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Thanks so much, Coach AJ! And thanks for all the training help the past few months! That was a heck of a ride! Congrats to all the other racers, I hope everyone was able to hit their goals!
Got my fair share of jelly stings during the swim. Bike felt like no matter which way I turned I was always in a headwind. And the sun came out just in time for the run. Good times! I knew the run would be painful but didn’t think it would be thaaaaaaat painful. Mile 6 of the run was the worst for me. Hit a complete wall: deep in the pain zone and didn’t want to go on. 5 minutes of walking two salt tabs, three cokes, two waters, and an internal pep talk later I started putting one foot in front of the other again and kept on going.
Went well: no equipment failures, pretty dialed in with nutrition (although probably needed a bit more sodium during bike), happy with my bike and swim splits given conditions (although need to work on swim sighting).
Didn’t go well: Run… Extra minute and a half per mile than I planned. Probably a few pounds too heavy. Running in heat and full sun just drains me – need to train for that or pick a course with more shade 🙂
What’s next: Marine Core Marathon, Netflix, beer, family time!
Thanks for this! I am a bit confused by the whole tapering process. Prior to using a structured workout program like training peaks, I would only do Zone 1 or 2 workouts during the taper and dramatically ramp down volume. Training peaks still has me doing 12:30 hours this week (with some Zone 3 intervals on the bike) and just over 10:00 hours next week. I had always thought that because it takes three weeks for the benefits of a workout to really hit you, the last three weeks were really about stretching, icing, recovering from all the previous months impact, and building up energy stores for the race. Have I been thinking about tapering all wrong? Any insight would be greatly appreciated!
Will chime in with my own experience. Ramp up to 16-17 hours/week of training has been pretty tough to stay on top of – particularly with work travel and long weekends (the irony is I find it harder to get away to train on long weekends because of the demands of wife, son, and two dogs). Tough to find a bike to go on a 5:00 hour ride when in a foreign country – particularly in Africa. Did four and a half hour ride on a commuter bike a few weeks ago – wasn’t pleasant. Think I topped out at 14 mph. Can’t get myself to sit on a stationary bike for more than two hours before going crazy. Per the Athlete Package, trying to focus on getting my long runs and bikes in.
Heat has been brutal. Strapped a rear bottle cage on my bike so that can carry three bottles with me for the long rides. Drinking 1.5x the amount that I expected.
For long bikes, feel like I have exhausted the distance of my known routes. Few weeks ago found myself aimlessly biking though rural MD. Anyone have suggestions on 85 – 120 mile rides leaving from DC? Prefer to stay off trails as trails get too crowded. Typical route is Reservoir, to MacArthur, to River, to Glenn, to Estworthy, to Seneca, to roaming around back roads. Any suggested routes would be much appreciated.
For the swim, i fell pretty comfortable swimming the IM distance at my target pace ( around 2:00min/100M). Should I continue to do the prescribed drills and workouts or just use the time in the pool to do a constant swim?
Thanks in advance for any advice!
Sebastiaan
