Where I Am vs. Where I Need To Be

The countdown on this site says that there are just under 73 days left until the race. I’m in my 20^thweek of training so perhaps this is a good time to talk about where I am and how that compares about where I want and need to be on August 2.

While there are some areas that concern me, there are also some areas for positivity. I’ll start with the latter.

I’m running with relative ease. Although I had a minor hamstring pull back in April, I’ve stayed more or less healthy and have been able to get in not only volume, but also quality. Like so much of my training, the run has involved a lot of interval work. This can vary from 15 to 20 minutes sections to something as short as 200 meters. Much of this has involved pushing way into my upper heart rate (something I truly hope I won’t see on race day) to the point that I want to just lay on the ground and never move again. This has proven its effectiveness on slower days that involve 10 minutes of running followed by 1 minute of walking. During these workouts, I’ve found no trouble completing the nine or so intervals involved and in fact I could do more. Of course, these easy workouts have not been preceded by a 112 mile bike ride so I have no illusions that it will feel so easy in the actual event. Still, it bodes well for a run/walk strategy that I can sustain for several hours.

Swimming is a mixed bag. I’ve tested my swim about three times this season and have continued to show improvement. Under the heading of “no good deed goes unpunished” that has made my target paces on some intervals difficult to hit. If I have to do 15 X 100 with the last handful being near my top speed, it’s a safe bet that I’ll be at least a few seconds off the mark. However, this level of intensity again seems to bode well for a more evenly paced long swim.

Should I show up on race day and they’ve changed the rules to swim 42 X 100 at 1:30 pace, then I’m in trouble. Since that’s not going to happen, I feel reasonably confident that I’ll finish the swim at an average pace per 100 yards between 1:40 and 1:45. Better still, I ought to be entering T1 without feeling especially tired.

Okay. Run is good. Swim is good. The cause for concern therefore is the bike. This is not a keep-me-up-at-night worry. More specifically, it’s an unknown and not knowing is usually what drives anxiety.

Given our wet and cold spring here in Colorado, my outdoor riding has been extremely limited. I’ve also had some strength workouts that really require a trainer to hit very specific power outputs for shorter periods of time.

On a recent workout I was facing 3.5 hours with 15 minute intervals each at around 190 watts or around 90% of my FTP. Between each set was a 45 minute “cruise” at 155 to 160 watts which is around 75% of FTP for me. On paper it doesn’t sound so bad until you realize how little recovery is involved in those 45 minute sections. After an hour, it’s fine. After two, it’s pretty hard. After three hours it’s just miserable. Add in warm up and cool down time and I rode 63 miles which is not bad. However, I was also just fried at the end on a distance that’s only just over 50% of the IM distance. Other workouts with high power intervals have produced similar results.

Of course I think they are making me stronger and should be preparing me for the two big hills near the end of the bike course. I also don’t plan on spending any of the preceding miles at anything close to my FTP. Indeed, this is clearly a lesson in the need to budget energy throughout the race. A sub-six hour bike doesn’t mean jack squat if the run takes me seven hours.

The bottom line on all of this is that while I’m concerned about how I’ll feel after 112 miles of riding, I don’t feel that it would be a race-buster. I might have to walk far more than intended, but I’ve actually gamed out that scenario. If I can recover enough at the front end of the run, I might actually be able to still finish it in a respectable time.

If the race were today, I would finish. It might not be very impressive and almost certainly would be longer than my goal time, but I’d get through. Fortunately, the race is not today. In the coming weeks I expect that I’ll start seeing more efficiency on the bike while getting faster on foot and in the water. It does not seem unreasonable that the cumulative effect of all of this training will a hit a sort of tipping point where I’ll find that I’m able to do more with less.

Thanks for reading!

Committed

I am (or maybe should be) committed. I registered for two races this morning. The first is the local Turkey Trot in Parker. Having confirmed that I will be in town for Thanksgiving, I decided to give this one a shot. I’ve lived in Parker for about 13 years but ironically have never done a race in town. This one will be pretty easy just a 5K out and back along the Cherry Creek trail which I know well. It ought to be nice not to have to drive down to Castle Rock or north all the way to Washington Park.

I did register for another, slightly longer race as well. On May 5 of next year, it’s my intention to run the Colorado Marathon. 

