Labor Day Off

DAY OFF!

Although the day was Off for training, it wasn't in terms of life. I ended up working on the house all day, ending up with sore hands and shoulders. Probably shouldn't be doing that anymore this week.

Some good readings lately...

Sign from the pool, seen on my "last swim" last week. I normally wouldn't even take note of this sign, but it stuck with me:

The winner is not the one that touches the wall first. Instead, the
winners is the one who can look back and see all the hard work done to get to
the start line (paraphrased).

Seen in an email:

Determination is made up of focused discipline that includes pushing through
personal thresholds to gain a larger purpose. It is the motivation behind our
lives, and it is what brings us to our goals.

From a friend who just finished an Ironman:

Trust your training. It's all a mental game from
here.

From a song:

I need to be myself. I can be no one else. I'm
feeling Supersonic...

I could go on with more. Even the silliest songs, poems, writings, suggestions, and quotes have new meanings for me. I'm seeing my world in a new light and from a new perspective. Now the hubby says I'm getting emotional, like a hormonal pregnant woman. But in reality I'm on the brink of the biggest challenge I may ever do. This is not a race, this is an event. I'm not going to IMWI for a KQ (qualify for Hawaii) or to win anything. I'm going to this race to do something that 3 years ago I thought to be outside the bounds of my abilities. I'm doing this to see what I'm made of, how far I've come, and what I'm capable of doing.

In short, I'm putting a lot of stock into this one day.

And I might find I'm not made of IM stuff yet. And if I have to do this all over again because I'm not ready, well then I sign up again for next year. But that is not where my worries are. Right now I'm more worried about a bike crash, bad weather, bike breakdown, or something else outside of my control.

All the advice and coaches say that you can only change what is in your box: your pace, your heartrate, your nutrition, and your outlook on the race. I can't control weather or technicalities, so I shouldn't be worried about them. Let 'em go.

The last long workouts!!

RUN: 3.08 in 28 min.
BIKE: 14 miles in 58 mins.
RUN: 3.1 in 29 mins.

The goal today was to get a run in with a low heart rate. A nice easy workout that just keeps me moving. My HR monitor was giving me terribly high numbers--over 200 bpm at some points!! When your heart is racing that fast, you know it. A quick check by just counting beats gave me 130-140 bpm. Is that stupid thing not working? What will I do on race day? Trust the HR monitor or go by feel? Go by feel.

I'm amused that the ride was only 14 miles. Seriously? I know I was riding in town with stoplights and stop signs everywhere, but only 14 miles? Really? Was it worth getting dressed for that? I turned around early at 30 mins to end my ride. It was terribly tempting to continue the ride with all my friends, but It's All About Me here and I did NOT need another long ride this weekend. Not that my Ironman hopes and dreams would be squashed by a few more miles, but more that if I did have a bad race next weekend I'd try to put the blame on overtraining.

Next weekend. One week. Oh my goodness, didn't I just say it was one month? Wasn't that just last week??!? Time flies when you're having fun!

I'm confident about my upcoming race. I feel strong, clear, and ready to rumble. More on this as taper week continues.

NUMERICS: 11 hours and 1 minute, very close to goal time of 10hrs 55 mins
SWIM: 4400y in 1.92hrs
BIKE: 98.2 miles in 5.78 hrs
RUN: 21.75 miles in 3.32 hrs

And so ends my training season.

YIKES!

The final long ride: hills and headwinds

RIDE: 49.2 miles in 2hr 44 mins
RUN: 3.27 miles in 31 mins

Usually I'd round up or down (usually down) to an even number but now that the numbers are so small I'm looking for every tenth I can get!

My weekend plans changed drastically last night. Originally, I was going to run a loop in the park then do a 1hr ride today. Then tomorrow was going to be a 44 mile group ride with a brick run. But I started have race anxieties. What if I crash on the bike riding in town close to other riders? What about all those stoplights, what kind of workout will I get? Will there be enough hills to test the new climbing gear cassette just installed on the bike? Will I have to wait at rest stops for the rest of my group? Questions, questions. Answers?

