training that I do.

I don't consider my training extreme--what it is is that I select training and racing "events" that I either know I am capable of or that will stretch my limits, and then I work with my coach to build them into my training plan.

I've been doing Ironman for 5 solid years, and I train fairly high volume (about 750-800 hours per year), and I know my body really well, so I feel pretty capable of choosing these events, and I'm pretty sure when the right time is to insert them into my training. Most of these events focus on biking, because, well, that's the cornerstone of Ironman training.

So during 2005, for example, I did a big volume cycling weekend in May, I did the Horribly Hilly 200K ride in June, I did another June weekend where on Saturday I did a 2-mile open water swim race, then rode for 3 hours and on Sunday did a mid-distance sprint triathlon, and in August I organized another big cycling weekend where I got in 12 hours of riding in 3 days, plus some running.

If you've read previous posts, you'll see I did a HIM by myself indoors just 2 weeks ago. On 10/2/2005 I ran a marathon by myself, self-supported (and PR'ed!).

But to me, all this stuff is ridiculously fun, because my definition of fun is:

• push the boundaries of my physical fitness
• push the boundaries of my mental fitness

Both physical and mental fitness are crucial to Ironman success, which is why I've made my 2005-2006 season the year of the exponential jump in my mental fitness. What's fucking cool is that attacking the mental boundaries is having a huge payoff on the physical, at least from where I sit.

So for those of you reading who are looking to take your training/racing to the next level or waltz on over to the Dark Side, consider what you could be doing today to enhance your mental fitness. It might be as simple as granting yourself 5 minutes of quiet time during the day. It might mean making a concerted effort to clear you mind of the day's nonsense before you fall asleep. It might mean turning around that voice in your head that tells you "I suck" so that it says "I'm strong." It might mean turning down commitments to do things that really don't enhance your life or your training. It might even mean shutting off the computer!

Me and my Bitch

This is me and my Bitch, er...triathlon bike. This was taken before a ride this past August. It was a nice day, and I only needed to ride a couple of hours, so I thought what the hell, I'll wear panties and throw on the disk wheel. If I remember correctly, I had tons o' fun on the ride, even while I had to do HIM and IM wattage intervals, ending with the tough-as-nails big gear, low-cadence, leg-crushing intervals. And then I got to run 40' off the bike, still wearing the panties!

I love my Bitch. Her frame is made of boron carbide. She's undergone some changes over the years (she was born in 2001), most notably carbon-ization. I have Cane Creek Chrono carbon race wheels (with titanium spokes!), that I got in 2001, got the HED disk wheel in 2002 (I have yet to use it in an Ironman, but I'm thinking it's going to Brazil next May) and got the Oval aerobars in 2004. Funny story about the aerobars--I had just bought an SRM and had it installed on my bike. When they mounted the rather large Power Meter (the unit that displays all the pretty numbers while you're riding) on the existing aerobars, I realized there wouldn't be room to shove an aerobottle in there. The LBS owner told me Oval made aerobars that had a mount just for a Power Meter and that they would have room for the aerobottle. I looked at them and he asked me whether I wanted aluminum or carbon, and the way I figured, $300/$500, may as well get carbon!

Last summer I had my bike fit re-analyzed, and this resulted in the bars being dropped, as you can see from the photo.

My next carbon-ization purchase is going to be the FSA Compact Crank/SRM combo that isn't even available yet, but you can see it here. If I get that, it's going on the Bitch, and then my existing SRM is going to a new road bike. Haven't decided what THAT will be, but I'm not spending more than $2,000 on it.

Going Public

All right....after a little editing here and there, I've decided I can go public with this blog.

HOWEVER..this is a "read at your own risk" blog. I don't always say nice things. I kinda have a potty mouth. I am 100% honest about what I was thinking/feeling at the time I post.

But on the brighter side, if anyone feels they can benefit from my journey, have at it! I am open to any and all discussions having to do with triathlon, improving one's mind, pretty much anything.

I'm a novice blogger, so I'm not yet doing anything fancy here. That will come in time. I started this blog primarily as a journal for myself; now I'm ready to just see where it goes, which should be another interesting journey.

