Sorry about that. I have my reasons to keep things on the DL for a little bit.
Anyway, I am officially tapering for North Face 50-miler. I am scared shitless about it, never having run more than 27 miles at once. I really hope I can finish it under the 12-hour cutoff, but one never knows, right? It is good for me to be humble.
I did as much preparation for this as I could considering that just 6 weeks ago I did a double IM over 4 days. The week after that I did zero running, so effectively I have had 5 weeks (I'm only doing a 2-week taper whereas most would do 3 weeks but I figured I needed the extra week of mileage) to get in as much running as possible.
Including yesterday's 3.5 mile run, I got in 210 miles of running in 5 weeks. This week I will only put in about 25-28, and then it's game on. I won't know the weather until the day before effectively, but at least all I have to pack for is one sport!
I had a few people who said they would pace me, but that has fallen through. I still wish I had someone to run the last 15-20 miles with me, but then again, I am pretty used to being alone with myself inside my head and this is going to be something completely different!
Even though I'm tapering the run this week, I am not tapering on swimming or biking until next week. I won't really feel like I'm tapering until Saturday when I only have to run maybe 6 miles instead of, oh, 17-20! I am trying to get lots and lots of sleep and will be clamping down on my nutrition in a few days.
A nice side effect of all this running is that I have been enjoying running outdoors in the cooler weather. For the last 5 years or so, as soon as my triathlon season was over in August or early September, I would immediately switch to the treadmill. Now, I am not looking forward to it so much, and will try and run outdoors this winter as long as I feel the footing is safe. The last 2 winters here we've had so much snow and ice that I just haven't felt safe running outdoors much at all, and even if the roads are clear, that's not great either because cars are trying to run you off. But we shall see. I really should buy a treadmill for home, and I may start scouting out used ones. That would mean only driving to the Y to swim three times a week.
I should stop thinking so much about the future right now and just focus on what I need to get done next week. This is a huge step for me, and if I'm able to complete the damn thing, will go a long way towards my confidence for Ultraman.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Reverse Goofy Challenge Weekend
Goofy Challenge has the half marathon Saturday and full marathon on Sunday. This weekend, I ran just over 19 miles on Saturday and 13.75 miles today. Not a lot for an ultrarunner, but plenty for someone like me who is a triathlete first.
My run training has been going pretty well, and I've been getting the hours in that I had hoped for. This week, I wanted to shoot for 8 hours of running, including back to back long runs of 3 and 2 hours. I've never done that before, even in the past when training for Goofy Challenge, but I figured what the hell, all I can do is try.
Part of me thought I should do the shorter run Saturday because I know for sure I could run the day after a 2-hour run--I do that all the time in training. But running 3 hours the next day? I though it was more important that I got the 3 hour run in for sure, and then if I needed to cut back the 2 hour run, so be it.
On Friday morning, something in my furnace went kaput. It sounded like a motor about to die, so I had to shut off the heat until I could get a repair man in on Saturday. I went to the Y and swam 5,000 yards (including 2800 yards of hard intervals) in the morning, bundled up a little extra, worked, got in a 1-hour run on the treadmill mid-day, got a massage, worked some more, took a really hot shower and got to bed early, thinking I may as well get running as early as possible since my house would be cold.
Saturday morning I awoke to about 32 degrees outside and about 60 inside, but who cares, I am just going outside to run in colder temperatures! I'd slept in, but managed to get on the trail at Waterfall Glen just after 8:30. My goal was to get in 18 miles, but 17 would have been fine. I would do the run 5'/walk 1' plan as I'd done during last week's 18-miler. I had defizzed Coke with me in some bottles I'd received as a gift from a friend in Wisconsin that is in the Headhunters triathlon club. I needed to try running with a bigger bottle like I will do in the 50-miler.
I wore my good fleece-lined Pearl Izumi tights, a regular bra top, one of my long-sleeved technical Goofy shirts, my IMLP 2007 finisher windbreaker, my PI sushi hat and a pair of light gloves. Initially, I thought I'd run 9 miles, refuel and then head out for another 9 miles, but about 3 miles in I though I could go 12 miles on what I had with me, and then I'd only need to do 6 more which would be easier mentally.
I saw a lot of runners in there, and many of them were wearing shorts. All I could think is either I am a wimp or they are running short and fast. I was quite comfortable in all my outerwear, and never felt overheated. I kept to my run/walk plan except that if I was headed downhill and it was time to walk, fuck that, I just ran. No sense EVER in walking downhill!
When I was about 3 1/4 miles from finishing my first loop, a guy ran by me and waved, and I looked at his running stride and recognized him from the Y and called out his name! I thought it was so funny that I knew who he was by his stride, even though he was just as bundled up as me (which made me think we were the smart ones). Mike and I ran a few steps together, but then I told him to go on ahead since I needed to take my walking break and really wanted to stick to it. I am sure I will see him a lot this winter at the Y. He's really fast, has BQ'ed a few times, and is a really nice man, and it seems that whenever we talk, we are all smiles and laughs. It was nice to run into him!
Either I was tired from my accumulated training load or because of the cold or whatever, but I did the first 12+ miles at just over 9:35/mile, but I was happy because I was still well under 10mpm pace. I stretched a little bit, grabbed another bottle of Coke and headed out.
Mentally, I always want to slow down when I go out for another loop. I was OK with that plan yesterday, since I knew I had to run today as well. Since I'd gone about 12.6 miles on the first loop, now I had it in my head to get in 19 miles--may as well go for a nice, round number! When I got to mile 3, I was running even 10's, so I just ran 2 more minutes out which would give me 6.4 miles, so I should get my 19 in.
Even though I'd slowed down a bit on the second loop, I actually felt pretty strong and I am pretty sure I was smiling a lot. I was thinking about the training I was doing, that this has been the most concentrated running I've ever done, and that I'm feeling pretty good doing it! I was amazed that the run didn't suck at all, and that I really wasn't running that slowly for this distance for me. I was even starting to think I might be able to finish the 50-miler, but I had to recover from this run and get out on Sunday.
When I got home, there was a snafu with the furnace repair guy. My doorbell wasn't working since I'd killed the circuit breaker for the furnace that also controls the doorbell. But the guy didn't knock, either, and my car was in the driveway! So I had to call the place and let them know I was here, and the guy got here about 2 hours later than planned and had everything fixed pretty quickly. It was the blower motor which had died. I should get a whole new furnace, but at least now I have some time to think about it (and find the money!).
I stretched, and was pretty much glued to the computer watching Ironman Hawaii the rest of the day, but I could only managed to stay awake to watch Crowie win it. I was exhausted, and ended up sleeping almost 11 hours. I guess almost a marathon will do that to me!
When I got up today, I felt really well rested, and about the only sore thing was my calves for a few minutes. After I was awake for about an hour, though, I started to feel like I'd done something major the day before. But I didn't feel bad, and figured what else am I going to do except run? And I only needed to do 2 hours, so I figured I could get in 12 miles.
It was cold again this morning, even colder than yesterday, and I took my time, reading part of the newspaper, and doing some housecleaning. I figured today I would drink Coke before I started and then just use Gatorade, which will enable me to sleep well tonight.
Today I wore my other pair of thermal tights, a bra top, another Goofy technical shirt, a pink Nike running jacket, a Lake Placid beanie and gloves. I decided I'd head to Greene Valle and run the flat loop which is about 7 miles, and then run up and down the hill 2 or 3 times, depending on how I felt.
The flat part went well, and I held a 9:26 pace doing the run/walk thing, and I felt just fine, not cold, not hot. Once again, I saw a few runners in shorts and thought no way I'd be doing that.
Next, I drank some more Gatorade and headed out for my first hill repeat. I really wondered how this would feel, and surprised myself making it up the first time in 10:06. I was sort of shocked, especially since I'd let myself walk about a minute and change somewhere in there, but I figured, hey, all good, and then ran down in 8:08. Great! I assessed myself, took another swig of Gatorade and headed up the second time. I made it up in 9:55 and down in 7:57, so faster than the first time! I was enjoying the hell out of this, I don't know why--probably just because I was feeling so good considering I'd run 19 yesterday. The third time, I made it up in 9:54 and down in 7:52, and I know I was smiling the entire way down because it felt so good. I finished today feeling like I could have run more, but that's good, right?
So I ran about 33 miles this weekend (6 shy of Goofy, oh well), and did the longer run first, and ran well the second day, so that makes me feel really good. I got in 53 miles of running this week, and now I get to taper for a few weeks. I need to check around for some training plans to see what I should really do next weekend. I was going to just do a 2-hour run, but now I think I should do a 2 on Saturday and 1 on Sunday. We will see! Whichever I choose, I know it will feel easy!
I actually feel pretty good right now, and the proof will be whether I can run tomorrow. Well, I'm pretty sure I can, but I might push it off until Tuesday. I do look forward to swimming in the morning since it will help flush some of this out of my legs.
I commented to someone on Facebook that I was starting to think I might be getting the hang of this ultra thing. I sort of wish I had another 4 or 5 weeks of mostly run focus, but this period I am sure will serve to toughen me up for the coming months. And oh, by the way, Goofy Challenge will seem fairly easy! How fun to go into an event having done most or all of the full distance in training! But I guess that is sort of my MO, huh? Although I've only done close to Ultraman over 4 days instead of 3. But it's stuff like this that convinces your brain that you can do it. And I know that once my head is on board, my body usually obliges.
So to Lee and some others who tell me periodically to do something I've never done before, well, I am doing that all over the place! Some days, like today, I really wonder just what all I can do. And that is a wonderful feeling!
My run training has been going pretty well, and I've been getting the hours in that I had hoped for. This week, I wanted to shoot for 8 hours of running, including back to back long runs of 3 and 2 hours. I've never done that before, even in the past when training for Goofy Challenge, but I figured what the hell, all I can do is try.
Part of me thought I should do the shorter run Saturday because I know for sure I could run the day after a 2-hour run--I do that all the time in training. But running 3 hours the next day? I though it was more important that I got the 3 hour run in for sure, and then if I needed to cut back the 2 hour run, so be it.
On Friday morning, something in my furnace went kaput. It sounded like a motor about to die, so I had to shut off the heat until I could get a repair man in on Saturday. I went to the Y and swam 5,000 yards (including 2800 yards of hard intervals) in the morning, bundled up a little extra, worked, got in a 1-hour run on the treadmill mid-day, got a massage, worked some more, took a really hot shower and got to bed early, thinking I may as well get running as early as possible since my house would be cold.
Saturday morning I awoke to about 32 degrees outside and about 60 inside, but who cares, I am just going outside to run in colder temperatures! I'd slept in, but managed to get on the trail at Waterfall Glen just after 8:30. My goal was to get in 18 miles, but 17 would have been fine. I would do the run 5'/walk 1' plan as I'd done during last week's 18-miler. I had defizzed Coke with me in some bottles I'd received as a gift from a friend in Wisconsin that is in the Headhunters triathlon club. I needed to try running with a bigger bottle like I will do in the 50-miler.
I wore my good fleece-lined Pearl Izumi tights, a regular bra top, one of my long-sleeved technical Goofy shirts, my IMLP 2007 finisher windbreaker, my PI sushi hat and a pair of light gloves. Initially, I thought I'd run 9 miles, refuel and then head out for another 9 miles, but about 3 miles in I though I could go 12 miles on what I had with me, and then I'd only need to do 6 more which would be easier mentally.
I saw a lot of runners in there, and many of them were wearing shorts. All I could think is either I am a wimp or they are running short and fast. I was quite comfortable in all my outerwear, and never felt overheated. I kept to my run/walk plan except that if I was headed downhill and it was time to walk, fuck that, I just ran. No sense EVER in walking downhill!
When I was about 3 1/4 miles from finishing my first loop, a guy ran by me and waved, and I looked at his running stride and recognized him from the Y and called out his name! I thought it was so funny that I knew who he was by his stride, even though he was just as bundled up as me (which made me think we were the smart ones). Mike and I ran a few steps together, but then I told him to go on ahead since I needed to take my walking break and really wanted to stick to it. I am sure I will see him a lot this winter at the Y. He's really fast, has BQ'ed a few times, and is a really nice man, and it seems that whenever we talk, we are all smiles and laughs. It was nice to run into him!
Either I was tired from my accumulated training load or because of the cold or whatever, but I did the first 12+ miles at just over 9:35/mile, but I was happy because I was still well under 10mpm pace. I stretched a little bit, grabbed another bottle of Coke and headed out.
Mentally, I always want to slow down when I go out for another loop. I was OK with that plan yesterday, since I knew I had to run today as well. Since I'd gone about 12.6 miles on the first loop, now I had it in my head to get in 19 miles--may as well go for a nice, round number! When I got to mile 3, I was running even 10's, so I just ran 2 more minutes out which would give me 6.4 miles, so I should get my 19 in.
Even though I'd slowed down a bit on the second loop, I actually felt pretty strong and I am pretty sure I was smiling a lot. I was thinking about the training I was doing, that this has been the most concentrated running I've ever done, and that I'm feeling pretty good doing it! I was amazed that the run didn't suck at all, and that I really wasn't running that slowly for this distance for me. I was even starting to think I might be able to finish the 50-miler, but I had to recover from this run and get out on Sunday.
When I got home, there was a snafu with the furnace repair guy. My doorbell wasn't working since I'd killed the circuit breaker for the furnace that also controls the doorbell. But the guy didn't knock, either, and my car was in the driveway! So I had to call the place and let them know I was here, and the guy got here about 2 hours later than planned and had everything fixed pretty quickly. It was the blower motor which had died. I should get a whole new furnace, but at least now I have some time to think about it (and find the money!).
I stretched, and was pretty much glued to the computer watching Ironman Hawaii the rest of the day, but I could only managed to stay awake to watch Crowie win it. I was exhausted, and ended up sleeping almost 11 hours. I guess almost a marathon will do that to me!
When I got up today, I felt really well rested, and about the only sore thing was my calves for a few minutes. After I was awake for about an hour, though, I started to feel like I'd done something major the day before. But I didn't feel bad, and figured what else am I going to do except run? And I only needed to do 2 hours, so I figured I could get in 12 miles.
It was cold again this morning, even colder than yesterday, and I took my time, reading part of the newspaper, and doing some housecleaning. I figured today I would drink Coke before I started and then just use Gatorade, which will enable me to sleep well tonight.
