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| My home away from home while in my home. |
As of the 18th of April, 420mi have already been logged in the saddle this month. Including a painful 106mi ride on the Ironman Texas course fighting 20-30mph headwinds for the last 50miles. The majority of these miles have been done on the Computrainer on extremely hilly courses and with two weekends remaining this month my total volume should be close to 750mi.
Why so much?
Because the elevation profile for Ironman Mont-Tremblant puts the fear of God in me:
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| Image pirated from Kevin |
The above course is only 56mi so this means it will be done TWICE!
Now this does not mean that I am ignoring swimming and running. Not at all.
I am averaging about 9K per week in pool. My swim fitness and times are getting better each time I hit the pool and am confident I will be back to my mediocre self in the next couple of weeks. I'd like to add some more volume but have been adding an extra bike each week at the expense of a swim workout.
As for running, my fitness has declined compared to where it was during marathon training two months ago. This is to be expected as average weekly volume for an 18-week period was over 60mi per week and have dropped to around 25mi per week. The weird thing is that my running speed has seemed to stay pretty consistent ass I have had a couple bust as runs with some buddies and my pace was consistent with pre-marathon pacing?
So, do you think I am right to be frightened by the IMMT bike profile?
Thanks for Reading,
Jeff
Yeah, those 12%ers seem to go on and on!
ReplyDeleteI am putting a small motor on my bike. The course will now fear ME!
ReplyDelete"my home away from home, while in my home"
ReplyDeleteFreaking. Loved. That!!
haha! Glad you enjoyed - it is the only way to describe it!
DeleteAs long as you find some hills (read: parking garages) in TX, no fear man. Really only need about 2 months of 1 hilly ride/week I have found to really find some mountain goat legs.
ReplyDeleteGreat volume! Damn, I am about half of that on all terms haha. Running very minimally, 2 times a week. Not feeling the run this year at all... so sad.
Keep up the awesome work man, great riding numbers!
I have been running in the parking garages too. We did a 9mi run last week that included 11 repeats to the top of the parking garage. It was awful. It is .25mi from top to bottom and a gain of around 100ft.
DeleteYeah man I agree with Matt, the volume is totally cool but you need to find some hills. An open invitation to have a training camp out my way will always remain open. I've got some good terrain for you.
ReplyDeleteNeed to find hills to ride, at least once a week. Or a hill and repeat it 10-15 times.
ReplyDeleteI know what bike motor Jon is talking about too!! HA!
You will be fine at the race
I found a place about 45mi North that is brutal. It is along Lake Livingston and is pretty decent roads. Some solid 10%'ers that just crush you - we do repeats. And the Computrainer is made for this - I did a 14.6mi ride last week that was 2100ft of climbing.
DeleteGood work, Jeff! You are really cranking it out! Maybe you could rent a chalet in Austria for a month or bunk up with Lance to get some hills in. That would get you prepared for IMMT!
ReplyDeleteI have a ComputTrainer and while it is awesome for intervals and tempo/endurance, I've always found it a bit lacking for hill training. I would agree would Matty and Patrick. Get outside and ride hills. Matty is correct about the parking garages. They usually have some short, steep climbs and most of the hills on that profile look like short/steep climbs, so that is what you need to work on to get some "oomph" into your legs.
ReplyDeleteYou're an animal Jeff. That course looks like I'd need someone to throw down a rope to scale it. Any chance you can take a weekend vacation to Texas Hill country to torture yourself, but at least with some scenery?
ReplyDeleteBTW- I'm sure it was a typo, but found the phrase "pretty consistent ass" to be quite true. Keep at it and see you in a few weeks! :)
That is a typo that is not getting changed.
DeleteWe are planning a trip up to the hill country. In May my cousin is graduating from HS and all the family is coming down - they live in Bastrop so I am planning on an early morning killing myself in the Bastrop State Park.
I am beginning to think that running fast is a mental barrier. Once broken (by doing Fitz), it hangs around for a long time. My first mile repeat last night was 6:05 and I didn't even feel like I was pushing 100% (maybe 85-90%). With the minimal running we are doing, I have just been focusing on quality runs. I'm basically thinking about the structure of a Fitz week (one long steady run, one speed workout, the rest was medium speed/recovery) and doing the long steady run, the speed workout, and a medium speed run (usually on brick day).
