Race Report Ironman Canada

We did it!!! And we're sore as hell to prove it!! And my race report will be almost as long as the race itself!!

The rest of taper week got to be a bit loooonnnngggg...I felt ready to race on Saturday and was tired of waiting around killing time. Seujan verified that the taper was working when I said I felt sluggish, fat, and craved my bike. Fortunately, we scheduled a barbeque on Saturday afternoon so everyone could hang out and take their mind off the race---oh wait, I mean obsess and talk about it together. It was really fun and helped the day and the nerves go by. Julie made neon signs for all 4 of us racing which was great and we took photos and had a nice afternoon.

Race day we woke up before the alarm at about 4:00, had coffee, and went to get body marked and set things up.

Lessons learned by 5:30 a.m.:
1. Arrive at the race when transition opens, not at 5:30 (lines for body marking were long, everything was packed, less organized than last year)
2. Don't fill bottles until on site or leave them on bikes the day before (my bags were really heavy and we parked over .75 mile from transtion and I had to drag heavy bags around, shoulders hurt well before the canon went off)
3. Strategize parking better so we don't have to walk the Green Mile to get to the start (oh, and then to get to the car afterwards when walking at all is a stretch)

There was enough time to get things organized and get through the porto-potty line once, but not too much more...and I was pretty wigged out. I was so flipped out about some of the nuances of learning the Ironman thing that some of my regular race prep and transition planning went right out the window (guess who never got around to sun screen until the start of the run--oops). In addition, my stupid period had started Saturday night and the first day is what I usually refer to as "hemorhage day." Thus, I was putting tampons in all the transition and special needs bags and dealing with that. I chose to believe that this would be my "mechanical" issue for this race and that it was NOT the first of 9,542 things that would go wrong with my bike, my goggles, or whatever else. Fortunately, I was mostly right and the goddess of curveballs didn't throw anything bike mechanical my way.

Pretty soon I was on the beach quietly losing my mind (Holy shit, I'm doing an Ironman...and why was it I thought this was a good idea?) and working to get my Julie-advised position out on the far left side toward the front. The strategy was to start way outside and angle in toward the furthest buoy to reduce the barracuda factor and stay in front of the main thrashing. Fortunately, people seed themselves pretty well in the pack (a lot of guys walking around near me asking, "What do you do, about a 1:10?") and I was on the front row with Duncan right against the flags. Julie's strategy was spot-on and I had good real estate really fast...however, things log jammed a few more times and I had to pull up twice to look and re-position around all the men who weren't always playing nice. I saw one of the scuba divers below the pack and that was pretty cool. I stayed to the outside most of the time and may have gone a little extra distance, but it was fine and a really good swim.

I forgot about my shoulder (which is now fine) because I was focused on 2 other things: preventing the usual numbness in 2 fingers on each hand that always happens after about 30 minutes and learning to pee while swimming. I just used a different hand position to handle the first issue and the second has been a skill that has eluded me for some time (and one which Seujan has bragged about perfecting). I was trying and failing to make this happen and it suddenly worked in the second half of the swim. Woo-hoo--I'm peeing and swimming at the same time! I was psyched because this meant I could skip the porto in T1. Seujan thinks that public disclosure of my new skill may result in nobody swimming behind me on Fridays in the lake anymore, but I think I'm just the last person to master this and no one will care! Note to my lane-mates, I will not practice this skill in the pool.

I had a great swim and went under my goal of 1:10-1:20, finishing in 1:04.57 (almost top 10%!)

T1: Most of this transition was smooth...I got my wetsuit "peeled" and a personal volunteer in the changing tent assisted me...I had her put on my race belt while I was doing something else and it was great (except the forgetting the sunscreen part) and left a good sized yard sale's worth of crap for her to clean up and bag for me. I had a total dumbass snafu getting my bike off the rack and had to run around the whole rack, push my bike under and crawl through (normally I would've gone through this a few times prior, another thing that went out the window)...but I still got out in 4:59, not bad.

Bike: In usual form, I started getting dropped by droves of fast guys (ok, and women) in the first few blocks and this continued for several miles...thundering disk wheels and hothead guys posturing. I saw Julie on the edge of town and yelled to her and headed out feeling great. The first 40 miles are a total breeze; almost all flat with a tailwind and great scenery. I know the course and I knew we'd pay for these conditions later, so I rode conservatively and let them all go.

The climb up Richter Pass was good, the descent was great, and then wind picked up as usual...the back side with the rollers was tough and then the wind got really nasty in Cawston. The "out and back" section was NOT fun (I now refer to this section as "purgatory") as Seujan warned me, but the special needs bags were at 120km (72ish miles). This helped and I had a bag of potatoes in my bento box...they really boosted me riding up to yellow lake and I could feel an energy surge on each one. At about Karameous when the wind was still awful and we started climbing, I made friends with a guy, Eddie, from Long Beach. For the rest of the day on the bike and the run we leap-frogged and had several conversations. It was cool and his friend took our photo at the finish line.