Go it alone, at my pace on my route with my goals. So today was a 50-mile ride in the hills south of Columbia. The hills in the bluffs have tough climbs and good descents, similar but not as bad as the ones in the race. I wanted a chance to test the new bike gear and really focus on staying in a low heart rate zone. As much as I would have preferred to ride with the group (for all the stops at rest areas, they push a hard pace!) I needed this last ride to be all about me.

Cuz that's all Ironman training and racing really has to be: all about me.

The route I chose opens up with a sharp hill in the first mile. Since I wasn't warmed up yet, my heart rate shot up high. Focus on staying calm. Downshift the gears. Take your time, what is the rush? At first I was disappointed that the new gear ratios didn't make the climb "easy". What did I expect, a free ride up the hill? Regardless of the gearing, physics has it that the amount of work would be required to bring me and the bike up the hill. The new gear cassette isn't a motor doing the work for me, it's just a way to change how much work I'm doing with each pedal stroke. Once I'd convinced myself of this, I enjoyed the new cassette, it will definitely make some of those hills easier.

I worked my way through the hills in perfect weather--cool and sunny. Few cars if any in sight and overall peace and quiet. I talk to myself while riding alone, I crack jokes and give myself a hard time. When I'm in a positive mood, I laugh at my own jokes. When the mood is soured, I'm mean, negative, and the joke is on me. Today was all good. This is the energy I need in one week: good outlook, fun, and willing to take a few bumps without worry.

Once out of the hills, the road flattened out. Completely flattened out. In fact, the only real hills were at railroad crossings. Instead of turning north towards the finish, I went south to fill in the miles. I smiled thinking about our ride earlier this year on this same flat road. It turned into a fast race in a paceline at speeds around 25mph. I was doing only 20 mph now, it didnt' occur to me until I turned around that one reason the 20 mph felt so good was because I had a tailwind.

Oof, the headwind! Once I turned around I realized that the ride home would be longer than expected. Riding in the hills shields you from the wind, so I wasn't really aware of the NW wind I would find. So much for a fast trip home. I ended up enjoying the headwind though, it make it a tougher workout. These shorter rides don't leave me satisfied unless they hurt a bit. :-)

The brick run was planned to be short--just enough to shake out the bike ride from the legs. My heart rate was awful high--160-175! But I don't think that was accurate because I didn't feel my heart racing like that. My form improved as the run progressed--another good final reminder that my run will be hard for the first few miles until my muscles adapt to running.

Overall, a great ride! I'm going to miss these long rides come winter.

Simulation run

RUN: 6.2 miles in 1hr.

The goal of this run was to skip the warm up and go straight into the run, then keep the heart rate under full control as soon as I could. My first 1-2 miles are always rough--tight legs, poor form, and higher than average HR. This is how I might feel getting off the bike in IMWI, so I set out mentally rehearsing these first few miles. It didn't go so well.

The mental rehearsal included grabbing gear and checking shoelaces (hanging the bike in transition and changing shoes, getting gear together), starting off on the sidewalk in front of the house (moving out of the transition area and heading for the Run Out sign), turning into the greenway behind our house and heading down the street (entering the chute lined with spectators, all cheering and ringing bells and screaming), entering the park and settling in for a long run (more spectators, people I know yelling for me, high-5s and lots of good vibes).


So much for keeping the heart rate low. When people are cheering you on and encouraging you, all it does is ramp up the excitement and heart rate!! In the end, most of the run had a high heart rate, even when I slowed down.

So it's a good lesson: don't get caught up in the moment with the crowds cheering. Another lesson: you can still finish the run with a higher than expected heart rate.

The last swim!

SWIM: 2000y in about 55 mins.

I think this will be my last pool swim! My pool closes Sunday afternoon and doesn't open again until Weds, by which time I'll already be out of town. Not that I'll miss the pool...

Today's workout was different--WU was 200 swim, 200 kick, 200 pull, 200 swim. The Main Set was 20 x 25y as 25 fast, 25 easy, 25 kick, 25 non-free. Then CD of 600 easy. It's just funny to think that your cool down is 600 y.

