My first injury in years

I have been happy to get through almost six months of training – 13 weeks leading up to the Saskatchewan Marathon and 10 weeks heading towards Ironman Canada – without injury. Now in the 11th hour I have suffered a slight injury to my left biceps femoris or maybe my plantaris. I don’t actually know (Karen told me but I can’t remember the name). It hurts pedaling when I pull through the bottom of my stroke. Not a lot. But it’s definitely a minor injury as opposed to fatigue.

Slightly funny coincidence that one of the members of the Learn to Run Clinic was asking me about a possible injury she has. This is not my area of expertise. In fact, it’s sort of the opposite of my area of expertise. My comment was, “I don’t know. Ask someone smarter than me.” Yes, I know, I’m quite a coach.

Actually, as one gets more experience, it’s easy to tell the difference between “stiff and sore” and “injury.” This is definitely a slight injury. I’m not worried about it in the least but with 19 days until Ironman Canada, the training is done and showing up injury free is by long and away the most important thing.

Taper starts early!


My leg getting electrocuted.

2010 Frank Dunn - The best race I have ever had

.
.
Subtitled -- I'm just never going to be all that fast.


I am very happy and proud of my race today. Swam hard, biked hard, and ran at an average heart rate of 161 beats/minute which was faster than I intended but it was just fine. My perceived effort was low and I was happy to soldier on, no problem.

SWIM – It’s really fun to finally be fast enough that I found myself among other swimmers the whole way. Every other triathlon I have done I have been so far in the back that I have to sight A LOT. When you are in the crown it's much more relaxing. I feel certain that the swim course was long this year by 100 to 200 meters. It was ideal conditions and when I compare other swimmer year over year the times were slow. The consensus last year was that the distance was right. So, I am going to assume it was 1650 meters. This gives me a pace of 2:13/100 meters which feels about right and is a little faster than I hope to swim at Ironman. It was certainly the longest in the three years that I have done it. Swam the whole way – no pausing. Felt great. I even beat Raj out of the water which I have never come close to before. He crushed me on the bike, though, before handing off to Bret who annihilated me on the run.

BIKE – My heart rate started high (162) and it stayed high for the first 50 minutes. About the start of the second lap I started to notice some serious soreness creeping into my quads. I made a concerted effort to bring my heart rate down to about 150 beats/minute and this helped. My second lap was 1 km/hour slower than my first lap. I still went pretty hard but I think I needed to knock it back a little bit. Nutrition plan was awesome. I ate about 460 calories of Genki Bars, Gu Chomps, and dried fruit in two hours. I felt well hydrated at the start of the run. On each lap I used the water from the aid station to soak myself down. This helped too, I think.

RUN – The heart rate graph shows some serious heart rate creep. I note that my first half was at a pace of 5:39/km with an average heart rate of 158/min. The second half was 5:37/km with an average heart rate of 164/km. I soaked myself down every chance I got. Will heart rate creep be less pronounced at the slower pace of the Ironman Marathon?



LESSONS LEARNED –

(1)    It’s HARD to go slow. I need to REALLY focus on this at Ironman. I really think I need to keep my heart rate around 140/minute for the bike portion and then sub 150 for the first 30 km of the run or risk blowing up.
(2)    Do NOT forget Nip Guards for the run or the bike at Ironman. As soon as I started to run I thought “oh oh” and well, it’s not pretty.
(3)    Drafting in the lake is hard. I tried it a little bit but I found it to be mentally taxing. I think I am better off to just swim in the crowd. If I happen to draft, excellent, but I think that seeking opportunities to do so is a poor idea. I am also grateful for a blog I read recently – if the feet in front of you disappear it may be because they have switched to breast stroke – be prepared to get kicked. Saved my bacon on one occasion.
(4)    Remember to take the video camera on the run. Not sure how to ensure this but it will make for a better video.

Results: 3:57:51

Overall 90/179

Age group results 20/33

Swim 35:35 27/33
Bike 2:10:55 24/33 (actual time was 2:05:09 so I was 5:46 in transition)
Run 1:11:22 19/33


This is about what I expect as it mimics my worst to best events.

I am sort of surprised by these numbers. That is about as fast as I can go. I feel as fit and fast as I have ever felt. I am elated with my race. I felt strong and capable all day. And… I am slightly in the bottom half for my age group. Oh well, top half of my age group at Ironman!


And, once again, I remind myself -- I am a participant (with two badly arthritic hips) not a competitor.


As a matter of fact, I just met with an Orthopedic Surgeon who informed me that I will need to have both hips replaced, not just the left. Sigh. That's another post, though.