The entire bike course was well supported and the fan support was awesome, especially up the hills and riding into town with both sides of the street packed. I made 4 (!) stops, 3 to pee (again, the hemorhage theme... plus I was really trying to hydrate) and one to pick up my special needs bag...at the first stop I took in Oliver, I had to wait for the porto and it took at least 3-4 minutes. The volunteers were great everywhere--they held our bikes and handed us food and I figured a few minutes per stop was not the end of the world---at one stop when 2 of us were waiting, I said, "yeah, well, I don't think I'm going to win this thing anymore anyway" and figured the minutes of rest would probably be a good idea. Overall, I had some hard spots on the bike and my back was really DONE with my aerobars by the end, but mostly I felt good and the taper certainly worked. At the end, it's great to go into transition and just throw your bike to a volunteer who takes care of it...so happy to get off the bike and not deal with racking it...catered races are GOOD!

Bike time: 7:08:29 (goal was 6:45 - 7:30), avg = 15.58mph

T2: Great. Another "personal shopper" volunteer to do whatever you want and I tasked her with putting my reflective tape on my bib number and on me. Got all my stuff, hit the porto, visited the sunscreen volunteers (who bring a whole new meaning to the definition of "slather" as I still smell like that stuff today), and off I went.

Run: My stomach was not totally happy on the bike and I was hoping it would be OK for the run...my legs were fine and I ran to the first aid station, but then got a really bad sideache. I had to walk quite a bit to shake it for about 3-4 miles and it was frustrating. I saw my parents and Stacey on Main Street, then saw Seujan, then Ann coming in on their bikes, saw the top 3 female finishers running into town, then saw Cheryl and Jeff on the way out of town, so that was a great send off. Before I knew it, I hit the 5 mile marker and I felt great. I was carrying my Hammer shake bottle and supplementing with rest stop stuff, but by mile 8 I'd had it with carrying anything and I wasn't liking the Hammer crap. I threw the bottle in the trash and took my chances on the race course nutrtion, figuring I could pick up my other identical bottle at my special needs bag if I wanted it (which I didn't, meaning I threw away $28 worth of bottles on the run course, but, at this point, that is a drop in the bucket). After the turnaround, I saw Seujan within a mile, wished her "Happy Anniversary" (because what says, "in it for the long haul" like celebrating an anniversary doing an Ironman? Next year we are going out to dinner for chrissake). I also saw Joel and Ann on the run and we yelled back and forth. My sideaches re-surfaced and the last few miles were tough again. Things hurt and I knew I'd be sore today, but my legs were holding up and I could actually keep running most of the time---this made me really happy since my longest run ever had been 20 miles. By 4 miles out I was really smelling the barn. I was constantly doing the math and shooting to make my 14 hour goal and by 2-3 miles out I knew I'd hit it. I stopped to pee 3 times on the run (miles 5, 9, and 16ish I think?) so again, that took some time, but I also used a couple of those stops to stretch a little --my back was so stiff it was pretty awful trying to bend over---and I think that helped, too. Walking all the rest stops was great for breaking things up and I sampled all the liquids...gatorade, flat pepsi, chicken broth, water.

Coming into town is a total rush and the streets were packed again...it was so fun to know I was really going to hit the finish line and I was a total cheeseball and pumped my fists in the air when anyone took my picture (Jeff, Rolf, Shane, my friend, Ryan). I figured what the hell, I trained for this and I feel good, I might as well have fun and enjoy it.

Run time: 5:17:55 (I negative split by 2:03, probably due to the sideache issue, but sweet!)

Along the course, people told me a lot that I looked strong...I don't care if it was total bullshit (and I know people say that crap to everyone even if they look like death on 2 feet), but it definitely helps. Another lesson learned (OK, I already knew this) is that I'm a flattery whore...tell me I look strong and I'll push it! Some guy on the run passed me and had seen the "41" on my calf indicating my age and said I looked like I could be 21...got a good strong mile out of that one!

There were lots of other great things about the day and the people and the support...it was an awesome day and a great reward for all the training and time I've spent thinking about this and preparing for it. My race plan was right on and I surpassed my stretch goal of 13:45 by 2 minutes, so I was very happy with that. I remember seeing the Ironman on tv years ago and thinking, "ohmygod, no way could I ever do that." Then I met Seujan, Cheryl coached me, and I have a medal--pretty cool.

This morning we got up, went to Denny's and ate a mountain of food, and did NOT get in line to register for next year...I think the 70.3 distance is the one for me and, after 3 Ironmans in 366 days, Seujan is on a "sabbatical" from Ironman races for at least a year. We scheduled massages for this afternoon and will walk---slowly, wincingly, and minimally until then!

Ironman Stats:

Swim: 1:04:57 (304th out of 2445!)
T1 : 4:59
Bike: 7:08:29
T2: 5:43
Run: 5:17:55 (first split: 2:39:59, second split 2:37:56)

Total: 13:42:03

Almost Canada bound

Race plan is done, bikes are tuned up with new tires (my argument that my bike is worth more than my car is, again, substantiated), and we're off to Canada tomorrow...3 days to race day. The taper hasn't been as awful as I'd anticipated because, unfortunately, I've been chasing my tail with so many other things that it seems I've been just as busy (and tired), albeit not as frequently showered. I had these visions of being lazy and bored and sitting on the couch watching TV and staring at the ice cream wondering if I'm allowed to have any, but this simply has not been the case.

I'm following the taper plan and doing shorter, high intensity workouts...yesterday was a good pool swim and this morning I got in an hour bike ride with about 4x 1 minute sprints and a few short hills. Tomorrow is a short interval run before we pack up all the gear and take off.

