Monday, September 24, 2007

Half IM details

Part for Joe G to read and half for me records for future races:

Breakfast: starting about 2:45 before race start, 2 plain waffles, 1 cup Earl Grey tea with honey, 1 banana, most of a 32oz bottle gatorade, 2 spoonfuls of peanut butter.

In hour before race start: 2 Hammer gels and water. Felt satisfied, but not "full."

Swam 200m warmup from the swim finish over to the boat dock where we started. Solid warmup. Told myself repeated to "harden the F#ck up" and I did puke or gag even before the race. Most people had no warmup. I think maybe 10 of us got any warmup.

Out of water, jogged easy to transition. Took a long time to get everything going, but dry socks with baby powder in them went on nice and smooth. Feet stayed dry on bike. On bike I ate nothing until mile 5.5 where I took in first set of Enduralytes, then a GU. After mile 12 or so I started on the Clif Bar. Ate half in a few small bites. Puked in mouth a little. Put Clif bar away for 30 miles. I more enduralytes about mile 24. I also mixed in 2 more GU's and 2 sets of 3 Clif Blok blocks (Cola flavored). First 28 miles I think I did in 1:24 or so, I think I'd avg'd about 19.2, which means to avg 20.3 I smoke round 2 of the course. I felt good and went hard when I did. I lost the yellow spongee thing in the aerodrink bottle 4 miles into the bike. I forgot to set one of the rubber bands over the top of it at the start. Oops. Oh well.

At mile 28 turnaround, I wasted 90 sec to get bottles with my gatorade in them. I took my last enduralytes (I think I had 4 pills) at mile 45 or so. I grabbed a bottle of cold water at a water station at mile 44 (just chunked a bottle they gave me and grabbed one on the go). Used it to cool my head a couple times and hydrate. I ended up drinking about 4 24oz bottles gatorade, 1.5 bottles water. Never felt "full" nor thirsty. I guess my approach of going back to basics to get past nutrition problems worked.

I took my last GU on the bike with about 2-3 miles to go. I packed all my food trash in my aerobottle so I didn't have to empty pockets at transition. Feet out of shoes and hopped off cyclocross style. At T2 I was about 20 min ahead of plan. Sweet! I was off bike in 2:48 for 56.6 miles incl the 90 sec stop where I lost time.

T2: fairly good, put on sunscreen, grabbed some food, new socks, and was off. Bec took a bunch of picts of my in T1 and T2, but I was bending over in nearly all of them. No comments from the peanut gallery.

Started run feeling really good. Just drank water for first 1.5 miles, filled bottle with cold at first stop about 0.5 mi out. Mistake was to end up having only 1 bottle with water in transition. I needed 2/3 of it for getting grass/sand/rocks off my feet before the bike. Need 2 full bottles next time. Also, need to not hog all the sunscreen so wife is without and she doesn't get burned. The race folks had sunscreen to smear on for racer (and public I presume), but Bec didn't know. I feel bad about that.

I ran about 3 miles and started eating some Sports Beans. Tasted good. Worked down a package over first hour of run. I tried to hit the gatorade as often as possible, but I can't pound a cup or two without feeling bad. I did try an orange slice, but it was sour and I spit it out and chunked the rind in the woods. Awful!

I had an extra empty GU in my pocket after the run, so I think I ate 2 on the run, but don't remember. After running an hour with little food, I was getting nervous of the bonk. I evidently ate 2 GU's (incl my last Honey Stinger Chocolate, which is doper heaven). I also ate 2 cola clif bloks while walking in the shade when feeling like ass at mile 11. Then I ran well to the line. Half marathon was 2:01:45, or 9:18 miles (seems a little quick). They were supposed to have bananas on the bike, but had none, and the same with coke on the run. Oh well.

Mile paces, mostly correct with some late stoppages of the watch when I ran past the mile marker, also some miles I walked more then others and some I lost 20-25 sec for filling my bottle up. I walked a couple times up the hills between mile 2 and 6 and walked a lot between miles 9 and the start of 12. Pretty consistent for the most part.
1- 8:56
2- 9:27 (lots of short 8% hills between mile 2 and 6)
3- 8:58
4- 9:20
5- 9:23
6- 9:24
7- 7:44 (mostly down hill, plus ran to where Bec was watching)
8- 9:27
9- 9:54
10- 10:00
11- 11:16 (suffering bad in mile 10 and 11)
12- 8:16 (got my shit together, smiling, pumped I was finishing)
13.1- 9:49

I felt completely coherent and aware of everything until mile 10 when we were all walking a lot. I felt good last couple miles and held a coherent conversation with Bec after the finish. That was good in my book.

Couple notes: One guy in age group ran with headphone (penalized?). Bec said the announcer said first time penalty in a half IM is 4 min, then 16min for violation 2, then DQ. They also didn't enforce the wearing a shirt rule.

