Sunday, June 5, 2011

IM ST. George

Since last weekend went so well, i decided i’d like to see what ironman st. George has to offer. I’d heard some good stories about the course, and just couldn’t resist the opportunity to form my own opinion. It would promise some good mileage to help prepare for the upcoming mountain bike tibet trip.

SWIM
I lined up a bit outside towards the front for the swim start, the gun went off, and i settled into a very comfortable pace. For the most part, there was a good amount of open water which i took full advantage off. There were several occasions where things got a bit crowded and i was reminded it is in fact an ironman swim.

The swim course is 1 large loop, similar to canada. The water was a good temperature, though i actually had a couple sections that were a bit warm for my taste. After the first turn, we were swimming into the sun, though the sighting wasn’t to difficult, it did require a little more attention.

I felt strong the entire swim, though i never pushed it, knowing full well i had a long day ahead of me, on one of the tougher ironman courses. I got out of the water feeling pretty fresh and ready to ride. Swim was 1:09:00 (1:49 min/100m).

T1
went well, no blazing times here, but a focused effort to get through without too much delay. 0:05:58

BIKE
the bike course has a 23 mile lead taking you from the swim course and delivering you to the 2 loop portion, with the much talked about climbing. I sat very comfortably in for the first section. Taking in liquid and calories very regularly.

I went through my 2500 calories of carbo pro right on schedule chased by lots of water and threw in a few bananas and gels for variety.

The first loop went well, i pedaled steadily and felt ok. At mile 50, the worst of the climbing is done, and by mile 56 it’s pretty much to a steady descent back into st george. The 2nd loop felt significantly slower, my legs didn’t want to push with any sort of consistency. I put my head down and kept spinning the best i could muster.

Slightly before mile 90, the last of the difficult climbs was complete. I knew there were 1 or 2 more inclines, and a series of fast descents, and paced accordingly. Though i struggled a bit on these last 2 ascents, once i hit the top, i assumed aero and enjoyed the fast descent back into town.  6:06:19 (18.4 mph)

T2
relatively uneventful, except for the fact that my legs where having none of this running portion. I chuckled a bit to myself, knowing full well there was still some run left in me and my legs were mislead.

RUN
It took almost 2 full miles to convince my legs that i fully intended to run the entire distance, no walking. The first 2 miles is a steady climb, with the next 1.5 being a bit steeper, before a small reprieve and a little more climbing. Then you drop down to mile 6.5 and turn around and retrace your steps.

I knew my legs were unhappy and it was a bit warm, so i followed a very simple routine, gel every 15 – 20 minutes followed with water. Every aid station had the same protocol: ice in the jersey, sponges, water, ice, sponges. I carried a water bottle, and would fill it up with ice and water every 3 miles. This worked well.

My first loop went slightly over 2 hours, then my legs and i had a bit of the same conversation as when i first started the run. Seemed like deja vu. I kept turning it over, every so slow and steady, knowing full well this is what i signed up for, and enjoying the fact that my achilles had yet to indicate any signs of stress.

Along the course of the run i crossed paths with 3 or 4 pulse regulars, and some not so regulars. I saw the gap closing slowly between myself and mark, until i caught up with him at mile 24. We proceeded through the last 2 miles to the finish together.  4:24:59 (10:09 min/mile)

All said and done, it’s been a solid week of testing the achilles and it’s come up roses. I’m back to full training volume, still holding off on any type of speed work, as i want to be very sure the achilles is 100% before i put those types of load on it. total time: 11:48:38

Spring Sprint

What better way to test my recovery from injury then to have a long slow day followed by a short fast day? Sunday I'd be doing Spring Sprint, on top of testing my achilles, Mike was nice enough to get me a new tri bike - 2011 Felt DA. So i was very anxious to ride it.

I woke early, got my stuff together, and headed to mission bay. racked all my things, and promised myself, this wasn't a race, i was out here to have fun, and see how my achilles was holding up.

SWIM
At the start of the swim, i worked my way up to the front of the starting pack, and swam comfortably hard to the first turn (~ 1/3rd of the swim). I never really found a pair of feet to draft off, which seems to be the way things are going for me these days, i've lost a bit of the drafting ability i once had. this has been added to the list of potential improvements.