Seujan and I did not do our race plans together and I think her undisclosed secret strategy has something to do with me not existing on the race course, but our goal times are similar and it would be kind of humorous (ok, my opinion) if we did the whole thing near each other. I have large time ranges for each thing because this is a whole new game for me, so it will be interesting to see how it goes.

My (truncated as I wrote way too much on the version submitted to the coach) race plan:

Swim: 1:10 - 1:20

T1: 3 - 6 minutes (who knows?)

Bike: 7:00 (Range of 6:47 - 7:28, i.e. between 15mph to 16.5 mph)

T2: 7 - 10 minutes

Run: 5 hours (Range of 4:48 - 5:53, i.e. between 11 min/mile to 13:30 min/mile pace if it gets ugly)

Total time: 14ish hours (Range of 13:45 - 15:30)

Last brick

Today I did my last "long" ride + short run brick before IMC. The ride was supposed to be 50 miles with a 10 mile TT in the middle...50 miles, what a perfect distance (!) and I felt strong on most of the ride. The TT was tough, but not awful...my legs were a bit tired and I didn't keep my HR as high for the whole thing as I think I was supposed to...but it was OK. I ended up with 57 miles (From J&J's house, thru Arboretum, over Mercer Island, to Newport, TT on E. Lk. Sammamish, back the same way) and did the 2 mile run in the arboretum as usual.

I didn't get much of a recovery as I had to rush home, shower, grab a sandwich to eat in the car, and get back down to Lake Wa. to set up the bike course for Danskin.

NOW it's time for a sushi date with Seujan :)

This was a good start-to-taper week...I still got in almost 11 hours of training, but I could tell that we've backed off a little. This week the volume comes down even more and by next Sunday I should be twitching and ready for the race!!

Summary:

25 miles, 1:45

TT = 9.96 miles: 29:33, Avg HR = 145

22 miles

2 mile run: 19:15, Avg HR = 137

Total:
57 mile bike
2 mile run

The calendar matches the weather!

We've had 2 days of actual summer...woo-hoo!!! Yesterday morning I had a great sunrise swim with Julie, Duncan, Karen, and another guy, Nicholas, from the swim team. It was a gorgeous morning with calm water and the view of Mt. Rainier that's been all-too-scarce this summer for our lake swims. It was a pretty mellow swim as we only went to the tennis club and we stopped twice to talk about how nice the morning was. Just as we turned around at the tennis club to swim back, the sun came up and I could see it get higher each time I breathed on my right. It was pretty high and bright already by the time we hit the beach. Perfect summer morning.

Today I slept in and got in my bike interval workout at lunchtime by the lake. Again, it was a great day with the temperature around 80 and I was really happy to be outside. I had to do 8 x 2 minute intervals with recovery by heartrate...when it dropped 30 bpm, I hit the next one. The recovery took about 50 seconds on the first few, so I just did them all with 50 seconds in between and it was very close to being right on. Unfortunately, I hit some button(s) on my GPS/HR monitor and lost my data, but I know my HR was in the low to mid 150's on all the intervals with recovery to about 124 bpm. I was out just over an hour and got in just under 19 miles total. Good strong workout!

Under Construction

Whew...last day of doubles today. The base/foundation is there and it's time to put up the "under construction" sign and let all of the training catch up inside my little cells. I cut my swim a little short this morning after Julie and I tried a little speedwork in the pool and my shoulder complained again...still got in 2400 yards and felt OK, but I think I won't push any more hard stuff in the water.

At lunch I did running hill repeats on the same hill (Broadway by the Howe St. stairs) where I did them 2 weeks ago. Had to do 8 x 1:30 and they were hard, but short at least. I'm glad that was the last round of those before the race, too. Hopefully my legs will remember how to run uphill on the course. Anyway, right at the top where I turned around each time, there was a really cute big golden retriever relaxing in front of his house in the sun. On the first couple of hills, he kind of looked at me like, "hmm, humans do funny things..." After a few more he'd moved up to his porch and still kind of half-noticed me running by...by the last 3, he was totally asleep and didn't care to move from his midday nap. If I wasn't a golden retriever in my last life (and I think I might have been), I'm putting in my request to be one the next time around. I sat at my desk and yawned several times this afternoon to practice.

Hill repeats:

Warm up: 1.75 miles, 18:00

8 x 1:30 hills
All were .16 or .17 of a mile and avg HR = 153-155 (167 max)

Recovery was 2:00 for each one

Cool down: 1.6 miles, 16:42

Total: 6 miles
1:00:43

Last long one...

Yesterday was the last lonnnnggg ride before Ironman...woo-hoo and holy crap--I'm not sure which! Both! I'm excited, but/and it seems to be approaching quickly.

Yesterday was supposed to be 120 miles on the bike + a 2 mile run. I ended up with 106 miles on the bike...and I'm calling it close enough. Seujan and I planned out a route, parked at John & Judy's, and started out...but by mile 5 it was very apparent that we weren't exactly in synch. So we (did I say "we?" I mean Seujan) decided we should not ride together, and we each took off to spin our legs and our heads in various directions, up and down, to hell and back. Fortunately, by the end of the day, we both ended up at home and back on the same page after a little help from a coach intervention of sorts. It takes a village to manage a triathlete... and to manage 2 who happen to be in a relationship is no small task (we never really thought about this when we both said, "Let's do Ironman together, it'll be fun!" Fortunately, our coach took us on and didn't farm us out to somebody else). We've decided that after IMC we will no longer race the same events and it's agreed by all that this is a 100% healthy decision. In the meantime, the immediate goal is for both of us to have fun and do well with this one...I believe it can be done!!

