Last Long Run, big negative split

Tonight was my last long run.  I had to work today, so I didn't get to start the run until about 7 pm.  When I got home, it was raining with lightning, thunder, and hail.  Luckily, the weather passed and I was able to get out for my run.  It was super humid, but race day will likely be similar.  I decided to employ a similar tactic to race day.  I want to take the first half at no faster than 9 min miles and then see how I feel on the second half.  I'm basing this on how I felt at IMAZ.  When the calf cramp finally subsided around mile 20, I dropped into the low 9s.  I figure if I can keep my run under control for the first half, I might just be able to pick it up a little and negative split.  Anyway, I went out and ran right at 9 min miles for the first 11 miles and then ran whatever felt good for the second 11.  I settled in and put it on cruise control, which ended up being around 7:50s for the last 11 miles. I felt strong the whole time and posted almost a 12 minute negative split.  I realize I won't come anywhere near that on race day, but even if I do 1/6th of that, I'll be having a great race.

Brick!

Knocked out 50.45 miles on the bike today.  For once the winds were calm and I was able to really hammer today.  I did quite a few extended sections at 23+ mph. One thing I really hate is random people jumping on and sucking my wheel when i pass them. So, one of my favorite things to do when this happens is to hammer and drop them like a sack of rocks. Did it twice tonight. The second guy hung on at 27 mph for a little over a mile before he dropped off. One of the reasons I love it is b/c it pushes me harder. I'll sustain the speed for several miles after I drop them if I've got the road to keep hammering.  I felt good today, but I guess I'll see what I lost with the week+ off the bike when I do my long ride this weekend.


After I got off the bike, I did a quick run to try and solidify the transition between disciplines.  I only did 2 miles, so I decided to push the pace a little.  I did the first mile at 7:34 and then came back in 6:25.

Trying not to drown

After not being in the pool for over a week, I was scared to get back in the water.  I thought my arms would most likely fall off.  However, I kept the pace slow (not hard for me) and didn't even bother counting laps.  I just swam for 30 minutes and found my stroke.  A long swim is on the schedule for friday.

Before I got in the pool, I jumped on the spin bike for 30 minutes while I waited on the pool to empty a bit.

Back on the bike

he plan was for a tuesday long ride, but some things came up with work (i'll get to that in a later post)...

I jumped on the bike in the late morning and clicked off an hour at WRL and then came home.  Later in the afternoon, I got back on the bike and went out for a second hour.  However, about 40 minutes in, the sky  opened up for about 3 minutes.  Just long enough to soak everything and make things miserable.  I guess I needed to clean/lube my bike anyway.

After the ride, I went out for a 20 minute run at a SUPER easy pace.

Monday long run

Dallas Cup is finally over and I've actually been able to get a little sleep.  I was able to sneak in a long run between storms.  I figured this run wouldn't be that great after a week of very little training and terrible nutrition.  Nevertheless, there were only 2 long runs left, so I couldn't miss it.  I mapped out my distance ahead of time and left my watch at home.  It was just about the distance today, not the pace.  I headed out for the run in the late afternoon to battle the intense humidity.  I figured I might as well battle it now, because I'll be battling it on race day.  The gusts of wind coming off WRL were crippling at times, but they really helped to cool me down.  The run actually went pretty well considering the week I'd just come off of.

Only one long run left...race day is rapidly approaching.

Quick run to tie me over

Still haven't been on the bike or in the pool.  I was able to get in a 45 minute run tonight.  It wasn't fun, but at least it was something.  I've been working way too much to be able to get in training.  I can't wait for this long week to end.

18 Mile Madness

backfilling some posts here...

This week is Dallas Cup, a week-long soccer tournament that Nike sponsors.  What does that mean?  Well, very little training and a 100+ hour work week.  Tonight I got off work around 6 pm and drove the 40 minutes home.  I had little motivation after being on my feet for 2 straight days, but I downed a Monster (not ideal, but I needed a boost) and set out on my run a little after 8:30 pm.  The plan was to run from the house to WRL and run until I hit mile 9.  Then turn around and come home.  It was already dark when I set out.  I started out easy and then settled into a decent pace in the low 8s.  The cooler weather due to a night run made the pace feel easy and relaxed.  I had some stomach issues around mile 7.5 (i'll omit the details), but once I tended to those, I was back on the run.  After making the turn, I cruised back home and ended up negative splitting the run.

Lack of Motivation

I've hit that low point in training. That point where its hard to get out the door and hard to maintain effort. Its hard to finish certain workouts. I should be in the home stretch of training, but I just can't seem to keep the fire burning. I hit this wall last time around in training for IMAZ, so I know I'll get through it, but I'm finding every excuse in the book right now.

"Its too windy"
"Its hot"
"What does it matter anyway, its going to be hot on race day, so I'm not going to be able to go hard"

I need to cut this crap out. I'm stronger than any wind. I'm more relentless than any heat. I've proven it over the course of many races and training runs. I can "out-tough" just about anyone out there. I just need to "out-tough" my own mind.

Say mean comments, post motivational videos, make fun of me. In the words of the Old Crone in Scene 18 of the Holy Grail, "Do your worst."

