IMLP Race Report - The Bike

So I fly down Colden and then just try to settle. I see people out of their saddle climbing up Cascade Pass, and I think to myself, "They do know there's 110 more miles, right?" I keep my watts on the low side the entire first half of the first loop. And by "low side" I mean 20 watts below target. Sounds crazy, but with the back half of each loop being 20 miles of climbing, I want to play it extra conservative. I'm passing a lot of people and feeling good and "in control" - a rare feeling in an Ironman. The only issue is that my stomach isn't very happy. Not nauseated, just a bit queasy and super not interested in eating. I usually look forward to that break every 15 minutes to sit up and soft pedal a bit, but this time I kind of groan when it's time to eat.

All smiles starting the ride.

When I start climbing up from Jay, I'm definitely happy I kept it so easy the first half of the loop. I make it up Papa Bear with my cheer squad going nuts, and stop at special needs with a blistering (for me) 3:43 split for the first loop. However, I know that I'm in trouble with my stomach. As it happens, my friend Jeff is working Special Needs and I get to wave my tampons all around him fishing out my Pepto tablets, which I'm SO SO glad Coach Jenni convinced me to bring. (I usually don't have GI issues, so don't carry them as a rule.) I decided against the Pringles, figuring that since they don't sound any more appetizing than my usual wafers and chews I might as well stick with what I've been using in training.

Bombing down Colden to start the second loop.

I go around the Hot Corner by Lisa G's where they're blasting "Shut Up and Dance" (i.e. the song I've been playing on repeat this training cycle) and between that and my split I'm feeling pretty happy despite the Thunder Down Under in my tummy.

I nail the Cascade Pass descent even better than the first time. (I found out later when I looked at the data that I hit 44 MPH. Holy CRAP.) This makes me very happy as I am a descending wuss usually, but today I fly by people both times.

When I hit the flats from Keene to Ausable a second time, I'm definitely not feeling as perky. I've been on the bike for 4.5 hours, still have another 20 miles of climbing after I finish this section, and in addition to having to force food down it's getting really hot.  I start spending a lot of time up on the pursuit bars, my watts are going down, down, down, instead of the original plan to raise them up to target power, and in general I'm quite miserable.  I'm so relieved every time it's time to stop at an aid station for ice cold water down the back and in my Aerodrink.

A little blurry, but definitely not quite so happy here.

My stomach is getting bad enough that I switch to water - I just can't stomach Skratch anymore, and my eating is getting further and further apart. I finally give up at mile 90 as I don't want to puke while climbing and hope I can get calories in on the run. In addition, I don't even want to think what's going on in my shorts. The whole plan of Magic Bike Shorts and chamois cream didn't take dumping water all over myself into account and there is Major Chafing.

Those last 20 miles definitely have a lot of tears. My friends Darci and Billy scream up a storm for me while I climb the Wall, which definitely helps. By the time I finally cross the timing mat, I just burst into tears. Again. My friend Diana is working transition and gives me a much-needed hug and helps me to my bag. (This is why I'll always do IMLP despite the insane bike course - being a local is amazing.)

Coming to the timing mat. About 10 seconds from bawling. Ironman is HARD.

Bike: 7:51 (45 minute PR), 86 AG, 501 Woman, 2009 Overall.

In T2 I change into my run shorts and get out of there pretty quickly, as always ever so grateful to be off the bike. Although I still put on my Fuel Belt with my Skratch and gels, I already know I'm probably not going to touch it at all.

T2: 5:42 (Whopping-for-transition 4 minute PR thanks to my complete mental breakdown barely making the cutoff last time.)

Week in Training

Week in Training:

Well, in general it was a tough week. About half the volume of my peak for IMLP, but a lot of it was at sprint pace and this is the time of year where I start losing steam a bit. (I start my training season on January 1st.)

So without further ado, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good:

• Did my longest swim (2K) since Tinman last night and DIDN'T die. (Yes, my swim volume has been THAT low.)
• This is probably worthy of its own log entry, but set ANOTHER PR at the Mini-Tri at Monday. Granted, most of that was from the swim actually being the correct length this week (biked a little slower, ran a little faster), but I'll take it. I was hoping to just break 1:20 this year, but my official PR is now 1:18:03. Yes, KNOCKING ON THE DOOR OF 1:17. CRAZY. I'll be looking for those four seconds at tonight's Mini-Tri, the last of the year.