Anyway, I rode over to the east side via Mercer Island and Newport Way, and all over the place...May Valley, East Lake Samm, over the Tour de Cure 20 mile route, and back. I was feeling pretty done with the whole idea around mile 80, but an overdue break re-charged me enough to finish feeling pretty good. Did the quick 2 mile run in the arboretum, was quite happy to have the long workouts wrapped up, and rushed home for a shower. We were fortuitously invited to a big luau party last night that included 9 zillion tons of really great food, so when we gave our usual post workout disclaimer of "We're about to eat an alarming amount of food..." nobody flinched and, honestly, we didn't even put a dent in the enormous inventory of chow.

So we're almost to taper...tomorrow is the last weekday double on the calendar. It seems that the training time period for an Ironman is just enough to log the training and build the base, but not too long to beat oneself up beyond repair--I'd read that, but now I think I get it. I've loved the training this summer, but it feels like the taper is arriving just in time before things just get too tired and more than just the edges (physical and mental) start to fray...it's an interesting balance to train right to that edge, recover, and build more without going over. I find the whole thing fascinating and I've certainly learned a LOT about myself and my physiology over the last few months...I guess we'll see if the plan worked 2 weeks from today...whoo-hoo and holy crap (did I say that already?)!

Summary of yesterday:

106 mile bike
6:57:52
Avg HR = 117

2 mile run
0:19:21
Avg HR = 140

Metabolism Unleashed!

One of the best (ok, maybe THE best) benefits of Ironman training is re-fueling after long runs and long bike rides...OINK! Today was a 15-mile run and I've been happily feeding my face ever since. In addition to fearing the mental gymnastics of the upcoming taper, I'm wondering how exactly I'm supposed to reel in the appetite...

But back to the run. Today was MUCH more pleasant and uneventful than last Thursday's crappy long run. 15 miles is a much more humane distance than 20, that's for sure...still hard and the usual body parts hurt a bit, but the whole thing was much more manageable than last week. I ran from home for a change and down around Greenlake, down Stone Way to the trail, then to Eastlake, Boyer, the Montlake Community Center, and back. It was much cooler than last week (less than 60 degrees) and I hit a lot of water fountains along the way, so that helped. I did the 9 minute run/1 minute walk (more or less) thing again and then walked the last .9 up the hill from Greenlake.

In unrelated news, Seujan and I will be beagle-sitting for a very cute little couch potato, Rosie. We call her "the potato" because that's pretty much what she does...Her moms dropped her off today and she's already assumed the position:

We love her!!!

Summary of the long run:

15.0 miles (9 minute run/1 minute walk)
2:42:36
Avg HR = 134

.9 mile walk
15:18

Total:
15.9 miles
2:57:54

August, my A**

This morning I spent an hour alternating my glance between the Today show (including a national heat wave report for the east coast), the RAIN outside the window, and the cadence on my old bike as I rode on the trainer. RODE ON THE TRAINER in freakin' August? For chrissake, how is the heat index 106 degrees on TV and it's 58 in Seattle? Where the hell did summer go? Seujan was tougher than me and commuted to work on her bike in the rain, but I knew I just couldn't drag my ass out there without becoming a (more) serious behavior problem. Anyway, I did an hour on the trainer (as my tan faded, I'm sure, sigh) and the workout was fine. Today should also be a swimming day, but the shoulder twinge got more twingy yesterday after lifting weights (perhaps Julie's advice of "stop lifting weights a month before Ironman" should've been heeded?), so I'm trying to back off and not swim again until the lake on Friday. I left the house this morning without a duffel bag and felt naked...I'm half looking forward to the taper and half dreading the mental gymnastics that will, I'm sure, reach new heights by the time race day comes.

Yesterday Seujan and I did bike hill repeats at Madrona after work...good workout as always, and my times for the hill were slightly faster than they were on the same hill a few weeks ago. Nice to see a little progress! Just before I turned onto the hill for the first one, an old fart guy passed me and headed up the hill in front of me...he soon looked like he was slowing down, so I pushed it to catch him and dropped him...HA! Then, of course, his male ego kicked in and he passed me (GRRR), then proceeded to turn off the hill half way up. I was pissed, but the result was my fastest time ever up the hill. And, of course, I still maintained my feeling of superiority as I did 3 more of them and he was long gone.

Hill repeat workout summary (all hills = .85 mile with 1.15 mile recovery):

Warm up: 5.8 miles

Hill #1: 5:33, Avg HR = 143
3:50 recovery
Hill #2: 5:43, Avg HR = 142
4:05 recovery
Hill #3: 5:47, Avg HR = 143
3:52 recovery
Hill #4: 5:51, Avg HR = 143

3.3 miles cool down

Total:
17.1 miles
1:13:17

Not taper time quite yet...