I've been called a "narcissistic voyeur." Hmmmmmm.......if I really cared about baring everything about myself I would have exposed this blog publicly much sooner, but as it is, I figure a lot of people will be offended by it, because I am NOT Ms. Shiny, Happy all the time.

Enjoy!

Today's Workouts

Yikes I am tired today. Meaning I'm still sick. I am still not coughing, sneezing, wheezing or anything like that. Just plain old tired. Think it has something to do with running 6 days consecutively? Or how hard I've been training? I dunno. Maybe it's just a few days of the old "overtraining." At any rate:

7:47AM Swim 2500 53'. Was supposed to do 2800, but given my lungs didn't seem to be so happy in the water, and the lanes were mucked up at 8:30, I just decided to bag it. 2500 yards was plenty! I swam the main set with fins, because I just didn't have any "oomph."

2:19PM Run 45'. Included 10' strides. I didn't feel bad until I "wound it up" for the last 10 minutes on the indoor track. Ran an 8:02 mile. Pretty good for being sick!

I should have lifted today as well, but figured I probably shouldn't; will see how I feel tomorrow!

Today's Workout

Can you tell I'm a little under the weather? Been posting a lot. Almost time for another nap.....

10:12AM Run 1:30, on treadmill, as 30' easy, 20' steady, 20' upper steady, 20' mod-hard.

I felt like crap when I woke up today, just all achey and like I shouldn't do a workout. This was a continuance of yesterday, where I couldn't do much of anything after my 2 morning workouts. I sneezed a little more than normal when I awoke, and coughed (dry) a little. But I didn't feel THAT bad, so I kept thinking I'd still give running a try. At about 9:45 I was going to just eat some more and lay down, but then I thought, "now or never," and headed to the Y.

Amazingly enough, starting out on the treadmill didn't feel too bad. I gave myself the option to eliminate the intensity work from the run, and even to shorten it. Well, things went better than I thought, so I did the workout as written! I felt a little out of sorts when I returned home, but frankly now I don't feel any worse than before I ran. So maybe this is a two-day cold that I have. Tomorrow will be more telling. If I wake up and feel OK, I'm good to go!

I'm glad I got the run in, because I really have to ramp up for the Goofy Challenge. Oh--I got my packet yesterday. Yippee!!!! Both races start at fucking 6AM EST?????? What the fuck is that? Oh, yeah, fucking Disney wants our asses out of there as quickly as possible. Oh well, fuck them, I won't be spending any time in the park on Monday after the race. Or will I?????

Last Night's Dream--Driving by the Salty Mountains

Well, the one I remember, anyway.

I was driving a car. There was someone in the passenger seat, but I don't know who it was. We came to a diagonal intersection (towards the upper left), and I knew to make the left-hand turn. We saw a lot of pure white mountains that were made of salt! They were very beautiful.

Dream interpretation says that the driving (me in control) signifies my life's journey, or my path in life. Mountains signify obstacles and challenges, and also a higher realm of consciousness or knowledge and the spiritual path. Salt represents added flavor and a new found flair in the experience of life--I may be experiencing an elevated sense of individual worthiness and increased zest and vigor in my life. My efforts are paying off.

So if I put all of this together, it says I am feeling in control or at least feel like I'm ON my spiritual path, and it is giving me a better experience of life, and possibly, because of this, I feel more worthy, and my efforts are paying off.

This is fucking awesome!

Flexibility Commitment

OK, I'm publishing some goals here. I just bought the book Core Performance by Mark Verstegen. After leafing through all the workout modules, I see there are some things that I am already doing right. My core is pretty strong! But there's one area where I've been lagging for the last several years--flexibility.

Although overall, my flexibility is above average, for ME, my hamstring/lower back flexibility has gone down the toilet. So, from this day forward, a new goal is to get that back, so that it's in line with the rest of my body. I figure if I work at it diligently enough (although gently, since I have a slight tendency to overdo), that I should see results by the Goofy Challenge.

