70.3 Reflection and change to my programming

I have spent quite a bit of time reflecting on the 70.3 from hell and what went so wrong.  Although this was a bad race, I think it was an invaluable learning experience.  I have a new set of tires.  I will ride with more than one extra tube.  I will address my neck issue by a possible stem change and/ or not looking up so much.  I will also drastically increase my run volume.  I also realized my taper was not as good as it should be for such a long race.  At the end of the day, my goal is and always has been just to finish the Ironman.  I am comfortable I could do that now with a proper taper and the flat running course that makes up the marathon portion.  One thing I will admit is that the CFE approach has worked for me on the swim and bike.  I have spent so much less time swimming and biking as compared to previous years.  I am truly happy with my swim and bike fitness. 

The change in my programming will be very much like CFE, but will differ in some ways.  There are some themes I will keep.  I will not run over 2 – 2.5 hours.  I believe and my experiences tell me so that the additional fitness gained from a longer run is lost on the extra recovery time required.  However I will include more transition runs.  My bike distance will also increase, and I will do bikes closer to 6 hours.   I am dropping a CrossFit WOD and replacing it with a CFE run interval WOD.  So my new typically week will consist of:

·         Crossfit – 3x a week (will avoid heavy met cons)

·         Swim – 1 CFE short interval session + 1 CFE long interval session

·         Bike – 1 CFE interval session (probably hill repeats) + 1 long ”er” slow ”er” session of 60+ miles with up to an hour transition run.  The pace will be in between Tempo/ TT and Long Slow Distance

·         Run – 1 CFE short interval session (400’s or 800’s) + 1CFE long interval session (1 mile or 5k repeats) + 1 long ”er” slow ”er” session of 10+ miles.  The pace will be in between Tempo/ TT and Long Slow Distance

Link to training plan

Cardinal 70.3 Summary

The bike course takes primarily on the IM Louisville course, and that is the reason I choose the race. 

The swim was a 2 loop course.  Half of each loop was against the current, so my overall swim time was slower than I expected, but I did well in comparison to others in my age group. 

Once I got on the bike the race went downhill.  I flatted less than a mile into the bike course hitting a pot hole.  I should have gone back to transition and picked up an extra tube, but that did not dawn on me for some reason.  Until mile 45 the bike went well although my neck did hurt a lot.  I will need to address that with a bike fit change.  I flatted again at mile 45 without an extra tube.  I had to sit on the side of the road until some nice lady gave me an extra tube.  With the flats my bike time was horrible.  It was one of the worst in my age group.

The run was a 2 loop very hilly course.  This is where the race went from bad to worse.  The hills were no joke and forced me to walk at least half of the 13.1.  I took me over 3 hours to finish the run which was by far the worse run time in my age group and put me dead last in my age group by over 20 minutes.  My final time was 7:23 which is just downright embarrassing. 

I continue to reflect on why my run went so bad.  One thing is for sure that I will need to change my training regiment.  I will either drop CFE or move to a heavy run biased CFE programming.  For now I am on vacation this week, which I will enjoy and only run a few times. 

Old Hickory Sprint Tri recap and prep for 70.3

The Old Hickory Sprint tri had a strange format of 400 meter swim, 1 mile run, 12 mile bike, and 2 mile run.  This was primarily because the race organizers could not get the transition area close enough to the water.  I was very happy with my results, but unhappy with my placement in my age group.  My swim was good.  My bike was very good.  I averaged over 23 mph and past a lot of people.  I believe that was in the top 5 bike split.  I really enjoyed passing all of the cyclists with aero helmets and zipp wheels.  However my run, which was better than I had personally ever done in a sprint tri, was still not good enough to earn me a place on the podium or even anywhere close.  The run is my weakness.  It always has been, and I’d imagine it always will be. 

On Saturday I will be participating in a small 70.3 in Louisville which is primarily on the IM Louisville course.  This serves as a test run for me.  I am certain I can predict my results of a good swim, above average bike, and a meltdown on the run.  The question is how much will I meltdown as compared to the 70.3 I did 2 years ago with traditional LSD training and very little strength training.  I will admit I weigh about 10lbs heavier than the previous 70.3, but I am significantly stronger.  I have also spent a lot less time swimming, biking, and running than I did 2 years ago.  That time 2 years ago was 6:21:31. 

After the race, I will be heading straight to vacation on the beach which is nice.  For the few (if any) that read this I will attempt to quickly post how the race went.

Link to training plan