Today I wore my other pair of thermal tights, a bra top, another Goofy technical shirt, a pink Nike running jacket, a Lake Placid beanie and gloves. I decided I'd head to Greene Valle and run the flat loop which is about 7 miles, and then run up and down the hill 2 or 3 times, depending on how I felt.
The flat part went well, and I held a 9:26 pace doing the run/walk thing, and I felt just fine, not cold, not hot. Once again, I saw a few runners in shorts and thought no way I'd be doing that.
Next, I drank some more Gatorade and headed out for my first hill repeat. I really wondered how this would feel, and surprised myself making it up the first time in 10:06. I was sort of shocked, especially since I'd let myself walk about a minute and change somewhere in there, but I figured, hey, all good, and then ran down in 8:08. Great! I assessed myself, took another swig of Gatorade and headed up the second time. I made it up in 9:55 and down in 7:57, so faster than the first time! I was enjoying the hell out of this, I don't know why--probably just because I was feeling so good considering I'd run 19 yesterday. The third time, I made it up in 9:54 and down in 7:52, and I know I was smiling the entire way down because it felt so good. I finished today feeling like I could have run more, but that's good, right?
So I ran about 33 miles this weekend (6 shy of Goofy, oh well), and did the longer run first, and ran well the second day, so that makes me feel really good. I got in 53 miles of running this week, and now I get to taper for a few weeks. I need to check around for some training plans to see what I should really do next weekend. I was going to just do a 2-hour run, but now I think I should do a 2 on Saturday and 1 on Sunday. We will see! Whichever I choose, I know it will feel easy!
I actually feel pretty good right now, and the proof will be whether I can run tomorrow. Well, I'm pretty sure I can, but I might push it off until Tuesday. I do look forward to swimming in the morning since it will help flush some of this out of my legs.
I commented to someone on Facebook that I was starting to think I might be getting the hang of this ultra thing. I sort of wish I had another 4 or 5 weeks of mostly run focus, but this period I am sure will serve to toughen me up for the coming months. And oh, by the way, Goofy Challenge will seem fairly easy! How fun to go into an event having done most or all of the full distance in training! But I guess that is sort of my MO, huh? Although I've only done close to Ultraman over 4 days instead of 3. But it's stuff like this that convinces your brain that you can do it. And I know that once my head is on board, my body usually obliges.
So to Lee and some others who tell me periodically to do something I've never done before, well, I am doing that all over the place! Some days, like today, I really wonder just what all I can do. And that is a wonderful feeling!
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Mostly Running
It's been awhile since I've posted here. I have been running a lot and sleeping a lot! It's been 10 years since I've primarily run trained, and I remember sleeping a lot back then, too. Of course, I am still swimming and doing a little bit of biking.
Last week I managed 47 miles running, 15 miles walking, 9900 yards swimming and only 31 miles biking. Training time was 13.7 hours; walking time was 3.7 hours. Should I be tired as if I'd trained 17 hours? Who knows.
Last Wednesday I needed to do one of my 2 long runs since I was traveling all day Saturday. I figured I could get in about 10 miles in the middle of the day (I swam in the morning). I ended up running around the block 6 times and then ran to a park and around a couple of times. I ended up doing some strength work after work as well.
Thursday I was trashed probably because I'd crammed in about 60 miles total running/walking, some biking, swimming over 5 days. I know, I know--that is nothing compared to what I'd done back in August, but this has been fast running, fast biking and fast swimming, plus 3 of those days I was working.
Anyway, I was smart enough to basically take Thursday off from training. I was scheduled to bike, but I figured I'd do a little on Saturday during my bike fit session and besides, right now is all about running.
Friday I felt fine (as I expected), and banged out a good 4500 yard swim and ran for an hour. Saturday I was up at 5AM so I could hop a plane to Philadelphia for my bike fit session. The flight was uneventful, and David's (Mr. Greenfield, the owner of Elite Bicycles) SO, Chryssa (not sure of the spelling) picked me up at the airport and drove me to the shop.
We started working around 11:30AM, but it wasn't having me sit on a bike and pedal. David is not your typical bike fitter. He observes you at rest, in motion, tests your various muscles for flexibility and strength, talks to you about your full medical history, how you train, what you do for a living. All of these things have a huge impact on how you should be positioned on a bike, and then of course, what type of racing you will be doing. I consider myself pretty flexible, and yet I was rated fair or good on a number of measurements, which David assured me wasn't bad at all. I think that on his scale, fair must actually be pretty good!
Anyway, after all this and some measurements, I finally got on a bike around 2:45PM, and we played around with saddles for awhile. David had already moved the cleats on my bike shoes (for both LGL and Bitch), and when I started pedaling, it felt pretty natural to me. We played around with bar position (the seat tube angle had already been adjusted for me), and we finished around 4:15. So I really wasn't on a bike for too long, but I went away with a prescription for some new or modified stretches, strength work, swim tips, running tips--what I got was a holistic look at myself and what I am trying to accomplish. I am so glad that I took the step to work with David, and am confident that I will have the best fitting bike I could have ever dreamed of!
Now that things have been measured, it will take some months before the bike is ready--in large part due to my pirate paint job! But that's fine as I typically only ride the road bike on the trainer during the winter, and don't get on the tri bike until May--although that may need to change next year. So now I just get to wait for probably 4 months, and then I'll go back to Philly so they can fine tune me on the bike and I'll bring her home. I don't have a name and won't confer one until I see it built! She is going to be one sweet machine!
When I was on the way back to my car in the airport Saturday night, I just had this feeling that I was due for my annual flat tire due to rim corrosion. When I got to my car, I was right! Funny thing was I didn't get mad or upset, I just got to changing the flat, and luckily the lug nuts came off pretty easily and I got the thing changed fairly fast, drove home and tucked into a few snacks and then bedtime.
Sunday my goal was to run 17 miles and walk 5. I let myself sleep in, and watching the weather forecast which called for maybe rain, I got my sorry ass to Waterfall Glen around 10AM. The objective for the day was to do run 5'/walk 1' which is what my general plan is for the 50-miler. I wanted to see what sort of pace I would be doing with that scenario.
I'd chugged a can of Coke just before I left, so I carried 12 oz. of Coke with me, which I figured would last me for one full loop (9.65 miles). I wore very lightweight zebra-striped tights with run shorts over them, a shimmel and a lightweight long sleeve technical top from one of my Goofy races. It was low to mid-50's, good running weather. Now, right when I woke up and as I began running I could feel my legs sore in all sorts of places and also my mid-back. This was all left over from David's poking and prodding plus sitting on an airplane for 4+ hours on Saturday.
Still, no matter how I felt I needed to HTFU and get this run done. There is nothing more motivating to me than knowing I am training to conquer something that I've never done before, as it puts the fear of God into me to make sure I am as prepared as I can possibly be.
I just hit my watch splits every 12' since otherwise I wouldn't be able to keep track of what I was supposed to be doing. I held myself to running when I was supposed to for the most part except when on a big downhill, where it would be stupid to walk. I was ahead of a 10mpm pace, which was just fine by me. Actually, that's the pace I should do my long runs at, but I usually run faster than that and it doesn't seem to harm me.
I got a lot of smiles at seeing my zebra legs, and even though my legs hurt here and there, I ran well and finished the loop in about 1:30. I stopped to grab another 12 oz. of Coke and stretch a little bit, because man my legs were achy! But this was good stuff, right? Because I bet they will feel like this for much of the 50-miler, and I will need to will myself to keep running.
Somewhere along the way, I'd decided I wanted to get in 18 miles instead of 17, so on heading back out, I decided I'd run to mile 4 and then another about .2 so I'd total 18. I slowed down just a tiny bit, which was fine (I could have started out slower, too), but I kept an even pace for the 8.8 mile leg. I was proud of myself for finishing 18 miles at a good clip for me, even though nowadays I always begin thinking about my ultrarunner friends and I think I am such a lame wuss since I am not running much at all compared to them.
Anyway, now it was time to do some walking. I'd brought a change of shirts, which was good, since my upper body was quite sweaty, I changed hats, chugged a bunch of Gatorade and grabbed another bottle of it for my next foray. As I began walking, my legs were really talking to me, but how bad could it be? I ended up getting in 5.3 miles walking (with a tiny bit of downhill running thrown in), so my total mileage for the day was 23.3 miles. Not bad!
Needless to say, when I was finished, I was pretty famished, and took care of that when I got home, thought about mowing the lawn and decided it could wait (I was too tired), stretched for 45', and got to sleep early. I ended up averaging 9:34/mile for the 18 mile run, which is faster than I thought I'd go.
Yesterday morning, my legs felt better than when I started running on Sunday. I kept thinking while I was running on Sunday that my legs didn't feel "running a lot" sore, they felt "somebody made me use parts of them I don't normally engage" sore. So I was happy that when I woke up yesterday morning that I didn't feel completely trashed. But I did feel fatigued. Still, I did a nice 2750 yard swim plus some jump rope, pushups, chinups and abs work before I began my work day.
I figured my legs would be "running a lot" tired from all the miles I'd gotten in the prior week, and they were, and yet I managed to run almost 7 miles mid-day, and it really didn't feel that bad. I was a bit slower than normal for the first couple of miles, but then I picked it up and was pretty much fine. It was during the run that I noticed just how hungry I was, and it's funny because I have no idea how many calories I am actually burning with all the running and walking that I'm doing, but it must be a lot.
I stretched really well last night, ate a good dinner and got to sleep early, and here I am feeling pretty good. Today is just a bike ride and some strength work. This weekend I'm shooting for a 2.5 hour and 3-hour run, but I have no idea whether or not I can pull that off. We shall see! This is my last big week before the race, and then I taper down and see what happens. The only things left for me to do preparation wise are to go running with the headlamp on, and this weekend I will try eating some PB&J sandwiches part way through each run and see how that works. Other than that, there's not much else I can do.
Good thing Ironman Hawaii is on this Saturday so when I get back from another 18-miler I can just lay around and watch that, and then Sunday is the Chicago marathon, which will also be broadcast, but I will probably be out running while it's on. Good luck to anyone racing either of those!
Last week I managed 47 miles running, 15 miles walking, 9900 yards swimming and only 31 miles biking. Training time was 13.7 hours; walking time was 3.7 hours. Should I be tired as if I'd trained 17 hours? Who knows.
Last Wednesday I needed to do one of my 2 long runs since I was traveling all day Saturday. I figured I could get in about 10 miles in the middle of the day (I swam in the morning). I ended up running around the block 6 times and then ran to a park and around a couple of times. I ended up doing some strength work after work as well.
Thursday I was trashed probably because I'd crammed in about 60 miles total running/walking, some biking, swimming over 5 days. I know, I know--that is nothing compared to what I'd done back in August, but this has been fast running, fast biking and fast swimming, plus 3 of those days I was working.
Anyway, I was smart enough to basically take Thursday off from training. I was scheduled to bike, but I figured I'd do a little on Saturday during my bike fit session and besides, right now is all about running.
Friday I felt fine (as I expected), and banged out a good 4500 yard swim and ran for an hour. Saturday I was up at 5AM so I could hop a plane to Philadelphia for my bike fit session. The flight was uneventful, and David's (Mr. Greenfield, the owner of Elite Bicycles) SO, Chryssa (not sure of the spelling) picked me up at the airport and drove me to the shop.
We started working around 11:30AM, but it wasn't having me sit on a bike and pedal. David is not your typical bike fitter. He observes you at rest, in motion, tests your various muscles for flexibility and strength, talks to you about your full medical history, how you train, what you do for a living. All of these things have a huge impact on how you should be positioned on a bike, and then of course, what type of racing you will be doing. I consider myself pretty flexible, and yet I was rated fair or good on a number of measurements, which David assured me wasn't bad at all. I think that on his scale, fair must actually be pretty good!
Anyway, after all this and some measurements, I finally got on a bike around 2:45PM, and we played around with saddles for awhile. David had already moved the cleats on my bike shoes (for both LGL and Bitch), and when I started pedaling, it felt pretty natural to me. We played around with bar position (the seat tube angle had already been adjusted for me), and we finished around 4:15. So I really wasn't on a bike for too long, but I went away with a prescription for some new or modified stretches, strength work, swim tips, running tips--what I got was a holistic look at myself and what I am trying to accomplish. I am so glad that I took the step to work with David, and am confident that I will have the best fitting bike I could have ever dreamed of!
Now that things have been measured, it will take some months before the bike is ready--in large part due to my pirate paint job! But that's fine as I typically only ride the road bike on the trainer during the winter, and don't get on the tri bike until May--although that may need to change next year. So now I just get to wait for probably 4 months, and then I'll go back to Philly so they can fine tune me on the bike and I'll bring her home. I don't have a name and won't confer one until I see it built! She is going to be one sweet machine!
When I was on the way back to my car in the airport Saturday night, I just had this feeling that I was due for my annual flat tire due to rim corrosion. When I got to my car, I was right! Funny thing was I didn't get mad or upset, I just got to changing the flat, and luckily the lug nuts came off pretty easily and I got the thing changed fairly fast, drove home and tucked into a few snacks and then bedtime.
Sunday my goal was to run 17 miles and walk 5. I let myself sleep in, and watching the weather forecast which called for maybe rain, I got my sorry ass to Waterfall Glen around 10AM. The objective for the day was to do run 5'/walk 1' which is what my general plan is for the 50-miler. I wanted to see what sort of pace I would be doing with that scenario.
I'd chugged a can of Coke just before I left, so I carried 12 oz. of Coke with me, which I figured would last me for one full loop (9.65 miles). I wore very lightweight zebra-striped tights with run shorts over them, a shimmel and a lightweight long sleeve technical top from one of my Goofy races. It was low to mid-50's, good running weather. Now, right when I woke up and as I began running I could feel my legs sore in all sorts of places and also my mid-back. This was all left over from David's poking and prodding plus sitting on an airplane for 4+ hours on Saturday.
Still, no matter how I felt I needed to HTFU and get this run done. There is nothing more motivating to me than knowing I am training to conquer something that I've never done before, as it puts the fear of God into me to make sure I am as prepared as I can possibly be.
I just hit my watch splits every 12' since otherwise I wouldn't be able to keep track of what I was supposed to be doing. I held myself to running when I was supposed to for the most part except when on a big downhill, where it would be stupid to walk. I was ahead of a 10mpm pace, which was just fine by me. Actually, that's the pace I should do my long runs at, but I usually run faster than that and it doesn't seem to harm me.
