The Pre-Race Brick workout

This is my favorite workout of all. The idea is to shake the taper out of your legs and get them ready for your race the next day, but to not deplete them or tire them out. So for me it goes like this.
out and back on bike for 8-10 miles - going out is warmup - them coming back you hammer at race pace.
transition - the faster the better, don't lolly gag.
Run - take off and get into race pace mode as fast as possible, then relax into the pace. Usually takes about 1 mile.
Cool down - think about what you want to accomplish in each stage of the race tomorrow and for the whole race.

Today's went like this for me.

Headed out on the bike feeling a bit cold, told myself to shake it off I'll warmup soon enough. warmed up after about 3 miles and started thinking about past mistakes I've made in races and remembering not to do those. Hit the turn around at about 15-16 minutes. After turn around started hammering the pedals and got into a good pedal stroke. Breathing caught up just in time for the first hill and I powered up without issue, after recovering got back into hammer mode until I felt the acid burn begin then backed off just a bit. Wanted to feel it just a little but not too much. Got back home in 27 minutes and was flying high on the endorphins. Transitioned in garage and driveway for 1 minute, then headed out for the 1 mile loop. Immediately fell into good running form and at the half way mark, legs had transitioned into running legs from cycling legs. Only 1 hill on second half of run so I pushed up it and really enjoyed the downhill finish. Was slightly faster than my goal race pace, did an 8:07 mile, goal is 8:15, so I was extremely happy.
Goals for tomorrow -
whole race - put it all together
swim - 3 S's - smooth, steady, site
t1 - resist temptation to put on warm clothes
bike - hammer time - the whole way
t2 - don't forget your race number
run - stay strong and remember the final .25 is all uphill

1st try of the season is tomorrow.
I AM SO READY!

First brick of the season

When I saw this one on my schedule I was like cool, first brick of the season. Sure it was 30 miles of biking and 2 miles of running, but since I haven't run in forever, any kind of running is good for me. Woke up Saturday morning and was not in any kind of mood to go out and ride. Lilyan had two birthday parties to go to so I had to hit the road by 8 in order to get done in time to pick her up from ballet at 11 and rush her over to the first party. Wanted to get going at 7:30, but procrastinated enough that I didn't get started until 7:45. I decided to do the 27 mile route I had done a couple weeks back which is fairly easy to not get lost on. While last time there were no dogs to be seen, for some reason there seemed to be a dog barking every where I turned. But luckily I was not chased by any of them. Of course it helped to get me moving faster each time I heard the barking. It was going really well and getting more used to my aerobars again so I was quite happy. I made the turn home and started to eat my powerbar. 30 minutes later I pull into my driveway and start the transition to run. I start off and my legs are killing me, I feel like I am running like 12 min miles and like it is so hard. After 1/2 mile I look at my watch and see I'm doing 9:45 / mile and I'm like woo hoo, no wonder why this hurts so much. At that same time I start a long down hill section so I slow down and let the heart rate come down a little. finished the first mile in 9:42. Start feeling good now and pick up the pace and finish the second mile in 8:55. Great workout, gives me some confidence for my tri coming up on the 10th.

Training at Altitude

The altitude today was sea level :-).
On the schedule for today was a 30 minute ocean swim followed by a 3 mile run on the beach.
We arrived in Daytona at 11pm last night and I must have been really tired since I slept in until about 7:30. Ate breakfast and woke the family so we could all goto the beach. Got to the beach around 9 and I put on my wetsuit and got ready to swim. The water temp was 72 degrees, the waves were 2 to 4 feet and my Dad tells me there was a shark attack two days ago about 10 miles south of here. Sound like fun? So I head out into the water and the waves look a lot bigger when they are crashing down on you. It takes me 6 minutes to get past the breakers and the surfers, somehow my goggles stayed on, but the left side was filled with water. Drained the goggles and started to swim into the current. I swam about .25 miles ( measured it later while running) in 16 minutes, dodging pelicans and surfers and waves that kept crashing on my head, then turned around and swam back. The current was very strong as it only took me about 6 minutes to get back, once again I had to dodge the surfers that kept looking at me funny. Then I got to body surf back into shore. When I got out I was tired, my legs were tired, my arms were tired and my lower back was tired. It is much harder swimming in the ocean with all the different forces pulling you this way and that. Luckily I avoided all the sharks, but I have to say there were a couple times while I was out there that I thought about it...
After changing out to the wetsuit and into my running shoes, I headed south into the wind. I was supposed to run 3 miles at 9:30 pace, but into the wind the best I could manage was 9:45 after a mile I turned around as I didn't want to make the family wait too long for me and I was ready. Running back with the wind was much better, I was doing a consistent 8:45 pace and feeling much better. It is much harder running on the beach and my hamstrings were telling me all about it. Finally I saw the end. Then I did a couple of sprint races with the kid, to the life guard, she won, then back to grand pa, she won again.
It was a tough workout, but I really enjoyed it.

