Weekly Brush up and Joyuda RR (05/09/11-05/15/11)

This was the end of short 6 week block building towards the Joyuda triathlon. This race features a 1.8k swim , a 65k hilly bike ride and a challenging semi hilly 16k run. I had several goals for this race even though I was on short prep coming to it. I wanted to improve my overall time, cycle under 2hrs 5min, test out my improved race nutrition plan and avoid walking as much as possible.

Getting to the race was a cool adventure getting there at 8pm on the night before the race and preparing for a 5.45 gun off. Race morning was uneventful with my usual P&J sandwich breakfast and away to transition area at 4.30. I set up my spot pretty quickly and I was ready to go with 5min before the start.

I’ve experience cramping early on in the swimming before on longer races from going out too fast and I wanted to improve on that. This time I didn’t swim SO easy as I did at SJ70.3 and decided to settle into a controllable but hard effort and try staying on some dudes feet for the majority of the swim. Around the first buoy I got gapped and decided to maintain my own pacing focusing on taking a good navigation line and not sighting too  much.  At the last turn buoy I was with 4 other guys and decided to just swim the remaining part with them. So with no cramps and with good company out of the water I was in about 10th position, So far so good.

T1 went smooth and I was on my bike before the other guys.

I always feel like the bike is my strongest discipline because I work hard at been as aero and efficient as possible. My plan going into the race was to be a little bit more aggressive than the half ironman and stay at mid zone 3 by hrt. Unfortunately my monitor got crossed or something and just didn’t work correctly giving me all sorts of readings from 50bpm to 225. So on RPE I was and not confident at all. I always feel like I don’t know my body and can’t gauge my efforts at all. If I was going too slow or too fast I just don’t know, all I know is that some 10 dudes got to me and passed me during that time. One thing I am REALLY happy with is my head position. I made it a statement to correct my posture while aero and apparently I did.  My other concern was my nutrition plan. After analyzing all kind of data from past long course races I knew I wasn’t consuming enough and not replenishing my electrolytes during the cycle which could help a little bit with the cramping. I make the changes and ended up with a good outcome and not much of GI issues. Bike was finished and my goal of sub 2.05 was not reached, ending up with a 2.09. (18.5mph avg)

T2 was a normal one with me just taking it a bit more easier giving myself time to settle in and reduce cramping by stressing too much.

Starting the run my hamstring started acting up quickly and I thought Ohh No! This is the end of the race for me, cramping again. I decided to take a quick walk and about 1min later I was feeling ok and running according to goal pace. Another negative aspect I had affecting me technically was that no matter how slower I tried running my Heart Rate was simply not going down. Goal was to stay under 166bpm and I never go under 1.70. Mile kept going through and I was ecstatic realizing that I was RUNNING not much walking any more . Four miles completed and I am in the low 9’s per mile pace. I took it easy on the aid stations and the 4-6 mile hilly stretch and kept the cramping under controlled. Again I was getting passed my some more mature runners but I was feeling ok and running as fast as I could and was prepared for. My longest run week in this block was 28 so I couldn’t ask for more. Approaching the last mile and running it on 9.36 was just the icing on the cake on a very GOOD day consider it all. In the end new personal best for me at this race 4hrs 22min, 6 minutes faster than 2009.

It’s obvious that I am making some good strides towards greater improvement and that amuses me. I  finally know what kind of training I have to do for my body to respond and how to pace myself in each event. To get to the next level I will have to increase weekly volume to at least 11-12hrs weekly including longer bike rides in the trainer going from 1.2hrs –>2hrs, hitting swim sessions greater than 3km and running 30-35 miles per week. After I make those changes then the competition can finally be crushed!!!