The Bad:

• Tuesday's 45 minute swim left me very tired, which is pathetic.
• My 9 mile tempo run was quite slow thanks to completely fried legs from all of the hard biking I've been doing.

The Ugly:

• Had a good ole-fashioned meltdown at the lake, after getting out and giving up 34 minutes into a 55-minute swim, tears and all.
• Got the bejesus scared out of me by the most insane crosswinds I've ever dealt with on my bike in my life and ended up cutting the bike portion of Saturday's brick short.

So yes, the very uneven training I tend to have this time of year. Hopefully this week will go better.

Peaking on the Bike

...That's PEAKing, not PEEing. We clear? Cool. ;-D

On Saturday I had one last hard, long ride to do before tapering. 70 miles, and NOT at an easy pace - high Zone 3/low Zone 4. Ouch. Because I am very slow on the bike, I was going to be out there a while.

How long?



This long. That's five hours' worth of hydration and nutrition. Since this was from my last 70-miler, which was a brick, you also see some fuel for the run (the two Fuel Belt bottles and the Hammer Gel), but you get the idea.

When I got up, the weather was perfect and I was feeling good, so I decided to hurt myself a bit out there. It was two loops down to Wilmington and back with a final loop of the IMLP run course. I was willing to risk having to granny gear the last loop - I wanted to see what I could do.



Ready to rock.

The first loop was easy, of course. I finished with a 14.8 average (yes, almost a MPH faster than two weeks ago), and still plenty in the tank. Dr. Z. hopped aboard for the second loop and I could tell right away he was feeling strong. Because I wanted to push it, I decided that as long as my HR didn't skyrocket I would put on my big-girl panties, loosen my bra, and go with him as long as I could. I was beat by the end of the descent into Wilmington, but I stayed at his well. (And that was with him trying to pull away for the way back since I'm a better climber.) Second ascent back to Lake Placid was taken a bit easier since his back started bothering him, but I still had a 14.8 going.

The last little loop was mine. Only some small rollers aside from Big Nasty and I felt good and mentally strong as well knowing I only had ten left. I cruised it good and even with the climb up Big Nasty actually INCREASED my average to 14.9. The best part? When I logged everything later, I realized that my HR was about the same.

That's right. In two weeks on the same course with similar conditions, I upped my speed by nearly a MPH without really working any harder. My 56 mile time was 8.5 minutes FASTER. Does my coach rule all or WHAT?

So, now feeling great about the bike going into taper. Yay!

Oops!

*dusts off blog*

*dusts off anyone who actually is still reading this poor neglected thing*

What can I say? It's been a crazy busy month. Shortly after the last entry Dr. Z and I went on our annual canoe camping trip down the Buffalo. It was awesome - 126 miles in 4.5 days AND I kept up my run training. (Since I have from February to June to go from zero running to HIM (all with a very conservative increase in mileage), Coach Karen decided I couldn't afford to take the week off.

Since we've gotten back, it's just been shear craziness. Work has been INSANELY busy and as promised, Coach Karen REALLY ramped up the training in April. All this means that my house is currently a disaster area.

So, here's a summary of how my training in the three disciplines is going:

Swim: This is what I've been working the hardest (especially since it will be hard to find a place to swim next month, but that is a different entry altogether), and it shows. Before I was busting ass to try to stay sub-2:30/100 on anything longer than 100 yds, and now after a bunch of 3K workouts my new "cruising speed" seems to be 2:21/100, even for 600 yd sets. (Haven't done anything longer yet.) I also set three PRs last week, including an insane (for me) 58.22 50 yard.

Bike: This is currently my weakest area (says a lot about how much my swim has improved that I'm saying this!). What little time I spent in the saddle over the past few months was too easy, as I found out once I got off the trainer. I definitely don't have the engine I had at this time last year. Even Roo can't give me speed out on the road right now. It's all good though - Coach Karen assures me that as much as this is Swim Month, next month is Bike Month. If she can do for my riding what she's done for my swim, I will be more than ready to go for Tinman.

