Training Log

One of the benifits of having a anal-retentive training log is that when you have the worst coach in the world, ie, yourself, you can look back and try to see what you did good and what you did poorly to help with writing your own training calendar. Of course, a professional coach would be able to see in a second the "rights" and the "wrongs" of anything silly the M-Dot Bigun is up to, but with the economy and what-not, who can afford a coach these days?

I find myself, this morning, absolutely whacked out bushed - slept waaaay in, and had no desire to hit my scheduled 2-hr bike ride. So I got to thinking (yea, Tri-Sherpa Di had to ask what that burning smell was...) - what did I do last year differently? So I looked!

Lo and behold, I more often than not trained at a 2 week "on", 1 week "recover" cycle. I just automatically dove into a 3 on - 1 off cycle this time around, and it's no wonder, after 2 cycles, why I'm dragging ass! Now don't get me wrong, I can see the merits of 3-1, the main one being that over time, there's a whole lot more training and a bit less recovery. Which begs the question, is there enough recovery? Well for a guy like me - and perhaps the average MOP age grouper, there might need to be some middle ground.

So I think going forward I'll try and adjust the schedule to go 3-1 and then 2-1. I'm the kind of person that would really like to try for the harder schedule and only go to 2-1 if I need to, but it becomes really hard to schedule races and optimum recovery before races if you just play it by ear. Or, I could keep it the way I have it, and not feel bad if I miss a workout or two in that last week of the second 3-week block... oh the humanity!

Season 2010

So this is the time of year when the typical triathlete (or person in general) gets excited and makes plans for 2010. Training schedules need to be made, goals for the year dreampt up, and friends and family talked into competing with us.

2009 was a bust for me triathlon-wise. I did get out and get one done though - make that two. Nothing like a couple of sprints to keep the interest up. Got a couple of Centuries under my belt as well, and even snuck in a half marathon before the year closed out. Nice.

So what's in store for 2010? I'm looking at a Oly to start - one up in Gainsville, FL - just a few weeks away, and glutton for punishment that I am, I know up front it's gonna be cold as all get-out. But my boy Lee hasn't ever done an Olympic Tri, and this one is more of a confidence builder than anything else. For sure a "C" race.

Gasparilla is next, in late February. Just planning on doing the half marathon - even though this is the last running of the full Marathon here in Tampa, I just don't see myself recovering fast enough for my next race 3-weeks later. I know me. But one thing I'm shooting for is at least getting back down to my Ironman weight by then, and being able to match my PR at that distance of 1:57. You should "reach" for goals, right?

So after that, in March, I plan on doing the Gator Half Marathon down in Sarasota - signing up before New Years Day keeps the price down to $155 - a bargain considering St. Anthony's Oly was that exact same price! Krimeny! The Gator Half has my eye as an early "A" race. My boys Curt and Lee are already planning on coming down with, and I'd like to put in a good showing. PR time. It will be cool, flat as a pancake, and cheap - all of my favorite race-type things.

Next is the typical triathlon season opener - St. Anthony's Olympic. I plan on being in great shape by then - having just PR'd in a Half IM a month earlier (the power of positive thinking at work here). I have a full 4-week training cycle to get some serious speed work in at the OLY distances, and for once I plan on having a great St. Antony. So that's April.

St. Anthony's marks the end of my "regular season", and the beginning of the MNB2B train-up. Yes, you've heard it all before, but this year is going to be different. We are, according to our President and all his Czars, screaming headlong out of this Recession, and what are the first industries to leave the recession? The luxury, big-ticket sales industries - like the RV industry, where I have suffered for the last 12 months, and am ready for the whirlwind of commissions that await me. By March (the deadline for the less-expensive entry fee for MNB2B) I'll need to have saved a benchmark amount of cashola to qualify for the ever-so-trendy "trigger-pull", but I'm pretty confident for this year's economic rebound in the Bigun household.

What's so irregular about the MNB2B you ask? The mighty CANOE! I'll have about 12 weeks to go from zero to hero in the shadow of a 50-mile 2-man canoe jaunt planned for the end of the MNB2B race. I also have to figure out the training specifics for the crazy distances and relay-induced time-trial sets that this race calls for. Fun stuff ahead.

So the MNB2B is at the end of June. 12 weeks away, or so, from the illustrious Beach to Battleship Iron Distance Triathlon. I can't see how that will happen, but if the stars align and the injuries all stay away, the money doesn't run out and we can fit a MUCH NEEDED week long absolutely nothing to do with triathlon or training VACATION (like a cruise or whatnot) in before-hand, like in the summer, around July or August - then there's a chance of signing up for the B2B, if on the off chance that registration hasn't filled up yet. Phew. See that, I committed to a VACATION and was totally uncommitted to the prospect of an Ironman in 2010. But I want to do one.