Swimming:[2hrs 22min (6650mts)]

Cycling: [3hrs 59min (65km + trainer time)]

Running: [3hrs 52min (39.3km0]

Totals: 10hrs 13min [includes triathlon]

Weekly Brush-up (5/2/11- 5/8/11)

Swimming: [3hrs 3min (8.300mts)]

Cycling: [3hrs 10min (trainer only)]

Running: [4hrs 20min (43.5km)]

Totals: 10hrs 33min

Notes: I will keep this short as this post is mainly just for my own record. YEAH NO READERS AT ALL!  Target for this week was to hit 11hrs of trainer overall, I was short on that mainly because I did not ride outside. As a matter of fact I’ve ridden outside only 3 times since the half ironman which is not pleasant to think about. On the swimming I was ok trying to keep every session over 3k even though I cut them a little short because of lack of motivation.  In terms of running goal was to hit 30miles this week with a long run of 10miles. I did finished that 10 miles but failed to hit 30 total miles for the week mainly because I slept in and other mother’s day activities. Finished with 27 miles. This was final week of preparation for Joyuda for which I am not even pumped up to the fullest but will try to have fun and beat as many people as I can.

Weekly Brush-up and Roselyn Sanchez triathlon for life race report 4/25/11-5/1/11)

Swimming: 4x [3hrs 42min (9500mts)]

Cycling: 3x (3hrs 47min (71km + trainer time)]

Running: 4x [3hrs 53min (31.6km)]

totals:10hrs 40min

Notes: Nothing spectacular as of for week’s numbers regarding volume, consistency or intensity. The real highlight was the run split of my first sprint race for the year. Regarding workouts I am fairly happy with my run track workout on Thursday in which I performed 3x mile repeats into a strong headwind and not slower than 7.40. Into this weekend’s race:

I had my sprint distance race yesterday, It went well! I swam ALL OUT and came out of the water with people which in the past have been known for being much faster swimmers than I. (last week I did 3 workout at 3k each in the pool + the 750mts swim in the race = almost 10k of swimming for the week ;). On the bike man, it was brutal rain and wind gusts, I count at least 5 crashes and know of about 10 others who did too. So I wanted to conserve my teeth and just did a little Sunday ride pace for the remainder of the bike which resulted on getting passed by some folks.
On to the run I thought I was shot but I made it a goal to run under 8min miles for this race as my training and interval workouts suggested me I should. So off I went a little nauseous and weak but running fast. My goal was to run 24.xx so at the first turnaround I took a split on my watch and BAM!!! 12.12 that got me pretty excited and focus on keeping my pace. Boy my HRT was never under 180bpm on that run and I fight with myself like NEVER before, I was thinking I was Javier Gomez during one of those ITU cups and it worked!!! To the finish line and BAM 24.30 on my watch, sprint run PB by almost 1 full minute. like a friend told me: even splits (12.12--12.18) = sign of perfect execution!!! Finally I won my WEAK FIELD age group so I am happy even though I believe I have a faster bike split on me. (I used my road bike with no aerobars and it was the first time on it since October 2010 + 2 hours or riding the day before the race = NOT BAD!) Next race is Joyuda in two weeks and that one will definitely hurt.

Weekly Brush-up (4-18-11/4-24-11)

Swimming: 0x , 0hrs, 0mts

Cycling: 4x [5hrs 17min) 57KM]

Mostly indoor trainer with a 57km a hard/fast ride on holy Friday with and average of over 29km/hr. There was also a brick workout on sunday with a short transition run after a varied interval workout on the trainer, linsey corbin style.

Running: 5x [4hrs 27min) 44.1km]

Similar to pasts weeks, consistency was the focus. This week included a 9mile long run , a 6 mile medium wrong and a key track interval workout of 8 x 400mts. Times were fairly consistent.

totals: 9hrs 44min

*notes: Well for this week I was a duathlete. Mainly because pool was closed due to holy week festivities.  I made a goal on this week to hit 5 bike sessions and 5 run sessions.  I ended up with 4 bikes and 5 runs which is not bad. Every session went ok with the exception of Tueday’s long run. I don’t know what is it about Tuesdays but I always seem to have a bad training day for a reason that is completely unknown for me. Overall happy with the week as I HTFU and got the job done. Could have hustle a little bit more and add a couple of open water swim workouts but again with no partners and a severe case of open water phobia it was a NO- NO.

