Gettin' in Shape

3 hour ride on the trainer, finishing with a 164 watt average.  One of the things keeping me entertained were the past Ironman races that were being shown on Universal Sports.  All day Friday they showed the 2001 through 2009 Kona Ironman World Championships.

My brother Larry that's also doing the St George Ironman went down and rode one loop of the course for his ride.  On the two steepest hills he had to go down to his smallest 30 tooth ring on the front (he has three rings on the crank) and largest 27 tooth ring on the back.  On the third toughest hill (the Veyo hill in the St George marathon) he was on the front 30 ring and back 24 tooth ring.  This tells me I'm going to need to change the gearing on my bike.  Currently my smallest front ring is a 39 and largest casette ring is a 25.  

The three toughest hills on the course are: a short 300 - 400 foot long hill at 18 - 20% grade, a .8 mile long hill with 8 - 13% mixed grades, and a .5 mile long hill with 7 - 9.5% grades.

I got on some blogs of people doing the St George Ironman and some of them are leaving their gearing the same, some are changing the rear casette to a 12-28 or 12-27, and some are changing to a compact crank as well as changing the rear casette.  I'm thinking of changing the casette and riding the course to see how it feels.

1 hour 30 minute run on the treadmill alternaing between 1.0 and 1.5% incline, finishing with a 8:34 min/mi average.

The swim was a long base interval of 1900 meters with a warm up and cool down of 300 and 200 meters. 

Week 8 of training, this week is a recovery week so the distances are a little lighter.  7:41 min/mi average for the run.  This is a little quicker than usual.  I think from missing yesterday and a couple of training days last week I was feeling better and getting after it a little more.  Drill sets, a base interval, and sprints for the swim.

Just a short recovery ride.

A short easy pace recovery run.  In the pool I had drill sets, fartlek intervals, and speed intervals.  I'm not sure why but the training guide seems to be using more swimming speed intervals in this training than in the 70.3 training.  

2.5 hour ride for today.  I rode one of the courses on the computrainer, a few hills but mostly flat.  Average watts: 173

Every other week we have a long ride on the weekend.  Starting next week, my brother that's also training for the STG Ironman and I are going to try and run down to St George so we can get these long rides in by riding the actual course.  It will get us off the trainers and on the road as well as get us familar with the course.

1800 meter base interval for the swim with a warm up and cool down.  Also for today was a bike/run brick consisting of an hour bike immediately followed by a 30 minute run.  For some reason the transition to the run felt better than past bike/run bricks and I got up to speed quicker than usual.

44 minute run with 8 x 1 minute hill/sprint intervals at 4% incline and 9mph.  

Drill sets,  base interval, sprint intervals, and kick sets for the swim. 

Foundation run for today.  I finished with 8:06 min/mi average.

Drill sets, fartlek, and speed intervals in the pool. 

I finally got the STG Ironman course the other day and got it downloaded on the computer. For the ride, after warming up on the trainer for 10 minutes, I rode the first 33 miles of the STG Ironman course.  I pulled an average of 191 watts with an average speed of 18 mph.  I think being able to ride the course on the trainer is going to be a big help in preparing for the race.

A little slower pace for the run averaging 8:34 min/mi.  I think I pushed a little too hard on the bike yesterday and I wanted to take it a little easier today so my legs are ready for a long ride in St George tomorrow.

For the swim I had my first 2 mile time trial.  The training schedule only called for 2800 meters but I push that out to 3200 just to see what I could do it in.  I wanted to finish at or under 60 minutes and ended up coming in at 58 minutes.  I was surprized to come in 2 min under 60 min.  My fastest mile swim is 27:30 so I was excited about the 58 min time for 2 miles.

Two of my brothers and I went down to St George to ride the Ironman bike course. We started in Washington, followed the course into St George, rode the loop, and finished at the intersection of Tabernacle and Main street where the bike to run transition will be located. It was nice weather and was good to get out on the road. We got a little cold after the Veyo hill with the sun lower in the sky and higher speeds of all the down hill coming into St George. My neck also got quite sore. I guess while on the trainer I'm not spending enough time holding my head up in the proper position.

We rode a total of 56 miles finishing with a 16.4 mph average. It felt like we we're a little slow through some sections. My brother still doesn't have a tri bike and I coasted down most of the hills and still matched his pace.

As for the three big hills, their rideable with a 39/53 crank and 11/28 cassette. On the first short steep one I was on the 39 and 28 rings and was out of the saddle the whole way up. For the second big hill I was on the same 39 and 28 rings and stayed down for the first half of the hill but then had to get out of the saddle for the last half of the hill. On the last hill (Veyo) I was on the 39 and 25 rings for the first third of the hill then the 39 and 28 rings for the rest of the hill and was down in the saddle the whole way up.