One of the first cyclists, who was very fast and I think 2nd or 3rd anyway, was told the wrong direction at some point on the bike and was 23 min ahead of the second rider. They didn't even have the mat ready for him. I do not know if he was DQ'd (riders should know the course) or just penalized.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Thursday Sept 20

Had a good 1100yd swim in the am. Arms a little stiff, but swam confident and well.

In evening, met up with a couple for riding and a run. Rode TT bike in race gear. Rode 1 hr at 18mph, which was a good pace, then we ran 4 miles in 32 min. Ran a little fast, but felt good. Great motivation for Sunday. My buddy Norton told me I should do the half in 5:20. I laughed.

Friday is rest
Sat is a short 15-20min bike ride and a 30min walk with the wife. I'd liek to swim a little, but we'll see. Probably not bother. Weather looking to be about 87-90 degrees for the run. Joy.

Almost there!!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Week before the half (Mon-Wed)

Monday: rest day, was in field all day, but I walked over 7k though.

Tues: Swam in am 1600 yds in a short ladder, felt good. Did cyclocross training with team in evening. On bike 1 hr total, but we did a lot of getting off the bike and hopping back on drills. Both hip flexors sore today. I didn't push it hard as a lt fo people crashed at some point.

Wed: Rode 30mi, on TT bike, a few big hills incl the 4 min climb, avg'd 19.0. felt good, didn't push it very often. very motivating as I'm a little wigging out this week. I tried the 2 samples of HEED that I had. Both good and tasty. Not sure I'll have any in the race, but I'm down with the Lemon-Lime and the Mandarin Orange (tastes like orange sherbert!!)

Thurs workouts will involve the pool, the bike, and the run.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Sat and Sun Sept 15-16

One week till the half IM, so good taper.

Sat: morning rode 43 miles, great 2.5 hr loop, avg'd 18mph. I rode a road I'd only done once ever before, but I pass it all the time. Super hilly (going west), but I took it eastbound and it was nice. One end of the road is on a more heavily travelled road, hence I never ride the road. The views going east are fantastic. New favorite road. You can see for miles. Really worth going slower at a few places.

Built shelf systems, moved a ton of wood and nailed and screwed in a lot of screws and nails. Bit sore.

Sunday: Did a fantastic 1 hr run. HR monitor said I was anaerobic a lot, but I wasn't breathing hard and felt great. Ran about 7.0-7.2 miles, 8:15-8:25 miles? Cooler weather was great, didn't sweat to death, legs felt great after being a bit sore and heavy Saturday. Ate some Clif Bloks and tried some Sports Beans. Not too sweet, but good. I ate them when I was hurting some to try to mimic suffering 4 hrs into a race:) Will aim for some bloks and sports beans in the half IM run. Never thought I'd feel so great after an hour run, felt VERY short after the long runs over the last month.

Week of Sept 11-14

Plan was as expected in previous post. Basically good training workouts, same intensity, just shorter. Wed evening ride was a nice 31 miles with the dog that hit the rear wheel. I have since bought Halt.



Thursday was a rest day. Busy busy and a little tired, so I took it off.



Friday the 14th: Swam 1600m indoors, felt good, then ran on treadmill 30min. Quick double with a super long lunch hour, but Bec's friend came into town Thursday evening and I figured I wouldn't have time to run in the evening. I didn't so it was good I got in a 30min jog.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Sept 8-10

Sat was the sprint tri, see results at:
http://www.team-magic.com/results/OHT07_AG.htm

and on the Somershoe family blog.

Sunday Sept 9th: felt crappy, stomach upset, but I managed to get out between rain showers and rode the Cross bike 21 miles, mostly on greenway. Avg'd 15mph (can't do much more with the knobbies). Legs felt pretty good, but didn't have a ton of power. Might have been the 25 lbs bike I was trying to pedal.

Monday Sept 10th: Last long run pre-half IM. Up early and ran 9.3 miles. Rained yesterday and it was 100% humidty this morning. Made it really, really hard. I ran for 1:20 (8:36 miles), but it was brutal. I rang out my shirt with ease and I poured no water on my head. I walked several times to try to get my HR down, which was really high even though I didn't think I was pushing it. Avg HR was 164 and ~60% of the run was anaerobic. Not good, but I just couldn't get my HR down after I ran a race pace mile (mi 3-4).

Plan for week: swim and ride Tues (probably riding cross bike for cross season).
Wed: evening ride with the boys (yes Joe, my new boys, thinking of suggesting we start a Yahoo groups list serve for the town as a lot of folks ride).
Thurs: swim and run
Fri? rest? We'll see.

Friday, September 7, 2007

Sept 6th

Did a double today with a planned short ride on Friday as prep for the sprint tri on Saturday.

Swam 1500m easy in morning, mid-morning actually and I sort of bonked. Outdoor pool only open now from dawn until 10am and 4pm to dusk. I can't get there too early for it'll take me 2hrs from the house with traffic, so I went at 8:30 with breakfast at 6 and a granola bar at 8:15. not enough food. Lower back a little sore.