Tapering to 14 hours a week... how do I feel about where I am at?

Long time no blog entry… The reason, I think, is that there isn’t much new in my training. I have entered the taper phase of Ironman training… sort of.

This week’s plan is:
MON – Ride 90 at race pace
TUE – Run 6 x 2 km at 4:40/km with a 4 minute set break at 5:30
WED – Swim 90 open water
THU – Ride 90, run 60
FRI – Strength training 60, swim 45, Ride 4x 10 minutes HARD with a 2 min set break
SAT – DAY OF REST
SUN – Frank Dunn Triathlon. Swim 1500, Ride 63 km, Run 13 km.

Nice. We’ve tapered down to 14 or 15 hours.

I am noticing more pop in my legs, though. The LONG runs and rides on Sunday are in the past and I have more energy for interval runs. Tuesday’s interval run was the best I have had in a long time.

I am ready to get it on. Let’s go already. The training is getting tedious. I’m ready to go. Let’s get to race day.

Here is how I feel about where I am at.

Swimming – Yesterday I swam 80 minute in Pike Lake (thanks Reagan, I would not have gone as long on my own). All good. I am not fast but I have gotten fast enough and confident enough that I am actually looking forward to the Ironman swim. I used to be scared of it. Not anymore. I think it will be fun and even relaxing to start the day.

I have gotten sufficiently relaxed that while swimming that I now have time to think.

Yesterday I developed a Pike Lake speed measurement method. From the tip of my toes to the tip of my fingers held above my head is 2.34 meters. This means that when I am swimming along in Pike Lake and my fingertip touches a weed I can time it until my toes touch it and now I have a distance and time and I can convert to speed. I was having trouble doing the math while swimming so I have worked it out this table:

Weed passage time    Speed
2.8 sec            2:00/100 meters
3.0 sec            2:10/100 meters
3.3 sec            2:20/100 meters
3.5 sec            2:30/100 meters

This has absolutely no practical application because it’s impossible to time half second in one’s head while swimming so it was pretty much a waste of time but I didn’t have a lot else to do… I was swimming in the middle of Pike Lake. The other thing I was thinking about is whether or not a skinny dipping make would snag himself in the weeds. It was kind of a boring swim.

Cycling – I am happy with my biking. Last week at my cottage in the Moose Mountains I rode up “The Hill of Death!” That’s what I called it last year. This year it was no big deal. Like swimming, I am not fast but I have gotten a lot more efficient. It will be a long ride but I am confident that I can keep it at a nice, easy speed and have something left in my legs after that 180 km. My standards routes are taking a lot less time than they used to.

Running – I used to be scared of the swim. Now I am scared of the second half of the marathon. This is healthy. Most everything one reads talks about the second half of the marathon as the place heart of the race – everything to that point is warm up. I am spending my time imagining soldiering on through the pain of the second half of the marathon at a slow and steady pace.
My goal is 12:56. It feels like it should be no problem as 1:40 swim, 6:40 ride, and 4:40 run all seem very feasible times. I expect to be at least this fast.

My coach does know stuff... and, I have an Ironman goal.

I have been spending a lot of time on my long runs visualizing the run at Ironman – anticipating what I think the experience will be like and making a plan.

Much of my thinking is based on my first realization about the Ironman run: I am not going to run the whole marathon.

Thus, I started to experiment with various walk/run strategies. A little over a week ago I did a 50 minute run – run 5 and walk 1. I didn’t pay a lot of attention to pace. Rather, I focused on heart rate.

On race day I will set my Garmin to show me heart rate and distance.

I have learned that if I look at current pace I tend to go slower. I am running along feeling, “This is freaking hard. I’m dying,” and then I glance at my pace and note that it’s slower than expected. I start thinking things like, “What the point? I might as well walk.”

On the other hand, if I only look at heart rate and distance it’s a different experience. I am running along feeling, “This is hard. I’m dying.” Except now when I glance down I see a heart rate of 130 beats/minute I realize that it’s NOT that hard. I perceive it as hard but, in fact, I’m coasting. I am able to pick myself up emotionally and physically and go a little faster (I can always drive my heart rate up to 140 beats/minute).

This is what I did on this 5 and 1 run. Tried to press my heart rate between 135 and 140 and then I would walk for a minute. Here is the heart rate chart.

After 50 minutes my average heart rate was 129 beats/minute and my average pace was 6:43/km.