Congratulations Katie

Katie ran the Charlottesville Marathon this morning. She went into this race with no goal and no expectations, other than to just feel good and get more experience. She had a history of going out too fast and then breaking down late in races, most recently at the NYC Marathon last fall. She was completely relaxed going into the race and eased into the race during the early miles. Katie was very smart about her approach and just ran by feel, which resulted in what will mostly likely be revealed as a negative split. She completely smashed her previous PR by over 20 minutes with an unofficial time of 3:27:43 and 6th in her age group!

She'll be Boston-bound next year! Next up? Her first ultra.

I learned an important lesson today...

...Regardless of how tired I am, if a crappy song comes on the radio at 5 am, change the station at all cost.

I did not follow this bit of wisdom this morning, and the result was riding for three hours with "I'll Go Wherever You May Go" By The Calling stuck in my head. It was more torturous than the gusting 25-30 mile per hour winds gusting across the lake. Nevertheless, I survived another 3-hour morning ride.

After work I hit the pool for my wednesday distance swim. The plan was to knock out two miles. I was really struggling with motivation first mile or so. I tried breaking up the laps into shorter sets, but I was having to force myself to stay in the pool. I had 3/4 of a mile left and set out to do it in three-1/4 sets, but when I hit my eighth lap, I decided to keep going to make the next set shorter. Somewhere around lap 14 I got into a groove and knocked out the entire 3/4 of a mile. And I kept going. I went ahead and did another 1/4 mile to even it out at a continuous mile. In the end, I swam 2.25 miles. Granted, I didn't break any speed records, but this was one of those swims that helps with the confidence. It ended up being the best swim workout I've have in this Ironman training period.

Today was a solid day of training, despite it starting with a terrible song and gusting winds.

Another Brick

Knocked out an hour on the bike and an hour run tonight.

There's something nice about jumping on the road bike after spending so much time on the tri bike. Up early tomorrow for a semi-long ride.

A little piece of ultrarunning history

I was looking through the inagural issue of Ultrarunning Magazine from 1981, which is available online. I noticed a couple things that caught my attention. One, there's an article on the Ironman World Championship (referred to in 1981 as the International Triathlon). Its an interesting piece about the race before it really gained notoriety--there were only 326 starters.

The second piece was an article on the Knickerbocker 60K, a race I've run three times. The winner in 1981 was Terry Knickerbocker with a time of 3:40:42. That's a 5:55 pace, for those of you keep track at home. No, I didn't mistype that. 5:55 for 37.2 miles. Another incredible fact, Terry had just come off 27 straight 100 mile weeks. That's a lot of miles folks.

If you have some free time, take a few moments to compare the finishing times listed in that article to recent Knickerbocker results. Just like the marathon, it seems as Americans are getting slower.

Fitness Test

Yesterday marked 7 weeks out from IMTX, so I decided to do a fitness test and see where I'm at. The idea was to ride 112 miles and then run 13. I'd just go out and get the riding miles in at a comfortable pace and then see what kind of pace I could hold on the run. It didn't go well. Somewhere around the 80 mile mark, I started bonking. It was probably my fault for not eating enough in the morning. Then I ran out of fluids and my stomach turned. Again, my fault for head out on a newly modified route, not knowing where I could refuel. As my energy level dropped, it became increasingly hard to take in calories due to my stomach. I stopped at the 103 mile mark and bought a large bottle of water and a mountain dew. I took a few minutes to regroup and drink about half the mountain dew and a good portion of the water. I set out and still felt pretty weak as I climbed up a hill. I was swerving in the lane and my stomach got worse. At the top of the hill, I pulled over a dry heaved a couple times. Within minutes, I felt ten times better. I think the sugar and caffeine combo from the mountain dew kicked in. By the time I got home, I was feeling decent, but tired. I'd been contemplating not doing the run for a while, but things seemed OK at that point. I downed more water and drove to WRL.

I set out running and felt ok looking down at my watch and seeing I was running an 8:30 pace. I made myself slow down. Then I felt my heart rate jump and my breathing labored. I looked at the garmin and I was 1.6 miles in. I stopped and knelt. I thought to myself, "I can't do this." It was hot. It was windy. I was tired. Add in humidity and you'll probably have what race day will be like. So I labored on. My stomach was much too full of liquids, so I was having severe stomach cramps. Eventually those subsided, but the heat was beating me down. I stopped at every water fountain trying to stay hydrated. The run was beyond a sufferfest. It was embarrassingly slow (i got passed by a fat guy wearing a water belt).

My initial thought throughout all this was "If this is my fitness, I'm screwed." Then it moved to, "Thank God I have 7 more weeks of training." As time has passed, I can see a few positives:

- I DO have 7 more weeks
- Another 112 miles under my belt
- I fought through a rough day, which will only help me mentally on race day.
- I KNOW I screwed up my nutrition. I can fix that.

Additionally, I learned a few other things:

- I need to do core work. My back was KILLING me, which is a bad sign.
- I need to be more liberal with the chamois cream. Saddles sores are not fun.
- I need to remember to put sunscreen on my lower back. Its covered when I stand up, but when I'm on my aero bars, its exposed. I have VERY, VERY red line across my lower back.

Overall, it wasn't the most impressive day training, but it showed me a lot. In the next 7 weeks, I'll dial things in and hope the weather cooperates on race day. I've got 4 more long runs and 5 long rides left, so I've still got plenty of time to improve.