Run: This goes. I'm back up to 10:30 miles (the fastest I'm currently allowed to run) and my heart rate averages have slowly been dropping. In other words, I may have to keep the running easy, but I AM getting my run fitness back. I'm still run-walking my long runs though.

So that's the past month in a nutshell. Hopefully I can be a bit better about updating.

Roo's Home!

Hello Everyone!

Yes, I disappeared again. Sorry about that. Work and training have me seriously nose-to-the-grindstone.

Finally got Roo home on Thursday night. She had been cabled up last weekend, but I want pink bar tape and they were trying to find some. (They don't have as many supplies in the off-season.) Anyway, they finally just threw some black tape on her for now and said they'd replace it free of charge when the pink comes in. That with a pink bottle cage and pink bento box will be a very cool look.

So today was supposed to be my first ride on her, but thanks to a lovely cold/asthma type thingie that's just shredded my lungs, I'm taking a "wait and see" approach. I'd take a "talk to coach" approach, but (as luck would have it) she's doing an adventure race today. Sigh. I'm hoping I can at least spin lightly this afternoon/evening.

In positive news, my swims this week were bumped up to 2200 yards each - 1.25 miles exactly, as it happens, make them the second-longest swims I've ever done. (Longest being a 1.5 mile open water swim when I was peaking for the Vermont Half last summer.) I am going to be SO much better prepared for the Tinman swim this year. Hurrah! That's the nice thing about picking up a new sport (I've only been swimming for a year and a half): there's a very steep rate of improvement.

Next week the schedule is really shaken up since I'm departing for my annual Canoe Camping Marathon Paddling trip with the hunny on Friday. My first swim/run bricks ever - how fun!

My New Bike (and Bike FIT)

Being 4'10" has many challenges, but none so frustrating as of late as trying to find a bike that fits. My first bike (which I still have and use) was a mountain bike. It fits because it's a children's frame.

Then I got serious about triathlons. Unfortunately, they don't MAKE serious road or tri bikes in kid's sizes, so I settled on a 43 cm. Trek 2.1. She worked great as a road bike, but once I added aerobars I ran into nothing but trouble. And back pain. Great back pain that caused me to ride half the Vermont Half with one hand on the horn and the other on my lower back.

So with no end to my tri infatuation in sight, I started looking at Gurus last year. They made (at the time) a custom aluminum bike for around $3000. Unfortunately, they stopped making the aluminums and now only make carbon frames, which is WAY out of my price range.

Luckily, Brian at High Peaks Cyclery NEVER gave up and found me a potential bike. I came in, got on her, and it looked like she would not only work, but be a vast improvement.

So without further ado, everyone, meet Roo.



And for fun, here's a quick little picture I made to compare the fit on my old road bike to the fit on my new tri bike. Needless to say, I'm much more comfortable.



(Sorry for the blurriness - it was a quick phone pic.)

She should be ready to come home tomorrow. I can't wait!

Bike LT Test

On Tuesday I had my first-ever lactate threshold test, a Christmas gift from Dr. Z. (Who says all girls want diamonds? ;-D ) I opted for the bike test as I have enough experience running to feel pretty good about knowing my zones.

So, we packed up the bike and brought her to the Fit for Life center in Saranac Lake. I got changed while the physiologist hooked her up to the Computrainer.

I got ten minutes of warming up and then the fun began. What struck me immediately is that the Computrainer was set way differently than my trainer at home. I had to warmup in the granny gear. Time to adjust the resistance at home!

So every four minutes he took a finger prick blood sample and then I had to go into the next gear. We repeated this three times before I maxed out completely. I will fully admit to being disappointed by the condition I'm in. I couldn't even reach the 220-age number for my heart rate. It was a big wake up call.

So here's the results:

Graph:



And here's my new (wimpy) zones:

Zone 1 119 (Recovery Rides)
Zone 2 119-131 (Endurance Events)
Zone 3 133-146 (Tempo Work)
Zone 4 153-164 (Lactate Threshold / Time Trialing)
Zone 5 166-183 (Sprints and Anaerobic Training)

Here's to time in the saddle getting those numbers up!