Weekly Brush up. (04-11-11/4-17-11)

Swimming: 2x [6000mts 2hrs 17min]

Only 2 sessions here, good thing they were both 3000mts long and there were some quality sets in there nothing strenuous but good quality overall. I definitely look forward to improve on my swimming since I think and many people also, that I have decent technique but need more strengths to get into the next level.

cycling: 2x [ 2hrs 53min 50km]

A couple of quality sessions not a big deal. Finally got on the road on Sunday and performed a 20k TT. I was a little discouraged by the time and speed average. I considered myself an above average cyclist but now I’m sure I am a MOP’er.

Running: 3x {2hrs 55min 29.8km]

No consistency here whatsoever but a lot of quality and I am REALLY REALLY happy on how my paces are progressing even with minimal work done. I finally feel like I am out of the slump again and running a little bit more instead of shuffling around at 10min x mile pace. My goal here is to run 30-35 for the remaining 4 weeks before race.

Totals: 8hrs 26min

*Notes: This week was just another one with good quality sessions but just not a lot of volume or consistency. Sad thing is, those 2 things are what keep me improving. I have a HARD race coming 4 weeks from now and I will pay the price there. Motivation is not there or here to be exact. I need a training partner, maybe a coach or simply someone to push me to my limits. I’ve made a mental commitment with myself to work intelligently hard this next 4 weeks and see what happens. As of for now I haven’t been on the road since the 70.3 event and my bike fitness which I erroneously considered my forte in triathlon- has suffered. The swim is still there and running is improving SLOwly. Now I know where to put the work up.

Weekly Brush-up (3-22-11/4-3-11) (4-4-11/4-10-11)

I will write this post even though I got 0 followers but  instead I plan on using it for future reference.

SWIMMING:  1hrs 57min(5300mts) ///////////2hrs 03min 5300mts

CYCLING:  (45min)//////////////////2hrs 30min (mostly trainer)

RUNNING: (2hrs 49min 29.1km)///////////// 3hrs 35min 37.5km

CORE": 80min

Totals: (6hrs 22min)                                                    (8hrs 38min)

Notes: Just getting back into things. I have been looking into every detail I could fix about my training and decided to make a priority out of core work and overall strength using weights.  Right now the limiting factor for me is motivation. It has been tough getting out of bed and out the door to do just about anything.  Another decision made was to make my bike training strictly indoors, no more road other than races of when I REALLY want to do a TT effort or test out equipment.  People out on the streets are just crazy and they couldn’t care less about when on a skinny ass bike to the right of the road. A recent accident to a training partner put the final nail into the issue. Another limiting factor is that even though people said “training is free” it really isn’t. I cannot swim for free in the pool, I have to pay parking to go running, I have to constantly gas car to go to safe training environment, let aside nutrition, equipment, race fees, etc. 

I’ve put down a couple of really good race practices so far and feel happy about the opportunity of going hard without paying to do so. An aquathlon practice proved that I am swimming faster than ever before and can beat people out of the water who used to beat the crap out of me.  I have been able to constantly run sub 8.45 miles off from hard swims and bikes. Today I was totally trashed after my duathlon effort and managed to run 2x miles at 8min pace after .  All considered I should have a good race if I decide to race the Roselyn Sanchez tri for life sprint distance. I have a couple of more weeks to put down some speed work and see what pops out. I did a track set of 8x400mts and find myself running about 7min miles avg pace for them which I liked.

I believe I have to achieve a couple of stepping stones in order to be competitive in my local races and age group. Get standalone 5k time closer to 22min. Swim under 13min for a 750mts race, currently at 13.30aprox. Should also get stronger overall and improve on nutrition. My next race will be may 15th and I don’t have a clear goal at the moment.

I’ll be back later with some notes on my tweaked nutrition plan.