But I (we, as in Tri-Sherpa Di and I) really, really need a vacation.

Peaking

NO, not through Momo's new front door....well, not that I wouldn't...but I digress (as usual).

I'm frigging beat! I've got to get some serious sleep tonight. 8.5 hours done trained (and I took Monday off) this week, with lots on the horizon - and it's been damn HOT too!

Sorry all you podcasters out there; I've been doing all my training this week, and next, sans I-Pod. I need to get back in touch with my own thoughts - "train like you race" and all that. Century this weekend with whatever I can do runoff will be just me and my own mind. Don't you feel sorry for me already?

Ohh...almost forgot - racing this Sunday in our favorite sprint tri - Mad Beach. Best thing, besides racing....BEER TENT!

Unfortunately, to "round out" my training week, I may have to get in a little workout after we get home - I'm figuring on needing a little more running and a little more swimming. NOT MUCH...just a little...

Hey, look at how much fun we had last year at this event. Too bad "Li'l Clyde" isn't coming down for a rematch!

Ironweek 6

Good grief...it's been a while since I've posted an Ironweek report. Probably because I've not been pleased with the way training is going. No change for that this week either.

Swim: not as far as I'd have liked. 2x in the pool, 2k and 3k - woop-tee-do!

Bike: got in an early week century which was cool. Then I busted my chain, and my knee, which made the weekend really blow. 123 miles total. Not great, but I did get the long one done. Check.

Run: Crap. 2x on the road. 6 miles and 11 miles. A psudo long run. Made the most of my banged up knee, and probalby shouldn't have run as far as I did.

Total training time: 12 hrs.

It is what it is. Will I tear up CdA? Not likely. Will I finish? Damn skippy. Will we have a blast with all our bloggy peeps? You betcha.

I've extended my training cycle one week in order to attempt a 15+ training hour week so that I feel at least somewhat worthy of being ready to do this event. At least no one can accuse me of being overtrained for this puppy!

Century #4

Well, the Big'nDummy 1/2 looks like it may have been moved to Monday now. I thought that I wasn't gonna get a long ride in this weekend, so I did a century yesterday, and was pretty pleased with the results.

The goal was to keep the HR between 130 and 140. I did have to take a potty break and refill water a couple of times - but it was nice, again, to do a non-drafting, lonely Century.

That is, until other bikers started showing up. With 20 miles to go, the roadies arrived - particularly Mike, who's training for 6-gap, and doesn't understand that slow for me is painfully slow for him. I kept on having to say, "um, Mike, my HR is 150" and then he'd back it down.

For the final 6 miles, a peloton of riders rode past the water point (yea, I had 6 to go and was filling up - I was that parched...) and I guess it was on. We mounted back up and rode after them - caught the first group in 2 miles, and the second a mile later. I pulled them for about 2 miles (my last 2 miles) and totally blew up, but was really surprised of what I still had in my legs for that last 6 miles. Usually I'm a mess at that point.


Speaking of messes....I was threatened to be "outed" last night amongst spouses of Ironman trainees. TriSherpaDi's got a blog and she ain't afraid to use it! Yes, even the.bigun was too tired to put out. I can hardly believe it myself. Is there some support group I can go to?

Help

Would someone please go to work for me today? I just don't feel like it.

Oh, and I am in desperate need of a Vet with madd surgical skills. We have a very vocal cat. The bastard. I really can't see any reason, any more, for this indoor cat to have need to make sounds. At night. All friggen night. Kitty vocal chords...gotta go. Sorry Brisco. NOT!

I have a podcast that I've been listening to - besides the Tb'nB show - called Tri Talk. He's got 14k listeners or so, yes, I'm pretty late to jump on that bandwagon, but he's got some really good stuff on there. And he's not funny, so we don't have to worry about losing any "market share". And he does talk a lot about triathlon. And give tips. Basically, his show is the Anti-Tb'nB show.

So his (David Warden's) 61'st episode talks about a method to tell if you are ready to leave base training and go to the build or speed phase of your train-up to a particular event. It's called decoupling. Studies indicated that if you could maintain your output for certain periods over varying durations based on the upcoming event, you could determine the quality of your personal base. For Ironman, he recommends a 4 hr bike. He also recommends that a power meter be used, as HR and speed have too many variables like wind and grade - fortunately I train on a 12 mile circular loop, so the variables get canceled as I go in circles. Granted, I only went 50 miles, or 2.5 hrs, but the results were very positive.

Tri Talk recommends transitioning to the next training phase (based on coaching advise from Joe Friel) only if the first half of your training ride is different from the second half by less than 5%. Oh, and for shorter distance events, the test ride is shorter too - so if you are not training for IM, you can still use this test!

