Week 13

Week of April 17th - April 23th

Practically I have 3 more weeks of training before I back off for the race. This is the first week of ramping up. At least that's the plan for now.

New stuff:
Bought a bike jersey from J&G from Oregon (http://www.bicycleclothing.com/Mens-Bike-Jerseys.html). Good stuff, nice solid color, don't look like a bilboard on wheels. Fits well, although their sizing chart is a bit messed up. My chest is about 40" and according to the chart I should order size S. I don't think so. Got medium, fits well, nice pockets, comfortable, doesn't scratch the shit out of my nipples.

Stopped at Fleet Feet in Boulder and tried on a couple of wetsuits. Signed up for a rental of Zoot and Ironman, Tuesday and Wednesday. Will be trying those in Westminster pool. The Ironman suit was somewhat easier to take off and seems to have a better range of arm motion as well as a bit higher neck seal. They're both pain in the ass to put on. I will have to buy one since I'd have to rent one otherwise. Not very economical at $14 / day. It will run me about $240 for a last year's model. I am very curious to see whether I'll be able to do my laps a bit quicker.

I am beginning to think a lot about the logistics of the race. I study the bike as well as running course. The bike has a 50 meter elevation (about 150 feet) hill on it, I'll have to get over it 4 times, running elevation isn't too bad, about 10 meters (30 feet), we'll hit it twice.

Started calculating my food, how much do I need to have on the bike, how much do I need to take with me running, what kind. I do like the Cliff Shot cubes, but they only have 100 calories per 3 cubes. I got to have a shitload of them for a 5 - 6 hour bike ride in order to keep up with about 300 calories per hour intake. Well, part of the intake will be (about 90% sure now) Gu2O electrolyte drink, 24 ounce bottle should also feed me 150 calories. This stuff is kind of like Gatorade but it doesn't have any junk in it and it doesn't taste pukey sweet like Gatorade. I like the Mango flavor the best. I got to make sure I have enough of it with me on the bike as well as for the marathon.

I need to get a hold of Carl - I used to work at a company next to his. He did Ironman France last year and is partly responsible for my madness. I need to ask him about some logistics of the race, how do you transition, how much food do you take with you, what to put in your transition bag, should I wear swimsuit under the wetsuit (I think not but I don't know). I see people in pictures and videos doing the whole thing in a pair of Speedos. I don't think I want to ride 112 miles on a bike wearing Speedo with no padding - yes, my ass is spoiled now. A bunch of tiny details that will probably make all the difference in the world.

As I mentioned last week, I don't trust the HR. Either the air is too dry or it's too windy and it's drying up the HR belt. I caught it several times showing 240 bpm and I am pretty sure I'd be dead if that was my real heart beat. Need to change the battery.

Anyway, here we go with the first week of ramp-up:

Monday - bike to work - Timex: 1:16:06 @ 18.7 mph, 23.77 miles @ 170 bpm
CatEye: 1:12:39 @ 19.6 mph, 23.72 miles
- bike home - Timex: 1:30.41 @ 15.7 mph, 23.84 miles @ 175 bpm
CatEye: 1:27:00 @ 16.3 mph, 23.79 miles

Tuesday - bike to work - Timex: 1:32:43 @ 148 bpm (no GPS)
CatEye: 1:24:53, 16.7 mph, 23.99 miles
- run at noon - just about perfect run. 46:45.58 @ 6.2 mph (9'39" mile), 4.839 miles @ 160 bpm
- Nancy picked me up at work since we needed to go to a Super Foods seminar at Wild Oats. It was kind of cold anyway.

Wednesday - Pool - swimming in Ironman full sleeve wetsuit. The results:

5 laps - 4:23.34 @ 146 bpm
5 laps - 4:35.71 @ ??? bpm
10 laps, no wetsuit - 10:23.41


So, it shaves about 1.5 minutes off 10 laps. However, it's not really comfortable. I don't have the same feel for the water.

Thursday - Pool - swimming in Zoot Z2 Full Sleeve


4 laps @ 3:36.16 @ 135 bpm
5 laps @ 4:38.40 @ 144 bpm
10 laps @ 9:17.48 @ 153 bpm


The feel is about the same, the Zoot fits a bit better. Well, this is about it for renting a suit. I had a nice talk with a couple of people at work who have done Ironman before, several times. Florianopolis will probably be around 75F and the sleeveless is supposed to be more comfortable, I think I'll buy one of those.

Friday - Bike to work, 23.77 miles in 1:16:13 (CatEye)

1:18:38 @ 144 bpm (Timex)
Run at noon, 4.167 miles in 40:43.56 @ 153 bpm
Bike home, took a shortcut through Boulder. 31.65 miles @ 17.5 mph in 1:49:57 (CatEye)
31.83 miles @ 16.2 mph in 1:57:16 @ 151 bpm

Saturday - day off, went to Boulder, bought Zoot Sleeveless, size ML. Also bought Sugoi Tri shorts and tanktop. This stuff is made specifically for triathlon, so you can put it on in the morning, do the swim, get out of the wetsuit, do the bike and keep on running. It dries up really quick and it 's supposedly pretty comfy to run in it, too. The shorts don't have as much padding as regular bike shorts, but it does seem adequate.