ReplyDeleteThat said, I really have no ambition to race a running race for some reason. I have an opportunity to do a 10 miler this weekend for cheap and I am probably just going to pass because my heart wouldn't be into going fast.
As for my swim, my speed isn't really improving anymore but I can hold it longer. I'm happier being able to do 6x100 at sub-1:30 at the end of a 4500yd set than being able to go 6x100 at 1:20 at the beginning. The 100 mile challenge my pool is doing is keeping me motivated. I am in 2nd place still (just barely though after missing some swims for Woodlands), but I think I'll hit 100 miles for the year by mid May.
Oh, and I think I found some great hill training finally. They aren't anything as long and steady as the IMMT hills appear to be, but I can do lots of repeats on them b/c it is low traffic. Leg muscle is leg muscle right?
Keep at it!
Thinking you hit the nail on the head about running fast. Once you do it for a race then it is much easier to keep dropping the pace in training. That garmin on our wrist could be a de-motivator for running fast.
DeleteDude that is some solid swim times - hope I have enough to even attempt to stick on your feet (-:
Freak on buddy..
ReplyDeleteFirst loop will be cool
The second... not so much
You will be ready come race day if you....
KEEP THE FREAK!!
That is AWESOME! First, the mileage you are racking up is crazy and second those downhills will be wicked fast! At IM Branson (very hilly) I hit 51 mph on one of the downhills! and that is scary fast on a bike!
ReplyDeleteYou and me both- I'm scared to death of that profile!
ReplyDeleteWE have a steeeeep hill nearby and the sign at the top for the trucks says 9% grade. It takes all my strength to get up that thing so I do not understand how the profile can say 12%. ACtually I do not believe it can be 12%, cuz it seems 9% would make most have to walk up the hill. The only thing I hope for here is that 'grades' are measured differntly or means something other than what is on the signs. The sign says 9% up top but maybe some sections are more than 9 and the signs only list the average? Or the elevation profile is lieing. I kid you not, 9% makes me almost have to walk up. I'm in canada so maybe the signs lie up here haha!
I seriuosly fear for my life on this one lol. I friggin' died out on the IMLP course and IMMT looks harder in my opinion.
Thinking lap 1 will be good but when we got to hit that 12% towards the end of lap 2 - now that is going to be walk-the-bike-up-the-hill territory!
Deletehey jeff
ReplyDeletethe bike course for IMMT has been changed. the monster hill was removed but another (not quite so huge) was added. check on slowtwitch for more details. Derek Dean aka "a Couple of hounds blog" knows the area very well and wrote about it. i'm doing a training camp in mid june and will let you know. it ain't going to be easy
love your ride!
ReplyDeletesolid saddle time
and if you are frightened you could always do IMSG as there are slots open?!
D
There are so many of us who would like to be at your "declined" running fitness right now. Yeah, the elevation profile is scary and to think about doing it twice... oye ve! Good luck with you increased bike training volume.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I haven't been to your blog in about 100 years! Sorry about that.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow--the bike's where it's at for IM, in my opinion. I think you're making the right move, especially when you see that profile. You'll be ready, I have no doubt!
I wonder about that myself sometimes. I'll train religiously but then be forced to take time off due to injury and sickness and then I'll head back out and have an amazing run with a great pace.
ReplyDeleteYou've got this!
I wonder about that myself sometimes. I'll train religiously but then be forced to take time off due to injury and sickness and then I'll head back out and have an amazing run with a great pace.
ReplyDeleteYou've got this!
I am scared too. Like, totally freaked out! If it makes you feel any better, I just got home from work (8:15pm, left at 5:30am) and need to go for a 45 min run. I am thinking of running to the couch instead.
ReplyDeleteOh, and notice I am reading your blog instead of running. I am already on the couch.
ReplyDeleteWould scare the crap out of me too! Nice work. You're gonna kill the Mont! :)
ReplyDeleteI want to be you when I grow up in my triathlon life. 1:28s......without much swim fitness.....haha! Dude I hit that number ONCE this entire training session.
ReplyDeleteI think I am putting IMMT on the list of NEVER WILL RACE: IMBS is the other one.
Show pics of the sword dude because you are going to slice and dice that course.