San Juan 70.3 Race-Report / March 19th-2011

Official Results:

Swim: 38.25 (2.01 X 100mts)

T1: 4.32

Bike: total= 2.53:14 avg speed 19.4mph

BIKE SPLIT 1 - 20.8 mi
20.8 mi. (56:59)
21.90 mph

BIKE SPLIT 2 - 37.2 mi
16.4 mi. (51:04)
19.27 mph

BIKE SPLIT 3 - 56 mi
18.8 mi. (1:05:11)
17.31 mph

T2: 3.12

Run: total: 2.34:00 avg pace 11.45/mile

RUN SPLIT 1 - 3.45 mi
3.45 mi. (32:55)
9:32/mile

RUN SPLIT 2 - 6.52 mi
3.07 mi. (35:21)
11:30/mile

RUN SPLIT 3 - 9.65 mi
3.13 mi. (38:36)
12:19/mile

RUN SPLIT 4 - 13.1 mi
3.45 mi. (47:08)
13:39/mile

TOTAL RUN
13.1 mi. (2:34:00)
11:45/mile

TOTAL TIME 6 HRS 13 MIN division:30 out of 50

My data: Cateye ciclo computer

time 2.58.54 includes un-racking and racking with runs in transition

distance 89.89km

avg. 30.2km/hr

Polar Heart Rate ciclo-computer

time: 2hrs 51min 46 sec

distance: 55.1miles

avg. speed 19.2mph

avg.heart rate 159bpm

avg. cadence 91 rpm

Run data:Timex Ironman watch

mile1 =9.31

mile2= 9.27

mile3= 9.37

mile 4= 10.04

mile 5 to 1rst lap turnaround= 29.31

1rst lap turnaround to mile 7= 5.56

mile8= 10.31

mile 9 to mile 10= 26.19

mile11= 12.20

mile12= 13.36

mile 13+.1= 17.01

Race day Nutrition: Race weight was aprox. 150lbs

-peanut butter sandwich = 300cal

-20onz powerade = 150cal

-2x apple sauce = 200cal

-1x PowerGel before swim start = 110cal

BIKE:

20oz EFS = 192 cal

aprox. 40onz water

1/4 banana

EFS Liquid Shot = 400cal

total: 600cal aprox = 200 cal/hr

RUN:

-gatorade and water as needed

-a couple of zips of PowerGel

-5x cliff shot blocks orange

Report:

Well it’s 48 hours after the first IM 70.3 San Juan and I can barely walk.  My calves are out of service at the moment and moving from one place to another is challenging, even if they are just 3 feet apart. I’ve done a lot of self analysis and came out with some positive feedback on what went wrong and what went good.

After wind milling on my bed for 8 hours I woke up race morning at 4:15am feeling ok. I got everything figured out, had a couple of rounds against my peanut butter sandwich just trying to swallow it and off to transition I was.  If there was anything annoying for me on race day, was the fact of having to be in and out of transition almost 2 hours till my wave start. Lots of nervous minutes, doing nothing but visiting the porta potty.

Preparing my transition area was a breeze, got body marked, sun blocked and away to the swim start. After 2 hours, it was time for me to go. My wave wasn’t that big, maybe 80 people,so I opted for a place to the right of the pack and very tight to the buoys.  The first meters were kind of rough, I was trying to decide on which feet to stay and draft and got kicked and swam over a couple of times.  I really felt with tired arms after the first 500mts but I decided to stay calm and focus on a easy effort. That was my goal coming into this race to utilize as little energy as possible on the swim but stay under 40min for it.  The rest was more of the same until 300 mts to go where the currents and choppy water shakes us around and little bit and make it difficult to fallow some feet and sight to transition.  At the ramp, out of the water, 38min, no cramps and I was happy.

It was a long transition to the bikes, probably 600mts, I took it very easy and made it into the stadium and out in no time.