Here's my plan: I will spend 5' in the morning and 5' in the evening (wow, only 10' total per day!) working on hamstring/lower back flexibility. What I'm going to do is:

1. Side lying twists, with knees bent, arms outstretched, supine. 10-15 of these to alternating sides. While this isn't really a stretch, it's a good warmup for the low back.
2. Tubing-assisted hamstring stretches. 30" each side, supine, pull one leg straight towards body. As of today, my ROM is 90 degrees. My goal is to get back to 45 degrees MORE!
3. Supine spinal twists, where you bring one bent leg across the chest over to the other side.
4. Seated spinal twists, it's some yoga position
5. One more set of tubing-assisted hamstring stretches.

I just did these, and already I feel loosened up in my lower back! Eventually, I should be able to do toe touches again where my hands are flat on the floor. That is something I can measure along the way as well.

I'm excited! This is an area I've neglected, and considering I have a hernitated disk and piriformis issues from time to time, this should help!

Ironman Marathon Times

I posted this to Shelley's blog anonymously, but I put it here, because, well, I'm the author!

The topic is, if I can run X in an open marathon, how fast Y can I run in an IM marathon? Why am I putting this question here? For the first time IM'er and also those of you with a few under your belt.Here's a good discussion from the Slowtwitch forum: http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=621985;s=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

The operative algorithm is that IF you are EXPERIENCED at Ironman AND you have GOOD to SUPERIOR muscular endurance on the bike (enabling you to come off the 112-mile bike "relatively" fresh), THEN you can get within 10-15% of your open marathon time during an IM marathon.

Example: your open marathon PR is 4:00. If you are a bike monster, you can hope for 4:24-4:36 in an IM. If you DO NOT have that GOOD to SUPERIOR muscular endurance on the bike, then you can hope for only a 20%+ degradation in your IM marathon from open time. Let's take that 4:00 open marathon guy/gal (which I am close to!). 20% slower gives a potential IM marathon time of 4:48, and that's damn close to my IM marathon goal at my next race.

I have done 7 IM's. My first IM marathon time was like 6:30. At the time, that represented a 44% (!) degradation from my open marathon PR of 4:30. My best IM marathon time to date is 5:15. My most recent open marathon time PR was 4:10. So I'm still running at a 26% degradation rate, and I happen to consider myself a pretty strong cyclist.

My point in this post is that if you're doing IM for the first time and you have a recent open marathon time, it's almost futile to say "I think I can do Y in the IM marathon." Actually, for one's first IM, unless you have years of 1/2 IM training under your belt, it's pretty futile to predict your first full IM time anyway. Your goal should be to JUST FINISH. If you have a few IM's under your belt, and you are Joe Average who has an open marathon time over your age group's Boston qualifying time, sure you need to work on your running in your IM training (and by the way, that does NOT include running open marathons during the meat of your IM training--why? The recovery cost is too great, meaning 2-3 weeks before you are back at full volume/intensity, plus as I'm illustrating here, the ability to run well in an IM marathon is highly dependent on bike fitness, so why would you waste precious training time running/recovering from open marathons when you could be putting in more 100+ mile rides?), but mostly you need to become that NUCLEAR ARSENAL that coaches like Gordo Byrn and Rich Strauss advocate, and then you can hope to break that 20% barrier and get into the range of the truly elite.

This post also addresses what I had told Shelley earlier that focusing on "I want a faster bike split" is really inappropriate, too. What you want is to be stupidly strong on the bike, and then NOT USE ALL OF IT during the IM. This is what will enable you to run off the bike, and WELL.

Another skewed perspective of measurement: "I ride 4 hours then run for 1 hour; therefore, my run speed during that brick is indicative of my IM run pace." WRONG! Not unless you have the knowledge of what your IM bike pacing SHOULD be, and then you ride at that pace and then run, then you are getting close. What will get you closer, though, is doing a race simulation brick (see http://cruciblefitness.com), where you ride a full 112 miles at your IM pace and then run 40'. Even then, you can count on slowing down somewhat during the IM marathon from whatever run pace you were able to hold during that workout. Why? We all lose focus, and mental training to avoid as much of that as possible is another advanced technique that I am currently working on. Some folks call this the ability to "suffer." Hey, if it's something you want to do, it's not suffering, is it?