Ayerd{dot}com :: Triathlon

Ho-ho, check it out: 76th Annual Atlantic City Pageant Ocean Swim. It may be worth adding the 1.5 mile ocean swim to my workouts this weekend. So far my weekend looks like this:

Saturday: 90 minute run (15 warm-up, 65 minute at base-pace, 10 cool down). Then "Later in Day! Bike: 3 hours low-end aerobic base with 30 minute run off the bike (w/5min drills+strides)".

Sunday: Run: 30min "stretcher" followed by Bike: 2 hours IM pace (20 min base, 2 x 40 min IM pace + 5min base, 10 min cool down) and at some point later in the day another 90 minute run (20 min warm-up, 2 x 20 min IM Pace+10 min ½-IM pace, 10 min cool down). Probably just hop back on the running shoes after the bike. Ummmm, run-bike-run.

Monday: Still waiting for my schedule, but I'm putting my money on a 4-5 hour bike ride. Joy!

I'm thinking on Saturday head to the Pagent Swim and do the 90 minute run right off of the swim. Shower on the beach. Grab some grub in AC, and then head back home. Some rest and then, BAM, back on the bike for the three hour ride.

What could be better?

(As a side note, I wonder if this will be the last "Pageant" swim now that Miss America is no longer going to be held in Atlantic City?)

Saw this quote at my local bike shop while getting my crank arm adjusted¹:

Fitness is something that happens to you while you practice good technique.
— Terry Laughlin, Total Immersion Swim Coach

So true. So true.

1 – Check it out, I was riding the other day and the left crank arm slipped off the front crank. About killed me. Oh yea, and just as an fyi, there is no graceful way to stop and unclip when something like this happens.

With Elite being far enough away to make it inconvenient, I headed out to Wheelfine Imports for a fix. Can't say enough good stuff about the shop. Solid LBS's are few and far between. I'm very lucky these guys are so close.

The bike will need a little plastic bit to get that allows the tension in the crank shaft to be adjusted (don't ask me, I just ride the thing — that is why I work with computers and not bikes), but I'll be good to go for my 6-hour ride tomorrow.

Yes, a 6-hour ride followed by a 1-hour run. On a school day! I'm *cough* too sick *cough* to make it into the office. Sometimes weekends are too nice to waste a whole day riding. This is one of them. Weather is supposed to be nice.

Friday

What, I ask you is better than a 6 hour tempo ride? You guessed it, an hour run off the ride. Yes sir, nothing better.

6 hour Tempo Ride

30 min warm-up
3	x	30 min 145-150HR
		20 min 155-160HR
		10 min 160-165HR
		5 min ez 130HR
3	x	30 min IM pace
		15 min base
30 min ½ IM pace
30 min base-cool-down

Run OFF BIKE 60min at IM effort

Lots of stuff to think about during those 7 hours. Not as much, "Why am I so stupid?" as you'd think.

I realized I was the only guy brave enough to pipe into the posting on Carrie's chest. Sure, you wonder what people will think about that deleted reply (it was a typo). (and who are the Hams?)

Then you think about the run and how can this run be better then the Timberman run.

Around hour 4 you ask yourself if anyone had ever died from choking on Pop-Tart crumbs and you're greatful you didn't crash during the choking fit.

You realized that Fruit Punch Gatorade starts to be less tasty than you'd like about hour 5 but you know you need to keep drinking it lest you dry up like that dude in the third Indiana Jones movie when he picked the wrong cup.

You're pretty stoked when the run goes faster than you thought it would. Both in terms of how long it feels and how you feel at the end.

And after the ride and run, you think about what you thought about and realize there are more blanks in your memory of the ride than you're comfortable with. At least you think there are holes, but you can't be sure.

Saturday

Wedding. Yea for Donna and Mark!

Sunday

And welcome to the start of the NFL season. In order to get the most out of the opening weekend, you get up early to get in your 150 minute run. Nothing too exciting about the run. Felt better than I thought it would, in fact I felt pretty strong. Negative split of about 5 mins on the out-and-back 15 miles along the canal path.

I did crush a mouse. Poor little guy zipped out right in front of me. Why he thought he could make it or why not wait another 4-5 seconds before attempting to zip across the path, I'll never know. I do know that it is pretty gross to flatten an animal on the run. Makes you feel bad inside too.

Thank the Gods I didn't slip and fall. Thank any remaining Gods it wasn't a snake. Man, I hate snakes. Actually stepping on one would too horrible to consider. Feel bad about the mouse, but, damn I'm glad it wasn't a snake.