On yesterday's ride, I did the first 24.82 miles at a 20.3 mph avg. speed and 138 avg HR. The speed to HR ratio is 6.8. The second half went 19.9 mph at 143 avg HR, or 7.2 - for a difference of .55% decoupling - not too shabby. The true IM test would be over another hour and a half, and I'd certainly start out slower, but still these results were positive....I've almost got a good base.

edit: oops, that should read 5.5%, not .55% ... and this test is designed to be done in Zone 2, btw....

Ironweek 11

You know what that means? Only 10 weeks until CdA! Can I get a big HOLY CRAP? A giant WTF? Where did all that time go? The 30 week plan is now down to a measly 10 weeks, and of course, I don't feel even close to ready. These next 10 weeks will be insanely fun as I ramp up to all new levels of misery and exhaustion in an effort to do the impossible: feel ready for your first Ironman.

And, from the spreadsheet (for anyone still paying attention) you can see my crazy hard 10 hr week (note: sarcasm) that I punctuated with a hilly Century ride yesterday. Yea. So the majority of that 10 hrs was on the bike, which is important because it is ALL ABOUT THE BIKE. Hence my 3rd Century in 4 weeks. And you know what? I'm feeling better and better after mile 80, which is the goal: be strong after 80.

Unfortunately, the "hilly" ride was only about 3k feet of elevation gain - half of CDA - but it made for some good training. Which I needed since I barely swam and hardly ran. Gosh it was a crazy hard work week last week. We've been getting crazy rain and really warm weather for Tampa this time of year, so the grass is growing, and I've been very busy with my biz. A good problem to have, but it takes away time and energy from training.

In case you didn't know, we published Episode 7 of the TacBoy and Bigun Show. We talk to some influential people in the world of blogs and podcasts in this episode...well, actually, we don't. We leave messages on their answering machines. Episode 8 will be out pretty quickly, since we have some great interviews with TriSaraTops, Momo and Lana already done and ready to go.

You also may have noticed repeat files for each episode in I-tunes. In an effort to allow folks with MP3 players and who don't have I-whatevers, we publish a copy in MP3 format and a M4A format - Tac still likes to play around with pictures and the M4A is the only format that supports the chapter building and pictures with his...hush...Mac. Unfortunately, I cannot "block" the mp3 version from I-tunes. So us I-Tunes users must select one, delete it, and enjoy the other. Sorry for the trouble, and just so you know, we do have quite a few folks who download the mp3 version and also listen on the streaming video from the website (that's another reason for the MP3 - the "Audio Player" only supports MP3's).

So enough of all that technomumblejumbo - enjoy the show, again,

CRIMENY! 10 FRIGGEN WEEKS!!!!

Strawberry Century (Ironweek 13)

I learn't my lesson yesterday at the Strawberry Century - keep the HR down, or pay the price!

The event itself was very similar to last year's - same course, same SAG's, pretty much the same windy end as well. So you can look to the link of the description of the '07 race to get the picture. The difference was...my race-buddy Excel Man showed up this year.

If you don't already know, Excel Man is the consummate over-distance trainer. 130 mile weekly bike rides are nothing to this guy. This Century - yawn... So I was a little bit apprehensive as to what he was going to do to me on Sunday, and all I can say is, well, he done it. Yes, I will blame him for my woe's.

We started out in the realm of sanity. HR was under 140, actually in low 130s some, and we were not drafting at around 19 - 20mph. Cool. Then we get to the first SAG at around 19 miles, and we are all alone for a while. I say a while, cause in a couple miles, along comes this train of 20 riders hauling serious butt. Curt jumps on and I tag along for the ride.

These yahoos were cranking along at 23 - 24mph, in a fairly organized draft line. The problem was that this course has many, many 4 way stops, Rail Road crossings, and major intersections with street lights - so lots of slowing (to like 19) and then mad sprints to bring the line back together. The accordion effect was insane! Every time the sprinting would ease off, and we'd get into a draft rhythm, with my HR back into the low 150's (yea, I know, way too high even), we'd find another track or turn or stop sign and do it all over again. This was my world from mile 20 to mile 63. By the time we got to that SAG, I was TOASTed.

Nice...those 63 mile roadies went in to get some chow, most of them done for the day. Curt gave me that look - like, "you aren't really gonna quit on this century, are you?" - honestly, if he wasn't there, I probably would have called it a day. 38 miles to go, already wasted, was not the day I was looking forward to. With stops, we had averaged 19.8 to that point - it felt a LOT faster.

