Things have thankfully cooled down a lot this week, and aside from a bit of unsettled weather it's made workouts a good deal easier. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I lost a spoke on Wednesday so my cycling mileage was pretty miserable this week. The bike should be finished on Tuesday, meaning that I'll likely loose a bit of mileage in the upcoming week as well - which is a shame as the weather tomorrow is looking like it will be great :( Fortunately, both running and swimming went as planned so my overall mileage wasn't dented too much.
This morning the weather outside was great, and made for the first long run in a while that was actually comfortable. It was still pretty warm (27C/60%), but that's a lot better than it has been and thanks to acclimatization it felt quite good. The first half of the run was under overcast skies, which helped a lot as well. The sun did come out for the remainder of the run, but fortunately the respite for the first portion meant that I was in better shape to deal with the extra heat at that point.
I hit the planned 17 mile point, and just as I was slowing down a couple of friends pulled up on their bikes so I accelerated a bit to keep up and chat for a bit. In the end, I put down a total of 17.5 miles with the last half mile or so at a 5K pace, which felt quite good. That's a big contrast to my attempt to hit 17 miles last week, where I had to cut it short due to hydration issues. Either way, it feels good to start getting back into serious distance runs again - now just have to start reintroducing the speedwork ;)
Cycling wise, the first half of the week went pretty good - hitting planned mileage targets at relatively decent speeds despite some brutal winds. I put down a strong 50K ride on Monday, with a great tailwind assisted 50+km/h stretch down Jane street. Wednesday's 30K ride was much the same before the spoke snapped on me. Fortunately, I was already heading back at the time and only about 300m from home so it was easy enough to walk it back.
Not entirely sure what triggered it, as I hadn't hit any big bumps and was simply decelerating when it went (slow moving bus was ahead of me), but I'll ask the guys at the shop when I pick it up to see if there is anything I can do to avoid this in the future. The Shimano R500 wheels that the bike came with aren't the greatest, so perhaps it's time to start thinking about getting a proper set for it.
Week 29 Totals:
Running: 59.3km (36.9mi)
Walking: 1.5km (0.9mi)
Cycling: 79.5km (49.4mi)
Swimming: 7.8km (4.8mi)
Total: 148.1km (92.0mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 1273.0km (791.0mi)
Walking: 66.6km (41.4mi)
Cycling: 2689.6km (1671.2mi)
Swimming: 187.2km (116.3mi)
Total: 4216.4km (2619.9mi)
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Making Plans
The last few months have been pretty crazy, and as a result I've dragged my feet on figuring out a racing strategy for the season. I've (kind of) got the big A races figured out, and have been training sufficiently for them - but the B and C races have to be fitted in there as well to build experience and test progress. The result is that we're now a good ways into the season and I've yet to get any Triathlons in so far. With a couple of months left, there isn't a whole lot of opportunities remaining so it's gotten to the point where I need to start figuring out what I'd like to do ;)
On Wednesday one of the spokes on my rear wheel snapped, and as Ironman Lake Placid is this weekend the bike shop was pretty much slammed meaning that I'm not getting it back until Tuesday. Cervelo pretty much dominates the triathlon market, so given that they only have a couple of dealers in town, things get pretty hairy whenever an Ironman is anywhere remotely close. With Lake Placid being pretty much the only full iron race within practical driving range, it's especially popular around these parts. As such, I couldn't head out for my Friday or Saturday rides which gave me a little extra free time and I figured I should use that to do a little homework ;)
I ended up missing my chance to do the Muskoka long course triathlon this weekend, which is probably just as well given the spoke issue ;) The Subaru series appears to now just have sprint distance events left before Ironman Muskoka, whereas the HSBC series has a few Olympic distance races. I definitely want to squeeze in at least one Olympic distance race in, although it would likely be a good idea to do another Sprint distance race ahead of that to get a bit more practice.
Tentatively, I'm thinking of starting out with the Niagara sprint tri followed by the Cobourg Olympic distance race. That will give me a couple of weeks between the races, and both are relatively close by so they should work out well. Cobourg is near the end of August, so it should leave a good amount of time for Muskoka if I do choose to go down that route. If not, I might add Lakeside's Olympic distance race into the mix as well.