I got a lot of smiles at seeing my zebra legs, and even though my legs hurt here and there, I ran well and finished the loop in about 1:30. I stopped to grab another 12 oz. of Coke and stretch a little bit, because man my legs were achy! But this was good stuff, right? Because I bet they will feel like this for much of the 50-miler, and I will need to will myself to keep running.
Somewhere along the way, I'd decided I wanted to get in 18 miles instead of 17, so on heading back out, I decided I'd run to mile 4 and then another about .2 so I'd total 18. I slowed down just a tiny bit, which was fine (I could have started out slower, too), but I kept an even pace for the 8.8 mile leg. I was proud of myself for finishing 18 miles at a good clip for me, even though nowadays I always begin thinking about my ultrarunner friends and I think I am such a lame wuss since I am not running much at all compared to them.
Anyway, now it was time to do some walking. I'd brought a change of shirts, which was good, since my upper body was quite sweaty, I changed hats, chugged a bunch of Gatorade and grabbed another bottle of it for my next foray. As I began walking, my legs were really talking to me, but how bad could it be? I ended up getting in 5.3 miles walking (with a tiny bit of downhill running thrown in), so my total mileage for the day was 23.3 miles. Not bad!
Needless to say, when I was finished, I was pretty famished, and took care of that when I got home, thought about mowing the lawn and decided it could wait (I was too tired), stretched for 45', and got to sleep early. I ended up averaging 9:34/mile for the 18 mile run, which is faster than I thought I'd go.
Yesterday morning, my legs felt better than when I started running on Sunday. I kept thinking while I was running on Sunday that my legs didn't feel "running a lot" sore, they felt "somebody made me use parts of them I don't normally engage" sore. So I was happy that when I woke up yesterday morning that I didn't feel completely trashed. But I did feel fatigued. Still, I did a nice 2750 yard swim plus some jump rope, pushups, chinups and abs work before I began my work day.
I figured my legs would be "running a lot" tired from all the miles I'd gotten in the prior week, and they were, and yet I managed to run almost 7 miles mid-day, and it really didn't feel that bad. I was a bit slower than normal for the first couple of miles, but then I picked it up and was pretty much fine. It was during the run that I noticed just how hungry I was, and it's funny because I have no idea how many calories I am actually burning with all the running and walking that I'm doing, but it must be a lot.
I stretched really well last night, ate a good dinner and got to sleep early, and here I am feeling pretty good. Today is just a bike ride and some strength work. This weekend I'm shooting for a 2.5 hour and 3-hour run, but I have no idea whether or not I can pull that off. We shall see! This is my last big week before the race, and then I taper down and see what happens. The only things left for me to do preparation wise are to go running with the headlamp on, and this weekend I will try eating some PB&J sandwiches part way through each run and see how that works. Other than that, there's not much else I can do.
Good thing Ironman Hawaii is on this Saturday so when I get back from another 18-miler I can just lay around and watch that, and then Sunday is the Chicago marathon, which will also be broadcast, but I will probably be out running while it's on. Good luck to anyone racing either of those!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
I Have a Plan
In the midst of trying to run (and walk) as much as possible so I feel ready for my 50-miler, I have been poring over my training plan. This has been going on for weeks now. I had a plan through the end of the year done about 4 weeks ago and had sketched beyond that, but was struggling with a few things like did I have a good enough swim program, could I actually run as much as I'm planning and how did this compare to years past in terms of a safe volume increase.
Almost every day I would look at the plan and think of additional things. I am finally settled on something that looks like I can actually do it. Well, on paper! Everyone I've talked to so far has said you don't need to train that much more than for an Ironman. Well, I guess it depends how you define "that much more!"
What I ended up with gives me almost 100 hours more training than my typical season, but a lot of that is crammed between ROTPM and Goofy Challenge, which is when I will be doing a LOT of running and more swimming than I would normally do that time of year. So basically, September-December are super heavy on the running, then I add back more biking and keep up the swimming, then a lot more biking basically. It will not be easy, especially the last about 16 weeks. But I didn't sign up for UMC with the idea that it would be easy. I want to be prepared!
So here it is in all its nutso glory...if anyone has comments or questions on it, fire away!
Here is how everything adds up (ROTPM is not included in the totals) and how this compares to last year and my all time highs in each sport:
In case anyone looks at this and thinks "she will have no life," somehow I think I will manage ;)
Almost every day I would look at the plan and think of additional things. I am finally settled on something that looks like I can actually do it. Well, on paper! Everyone I've talked to so far has said you don't need to train that much more than for an Ironman. Well, I guess it depends how you define "that much more!"
What I ended up with gives me almost 100 hours more training than my typical season, but a lot of that is crammed between ROTPM and Goofy Challenge, which is when I will be doing a LOT of running and more swimming than I would normally do that time of year. So basically, September-December are super heavy on the running, then I add back more biking and keep up the swimming, then a lot more biking basically. It will not be easy, especially the last about 16 weeks. But I didn't sign up for UMC with the idea that it would be easy. I want to be prepared!
So here it is in all its nutso glory...if anyone has comments or questions on it, fire away!
Here is how everything adds up (ROTPM is not included in the totals) and how this compares to last year and my all time highs in each sport:
In case anyone looks at this and thinks "she will have no life," somehow I think I will manage ;)
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Really Great Training Week and Planning Continues
I have been kind of quiet about my training lately as I have been trying to run a lot and not get injured. The amount and type of running I'm doing is different than before, because I'm trying to do back-to-back long runs on Saturday and Sunday (and leaving out, sadly, long rides). While I ran 52+ miles in a week just 4 weeks ago, since that was all done as part of a double Ironman training thing, I wasn't sure how quickly I could ramp up my running.
I knew going in that I couldn't train for a 50-miler the way one should, i.e., putting in 60-100 miles per week, because I just didn't have enough time between ROTPM and the race (8 weeks!) to increase my run mileage. I hoped that with my copious Ironman experience and general overall training volume that I could get away with less running than that.
I did read some stuff about how to train for a 50-miler and talk to some people, a few of which assured me that with my background I should have no trouble finishing. And that is what I am going in to do--not be fast--just finish. My body needs to understand what it's like to run 50 miles all at once, or at least I think it does. Some people who train for an Ironman have never run a marathon, and that's OK, but that's just not how I roll.
As the weeks since ROTPM have been marching on, I've been working on my training plan through UMC. I had put 3 key training weekends into it during the last 12 weeks before that will entail a very long swim followed by a 2.5-3 hour ride, a 100+ mile ride the following day and a long run the third day, so it's like the Ultraman format. But the question remained how to prepare for these events and how to recover from them. Hopefully, by the time those weekends come around, it won't be as big of a deal to recover from! At least, based on my experience, I recover (at least to the point of being able to put in the volume) pretty rapidly. I am already surprised at how good I feel post-ROTPM, and if you've been reading here for any length of time, you know that the week following IMUSA I logged 180 miles of riding and then went over 200 for the next 3 weeks, so I think that says a lot about my ability to recover.
But I have been being careful with this running thing, as it is the thing that will get me injured. It's been 10 years since I've just run trained, and even though I'm biking about 3 hours a week still and also swimming a decent amount, what I'm doing right now is mostly running. But 10 years ago I wasn't as dedicated to stretching, massage, icing and sleeping as I am now. Those things make a HUGE difference in my ability to maintain high volume.
Anyway, based on last week's running and how I felt during the past week (pretty good, albeit really tired Monday and Tuesday mostly from a wedding hangover ;), I thought I'd try and ramp up my 2 weekend long runs.
Yesterday called for rain beginning around 10AM, so I thought I had better sacrifice going to the farmer's market for fresh local tomatoes to the running gods. I went to Waterfall Glen with the intent to run 12 miles and then fast walk/hike 5 more. I hadn't run in Waterfall Glen since ROTPM, so I thought it might be interesting to see if my hill running had improved since I'd been running up and down the hill at Greene Valley.
I thought I could go 6 miles out counter-clockwise and then back on a 12-oz. bottle of Coke since I'd chugged another 12 oz. of Coke right before I started. It was a nice cool morning, and I tried to ease into things, and based on my first mile, I thought I'd chosen a good pace for 12 miles (about 9mpm). When I got about 5.5 miles in, I ran into a friend, Bill, and we chatted for a few minutes. He's doing a 50-miler on a relay team the same day I'm running 50 all by myself. I got him caught up on what I'd been up to (yes, I am SO narcissistic, but it seems people love hearing about my training/racing exploits, what can I say?), and then he continued on his way and I kept going.
The 6-mile marker came faster than I thought it would, and then I turned around to head back. Up until this point, I'd only walked the hills on miles 1 and 2, but vowed that on the way back, I would run everything. It's harder going clockwise, especially the mile between the 5 and 4 markers, since on the way in, it's a good downhill. When I got to the Mile 5 marker, I told myself this isn't any worse than climbing the big hill at Greene Valley. I thought back to when the last time I had run up this thing, and I think it's been well over 5 years! I headed up, and it was hard, but I just kept going, and it ended up taking me 9:20 to go up which is about the fastest (9:15) I've run up Greene Valley so far.
That made me feel really good, especially since there were hoards of high school cross country runners in there, and I didn't want to look too sluggish to them! As I got past the nasty part, I picked up some speed and even managed to negative split the 12 miles! I was so happy that I quickly went to my car and grabbed some more fluids so I could get going on my 5-mile walk.
About .7 miles in, another friend of mine, Mike, runs up on me, and it was funny because he is on the same relay team as Bill. So I commented how I'd run into Bill. I told Mike I was walking, but he said he'd slow down for me, so I guess I figured I might as well just run slowly, and we ended up running about a mile together, at which point, I told him I had better stick to my walking plan, and I let him go.
But in continuing my walk, I decided I could run anything mostly flat or downhill, and so I actually did more running than walking! I ended up at almost 17.5 miles total, and I was very pleased with how I felt. When I got home, I iced my upper hammies and quads, got in a good stretch, ate well, and got a great night's sleep (10 hours).
This morning when I woke up I felt just fine. I didn't feel like I'd put in 17 miles yesterday, which was awesome. The day called for sunshine, and I wanted yet more hills, so I decided I'd head to Greene Valley. My plan was to run 10 miles and walk 5, by running about 7 on the flats, and then doing the rest up and down the big hill.
I covered the first 7 miles in about the same time as last week. Wow, I am actually running pretty well still for the week! I took a short break to drink some water and have a gel back at the car, and then it was time to run up the hill. Here I let myself slow down a little bit, as my legs already had plenty o' hill in them for the week! But it didn't feel bad to run up the hill, and then I just let it fly running back down. I ran back up a second time, and was starting to feel a little tired, so I let myself walk maybe 30 seconds. That was supposed to be the end of running, but I just couldn't deal with walking down, so I ran, and it felt good, my quads were fine. I went back one more time and walked up the hill, but then ran back down.
Then, I ran into Ian, another friend, who I had expected to see earlier, but it was nice to see him. I told him I'd already been up and down 3 times, and he said he needed to do 2 repeats, so we got to share one together of mostly walking both up and down. It was nice to talk with him, since he's done and crewed for many ultras, and I still feel like I have no clue what I'm doing and he assured me I will be fine for the 50.
So for the week I got in 52 miles of combined running and walking, although most of the walking was running, too ;) Assuming I don't feel too trashed tomorrow, my goal for the coming week is going to be 60+ miles total. My 2 long runs will not be back-to-back, though, since I have to go to Philadelphia on Saturday for my custom bike fitting!!! Still, I am going to be walking as much as possible during the week and shooting for 15+ miles running on Sunday followed by 6 miles of walking. The following weekend I will try and get close to 50 miles total on the weekend so that I've covered the distance over 2 days, and then I taper down.
Meanwhile, I've been working on my training plan for UMC. I've got my swim training down, and I'm pretty set on the biking and running. When I add it all up, it's very high volume, but when I look at swim, bike and run individually and look back over the years at what I've done before, I've come close to each sport individually at one time or another, and (fingers crossed) so I think that putting all the highest together is something I can accomplish. Besides, the biggest jumps are for swimming and running, and the swimming isn't as punishing, and a lot of the run volume will be done between now and December, and so my base will be established and I will actually run less next year.
Anyway, it is all starting to look very doable on paper, and whether I still choose to engage a coach or not, I think I know what it takes for me to feel ready for Ultraman. As I said to Ian today, I do not want to think I am near just making cutoffs for any of the 3 days. I know the 3rd day (double marathon) will be tough no matter what, but I want to know going in that my legs know what that feels like several times before race day. And with my mega-weekends planned (well, we'll have to see if I can get through them!), I think I will have done everything I possibly could have done to be prepared. There are only 2 28-hour weeks in there, 11 20-27 hour weeks (about what I do for Ironman prep except the maximum weekly volume usually only goes to 22 hours). It is still more than I have ever done in a season, but I am already trying to make myself strong.
My massage therapist told me this week that my muscles are all getting thicker. My legs it's probably due to the hill running, my abs is due to extra abs/core work and probably also hill running (which works the lower abs nicely), and my guns are coming back from extra pushups and chinups!
Half the time I think I am nuts for doing all of this and the other half of the time I am enjoying the hell out of it. I think that if most people thought they could do this and see how wonderful it can feel that they would do it because there is something truly special in taking one's body to the place I am going. Please understand I don't feel like I'm anything special, and I am surely not fast, and I know there are many others who do far more than I do, but in a small way, I am starting to feel like one of those rare, odd people that you run into occasionally and wonder, "How do they do all that?" I wonder about myself, I am tickled to death when I meet ultrarunners and ultratriathletes and I still don't think I'm one of them, but I think my mind is already there. Now it's just time for me to bring my body along for the ride!
I knew going in that I couldn't train for a 50-miler the way one should, i.e., putting in 60-100 miles per week, because I just didn't have enough time between ROTPM and the race (8 weeks!) to increase my run mileage. I hoped that with my copious Ironman experience and general overall training volume that I could get away with less running than that.
I did read some stuff about how to train for a 50-miler and talk to some people, a few of which assured me that with my background I should have no trouble finishing. And that is what I am going in to do--not be fast--just finish. My body needs to understand what it's like to run 50 miles all at once, or at least I think it does. Some people who train for an Ironman have never run a marathon, and that's OK, but that's just not how I roll.