Outdoor Bike! Pool! Running! AWESOME!

Oops...already lost a couple days of updating. In all fairness, it's been CRAZY. I have been training though.

Saturday Dr. Z. and I did indeed get outside for another (for me) seven miler on our mountain bikes. It was a blast. I would have taken mud pictures, but we just didn't get as messy as I did the day before. AWESOME!

Sunday, after a long day of shopping up in Plattsburgh it was time to hit the treadmill. I upped it to a 9:31 pace, which I was able to hold for 2.5 miles with absolutely no IT band pain. AWESOME!

The pool re-opened from semester break so I hit it as soon as they opened today. I expected to be even slower than usual (a.k.a. Bricks and snails go flying past me in the next lane. My 300 yard warmup took 7:50. Yep, almost a 2:40 pace. Admittedly I was warming up and nowhere near trying hard, but damn.

Speaking of warming up, the water was cold. I mean "Take five minutes to even get in and then have your breath taken away when you put your face in cold." Once again, DAMN!

I spent the rest of the time doing 300 pull buoy/100 drill to try to get my feel for the water back. After I had completed 1000 yards, Dr. Z. said he was done. (He had wanted to go longer but wasn't feeling well and exhausted.) He was willing to wait for me, but stopping made me realize I was already sore. Can we say out of shape? At least I wasn't fatigued. AWESOME!

Tonight Karate starts back up after being closed all last week for the holidays. AWESOME! I'm also hoping to hop on the trainer for about a half-hour...not so awesome.

Back in 2011!

Happy New Year Everyone! Hope it was good. I know I really neglected my blog last year, so am hoping to do better this year.

To kick things off, I have some great mud photos. We're experiencing a winter thaw, so Beast has been dusted off and taken outside.

Front View:



I think I have mud in my teeth.

Even more impressive, the back view (and not just because of my fine Cuban ass...hahahaha...)



I literally had mud in my hair. Took forever to wash out.

Well, it's warm again today, so another bike ride might be called for. If I get out there, it'll mean that I made it through January without missing a month of outdoor riding, a true accomplishment up here in the tundra.

First Mountain Bike Ride! FUN!

I thought that my previous spin with Beauty before putting her on the trainer was going to be the last outdoor ride of the year, and I was grateful even for that - October rides are rare up here in the Far North.

However, the weather gods smiled upon the Northeast and it was 70 and sunny. Both Dr. Z and I wanted to ride bikes tomorrow, but Dr. Z was stubbornly adamant about off-roading instead of a nice ride on River Road (my first choice). I do own a mountain bike (Beast), who was never seen dirt while I've owned him, so I grudgingly agreed to try out off-roading if we kept to EASY PEASY PUSSY trails.

Well. Not only did Dr. Z keep his word, leading us down wide grass paths and glorified dirt roads, I actually had a BLAST and didn't fall off my bike once! If you had told me I would be able to do even an easy mountain bike ride back in June when I was worried about hydration during Tinman because I COULDN'T EVEN GET MY WATER BOTTLE FROM THE CAGE, I would have thought you were insane.

So, I'm not giving up my half-century rides on wide highway shoulders anytime soon, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed mountain biking.

Broke 2:30/100 for long swim!

YES! After trying for a year to get to sub-2:30/100 for my long swims (i.e. Any set over 500), I FINALLY did it yesterday with 1100 yards in 27:15. Sweet! I actually thought I had gone sub-2:20/100, but idiot here double-hit her watch twice, making it appear I had done two laps more than I really did.

I'm still really happy though, especially since:

1.) That was my first time using my lap button to keep track during a long swim and I KNOW it slowed down my turns at the wall

2.) I'm pretty sure I could have kept a sub-2:30 pace going for longer.

In other great news, despite my last entry saying it was the last outdoor bike ride of the year, tomorrow is going to be in the 60's, so it looks like my trusty mountain bike Beast is going to get a late-season spin. It actually ended up in the 60's today, but idiot here already got on the trainer this morning not realizing how warm it was going to be.

Last Outdoor Ride of the Year

It was an unseasonal 55 and sunny today, so I took Beauty out for one last ride before hooking her up to the trainer. It was a beautiful ride, but the purple of my toes when I got back convinced me that it was the end, especially since it's going to be 40's and cloudy after today.