Ran after work my 3.8 mi loop with a bunch of bitching hills. Legs sore for a few minutes but "opened up" just fine. Lower back was fairly sore, but pain came and went. Ran way too fast, majority fo run was anaerobic, but with all the hills I ran the 3.8 mi in 29:45 with an easy last couple minutes. ~7:50 miles. I subsequently laid on the floor all night as my back is killing me. Max'ing Ibuprofen and hoping I'm good for Saturday.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Wed Sept 5th

Pm ride with new local riding buddy Jack. Did same loop north of Smyrna that I did last week with the group. Nice rollers and flats. I now know how to find my way around that loop. Pretty sweet. We did 30.1 miles, avg'd 17.8. Again, first and last 3 miles or so is on the Greenway, so we're not going 19 mph. Out on the open road we each took some good digs at 21-24+mph. Felt good considering I was unmotivated to ride as the AC has been out in our office for 2 days. I left early and worked from home today. Pounding water to stay hydrated at work.

Fortunately the AC is back on Thursday morning, otherwise I was going to go home!

Sprint Tri Sat, 400m swim, 1.5 mi run, 12.5mi bike, 1.5mi run.

Sad news, 2 cyclists in Baldwin Co, AL were killed while riding by a 19yr old, who was driving drunk at 9am on I think Tues morning. These were roadies that had been riding with a group out of a local shop. They'd gone a different direction from the other 2 guys that started that morning and sadly it was a bad decision. To top it off, the kid that hit them killed a cyclist 2 years ago. What the hell is wrong here?? Unfortunately the kid didn't get hurt I don't think when he flipped his truck, but his girlfriend went flying out the passeneger window. He should be castrated, beaten, and hung or something. Ridiculous. Sorry for the rant.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Sun Sept 2 - Monday Sept 3

Sudnay: Ran on the Stones River Greenway ~11.2 miles. Not completely sure of distances as the map they have leaves something to be desired. Ran well. New shoes good, but Superfeet not quite right length so I got blisters on arches. Used baby powder in socks and my feet were dry, even though the rest of me was soaked! Need something like Gold Bond powder that isn't baby smelling. My toes were sore (which happened with my old Asics), but they didn't blister. I think I curl my toes under.

Anyway, ran ~8:45 miles with a few sessions of walking in there (but mile 9-10 was killer fast!!). Ate a Gu and 3 Clif Bloks and had gatorade at mile 9 (returned to truck). I got the bloks down just fine. Felt good at end, just tired, not sore like last week. Swapping around superfeet so the one's I had in my old Asics are in my new ones. Arch support needs to be in a slightly different spot.

Time to taper. This Sat is a sprint tri that I want to drill. So shorter workouts this week.

Monday:
Pretty tired, but rode 1 hr on mostly new roads I'd never ridden at 16.5mph. Felt pretty good. Left patella a little sore (over use??).

Tues: rest day. Long work day. I'm giving a talk at 7pm in town 1:15 away, so I'll be on the clock till 10:30 or so. Uh.

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Fri Aug 30, Sat Sept 1

Fri: 2600m total with a 1.2mi set (2000m). 500m sets were 8:15, 9:18, 9:14, 9:16. Pretty consistent. No more long sets, but it was a good confidence boost.

Sat: Rode 67.5 miles, 3:50, 17.7mph. Rode slow in first hr to loosen up and lots of hills. Felt ok. Rode TT bike, with tri shorts and tri shirt and everything as I would be using on half IM day. Aerodrink bottle was great. Felt ok overall and everything was good. Drank a lot, felt full belly, and simply can't eat a GU and a Clif Bar per hour. It was gross. Did get down 3 GU's, 1.7 Clif Bars, some dried apricots (tried it out), and a banana. Simply couldn't eat more. I had 3 sets of 3 Enduralytes too. Not really hot, pleasantly warm I'd say. I drank 1 bottle Accelerade at the start and had an upset stomach, again, for about 2 hrs. Guess I'm done with Accelerade. Had to make a pit stop. Felt much better afterwards and rocked the last 12 miles home.

After the ride, I was running within 4 min. Took my time, but a quick transition. Getting hot + swollen belly = misery. I ran to a local park about 1.6 or 1.8 mi away. Ran well and felt good, despite bunches of hills and some walking involved. Drank some, poured water on head, but stomach felt like crap. Some salt on shorts at end of run (well what wasn't wet with sweat or water poured on head). Felt awful 0.5 mi from home and did the walk of shame all the way home. I felt like a sorority ho walking home after a drunken night with too many frat boys. Well, wobbly if anything. I got home and puked. I felt ok afterwards.

So....I ate decent, drank a lot, used enduralytes, weighed the same after the run as I did first thing in morning, and I actually peed mostly clear after I got done puking (even though I had salt lines on shorts). So I suffered from stomach issues related to my system hating Accelerade, which may be an isolated occurrence from the puking? Heat wasn't too big a factor, I didn't think. What happened to me today? If it was race day, I would DNF.

Thoughts?