As the weeks since ROTPM have been marching on, I've been working on my training plan through UMC. I had put 3 key training weekends into it during the last 12 weeks before that will entail a very long swim followed by a 2.5-3 hour ride, a 100+ mile ride the following day and a long run the third day, so it's like the Ultraman format. But the question remained how to prepare for these events and how to recover from them. Hopefully, by the time those weekends come around, it won't be as big of a deal to recover from! At least, based on my experience, I recover (at least to the point of being able to put in the volume) pretty rapidly. I am already surprised at how good I feel post-ROTPM, and if you've been reading here for any length of time, you know that the week following IMUSA I logged 180 miles of riding and then went over 200 for the next 3 weeks, so I think that says a lot about my ability to recover.
But I have been being careful with this running thing, as it is the thing that will get me injured. It's been 10 years since I've just run trained, and even though I'm biking about 3 hours a week still and also swimming a decent amount, what I'm doing right now is mostly running. But 10 years ago I wasn't as dedicated to stretching, massage, icing and sleeping as I am now. Those things make a HUGE difference in my ability to maintain high volume.
Anyway, based on last week's running and how I felt during the past week (pretty good, albeit really tired Monday and Tuesday mostly from a wedding hangover ;), I thought I'd try and ramp up my 2 weekend long runs.
Yesterday called for rain beginning around 10AM, so I thought I had better sacrifice going to the farmer's market for fresh local tomatoes to the running gods. I went to Waterfall Glen with the intent to run 12 miles and then fast walk/hike 5 more. I hadn't run in Waterfall Glen since ROTPM, so I thought it might be interesting to see if my hill running had improved since I'd been running up and down the hill at Greene Valley.
I thought I could go 6 miles out counter-clockwise and then back on a 12-oz. bottle of Coke since I'd chugged another 12 oz. of Coke right before I started. It was a nice cool morning, and I tried to ease into things, and based on my first mile, I thought I'd chosen a good pace for 12 miles (about 9mpm). When I got about 5.5 miles in, I ran into a friend, Bill, and we chatted for a few minutes. He's doing a 50-miler on a relay team the same day I'm running 50 all by myself. I got him caught up on what I'd been up to (yes, I am SO narcissistic, but it seems people love hearing about my training/racing exploits, what can I say?), and then he continued on his way and I kept going.
The 6-mile marker came faster than I thought it would, and then I turned around to head back. Up until this point, I'd only walked the hills on miles 1 and 2, but vowed that on the way back, I would run everything. It's harder going clockwise, especially the mile between the 5 and 4 markers, since on the way in, it's a good downhill. When I got to the Mile 5 marker, I told myself this isn't any worse than climbing the big hill at Greene Valley. I thought back to when the last time I had run up this thing, and I think it's been well over 5 years! I headed up, and it was hard, but I just kept going, and it ended up taking me 9:20 to go up which is about the fastest (9:15) I've run up Greene Valley so far.
That made me feel really good, especially since there were hoards of high school cross country runners in there, and I didn't want to look too sluggish to them! As I got past the nasty part, I picked up some speed and even managed to negative split the 12 miles! I was so happy that I quickly went to my car and grabbed some more fluids so I could get going on my 5-mile walk.
About .7 miles in, another friend of mine, Mike, runs up on me, and it was funny because he is on the same relay team as Bill. So I commented how I'd run into Bill. I told Mike I was walking, but he said he'd slow down for me, so I guess I figured I might as well just run slowly, and we ended up running about a mile together, at which point, I told him I had better stick to my walking plan, and I let him go.
But in continuing my walk, I decided I could run anything mostly flat or downhill, and so I actually did more running than walking! I ended up at almost 17.5 miles total, and I was very pleased with how I felt. When I got home, I iced my upper hammies and quads, got in a good stretch, ate well, and got a great night's sleep (10 hours).
This morning when I woke up I felt just fine. I didn't feel like I'd put in 17 miles yesterday, which was awesome. The day called for sunshine, and I wanted yet more hills, so I decided I'd head to Greene Valley. My plan was to run 10 miles and walk 5, by running about 7 on the flats, and then doing the rest up and down the big hill.
I covered the first 7 miles in about the same time as last week. Wow, I am actually running pretty well still for the week! I took a short break to drink some water and have a gel back at the car, and then it was time to run up the hill. Here I let myself slow down a little bit, as my legs already had plenty o' hill in them for the week! But it didn't feel bad to run up the hill, and then I just let it fly running back down. I ran back up a second time, and was starting to feel a little tired, so I let myself walk maybe 30 seconds. That was supposed to be the end of running, but I just couldn't deal with walking down, so I ran, and it felt good, my quads were fine. I went back one more time and walked up the hill, but then ran back down.
Then, I ran into Ian, another friend, who I had expected to see earlier, but it was nice to see him. I told him I'd already been up and down 3 times, and he said he needed to do 2 repeats, so we got to share one together of mostly walking both up and down. It was nice to talk with him, since he's done and crewed for many ultras, and I still feel like I have no clue what I'm doing and he assured me I will be fine for the 50.
So for the week I got in 52 miles of combined running and walking, although most of the walking was running, too ;) Assuming I don't feel too trashed tomorrow, my goal for the coming week is going to be 60+ miles total. My 2 long runs will not be back-to-back, though, since I have to go to Philadelphia on Saturday for my custom bike fitting!!! Still, I am going to be walking as much as possible during the week and shooting for 15+ miles running on Sunday followed by 6 miles of walking. The following weekend I will try and get close to 50 miles total on the weekend so that I've covered the distance over 2 days, and then I taper down.
Meanwhile, I've been working on my training plan for UMC. I've got my swim training down, and I'm pretty set on the biking and running. When I add it all up, it's very high volume, but when I look at swim, bike and run individually and look back over the years at what I've done before, I've come close to each sport individually at one time or another, and (fingers crossed) so I think that putting all the highest together is something I can accomplish. Besides, the biggest jumps are for swimming and running, and the swimming isn't as punishing, and a lot of the run volume will be done between now and December, and so my base will be established and I will actually run less next year.
Anyway, it is all starting to look very doable on paper, and whether I still choose to engage a coach or not, I think I know what it takes for me to feel ready for Ultraman. As I said to Ian today, I do not want to think I am near just making cutoffs for any of the 3 days. I know the 3rd day (double marathon) will be tough no matter what, but I want to know going in that my legs know what that feels like several times before race day. And with my mega-weekends planned (well, we'll have to see if I can get through them!), I think I will have done everything I possibly could have done to be prepared. There are only 2 28-hour weeks in there, 11 20-27 hour weeks (about what I do for Ironman prep except the maximum weekly volume usually only goes to 22 hours). It is still more than I have ever done in a season, but I am already trying to make myself strong.
My massage therapist told me this week that my muscles are all getting thicker. My legs it's probably due to the hill running, my abs is due to extra abs/core work and probably also hill running (which works the lower abs nicely), and my guns are coming back from extra pushups and chinups!
Half the time I think I am nuts for doing all of this and the other half of the time I am enjoying the hell out of it. I think that if most people thought they could do this and see how wonderful it can feel that they would do it because there is something truly special in taking one's body to the place I am going. Please understand I don't feel like I'm anything special, and I am surely not fast, and I know there are many others who do far more than I do, but in a small way, I am starting to feel like one of those rare, odd people that you run into occasionally and wonder, "How do they do all that?" I wonder about myself, I am tickled to death when I meet ultrarunners and ultratriathletes and I still don't think I'm one of them, but I think my mind is already there. Now it's just time for me to bring my body along for the ride!
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Running Going Well
I've been a little paranoid about building up my running, since it's the most likely thing to get me injured, and having already done 2 IM's this year, I have just been careful the last few weeks.
This past Monday, I was too tired from my IMWI spectating to swim in the morning, but I didn't really sleep in as my internal alarm clock is set for around 5:30 lately. Still, I was beat from riding and hanging out on the run course, but I didn't want the day to go to waste, and I started out by lifting (which I can almost always do when tired), and then I needed to decide whether to try and run.
I wasn't muscle tired--just sleepy tired--and I've run after lifting before, so I figured I'd go ahead and give it a shot. Well I had put some hurt to the legs lifting, but managed to run just fine and even further than I had scheduled. This made me reconsider how much running I could get done in the week, and I cautiously thought I could do more on the remaining running days.
Tuesday I swam in the morning and biked about 2 hours mid-day because it was so gorgeous (again), and is usually the case when I ride LGL, I rode pretty hard and felt sort of trashed afterward. No worries--I've been sleeping like a champion, which is the real secret to recovery!
Wednesday morning I swam again, and when it came time to run, I thought I could do more than I had scheduled. I ran slower than I thought I would, but it may have been that I reintroduced jump rope, am swimming harder and using the paddles again, and rode hard on Tuesday. Whatever, I still ran farther than originally planned, and hoped that another good night of sleep would work magic.
It did. On Thursday, I only rode for 1:30, even though I only wanted to go 1:15, but it was another gorgeous day, and one thing led to another and I ended up at 1:30. I finished up my lifting later on (about :30), and got another good night of sleep.
Friday morning I swam 3500 (I'll start bumping up the Friday swims next week), and thought that I really didn't need to run at all if I didn't feel up to it. I thought I'd been taking in enough carbs, but as soon as I started to run a bit after noon, I could tell my glycogen stores were low. So here I am bonking right at the get go, but I've run bonky before, so I just kept going on another gorgeous day, and despite my bonkiness, I was running at a pretty good clip! I thought that was a good sign that I am adapting to the higher running load and feeling pretty well recovered from ROTPM.
Based on how much I'd run during the week, this morning I thought I'd try for a 1:40 run with some walking/hiking afterwards. Well, wouldn't you know, it was another absolutely gorgeous day, but a little cooler than last weekend, which would be perfect for running. I headed to Greene Valley, with the intent to do the same first hour on the flats, then run up and down the hill twice, and then walk up and down it twice.
I ran the flats about the same pace as last week, but it felt better today, partly because it wasn't as hot, and partly because I'm just getting used to running more. I got up close and personal to a red tailed hawk that had just made a kill and was jumping up and down excitedly right next to the path! It was so absorbed in its prey that it didn't care that people were running, walking and biking right past him! I love hawks, especially the red tailed and rough legged, because they have such nice feather pants! Later on while running I was thinking what feather pants would feel like and I thought pretty neat!
I was excited to get to the hill running part, as I really don't like running pure flats, since I hardly do that in training since there are hills no matter which direction I go from my house. I ran the hill a little slower than last week, but I tried to go slower since I ran up it twice and then down. I have to say I really enjoyed it!
Then I did my walking repeats up and down the hill, and there was another red tailed hawk perched atop a light pole right off the path, and he was there for the first 3 times I went by! I figured he'd already had his lunch and was just hanging out surveying his territory.
While I was going up and down the hill, there were a few cyclists using it for training intervals, and one guy even towed his young son behind him! That impressed me!
I ended up getting in about 11.5 miles of running and 4.5 miles of walking/hiking, so a good outing. It will be key to see how I recover from this today, because tomorrow I want to run about 7 and walk/hike 3, same place.
It's become fun to do my long runs on the weekends now so that I can take advantage of Greene Valley, since the hill doesn't open until 11AM, so I get to sleep in, and it's completely sunny in the flat prairie area as well, of course, up and down the hill, so really great for early fall. I wish the hill were open during the week, because I'd sneak over there and do a few repeats, but I need to keep my weekday runs shorter since I'm swimming M/W/F and running the same days and like to have it all done plus work by 5:30PM.
I'm basically seeing how much running I can cram in before the 50-miler next month and not get hurt. I've been stretching a lot, but haven't had a massage in 2 weeks...that is key in my overall training, but I am working extra on my quads and lower back which are the things that will cause me grief in my knees and hips, and so far so good. Thankfully, I'm getting a massage next week!
I am going to keep my fingers crossed that I feel just fine tomorrow and can get in 7+ miles running and some walking/hiking, then I get to go to a wedding!
Oh, and it's International Talk Like a Pirate Day! My favorite day of the year!
Arrrrrrrggggggggh! Hope your weekend is wonderful!
This past Monday, I was too tired from my IMWI spectating to swim in the morning, but I didn't really sleep in as my internal alarm clock is set for around 5:30 lately. Still, I was beat from riding and hanging out on the run course, but I didn't want the day to go to waste, and I started out by lifting (which I can almost always do when tired), and then I needed to decide whether to try and run.
I wasn't muscle tired--just sleepy tired--and I've run after lifting before, so I figured I'd go ahead and give it a shot. Well I had put some hurt to the legs lifting, but managed to run just fine and even further than I had scheduled. This made me reconsider how much running I could get done in the week, and I cautiously thought I could do more on the remaining running days.
Tuesday I swam in the morning and biked about 2 hours mid-day because it was so gorgeous (again), and is usually the case when I ride LGL, I rode pretty hard and felt sort of trashed afterward. No worries--I've been sleeping like a champion, which is the real secret to recovery!
Wednesday morning I swam again, and when it came time to run, I thought I could do more than I had scheduled. I ran slower than I thought I would, but it may have been that I reintroduced jump rope, am swimming harder and using the paddles again, and rode hard on Tuesday. Whatever, I still ran farther than originally planned, and hoped that another good night of sleep would work magic.
It did. On Thursday, I only rode for 1:30, even though I only wanted to go 1:15, but it was another gorgeous day, and one thing led to another and I ended up at 1:30. I finished up my lifting later on (about :30), and got another good night of sleep.
Friday morning I swam 3500 (I'll start bumping up the Friday swims next week), and thought that I really didn't need to run at all if I didn't feel up to it. I thought I'd been taking in enough carbs, but as soon as I started to run a bit after noon, I could tell my glycogen stores were low. So here I am bonking right at the get go, but I've run bonky before, so I just kept going on another gorgeous day, and despite my bonkiness, I was running at a pretty good clip! I thought that was a good sign that I am adapting to the higher running load and feeling pretty well recovered from ROTPM.
Based on how much I'd run during the week, this morning I thought I'd try for a 1:40 run with some walking/hiking afterwards. Well, wouldn't you know, it was another absolutely gorgeous day, but a little cooler than last weekend, which would be perfect for running. I headed to Greene Valley, with the intent to do the same first hour on the flats, then run up and down the hill twice, and then walk up and down it twice.