The first parts of the session went by fast. When the intervals are broken up into small bits, they tick right by. Before you know it, you're done! The 600 y was the hardest part, and the most important in my mind. Of all the intervals today, that one best mimicks the IM swim, even if it is drastically shorter. That's the interval in which you suck up your boredom and just keep lapping away. I'd love to stop at the halfway point just for a break but I make myself keep going. If I stopped at IM every 300 y I'd be stopping 14 times in my race. Hmmm, that doesnt seem all that unreasonable to me.... 14 rests? In a 1.5 hr swim? Is that unreasonable? No, but it would be a waste of time!

Then that's it! I climb out of the pool and take one last look. (haha, is if I'm Never coming back or something!). Since January 1st, I've swum just over 56 hours and most of those hours were in this pool. Will that be enough come race day? We'll find out!

Running in the rain

RUN: 6.1 miles in 50:59. OK, 51 minutes. Ave HR 154bpm.

Rain can really mess with my schedule. You can swim in rain, but only if there's not lightning. You can ride in rain, but that's crazy to do because of the slick roads. But running...you can run in the rain. But that brings up another rule for running: there are 3 good weather reasons to not run--cold, dark, and rainy. If two of the three conditions are present, then it's safe to consider skipping your run.

I usually don't follow this rule. If I hid from dark, cold, and rain, I'd never get anything done.

So when I woke up to more rain, I got ready to go. I knew I wouldn't be the only one there. Sure enough, 3 other runners. Just me and the guys, EK and LC were a no show. And just yesterday I declared that I wanted a fast run today, so now I had to live up to my words.

The pace started off fast, so much for the warmup. The rain really started around 2 miles, turning the run into a warm shower and soaking us in minutes. I did OK until mile 3.5 or so, at which point my front row position in the pack was threatened by fatigue. It's not so much that I was leading the group or setting the pace, it's more of a group effort. I pull, they push, I push, etc, and the pack keeps a pretty steady pace this way. You start to slow down? Out the back you go!

So when I started to wear down, the fear of being dropped on my "fast run" kept me going. I took it mile by mile. No, in reality it was more 0.25mile by 0.25mile. Each hill got my heart going faster and I never took a moment to recover. This was more like a race! The mental battle began: my body wanted to stop, my mind didn't. This sounds like something that is easily resolved, but when faced with a mental ultimatum, my body responds in a way that ratchets up the stress. This in turn raises the heart rate, causes me to tighten my upper body, and lengthens my stride. All of this wears me out all the faster. Two more miles to go. I need something else to think about!

Puddles had accumulated on the path, tree branches sagged under the weight of water, the lakes and ponds sang a song of raindrops and ripples. I focused on this. I love running in the rain, it changes the atmosphere and adds a coolness factor, a little bit "I'm tough". You get a too-cool-for-school attitude when you see people in their comfy, warm, dry cars watching you. The roll of the eyes only spurs you on to prove that a little cold, dark, or rainy won't deter you from your run. What, me worry about some rain?

No way I was going to be dropped. The only drops were going to be the ones on the sidewalks and grass around me. Keep going!

My legs were putty. My lungs burned. My breathing was getting louder (to me anyway) and my heart was pounding in my chest. But the "finish line" was only a few tenths away. Keep going!

Finished! The watch said 50:59 before I could hit Stop. In review, the pace was not all that hard--8:22 min/mile, so why was I so tired?

And so ended my last speedwork session of the season. Let's hope I have the same tough attitude come race day.

Should have gone in the morning

BIKE: 17 miles in abt 1 hour.

I should have gone in the morning. I kept saying that to myself all afternoon as storm clouds rolled in. Why did I wait to swim or ride?

I slept in, is why. I'm focusing on sleep and rest and staying off my feet when I can so as to recover. I sit when I can, sleep in, drive to work, take the elevators, and lean against countertops.

In summary, I feel lazy.

But it's working. I can feel the strength and energy slowing coming back to me. I still tire easily, but at least I'm awake during the day and I'm eager to swim, bike, or run.

But all this "resting" left me squeezing in a workout late in the day. I decided to run or bike from home, and by the time I got home it was 6:30pm. It would be dark in one hour. I'm tired, unmotivated, but want to do something.

So I ride. Indoors. Pathetic, I know, but the recent rain and setting sun made for a dangerous biking outdoors. I really do fear crashing on the bike right now, so I've been riding indoors quite a bit lately. Is that just an excuse? Am I burning out? Only 11 more days!