Taper Taper Taper

Tuesday was one of the worst runs I've ever had. It was a 5K at race pace (9:00/mile), which should have kept my heart rate in Z3 (158-165 bpm) for most of the time. However, the weather was hot and muggy. My body felt "off" from the start, and my heart rate was in the 170s before I was done with the first mile. I slowed my pace down a bit for the second mile but my heart rate continued to rise, and by the final mile it was in the high 180s. Once I finished running it took 9 minutes to get back down into the 120s. This was supposed to be a "confidence booster" run for the race on Sunday, and it sure had the opposite effect.

Right now the weather for race day is predicted to be the complete opposite: low of 44, with a 40% chance of rain. As a prolific sweater I do great in colder weather, but this has a chance of being downright hypothermic. I might get a chance to wear my Shamrock Marathon long-sleeved dry-fit shirt for the first time.

I took Wednesday off and did an easy 10 mile bike ride on Thursday. I wanted to keep my heart rate in the 130s, but that didn't happen. I really struggle to go super slow on my new bike; my legs always want to hammer it on the bike, especially if I know I'm doing a shorter ride. I guess that's a good thing? My body refuses to go at a speed lower than "Awesome".

This morning I bit the bullet and signed up for three 2013 races:

• Shamrock Half Marathon: March 17
• Monticelloman 70.3 Triathlon: May 5
• Williamsburg 70.3 Triathlon: June 23

$500 blown in a 10 minute period, but I was scared that some of them would sell out, especially the Monticelloman which has a limit of 500 athletes. I also decided to not do the Shamrock Full Marathon, since it would interfere with about 3 weeks of training for the Monticelloman, which is my top race priority currently. So I'll just treat the Shamrock like a normal long-run training day.

Slow Recovery Rides: Now Without the "Slow"

On Mondays I typically do a slow bike ride to recover from the weekend. I keep an eye only on my heart rate, making sure it stays below 150, which usually means an average speed between 16-17 mph. Not very fast, but that's what a recovery ride is supposed to be like.

Well since getting my new tri bike, "slow" isn't in my vocabulary. I did a 20 mile recovery ride yesterday, averaging 18.22 mph while keeping my heart rate at 148. Not only that, but most of my mile splits were incredibly consistent: all but a few were between 3:07 - 3:19 (the outliers were due to hitting stop lights). 

I haven't had a chance to do a proper speed test on the bike, and won't get the opportunity for at least a week, but boy am I anxious to now. 

Time to Taper

Thursday afternoon I was feeling pretty lethargic, so Bre went out for her run and I stayed inside and took a nap. By the time I woke up I was feeling better so I threw on the new Vibrams and went out to do some fartlek work: 9x1:00 intervals, with a warm-up and cool-down. 4 miles total. The most intervals I had done previously was 5, but I felt surprisingly great while I was out there.

Friday I rode my bike to work for the first time. It's about 4 miles away, and there's a sidewalk the entire way, so it wasn't very dangerous. I took my road bike since I didn't feel comfortable taking my tri bike to a not-so-nice part of town. Taking my road bike also meant I wouldn't have to worry about clipping-out at each intersection.

Saturday was wet and rainy, but I took it as the perfect opportunity to HTFU and rode 20 miles anyways. I kept my heart rate in Z2 the entire time, except for the last 5:00 which was at Lactate Threshold, and still managed a speedy 18.50 mph average speed. By the time I was done my shoes, pants and jersey were all soaked. I threw on some warm clothes and did an easy 5K off the bike, with the last 4:00 at LT. I felt AMAZING the entire time, so much so that I could have ran for another hour. I think I really nailed my nutrition on the bike: I had a cliff bar before the bike, gatorade and sports beans every 10:00, and a gel pack at the 45:00 mark. That gives me a good starting point for when my long rides get even longer.

Sunday my stomach was feeling weird, but I still went out and did an easy 10K run in Z1, again with the last 4:00 at LT. The timing worked out perfectly because there was a fast runner gaining on me near the end of the run, so I pretended that he was a fellow racer chasing me at the end of a race and used that as motivation to push myself. I've mentioned it before, but I need to practice getting in the race mentality.

The Crawlin' Crab Half Marathon is this Sunday, so that means tapering this weekend. It's tough to do since I have a fancy new tri bike and my legs have felt great, but this is my 'A' race and I need to store up some energy if I have any chance of breaking the 2 hour mark. Ride now the plan is to do a 5K at race pace on Wednesday, and spend the rest of the week doing some super easy biking. Friday and Saturday will both be rest days. After the Crawlin' Crab I have 5 weeks to prepare for the Richmond Full Marathon... but that's a problem for Future David, so I'll let that guy worry about it.