I ran the flats about the same pace as last week, but it felt better today, partly because it wasn't as hot, and partly because I'm just getting used to running more. I got up close and personal to a red tailed hawk that had just made a kill and was jumping up and down excitedly right next to the path! It was so absorbed in its prey that it didn't care that people were running, walking and biking right past him! I love hawks, especially the red tailed and rough legged, because they have such nice feather pants! Later on while running I was thinking what feather pants would feel like and I thought pretty neat!
I was excited to get to the hill running part, as I really don't like running pure flats, since I hardly do that in training since there are hills no matter which direction I go from my house. I ran the hill a little slower than last week, but I tried to go slower since I ran up it twice and then down. I have to say I really enjoyed it!
Then I did my walking repeats up and down the hill, and there was another red tailed hawk perched atop a light pole right off the path, and he was there for the first 3 times I went by! I figured he'd already had his lunch and was just hanging out surveying his territory.
While I was going up and down the hill, there were a few cyclists using it for training intervals, and one guy even towed his young son behind him! That impressed me!
I ended up getting in about 11.5 miles of running and 4.5 miles of walking/hiking, so a good outing. It will be key to see how I recover from this today, because tomorrow I want to run about 7 and walk/hike 3, same place.
It's become fun to do my long runs on the weekends now so that I can take advantage of Greene Valley, since the hill doesn't open until 11AM, so I get to sleep in, and it's completely sunny in the flat prairie area as well, of course, up and down the hill, so really great for early fall. I wish the hill were open during the week, because I'd sneak over there and do a few repeats, but I need to keep my weekday runs shorter since I'm swimming M/W/F and running the same days and like to have it all done plus work by 5:30PM.
I'm basically seeing how much running I can cram in before the 50-miler next month and not get hurt. I've been stretching a lot, but haven't had a massage in 2 weeks...that is key in my overall training, but I am working extra on my quads and lower back which are the things that will cause me grief in my knees and hips, and so far so good. Thankfully, I'm getting a massage next week!
I am going to keep my fingers crossed that I feel just fine tomorrow and can get in 7+ miles running and some walking/hiking, then I get to go to a wedding!
Oh, and it's International Talk Like a Pirate Day! My favorite day of the year!
Arrrrrrrggggggggh! Hope your weekend is wonderful!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
More IMWI Spectating Pics
More fun scenes from race day!
Telling Greg to "get going"
Talking to Ali and asking all the questions to see if we can figure out something different to make him feel better
Telling Deanna she is looking good, even though she said to me, "I'm not feelin' it!" She ended up with a huge PR!
Telling Greg to "get going"
Talking to Ali and asking all the questions to see if we can figure out something different to make him feel better
Telling Deanna she is looking good, even though she said to me, "I'm not feelin' it!" She ended up with a huge PR!Monday, September 14, 2009
IMWI Spectator Report and Miscellaneous
I got up at 3AM yesterday so I could make it up to Madison in time to start riding during the swim, since I didn't want to be riding with the race itself. I've done this 3 times before, I think. What I do is ride the stick (the out and back section of the course) and then ride the loop in reverse direction. In this way, riders can see me coming and since I'm pretty easy to spot, people I know can catch a smile, wave and encouragement.
I was out the door by 3:40AM, and good thing, because we were totally fogged in! You couldn't see more than maybe 20 feet in front of you. It was worse than when I was driving from Albany to Lake Placid in 2007, but at least yesterday I knew the roads. Still, I found myself driving just about the speed limit until the fog finally broke near Rockford. It was cool a few times to see a patch of fog just hanging in the air like I was in a horror movie!
The weather report called for perfect conditions, I thought, for race day. At least they are my perfect conditions...about the same as at Lake Placid this year except a few less clouds and no rain to start the day.
It took me about 2 1/2 hours to get to Madison, which was a personal worst, because of the slow foggy driving and then I stopped twice to pee. I parked at the Alliant Center, which is cool because they ran shuttle buses from there to downtown and back all day long. I had a little time on my hands, since I didn't want to start riding until 6:45, so I moseyed on over to the Clarion Hotel to pee again and wait a few minutes before taking off.
My head is still messed up from ROTPM because I had forgotten the distance to Madison (140 miles not 112), and for some reason I thought I was riding 56 miles yesterday, but it was 70. Thankfully, I had pigged out on Saturday evening. I had bought some treats since Shelley may have been joining me, but she didn't, so I ate this awesome creme brulee tart all by myself and also one of the breakfast pastries! I put 2 bottles of Gatorade on LGL and took off, thinking I had plenty of calories for maybe 3.5 hours of riding.
When I started out, it was still pretty cool, and I wore arm warmers, but wasn't worried as the sun continued to rise and there were no clouds in the sky. It was so peaceful, and it was like I had most of the roads all to myself. I know my way around the IMWI course without maps, and whenever I ride it, I still ride the old course before they changed it. On Byrne Road (no longer on the course), I spotted some sandhill cranes in a field:
It was so cool to notice them. Normally, I only see them flying overhead near home during their spring and fall migrations, so these must be making their way south.
When I got to Locust, I noticed this chalk marking on the road and I hoped it made the racers smile as much as it did me:
As I got out onto the loop, I remembered that I would start off with a bang on the climb up Midtown Road, which is a really fun downhill in the race, but it looks kinda like a wall when you go the opposite direction. Still, it's not that long, but I enjoyed standing up and testing out my legs, since it's been awhile (um...IMLP) since I've ridden any serious hills. Then as I got to the next section of Midtown that has nasty climbs in the race, but I got to go downhill, I stopped to take a pic at the crest and then one of the beautiful homes alongside the climb:
Moving right along, I got to Old Sauk Pass, which is another not so fun climb (although short) in the race, but I got to zip down it. Here's the view from the top:
Doesn't look too bad, does it? But it's a windy, steep little bugger.
After that, I passed through Cross Plains and then turn onto Garfoot Road, which is a beautiful road, except parts of it suck riding in the reverse direction, but I'd done that in Horribly Hilly earlier in the year. At this point, I began trying to calculate when the pros would be coming through, since I'd wanted to be at Garfoot and Mineral Point when they did, but just before I got to the hot corner on Garfoot (where they put hay bales on race day in anticipation of crashes), a race support vehicle came from the other direction and Graham Fraser was in it and he warned me the pros were coming, so I thought, shit, it is a fast day, and so I waited at the bottom as 1, 2 and then a pack of 10 came by. Here you can see LGL laying down on the side of the road while I snap a pic of one of the earlier riders:
I took some more shots of bikers, but they are kinda boring, so I'm not reprinting them here. I made it to Garfoot and Mineral Point safely, watched a few more fast riders come by, then went on my way, as I wanted to be through Witte Road before the hoardes of age groupers came through, since people tend to ride all over the road on that stretch of the course. It seemed I was the only rider going opposite the race yesterday, so I was getting a lot of looks from the racers, and I yelled at as many as I could to give encouragement. I also ended up yelling at a few packs of drafters. There is just no reason for it on a course like this, but the more people that get jammed into these races, the more prevalent drafting is going to become. Oh well...
Riding up Witte Road was fun for me, as it's a roller coaster, but I had to stay really far right as some age groupers were trying to ride down the center of the road. It was a little dicey, but once I made it to County S, I could relax, as I'd be going through Mount Horeb and then roads that would have some traffic on them. I was amazed at some dufus drivers that had to go somewhere during the race. I know there are ample warnings put out, and yet I am always amazed to see people trying to do that. As well, race support and marshalls on motorcycles and in vehicles are going with the race traffic down the center of the road, so it is a little scary on my side of the road, but I managed. I saw a few people I know along Route 92 and County G, and I have to say, those stretches of road are hilly in either direction! There is just not much in the way of flatness on the IMWI course!
At the intersection of PB and Whalen, I stopped for a few minutes to see if I could catch riders coming through on their second loop. I did, and another spectator asked me how I knew so many people. I told him I've done "a few" of these races. He asked me how many, and when I told him he sort of rolled his eyes. His daughter was doing her first Ironman!
At this point, I knew I could make it back to my car ahead of the pros, and so I kept on riding, really enjoying the stick all by my lonesome. There were a few aid stations set up and they would cheer as I rode by, and I waved at them. It was around here that I remembered that I was riding like 70 miles instead of 56, and realized I probably didn't have enough calories with me, but since I only had about 10 miles to go, I was fine.
When I got back to my car, I chugged a bottle of water, put on run shorts, grabbed another bottle of water, Gatorade and some iced coffee, toweled off my face and LGL, and got on the shuttle bus. From the dropoff point, I walked to State Street, which is where you can see runners go by 4 times, and within minutes, someone was calling my name. It was Kim, who I know as a friend of a friend, and we ended up hanging out (and having a couple of beers) for the duration. It was great to meet her and hang out, and here we are enjoying ourselves:
I had a great time spotting people I knew or them spotting me, and I ended up meeting a guy who did Ultraman Canada this year! He recognized me from the pirate gear (he was also drinking beer), and so I spent some time with him to get some tips and get acquainted. Small world!
I saw some friends looking great, others not so much, which is typical for an Ironman. Everyone I know finished, one guy earned a Kona slot (but don't think he's going to take it) with a 10:05 (amazing!). There was a lot of post-race talk about how hot it was, and while it was warm, it affects everyone differently--I think I would have had a good race, but I do know that the IMWI course kicks a lot of people's butts on the bike every single year.
I'm very happy for everyone who finished no matter what their time, and I hope they are all recovering! One of these years, I want to go back and do it again, but I can't say when. Man, I wish I was going down to watch IMFL again, but don't think that's going to be happening, so I guess that means I need to start my own training, huh?
Speaking of which, I was able to run well and farther than I'd planned on Saturday. I ended up running in the flats of Greene Valley for about an hour, and then I ran up the stinking hill! It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, probably because there's this 1-mile climb I run in training near home several times a week. I just felt good that running up like that didn't feel bad on either my legs or heart, so I'm thinking I'm pretty well recovered from ROTPM, plus I rode pretty well yesterday.
I started back in on extra pushups, chinups (I sucked) and abs work last week, just a tiny bit, and this morning I got out the jump rope for 5', and it wasn't bad. I did chinups this morning, too, and what do you know, they are already getting a little easier! I know how much this stuff will help me in running and general bulletproof-ness, and since I'm not going to be biking much for several months (yes, it makes me sad, but I must give precedence to running), I have plenty of time for it.
This weekend should be interesting as I begin back-to-back long runs with hiking afterwards. I'm sure it will kick my ass, but that's what I need right now. Oh and I've got a wedding to attend on Sunday, and I'm really looking forward to that!
Hope everyone has a great week!
I was out the door by 3:40AM, and good thing, because we were totally fogged in! You couldn't see more than maybe 20 feet in front of you. It was worse than when I was driving from Albany to Lake Placid in 2007, but at least yesterday I knew the roads. Still, I found myself driving just about the speed limit until the fog finally broke near Rockford. It was cool a few times to see a patch of fog just hanging in the air like I was in a horror movie!
The weather report called for perfect conditions, I thought, for race day. At least they are my perfect conditions...about the same as at Lake Placid this year except a few less clouds and no rain to start the day.
It took me about 2 1/2 hours to get to Madison, which was a personal worst, because of the slow foggy driving and then I stopped twice to pee. I parked at the Alliant Center, which is cool because they ran shuttle buses from there to downtown and back all day long. I had a little time on my hands, since I didn't want to start riding until 6:45, so I moseyed on over to the Clarion Hotel to pee again and wait a few minutes before taking off.
My head is still messed up from ROTPM because I had forgotten the distance to Madison (140 miles not 112), and for some reason I thought I was riding 56 miles yesterday, but it was 70. Thankfully, I had pigged out on Saturday evening. I had bought some treats since Shelley may have been joining me, but she didn't, so I ate this awesome creme brulee tart all by myself and also one of the breakfast pastries! I put 2 bottles of Gatorade on LGL and took off, thinking I had plenty of calories for maybe 3.5 hours of riding.
When I started out, it was still pretty cool, and I wore arm warmers, but wasn't worried as the sun continued to rise and there were no clouds in the sky. It was so peaceful, and it was like I had most of the roads all to myself. I know my way around the IMWI course without maps, and whenever I ride it, I still ride the old course before they changed it. On Byrne Road (no longer on the course), I spotted some sandhill cranes in a field:
It was so cool to notice them. Normally, I only see them flying overhead near home during their spring and fall migrations, so these must be making their way south.When I got to Locust, I noticed this chalk marking on the road and I hoped it made the racers smile as much as it did me:
As I got out onto the loop, I remembered that I would start off with a bang on the climb up Midtown Road, which is a really fun downhill in the race, but it looks kinda like a wall when you go the opposite direction. Still, it's not that long, but I enjoyed standing up and testing out my legs, since it's been awhile (um...IMLP) since I've ridden any serious hills. Then as I got to the next section of Midtown that has nasty climbs in the race, but I got to go downhill, I stopped to take a pic at the crest and then one of the beautiful homes alongside the climb:
Moving right along, I got to Old Sauk Pass, which is another not so fun climb (although short) in the race, but I got to zip down it. Here's the view from the top:
Doesn't look too bad, does it? But it's a windy, steep little bugger.After that, I passed through Cross Plains and then turn onto Garfoot Road, which is a beautiful road, except parts of it suck riding in the reverse direction, but I'd done that in Horribly Hilly earlier in the year. At this point, I began trying to calculate when the pros would be coming through, since I'd wanted to be at Garfoot and Mineral Point when they did, but just before I got to the hot corner on Garfoot (where they put hay bales on race day in anticipation of crashes), a race support vehicle came from the other direction and Graham Fraser was in it and he warned me the pros were coming, so I thought, shit, it is a fast day, and so I waited at the bottom as 1, 2 and then a pack of 10 came by. Here you can see LGL laying down on the side of the road while I snap a pic of one of the earlier riders:
I took some more shots of bikers, but they are kinda boring, so I'm not reprinting them here. I made it to Garfoot and Mineral Point safely, watched a few more fast riders come by, then went on my way, as I wanted to be through Witte Road before the hoardes of age groupers came through, since people tend to ride all over the road on that stretch of the course. It seemed I was the only rider going opposite the race yesterday, so I was getting a lot of looks from the racers, and I yelled at as many as I could to give encouragement. I also ended up yelling at a few packs of drafters. There is just no reason for it on a course like this, but the more people that get jammed into these races, the more prevalent drafting is going to become. Oh well...Riding up Witte Road was fun for me, as it's a roller coaster, but I had to stay really far right as some age groupers were trying to ride down the center of the road. It was a little dicey, but once I made it to County S, I could relax, as I'd be going through Mount Horeb and then roads that would have some traffic on them. I was amazed at some dufus drivers that had to go somewhere during the race. I know there are ample warnings put out, and yet I am always amazed to see people trying to do that. As well, race support and marshalls on motorcycles and in vehicles are going with the race traffic down the center of the road, so it is a little scary on my side of the road, but I managed. I saw a few people I know along Route 92 and County G, and I have to say, those stretches of road are hilly in either direction! There is just not much in the way of flatness on the IMWI course!