My pace was ridiculously slow - couldn't even hold a 15 average I'm ashamed to say. It was a combination of many things - being out of shape (I've barely been riding because of the weather), the nasty wind, and my windsail-like bike jacket. (I really DO need to find one that's closer-cut.)

Slowness aside, it was great to get out there one last time. I'd complain, but I had the trainer set up about three weeks earlier last year, so not bad at all.

Now...is it Spring yet? ;-D

Evening Swim

Had to cancel my bike ride today thanks to torrential rains all day long. I think I'm going to remove the slicks from my mountain bike Beast, put the knobbies back on, and use him for bad weather. I haven't ridden in a week and I'm NOT happy about it. (Admittedly the other missed workouts were my fault - I've been dealing with insomnia all week and it's affected my training.)

Anyway, had a nice evening swim with Dr. Z after work. Went out to the first orange buoy after the yellow ones in ten minutes. Had a panic attack when I went to cross over to the other lane to head back and ended up fighting the wind-driven current. I switched to breaststroke and managed to get to the other line without completely losing it. Once I was on the line again, I was fine. Something about the buoys soothes me even though I'm not tall enough to stand on the line. It's like I feel connected to land and civilization as long as I can just watch the line under me. Got back REAL fast though - 18:30 when I hit the last buoy. Since it was so early in the workout, I went back out four buoys and this time DIDN'T freak out crossing over. Still finished early at 28:00, but just wasn't feeling it today. Will hit it again on Tuesday. I do get nervous heading out much further without an escort boat though. Don't know how other triathletes do it.

My Butt Hurts

Yep.

Three hours. On the trainer. Longest bike ride EVER.

Man, the sore legs weren't too bad. The trainer wasn't even too bad - I put in Fellowship of the Ring and geeked out. My butt, on the other hand, was KILLING me. I was wearing bike shorts but I'm just not quite conditioned yet.

Otherwise it went really well. Next up is tomorrow's 1:45 run. Hopefully my legs will feel at least somewhat fresh in the morning.

Long Run, Long Bike, and More Bad Swimming

Friday's 2.5 hour bike went really well. I had two back-to-back "Listen-Only" type meetings so I actually did it during work. Kept my heartrate around 140.

Saturday was a 90 minute long run. Did it on a treadmill and started at a nice easy 9:31 with no incline. Want to go slow after last week's blowup during the long run. Increased it to 9:03 for the last half hour. Once again, felt great! Plus I had an excuse to put on my compression socks and hang out on the couch watching the Olympics the rest of the day.

This is a light week, so not much happening. I've been working the swim. Good news is I can breathe every OTHER stroke now, but bad news I can only do it for 50 yards at a time and at a 2:50 pace. Sigh.

Tempting to skip today's bike - just got my period and am REALLY dragging. We'll see.

Last Week of Off-Season

Well, this is officially my last week of the off-season. My half IronMan plan starts on Superbowl Sunday. AAAAAHHHH!!!

The pool is STILL closed (it's been almost two months now), but FINALLY got an update saying that they at long last got the pump running and now are just waiting for the temperature to come up. I'm ready to show up TODAY with my wetsuit - 70 degrees is perfectly fine with a wetsuit.

I did 40 minutes on the trainer today. It was one-leg drills, which was really tough. My left leg rides nice and smooth but I have a big "dead space" at the top of my stroke with my right foot. It was enlightening.

Tonight is Karate - I missed all last week so definitely have to drag my ass over there no matter how tired I am. (That's what usually gets me - class doesn't even START until 6:30, by which time I'm starting to crash, especially in the winter when it's already dark out.)

Skiing!

We've had such an amazing winter this year! (So far anyway.) Both Saturday and Sunday were warm and sunny, so cross-country skiing was in order. The snow was PERFECT! It was actually TOO fast for a beginner like me. I did alright on Saturday, but fell half a dozen times on Sunday. My skis just kept getting away from me on the downhills. Those long, skinny skis just have no control. I torqued my knee pretty bad and pulled a ligament. I spent a lot of yesterday afternoon watching the football and icing.