This week is still a pretty hard training week before we start backing off next week. Today was the usual Monday swim/run double. Had a good swim with Julie again...I've gotten very spoiled this summer swimming only with Julie or having my own lane and tailoring every workout however I want...it's been perfect! My right shoulder has had a slight twinge lately...it was fine in the water today, but I felt it a bit later in the morning. Nothing really bad, but I need to be nice to it...

Second on the workout list today was an interval run. I had to do an errand for work anyway, so I went to the track at Montlake to do the run while I was out and about. The track is dirt with a few small slopes and some overgrowth...it's kind of crappy, but in a nice neighborhood and it did the job. The workout was 5 x 800's...the first one felt lousy, but then I felt pretty good and held a good pace for the rest of them. Good workout.

Interval run summary:

Warm Up: 13:51, 1.4 miles

#1: .54 mile, 3:54, Avg HR = 153
1:55 recovery
#2: .53 mile, 3:46, Avg HR = 158
1:52 recovery
#3: .53 mile, 3:41, Avg HR = 160
1:57 recovery
#4: .54 mile, 3:44, Avg HR = 161
1:55 recovery
#5: .52 mile, 3:47, Avg HR = 160
:52 recovery

Cool down: 6:41, .71 mile

Total distance: 5.3 miles
48 minutes

Climb to Sunrise

Seujan and I had a great ride today. It was "mountain pass" brick day on the training calendar, so we drove out to Greenwater and rode from there into Mt. Rainier National Park and up to Sunrise. We'd ridden up to Paradise at Mt. Rainier a few times last summer, but neither of us had ridden up to Sunrise...and some other friends of ours were riding up there today, so we sort of coordinated with them and eventually found them en route. The route was pretty much a very gradual steady climb for the first 12 miles, then more of a climb for about 10 miles, then a bit more of a climb for the next 10 miles to the visitor center. In the 33.5 miles from Greenwater to the Sunrise visitor center, there was just under 5,000 ft. of elevation gain and it took exactly 3 hours to get up there. Being the climbing fan that I am, I loved it. Fun route, good scenery, and it was mostly a challenging, but not killer grade. It seemed there was less traffic (not so many dang RVs) and it was less steep than riding up to Paradise, so I was digging that part, too. There were some clouds, so we couldn't see all of the glacier and it wasn't as warm as I'd have liked, but there were lots of wild flowers and scenic overlooks.

We were supposed to do some speed play and create some TT pieces within the climb, but I'll bust myself here and admit that I didn't exactly carry out that part of the task. I felt strong and rode most of the last 10 miles a little over AT (HR in the 140's), but my legs (assisted by my brain) just didn't have it to push super hard. I'm still a little sore from the monster run on Thursday and decided that a good, steady push was good enough.

It seemed that riding a bike up the mountain was a novelty for many of the tourists visiting Mt. Rainier for a hike and some photos...at least 4 different people asked me where I'd started from, how was the ride, etc. and a few little kids thought spandex and a bike were both very interesting.

The altitude at Sunrise is about 6,100 and the temperature was a bit brisk...we both brought a few more layers to wear on the way down, but we were still cold on the way down. The descent is really great, but all of my fingers were numb/asleep and I lost track of a few toes, too, so that was a buzzkill, for sure. I hogged the middle of the road on the way down because I was shivering and I'm always afraid that I'll crash into a ditch when I'm cold like that. But it was sunny and before too long we got to pedal again and warmed back up. We ran into Duncan a few miles down and he turned around to ride back with us and hitch a ride home in our car...he and Shane had ridden out there from Seattle and racked up 130 miles on the day. Impressive!

When we got back to the car, I tossed all my stuff and grabbed my running shoes to do the brick...Seujan's stomach was acting up, so she and Duncan loaded the bikes and gear and met me and our other friends down the road a bit. The descent hadn't involved much hard riding, so the brick wasn't tough at all...the 3 miles flew by and I felt really good.

Summary:

Bike:
67.6 miles
4:39:56
Avg HR on 3 hours up: 120
Avg HR on 1:40 down: 94

Run:
3 miles
30:22
Avg HR = 138

Fruit Punched

I hate fruit punch flavored stuff...of all the sports drinks flavors, I always think "gross" and pick something else. After today, I feel confident saying I will NEVER drink it again and I cannot figure out why I thought it would be a good idea to take 2 bottles of the free fruit punch flavored Accelerade at the gym this week. Oh yeah, it was free. And I'd wanted to try Accelerade.

So anyway, yesterday I left my car and my keys at a friend's house just south of Seward Park and rode my bike home, setting myself up to do my monster 20-mile run one-way today and end up at my car. Since I had a couple bottles of the aforementioned Accelerade, I decided to leave one there to have for recovery after the run. BAD decision. It was hot today and I set up one personal aid station along the way and hit every water fountain I could find, but I think I was dehydrated and a bit over heated...my heartrate got too high and I really felt like crap when I got done with the run--actually, started feeling like crap by about mile 13. When I got to my car, I was really thirsty and chugged the Fruit punch thinking it'd be a good start on recovery. I still felt like crap...then felt like crap driving home...but drank some Nuun and forced myself to eat a Mojo bar. When I got home, I iced some of the usual suspects before my shower and laid down because I still felt lousy. Pretty soon, it became apparent that I needed to limp to the bathroom where I did a very good impersonation of a frat party gone wrong, including excretions from each end, a triple-puke of fruit punch, and laying on the bathroom floor immobilized (and sticky/disgusting as I still hadn't showered) for a good 15 minutes. I grabbed my phone and whined to Seujan who called and cancelled my massage for me because I decided I really didn't want to leave the house or drive anywhere. Pretty soon, though, I was able to drink water, had a long shower, and ate some salty chicken soup. Oh, and cleaned the goddam fruit punch barf out of the tub, though I fear the bathroom might smell like it for a few more hours. GROSS!!