Nicely, the wind picked up and it was pretty lonely out on the course for the final part of the ride. I tried to lead out, but after 5 miles or so, Curt got tired of my slowness, and jumped ahead of me. Of course he didn't say anything, but I wasn't arguing either - I was grateful for the wheel! I'm admitting for the world to hear - I sucked that wheel for the rest of the ride - had I not, I may still be out there! 101 miles total and with stops we averaged around 17.5 mph. So, lesson learned, by all means, keep that HR down below 150, heck even the low 140s for the Ironman ride, no matter how good I feel! Hey, it's done, as is IronWeek 13.

Speaking of Ironweek 13 - I had my highest training volume week ever this past week, with a total of 14hrs and 40 minutes of swimming, biking and running. The only negative was some serious knee pain on my "long" 9 mile run on Saturday. It didn't hurt when I ran, only after, and hurt it did - enough to wake me up a few times that night! I was fine to bike in the Century the next day, but it does give me cause for concern for future long runs.

As March comes to a close, I think I also had my biggest bike volume month ever, with over 500 miles logged. I'll have to look to confirm, but going into St. Anthony's I feel pretty good about my training for a change. Top 10 - it could happen!

B-Fit Birthday Challenge

What the heck was I thinking? Roman throws out this B-Fit Birthday Challenge and it all SOUNDS well and good. Then I see that being 44 this year, I have to swim the first number in miles (that would be 4 miles, Nytro...) then bike the total number of years in miles (44, duh) and



then follow that up with an easy run of 4 miles, the last number in my age. The swim, in a word, sucked.

My longest swim ever prior to this was 3500 meters. This one would be 6500 meters. Smart? No. Especially on a diet of 2k to 4k meters per WEEK of swimming up to this point. But, I figure I'll just take it slow and steady, plus....I had my new fangled swimming I-Pod setup to keep me company. For 3 hrs. Sort of.

Quick product review. In the Birthday spirit - Di got me the Nano...Dad got me the Earphones, and Mom got me the case. Thanks, everyone, for my birthday gifts! The H2Audio waterproof gear (case and headphones) for the Ipod Nano worked like a charm. Nano is easy to operate in the case. Easy to see, and most importantly, it stayed dry. I have a set of tri-shorts with a big pocket in the back for nutrition....and for I-pods it turns out. The waterproof headset also worked great. Well, actually - I don't have a big noggin - but I had to have the headset pushed out to it's max settings to get the buds in position for my ears.

The headset comes with these black ear "inserts" that cup around the buds and then insert into the ear, in an effort to seal the ear of water. These work...not so much. Probably a function of the shape of the ear canal, but I could not get a good seal, and as a result, could hear when I turned my head to breathe and my one ear drained, but as soon as that ear went back in the water, the ear would fill and the sound would go away. Well, not totally away, but it was very muffled. The directions suggest using swimmers' ear wax and form some sort of cone-dealy...I'm willing to try it for good tunes while swimming. I'd adjust during breaks and get a few laps of good clean sound in - I'll tell ya, it really made the laps go by faster! Good rocking songs with plenty of Base worked the best. Folk music with girly tunes could barely be heard (sorry Trimama)

And I had 3 hrs to mess with it.

I read, a little too late, that a "swimmer's mile" is 1500 meters or 1650 yards. I should have swam 6000 meters, but I did 6500 meters or 7108 yards 'cause I did the math, and that's what it came up to for 4 miles. I don't know...towards the end I did one set of 500m in 13:09, so if I take that off of my total swim time, I'll have 6000 meters in 2:38:24. With 17:12 in total breaks. If you keep the other 500 in, just add that time and another 1:28 break. Good grief. About 2:20 per 100 yards. Did I mention I started slowly?

T1: 1:16:00 - time to eat a hearty lunch at Boston Market (mmmm...1/2 rotisserie chicken, green beans and potatoes...) and drive the 23 miles to Flatwoods, my training loop.

Everything else was fairly uneventful. I was thoroughly smoked from that self-imposed Chinese water torture and had nothing to give to the 44 mile bike other than some easy turning of the crank. I could tell my ass was still sore from the Century only 2 days prior - wearing the still damp tri-shorts was probably not the best idea. I went 2:21:43 for 44 miles; an average of 18.63 mph. Winds were steady at around 12 mph with gusts approaching 30mph. Nice.

T2: 3:15:00 - yes, that's 3 hrs and 15 minutes. I thought I had to work at 5pm, so I didn't brick that last little run. Turns out, no work, so before American Idol started and my Chinese food got delivered, I knocked out the neighborhood lap times 4.

Oh yea, I tore it up! 41:23 for 4 miles; yes, yes, that's only a 10:20 per mile pace - hey - absolutely NO records were harmed in the completion of this Challenge!