As for Ironman Muskoka, as noted above I'm still going back and forth on that one. While I feel relatively comfortable with the distances, I'm not confident that I'd be able to put down an all-out effort at this juncture. Given the extremely high cost of that race, I'm not sure that I want to spend that kind of money for a 'just finish' race. At this point I'm leaning in the direction of just doing a few Olympic races (with one all-out) to build up my strength and experience and then focus full bore on the half ironman distance next year.
The HSBC series has an unofficial half iron race (Welland) in June which costs a lot less than the sanctioned race in Muskoka. This year it wasn't an option as I hadn't gotten my mileage up high enough that early in the season, but if I do a few intermediate distance races this year I should be able to ramp up faster next year. If I can do the Welland race as a just finish race, then I'd hopefully be able to gear up and try to do the 2011 Muskoka race at a hard enough effort to justify the costs involved. Further, the money I'd save from not doing the race this year would almost be enough to buy my own wetsuit, which would make it a lot easier to get some open water practice in.
The downside, of course, is that I don't get to cross off that half ironman goal this year. Further, as much of my training this year has been focused on those goal distances, a lot of that will have been for naught. It's still going to be a few years before I'll be ready for the full ironman, so neither plan will likely have much effect on that. Doing the half this year would certainly have it's benefits, but so would squeezing in a larger number of shorter races.
Either way, the priority at this point is to figure out the intermediate races and I can make the bigger decision a bit later. One of the benefits to the Niagara race is that it's a few days before Muskoka's registration cut-off, so I can get at least one race in the books before I figure out which way to go. Making the call based on real-world race performance is likely the best guidance that I can work within ;)
On Wednesday one of the spokes on my rear wheel snapped, and as Ironman Lake Placid is this weekend the bike shop was pretty much slammed meaning that I'm not getting it back until Tuesday. Cervelo pretty much dominates the triathlon market, so given that they only have a couple of dealers in town, things get pretty hairy whenever an Ironman is anywhere remotely close. With Lake Placid being pretty much the only full iron race within practical driving range, it's especially popular around these parts. As such, I couldn't head out for my Friday or Saturday rides which gave me a little extra free time and I figured I should use that to do a little homework ;)
I ended up missing my chance to do the Muskoka long course triathlon this weekend, which is probably just as well given the spoke issue ;) The Subaru series appears to now just have sprint distance events left before Ironman Muskoka, whereas the HSBC series has a few Olympic distance races. I definitely want to squeeze in at least one Olympic distance race in, although it would likely be a good idea to do another Sprint distance race ahead of that to get a bit more practice.
Tentatively, I'm thinking of starting out with the Niagara sprint tri followed by the Cobourg Olympic distance race. That will give me a couple of weeks between the races, and both are relatively close by so they should work out well. Cobourg is near the end of August, so it should leave a good amount of time for Muskoka if I do choose to go down that route. If not, I might add Lakeside's Olympic distance race into the mix as well.
As for Ironman Muskoka, as noted above I'm still going back and forth on that one. While I feel relatively comfortable with the distances, I'm not confident that I'd be able to put down an all-out effort at this juncture. Given the extremely high cost of that race, I'm not sure that I want to spend that kind of money for a 'just finish' race. At this point I'm leaning in the direction of just doing a few Olympic races (with one all-out) to build up my strength and experience and then focus full bore on the half ironman distance next year.
The HSBC series has an unofficial half iron race (Welland) in June which costs a lot less than the sanctioned race in Muskoka. This year it wasn't an option as I hadn't gotten my mileage up high enough that early in the season, but if I do a few intermediate distance races this year I should be able to ramp up faster next year. If I can do the Welland race as a just finish race, then I'd hopefully be able to gear up and try to do the 2011 Muskoka race at a hard enough effort to justify the costs involved. Further, the money I'd save from not doing the race this year would almost be enough to buy my own wetsuit, which would make it a lot easier to get some open water practice in.
The downside, of course, is that I don't get to cross off that half ironman goal this year. Further, as much of my training this year has been focused on those goal distances, a lot of that will have been for naught. It's still going to be a few years before I'll be ready for the full ironman, so neither plan will likely have much effect on that. Doing the half this year would certainly have it's benefits, but so would squeezing in a larger number of shorter races.
