Ayerd{dot}com :: Triathlon

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been taking a few days off. Last week on Thursday I went for my 2-hour run (missed it on Wednesday with a bike, then took the day off of work and ran during the daylight). At some point in the run, something bad happened.

Don't know exactly what went on, but the net result is my knee hurts like hell. A dull ache just above the kneecap, a little towards the inside. I think it is just a strain and I'm hoping the few days off makes a big improvement.

On Saturday I tried a swim-bike-run. The 4,500 swim went well and I zipped out of the gym and onto the bike. Right away I knew it was bad. After 30 minutes the knee started acting up. After 3 hours I needed to head home. The 4th hour was bad, so I skipped the 5th hour and the 30 minute run.

Sunday I tried again, but Mr. Ice Bag convinced me it would be a mistake to push it. Ice and easy self massage were how I spent the afternoon.

I rested Monday and by Tuesday it felt a little better. There was a 5000 swim in Tuesday after work that wasn't too bad:

600 warm up
300 kick
-
1500 pull, neg. split
1200 IM/Free by 100
1200 Free, neg. split
--
200 Cool down

Of course, two days with nothing doing but core and swimming has convinced me all the bike-run endurance I has is now gone (not true, I know, but the mind will believe what it wants to believe).

This morning I tried a short, slow 40 minute run. It felt better, but there was still some soreness afterwards. I'll baby it a bit more and try some longer bike-runs this weekend. What could be better than a long bike in the cold fall rain?

Technically, this is a crappy time to get nicked up. 30 days to IM and I was about to start the taper. At least I have another week where hopefully I can get some more work in before I have to start the obligatory pre-race freak out.

Yes, I feel happy!. Hopefully that feeling will last. The extended time off helped both the knee and the mind.

Went for a one hour run after work in the (new found) fall humidity. Got around 7 miles on the canal path. A slight tweak as I started up, but once the muscle got warmed up the leg felt fine. No complaints out or back. The first couple step not running were interesting but after a bout of stretching, I felt great!

This morning still no pain. Hell yea.

Note about the trees: fall is really here. Leaves are changing all over the place. I could see the river again almost the whole way. I really need to get a digital camera so I can share some shots of where I run and bike. One of the perks of living in a small town that centers on tourism is that the views are pretty good.

I'm really looking forward to the run where all the leaves just rain down. Last year it was like a scene from Hero. Really looking forward to that run this year.

No, not that dancing "twist and shout", more along the lines of slip on the wet leaves, twist the knee that was just starting to feel better and then shout out obscenities.

Yes, after babying the leg for a whole week, it felt pretty good. Saturday I set off on a two hour run in the warm, fall rain. The knee held up pretty well. Some soreness, but that always happens to me after two hours of running and as usual it went away after a few hours.

Sunday it was time to try a little bit more. I had a run-bike-run on the schedule. Started off well, but around minute 28 of 90 on the first run I slipped, recovered awkwardly, and twisted the knee that was just starting to feel better.

&^%$#@!!!!

With that, I took another two days off. Yesterday was a nice 4,000 yard swim and it was Good. Today there was a 40-minute stretcher run after work. On the plus side, I lived. Some slight pain around the patella. Iced it down and now it feels a little better.

24 - eat me - days until Ironman and I have hitch in my giddy-up. I'm hoping the lighter loads of the taper will allow me to push through the race. It should. I'm also going to try a patella-stap-support thingy. Who knows, maybe it will help.

What the knee really needs is few solid weeks rest but that cannot happen until November 6th.

Props to Tara and Chris who just started swimming in Kona. GO TARA! GO CHRIS!

Over at ironmanlive.com you can watch the event live. How cool is that?

Update: Chris Finished

w00t! Chris finished at 9:20:12 in 101st place. Yea!

Update: Tara is an Ironman (err, woman)

Happened after I hit the bed last night but after 13:37:26, Tara crossed the line. YEA! 5:07 for her first marathon ever and an Ironman marathon. Pretty sweet.

