Tres

Back in January I started counting down until IM Boulder. This morning as I write, there are only 89 more days (roughly 12 weeks) until race day.  If you calculate rest days (at least one a week), plus a few other days where I know I won't fit in training due to travel, other commitments, etc., that number starts to drop to about 70 days of training.   Oops!  I forgot to factor in tapering.  Let's make it about 65 days when all is said and done (and that's assuming I'm not sick or injured during the next couple of months).  For the last several months, I've done everything I could to get in position for some serious Ironman Training.  I think that's the difference moving forward.  If April was the start of transitioning to more "race specific" (read: longer endurance) work, May launches me head first into that world.  But before I delve into what's ahead, let's take a look back at the last several weeks to see what April was like.

Overall: In April, we were blessed with a lot of nice weather, and this gave me an opportunity to get in some longer rides outside.  I continued to use the trainer each week, but at least three of my four long rides were done outside.  The last, was an 82 miler I did the last weekend of the month.  I also did a bit more running this past month with a couple of long runs of 8 and 10 miles (today is 12 miles) as I begin to ramp up the running again.  So for the month of April I swam 13,000 yards, rode 412 miles on the bike, and ran 42 miles.  I completed 30 out of 33 planned workouts for approximately a 91% completion rate.

Swimming: In April I swam a bit less than March, but continued to stretch my morning workouts a bit.  With only two swims a week, there's still something to be desired, but they've stretched from 1500 yard sessions, to around 2000 on most days.  I will continue to shoot for some longer swims in May, leading into the summer.

Biking: I cycled 3-4 times a week, depending on what my running plans were.  The average time and distance increased while the frequency remained the same.  During the week, I usually had a couple of 1 hour sessions done using Trainer Road.  One was interval focused intense trainer ride, and another was more of a "sweet spot" workout.  On the weekends, I alternated between two consecutive long rides (around 55 miles each) or one longer ride followed by a longer run the next day.  The bike course for IM Boulder was also revealed a couple of weeks back and that will have an impact on my training choices.  The new course has about 5100 feet of elevation gain, with short punchy climbs.  While the gain in elevation isn't drastically different than the year before, the brief "ups" and "downs" will certainly be different.

2014 IM Boulder Bike Course

2015 IM Boulder Bike Course

Running:  During April, I started to slowly reintroduce a long run as part of my training.  I'm shooting to do one of these at least every other week and build up to about 20 miles before IM Boulder.  With the amount of time I have until the race, I'm on a good pace to do that.   I've slowed my overall pace a tad as well, and most of my running is just a touch under 9:00 minutes/ mile.  I certainly expect that my Ironman pace will be slower than that, but since a lot of my running is isolated at the moment, I can handle a bit faster pace.  As I mentioned before I have 12 miles scheduled today, and so it will be a good test to see where I'm at.  There's also a forecast of about 82 degrees as well, so this will give me a taste of some "heat" training.

Up Next: In May, I'll be adding more long workouts on the weekend.  A typical ride will now be at least 50 miles, and this will often be followed by some longer running off of the bike.  My "during the week activities" will stay about the same. One thing I'm going to definitely do however, is build in a recovery week after every third week of training.  At the end of April, I had one built in, and I was so thankful that was the case.  Going into the week, I felt completely spent and the quality of my workouts was suffering to the point that I had little energy to put into them.  I didn't even manage to make it to the pool in the morning, and so I was grateful that I didn't have a bunch of key workouts scheduled that I would have had to scrub.  Taking it a bit easier for a week means I now get to start the next phase feeling refreshed, motivated and ready to go.  A month from now, I'll be at the start of June and with it will be the beginnings of Summer "Vacation" (I'll still be working quite a bit, but without the same frenzy that the end of the school year brings).   The month will be challenging, but I feel ready to go to the next phase.  Bring it on!

Four!