Either way, the priority at this point is to figure out the intermediate races and I can make the bigger decision a bit later. One of the benefits to the Niagara race is that it's a few days before Muskoka's registration cut-off, so I can get at least one race in the books before I figure out which way to go. Making the call based on real-world race performance is likely the best guidance that I can work within ;)
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Week 28: Review
Weather this week was a lot more unpredictable than it has been in a while, and that ended up screwing with my cycling a bit. We didn't end up getting much in the way of rain, but with the weather reports calling for Thunderstorms I was a bit overcautious and ended up missing my Monday and Saturday rides. That works out to about 130-150K off of the schedule, which took a pretty big chunk out of my weekly mileage.
Either way, I'm not quite so timid with my running so I didn't miss too much on that front. With that said, while the heat and humidity was better than last week it was still quite challenging at times. I did end up chopping a mile off of today's run due to hydration issues, and Friday's brick run was a little short due to the accumulated heat of the combined sessions. Either way, as I didn't end up getting out on the bike Saturday I worked in an extra 4 miler to make up for some of the losses.
On the swimming front, things went pretty much as planned. I'm still working out how to operate within the reduced time windows, and have largely moved to doing longer continuous sets at higher speeds so as to maintain the same mileage. I'm also focusing one of the sessions on endurance and the other on drills, as fitting the latter in is difficult given the time constraints. Eventually I'm planning on checking out a few more pools to see if I can get back to the old two hour routines, but for the time being this works reasonably well.
There is a pool in Thornhill that has a proper routine, but that's a considerable drive to make twice a week. The other option would be the Olympium as it's about the same distance away, but is better configured for length swimming (it's an Olympic pool so the water temperatures are much lower than the recreational pools we have up here). I've also been flirting with giving UofT's pool a shot, as it's the only 50m pool I'm aware of that actually has scheduled long course sessions (the Olympium is a 50m pool as well, but they only remove the bulkhead for swim meets). It's too much of a PITA to get down there for regular sessions, but it wouldn't be too much trouble once and a while.
Week 28 Totals:
Running: 56.7km (35.2mi)
Walking: 2.1km (1.3mi)
Cycling: 90.8km (56.4mi)
Swimming: 7.5km (4.7mi)
Total: 157.1km (97.6mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 1213.7km (754.2mi)
Walking: 65.1km (40.5mi)
Cycling: 2610.1km (1621.8mi)
Swimming: 179.4km (111.5mi)
Total: 4068.3km (2527.9mi)
I still haven't gotten around to figuring out a racing schedule for this year, and I've missed a good portion of the season because of that. Things have been pretty crazy lately, so pinning myself down to specific dates has been difficult. Regardless, with the time left I really need to force myself to figure out what I'm doing as the training has reached a point where I need to start adding more complex plans tailored to specific peaking intervals. I've got the base mileage up reasonably high, so I should be able to adapt to most things, but I need to start getting some more technical sessions (speedwork, transition practice, etc.) into the routine as well.
Either way, I'm not quite so timid with my running so I didn't miss too much on that front. With that said, while the heat and humidity was better than last week it was still quite challenging at times. I did end up chopping a mile off of today's run due to hydration issues, and Friday's brick run was a little short due to the accumulated heat of the combined sessions. Either way, as I didn't end up getting out on the bike Saturday I worked in an extra 4 miler to make up for some of the losses.
On the swimming front, things went pretty much as planned. I'm still working out how to operate within the reduced time windows, and have largely moved to doing longer continuous sets at higher speeds so as to maintain the same mileage. I'm also focusing one of the sessions on endurance and the other on drills, as fitting the latter in is difficult given the time constraints. Eventually I'm planning on checking out a few more pools to see if I can get back to the old two hour routines, but for the time being this works reasonably well.
There is a pool in Thornhill that has a proper routine, but that's a considerable drive to make twice a week. The other option would be the Olympium as it's about the same distance away, but is better configured for length swimming (it's an Olympic pool so the water temperatures are much lower than the recreational pools we have up here). I've also been flirting with giving UofT's pool a shot, as it's the only 50m pool I'm aware of that actually has scheduled long course sessions (the Olympium is a 50m pool as well, but they only remove the bulkhead for swim meets). It's too much of a PITA to get down there for regular sessions, but it wouldn't be too much trouble once and a while.