2011 Trek Speed Concept 2.5

On Monday my legs were still sore from my half-marathon, so I did a super easy 10.37 mile recovery ride. 

Then on Tuesday I bought this:

SHIT JUST GOT REAL.

My local bike shop Bike Beat had a 2011 Speed Concept 2.5 on closeout, so I went in and checked it out. For those of you who don't know, triathlon bikes differ from standard road bikes in several ways. They're usually lighter, and the frame is more aerodynamic. On the front are aero bars (the two bars pointing forward on the front that my grandma says look like machine guns), which allow you to lean forward on your elbows and ride in a perfectly aerodynamic position. When you sit up on a road bike your body acts like a sail and slows you down significantly, so leaning forward with your back parallel to the ground reduces this drag. The tri bike I bought also runs all of the cables through the frame, instead of attached to the outside.

Riding in the aero position is also far more comfortable, which is crucial on longer rides. The bike portion of the Ironman is 112 miles, and it's extremely important to be as comfortable as possible before getting off and running a marathon.

They fitted the bike to me, which involves making a lot of minor tweaks: saddle height, saddle tilt, horizontal saddle position, handlebar stem length, aero bar width, aero bar angle, etc.. You wouldn't think these minor adjustments would make a big difference, but they absolutely do. It was sort of like getting an eye test at the optometrist: he would make an adjustment, then ask me whether it felt better or worse, and then make another adjustment. It took over an hour, and in the end the bike felt completely different than it did at the beginning. 

By the time I left there was just enough time to take it for a quick ride. It was only two loops around the neighborhood instead of three, but I set a PR for average speed: 7.03 miles at 19.5 mph. And it would have been faster if not for a slow first mile leaving my subdivision: after that my mile splits were 2:55, 2:45, 3:08, 2:50, 2:49, 2:55. More importantly the ride felt great, though riding on aero bars is going to take some getting used to.

On Wednesday I did a bike-to-run brick, and had a little tougher time. My legs felt sluggish and my stomach was bothering me, and I managed to hit almost every red light. My time wasn't as fast as the day before but I was still flying, averaging 18.9 mph over 10.31 miles. I zoomed past a pair of men on road bikes so fast that it seemed like they were standing still. 

I finally received my replacement Vibrams (the previous pair was too small), so after the bike I threw these on for the run. I felt nauseous for the first mile of the run, and couldn't keep my heart rate below 160, but things eventually settled down and the remainder of the 3 mile run was fine. One thing of note: the new shoes felt a little too snug with socks on, so I went barefoot in them. I can't decide if I like that more than with socks, but one of my left toes did feel like it was snagging on the inside fabric a little bit. I'll have to experiment with these some more to see how I feel. 

Full Ironman 2013

My original goals when starting triathlon training in June were to do a half-Ironman in 2013 and a full Ironman in 2014. These were specific enough that I had something to work towards, but vague enough that I could choose at a later date which races I wanted to do. It's now a few months later, and based on my current skill level I believe that doing a full Ironman in 2013 is absolutely feasible, depending on race schedules.

The half-Ironman distance has plenty of races nearby to choose from. There's the Monticello Man triathlon in Charlottesville in May, a new Rev3 triathlon in Williamsburg in June, the Eagleman triathlon in Maryland also in June, and the Patriot Triathlon in Williamsburg in September. All of these are only a few hours away--and the two races in Williamsburg are only 30 minutes away! Plenty of options to choose from.

Doing a full Ironman is a little trickier. The nearest two 140.6 triathlons are in Maryland and North Carolina, but neither of them are official Ironman races (which is what I want for my first one). So out of the 13 official Ironman races in North America, these are the closest:

1. Ironman Louisville (August) - 630 miles (10 hour drive)
2. Ironman Lake Placid (July) - 654 miles (12 hour drive)
3. Ironman Florida (November) - 882 miles (14.5 hour drive)
4. Ironman Wisconsin (September) - 988 miles (17 hour drive)
5. Ironman Texas (May) - 1408 miles (2-day drive)

None of the races are ideal. Louisville is the closest, but I don't think I could handle the heat in August. Texas is where my parents live, but a race in May doesn't give me as much time to train, and I would have to ship my gear. Wisconsin and Lake Placid are very popular races, but both are already sold out. There was talk about bringing a new Ironman race to Virginia for 2013, but those talks are on hold and now it wouldn't happen until 2014 at the earliest.