Sunday - the plan was to do a Tinman today, however, my stomach really didn't like the jalapenos I ate last night. I woke up in the middle of the night and felt that pepper just drilling a hole in my stomach. Got up and drank some milk to get rid of it. Anyway, I got up in the morning, had breakfast and started working on the bike. Managed to make a gizmo that lets me attach my watch to the bike so I have the HR display in front of me all the time. Much better for monitoring the heart rate. So I took the bike for spin, stopped in Boulder at Fleet Feet, exchanged my shirt I bought yesterday, then went to Longmont, back home and then went for a run - good transition training. Results:
Bike:
CatEye - 57.30 mile in 3:05:22 @ 18.4 mph
Timex - 57.36 miles in 3:16:46 @ 17.4 mph @ 158 bpm
Can't trust bpm, most of the time it was around 150, many times below 140. The screwy thing is that before I really start swetting and when the wind blows, my skin is too dry and the HR shows me 240. Kind of sucks. And I do use the conductive gel. Maybe my belt is going south. Anyway, there was a race on HWY 128, they let me through, but the guy said: "Be careful, these are professionals, they come up on you pretty quickly". Well, I took off about 5 seconds behing a group of women and was able to keep up with them without too many problems. When we got to the turn around point, I looked back and saw the men coming. Oh well, I didn't do the turnaround, went to Boulder instead.
Came home, got off the bike and went running. Now I was sweaty enough so the HR was working, but the GPS battery died right after I took off. Today was technologically challenged day. Returned home, replaced battery, ran to local high school and did bunch of laps on a flat track. I was in no mood to climb hills. Then I went to a gas station, got a bottle of water and took about 4 miles to come home. Good run.
Running: 1:33:56 @ 6.2 mph (9'38" mile), 9.737 miles @ 157 bpm

Things I learned today:
Biking - I am becoming relatively efficient, most of the bike ride is below 150 bpm, although I do push it to a little over 170 on steep hills. Not for long. Food on the bike was 2 Gu gels, about 7-8 gummi bears, about 6 carob nut energy cubes from Whole Foods. Top it with 2, 24 oz bottles of Gu2O at 150 calories each. I think I did close to about 250 calories per hour. I will try salt tablets next time.
Running - I ate pretty well on the bike, drank about 12 oz of Gu2O before the run and I took 4 Gu gels with me for the run. The bike shorts are very comfortable to run in and so is my new tank top. No nipple scraping like I experienced in several of my other shirts. Started the run at about 8'30 mile, running right around 155 bpm. After the first couple of miles I started to slow down since my heart rate hit 165. I kept slowing down and the heart rate kept creeping up. So I took the first gel in about 35 minutes, now I am at almost 10' mile but the HR is still around 165. I took another Gu, this is about 5.5 miles into the run, HR is still going up. I got off the track, ran to nearby gas station, got a bottle of water and drank it. Amazing. I proceeded with the remaining 4+ miles home at around 155 again, got back to sub 9'30" pace and overall felt pretty good even running uphill a bit. When I had about 2 miles left, the HR started creeping back up. I didn't have any more water, no gas starion, so I just pushed ahead. When I got home I was over 165 again. I think I'll try the salt tablets especially for running.

In conclusion
- I lived mostly on sugar, but mixed in some proteins. It was not horribly uncomfortable but I could feel my stomach a bit.
- Next time I'll try salt tablets in conjunction with Gu and Gu2O
- Water matters - I really got to watch my HR while running. It looks like having something like a cup of water about every 15-20 minutes may prove to be extremely beneficial. Especially after the Gu gel. People (who have done this before) tell me that just eating Gu will dehydrate me since the sugar just sucks the water into my stomach. Next time I'll start hydrating a day before.
- Got sunburned a bit today. Got to remember not to do this in Brazil, bad things happen when your skin is burned. Got to pay attention.
- I am not severely hurt, my knees are doing relatively well. There are 3 things I changed lately. I started using the biggest chainring up front, which means more leg power needed and more speed developed, provided I can sustain it. I started using 'Happy Hempsters' natural Hemp rub on my knees - this is like Sombra on steroids. I also started consuming a table spoon of olive oil before I go to bed. At least one of these things is helping.

Weight at the end of the week: 172 lbs - it really doesn't count since it's in the evening after heavy exercise. However, I did notice my weight going a bit down lately. I am eating well but I think I do more proteins now. I do carbs before and during workouts. Also, it seems like since I started swimming again, the body is being challenged in new ways again and it's dropping some weight due to different muscle group usage. Hmmm, or it's them blueberries :)