Coach Bruce explained that every time the heart rate is driven back up you create an oxygen deficit which has to be paid off. He encouraged me to run slow on my next run to compare. On Monday I ran 60 minutes at a low heart rate – no walking. Here is that heart rate chart.

After 60 minute my average heart rate was 137 beats/minute and my average pace was 5:59/km.

This is really encouraging. For a very marginal increase in effort and one that is easily sustained (my aerobic threshold is 142 beats/minute) I get a lot more speed. Over the course of the marathon this difference in pace is thirty minutes.

After a couple of weeks of experimenting, my Ironman race plan is settled: Swim easy, Bike easy (heart rate between 135 and 140), and then run easy (also between 135 and 140). I will break into walk at the aid stations during the run just to ensure that I am staying well hydrated and nourished but that plan is to make it a continuous, slow run.

And, I am back to having a time goal. Last year for males 45-49 the median time was 12:54. This is my goal. Finish in the top 50% of males 45-49. This is realistic: Swim 1:40, Bike 6:40, and Run 4:40 for a total of 13 hours. My long training days, going easy, make me feel that these times are easily achievable. Of course, it may all go to hell on race day.

Two good things from yesterday's lake swim (and one bad)

Every Wednesday I head out to Pike Lake to rinse my mouth with algae and become tangled in the weeds. Um, I  mean, swim. Yeah that’s what I do at Pike Lake: swim.

Each week I add some time. Yesterday was 45 minutes. By the end of August I want to finish at least two 90-minute open water swims.

Normally I just swim back and forth in the swimming area as I am too nervous to strike off down the lake by myself. Yesterday I had a swimming buddy (thanks Reagan) who led me north for 25 minutes before turning around and swimming back to the beach.

Two really good things happened yesterday.

First, I have got the wetsuit setup I really like. Last fall I bought a De Soto two-piece. It is an awesome suit. Very easy to put on and take off. Low neckline with no zipper at the neckline so it does not chafe (or even cut my neck like my previous suit prior to alterations). The only problem with my De Soto is that it is not quite as buoyant as I would like. I am sure that someone who is a better swimmer than I am would LOVE these De Soto suits. For me, though, I like feeling the safety of a little extra buoyancy.

Problem solved – instead of the De Soto Bibjohn (the bottoms) I used my old Quitana Roo sleeveless. I put the De Soto top over my old wetsuit. Brilliant! Bouyant enough that I can float without having to skull at all. In 45 minutes swimming I can almost just trail my legs and not kick at all. This all helped me to feel REALLY relaxed in the water. Excellent.

Second, we swam north for 12 minutes, paused, and then swam another 13 minutes north. After a brief chat we decided to swim back to the beach without stopping. Not a big deal to a lot of swimmers but I can count on one hand the number of times that I have swam, continuously, in open water for 25 minutes or more. So that’s good. But, the best news was that as I was swimming along I suddenly realized that I was thinking about work, family, holidays, etc. In other words, I wasn’t worrying about drowning. This was a THRILLING moment for me. I makes me think that I will not hate the 90 minute Ironman swim.

I if I can manage to compete the 3.8 km Ironman swim in 90 minutes I will be 275/314 (last year’s results). Slow… but I can totally live with that.





Only one bad moment.

Somewhere in the middle of the lake I got tangled in the weeds. It feels like a Giant Kraken coming to the surface to pull you under. I fought free of its tentacles and carried on though. Phew. That was close.

My longest ride and longest week ever

TODAY'S BIKE – 5 hours 10 minutes, 134 kilometers. I started at 6 am. Rode a couple of hours and stopped to refuel. Rode another 2:25 and stopped to refuel. Then rode the last 45 minutes.

Today’s bike was scheduled at 5 hours easy. I did 5:10. It was a great ride. Aside from sore-butt syndrome it was a good, confidence building experience. I feel VERY strong. After five hours in the saddle my legs felt great. No obvious fatigue of any kind. Generally, it didn’t feel like I had done much of anything. That is an awesome feeling. My intensity was a little lower than last week. No real reason for this; I was just relaxing and enjoying the day.

TODAY'S RUN – 30 minutes at 4:55/km. I did the run after supper. Between the bike and run I ate and had a much needed two hour nap. Not needed so much because of the ride as it was that  I was running on six hours sleep from the previous night (and 2/3 bottle of wine + 2 beer – making the ride that much more impressive).

My average moving pace was 5:00/km so I was a hair’s breadth slower than I was supposed to be. The best news is that my average heart rate was 144 beats/minute which feels pretty good.  I am thrilled to see that heart rate at that pace at the end of my heaviest week so far.