And for everyone wondering, yes, the next day, my shoulders are like rusty gates. I'll see tomorrow if I can still do a swim-motion. After a day of lawn work, they really feel much better then they did when I woke up. At least my perception of swim distance has taken a paradigm shift to the extreme. 4k ain't shit anymore!

Iron Week 21 - Peer Pressure

Oh...you guyz....you guys! I needed to bike on Sunday. It was 57 degrees. 3 below my "don't bike below 60" rule. Since the sun wasn't up yet, I figured it would warm up, and I was tired of everyone thinking I was such a big baby. Well I am a big baby, and should have stayed that way.

It never warmed up above 58. One lousy degree. Remember, I don't have toe warmers, leggings or some nifty hat that fits under my helmet. This is Florida. We don't need stuff like that here. Right. After 50 miles, I could not feel my toes anymore, and my body objected my riding decision so badly that it gave me this nasty cold/flu - thanks guys and gals - last night was NOT pretty!

So Iron Week 21 is dedicated to you - my bloggie peeps - this wonderful concept called peer pressure. HA! It's the same pressure we've come to rely on to get us out the door when we don't feel like training. It's the same comments and support we get for good workouts or races. It's the good natured ribbing and smack talking that keeps the competitive juices alive in each of us. I can't believe I'm going to write this....thanks for 4 trips to the bathroom last night! Sincerely. From the bottom of my heart, which, by the way, I think I flushed at 3am.

For your enjoyment, we took some video of the Fishhawk 10k:

Kind of a light week last week. Horrible swim - one time, 1500 meters. Just couldn't get into the pool last week, for whatever reason. Bike - not too shabby; two 50 milers and a 24 miler. All very "base". Lots of wind. The run - well, the Bigun PR'd this week at the 10k distance with a 50:08 - and just had that one other run of 11.6 that was preempted with a bathroom stop. Story of my life. 10.66 hrs of training total, with one week left in this base cycle. Feeling like I do now, it's hard to imagine that I'll get any quality training in - it's supposed to be a swim/bike week, tapering the run for the marathon in 2 weeks. We'll see.

Train to Standard

All of us have been in this situation (yes, even you, Blink)...be it in school, a work training program, in the military, etc. The lesson is done, the points were made, the mission is accomplished - but the block of time allotted for this instruction has not yet expired. The bell hasn't rung yet.

The instructor, or leader of the group, in all their infinite wisdom and time-honored toe-the-line glory, either babbles on with one eye on the clock, the other on his or her sleeping students, or simply states, "we still have 15 minutes - are there any questions?". Train to time. Paid by the hour. One of the most inefficient systems the world has ever seen. How much time have you wasted waiting unproductively for a bell to ring?

This is why the concept of Training to Time, and not to distance, bothers me so. I know, deep down, that it's all the same, really. Anyone can look at their training schedule and see a planned hour run, knowing their training pace, and say to themselves, "ok, lets do that nice, flat 6 mile route...". Feeling slow today? That 6 miler may take 1:02. Or - and perhaps more likely, you'll run for exactly 1 hr, and walk in the remaining distance.

But if you are feeling good - if you worked hard and are enjoying the benefits of a series of awesome training days, your reward is, well, you get to look forward to tacking on some distance to your run or bike to make up for your greatness.

Being uncoached, I have the luxury of doing or training however I damn well please. If I ever do get fortunate enough to be able to afford some needed help and advise with my training, I'm sure it will come in the form of training blocks disbursed in time increments, not distance. Except for swimming, of course. Somehow the "train to time" standard has not yet been found to be important in the pool. You don't see too many, "do 8 sets of 2 minutes, followed by 4 sets of 1 minute and then finish up with 4 sets of 30 seconds going all out..." - no, it's still distance and pace in the pool.

Hey...it works. I know it works - the "train to time" standard that is. Hundreds if not thousands of athletes each and every day wake up looking forward to a 2.5 hr bike with a 45 min run off. Those athletes are successful and so are their coaches. My angst boils down to the "mindset" - the frame of mind that is being ingrained every day with each training session.

With very few exceptions, the mission parameters of a race are set by distance, not by time. 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.4 mile run. Not a 1.5 hr swim, 6 hr bike, 5 hr run. Your reward comes at the completion of distance, not when the clock strikes hour X. I have no evidence to suggest that athletes coached in "training to time" perform any better or worse when they race compared to folks training to a distance standard. Somehow, it just makes sense to me that mentally, when you get to that time goal in a race, and you are still miles from the finish line, the person who, in training, is used to making up that distance will have an advantage over the person used to stopping at an arbitrary time.