On the bike I felt awesome, I even performed a flying mount and felt like a pro doing it. Once on the road and aero I quickly find my rhythm and just focused on keeping my hrt low at zone 2 to be precise. It was a lonely way going out of town but I quickly started passing people and before I know it, I was averaging 20mph.  I was just about 11km into my ride when the pros came flying the opposite way to finish their bike, Boy do they look impressive. I even shout Go Macca! directly at him, I can believe I was there on the same course with 2 time defending champion.  I continue to focus on my effort and continue to pass people while been passed a minimum of times. I stay sharp on my nutrition and was feeling very happy as to how good I was riding.  Coming in to the turnaround after the first lap and as the course go a little more solitary came the first real mental test of the day.  Apparently my aerobar pads got socked with water and lost its glue and the pad went flying from my bike. I tried catching it on the fly but couldn’t as I was riding a pacing line with riders on both sides and in front and back. It was kind of confusing at the moment, I had to ride with my skinny, sharp elbow on the bar aluminum and screws of the elbow cups.  It was getting painful by the minute and I had to ride upfront like a big parachute for the remainder of the bike. About 40km to be exact. I was disappointed as I believe my position is one of my weapons of choice on the bike and couldn’t use it as the winds got stronger.  Anyways to the end of bike it was and I was still catching some strugglers. I had a few pinches on my hamstrings which got me thinking Oh no, trouble, but after coming out of the bike and been able to actually jog with my bike I was more than happy.

Into the stadium, socks and shoes on, trying to stay calm taking it easy and off T2 I was.

It’s amazing what can happen when you are well prepared for a race, well sort of. My hamstring start acting up by the first couple of minutes and I had to stop before going up the hill out of transition. I thought this was the end of the race but surprisingly once over it, I started running again and into a nice rhythm while passing people. It was 9.30-9.30-9.30 and before I know it I was a the turnaround. I made a deal with myself of walking the uphills and running everything else. I was doing great and by mile 8 I was on pace for my target run split and a surprising sub 6hrs finish. This is when things got ugly, My calves kept getting tighter and tighter by the minute forcing me to stop, walk, stretch and only manage to run 1-2 minutes at a time. I was loosing time quickly and kept getting passed by those who I passed in the first loop. By mile 11 all I could do was walking and even that was a great challenge. I really tried HARD to shake the cramps out of my calves as I watched the minutes ticking away with my sub 6hrs sleep. At mile 12.5 I succumbed to  the cramps it was just too painful so much that I collapsed right in the middle of the street, unable to stand up or un-cramp my legs. I still find it funny that 3 days from race week I have NO soreness on my quads or hamstrings which are the major muscles working and my calves are juts locked down and out of service.  Another competitor grab me off the floor, helped me stretch and offered to walk with me to the finish line. After I got up I encouraged him to keep on with his race as I walk to the finish line. It’s still hard on the the fact the I couldn’t run down the finish chute and give high 5 to people, I was so looking forward to that feeling. There it was, me and the finish with 6hrs 13min and 23secs on the clock. A 39 min PB shaded by the what if… feeling.

I entered the medical tent as a request from my brother to receive some iv’s in order to aid with recovery, as I tent to recover slowly from hard efforts.  I did and spent 2 hours there just receiving treatment to my UGLY cramps which continue thru ought that time. A couple ml’s of sodium and off the medical tent I was , feeling like I just completed a whole 140.6 mile Ironman.

Going back to the race there is less than a handful number of things I would change. First is to LISTEN to my body and receive the treatment when it stills early. I had the alarm from my calves 2 weeks prior and slept through it.  Again pacing is so important and I certainly over paced for the first 3 miles on the run by 30sec each, which may not seen like much but hunted me in the later miles. 

As per positives there were lots of them. I performed my strategy of energy conserving on the swim and still went under 40minutes and cramp free. My transitions were spot on with no forgotten items or details. On the bike I paced as I planed, staying in zone 2 per my hrt and averaged just under 20mph without optimal position due to a lost aerobar pad.  On the run, well I run for 8 miles which is a victory for me and for the first time I believe I am capable of running a 1/2 marathon off the bike without stopping and do it at a respectable pace. Last but not least …I personal bested!!! Nothing else matters. I improved and did clearly which tells me that I MUST be doing something correct. Big props to everyone in the slowtwitch forum for helping me out and to my main man Eric for believing and supporting me. I’m coming! don’t even look back!!! HTFU and get the job done…