All of that being said, I did finish the 20 mile run/walk, got to watch the expensive war machines (aka the Blue Angels) practice, and also had a near obstacle course experience dodging all the SeaFair (aka Nascar on the water) grandstands, fences, workers, and fans setting up on Lake Washington. Sidebar, did I mention that I like SeaFair hydroplane races about as much as I like fruit punch? Anyway...I started out with about 3 miles of running 4 minutes/walking one minute, then went to 9:1 for about 2 hours and 30 minutes, then back to 4:1, and finally walked the last 1.3 miles. I had a lot of downhill and I felt great the first 1-2 hours, but then I just wanted to be done. There were at least 5 places along the lake where I'd much rather have jumped in the water and swam the rest...probably would've been the same speed anyway.

Summary:

First 3 miles, 4 minutes run/1 minute walk:
31:49
Avg HR = 137

13.41 miles, 9 minute run/1 minute walk:
2:28
Avg HR = 143

2.33 miles, 4 minute run/1 minute walk:
0:26:50
Avg HR = 151

1.3 mile walk
0:24:02
Avg HR = 124

TOTAL:
20 miles
3:50:54
Avg HR = 141

Technical difficulties

I went out to do speed intervals this morning on the bike and had some technical difficulties...First my GPS/HR monitor wasn't working quite right. During my warmup and the first interval, it went back and forth from thinking I was dead and had NO heartrate to thinking I was bleeding out and had a HR in the 180's. Fortunately, neither of those things were true and the numbers started looking more familiar. However, by the time the HR monitor got it together and I started the intervals, it became apparent that my legs didn't have enough in them to push the HR up to 150 where it was supposed to go. I didn't think I was sore from running hills yesterday, but my legs certainly were not recovered and most of the intervals topped out about 143 bpm...I just didn't have it.

Anyway, I was supposed to do 6 x 3 minutes hard with a recovery to 30 bpm less than the ending HR of each 3 minute interval (i.e. push 3 minutes up to 150, recover to 120, repeat). It kind of fell apart between trying to look at my watch and guessing what was happening with my HR and tired legs, but I did either 5 0r 6 of the 3 minute intervals and none of the rests in between were more than 1 minute.

I read an article last night in Triathlete magazine about recovery and just accepted the fact that this morning was a workout done after only partially recovery from the last one...instead of getting frustrated, I decided to just observe/accept it, enjoy the sunny morning by the lake, and use the rest of today to try to recover for the rest of the week. I also got to see Seujan who I thought had gone to work already. She'd made a last minute schedule change to do her intervals this morning, too, and that brightened up the workout.

Summary:

17.6 miles total
1:04:49

6 x 3 minute intervals

Monday Double

The training week is off to a good start...had a good swim with Julie at swim team this morning and, as usual, we improvised a little off the workout on the board to add/delete what we wanted. That's the beauty of masters' swimming...if you don't want to do what the coach says, you don't have to! Being an adult has its privileges now and then.

At lunchtime, I went out to run hill repeats. They were to be 6 hills x 2 minutes long and I guessed that the hill on Broadway (halfway up the Howe St. stairs, then to the left) would be just about the right length and it was spot on. It's a nice street...totally residential with nice houses and a good distance to/from work for the warm-up/cool down. I was supposed to push the hills, but not take my HR over 160 bpm (i.e. simple panting, but not completely tripping on my tongue, was deemed adequate in the coach's design of this one--how merciful). I did hit about 163-164 on each one, but not for very long and they really weren't too awful. The sun was out and it was about 65-70 degrees, so it was nice to be outside for an hour and make a little vitamin D.

Summary of hill repeats:

Warm up: 1.72 miles, 17:40

Each hill was .22 or .23 miles and I jogged back down for recovery

Hill #1: 2:00: Avg HR = 153
2:25 recovery
Hill #2: 2:00: Avg HR = 152
2:24 recovery
Hill #3: 2:00: Avg HR = 153
2:24 recovery
Hill #4: 2:00: Avg HR = 155
2:29 recovery
Hill #5: 2:00: Avg HR = 154
2:29 recovery
Hill #6: 2:00: Avg HR = 154

Cool down: 1.58 miles 15:54

Total: 5.85 miles
57:52

Bertram's back

Seujan and I did a super uber-long ride/brick today. On the way to Logboom Park to start our ride this morning, "normal" people were spending the beginning of their Saturday in the various Starbucks we passed leisurely reading the paper and having coffee...on our way home, other normal (clean and not salt crusted like us) people were heading out for drinks and dinner with their friends. We, on the other hand, spent the entire day getting butt calluses (went through a LOT of chamois butt'r) and eating sugary synthetic food...then got take-out burritos and collapsed on the floor. We ARE nuts, but I think I'd still rather be us than them (well, most of the time anyway).