This week is moving along pretty well. Recovered from the weekend workout and even managed to watch most of the first half of the Iggles getting spanked by the Falcons on Monday night. (sweeeet) Getting a somewhat easy week getting ready for two races this weekend and a slight rest before the final big training month before IM-Florida.

I think my running is slowing starting to get better. 8 miles on Tuesday morning, 5 more today, and then another 8 on tap for Thursday. Surpisingly, my knees haven't exploded like a Pinto and I'm keeping a good pace. Although I do have to admit, the good pace is due more to my running partners than me. They keep a good pace, I stuggle to keep up and not sound too much like a freight train going up hill.

As I write this 52 days to Florida. 5. 2. Not long at all.

I think I've worked out a good plan for that IM marathon. Since my one and only marathon wasn't all that I hoped it could be and I've had problem on the runs in both Half Ironmans (Timberman and Eagleman) this year, I know running the whole time is pretty much out of the questions. Something in a run-walk seems pretty reasonable. 26 ÷ 2 = 13 sets of run walk. Since I kind of hope to run across the finish line, clearly the run needs to be the second mile. So, walk-run repeats should see me through the to the end in probably a better time than if I tried to run/jog/shamble the whole distance.

Seems reasonable to me. What do you think?

Good weekend of racing.

Saturday, it was down to Wildwood Crest for the September Splash 2-mile swim. The water was a bit on the warm side — a generous 75° — so I went without with wet suit. The course was a two loop affair. I tagged the lap function on my watch after the first loop and it recorded a time of 21:53. Not bad for a mile. Sadly, the tide switched near the end of the second loop and that caused me to be pulled a bit off course. Nothing too terrible, but it was noticeable. The final finish time was 46.08 (full results at L & M Sports, you'll find me at #14. Not the quickest I could have swam, but the pace felt good. I didn't want to push it, just go with what felt natural and see what would happen. When I got out the water, hoping on the bike for a wee 112 mile ride would have been within the realm of possibility.

I'm hoping this means the sub-hour swim at IM-Florida is within my grasp! Adding a wet suit to that 46-minutes and then tacking on another 10-12 minutes for the additional 0.4 miles seems fairly reasonable.

Sunday, it was just up the road to the Skylands Sprint Triathlon: 0.5 mile swim, 14.1 mile bike, 5K run.

This triathlon was a bit weird. First, it was close to home. No need to find hotel space, get up at 3AM to drive, or any that noise. It even started at a reasonable time: 9:30AM! We got to sleep in until 6:00AM and still made it there with plenty of time.

The swim was a dry-land start so lots of extra kicking as everyone ran into the water, but after 3-4 minutes I started moving past people and found some space. With about 300 yards to go I ran into a problem where these three guys had formed the water equivalent of the Berlin Wall. I tried to go around them, and I swear to God they moved to block me. After two 'go around' attempts, I tried the 'go over' move. By the time I got half way past'em, one guy started to kick and taking an ankle in the arms and ribs messes up your stroke, so I fell back. At that point I made the prick move. I grabbed an ankle and yanked. Bad karma? Probably. It did, however, open a hole up for me to swim through.

Out of the water there was a 100 or so yards run on sand to the timing mat, then another minute or so run to the transition area. Shirt, socks, helmet, and shoes: check! I started clopping toward the bike mount area. The ride at Skylands is fairly hilly. One section was very, very steep, but thankfully very short. Nothing too much can go wrong on a 14 mile ride. My pace was a little slow at 17.7 mph, but for not training for a sprint and not working too many hills in my training, I cannot complain.

I left the 2nd transition just as the first place guy was finishing. $5,000 in prize money brings out some pretty quick dudes.

The run was a semi-shaded out and back. I always have bad time running (compared to everyone else) and this 5K was no exception. I felt pretty good and my watch had me doing 9:15s as everyone and their grandmother cruised past me. The final clock time has the 5K at 29:43. A pace of 9:36! Plenty quick for me on a "C" race. The biggest take-away I have is that I felt like I could have run like for hours and hours.

Hopefully this will be a good confidence booster going into Florida.

Full results posted at Lin-Mark, I'm down there at #140.

The perfect post-work brick. Take 1 hour of hill repeats followed by a generous portion of 1 hour tempo run. Yum-yum!

It was a great day to get out and just be outside. Not to hot, not too cool, not too sunny. Just right. I can only hope for a few more weeks of this.