Saturday Ice Cube

Let's see, nothing gets me out of bed faster than a brick on a Saturday morning when the temps are right at freezing. Woke up at 6 am and turned on the weather channel in hopes of seeing ice or snow or sleet or something that would get me out of riding my bike alone in 32 degree overcast weather. But alas, none of that... So I got out of bed, ate a quick grapenuts breakfast and started to pack up the car with the ton of clothes and stuff that are needed for a brick. I was scheduled to do a 15 mile bike followed by a 2 mile run.
I haven't ridden my tri bike in a long time, and I want to go fast this year so tri bike comes off the wall and on the car. Head out to lake lynn to do this route http://www.mapmytri.com/ride/united-states/nc/raleigh/862558470, let's see I had my thick running socks on, my shoes had their shoe covers, then I had on running tights, and bike shorts, a tight base layer running shirt, a fleece sweat shirt, and a wind breaker, ski gloves, wool skull cap and my helmet. I didn't think that was enough so I caked some Vaseline on my face to protect against the wind and a bunch o chap stick.
started off and ouch it was so cold it hurt, but then I got into some hills and warmed up a little, my fingers eventually felt good, but my toes never did warmup. The course was rolling with some flats and small climbs and one big climb. I say a big peloton at one point and tried to catch them, but just as I was about to get a draft they turned left where I needed to turn right. When I hit the big climb it was very painful, my legs were still cold and just starting to feel good on the bike. I had to stand on the initial part of the hill but that actually felt good. finally I was on the home stretch and something fell out of my pocket. I had to stop since I didn't know what it was and I really needed my car key, but it was just my chap stick. This was actually a good thing as I went back and got it and put more on, then ate a goo and started back. The rest of the ride was uneventful and I was happy when it was over.
Not a speedy transition as I had a bunch to take off, then a bunch to put on and I needed a bathroom break. Cindy was waiting for me, even though I was done early, so we chatted as I put away the bike and changed, then we hit the bathrooms and headed out. She was very happy to hear my coach changed my workout from 3 miles at 9:15 to 2 miles easy:-). The first part of the run was rough as I felt like my frozen legs were not giving at all, but after a half mile I felt good and we kept up a 10 min/mile pace. Felt like I could have done a couple more but decided to listen to the coach and finish up.
17 mile bike 1:04
2.6 mile run 26 mins
minutes to warmup after, 25 ( right after I got my white lightning :-) )

Sunday Brick

I haven't biked since the duke half, and haven't been on my tri bike in I don't know how long. so I needed to get back out and ride. My coach says I should do at least a one mile run after to remind my legs what it feels like to run after a bike. So...

It was 48 degrees, and with clear skies and little to no wind when I headed out at 7:30 AM this morning. Bike was working good, but I forgot my cell phone and didn't relize it until mile 3 or so. This caused me to changed my route to stay closer to home since the last 3 times on this bike has not ended well. Glad I got out there since the first 10 miles werent' going that well due to the above mentioned vacation from the tri bike, but then I made the turn for the last 5 miles home and picked up the pace and started to feel the burn in the right places which made me feel much better then when it was in the wrong places :-). Managed to keep the speed over 20 the whole way home and felt really good getting off the bike.

A quick 1:30 tranistion and off to run.

Yes coach B was right, my legs were like "what is the running thing after biking so fast?", but after 1/2 mile I could feel my toes again and my legs still a little tired from yesterday's hilly 7 miles started to feel better. So my pace started picking up and ended up with a 9:30 pace for the 1.5 miles I did.

Not sure if it's the weather or the time off since Duke but I am finally starting to feel good again. Getting really excited for next week's final tri of the season. I don't really care about my time for the race, I just want to go fast and feel good.