At the intersection of PB and Whalen, I stopped for a few minutes to see if I could catch riders coming through on their second loop. I did, and another spectator asked me how I knew so many people. I told him I've done "a few" of these races. He asked me how many, and when I told him he sort of rolled his eyes. His daughter was doing her first Ironman!
At this point, I knew I could make it back to my car ahead of the pros, and so I kept on riding, really enjoying the stick all by my lonesome. There were a few aid stations set up and they would cheer as I rode by, and I waved at them. It was around here that I remembered that I was riding like 70 miles instead of 56, and realized I probably didn't have enough calories with me, but since I only had about 10 miles to go, I was fine.
When I got back to my car, I chugged a bottle of water, put on run shorts, grabbed another bottle of water, Gatorade and some iced coffee, toweled off my face and LGL, and got on the shuttle bus. From the dropoff point, I walked to State Street, which is where you can see runners go by 4 times, and within minutes, someone was calling my name. It was Kim, who I know as a friend of a friend, and we ended up hanging out (and having a couple of beers) for the duration. It was great to meet her and hang out, and here we are enjoying ourselves:
I had a great time spotting people I knew or them spotting me, and I ended up meeting a guy who did Ultraman Canada this year! He recognized me from the pirate gear (he was also drinking beer), and so I spent some time with him to get some tips and get acquainted. Small world!I saw some friends looking great, others not so much, which is typical for an Ironman. Everyone I know finished, one guy earned a Kona slot (but don't think he's going to take it) with a 10:05 (amazing!). There was a lot of post-race talk about how hot it was, and while it was warm, it affects everyone differently--I think I would have had a good race, but I do know that the IMWI course kicks a lot of people's butts on the bike every single year.
I'm very happy for everyone who finished no matter what their time, and I hope they are all recovering! One of these years, I want to go back and do it again, but I can't say when. Man, I wish I was going down to watch IMFL again, but don't think that's going to be happening, so I guess that means I need to start my own training, huh?
Speaking of which, I was able to run well and farther than I'd planned on Saturday. I ended up running in the flats of Greene Valley for about an hour, and then I ran up the stinking hill! It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, probably because there's this 1-mile climb I run in training near home several times a week. I just felt good that running up like that didn't feel bad on either my legs or heart, so I'm thinking I'm pretty well recovered from ROTPM, plus I rode pretty well yesterday.
I started back in on extra pushups, chinups (I sucked) and abs work last week, just a tiny bit, and this morning I got out the jump rope for 5', and it wasn't bad. I did chinups this morning, too, and what do you know, they are already getting a little easier! I know how much this stuff will help me in running and general bulletproof-ness, and since I'm not going to be biking much for several months (yes, it makes me sad, but I must give precedence to running), I have plenty of time for it.
This weekend should be interesting as I begin back-to-back long runs with hiking afterwards. I'm sure it will kick my ass, but that's what I need right now. Oh and I've got a wedding to attend on Sunday, and I'm really looking forward to that!
Hope everyone has a great week!
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Various Updates
First off, I've listed the URL for my Facebook page on the sidebar, but here it is also.
I updated the sticker on my car:
282.3 is the total miles I covered during ROTPM, and IFPM stands for I'm a Fucking PirateMan, which was recommended to me by a Facebook friend! I suppose that when I finish UltraMan, I will need to cover this entire sticker up and replace it with 318.6, which is the Ultraman total distance.
Here is a pic of the frame for my impending new bike. We don't have the wheels designed yet, and I am still wavering on PowerTap vs. Ergomo, since I found information that says Ergomo will be opening back up for business. If that's the case, I'd rather just have the bottom bracket power meter, and then I can have the Zipp wheels just for racing and use the training wheels off of Bitchie for training. There are a lot of decisions I need to make yet!
Isn't it cool looking? I was thinking black and white, but flames don't look too good in white, and I do like red, so we're going black and red only.
I am going up to ride and cheer at Ironman Wisconsin tomorrow. It will be a long day for me, but longer for those racing, and I know I will feel the heart strings tug that I am not racing it. Something tells me I need to go back and kick that race's ass, but tomorrow I will just be happy to be up there supporting a lot of people I know and hope to be able to offer them a few knowing words while they are out there. The weather is predicted to be awesome, and that is good all around!
I feel pretty blase today, like I'm barely training, but that is a good thing. It means I am recovering the right way. As much as I'd like to be doing more, no worries, that will happen soon enough! Today I'm going to run and then walk/hike for awhile, and then I have a whole day to do whatever I want before I pack for my little trip tomorrow.
Enjoy your weekend!
I updated the sticker on my car:
282.3 is the total miles I covered during ROTPM, and IFPM stands for I'm a Fucking PirateMan, which was recommended to me by a Facebook friend! I suppose that when I finish UltraMan, I will need to cover this entire sticker up and replace it with 318.6, which is the Ultraman total distance.Here is a pic of the frame for my impending new bike. We don't have the wheels designed yet, and I am still wavering on PowerTap vs. Ergomo, since I found information that says Ergomo will be opening back up for business. If that's the case, I'd rather just have the bottom bracket power meter, and then I can have the Zipp wheels just for racing and use the training wheels off of Bitchie for training. There are a lot of decisions I need to make yet!
Isn't it cool looking? I was thinking black and white, but flames don't look too good in white, and I do like red, so we're going black and red only.
I am going up to ride and cheer at Ironman Wisconsin tomorrow. It will be a long day for me, but longer for those racing, and I know I will feel the heart strings tug that I am not racing it. Something tells me I need to go back and kick that race's ass, but tomorrow I will just be happy to be up there supporting a lot of people I know and hope to be able to offer them a few knowing words while they are out there. The weather is predicted to be awesome, and that is good all around!
I feel pretty blase today, like I'm barely training, but that is a good thing. It means I am recovering the right way. As much as I'd like to be doing more, no worries, that will happen soon enough! Today I'm going to run and then walk/hike for awhile, and then I have a whole day to do whatever I want before I pack for my little trip tomorrow.
Enjoy your weekend!
Sunday, September 06, 2009
Season Totals and a Good Recovery Week
In case anyone is wondering what it takes to win 5 sprint races and a 1/2 Ironman, set a new Ironman PR and beat the crap out of a double Ironman over 4 days, here it is:
Ladies and gentlemen: That is the most biking I have done in a season ever since I first began doing triathlons! That is what got me my Ironman PR. It's not the most total hours for any of the sports--it's that I got faster biking, running, and I guess a little bit swimming, although the swimming wasn't so much reflected in my racing. The most total hours of training I've done in a season was from 2003-2004.
Looking ahead to Ultraman Canada, I've sketched out a training plan that gives me 858 training hours between now and UMC. If I follow conventions about how much I train and how much of an increase I should be able to do safely, I should only to up go 825 hours for this new season. I suspect that as I go back through what I think I need to do between January and July that I will be cutting a bit here and there, since there are 3 weekends where I want to do a huge swim (6000 plus yards) and long ride (2.5-3 hours) on Day 1, a long ride (7-8 hours) Day 2, and a long run (2-2.5 hours) on Day 3, and I'm sure I will need more recovery from those training bouts than I think! The jury is still out on retaining a coach, but I feel pretty set in what I've scheduled through Goofy Challenge.
Still, the whole deal looks pretty daunting and even scary on paper. Which is what I expected it to be. I would never have expected to do the same amount of training as I did this year or that I've ever done to complete an Ultraman. I really can't do much more training during the week than I already do (I can do 10-12 hours depending on where I am in my cycle), but somehow I will need to try and manage a little more if I want to get in 2 long runs, 2 long rides, a huge swim, 2 more swims, 1 more shorter ride, and 3-4 more shorter runs. For May-July, anyway. Before then, I will stick with a proven training pattern that has worked for me that has me swimming and running M/W/F, shorter quality rides Tu/Th, a long ride on Saturday plus a little transition run (I don't really need to do brick workouts for Ultraman), and a long run on Sunday.
But it's pretty exciting to look at my plan so far, and yes, it's nutso.
Back to this past week. I didn't try to do what I did after IMLP since I don't have another Ironman coming up anytime soon, and I had never done a double Ironman either, so I have been careful about my recovery this week. I only did 2 swims, but got in some decent biking. I thought that I should at least do some walking today, and it looked like it might rain, so I got started around 9:30 just walking around the block where I live, and then I did a couple of repeats walking up and down the hill from my house. I have to say, walking is boring, but I have an objective to get faster at it, since I will be doing a good amount of it during the North Face 50-miler at least, and maybe some during Ultraman--who knows?
I really had wanted to go to Greene Valley and go up and down the huge hill maybe 5 times, but in retrospect, I'm glad I stuck close to home for the first hour or so, because I didn't really need the mega-hill workout this week. After I walked almost 5 miles near home, I worked some more on my training plan, watched the weather, and decided it was going to be nice and so I headed to Greene Valley around 12:30 (Yes, I am a slacker today sleeping in and taking my sweet time!).
I knew it was a mile up the big hill since I'd ridden it last fall, and while I really want to run up and down the hill, today was about just getting time on my feet. So I walked up the first time with camera in hand, and it took about 15 minutes, not bad for climbing! I took some nice pics on the way up and while up top, since you can see a lot of the surrounding area including where I live:
heading up--you can see the rise in the hill
a car heading up to the top (for some perspective)
more cars
getting near the top--it's getting steeper now
This is up top--a military plane of some sort kept circling the area.
This is looking north and east about where my house would be by that water tower about 1/3 across the top
Looking down at a car coming up
Looking to the north and east--you can see the tower in Oak Brook that I've climbed before and is also where I used to swim in the basement years ago
Not sure where I'm looking here
Looking south and west
Looking north
The second time down the hill, I ran easily all the way, and it was totally fun! I've always wanted to run up, though, and I will do that in a few weeks. There are a bunch of flat trails in this forest preserve, so I'm going to make heavy use of it in the next 4 weeks, weather permitting, so I can run some flats, run some hill, and then hike hill and look out over my dominion!
I ended up walking 9.5 miles today. Somehow it doesn't feel like a workout, but it's not bad considering I did walk at a brisk pace (14mpm overall). Still, I need to get faster at the walking thing, and hopefully I will do that soon enough.
Tomorrow I have a day off and will swim, bike and run. Oops--a triathlon, I guess! No, I will be taking some time in between efforts and just enjoying the day.
Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend as much as I am!
| Season Totals | 09/15/2008-08/30/2009 |
| Swim: | 459718 yards (260.91 miles) in 158.77 hours |
| Bike: | Approx. 5910.305 miles in 329.66 hours |
| Run: | Approx. 1355.22 miles in 208.26 hours |
| Strength: | 52.84 hours |
| All Sports: | Approx. 7526.44 miles in 749.53 hours; approx. 333461 calories burned |
| Stretching: | 99.29 hours. Massage: 49.25 hours |
Ladies and gentlemen: That is the most biking I have done in a season ever since I first began doing triathlons! That is what got me my Ironman PR. It's not the most total hours for any of the sports--it's that I got faster biking, running, and I guess a little bit swimming, although the swimming wasn't so much reflected in my racing. The most total hours of training I've done in a season was from 2003-2004.
Looking ahead to Ultraman Canada, I've sketched out a training plan that gives me 858 training hours between now and UMC. If I follow conventions about how much I train and how much of an increase I should be able to do safely, I should only to up go 825 hours for this new season. I suspect that as I go back through what I think I need to do between January and July that I will be cutting a bit here and there, since there are 3 weekends where I want to do a huge swim (6000 plus yards) and long ride (2.5-3 hours) on Day 1, a long ride (7-8 hours) Day 2, and a long run (2-2.5 hours) on Day 3, and I'm sure I will need more recovery from those training bouts than I think! The jury is still out on retaining a coach, but I feel pretty set in what I've scheduled through Goofy Challenge.
Still, the whole deal looks pretty daunting and even scary on paper. Which is what I expected it to be. I would never have expected to do the same amount of training as I did this year or that I've ever done to complete an Ultraman. I really can't do much more training during the week than I already do (I can do 10-12 hours depending on where I am in my cycle), but somehow I will need to try and manage a little more if I want to get in 2 long runs, 2 long rides, a huge swim, 2 more swims, 1 more shorter ride, and 3-4 more shorter runs. For May-July, anyway. Before then, I will stick with a proven training pattern that has worked for me that has me swimming and running M/W/F, shorter quality rides Tu/Th, a long ride on Saturday plus a little transition run (I don't really need to do brick workouts for Ultraman), and a long run on Sunday.
But it's pretty exciting to look at my plan so far, and yes, it's nutso.
Back to this past week. I didn't try to do what I did after IMLP since I don't have another Ironman coming up anytime soon, and I had never done a double Ironman either, so I have been careful about my recovery this week. I only did 2 swims, but got in some decent biking. I thought that I should at least do some walking today, and it looked like it might rain, so I got started around 9:30 just walking around the block where I live, and then I did a couple of repeats walking up and down the hill from my house. I have to say, walking is boring, but I have an objective to get faster at it, since I will be doing a good amount of it during the North Face 50-miler at least, and maybe some during Ultraman--who knows?
I really had wanted to go to Greene Valley and go up and down the huge hill maybe 5 times, but in retrospect, I'm glad I stuck close to home for the first hour or so, because I didn't really need the mega-hill workout this week. After I walked almost 5 miles near home, I worked some more on my training plan, watched the weather, and decided it was going to be nice and so I headed to Greene Valley around 12:30 (Yes, I am a slacker today sleeping in and taking my sweet time!).