Geez!  Where did the last month go? It seems like I was just sitting down to write about my progress with five months to go until Ironman.  Now here it is, the first week of April already.  So here is a recap for the month of March.
Swim:  I managed 10 swim workouts in March.  Two of those were longer swims over Spring Break including a 4000 yard swim that I did as part of a brick.  In total I managed a bit over 5 hours of swimming and about 15,000 yards.  My average pace for these workouts was usually somewhere between 1:50 and 2:00 per 100 (except when I was doing speedier sets).  I seem to be maintaining the swim which is about all I can do right now given my schedule.  I will have a few more options after Memorial Day when the pool at the club is open, and once summer starts, I'll be able to increase those workouts a bit.
Bike:  It was a good month for riding as I got just under 400 miles for the month, which is by far the most I've done in a long time.  A good portion of my riding was done outdoors thanks to some great weather during the month.  I even finished off with a 68 mile ride where I managed a +19 mph pace overall.  Last weekend, I did an FTP test using Trainer Road and my "virtual power" came in at 207 watts, which was an improvement from January when I was at 196 watts.   Back in December, I'd started at about 182 watts, so I feel good about the improvement I'm making.    During the week I'll continue to push the intensity a bit using the Trainer Road  workouts.  There is a wide variety but I'm going to utilize more of the interval sets that have me pushing longer amounts of time close to my FTP (e.g.- 3x10' sets at 95-99% FTP over the course of an hour).  On Saturdays and Sundays I will start to do some longer outdoor rides on the weekends (weather permitting) and work up to a 75 mile ride before enjoying a recovery week at the end of the month.  I "splurged" and upgraded my helmet as well.  I'm now the proud owner of a bright yellow Giro Air Attack Shield Helmet.  It's a very versatile aero helmet (can be used for daily riding) and it has a visor that attaches magnetically to the front of the helmet.  While I've only managed a couple of rides with it so far, it has been wonderful to have.  My glasses would always slip down my face, and I'd never really get the benefit of the lenses because the angle of my head had me peering over the top of the rims.  The visor provides a full uninterrupted view which makes it much easier to ride in the aero position.
Run: I ran a bit less than 30 miles during the entire month of March.  While less mileage was part of my overall plan, I fought a bit of illness returning from NYC in the middle of the month and cut one or two runs a bit shorter.  That said, I don't feel too bad about where my run fitness is.  Even with the limited amount of running, my performance on the run has gotten better, not worse.  I've gone back to a 5:1 approach on my last two runs and discovered that I'm feeling excellent with little to no fatigue. Even taking it a bit easier than before, I'm still well below my goal paces for IM Boulder.  In April, I'll be introducing some more long runs into my training as well as a mid-week run that's a bit longer than before.  Some of this running will include some tempo and interval work just to keep it interesting, but I also hope to be sure that my easier days are well, easier.
Nutrition: This wasn't too great during the month of March.  I haven't gone back to doughnuts or passkey, but I could definitely do a better job with the food that I'm taking in.  I'm maintaining a decent weight so there isn't concern there, but I could probably cut back on some of the junk and overindulgence.  Most of these issues revolve around extra helpings at dinner, too much dessert, and of course, putting back maybe 1-2 more beers than is necessary!  The last one is particularly difficult given all of the delicious choices out there!
The coming month will be an interesting mix as I start to increase the volume of several individual workouts (longer rides and swims).  This month and next are a bit of a transition as I work into steadily longer distance workouts.    As the race draws closer, I'm getting more and more excited.  If the next four months are anything like the last one, it will be here before I know it!

Testing 1. . . 2. . .3 . . Testing

The arrival of Spring Break has given me the opportunity to delve into training a bit more this week.  Although I had some travel at the beginning of the week, I have managed to get in some consistent sessions including a longer test session earlier in the week.  The purpose of this session was two-fold.  First, I wanted to get a sense of how I would feel after a 2.4 (more or less) mile swim.  Although I have swum this distance in the past, I've never followed it up with a bike/ run. In addition, I wanted to get a sense of where I'm at with just over four months to go.  How much progress have I really made?  How much more do I have to do?  While it's common to schedule a half Ironman with 2-3 months to go, I wanted to see my current level in advance of that.  There's plenty of time to get better.

The Plan, a very long workout!

With a warmer (albeit windy) forecast last Tuesday, I planned out the following workout: a 4000 yard swim at the local pool, a 50 mile bike ride, and a 10 mile run.  I allotted 90 minutes for the swim, 3 hours for the bike ride, and another 1 hour 40 minutes for the run.  While the swim would be fairly close to the full distance, the bike would represent about 45% of a full Ironman ride, and the run would make up just under 40%.

I arrived at the pool around lunch time, and was able to get in right away and start swimming.  Throughout, I swam at a steady pace (around 2:00/ 100) and I took very few breaks (other than to adjust my goggles which seemed to constantly be leaking).  I felt comfortable through the first 3000 yards, but the last 1,000 was a bit of a slog.  I could feel my form starting to slip and there was a gradual slowdown with each 100 taking an extra second or two.  I'm sure this is due to the fact that I normally "fit in" a swim of 2,000 yds or less during the week.  The extra 40 to 50 minutes definitely makes a difference. When all was said and done, it took me about 1 hour and 20 minutes to do the entire swim.

