Thursday, September 15, 2011

I forgot to come up with a title

A few other notes from the OBX half from saturday:

  • I got punched in the face during the swim. First time that's happened (at least during a swim!). It was very strange to go from not being able to see other swimmers to getting hit in the face that easily.
  • I kind of freaked out a bit in my head when I felt alone in the water. I know the intercoastal waterway is not the ocean, but stupid shark week didn't know that. When you are swimming in a pack, you look up and don't see any other swimmers, boats, lifeguards and feel totally alone in the ocean - that's the stuff panic attacks are made of. And I don't get panic attacks in the water.
  • Fish who swim in a pack, and one gets separated - that's who gets eaten by a shark.
  • We used silver swim caps, which may be the most useless color ever for an ocean swim. I want neon pink or green - something that will show up underwater if the lifeguards have to pull a body out. You'll never see silver down there.
  • The rear brake on Roberta was twisted against one side of the rim - I didn't notice it until we got home. It could have been blown that way during the drive home or it could have been rubbing the whole race. I didn't check that thoroughly before the race because we got there so late. And I know better than that.
  • I think I worked harder on the bike leg than I should have. Ironman plan is to go out stupid easy and not put out an effort any harder than "easy".
  • There were a lot of extra squeaks and groans coming out of Roberta. Maybe a tune-up is in order before Ironman.
  • I know I shouldn't have left the garmin at home. After working too hard on the bike I started out running too hard. Bad combination. I can blame the heat and hydration all I want to, but I know I shouldn't have tried to run faster than a 9:00 mile and I did.
Sunday had a nice 8 mile recovery run at an 8:00 pace. Easy slow miles. Felt pretty good. Monday I took a rest day, and tuesday I skipped the lunchtime bike ride in favor of going out for wings with friends; but I still made the swim practice that evening. Yesterday I got in a decent 7 mile tempo run over lunch at a 7:30 pace, and an hour on the stationary bike after the kids went to bed. That ride felt really good, but that's the only workout that felt really good this week.

I have to allow for recovery time after the race pace effort. This weekend is supposed to hold a 5:15 bike ride on saturday, and a 1:45 run/:45 ride/1:00 run brick. That should translate into an 80 mile ride saturday, and a 18-20 mile run sunday with a 15 mile ride in the mix.

Today I am supposed to run intervals over lunch and swim tonight. Tomorrow is a 30 minute run - easy- to get ready for the long weekend. The training plan has this as one of the longest weeks of training at 17 hours. I'm thinking I should take the intervals pretty slow and maybe do some strength training/core work instead of really pushing the legs again. Keep the recovery going and still be able to get my miles in this weekend.

Congrats to all the finishers at IMMoo and Rev3 Cedar Point! Who got registered for Ironman Wisconsin for next year?

7 comments:

Theresa @ActiveEggplant said...

I love that you call your bike Roberta. My road bike is called Red Beard...and I love the looks i get when I say "I'm going to go for a ride on Red Beard"...I guess some people just don't "get" the whole bike naming thing.

Your workouts sound crazy! But then again I guess that's what you've got to do to prepare for an Ironman, right? I can barely imagine running 8 miles right now, let alone 8 miles (the day after a half ironman race) as a recovery run!

Jess said...

If I got punched in the face during a swim, I'd be out. No more for me, thank you.

Sophie @ threetimesf said...

:( Your blog really doesn't like letting me comment!
I agree with Jess - a sack in the face would panic me!

RockStarTri said...

I got the crap beaten out of me during the swim in my race last weekend. I thought that I broke my cheek and nose from the pummeling. Sure hope IMFL ain't like that.

joyRuN said...

Holy shit, CJ - you look sooo different in your race pics from your last HIM!!!

You may stop shrinking now.

Totally freaked me out in my 1.2mi swim last week to get pummeled so many times. My swim coach had said to start out fast to get past the pack then settle in, but I didn't have the confidence to do that.

Congrats on a strong HIM though! I'm in awe.

Georgia Snail said...

"Sunday had a nice 8 mile recovery run at an 8:00 pace. Easy slow miles. Felt pretty good. Monday I took a rest day, and tuesday I skipped the lunchtime bike ride in favor of going out for wings with friends; but I still made the swim practice that evening. Yesterday I got in a decent 7 mile tempo run over lunch at a 7:30 pace"

Starting out with fully admitting I don't know jack about training, but it seems like your recovery pace is a little fast compared to your other times...especially if you are doing tempo runs at 7:30. Just my 2 cents....

Unknown said...

Ouch! Getting punched in the face would be awful!