I knew it was a mile up the big hill since I'd ridden it last fall, and while I really want to run up and down the hill, today was about just getting time on my feet. So I walked up the first time with camera in hand, and it took about 15 minutes, not bad for climbing! I took some nice pics on the way up and while up top, since you can see a lot of the surrounding area including where I live:
heading up--you can see the rise in the hill
a car heading up to the top (for some perspective)
more cars
getting near the top--it's getting steeper now
This is up top--a military plane of some sort kept circling the area.
This is looking north and east about where my house would be by that water tower about 1/3 across the top
Looking down at a car coming up
Looking to the north and east--you can see the tower in Oak Brook that I've climbed before and is also where I used to swim in the basement years ago
Not sure where I'm looking here
Looking south and west
Looking northThe second time down the hill, I ran easily all the way, and it was totally fun! I've always wanted to run up, though, and I will do that in a few weeks. There are a bunch of flat trails in this forest preserve, so I'm going to make heavy use of it in the next 4 weeks, weather permitting, so I can run some flats, run some hill, and then hike hill and look out over my dominion!
I ended up walking 9.5 miles today. Somehow it doesn't feel like a workout, but it's not bad considering I did walk at a brisk pace (14mpm overall). Still, I need to get faster at the walking thing, and hopefully I will do that soon enough.
Tomorrow I have a day off and will swim, bike and run. Oops--a triathlon, I guess! No, I will be taking some time in between efforts and just enjoying the day.
Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend as much as I am!
Friday, September 04, 2009
Various Updates
Wow...all I can say is this Ultraman thing is a daily obsession...at least until I think I have things under control.
I am busy making myself a training plan and am not yet sure I will retain a coach--I may just want until January for that. I think I'm good with what I'm doing through December, as long as it doesn't kill me! I am going to try and get my long swim up to 7,000 yards by the end of the year. That allows me to maintain some sort of sanity through the beginning of winter and keep myself focused on running. Will try and get up to a 9,000 yard long swim by April.
On a related note, today I swam 3,000 yards and it went by quickly! I am doing a little experiment on myself and will just be swimming short intervals (50's and 100's) for a few weeks on my shorter swims. It seems that I forgot how much fun that can be, even though I also enjoy the longer intervals, which I'll use for the long swim (500's). It's nice that I changed my perspective of "long swim" this summer, but we'll see how much I like starting to swim at 5:30AM for awhile!
I now have 2 crew members for Ultraman--Shelley (Crew Captain) and Deirdre. Deirdre lives up in BC, so that will help with shipping crap to her and also starting our travel to Penticton in Vancouver. I will keep saying I am SO grateful that these wonderful people are going to do this for me! I am still looking for a third crew member, as I need firm commitments as soon as possible.
On another note, I am getting a new triathlon bike! Well, I won't have it probably until December--it is going to be custom built for me by Elite! Since everyone is already asking about it, it's going to be a Razor Carbon with Ultegra components, and will be black with pirates (Jolly Roger) on the frame/fork and flames on the Zipp wheels. I'm getting a PowerTap SL built into the rear wheel, since I love power and Elite does the wheel building themselves. I go for my measuring on 10/3, so that will be pretty exciting.
I am also really excited that Ironman Wisconsin is coming up next week, and I will be going up there with Shelley to ride around during the race and continue cheering on during the run! I know so many people doing the race--it will be good to offer them whatever I can in terms of encouragement and just that "knowing"--that I know just how they feel.
I have already biked twice this week, very easy on the MTB, and am going out on LGL today for a short spin, and hopefully will get in maybe 3 hours on LGL tomorrow, just so I am able to ride a decent pace and some hills with Shelley at IMWI!
I haven't run yet, and wont' until Monday, which will just be trying out the old legs. However, I am going to try and walk/hike up and down this really big hill at Green Valley on Sunday--if it feels OK, I will go up and down 5 times which would be 10 miles, but who knows? I need to listen to my legs, especially my knees.
I can't believe I am going to run 50 miles in just 5 weeks--that hasn't sunk in yet--and I have to go buy a headlamp and maybe some other stuff for it. Didn't I just run about 50 miles? Oh yeah, that is so last week.
I feel like I'm on this fast-moving conveyor belt and that I really have to pay attention to everything that is flying past me in case it has something to do with Ultraman. Things to buy, things to do, things to consider for training. It is all so very heady and a little overwhelming. But I know that once I have things laid out on paper at least through the end of the year (should be done with that this weekend), and I can look at it and see what I need to do, I will be able to breathe a sigh of relief for awhile, and then I can begin sketching out January-July, which is the really meaty part.
I am having regular, fleeting thoughts of, "why am I doing this?" And so far, the only answer I can come up with is, "because I was ready for it." And I am a firm believer in that when you know you are ready for something that you should march ahead and just do it. The doing of things is what gets things done and makes us able to do more and be more, and that is what this is all about to me.
One more thing--I'm very happy to have a 3-day weekend! Hope yours is outstanding, and good luck to my friends who are racing this weekend!
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
What is Extreme?
Except for maybe the very first year I trained for an Ironman, I have never thought of it as an "extreme" pursuit. Swimming, biking and running for a long time is not very dangerous, and if one is willing to put in the training time, any reasonably fit person can complete an Ironman, IMO.
Yet for years I have had friends and acquaintances both inside and outside triathlon who have held me up as their "extreme" friend. Sometimes I just smile, and other times I explain that it's not like climbing Mt. Everest without oxygen. After all, if I am able to do this while employed full time, how hard can it be?
And then there came a point, and I would say this was about 4 years ago (which curiously coincided with when I began writing this blog which was a result of major upheaval in my life), when I felt ready to do this Ironman thing a bit differently. I mean, do the training, but do the training with my own particular madness thrown in. Schedule in some events and races that wouldn't normally be recommended for a typical training cycle. Sometime during the next year is when I was christened "Crackhead."
I didn't really train more--I just trained harder, and the results began showing up the next year. It got to the point where whenever I would run into someone I hadn't seen in awhile, their first question would be, "When is your next race?" And usually there was one right on the horizon.
Thing is, the more I did and the harder I trained, the more I enjoyed it. Practice becomes habit. The body adapts; the mind follows. What was once a stretch became routine. Life moves on, though, and there were periods of time when I couldn't be at my best physically, but that is something we all have to accept.
As each year has passed and I've grown older, I've wondered how long I can continue to improve. I guess it's longer than I initially thought, only because I started so low down on the speed/endurance spectrum!
I still do not consider myself fast or extreme. Thing is, I know people much, much faster than me and some who do much more extreme events that me. I am not even sure what to make of Ultraman--to me it is more of a choice, and when I finish it, I still won't think I am that extreme--after all, it is just swimming, biking and running.
When I think extreme, I think Badwater, Western States, climbing Mt. Everest, RAAM. Ultraman will be hard, and some will consider it extreme. But for me, extreme is something that I just can't conceive of doing--yet. Whenever someone says to me, "I could never do an Ironman," I typically respond, "Don't say you can't--say you choose not to."
A week ago someone said to me, "You don't know the word can't." Maybe not, but I know my limits, and the game to me is all about increasing them methodically to the point where the extreme becomes the expected.
Even though Revenge of the PirateMan gave me some confidence for Ultraman, I am keeping perspective since:
Yet for years I have had friends and acquaintances both inside and outside triathlon who have held me up as their "extreme" friend. Sometimes I just smile, and other times I explain that it's not like climbing Mt. Everest without oxygen. After all, if I am able to do this while employed full time, how hard can it be?
And then there came a point, and I would say this was about 4 years ago (which curiously coincided with when I began writing this blog which was a result of major upheaval in my life), when I felt ready to do this Ironman thing a bit differently. I mean, do the training, but do the training with my own particular madness thrown in. Schedule in some events and races that wouldn't normally be recommended for a typical training cycle. Sometime during the next year is when I was christened "Crackhead."
I didn't really train more--I just trained harder, and the results began showing up the next year. It got to the point where whenever I would run into someone I hadn't seen in awhile, their first question would be, "When is your next race?" And usually there was one right on the horizon.
Thing is, the more I did and the harder I trained, the more I enjoyed it. Practice becomes habit. The body adapts; the mind follows. What was once a stretch became routine. Life moves on, though, and there were periods of time when I couldn't be at my best physically, but that is something we all have to accept.
As each year has passed and I've grown older, I've wondered how long I can continue to improve. I guess it's longer than I initially thought, only because I started so low down on the speed/endurance spectrum!
I still do not consider myself fast or extreme. Thing is, I know people much, much faster than me and some who do much more extreme events that me. I am not even sure what to make of Ultraman--to me it is more of a choice, and when I finish it, I still won't think I am that extreme--after all, it is just swimming, biking and running.
When I think extreme, I think Badwater, Western States, climbing Mt. Everest, RAAM. Ultraman will be hard, and some will consider it extreme. But for me, extreme is something that I just can't conceive of doing--yet. Whenever someone says to me, "I could never do an Ironman," I typically respond, "Don't say you can't--say you choose not to."
A week ago someone said to me, "You don't know the word can't." Maybe not, but I know my limits, and the game to me is all about increasing them methodically to the point where the extreme becomes the expected.
Even though Revenge of the PirateMan gave me some confidence for Ultraman, I am keeping perspective since:
- I swam in a pool and split 10,000 yards over 4 days. I need to be able to do it all at once in a huge lake while relying on a kayaker to lead my way and feed me. That is something I will need to practice.
- The biking was pretty flat. Ultraman Canada has tons of climbing! I am not that concerned about biking 90 miles at once, and even the 170 miles on Day 2 doesn't seem that daunting except from the perspective of the amount of climbing and saddle comfort. But I have spent 10 hours on a bike before, so I've got that going for me!
- I ran 52+ miles in 4 days, but will need to do it all at once. I get my first shot at close to it in 6 weeks.
- There were no time cutoffs. I pretty much lollygagged my way through 4 days! Each day of UMC I'll get 12 hours to do what is on the schedule.
- The weather was pretty good, despite the rain. UMC saw temperatures in the 100's on days 1 and 2.
So on paper what I just did was some kind of preparation, but I have a ways to go. Does that make Ultraman extreme? A little ;) But I have a pretty good idea of what I need to do to be ready--ready to not just cover the distances, but to cover them within the time cutoffs. The extreme part of it, I think, is being prepared for anything over 3 days. And in one respect, putting myself in the hands of a capable crew. I was glad during ROTPM that the only person I had to depend on was myself! If I fucked up, it was all my fault! I have been so used to relying on only myself for so long.
But here's where the universe helped me out. In dealing with my Dad's estate, I had to put together a team of people who would help me get through the process, and as I've known for many years, choosing good people is paramount to any large team undertaking. What I learned is that I need people around me to help me who understand me but don't judge. Who will listen to me when I am losing faith in myself and remind me that I am strong. Who will not coddle me but will push me to do bigger and better things and finish what I started and then congratulate me. Who will put up with my sometimes paradoxical seriousness and silliness. Who will let me loudly or silently indulge my self doubts and refuse to believe them.
Sometimes what I think is extreme is finding these people, but I have found some in my life and they are like jewels to me. When I finish Ultraman, it won't be just me. It will be me and my crew! We have so much work to do, and we are already starting. Shelley is working the crewing thing and I am working the training and personal gear thing. Right now it seems like a massive undertaking, but I am happy that it's a team effort and can't wait for all of us to arrive at the starting line to begin our celebration!
What is extreme? Extreme is something I can't conceive of. Ultraman, here we come!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Revenge of the PirateMan (ROTPM) Day 4 Race Report and Overall Summary
As you might expect, this is a long report, so go grab some beverages!
Full set of pics here.
Let’s back up to Friday night.
It was like preparing for an Ironman, only worse, since I was completely supporting myself. I prepared a swim bag, bike bag and run bag and I put extra clothing in the swim and bike bags to account for various conditions. I lined up all my bottles in the fridge and made a list of what would go in the cooler for biking and then for running so I wouldn’t forget anything.
I made 2 sandwiches in case I wanted them for the bike or the run, and I peeled 2 hardboiled eggs, anticipating eating 1 before biking and 1 during or after. I loaded the coffee pot and set the alarm for 4:30. After all this was done, I got to preparing Bitch. I did it in my house since it was cool outside and I just didn’t want to deal with that.
I lubed her up, put on the race wheels, strapped on a spare tubular, and was good to go. I think I finished up all my preparations by about 8:30, took a couple of Advil PM and got into bed to try and sleep.
I laid there for about ½ hour just thinking about what I had been doing and how I felt. I couldn’t believe this was actually happening, that I’d planned to do this and then got into Ultraman Canada, that I’d had an Ironman PR only 5 weeks ago, that I had been biking and running well so far, and that despite thinking I was sick, I wasn’t. I had a little soreness in my legs, but not bad, having had a great massage 5 hours prior. But I fell asleep shortly after 9, I think, and slept really well, waking only a few times to pee and drink some water.
Race Morning
When the alarm went off, I did hit the snooze, and I rolled over on my belly and said “arrrrrrgggggh” kind of quietly into the pillow. It made me laugh! And then I realized no snoozing today, I have lots to do, so I got up and thought, “Here we go!”
Coffee was ready and so I fixed a cup and grabbed a Powerbar and took 400 calories worth of Ultrafuel out of the fridge. My goal was to leave for the pool at 5:40AM, but between loading the cooler, then putting everything into my car and moving rather slowly, it all took much longer than I thought, and besides, I had to get all those calories down. I remained relaxed about it yet focused, since it was going to be a long day.
I think I got on the road just after 6, but on a Saturday morning, there is no traffic to speak of that early, so I made it to Good Sam in a flash. As I got out of my car, all I could think was, “This is going to be kind of epic.” The woman at the front desk couldn’t deal with my prepaid receipt for 7 swims, and she just waved me in, so I guess I swam for free yesterday! I got my shit together and snapped a few pics, and then headed into the pool.
The Swim
I was surprised that there were a few other lap swimmers, but still I had a lane all to myself. As I sat with my feet dangling in the water, I wondered how this was going to feel, and I looked at the clock and saw I was starting at 6:23AM, so only 3 minutes earlier than Friday! Goes to show you all that moving crap around takes longer than you think!