As requested (sorta) by the Commodore, I'm going to post a bit more about my taper for IM Florida. (Commodore, I sent out a copy of my taper plan, if you didn't get it, let me know!)

Today was a solid, paced swim:

2 x 200 Choice :10
   3 x 100:15 kick 1-3
12 x 50 on :60
   4-25 Fist/25 Fr
   4-DPS(dist per stroke)
   4-25 Fr fast/25 Fr
100 Choice EZ :20

Main set:
3 x 100 Fr on 1:30
    150 Fr on 2:35
    200 Fr on 3:00
    150 Fr on 2:10
    100 Fr on 1:30
    All solid aerobic pace!
500 Free w/fins aero :30
6 x 50 kick on :60

200 Cool down

Swim felt pretty good and I got between 10 and 15 seconds rest after every 100/150/200 in the pyramid. Let me add a note about my taper. I'm a fairly strong swimmer. Not the best by any means, but solid. I also have terrible time running. It makes my knees hurt. With that in mind I'm pushing some of the aerobic stuff over to the pool. If you're a stronger runner, you'd probably see a little less swimming and a tad more running.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still getting the miles in but I'm also trying to baby the bendy parts so they don't explode on the IM marathon. We'll see how this works out and if it doesn't, for IM-CDA I'll spend a little less time in the pool and a bit more time on the road.

The question has also crossed my mind: How do you know you're ready for an Ironman? I keep waiting for that magical day when I wake up and say, "I could finish an Ironman today!" I don't think it is going to work like that, but I hope it does.

Hopefully, that feel good day will be November 5th.

Sadly, what I think is going to happen is this: terrible, gut wrenching anxiety until I walk across the timing mat and onto the beach for the start of the race. Then calm. It will be more of a "today you race" rather than a "let's race today."

Either one will be fine with me as long as at the end of 140.6 miles I end up with (1) no ambulance, (2) a smile, and (3) a finisher's medal. That is all I can hope for.

Last night I zipped home from work, dragged the dog quickly around the block and then jumped on my bike for a quick 1 hour ride in the hills. For the first time leaves where being swooshed around when I passed them and that dried leafy smell was in the air. Very fall-like.

It also got dark, and did so rather quickly. About 20 minutes from home the sun dropped behind the trees and it was (day)lights out. At least I made it home before the street lights came on. Mom would be proud!

As I got back from the ride the Loving Wife™ was heading out for a 3-mile run. Since I was feeling good I opted to head out with her. (Yes, you just read that I opted to go on a run. I may have a fever.) We went at her pace which is slower than I would normally go. Being a foot taller and having worked myself into decent running shape for IMF will do that. It was a good stretcher run along the darkened canal.

With the very warm water temps that showed up in the Gulf over the summer via the hurricane maps, I was a little concerned that wetsuits would become verboten for the race. I'm thinking it will be close, but should be okay.

Just so you can play along with the home version of my worries and fears, here is a link to the NDBC info for the PCB station. Remember the magic temperature is 78°, but that is awful warm to be wearing a wetsuit for 2.4 miles.

You can't tell from where you're sitting, but around 12:00 I came down with a horrible illness. It was soooooooo bad I had to leave work. Lucky for me it cleared on the ride home. *heh*

Today was a 3 hour ride followed by a 45-minute run. The ride was nice, if a bit windy. The wind really took a toll on the shady parts of the ride. At least I've come to accept that the summer is over and wore long sleeves for the ride.

The run felt pretty good too. Nothing special but at the start my legs were nice and springy. That feeling lasted pretty much the whole run. I think I'm about as far along the "in shape" curve as I'm going to get. Let's get this race started already!

It was a lonely 4,000 yards in the pool last night. That is another problem with the late season Ironman: everyone else is done, moved onto marathons, or just taking time off. Last night, I had the pool to myself. Just me and the lifeguard. While I struggled with trying not to loose count during the sets, she struggled to stay awake. At least it only took an hour. I'll say that for intervals they may be dull and repetitive, but they go quickly.