The first two hills really took it out of me and it took some time to recover after reaching the top. On the Veyo hill I felt good all the way up and my legs were in good shape and ready to go after reaching the top. I think the course is doable with this set up and for now I'm going to hold off on getting a compact crank. I did finally get the STG Ironman interactive course for my Computrainer and have riden the first 33 miles. I need to ride the first two big hills and see what wattage I'm pushing to get up them. Also, I need to ride two loops of the course and see how my legs feel the second time through the hills. After that I should know if the current set up will work.

44 minute run with 8 x 1 minute hill repeats at 4.5% incline and 8.8 mph, 2 minute recovery in between.  For the swim, more drill sets and speed intervals.  The speed intervals were 10 x 50 meters at sprint pace.  The 8th, 9th, and 10th intervals were tough.

Today I rode the hilly section of the stg Ironman course on the trainer.  With the new 11-28 cassette the two steepest hills are rideable but get so steep my cadence slows down to 67-75 rpm, at which point I have to get out of the saddle and stand up.  My wattage at the slower cadance and standing up is in the 210-235 range.  I think these two step hills are rideable without having to go to a compact crank, which is the direction I'm looking at going right now.  (Even though, I'd love to have a compact with the 36/52 ring setup, but I'm going to hold off on spending more money on the bike right now.)

Brick workout 1.5 hours on the bike trainer and a 30 minute run.

50 minute run.

2200 meter base interval for the swim with warm up and cool down. 

Riding the St George course on the trainer.  8 x 1 minute sprint intervals mixed in.

45 minutes on the treadmill with 8 x 1 minute sprint hill repeats.

Drill set, base interval, sprint intervals, and kick sets for the swim. 

1.5 hours on the trainer riding the Kona course.

45 minute run with 6 x 20 second sprints at the end.

Drill sets, fartlek intervals, sprint intervals, and kick sets for the swim.

4 hours 10 minutes on the trainer riding the St George course.  I finished with a 16.8 mph average.  On the actual course my average speed would be a little higher because the trainer can't fully simulate the down hill sections.  When riding the course a few weeks ago I got up to 40 mph on a couple of the hills.  On the trainer I can only get to 32 - 33 mph on the same hills.

1.7 mile time trial for the swim, I completed it in 47:26.

2 hour run on the treadmill at 1.5% incline.  I finished with 14.25 miles, a 7.1 min/mi average.

This week is a recovery week.  

For today a one hour ride with 8 x 1 minute sprint intervals.

Drill sets, a base interval, and sprints for the swim.  

38 minute run with 6 x 1 minute hill repeats at sprint pace.

Swim and recovery run with sprints at the end.

Short 20 minute recovery ride prior to Saturday's race or simulated race.

Time to get caught up on the blog.  With work, family, and training I have a hard time blogging the daily workouts.  

For Saturday an Olympic Tri race was scheduled, but because there wasn't one available my trianing guide had an alternate for the swim, bike, and run.  After swimming at the pool in the morning I ran home for the bike and run.  For the bike I rode the trainer for 1.5 hours. For the run was 45 minutes on the tread mill.

Fun stuff scheduled for this coming week.  I'm heading to St George on Thursday for the winter tri camp being held down there over the weekend.  I'm looking forward to hearing from others that know their stuff about Tri training.  I'm a little anxious about the tough training schedule they have planned.  It's going to be good.

Update on my brother who's also in the STG Ironman.  He finally got a tri bike and on the maiden voage today he got about 6 miles before blowing out the rear tire when crossing a railroad track.  What a bummer.

For today an hour and fifteen minutes on the bike trainer riding the Kona course.

Today was the first day at the winter tri camp in St George.  Most days started with swimming beginning at 6 a.m. and then moved on to biking followed by running. 

Todays swim consisted of a warm up, kick sets, a 2000 yard time trial, and then cool down.  Wes, the swim coach, push us hard on the time trial so we could get a good 100 yard split time which was used for training on the following two days of swimming.

At 10 a.m. we meet and went on the first ride of the camp.  For the 56 mile ride we rode from the hotel to the Ironman course and rode it along Red Cliff connecting at Bluff, through one loop, and then back Red Cliff to the hotel.

For the Run we meet up at around 4:45 p.m. and did a 45 minute trail run.  Rachel, one of the coaches, grew up in St. George and knows a lot of the trails.  Prior to the run Aaron, the running coach, took us through some stretching and warm-up drills.  It was fun to get off the road and run out through the red rocks and hills.  After the run I was feeling pretty sore and wore out from the days activities.

We finished the day off back at the hotel with Rachel taking us through a yoga stretching routine.  I was suprised how much better I felt after the stretching, still sore but better.