Week 28 Totals:
Running: 56.7km (35.2mi)
Walking: 2.1km (1.3mi)
Cycling: 90.8km (56.4mi)
Swimming: 7.5km (4.7mi)
Total: 157.1km (97.6mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 1213.7km (754.2mi)
Walking: 65.1km (40.5mi)
Cycling: 2610.1km (1621.8mi)
Swimming: 179.4km (111.5mi)
Total: 4068.3km (2527.9mi)
I still haven't gotten around to figuring out a racing schedule for this year, and I've missed a good portion of the season because of that. Things have been pretty crazy lately, so pinning myself down to specific dates has been difficult. Regardless, with the time left I really need to force myself to figure out what I'm doing as the training has reached a point where I need to start adding more complex plans tailored to specific peaking intervals. I've got the base mileage up reasonably high, so I should be able to adapt to most things, but I need to start getting some more technical sessions (speedwork, transition practice, etc.) into the routine as well.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Week 27: Review
It's been a scorcher of a week (mid-40s with humidex factored in), with unrelenting heat and humidity making any type of outdoor activity difficult. As such, that means pouring through gallons of Gatorade and water to get the miles in. It also means that everyone and their brother goes to the pool, which also adds complexity to the one sport that isn't directly affected by the weather. Fortunately, I managed to soldier through the unpleasantness and get most of my scheduled mileage in.
I started off the week by heading out for Monday's 50K ride in the morning to try and cut down on the heat. Unfortunately there are limits to how early I like to get out for rides, as rush hour traffic in the morning can be pretty aggressive so I settled on heading out at 9am. While it was much better than it would have been in the afternoon, it was still pretty bad at this point and I had to take in a lot of fluids. Thankfully there was a bit of a wind blowing in from the west, so that helped to cool things down a bit. Either way, I didn't push quite as hard as normal and let myself take periodic breaks when I happened upon some shade along the side of the road.
On Tuesday, I was scheduled for a swim in the morning and then a 6 mile run in the afternoon. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that the pool switched over to their summer schedule this week so when I got there at the normal time it wasn't open yet. The other annoyance is that they've decreased the session length from two hours to 90 minutes, which meant that I had to modify my program to fit in the shorter time frame. Either way, I headed back an hour later to find the change room packed, so I elected to just do a continuous set as that was the only way to get the required mileage in.
I managed to work in 4,250m in the 1h24m that I had to work with (lost some time at the beginning as the lifeguards didn't have the lane markers in yet). As such, I did get more than sufficient distance in, however a continuous set meant that I didn't have much in the way of a warmup and wasn't able to get any drill work in. Didn't have a whole lot of choice, however, as aside from the time limitations the lanes were packed so trying to do those things would have been difficult either way.
In the afternoon, I took a look at the weather reports and saw that Friday was scheduled to be cooler. They were also calling for rain, so it was unlikely I'd be able to get the scheduled ride in on that day and I elected to move the 6 miler back. With the heat out there any attempt to run would be very unpleasant and likely not particularly productive, so I figured this was my safest bet.
The next morning, I again headed out early on the bike for my scheduled 30K ride. It wasn't quite as bad as the day before, but it was still pretty brutal so I again took it easy. Aside from pulling back on the pace, I also took a slightly different route than normal that avoided a substantial hill. Thankfully, it was only a short distance ride so I managed to get it all in without burning myself out too much.
In the evening, I headed out for my normal group run at the local Running Room shop. Thanks to the heat, it was a pretty light showing so our normal group got together with one of the clinic groups. As such, we ended up doing only 7K at a significantly slower pace than normal, but with the conditions no one really complained. The temperatures did get to a few people, however, so the group got strung out a bit and I did get a few bursts of speed as bridged the gaps between the sub-groups to marshal them back to the slower runners. Either way, I was glad to do what I could to help people fight through it - these are the sorts of days that can be hard when you're just starting out, so I'm happy to lend whatever moral support that I can.