Perhaps this is a minor point, hardly worthy of this many words and paragraphs in my already hectic day. I don't even hope to accomplish any sweeping changes or influence any of you reading this, be you athlete, coach or both. Maybe I just don't want you to think me "unread" or "behind the times" when I lament of my last 10 mile run, awesome century ride or brick denoted in miles instead of hrs. Crap! I just realized that I'm turning into "Mr. Super Elitist Old School Triathlon Guy"...please don't pee in my water bottles.

Iron Week 23

A day late on my weekly update of all things Iron in the life of Bigun. Last week was a recovery week. An absorption week, as Greyhound so aptly puts it. Like a sponge, I sat around and did hardly a thing all week, absorbing all that good training I did over the prior 3 weeks and doing some "over-training avoidance".

Yesterday, on a 10 mile run, I felt like Sweetness beat my legs with bats and Tri-Dummy had jumped on my back - it was rough! Hopefully it was just me getting the cobwebs out.

In short, I swam once for 2k meters, biked twice for 25 miles each, and ran once for 6 miles. Just under 4.5 hrs of total training. Yay.

On a fun note, in case you haven't been to the land of the Big Bike lately, we did release our first episode of the Tacboy 'n Bigun Podcast. Today will mark it's first week in existence, and we should go over 100 total downloads, which is pretty darn cool. Episode 2 is in the works...I doubt this will ever turn into a weekly deal - but if we can put one out every 3 - 4 weeks, we'll be doing great. Thanks to everyone who's listened and given words of encouragement - and as far as my CdA peeps - everyone will get mentioned: that first go around was very disorganized. We promise to get a better take on our CdA update for the next show.

Iron Week 25

Merry Christmas - that about sums up Week 25 on the countdown to Ironman. Pools were closed, Mrs. Bigun was off of work, excuses, excuses. But, we all get Christmas Bye's this week - hope everyone had a gluttonous week like me. Now I'm ready to throw away all the cakes, brownies (no! not the brownies!) banana breads and other most excellent treats and get back to eating healthy.

My short term swim goal is to do a 4 x 500 meter set (in a 50m pool) with each 500 under 11 min. I came close this week, coming a total of 57 seconds over the 4 intervals from getting it. The swim coach at my pool offered to film me a little on Monday to see what form tweaks we can make. Only swam a total of 4100 meters this week, but with the pool closures, I can't hardly complain.

I actually got 2 bike workouts in this week for a total of 100 miles. My long ride of 62 miles was the longest I'd been on a bike since October, but at 17.5mph average, it was a nice ride. Well, I made it a little bit challenging by staying in my 12 gear for the whole ride, even when the wind picked up. I stayed in the 'base' heart rate range for over 3 hrs, so the ride really was a complete success.

Running this week was not as good as prior weeks. I felt slow and heavy all week, my longest run being a 10 miler. I bricked on Sunday trying to make up for my lack of mileage, and tacked on 8 miles to the long bike...but my total of 23.5 miles is short of my "over 30" goal.

One more hard week in the cycle, then a welcome easy week coming up. I'm gonna make sure I get my running in - only 6 weeks until the Marathon!

Iron Week 26

Yee Ha! Hope everyone had a great Christmas...at least as great as the Bigun! You may remember that my Garmin 301 was giving me fits. It wouldn't take a full charge anymore, the HR strap no longer worked, even with a new battery, it wouldn't take splits for a while, then it wouldn't even stay on - I reloaded the software and tried to breath life into the old dog, but it shut off 3 times on my last 13m run...I was getting very tired of it!

Santa to the rescue! Got's me a nifty new Garmin 305 - I couldn't be more excited. No, it won't make me run any faster, but it will take the hassle factor down immensely!

Speaking of hassles...my base bar broke last week, and by the time I got the new one installed it was late on Sunday, and I failed to get in a single bike ride. Booo. But, really....it's the holidays, and I've enjoyed spending a bit of time with my favorite Sherpa. So sue me.

I felt like a runner last week with 30 miles of running, capped with a 13m long run at a 9:32 per mile average pace. That's more like it for the Bigun. I swam pretty decent too...upping my long swim to 3k, with a 3 by 1000 meter workout, and a total of 7k in the pool last week. A little under 8 hrs total training time for the week - it was not a bad a week for not biking.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas - and have a great training week!

Iron Week 27

Ahhhhhh. Deep Breath. Big Sigh. This was an easy week. Recovery. And it felt great. I cut my volume in half, only working out a total of 5 hrs. In the beginning of the week, the workouts felt heavy...I was in serious need of some rest. On Sunday, I did a "base Brick" - an easy 37 mile bike (18.3 mph average) and a really easy 4 mile run (10:45 pace), and it felt great! All the heaviness was gone, and I had to hold back a few times as bikers on "o" bikes zoomed passed me for some ungodly reason.