The knee felt a lot better this morning. Still not a hundred percent, but much improved. I did LT training on the bike for 50 minutes, which went really well. My plan also called for weight work on the legs, but I'm skipping it because of the knee. I look at weight training as icing on the cake anyway.

Tonight is Karate. I've barely attended the past couple months for a variety of reasons, but am looking forward to getting back into it.

In other news, although it was supposed to open this week, I've still heard no word on the pool. I'm REALLY getting nervous here - I want to start back up with tomorrow's swim workout that is planned.

Back from Business Trip

*dusts off blog*

Hello? *tap* *tap*

Anybody still around?

Seriously though, I can't believe I haven't updated in two weeks. I spent the second week of December in L.A. on a business trip, where the only workout I managed to get in was a 1.5 hour ride on a recumbent bike. (The only bike the hotel "gym" had.)

I've managed to get right back into the swing of things though, so yay! I've been missing the swim workouts because of the pool being closed, but am hitting all of the bike and run sessions.

Yesterday was an hour easy on the bike. The plan said to find rolling hills, so I simulated that on my trainer by putting it into a higher gear for a few minutes every so often.

Last night Dr. Z and I went out and helped with the children's class. It was SUPER easy - no one-on-one training at all. Spent most of the time just kinda standing around. We got a half hour of private training afterwords as our reward. Well worth it!

Today was one of the toughest run workouts I've ever done: 20 minutes easy at 8:57 pace, then seven sets of 3 minutes at an 8:00 pace followed by a two minute recovery at 9:05. Finish that off with another 20 minutes easy, this time at 9:05 because I was TIRED. Total workout: 8.54 miles in 1:15. WOW!

Tomorrow is a well-deserved day off. (There's supposed to be an easy swim workout, but...POOL CLOSED.) I'll do some walking to loosen up the legs but that's it.

Training Back on Track

Training for the Tinman is finally back on track...for now. A second business trip, this time to L.A., may very well derail it, but I'll enjoy it while I can.

Saturday I swam for 1250 yards, doing a 200 yard warmup, 10x100, and then 50 yards to cool down. I left my watch home again, but stayed ahead of the woman next to me, which made me feel good.

That evening I did another speed workout, this timeon the trainer. 45 minutes of awesome pain.

Sunday was a much-needed day off.

Today I did my long bike - 90 minutes at a heartrate of around 140. My legs were all wobbly when I got off!

Tomorrow is a long swim (2000 YARDS!) and a run. After that, failure may come again as the stupid pool is closed Wednesday - Sunday for the holiday. Suckage.

First Swim Lesson, Great Long Run

Tuesday's swim lesson went really well. It was held in the endless pool, so TrainerChick was able to stand next to me and correct my form as I swam. Turns out I have good body position, but it goes to hell when I breathe, so I worked on rolling my entire body and tucking my chin in to breathe. Also, I was forcing the kick, so I worked on that as well. (TrainerChick: "Think mermaid!")

I ran on the treadmill right after since I was at the gym and boy was that a mistake. Had a terrible run. I do seem to remember that the treadmill I used is set a bit fast, so that might have been the issue.

Wednesday I got on the trainer for an hour easy. Kept the heart rate in the 130s. I find the monitor keeps me honest on the trainer since I can't measure distance. I was supposed to run after, but was SO exhausted from staying up late the night before that I bagged both that and Karate.

Yesterday was back to the pool to put what I had learned on Tuesday to practice. Unfortunately I was actually SLOWER than before. I know that I have to slow down to make corrections, but it was still very frustrating. Dr. Z suggested that I leave the watch at home for now and I'm going to use that advice. My plan goes by distance for swimming anyway. I'll start timing myself when the changes have been incorporated smoothly.

Today's long run went much better, which was nice. (Hey, I may not be much on the bike or swim yet, but dammit I can run.) I ran 6:75 miles in an hour despite a cold rain and a nasty headwind on the way back. It was definitely a "mental toughness" day, but I was rewarded by my fastest hour-long run in ages.

Tomorrow is a speed session at the pool and 45 minutes of intervals on the bike trainer. Sunday will be a much-deserved rest day with much watching of the football.