Coach said to do 115 miles on the bike today, followed by a 2-mile run. I'm quite proud of myself for designing a route for us that was right on the money: 115.4 miles. We did Logboom to Marymoor, around Lake Sammamish, then up to Snohomish, back through Monroe. It wasn't a ton of climbing, but we got in about 3,000 ft. including the 2ish mile climb up Woodinville-Duvall Rd. which hit at about mile 87.

Seujan hasn't been exactly enthusiastic about training lately and her nutrition on the bike has been, um, I'll just say it, crappy. But today, she ate on the bike like a champ and kicked my butt just like old times. We were really evenly matched on pace all day and it was really fun to ride together. We were both dreading the last 13 miles on the bike trail from Marymoor to the car...it's always windy and just drags on. But today, we were both smelling the barn and she put the hammer down. I followed her, and we finished the end of the ride really strong--I kept being surprised that we were holding a strong pace and not falling apart. The run was OK after the bike...legs were fine, but I got a bad double side ache 13 minutes in...I kept running, but it didn't really go away. I'm pretty sure it was because I didn't drink enough water with the perpetuem I was drinking on the bike...will try to adjust that next week.

On the way home, Seujan said, "Too bad the Ironman isn't a 112 mile bike and a 2-mile run like today..." I agreed, but guessed it'd be called the "Ironbike-pussy run" and neither of us would want a shirt with THAT on it.

4 weeks from tomorrow is Ironman...I only have one super long run and one super long bike ride left...there's a bit more hard training to go, but taper is just 2 weeks away. Holy crap, what the hell am I going to do in September????

Summary:

115.4 mile bike ride
7:15:20
Avg HR = 108
Max HR = 151

2 mile run
0:20:04
Avg HR = 134

Short long run

Yesterday was long run day and a "back-off" week, so it was only (yeah "only," am I crazy?) 13 miles. Since it was shorter I wanted a few small hills. I parked at Baker beach on Lake Wa. Blvd. and ran up through the Arboretum to my homemade water station at John & Judy's porch, back through the arboretum, down to Madison beach and then back down Lk. Wa Blvd...had to do a short out-and-back on the other end to get to 13 miles. It was supposed to be sunny by midday, but whoever was in charge of turning on the cloud-burner-offer must've hit the snooze 3 times yesterday morning and it didn't get sunny till at least an hour after I was done running. Anyway, did the 9 min. run/1 min. walk format and spent most of the run thinking about IMC. I have the run part of my race plan pretty well figured out and will give it a test drive next Thursday on the last and longest long run.

This morning was my Friday favorite routine with a lake swim and coffee/toast with everyone at the Essential Bakery. The only thing that would've made it more perfect would be a nap in the sun now, but you can't have everything...

Run summary:

13 miles
2:16:26 (Avg pace = 10:30)
Avg HR = 132 (151 max)

Bike hill repeats

Today's workout was hill repeats on the bike...since the sun has finally returned, we slept in this morning and "saved" the workout for late afternoon...I was psyched to get out in the sun again and Madrona provided the regular good healthy butt-kicking. I like that hill a lot, although it's a little tough to get to the top just to smell burgers at the Madrona Ale house and then do a U-turn back down the hill to climb it again...if that doesn't build mental toughness, what does?

Seujan got there after I did, so we were opposite on the ups/downs and yelled across the street to each other...still fun to kind of do hills together.

Each hill was .85 mile with 1.15 recovery (a little flat at the top then back down at the stop sign)

Summary:

Warm up: 4.25 miles

Hill 1.: 5:51 (avg HR = 147)
3:39 recovery

Hill 2: 5:54 (avg HR = 143)
3:43 recovery

Hill 3: 5:55 (avg HR = 143)
3:48 recovery

Hill 4: 5:59 (avg HR = 143)
3:38 recovery

Hill 5: 5:47 (avg HR = 145)
3:42 recovery

5 min cool down

Monday Interval Run

I didn't go to swim team this morning so I could get my interval run done early...will swim later on my own at the gym. It's our last day in West Seattle, so I ran at the Chief Sealth High School track this morning...way nicer than the track at Lower Woodland (and no mud--whoo-hoo!). The workout was a tough ladder (1-2-3-4-3-2-1 laps) and all 3 of the H-aches were and are feeling it. My mile time at the top of the pyramid was 7:46 -- pretty decent for me, considering the amount of training (and the lack of running speedwork) I've been doing lately. I just kind of winged it on the recovery times/distances till my HR got down to about 100 since I hate long rests in between intervals.

Run workout:

1200 warm up (7:15)

400: 1:51 (147bpm avg.)
1:02 recovery
800: 3:49 (153 bpm avg.)
1:30 recovery
1200: 5:55 (155 bpm avg.)
2:37 recovery
1600: 7:46 (160 bpm avg.)
3:13 recovery
1200: 5:49 (159 bpm avg.)
2:37 recovery
800: 3:54 (157 bpm avg.)
2:04 recovery
400: 1:52 (153 bpm avg.)
1:34 recovery

800 cool down: 5:34

Woof!

Here are the dogs who've been human-sitting us for the last week...their primary human comes home tomorrow, at which time I fear that Seujan and I will enter the doghouse after a week of spoiled dogs ("Sit. Off. Oh, screw it...good dogs want a treat?")