Thursday I headed back out to the pool, but as I had a bit of extra distance on the books I elected to make sure and fit some drills into the session. The pool was again quite busy, so I ended up doing a continuous 3,000m set first and then a quick 500m drill session to finish. Thankfully things thinned out a bit near the end, so I was able to get those in without too much trouble. Ended up doing two underwater lengths to finish it off, as the lifeguards were removing the lane markers and doing anything on the surface would have been pretty messy ;)
In the afternoon I headed out for the planned 6 mile run. It was a fight for the whole distance, but I didn't have anywhere left to move the miles so I had to trudge through. I did debate whether I should cut back the mileage a bit, but decided against it as I had already lost enough on Wednesday. I limited my pace to keep heart rate under control and drank plenty of water so it wasn't too bad. Either way, it felt great when I eventually headed into the air conditioned environment inside ;)
Thankfully, the heat dropped back a bit on Friday so the 6 miler I moved from Tuesday went pretty well. Naturally, it was still quite hot out there, but it was nowhere near as bad as the last few days so it felt quite good. While the body wanted to go faster, I did what I could to reign it in as I figured that it needed some time to recover from the stress of the earlier sessions. As expected, I ended up missing the cycling session due to intermittent rain - it didn't end up adding up to much, but it threatened for the whole day so I didn't head out.
Saturday was looking great as well, so the group that I periodically ride with met up at 8:00am and headed out for a planned 70K route. This was a little shorter than I had planned to do, and the pace of these group rides was a bit slower, but it's worth it to have some great company on these multi-hour rides. When we get into the 100+km range, I'm not fond of heading out solo simply because of safety reasons (if something happens and I'm 50K out, help is at least an hour away). Either way, the weather ended up being absolutely perfect and we got in a great ride before the temperatures started climbing.
I was considering doing a short ~20-30K extra after the ride, but one of the guys offered to have everyone over to watch a stage of the TDF so I figured that was the better course of action. While we do get to chat a bit on the bike, there are long stretches of road where that isn't possible (lots of traffic so we have to stick to a paceline, big hills that string the group out a bit, etc.) and it's nice to have a chance to just sit back and enjoy the company.
This morning the temperatures started climbing back up, which was not exactly welcome for the 17 miler that I had planned. It wasn't nearly as bad as it was last week, but with a much longer distance on the schedule keeping hydrated was going to be more difficult. As I headed out, I elected to pull it back to 16 miles and stick with the route I did a couple of weeks ago to be safe.
It also didn't help that my legs wanted to go fast today, and every time I stopped actively paying attention to my pace it started drifting into tempo territory. I was actually feeling pretty good for the duration (likely why the body wanted to accelerate), but my heart rate was running higher than I would have liked (more due to the higher pace than the heat) and I was quite thirsty so I was going through my bottles faster than planned. Either way, I kept a closer eye on my watch to control pace (making a nice sine wave on my pace plot) and did what I could to ration the fluids.
At the 13 mile mark, I was down to one 8oz bottle of Gatorade so I pulled into a 7-11 along the route to resupply. After grabbing a bottle from the freezer, I noticed that they were giving away free 7.11oz slurpies so I picked up one of those as well before heading to the counter. That ended up working quite well, as aside from quenching my thirst a bit the ice helped to bring down my core temperature a bit and make the next few miles more comfortable (plus, when you're really thirsty they taste so much better than normal) ;)
After a few more miles I picked up a bit of extra water from a community centre, then finished off the final stretch. Aside from drinking so much, the run actually went quite well. I was relatively comfortable throughout despite the high temperatures and faster than planned 4:50/km pace. Probably could have squeezed in that extra mile, but didn't want to risk it as I was running low on fluids when I hit the 16 mile mark.
While my mileage was a bit shorter than scheduled, considering the conditions this week I'm satisfied with what I did manage to squeeze in. It's looking like this summer is going to be pretty hot, so I'm going to have to do more to acclimatize myself to this sort of weather. From prior experience it does get easier with time, but the process of getting to that point is unfortunately not terribly pleasant.