4000 aero
   2 x 200 Ch :10
       4 x 50 :15 kick 1-4
   12 x 50 on :50
       4 –drill
       4 –build
       4 -25 fast/25 medium

   Main set:
   2 x 400 Fr on 6:00
       300 Fr on 4:30
       200 Fr on 2:45
       100 Fr on 1:20
       All solid aerobic pace!
   6 x 50 kick on :60

   300 Cool down

Translation

That workout should read like this:

4,000 yards: Aerobic swim
 
  2 x 200 Choice with :10 rest
       4 x 50 kick build 1-4 
           (each 50 faster than the one before) 
           :15 rest after each 50
   12 x 50 on :50
       4 –drill 
          (50 catch-up, 
           50 finger-tip drag
           50 focus on distance-per-stroke,
           50 fist drill)
          (hint: this drill is technically called 
           'fisting', so don't search for 
           it at work!)
       4 –build
          (each 50 faster than the last,
           last 50 at 80%)
       4 -25 fast/25 medium
          (25 sprint, swim normal pace back)

   Main set:
   2 x 400 Free on 6:00
       300 Free on 4:30
       200 Free on 2:45
       100 Free on 1:20
       All solid aerobic pace!
       (between :10 and :15 rest at end of each distance)
   6 x 50 kick on :60 seconds

   300 Cool down

The drill terminology and why to do those drill may be voodoo at first. Maybe this will help:

• The 'catch-up' drill is to teach you to swim in the front quadrant.
• 'finger-tip drag' helps get your elbows up and works on body rotation.
• 'distance-per-stroke' is pretty straight forward, speed is not the goal; long, easy strokes are. FINISH the stoke with your hand by your thigh, then recover.
• When working on the 'fist', you really do swim with your hands balled up. The goal is to feel how the water flows over your forearms during the stroke. When you just wind-mill through the water, only your hands grab the H2O, fisting will allow you to focus more on arm position which in turn will help put your hands in the best position to give you the most efficient pull.

The rest of the workout is fairly pedestrian. Any questions, just let me know.

This weekend was a tough one. Saturday morning was cold and wet. Since I've recently discovered a huge fear of wiping out or falling or tripping and hurting myself before Florida, I decided to move the bike ride to Sunday and get the swim in on Saturday.

Off to the pool for the regularly scheduled masters workout. While I should have been doing distance, it was a butterfly workout. It felt pretty good, but some of the flipper work would come back to haunt me on the Sunday run. 3,500 yards so I traded distance for intensity and that is okay in my book.

If missing 1,500 yards in the pool 14 days before Ironman makes that much of a difference I've failed somewhere else in my training.

Sunday the rain was gone but the cold fall wind was blowing pretty strongly. I started out around 9:00 for a 2-hour loop with the idea being I'd get a second loop in and then run for an hour. Since it was cool — around 60° — I did the layer thing and went with long pants for the ride. It worked, my legs and torso felt fine even in the wind. I did, however, have the wrong socks on. Whoa, the feet froze up after about 40 minutes and stayed numb the whole time.

The start of the ride featured a detour as the road I really wanted to use was closed for an emergency preparedness drill. Old folks home evacuation practice! Nothing better on the Sunday morning. Nothing. The rest of the ride featured on a killer headwind.

Needless to say, at the end of the 2-hour loop I felt miserable. On roads that normally have multiple pelotons of 10+ I only say one other rider. He looked cold too.

Hitting the home to exchange the water bottles I decided to bag the other 2-hours and instead headed out for a run. It took a bit for my toes to warm up but after than it was a good run. Felt strong!

One other thing of note happened: The water temp station at PCB didn't record a single hour at or over the magical 78° mark for 24+ hours. Could be Wilma, but I think it is a good sign. w00t!

543. Kind of like a count down. 543, my people, is my official race number for Ironman Florida. Don't know if it is Good Number or a Bad Number. At least it will be easy to remember.

On a side note, and completely unrelated to the Ironman at hand, ye olde iPod just kicked back "Milkshake" by Kelis and the only thing I could think of was the very end of Dodgeball (after the credits). Childish, yea. Still made me laugh though.