This is Caleb--who weighs the same as I do-- and likes to back up to the couch and sit on whoever is there, in this case me. Of course, he's not supposed to get on the couch at all, but who can argue with this much cute...and this big of a dog when he swivels and lands?

This is Zion and her not-so-good smelling toy squirrel.

The brick that wasn't...oops

The Seattle-impersonates-rainforest July has continued for the better part of the last 2 days and it's NOT making me happy, to say the least. Fortunately, however, I had a window of opportunity this morning and got in my ride with water and dirt only coming UP from the pavement and not DOWN from the sky. My bike and I had a filthy contest and it was a tie (more than one wet wipe needed per leg post-ride and still mosly just rearranged the crud...bike will be cleaned tomorrow).

Anyway, starting at the beginning of the day...Seujan and I got up and had coffee with the dogs (still housesitting) while watching at least 2 weather channels (I needed a second opinion, didn't like that one, either) and waffling about whether to ride indoors or outdoors and when. The dogs recommended and started to model an entire day of couch-surfing (we are going to be in a lot of trouble for allowing some bad habits), and Seujan and I made independent plans...she opted to go home and get on her rollers with a stack of DVDs and I went to Issaquah to ride outside. We both had to do 60 miles with 2 x 15-mile tempo/time trials thrown in the middle. I didn't remember until I was 2 miles out that it was also supposed to be a brick and I didn't have any other shoes besides flip flops in the car...CRAP. Although I really like bricks now, a barefoot brick didn't sound like a good idea, so I figured I better just bust ass on the ride and call it good.

I did both TTs on East Lake Sammamish again...there are some turnarounds and traffic, but it's possible to push the whole thing. I tried to attack the small hill both times (or maybe it was attacking me?) and felt my legs especially on the 2nd TT, but was happy with both intervals as I averaged about 20mph on both. Stopped at the car after each one, refueled, and did a nice 15 mile loop up 900, to May Valley Rd., and back down Issaquah-Hobart Rd. at the end. This was a good plan because coming down Issaquah-Hobart is always fast---it's a slight descent with a tailwind and it's great to feel really fast and strong at the end of a ride like that, even if it's falsely fortified. I'll take it.

Rest day tomorrow...

Summary:

7 mile warm up

15-mile TT #1:
0:43:55
Avg HR = 151bpm
Max HR = 166bpm

8 mile recovery

15 mile TT #2:
0:44:49
Avg HR = 148bpm
Max HR = 163 (?) bpm

15 mile recovery
------------------------------------------
61.3 miles total
3:26:00
Overall avg pace = 17.7 mph
Overall avg. HR - 134

Took it in the shorts

I always thought the phrase, "taking it in the shorts" was gender specific to men. Well, I'd like it noted that I've changed my thinking on this after receiving a chafing from my running shorts today that will have me walking for quite some time as if I've been horseback riding for a week. Note to self: buy some more tri shorts for long runs. Always interesting to see what the injury (aka war wound/medal of honor) of the week will be (long history on this as my college roommate, Sandy, used to have "coming out" parties for our team bruises on the days after our soccer games and photograph her black and blue legs).

Today was lllloooonnnngggg run day for both Seujan and me: 19 miles. Since we're dog-and- housesitting in West Seattle, the opportunity for a change of scenery presented itself and we both made up new water view routes. Seujan took off earlier than me and did a really big out-and-back from the house and I went over near Alki to do a double out-and-back from the opposite direction so I could exchange empty/full fuel bottles part way through at my car (ok, yeah, and having a flat route wasn't a tough sell, either). Fortunately, our routes overlapped and we saw each other twice. I tried to run with Seujan for a minute or 2, but as always, she was too fast for me. Alki is great as there are several water fountains and bathroom options, lots of dogs, and great views.

The run went well and I experimented a bit more on myself with another run/walk option (I now can barely remember when I boycotted the walk breaks and didn't want to do them). I did the first 12 miles (2:10) on the usual 9 minute run/1 minute walk schedule and I was already feeling a bit tired, so I went to a 4 minute run/1 minute walk for another hour. It definitely helped mentally and physically. After I hit the 3:10 mark, I just walked the last 1.65 miles to get to 19 miles and ate an Odwalla bar while walking to get the recovery started ASAP. I took splits on all 3 segments to look at avg. pace and HR to help with formulating my race plan for IMC. I already have my goal swim and bike times in mind and am close to nailing down my run goal.

After the run, I did a quick stretch and forced myself to get in the water for an "ice bath" (remember the chafe thing? Now let's talk about another term, "rubbing salt in a wound," OUCH). Not surprisingly, Puget Sound is a hell of a lot colder than Lake Washington and I could only take it for about 3-4 minutes. But I think it really helped...felt a bit less "tin man" than usual when I got out of the car. Got home and took a long hot shower, the steam of which set off the fire alarm and annoyed the dogs.

Summary:

19 miles
Total Time: 3:36:30

Chunks:
Doing 9 min run/1 min walk
11.96 miles
2:10:00 (=10:53 per mile avg. pace)
Avg HR = 133bpm

Doing 4 min run/1 min walk
5.4 miles
1:00:00 (11:07 per mile avg. pace)
Avg HR = 138 bpm

Walking
1.65 miles
0:26:28 (16:05 per mile avg. pace)
Avg HR = 105 bpm