Week 27 Totals:
Running: 52.1km (32.4mi)
Walking: 3.8km (2.4mi)
Cycling: 148.6km (92.3mi)
Swimming: 7.8km (4.8mi)
Total: 212.3km (131.9mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 1157.0km (718.9mi)
Walking: 63.0km (39.1mi)
Cycling: 2519.3km (1565.4mi)
Swimming: 171.9km (106.8mi)
Total: 3911.2km (2430.3mi)
I started off the week by heading out for Monday's 50K ride in the morning to try and cut down on the heat. Unfortunately there are limits to how early I like to get out for rides, as rush hour traffic in the morning can be pretty aggressive so I settled on heading out at 9am. While it was much better than it would have been in the afternoon, it was still pretty bad at this point and I had to take in a lot of fluids. Thankfully there was a bit of a wind blowing in from the west, so that helped to cool things down a bit. Either way, I didn't push quite as hard as normal and let myself take periodic breaks when I happened upon some shade along the side of the road.
On Tuesday, I was scheduled for a swim in the morning and then a 6 mile run in the afternoon. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that the pool switched over to their summer schedule this week so when I got there at the normal time it wasn't open yet. The other annoyance is that they've decreased the session length from two hours to 90 minutes, which meant that I had to modify my program to fit in the shorter time frame. Either way, I headed back an hour later to find the change room packed, so I elected to just do a continuous set as that was the only way to get the required mileage in.
I managed to work in 4,250m in the 1h24m that I had to work with (lost some time at the beginning as the lifeguards didn't have the lane markers in yet). As such, I did get more than sufficient distance in, however a continuous set meant that I didn't have much in the way of a warmup and wasn't able to get any drill work in. Didn't have a whole lot of choice, however, as aside from the time limitations the lanes were packed so trying to do those things would have been difficult either way.
In the afternoon, I took a look at the weather reports and saw that Friday was scheduled to be cooler. They were also calling for rain, so it was unlikely I'd be able to get the scheduled ride in on that day and I elected to move the 6 miler back. With the heat out there any attempt to run would be very unpleasant and likely not particularly productive, so I figured this was my safest bet.
The next morning, I again headed out early on the bike for my scheduled 30K ride. It wasn't quite as bad as the day before, but it was still pretty brutal so I again took it easy. Aside from pulling back on the pace, I also took a slightly different route than normal that avoided a substantial hill. Thankfully, it was only a short distance ride so I managed to get it all in without burning myself out too much.
In the evening, I headed out for my normal group run at the local Running Room shop. Thanks to the heat, it was a pretty light showing so our normal group got together with one of the clinic groups. As such, we ended up doing only 7K at a significantly slower pace than normal, but with the conditions no one really complained. The temperatures did get to a few people, however, so the group got strung out a bit and I did get a few bursts of speed as bridged the gaps between the sub-groups to marshal them back to the slower runners. Either way, I was glad to do what I could to help people fight through it - these are the sorts of days that can be hard when you're just starting out, so I'm happy to lend whatever moral support that I can.
Thursday I headed back out to the pool, but as I had a bit of extra distance on the books I elected to make sure and fit some drills into the session. The pool was again quite busy, so I ended up doing a continuous 3,000m set first and then a quick 500m drill session to finish. Thankfully things thinned out a bit near the end, so I was able to get those in without too much trouble. Ended up doing two underwater lengths to finish it off, as the lifeguards were removing the lane markers and doing anything on the surface would have been pretty messy ;)
In the afternoon I headed out for the planned 6 mile run. It was a fight for the whole distance, but I didn't have anywhere left to move the miles so I had to trudge through. I did debate whether I should cut back the mileage a bit, but decided against it as I had already lost enough on Wednesday. I limited my pace to keep heart rate under control and drank plenty of water so it wasn't too bad. Either way, it felt great when I eventually headed into the air conditioned environment inside ;)
Thankfully, the heat dropped back a bit on Friday so the 6 miler I moved from Tuesday went pretty well. Naturally, it was still quite hot out there, but it was nowhere near as bad as the last few days so it felt quite good. While the body wanted to go faster, I did what I could to reign it in as I figured that it needed some time to recover from the stress of the earlier sessions. As expected, I ended up missing the cycling session due to intermittent rain - it didn't end up adding up to much, but it threatened for the whole day so I didn't head out.