The last 100 meters of the swim proved to be a bit tougher then i anticipated, i started a little too hard, and had to dig a bit to remain consistent through the swim. (1:47 min/100m)

T1
Into transition, a pretty liesurely transition, and onto the bike. As i slipped my right foot into my shoe, the pedal came off the spindle. this will make for an interesting ride, not 200m into the 15km ride, and i'm down to 1 pedal . . . sort of.

BIKE
I got my other foot in the shoe, and slid the right pedal back onto the spindle. I would need to be cognizant of this the whole time riding. I wasn't able to apply to much force to the pedals, or my right pedal would come off the spindle again. So i road a consistent bike, a little slow, but steady.  (0:28:25 - 19mph)

T2 - RUN
Back into transition, and another liesurely transition (not as relaxed as the 1st one). I made a slight effort to get in and out quickly. I still hadn't come across mike kelley, i figured i'd have trouble catching him on the bike with my pedal issue, but still held a little hope for it. no such luck, the catch would have to wait until mile 1 of the run.

we chatted briefly, he informed me there were 3 people in front of him. I tried to run with him, but the thought of 3 people ahead proved too much for me to bear.

I increased the pace and started looking, all the while being cautious not ot over exert and injure my achilles. About 200m from the finish line i caught kariem, wished him well on his second lap, and cruised into the finish. (0:20:54 - 6:45min/mile)

All in all it was a good day, some minor setbacks, but none of them had to do with my physical capacities, just equipment malfunctions, perfectly acceptable.

The pulse crew had a great day, lots of representation, a good time for all. another successful training group and pulse outing.

Leona Divide 50 mile run

Leona Divide 50 mile run:


This was my first go at any sort of distance running since I opted to drop from the Catalina 50 mile run. I had some successful training runs in the last several weeks, so wanted to come out and see how my achilles recovery was progressing.

Sara and i drove up the night before, she was doing the 30k. We got to the race start about 45 minutes before the 50k and 50mile runs began. Sara would start at 7am, 1 hour after these races started. We gathered our race goodies, had some food and relaxed for a little while.

We started over towards the start line, Sara wished me luck, and i wished her luck on her run.

My days' adventure began with a 2 or 3 mile climb, I started very slow and cautious, not wanting to slide back down the slope of injury i'd been working to climb out of. After the climb, the course did a bit of rolling through lots of single track.

There was some definite tightness in my achilles and calf which lasted 1 - 2 hours, then it loosened up and would prove to be a non issue for some time. I never ran very fast or very hard, my primary focus was steady and injury free.

The course was impressive, lots of single track and a good number of participants. I felt strong for the first 5 or 6 hours, then things started to get more difficult. I grabbed handfuls of pineaple roctane at each aid station (the only flavor they had). I am pretty sure i consumed a good 25 of these gels throughout the course of the day.

At mile 23ish, the descent to the turn around began. i could feel the strain on my achilles during the ascent so opted to jog very slowly and cautiosuly on the descent. During one of my running stints, i heard a bit of a rustle, looked down, and was greeted by a lovely black snake.

Who happened to be crossing just in front of me, and almost under my footfall. Thankfully for both of us, My footfall landed on dirt rather than snake. that was a pleasant suprise.

I continued down to the turnaround, which was a little past 25 miles, and turned back up for the climb. I would walk up most of this, with brief spurts of short slow jogs. Once at the top of the climb, i began jogging again back through the rolling single track.

My legs where feeling a bit of the mileage by now, and required a bit of coaxing to keep moving. I managed to jog through most of the return, up to the bit of a climb which began around mile 40, and lasted 2 or 3 miles. I walked most of this.

The last 2 miles where back down the initial climb. Again, i opted to jog this very slowly, rather then my typical let gravity do the work, i opted to put the brakes on and minimize impact and strain to my achilles.

As i rounded the final corner to the finish line, Sara was there with encouragement. I jogged across, 10:40 (12:48 min / mile pace), nothing spectacular, but more then acceptable for testing the waters, and relatively little endurance running prior to the day.

Sara did great in her 30k, she was running in the top 5 most of the day, until she and several other runners took a wrong turn, and climbed an extra peak. She finished right around 3:50 finishing top 10 in her age group.