I got in and started to swim and thought that once again, the water felt nice and it was relaxing. I decided to just swim easy, easy, easy (which is just a little slower than my normal pace!), since today was all about energy management. Whereas during the 3 days prior I was thinking about a lot of things while I was swimming, today I was just swimming. It was like I was in a zone, and I realized that all I needed to do today was keep going, and so I did. There were a number of times that I felt like puking, since I’d pounded down almost 650 calories under 2 hours before, but this is what I put up with in order to let myself sleep longer. I just hadn’t felt like waking up at 3:30 or 4:00 just so I could get my calories down 2+ hours prior to starting. I thought this was good practice for Ultraman, too, since I will probably be in the same boat and trying to sleep as much as I can. It’s worse, though, when I’m wearing a wetsuit and have stuffed myself full, so note to self—2 hours before starting is a good idea, or maybe I’ll do the old wake up at 2AM and eat and try and go back to sleep.
T1
2500 yards later, and I thought to myself, “Huh—done swimming for the week!” And I thought what the heck, go into the hot tub for maybe 5 minutes to warm myself up, since it was cool outside (maybe 60 is all), and it’s easy for me to become hypothermic. The hot tub felt great, and the shower felt great, and I once again dried my hair thoroughly, and took my sweet time putting on my bike clothes.
Back in the car for the drive to Fermilab. Good Sam is just off the Interstate that I take to get there, so the drive was really quick. I ate an egg on the way there, which tasted good, but my stomach was still full so not sure that was a great idea. Oh well, I’d burn through this all eventually, right? When I got to my usual parking spot at the East Gate, there was a gentleman pruning trees and shrubs, and also they had placed a porta-potty right there! I grinned and inside my head I was thinking, “Hey, I get my own private bathroom today!”
I got Bitchie out of the car and loaded the bottles and had my bike shoes on when I turned around and saw one of the resident coyotes in the prairie just in front of me! I stared at him/her, who stared right back at me, and I thought this was some sort of good omen for me to have a good ride.
I put on the aerohelmet and sunglasses, asked the nice man to snap a few pics of me, and he said he’d do as many as I wanted, and I told him if he was there after 25 miles maybe I’d ask him!
The Bike
The winds were predicted to be NNW or WNW, I forget, but as soon as I headed west, I could feel them. I go west maybe a mile and then turn north, and oh boy, the north wind was brutal, and I’m looking at my speed and I’m maybe going 15. I thought, crap, I am going to suck today, but just kept going easy and right away I noticed my legs were telling me this was going to be hard.
As I made my way around and into the west winds again, I just hunkered down aero and was seeing better speed numbers, so maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. I didn’t start in on the Infinit for at least 30 minutes, since I was still sort of full from breakfast plus an egg, but then I got down to my nutrition business.
When I got to the Pine Road area which is slightly wind sheltered, I decided I would do 2-mile loops there so I’d hit 40 miles on my first “lap” around the lab. A little less than 1 mile was right into the prevailing west winds, and then a little more was with mostly tailwind, so on average, I guess it wasn’t too bad!
I don’t remember how many laps of
When all was said and done and I got back to my car, I was at 43 miles for my first time around. The man pruning trees and shrubs was still there, but I didn’t want to dally too much, so I let him work, and I ate half of a sandwich, only because I had a taste for real food. I wasn’t drinking as much as I’d planned because of the cool temperatures, having learned my lesson from IMLP 2007 and also from Rockman this year. I was grateful for my personal bathroom and made use of it before heading back out.
I’d been wearing a windbreaker, and hoped it would warm up enough to remove it, but that was not happening today. I saw a number of other riders also pretty bundled up, and I think when we signaled one another we were both probably thinking we were pretty tough to be out in that today.
Starting my second lap, I figured I had enough on board fluids and nutrition to stay out for the remaining 50 miles. When I was at about 48, the Ergomo started going into sleep mode, and good thing I noticed, because I was adamant about meeting my mileage objective! I got to 50 miles messing with it, and since I knew it was almost exactly 2 miles for the
I would say that about at mile 60, I was wanting to quit and just bag it. Every time I would head straight into the wind, I’d hate it. And I was all by myself and I hadn’t seen the sun all day (and really not much the 3 days prior, either), and here I am doing 2-mile loops over and over again. And I thought, hey, this isn’t a race, either, and I can cheat if I want. But I squelched those thoughts because if I don’t finish this, I won’t know what it’s like to do ultra-distance, will I?
And then I just relaxed and kept going. I kept going by a security guard near
I was so happy to be on that last loop, and I pulled over to the gate to chat for a bit. I asked if he’d been there the entire time, and he said yes, how he’d been watching me go around and around, and he asked how many miles today (since he’d no doubt seen me there other times). I told him, and he said he was impressed, and I just said I really like riding! I also asked him to tell Lt. Fry that I said hello (the man who said I could use his name whenever I wanted to ride on the Big Ring), and that I probably wouldn’t be back until next year! I said goodbye, and took off for home.
I got a little sad knowing that I might not be back here until next year. I love Fermilab, not just to ride, but it is beautiful in there and it’s just a great cycling haven. I know I put in hundreds of miles in there, and I’m sure next year will be even more! Since I had a tailwind going back to my car, I got all amped and just hammered, passing a number of recreational cyclists.
T2
The guard at the East Gate signaled to me when I arrived, and after I put the bike, helmet and shoes away, I went over so he could snap a few pics of me and we chatted. He said I was his hero, and I said, “No, I just do this because I enjoy it.” And even though there were moments when I didn’t enjoy it, all in all, I was pleased.
I got out the other egg and half of a sandwich to eat on my way back home. I was pretty happy that I rode faster than I predicted—16.9 mph average as opposed to 16mph predicted—not bad considering the winds! Here is what the winds looked like—I was riding between 8:15 and 2:15:
No wonder I was wigging out around 60 miles because that's when the winds were at their peak!
At a stoplight on my way back, someone in a car next to me was waving their hands at me, so I rolled down the passenger window and asked him if I could help. He said he saw the 140.6 sticker on my car and had seen them on other cars and wanted to know what it meant. So I nonchalantly said that it is the Ironman triathlon distance, and then I said, “Oh by the way, I’m doing one right now!” And he thanked me for the explanation and said, “You’re an inspiration!” I wonder what sort of sticker I should put on my car now?
When I got home, I unloaded the bike, my bike bag, the cooler and got my run clothes out of the bag in my car. I’d decided somewhere along the way that I should put on tights to run, and I didn’t want to wear the pair that was in my bag since they were rather light and not too compressive. I knew that my legs would appreciate a little compression at this point!
I put the chicken broth on the stove to warm, retrieved my thermos, put on my running clothes, put the bike away, restocked the cooler, loaded the Thermos, and drove to Waterfall Glen, drinking a Coke on the way.
There was an open house in
I got a great parking spot and asked a guy nearby to snap a pic of me and then I snapped one of him and his entire family, and I hit the trail.
The Run
I didn’t feel like I was moving hardly at all, and I really didn’t care what my pace was, but I hit the first mile in just over 10 minutes. I was like what the fuck, I can’t believe I can even run at all by this point! But run I did, and first I completed an 8 mile out and back, averaging about 10mpm.
I swigged some more Coke, grabbed another small bottle of Gatorade and headed back out. I was starting to slow down, but I expected that, and my legs were starting to hurt. They didn’t hurt as bad as at IMLP only because I was running on a softer surface, but I could feel aches and pains cropping up pretty much everywhere—my glutes, hips, quads, calves. But it’s not like I didn’t expect it!
I was toying with how much I wanted to do in my second loop and finally I settled on doing a 9 mile out and back. That way, I’d have only 4 miles left, and I’d either get them in there or head back home and do it from home. In retrospect, I should have shortened this loop because I really wasn’t drinking enough, and I may have been low on calories, but it was hard to tell. All I can say is that when I was 14 miles total in, I was a little weirded out in my head. Part of me thought maybe I should have had someone along with me running, and the other part of me thought, hey, I am in uncharted territory here for me—I guess this is what happens!
And I’m pretty sure it was just all mental stuff and also my body reacting to what I had been up to, but amazingly enough I was still running, albeit now only about an 11mpm pace. I actually had predicted 12-13mpm at this point, so in that respect, I guess I was doing OK! It was more that I just had this overwhelming urge to stop, but it was good that I was by myself and on a trail, because I had no choice but to finish out at least 17 miles!
I soldiered on, and since the sun was low and I was in the woods, the deer started coming out, and that made me smile since I’d never run there in the evening, and yet there were still people out on mountain bikes and walking dogs and such. While it was pretty cool out, it was absolutely beautiful, and sun was occasionally peeking through the clearest blue sky. I got choked up a few times, too, which I suppose was part of the whole doing something I’d never done before. I remembered to leave the rest of the bag of Dad’s ashes I’d had with me along the trail, and thought how nice that he’d been able to be with me in so many big events!
I wish I could describe all of what was going on in my head, but I suppose that's something you would only understand if you put yourself through this. It's a combination of stuff hurts, but it doesn't. I hate myself, but I love myself. I want to feel pride, but I don't. I want everyone I know to know what I'm doing, but I really don't care since I know they wouldn't understand. I'm not entirely sure why I keep doing this stuff, but something draws me to it. I want to know what's inside my head, and I guess I am finding out, and by all accounts I should be laying on the ground unable to move by this point, but I'm not. In the past, I've broken my body down to the point of injury doing far less than I've done this year, and yet here I am running 21 miles, for fuck's sake 52 in only 4 days--I'd run 56 in a week when I did Goofy Challenge in 2007--which I'd forgotten about, but remembering that I know how I'm able to do this today. I want to stop, but if I stop I'm a total loser, and that is my biggest fear--believing I am a loser. Because some people think people who do ultras (ultra ANYTHING) are just big old losers who have no life. Maybe I don't have their life, but I have this one, and it seems to suit me well. I must be a little nuts to do these things, and I'm OK with that.
When I was nearly done with my second loop, I realized it was a little too cold in there for me to continue, and that I had better head home. Mentally, I really wanted to be done and thought it wouldn’t matter if I didn’t finish all 21 planned miles, so I just let that thought settle while I poured myself a cup of chicken broth.
Man that tasted SO good! On the short drive home, I realized that I would totally hate myself if I didn’t finish what I’d started, so I decided I’d just throw stuff into my house and head back out after some more chicken broth and a Twinkie.
I guess I was a little out of it by now because I decided I’d run up and down the hill from my house over and over until I was at 21 miles. It made perfect sense to me, but it was sort of a stupid thing to do because it meant I was climbing the hill actually 7 times since I needed to do 6 full repeats plus ½ of another. But you know what? I really had wanted to finish running up my own driveway, and now that I was out of the wind (or it had died down), and I put my windbreaker back on, I felt perfectly comfortable. And a bit silly. What possessed me to finish a 21 mile run like this? Pride, I guess.
And so I did, even though I took it really easy and was running around 12:30mpm. Now I was starting to feel happy and good and I thought that now I can finish my finisher’s shirt! I didn’t want to finish ironing on all the pirates until I was actually done, and at one point while I was in Waterfall Glen, that was the “one thing” that kept me going—that I wouldn’t be able to wear that shirt with honor unless I completed all 21 miles!
On my last trip down the hill, I decided to see if I could pick it up a little, and I did, and for a moment there, the pain left my legs. Isn’t it always like that? And I know that if anyone could have seen me in the dark (it was near 8:30), they would have seen my face light up like a beacon!
Totals for Day 4 and Overall Revenge of the PirateMan
Day 4:
Swim 2500 yds in 48:55 (1:57/100 yds)
Bike 93 miles in 5:30 (16.9mph)
Run 21 miles in 3:46.09 (10:46/mile)
Total Time: 10:05:04
Grand Totals
Swim 10000 yds in 3:10.15 (1:54/100 yds)
Bike 224.13 miles in 12:22.20 (18.1mph)
Run 52.5 miles in 8:37.46 (9:52/mile)
Total Time: 24:10.21
Total Miles: 282.31 SHOULD I GET A STICKER MADE FOR MY CAR WITH THIS ON IT???
I had predicted almost 28 hours for this, so I guess I did well! It's funny that in my training spreadsheet I have a chart that has swim distances in yards, meters, and laps/lengths based on pool lengths of 25 yards, 22.5 yards (there is some pool that I swam in at one time that was that length) 40 meters (some other pool that I swam in for a summer) and 50 meters, and I extended it all the way up to Ultraman (10,000 meters) a few years back. I guess I was thinking ahead!
T3
When I got back into my house, I pumped my fists, snapped a quick finisher photo, stripped off my sweaty, stinky clothes, weighed myself (109 on the nose—I guess I really had hydrated enough), decided I couldn’t stomach any more sports nutrition and cracked a beer, showered, finished my finisher’s shirt, and then heated up some pizza.
I was surprised that I was doing OK walking up and down stairs, and I know from having stayed in that 2-story house in Lake Placid twice, that it actually helps to keep those legs moving in that way for recovery.
Sunday
I passed out around 9:30PM last night. I was pretty tired, and while I knew I probably should have eaten more (I managed 3 slices of pizza and only 2 beers), I didn’t even have the energy to eat! I am surprised today that going up and down the stairs doesn’t feel bad at all. I am really happy that today I get to watch many friends online doing their own Ironman races (
I feel really good that I was able to finish what I’d started this week. It has given me a confidence boost about Ultraman
I am especially happy that this is the closest together that I have ever done 2 Ironmans—the last 2 years they were 8 weeks apart, and the first time I did a double in 2004 they were 7 weeks apart. I was a little worried about the 5 week spread 2 weeks ago, feeling like I’d nuked myself pretty good by averaging 200 miles per week on the bike 3 weeks in a row right after IMLP. I started feeling my piriformis acting up a bit, but after I started icing them after long runs I felt fine. I was worried about my running until I nailed a glorious 14 miles a few weeks ago.
While there are a few things I should try and accomplish today, the only requirement is to get my lawn mowed. I should have done it yesterday, but oh well, I was doing an Ironman, eh? I am going to really celebrate tonight with a dinner of lobster and steak and a bottle of champagne. I could care less if I wake up with a hangover tomorrow!
Now all I gotta do is be able to swim the 10k all at once, bike 260 miles over 2 days and run a double marathon! Ultraman
ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
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