11 days. Nutrution plan set. Pre-race eating plan established. In about as good a shape as I can be. Still feel a little "blah", but that could be the weather, the effect of the taper, the pressure of a good run after Karen pushed in a 3:47 at the Detroit Marathon and Tara ran the whole marathon at Kona, or just generic nerves. Hard to say.

Yesterday was the final long swim before IMF. 4,400 yards. Felt really good.

500 warm up
300 kick
--
3 x 1000
    1 - pull, increase intensity every 250
    2 - swim, steady pace
    3 - swim with fins and paddles
100 choice
3 x 100 1-3 on the 1:30
--
200 cool down

The 1000 pull went well. The steady swim was pretty quick as the easy pace I set out with got each 100 in on the 1:25. Sure, I felt like a little foolish stopping in mid flip turn at the end of each 100 to look at my watch but it worked. While I understand what the fin/paddle swim is supposed to accomplish, all it seems to do is mess up my timing for the turn.

For the last set of 3 x 100s did a 1:25, 1:20, and a 1:15. Probably could have gone faster the 1000s took a bit more out of me than I thought.

Looking for a Master's program in your area? Try the USMS web site. Once you've found a program in your area, contact the coach. You can usually try the pool/team out once or twice to make sure it is a good fit for you. Bonus: Once you have your USMS card you can score easy bling at the open water championships.

10 days to go and I'm a little concerned about the lack of running over the last few days of the taper. I suppose my knees need the rest , but as that is the part of the race that is creeping me out I'm perhaps more concerned than I need to be about it.

The one thing completly out of my control for Ironman is the weather. All you can do is have a plan in place for all types of weather and be ready to act. The really good news is that thanks to teh Interweb™, there are sites than can help us figure out how boned we may or may not be on race day.

• dryday.com: Claiming there is a low-low chance of rain. Hell yea!
• weather.com: Seems to be leaning towards good weather. True, as of this posting the weather for Saturday isn't listed, but their stuff seems to somewhat match up with dryday.com.

I keep in mind the weather dudes are paid to lie to us. That is their job. They spew the lie and then sit back and laugh like hell when we believe them. All we can do as weather consumers is pick the weather reporter *cough* Stephanie Abrams *cough* that will be easiest for us to turn to day after day as we listen, believe, and act on their lies.

I'm comfortable with that.

The important part is that there might be great weather for racing on November 5th. Sweeeeeeeeet!

Yesterday I was supposed to bike for an hour followed by a 30 minute run. By the time I got home from work it was too dark for biking. Instead I extended the run by 10 and called it even. The 40 minute run (42:21 is you really must know) felt really great. I had loaded up on layers to try and keep a hint of the warm weather conditioning for the Florida heat, so I was sweating a ton. I'm sure it looked pretty funny. I passed a few dudes who looked at me like I had a third eye, but hey, better to look odd running in NJ than look like a fool DNF-ing in Florida, right?

Today was a 3,500 yard swim. Mostly sprints and 100s at 90% effort. At least the short overall distance meant I was done pretty quick!

And, yesterday I got an email from Karen — and fellow IM-CDA triathlete — asking about 2006 plans. While the future is still hazy, I think a bunch of us are going to sign up for the Marine Corps Marathon. Whoa, does that course look sweet! I think regisration is tight, so I hope I'm on the ball enough to make it happen. I should be, but until you complete the paperwork you can never be sure.

Five days... four really as today is basically over. Started packing and we start driving tomorrow for PCB. We'll make a slight detour over to West Virgina to drop the dawg off at the dawg sitter, then south.

Hoping to arrive in PCB on Wednesday afternoon and check into the hotel. Up Thursday morning for a swim and a bike, then check-in and all that noise. Friday maybe another swim and then off of the feet and into bed by 8:00PM

Saturday... well, Saturday is Saturday. Looks like good weather. Looks like a good temp for the water. I think it is going to kick ass.

I'm hoping the hotel in PCB has interweb access. If it does I'll post updates over the next few days. If not, we'll be back in (cold) NJ near the middle of next week and I'll post updates then.

Rock on.