Yes, I did say marathon, not half marathon. This will be my second attempt at the distance, the first being the Rock & Roll Marathon in San Diego in 2006. That one was not bad considering it was the first time. I finished at 5:01:07 after struggling mightily during the last 10K. The course was fairly flat, especially in the second half and while the weather was a bit warmer and more humid than I expected, I managed it okay.

There were other factors that slowed me up that year including plantar fasciitis and a nagging case of IT Band Syndrome. I have no regrets about the race. Running 26.2 miles is no mean feat for anyone. But despite coming out of the race thinking I would do another, I never did. Training proved to be too grueling and time consuming and I just lost my passion for it. That didn’t really change until I discovered triathlon.

That brings up the question of what has changed to make me want to do this again. There are multiple answers.

First: Last year I saw my brother have a lot of success in our 70.3 mile triathlon, HITS after having done a full marathon in the early season. That’s not to say he had an easy time of it (he assures me he did not) but while most of us had slowed to a walk, he ran it in. I doubt I’ll be as fast as he was in my next half iron event, but anything that would shave several minutes off my 2:46 time would be good. Imitating the success of others is always a good strategy!

Second: I meant it when I said that I had no regrets about that first race. However, that does not mean that improving upon the time has not been bothering me. Nothing drastic, just the ability to put a 4 at the front of the time would be nice. I have a much better training plan now. I’m also more disciplined in my training. Furthermore, I’ll be about 14 pounds lighter on race day than I was back in 2006. All bode well for a PR.

Third: Last weekend, I caught the highlight show from this year’s Ironman Championship in Kona. Let’s face it; it’s a lot easier to watch people out there suffering than to do it myself. Nevertheless, I felt a desire to be one of them. Not a competitor at Kona (that would be nice but it’s unlikely) but to be able to call myself an Ironman. Most folks who read a triathlon blog understand. For anyone else, if I have to explain, you wouldn’t get it.  Running a marathon as a stand-alone event is hard. Running it after swimming 2.4 miles (over an hour) and riding 112 miles (over six hours) is almost surreal. If I decide I’m going to commit to 140.6, then I need to know I can run the distance. That’s still a very big if, but I am still willing to explore it.

So now what? Cast aside the biking and swimming so I can prepare for a run event? Hardly! If I learned anything from my experiences several years ago it’s that cross-training can help me reach the cardio needs of such a race and help prevent injuries. I’ve been able to work out six days a week because I vary what I do.

This is a big step. Deciding you are going to run 26.2 miles always is. However, I feel like I’m going in the right direction on my path as an endurance athlete. If that path does not lead me to a full Ironman event, so be it. If it does, well, very few people can call themselves an Ironman. I would be honored to be one.

More to come on this one including training progress, deets about the race and how my 43 year old body holds up.

Thanks for reading!

Running

It's no secret that running is my least favorite aspect of triathlon. That's mostly because I've done so much of it over the years. I ran cross-country and track in high school. When I was in college, it was my main mode of exercise. In the years since running has been my way to get back in shape and until I discovered tri's, it was also the one place I had to compete.

When I started biking and swimming, I really enjoyed the new sports breaking up my routine. Nevertheless, running is the third sport and it has to be done. So today, even though I was tired I dragged my butt out onto the road and did a long 7 miler. It was a rough one, especially coming on the heels of yesterday's 40 mile ride.

I also committed today, to run the Rock & Roll Half Marathon in October. It will be the first one I've run in four years. It means I need to keep building the running miles--especially after finishing the TriRock Olympic in September.

Another factor in deciding to do a half marathon is to use it as a gauge in determining whether I want to/can do a half Ironman. Obviously doing a stand along 13.1 is not the same as doing the full thing, but if the half is too much, it's probably safe to say that swimming 1.2 miles and biking 56 before hand will be way too much.

In the meantime, I'm glad I'll be in the pool tomorrow where the bulk of the work is done by my arms (I'm not much of a kicker on the swim). Then it's the longest brick so far on Saturday. I'm also breaking one of my rules about running two days in a row. Monday morning I'm going to do the four mile July 4 race in Washington Park. It's really just a t-shirt race but hey, I like getting t-shirts. That will be followed Tuesday but race #2 in the Aquaman Series. Back to back, but more than 24 hours so I think I can manage.

For now, I really need to get some sleep.