Saturday was looking great as well, so the group that I periodically ride with met up at 8:00am and headed out for a planned 70K route. This was a little shorter than I had planned to do, and the pace of these group rides was a bit slower, but it's worth it to have some great company on these multi-hour rides. When we get into the 100+km range, I'm not fond of heading out solo simply because of safety reasons (if something happens and I'm 50K out, help is at least an hour away). Either way, the weather ended up being absolutely perfect and we got in a great ride before the temperatures started climbing.
I was considering doing a short ~20-30K extra after the ride, but one of the guys offered to have everyone over to watch a stage of the TDF so I figured that was the better course of action. While we do get to chat a bit on the bike, there are long stretches of road where that isn't possible (lots of traffic so we have to stick to a paceline, big hills that string the group out a bit, etc.) and it's nice to have a chance to just sit back and enjoy the company.
This morning the temperatures started climbing back up, which was not exactly welcome for the 17 miler that I had planned. It wasn't nearly as bad as it was last week, but with a much longer distance on the schedule keeping hydrated was going to be more difficult. As I headed out, I elected to pull it back to 16 miles and stick with the route I did a couple of weeks ago to be safe.
It also didn't help that my legs wanted to go fast today, and every time I stopped actively paying attention to my pace it started drifting into tempo territory. I was actually feeling pretty good for the duration (likely why the body wanted to accelerate), but my heart rate was running higher than I would have liked (more due to the higher pace than the heat) and I was quite thirsty so I was going through my bottles faster than planned. Either way, I kept a closer eye on my watch to control pace (making a nice sine wave on my pace plot) and did what I could to ration the fluids.
At the 13 mile mark, I was down to one 8oz bottle of Gatorade so I pulled into a 7-11 along the route to resupply. After grabbing a bottle from the freezer, I noticed that they were giving away free 7.11oz slurpies so I picked up one of those as well before heading to the counter. That ended up working quite well, as aside from quenching my thirst a bit the ice helped to bring down my core temperature a bit and make the next few miles more comfortable (plus, when you're really thirsty they taste so much better than normal) ;)
After a few more miles I picked up a bit of extra water from a community centre, then finished off the final stretch. Aside from drinking so much, the run actually went quite well. I was relatively comfortable throughout despite the high temperatures and faster than planned 4:50/km pace. Probably could have squeezed in that extra mile, but didn't want to risk it as I was running low on fluids when I hit the 16 mile mark.
While my mileage was a bit shorter than scheduled, considering the conditions this week I'm satisfied with what I did manage to squeeze in. It's looking like this summer is going to be pretty hot, so I'm going to have to do more to acclimatize myself to this sort of weather. From prior experience it does get easier with time, but the process of getting to that point is unfortunately not terribly pleasant.
Week 27 Totals:
Running: 52.1km (32.4mi)
Walking: 3.8km (2.4mi)
Cycling: 148.6km (92.3mi)
Swimming: 7.8km (4.8mi)
Total: 212.3km (131.9mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 1157.0km (718.9mi)
Walking: 63.0km (39.1mi)
Cycling: 2519.3km (1565.4mi)
Swimming: 171.9km (106.8mi)
Total: 3911.2km (2430.3mi)
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Week 26: Review
My mileage has been steadily climbing for more than a month now, so as noted in my previous review I elected to make this week a recovery week. With Canada Day on Thursday, a fishing trip on Friday and a few other commitments in the week I knew that it would be a busy one so that worked out well, as it afforded me a little more flexibility in moving things around. In the end I dropped a couple of runs (6mi & 4mi) as well as one of my swims (~3K) and one ride (~50k), and I also cut back the mileage for today's long run.
The only downside to this approach was that the weather was absolutely perfect this week, so I hated wasting good days. With that said, these recovery weeks are critical to avoid injury so it was something that had to be done. If this TRIMP algorithm is accurate, it appears to have paid off as my CTL (fitness level) and ATL (fatigue level) are lined up again which indicates that the recovery went well (have to research these synthetic metrics a bit more, as they appear to be quite useful).