Shaking off the cobwebs, and some nerves

Today was my pre-race brick. I have had some success with this in the past and usually do this before a Sunday race as I just don't feel right not working out on a Saturday. I do a 30 min bike followed by a 10 min run. I ride out for 15 minutes easy as a warm up with a couple pickups mixed in to get ready, then at the turn around, I sprint back. Today it took 27 minutes, 15 out and 12 back. It felt good to feel the burn in my legs again and to know I can handle it when it returns full strength tomorrow on some of those hills. The run part is just an easy lolly pop route from my house. After a 1 minute transition, I started out uphill easy, loop around and head back home on a slight downhill. The run was great, after about 4 minutes the wobbles from the bike went away and I was able to keep a steady pace. My heart rate was between 151 and 156 the whole way so no spikes and my pace was around 9:35. Right at race pace. Legs felt great so this workout did wonders for my confidence and the weather looks awesome for tomorrow.
Still, I am a little more nervous for this race then usual as it is a much harder course. I haven't had pre-race jitters like this in quite a while so it's a little unnerving and the coffee isn't helping any. Off to pick up my race packet, then home to start getting everything ready for tomorrow.

I did the white lake half in May in 6:08 Something, so breaking that would be great, but since this course is much harder I will use it as a carrot if I am close on the run. so my current prediction is...
Swim 35:00 ( probably no wetsuits, yea ).
T1 2:00
Bike 3:05:00
T2 5:00
Run 2:30:00
total 6:17:00

Now I just have to wait and see

Tapering?

Sure didn't feel like a taper today. I was scheduled for a 15 mile bike and 2 mile run which is kinda short for a brick, but on a weekday it's a lunch hour thing and fits in perfectly. I rode 20 yesterday at lunch on the streets so today I thought instead of 15 outside on the roads with the ozone and traffic I would do the spin class first for 45 minutes, then do a 2 mile loop outside.
Spin class was great, my buddy Pam was teaching and had a funky add-on session I hadn't done before and it was challenging enough with good recovery so to not wear me out too much. The run was good, I was a little fired up from something going on at work so I used that to focus on and before I knew it 2 miles was up.
Ended up being 38 minutes on the bike 18 minute run with a 2 minute transition.
Afterwards during the cool down aka walk through the parking lot I felt like the week so far hasn't really been a taper, but the weekend is coming with 6 mile run on Saturday and 30 mile bike on Sunday being about half the time and distance that I have been doing on weekends so I'm psyched about that, and next week is even easier, until Sunday that is.

1400 calories in a half hour

Sounds impressive doesn't it? But that's not the burn rate during my brick workout today, it was how many I consumed on my half hour drive home. My fancy smanchy Garmin 305 GPS Trainer watch thingy told me I burned 4839 calories. 3415 during the 43 mile bike and 1424 during the 8 mile run. That seems a little high so I checked an old formula I had and it was as I suspected a little lower. 2865 for the bike and 1367 for the run for 4232, either number is really high. So after I was done I drank my recovery drink for 180 cals, then drove to Moe's to get a Triple Lindy burrito 900 cals, then walked next door to Starbucks and got a grande no whip mocha, iced of course, for another 320. It's not easy to eat a big ole burrito while driving, but when you are hungry enough, you find a way.

So the day started off rough with a 4:30 alarm wake up. Ate my cereal, finished getting ready and headed off to meat Karyn at 6:35. Got to North cary park right on time at 6:20, setup the bike, took a quick bathroom break and headed out. The knee was a little tight for the first bit up the hill to harrison, but after that it felt much better. Rode with Karyn out to Lifetime fitness to meet Salman and another guy whose name I can't remember right now. Then we headed out to Jordan lake. They were going to do a 70 mile loop, so I just rode with them until my turn back point so I could head back to me Cindy for the run. The ride was overall good, slow and easy. The trip back was a little harder as the wind had just started to kick up, but still not bad. Returned to the park at 9:15 as planned and started transitioning for the run. Cindy showed up right on time and after some chit chat with my coach and her husband who were there with her training group, headed out for the 8 mile run. Felt good on the run, but decided to do a walk break at each mile. Cindy said she was ok with that so it was the plan. Run went well, it was an out and back with the out being mostly uphill and the back mostly down. This worked out great as we did a negative split by :50 seconds. Took it easy mostly with only a couple of hard efforts where neither of us could manage to talk, but the walk breaks definitely helped and I had all 6 of my 8 oz bottles filled and used them all. After last week I figured it was better to over hydrate then under. Turned out the bike was mostly all zone 1,2 and 3 with only 2 minutes in zone 4 when I pushed up one hill just to see how the legs were doing. The run was split almost evenly between 3 and 4 with some 2 thrown in for the walking breaks. without the walk breaks I probably would have been all zone 4, so for the race I'll definitely be doing walk breaks at all the aid stations.
So that's it for the hard stuff, the race is 2 weeks away and it's now time to taper. Only thing I can do now is hope the training was good enough and not screw it up by training too hard leading up to the race. So back to yoga and less stress. :-)