Once the swim was complete, I hustled into the locker room, rinsed off, and changed into my biking gear.  The transition was about 10-12 minutes, but I made my way out to the car where my bike was waiting inside.  After loading water bottles, getting my shoes, helmet, etc.  I set out for the ride.  The 50 mile ride is an out and back course along, you guessed it (if you read this blog regularly), the test track.  There was a very strong tail wind through the first part of the ride which gave me a bit of extra recovery starting out.  In fact, I barely had to pedal through the first 4 miles as there's a slight downhill as well.  Throughout the ride, I felt very good (a recent head cold hadn't set me too far back) although I did note that my heart rate was slightly higher than it would be without the swim before hand.  I managed to stay well below threshold most of the time, but it would quickly increase from say 115 to 145 bpm whenever I started to put a little more effort in.  I managed a solid pace most of the time, and worked to keep my cadence higher when climbing or confronting the wind (at a couple of points the gusts were so strong I thought I might get blown off of the road!).  Turning around at 25 miles, there was a bit more time spent battling the winds, but it wasn't too awful.  I reminded myself that there are no guarantees that there won't be wind on the Ironman course (in fact, it's quite likely) so I might as well get used to it.  By the end of the ride, I started to feel a bit more fatigue in my legs (not unlike my experience at Harvest Moon in September), but given the wind and my pace, I felt fairly good about the ride.After tacking on an extra mile to make sure I hit at least 50 miles, I rolled up to the car after about 2 hours and 45 minutes.

The always exciting test track bike ride.  Wind gusts of +20 mph made portions of this very exciting!

By this point, it was late in the afternoon and the warmest part of the day.  I drank a bit of water, changed into my running shoes, and set off for the 10 mile run.  I hadn't really planned out a route, and so I wound up running an out and back course that consisted of a mile with a slight downhill, followed by a mile with a steady climb (what goes down, must come up, no?).  The first three miles felt very good, but by the time I turned around and started back up for mile four, things started to unravel.  I started to feel the heat, and my heart rate stayed at a steady 161 which is well above my aerobic threshold.  At the end of four miles, I stopped at the car and drank the last of my water and Gatorade (which wasn't much) and set out again.  I felt a bit better after that, but my HR remained high, and by the time I reached the end of mile five it was clear that I'd just run out of energy.  Throughout the run, I averaged a pace of around 8:30 to 9:00 minutes per mile, but I was starting to drop to 10 minute miles by the end.  I'd found my limit, so after 6.2 miles, I called it a day.  A bit shorter than I'd planned, but I didn't feel like I would gain anything from going further.

Lack of Nutrition and Hydration had me cutting this one a bit short.

What I learned:

• You have to respect the swim.  I don't think I'll have any problem completing the swim portion of the Ironman, but it can't be underestimated.  Between now and August 2nd, I will want to start increasing the average length of my swim.
• The bike is coming along well, but I need to push the nutrition more.  I wasn't as aggressive about taking in nutrition on the bike and this cut into my running performance.  
• I need to slow down and hydrate better when running.  My goal pace for IM Boulder is anywhere from 9:45-10:30 per mile.  So why am I trying to run at an 8:30-9:00 minute pace right now? Tuesday definitely taught me that I need to be a bit more conservative when running. 
• I must take in more nutrition/ hydration.  Although I'm doing better with this,  I'm just not taking in sufficient calories for any effort longer than 2-3 hours and that was evident on Tuesday.  I felt fine through the first 4 hours, but it was very clear that I had no more energy during the last three miles of the run.  I shudder to think what it would have been like had I needed to run another 22! Hydration is another factor.  The temperature on Tuesday afternoon was in the low 70's.  It was probably a touch warmer for me as I was running on the street with absolutely 0% shade from trees, etc.  During IM Boulder there will be more shade, but the temperature could easily be 20 degrees warmer during the run.  If I don't stay hydrated and cool, I will be in for some serious trouble.
• Five hours and 20 minutes is a long time, but it's nowhere close to the time that Ironman Boulder will take!

Despite the shortened run, I feel pretty good about where I'm at right now.  I know that I have a tremendous amount of progress to make during the next four months, but I don't feel like I'm behind or way off in my training.  In April, I'll start to experiment with some lower intensity, higher volume workouts.  This will gradually become the norm as my training gets more race specific in the early summer.  Today, I'm going out for a ride with something new (see below).  I'll let you know how it works!