RUN PART II – After my 30 minutes I did 12 minutes of running 3 minutes and walking 1. I set my watch to show heart rate and during the run portions tried to run at about 145 beats/minute. This is the proper way to motivate myself on race day as getting real time feedback on my heart rate reminds me that I can work harder. In other words, pace can be defeating but looking at my heart rate tells me that what I perceive as hard work is not really hard work.

At this point I think my Ironman run plan is to run between the aid stations and take a good long walk at the aid stations – one minute to 90 seconds? My fall back position is run 3 + walk 1. Looking at other people's run times at Ironman they are REALLY slow. I would like to turn in a 4:30 marathon time. Reminder to self: Do not blow yourself up on the bike.

The Week in Review

Swim        2:10
Bike        8:40
Run        3:23
Strength    1:00

Total        15:13

My longest week to date.

Despite my demoralizing interval run on Thursday, I feel really good about this week and where I am at. I feel like I can go forever. And, other than my hips I feel 100%. There are no injuries or twinges of any kind. All is good.

I am tired but I think I have found my motivation

Recently, training has some good and some bad.

On a good note, I am enjoying cycling. This weekend saw a 112 km ride. This is my longest ever. I actually enjoyed it. Not until the 3:45 mark did I find myself in the least bit fatigued. Shortly after finishing I felt like I had done nothing at all. Cycling is good.

Yesterday I had a very good open water swim. I really focused on staying long and easy with my stroke. When swimming I have a tendency to start too fast, drive my heart rate too high, become uneasy in the water, and then get defeated mentally. Yesterday I worked hard to simply relax and keep swimming. If I found the stress level rising I simply kicked back to a very easy pace and relaxed. It worked. And, with a weekly long open water swim I feel confident that Ironman will go well (Frank Dunn in August will be a good test, too).

On a funny note I reached one of the buoys in the Pike Lake swimming area and had a freak out moment. Looking down into the murky depths I saw a severed human hand. I came up for air and then looked again. This time it had become a severed human foot. Aaahhh! I was about to call for help when I popped up to see Mark looking at me, “Hi Dave.” He was swimming in his wetsuit and the water at Pike Lake is so thick that all I could see were his pink extremities. We had a nice chat. Panic averted. No corpse after all.

The bad news is that my overwhelming impression of my training is … overwhelming. I feel tired and I am having a ton of trouble staying highly motivated. Interestingly, it’s running that has become the hardest of the disciplines for me.

As the volume of training has increased I am finding it increasingly difficult to find the willpower for hard intervals. If it was simply a matter of volume, I would be happily out there on some long training days taking it easy and enjoying the scenery. Where I suffer a lack of strength is where it’s volume AND intensity. I am hoping, however, that as of this writing that my strength is returning.

Saturday’s run was supposed to my 90 minutes at 4:55/km (this was after 4 hours in the saddle). I was good until about the 50 minute mark and then I decided that I had gone far enough. Oof. I started the long walk home. On the walk, though, I found what I hope will be the motivation to see me through the coming weeks.
I am the Learn to Run Coach at Brainsport. It’s my job to motivate thirty-five new runners to make it through an eight week program culminating in a 5 km road race. I remember my first ever 13 week program going from never having run to running 10 km. It was hard but I did it. And, I was proud of myself.  The members of this clinic are getting through something similar now. I am sure that they are finding it hard. And, I am sure that they are getting through it.

Buoyed by their commitment, I started my feet going again and finished up my run. Thank you for the inspiration.

OK… this week will be a good test for me. Time to suck it up and get it done. Ironman is now less than eight weeks away. I need to:

(1)    Get enough sleep;
(2)    Stay positive; and
(3)    Do what I have to do.

I am lucky to have a job that leaves my afternoons free. I am amazed that anyone with a full time job EVER gets through an Ironman. Really, you would have NO life.

This week’s training plan:

MONDAY – 90 minute pool swim, 40 minute easy run.
TUESDAY – 90 minute ride with 2 x 10 minutes HARD, 60 minute run with 2 x 10 minutes HARD.
WEDNESDAY – 60 minute open water swim, 60 minute easy ride.
THURSDAY – Run 10 x 1 km at 4:30 with a 2 minute break at 4:55 in between (this is THE test this week), 60 minute swim with Coach Paul.
FRIDAY – 60 minute strength training, 45 minute swim, 30 minute easy run.
SATURDAY – DAY OF REST.
SUNDAY – 5 hour easy ride, 30 minute run at 4:55/km.