Up at 5:35 a.m. to get to the pool, muscles still sore and feeling yesterday's training.  Today for the swim Wes had us doing 100 yd speed intervals followed by 50 yd speed intervals.  The interval time was calculated using our 100 yd split time from yesterday.  He worked us hard, at the end of the speed intervals I was completely wore out.

The rest of today's work out was a bike/run/bike/run brick combination.  We started at Veyo on the bike and rode the loop back to Veyo, 43 miles.  This was followed by an hour run doing an out and back from Veyo.  I was feeling really worn out so I cut the run short only getting in 4.25 miles.  Next was an hour and fifteen minute ride following the loop back to the far southwest side of St George, 23 miles.  This ride was followed by another hour run, which I did get the full hour in finishing with 6 miles.  Killer pace right!!!!  That's all I could do.

Wes suggested we do a ten minute ice bath on our legs.  I was too sore to go get ice, so I just did a cold bath.  It did help my legs feel a little better.

No swim today.  It was nice sleeping in.  We started at 9:30 a.m. this morning out in the hotel parking lot with a transition clinic.  Barb, nutrition and motovational coach, had a transition rack set up and Aaron took us through the process of how to get through transitions smoothly and quickly.  On my next sprint or olympic distance race I'm going to use the transitions techniques and see how much I can shorten my transition times. 

For today's training all we had was a long ride.  The plan was to complete the entire Ironman course.  We started at Sandhollow reservoir at about 10:30 p.m., a little later than planned.  The hills on the ride from Sandhollow into town weren't as bad as I thought they would be.  On the first loop out to Veyo we had a little bit of a head wind but it was nice having the wind to our backs coming from Veyo to St George. 

At the end of the first loop we met up with the pace vehicle to refuel and fill water bottles.  One of the gals was done at that point and while I was helping her load her bike the other three Ironman riders took off.   (We were short on time to get the second loop in and had started drafting taking turns leading.)  From Bluff to the far southwest side of St George, riding on my own, I wasn't able to catch them.  Looking at the clock I didn't have time to get the second loop in so I rode from there back to the parking lot at Sandhollow reservoir.  I got back to Sandhollow just after the sun had gone down finishing with 102 miles.  I was a little bummed out I didn't get to ride the second loop of the course and get the full 112 miles.

I messed up the entry for today and put yesterday's ride in for today.  That's now fixed.  Today was the last day of the training camp with a ride and run scheduled.

We started the day with a short and relatively easy ride.  We went from Tabernacle and Main St out to Tuacon and back.  With sore legs it was nice not pushing the pace too much.

The last event of the training camp was a 2 hour run following the Ironman out and back route.  We started at 11:30 a.m. at Tabernacle and Main St.  Starting with worn out legs I set out at a 9:40 min/mi pace.  The climb out of town and up onto the top of Snow Canyon Pkwy/Skyline Drive wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  For some reason at the state park loop (about mile 5) I hit the wall.  From there on out it was a struggle.  After reaching the turnaround at 1000 East I had a hard time on the up hill sections back across Skyline Drive.  Through the rest of the run it felt like 90 degree weather even though it was only in the high 60 and low 70s.  I carried a water bottle the last 4 miles to keep my hat and head wet as well as for drinking.  It was a good feeling to get back to the vehicles at Tabernacle and Main St knowing we were done with the training camp.  Before leaving town I went back to the hotel and cleaned up.  I also got an ice bath in which made a big difference and got my legs feeling a little better.

As for the camp, I loved it.  It was a blast getting out and meeting new people.  The coaches, training, and other participants we're great.  I enjoyed working with all of them.  I need to thank Brent for introducing me to Di from the Desert Sharks Tri Club, and a thanks to Di for telling me about the tri camp.

I've had a long break since training last.  After the training camp I took a couple of days off as instructed by the tri camp coaches then I got sick the remainder of the week.  As for this week I had a hard time getting motovated to get back into the training.

It was nice to get back in the pool and the swim felt good.  As for the run, I was supposed to go twice the distance but had a pain through the center of my arch on my left foot so I cut it short.  I'm a little worried about what's causing the pain.  I first felt it a coule of weeks ago at the training camp on the second Saturday run and then again on the final run we did on the last day of the camp. 

A little longer ride for today, I got outside and enjoyed the weather.  I't was a little cold on the back side of West mountain.  There was a slight breeze coming from the west bringing cooler air from off the ice.

Shorter run on the treadmill today with 3 x 3min VO2 max intervals in the middle.  No pain in my foot.  I'm now running in a new pair of shoes.  I hope that helps.

In the pool I had a base interval and threashold intervals.  Since the training camp I've been concentrating on having better rotation when my left arm is out of the water and also counting strokes to try and lengthen my stroke out further.  Both of these were items Wes the swimming tri camp coach pointed out as areas I can work on.

Riding inside on the bike trainer.

My foot is still feeling good, no pains in todays run.  The swim was a long base interval which went well.