Isn't it funny, kind of off- topic, how someone will pass you, and then about 15 seconds later, when they are a few hundred yards up the road, they settle in to just about the same pace you're doing? Must be something about a big, fat guy on a bike that makes folks want to pass me. Not that I was going that fast. But it was a silent, secret victory to hear these dudes breathing heavy as they passed, while I was in my "barely breathing, hardly sweating keeping it conversational" zone.

So here we go headlong into a bike-focus week. My mission, should I choose to accept it, is to maintain the run volume achieved in the previous training block (at least 30 miles per week) and add 3 bike sessions to it, steadily increasing the volume during the 3 week training block. The first week will be a "feeler" - I'll do two 40's and my long bike on Saturday will be 80. We can re-assess from there, seeing how I feel next Monday!

I've re-vamped my training outline for CdA - I've decided to keep in my 16m runs, since I feel like I can actually recover from them in my off weeks; that will be my longest run, but if there are any signs of injury, of course, I'll back off of that distance, and only run that far before a recovery week.

I've added a couple of things. There's a 10k in January that a local run club sponsors. I'm feeling the need for speed, and possibly a 10k PR....

I also put the 12hrs of Sebring on the calendar. Excel Man is going down to hit that race, and I think that Moonpie had hinted of it at some time as well. I'm concerned that it's a week after the marathon...so we'll see, but since IM is all about the Bike, I may just have to HTFU.

You also may notice a difference in my weeks leading up to CdA - the newest issue of Triathlete Mag has training phase advise, and stresses a 4 week taper, done in 15% increments. I'm an absolutely horrible taperer, so any taper plan will look good to me. I tend to not start tapering early enough, so this will force me into a taper in what looks to be the "right" sort of way, with a gradual recovery to the big show. I like it.

Iron Week 28

Paradigm shift. Well, not a shift...a remembrance. A while back, I thought hard about the things that make a big Clydesdale different from other triathletes. Then I got to reading about training for a marathon, and in a panic, forgot some of the things I believed in, and made pretend I was a skinny little runner. Ehem....I'm not - I'm a big, un-skinny triathlete. Training for an Ironman, not a marathon.


That being said, Hard The "F" Up, Bigun. Only 27 training weeks to go, and I know, now, that I've a long road to haul.

My long run this week was 16 miles. I ran all of the first 12, at an average of 10:50, then stopped for water and limped on in for the last 4 miles. Those 4 really, really hurt! I had forgotten how much a long run hurts.

I got in 3 weeks in a row over 30 miles and managed NOT to hurt myself, which is a good thing. My hamstrings were screaming at me on this last run, hence all the walking, but I'm sure that's a function of the long run.

I only biked 38 miles this week in one session. I've nailed my training route, it's got some decent rollers in it, and with 3 loops will be a great long ride, with over 2200 ft. of elevation gain. Just like the week before, in week 28 I was making sure my legs could handle the increase in run volume before I tacked on the bike mileage.

I had one good Swim session early in the week, but then tuckered out for session #2, and then bailed on #3. No excuse for not swimming - although I gotta say, I've had some persistent fatigue that I'm hoping to shake next week on my "easy" recovery week.

So now for the paradigm shift. You've got to realize that all this running is a big, albeit necessary step for the Bigun. I'm fine with slower paces and walking here and there, and even the lapse of training on the swim and bike - the goal is to get used to this much running (and then some...over 40 miles per week soon) without getting hurt. The marathon puts a short-term, run specific goal out there for me - quickly forcing me from my comfort zone of bike, bike, bike.

But Ironman is all about the bike. I needed to be reminded of that - thanks Bolder. It's time to get back to the bike. It's in addition to the running that I've gotten used to, but not so much long run as long bike. Will my marathon suffer? Sure...but I'm not training for a marathon, I'm training for an Ironman. So don't think me crazy for not doing that 18 or 20 miler in the next few weeks (I'll need to fix my training spreadsheet). I'll be turning the pedals.

Feel like a runner

I haven't posted any training charts or graphs lately...I just haven't been feeling it. I've been putting in the time, but without losing any weight or seemingly getting any faster.

So on today's 9 mile run, I decided that if I felt decent, I'd blow out the carburetor a little bit. It was a boost to the motivation to get some decent splits in for a change! With the exception of stopping for water in the middle of it, which I didn't really "need" but I just do for safety's sake, I was on track for a pretty nice 15k/9m run. For a 250 lb'er, ie the Bigun, that is.

I'm also posting my 16 mile long run route for this Sunday coming up...without a color printer, it's hard to show my trusty Sherpa where I may be should I have some unforeseen problems along the way. Of course, if someone wishes to join me, I promise to go really slow.