Ironman Florida seems to be my best bet: November weather in Florida should be perfect racing conditions, it gives me the most time to train, and it's just close enough to drive to. The average temperature in Panama City in November is 81 degrees, so we could spend the week after the race relaxing on the beach. This offers more of a vacation than any of the other races would. 

Registration for Ironman Florida opens on Nov 4 (and sells out quickly), so I have a few weeks to mull it over. 

More PRs?

Busy week!

Wednesday I did a quick brick: 7.26 miles on the bike followed by a fast 1.00 mile run. The last 7:00 on the bike were at LT. The workout would have been longer but it was getting late and I was starving.

On Thursday we were meeting Bre's family in Richmond for dinner, so I squeezed in a quick 10.37 mile ride, with 3x4:00 intervals mixed-in.

Friday I took the day off, and on Saturday I did a better brick workout: 20.18 miles easy biking followed by a 3.11 mile run. During the run I wanted to keep my pace around 10:00/mile, but my legs refused to go that slow. I don't know what has happened in the last month but I'm suddenly much faster than I used to be. No complaints here!

On Sunday I did my half-marathon run. The first 6 miles were at an easy pace, with the remaining 7.1 miles at my goal race pace (9:00/mile). I felt fantastic for most of the run, but around mile 10 I started to bonk: my stomach was cramping up a bit, and my legs were really fatigued. My heart rate kept randomly spiking up into the 180s and I felt like I would have to stop and walk at any moment. I somehow held on, and had an extra speedy 8:36 mile at the end. Not only is 2:02:54 is a new half-marathon PR (previous record: 2:05:07), but the final 10K was also a record for me at 55:41, beating my previous record of 57:08 from last Monday! PRs everywhere.

I also finally ponied up the money for some cycling shoes and clip-in pedals on Wednesday. The pedals look like this:

The shoes have clips on the bottom that snap into the pedal, so your legs pull as well as push the pedals:

It's a little tricky to remember to clip out of them before you come to a complete stop (I almost fell over at the stop light on my Thursday ride), but it just takes some practice. On Friday I came home for lunch and found the shoes like this:

The shoes have a latch buckle which makes it easy to tighten: you just click the latch and it tightens it up one notch. On the right shoe Hans had chewed up the buckle JUST ENOUGH TO BREAK IT. He didn't touch the clips on the bottom, which can be replaced for $2. He didn't chew up the shoe itself, which would have just been aesthetic. He chewed up the only part of the shoe that is required for it to function. I took the shoes back to the store to see if there was anything they could do, and thankfully they can order me a replacement buckle for $30. I expected to have to buy a completely new shoe, so I'm happy with only paying $30. In the mean time I used some zip ties to wrap around my shoe and keep it on tight for my Saturday ride. Worked like a charm. Here's Hans looking guilty afterwards:

Rule 5

After setting a new PR for the 5K last week I decided to see if I could PR my 10K on Monday. My best was 58:47 back in April (a 9:22 pace), so I went out aiming to keep a consistent pace just above 9:00. This would also be a good trial run for the pace I would need to run a sub 2-hour half-marathon. My legs were still achy from the previous week.

Mile 1: 9:06. My pace was about where I wanted it to be, but my calves felt really tight. My heart rate was up in the 160s, which was about right for this pace.
Mile 2: 9:12. Slightly slower than the first mile, but still good. Legs were finally loosening up, but my heart rate was now up in the 170s.
Mile 3: 9:13. Same pace as mile 2, awesome. My heart rate dropped back into the 160s though.
Mile 4: 9:26. This is where things started to get tough. My legs were aching and I had a slight stitch in my side. I also had to run past my neighborhood, and the temptation to call it quits after 5K was high. Mentally it was difficult to keep going past the 3.11 mile mark.
Mile 5: 9:14. Back to the pace I wanted to be at, though it was still painful. I felt like my legs were going to run out of gas at any moment.
Mile 6: 8:55. Got my second wind and cruised to an easy finish. The final 0.22 miles was at a 9:00 pace.

Final time: 57:08! A new PR by a minute and a half, and on exhausted legs no less. I should have planned my nutrition a little better (I didn't bring any gels or water with me), so I'll focus on that next time.

On Tuesday there was a huge storm going up and down the east coast, but when I got home there was a lull in the rain so I hopped on the bike to see how much of it I could squeeze in. I was able to bike 10.43 miles before it rained, with the last 4 minutes a sprint. However, the wind was very high, and it felt like biking with a tether attached to my bike. It was a good opportunity to practice The Velominati's Rule 5 and Harden The Fuck Up (HTFU):

I need to get "Harden The Fuck Up" printed on my handlebars.