Tomorrow is long run day. Icky. There are way better ways to spend the afternoon than a 2:30 run. The sad part is running that long no long punishes me physically — don't get me wrong, it is plenty hard, just not crippling — I just don't want to spend the two and a half hours doing it.

I'm glad we're coming in the home stretch. Word of advice: don't spread out the training too much when getting ready for Ironman. I've been working to this point since last December when I started training for the Jersey Shore Marathon. That is about 10 months of work with one more to go. I've not taken more than 2-3 days off from training that whole time. Too long. I just want to stop and sleep in.

Next year in getting ready for IM-CDA I've got it down to 19 weeks. 12 to get ready for a half IM in North Carolina and then 7 weeks after that, Idaho. I think that will be better. Much better.

It is moving into fall. In fact, it may already be there. Don't go by the calendar, you just go by how the air feels. Yesterday morning was a perfect day for [insert what you want to do here].

Up at 5:00 for a quick stretch and then a 75 minute run. The air was crisp, but not cold. As usual it was dark when I started out. I normally don't like running the dark. Even with the a light I'm prone to whack my feet against fallen tree limbs and the slightly uneven canal path plays havoc with my ankles. And there could be snakes. Man, I hate snakes. This time of year they like to hang out on the path as it gets sunlight early and stays warm late. Running with the light, every twig or small branch could be a snake. /me shudders. But not yesterday, it just didn't feel like snake weather.

After the first 4 miles there was enough sunlight creeping over the river and trees to bag the headlight. Over the four miles back home it got brighter and warmer. Not a cloud in the sky. Just a hint of warm breeze.

I should have called in dead from work and done something fun. Would-a, should-a, could-a — but I didn't. Note to self: next time it feels like a "stay home from work day", stay home. You'll be happier.

What a difference a day makes. This morning at 5:30, the dark was just dark and gloomy. The air was cold and my breath fogged the air for the first part of the run. Only 30 minutes. but it was enough to get a feel for the day. Nothing special, just another day.

Hopefully it will get better by this afternoon. In time for a planned 2-hour run. Quick recap since the last update.

Tuesday

Up early for a 75-minute run along the canal path. Solid run. First hour always seems easy. After work, 4,500 yard swim. Some pace work, some intervals. Felt better than my last swim at the pool. I think the few days away help more than I realized.

Monday

Recovery day. Long weekend.

Sunday

Planned for a 4-hour ride... Saturday kicked too much of my buttocks. Instead an easy 1:30 with the Loving Wife™ in the hills. Then football.

Saturday

6 hour ride working on getting the heart-rate up and keeping a steady cadence. Hour run after was planned, but at 5:00 into the ride I semi-bonked. I think the 2:30 two days before caught up with me and fried my legs. Nutrution was good, hydration was good, energy level and mental toughness lacked.

Friday

Recovery

Thursday

2:30 run after work. Yes, it was icky. First hour or so felt good. The 45 minutes after that were okay. The last 45 got more difficult, well, because I had been running for over 2-hours! But, I lived. Got about 16 miles in the alotted 150 minutes.

Wil at Through th3 Wall had an interesting day watching someone spend another day making bad decisions. I can dig it. I've been there. You wonder why, you try to help but, you can't want it for them.

Then I had another series of thoughts as I read this:

"Sally," I said with as much compassion in my voice as possible, "do you know how many calories your body needs to do everything it does each day?"

She didn't. I knew she'd be embarrassed about disclosing her weight to me (because I would have been, and WAS!), so I told her that I'd forward her a few webpages to help her figure it out. I explained that 3,500 calories is equivalent to one pound, and that the two little frosted rectangles of evil in her hands were approximately 430 calories right there!

She seemed less than ignited about the whole thing, thanked me for the webpages, and TOOK ANOTHER BITE OF THE POP TART!

I'll be honest, my first thoughts were along this line: did you consider slapping the Pop Tart out of her hand? Then it switched over to "Whoa, 430 calories. I thought it was only 400? May it was the frosting?" Then a little sadness that I knew off the top of my head how many calories there are in a package of Pop Tarts. Followed quickly by "I wonder if Wil knew the calories off the top of her head?" (I decided she probably did.) Finally, did I have enough Pop Tart goodness for my long rides this weekend? (I do, but they are Frosted Raspberry.)

I can't decide if this was a good thought chain or a bad one.

Update

There are 210 calories per Blueberry Pop Tart, or 420 per package. BWe were a little off.

Surprisingly, Frosted Blueberry Pop Tarts have less calories than the unfrosted. Weird.