You can probably tell, I try very hard not to cover the same ground twice. And I also try hard not to get too close to the house once I start...too easy to quit that way.

Iron Week 29

You know there's something special going on when the Bigun's run mileage exceeds his bike mileage 2 weeks in a row! It's called MARATHON, Baby!

I find myself wondering what happened to that guy who ran his PR half Mary in 1:57? Where is that guy?

The big deal for the next 10 weeks (only 10 to go...jeesh) is Run Volume. Since I'm in uncharted territories here, I thought it wise to back off on the bike for a couple more weeks to make sure my wheels get used to the run volume first. I'll do a whole 3 week cycle before getting back on the bike hard again. My knees will thank me.

Weight: 251lbs. I suck at losing weight. I like to eat too much.

I also did some 100 meter sprints in the pool...5 to be exact. That was some shit. I need to do more of that...way more.

Bottom line for Iron Week 29 - good run, bad bike, decent swim. Bad Weight. Turn the bad's into goods, and the goods into greats. That's the ticket.

Iron Week 30

So here we go! 30 weeks to the big show, and the Bigun is on his way. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time, of course. My first bite is the preparation for the marathon, and since the run is my weakest event - put first things first. Week one of my 12 week Marathon training program is done finished, and I'm happy to have completed all my run workouts. Even the long run, which is the most important.

Running over 30 miles in a week has been a challenge. Today, Sunday, is the first day I really feel sore however. Lets hope a good night of sleep fixes that, and the knowledge of only a recovery 3-mile run on Monday, and an off run day on Tuesday is great news.

I still wouldn't consider it an Iron-run Week. But its a great start.

I managed to have a decent swim week as well. 6k yards of swimming in days of yore would have been awesome, but with Iron training comes a unique perspective...and I'm a few yards shy of what will be soon be an Iron-swim week. I'm going to gradually increase the swim yardage weekly over the next 2 months, with an emphasis on volume and a goal of dropping my 500 meter set to below 11 min consistently. I'm swimming 11:30's now, so that is a feasible short term swim goal. One bite at a time.

The focus is on the run for the next 11 weeks, so the bike will take a back seat. Doesn't mean I'm not riding...just means a decrease in volume but an increase in frequency and intensity. I'm thinking hill repeats, fartleks and intervals, working on building strength. My little 20-miler marked the first time I rode in a month. It was good to be back in the saddle, even if there were a bunch of objections from various body parts.

Another similar, but marginally better week will be very cool. 3 quality weeks of training in a row...wow, that's something to really look forward to! Now I just need to find the time to get back in the dang-gum Metal Room...



Oh, and the weight...Sunday it was 249.

edit: Good swim on Monday...one out of three 500's was at 11:00....

All about the bike...

We all know that in Ironman, it's all about the bike.

Interesting...Coeur d'Alene's bike course is anywhere from 6,600 ft of climbing to 8,800 ft of climbing (and just as much descending) from the different sources I've come up with (Motionbased Garmin reads...funny how the same course can come up with such varying Garmin data...). It would be nice if it's "only" 6.6k, but lets just use 8,000 ft of climbing as our assumption.

Now, lets assume that there is just as much descending as there is climbing. So, if that were true, then for 56 miles you are climbing and 56 you are descending. 56 miles, climbing 8,000 ft makes the average slope 2.7%. I've used this power calculator to figure out what kind of watts are required for different speeds and different weights. Check it out:

Now I don't have a power meter, so what does this mean in numbers I can understand? Well, I did the calculations with weight and power on flat roads, so that I could use my speedometer to get a gauge of my watts - after all, most of my training is on flat roads. So that's the last number on the chart. As this winter progresses, and I get my bike mileage in, I can gauge my expectations at CdA based on flatland speeds and the weight I lose.

Take the Florida Challenge as a real world example - at the bottom of the chart. 2700 feet of elevation in 58 miles where I weighed 250 lbs and I had an average speed of 18.1 mph - the average slope was 1.76%, to do it, required 212 watts on average. It's fairly accurate, 'cause I know I can ride fairly hard on a flat course at 20.5 mph for 60 miles.

So, 2 things have to happen - of course...first I need to be able to push more watts, which I'll be able to do, but to save some for a marathon, I think staying in that 210 watt range will be appropriate. In training, however, I'd like to get my century rides up there in the 21 mph average speed range. Second, again obviously, I need to lose weight. Look at the difference between a 170lb person on the hilly course and a 230lb person. Pushing the same watts, the 170lb'er gets done with the bike an HOUR earlier. That's huge. 230lbs would be my minimum weight goal...220lbs would be "OMG" outstanding.

Does all this math sound logical to you "Watt Hounds" out there?