I had hoped to get some open water swimming in on Friday while I was out on the lake, but we never got a chance to get to a beach so that didn't work out. With that said, I'm not sure that it would have been possible to do much as most of the beaches on lake Erie are swarming with boats so getting out deep enough to swim would likely be pretty risky. Either way, it was a great day out with family and helped to work out a bit of stress from the system ;)
Unfortunately, we're now back to the brutal heat and humidity so the next week is going to be a fight as I ramp things up again. This morning's run was extremely difficult, as the humidex was up to 44C (111F) when I headed out and it really hit me hard. I had planned to do 13 miles, but ended up cuting it short at 11 miles as my heart rate was climbing higher than I was comfortable with. Compounding the issue was that my legs were feeling great, so my body kept accelerating on me and it was difficult to keep things slow. Either way, I'm glad that this was a recovery week as if I'd tried to do a 16 or 17 miler, it would have been quite the fight.
Week 26 Totals:
Running: 38.7km (24.0mi)
Walking: 1.7km (1.1mi)
Cycling: 174.9km (108.7mi)
Swimming: 4.0km (2.5mi)
Total: 219.3km (136.3mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 1104.9km (686.6mi)
Walking: 59.2km (36.8mi)
Cycling: 2370.7km (1473.1mi)
Swimming: 164.1km (102.0mi)
Total: 3698.9km (2298.4mi)
The plan for the upcoming week will be to begin ramping things up again, although the forecast is calling for more of today's brutal heat so that's going to be difficult. We got spoiled by the great temperatures last week, so going back to the sticky weather isn't going to be fun :oP
Tentative Schedule:
Mon 50K Ride
Tue 3.25K Swim, 6mi Recovery
Wed 30K Ride, 6mi Recovery
Thurs 3.25K Swim, 6mi GA
Fri 50K Ride
Sat 4mi Recovery, 90k Ride
Sun 17mi (27.4K) LSD
The only downside to this approach was that the weather was absolutely perfect this week, so I hated wasting good days. With that said, these recovery weeks are critical to avoid injury so it was something that had to be done. If this TRIMP algorithm is accurate, it appears to have paid off as my CTL (fitness level) and ATL (fatigue level) are lined up again which indicates that the recovery went well (have to research these synthetic metrics a bit more, as they appear to be quite useful).
I had hoped to get some open water swimming in on Friday while I was out on the lake, but we never got a chance to get to a beach so that didn't work out. With that said, I'm not sure that it would have been possible to do much as most of the beaches on lake Erie are swarming with boats so getting out deep enough to swim would likely be pretty risky. Either way, it was a great day out with family and helped to work out a bit of stress from the system ;)
Unfortunately, we're now back to the brutal heat and humidity so the next week is going to be a fight as I ramp things up again. This morning's run was extremely difficult, as the humidex was up to 44C (111F) when I headed out and it really hit me hard. I had planned to do 13 miles, but ended up cuting it short at 11 miles as my heart rate was climbing higher than I was comfortable with. Compounding the issue was that my legs were feeling great, so my body kept accelerating on me and it was difficult to keep things slow. Either way, I'm glad that this was a recovery week as if I'd tried to do a 16 or 17 miler, it would have been quite the fight.
Week 26 Totals:
Running: 38.7km (24.0mi)
Walking: 1.7km (1.1mi)
Cycling: 174.9km (108.7mi)
Swimming: 4.0km (2.5mi)
Total: 219.3km (136.3mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 1104.9km (686.6mi)
Walking: 59.2km (36.8mi)
Cycling: 2370.7km (1473.1mi)
Swimming: 164.1km (102.0mi)
Total: 3698.9km (2298.4mi)
The plan for the upcoming week will be to begin ramping things up again, although the forecast is calling for more of today's brutal heat so that's going to be difficult. We got spoiled by the great temperatures last week, so going back to the sticky weather isn't going to be fun :oP
Tentative Schedule:
Mon 50K Ride
Tue 3.25K Swim, 6mi Recovery
Wed 30K Ride, 6mi Recovery
Thurs 3.25K Swim, 6mi GA
Fri 50K Ride
Sat 4mi Recovery, 90k Ride
Sun 17mi (27.4K) LSD
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Week 25: Review
Another good week for training, the only real exception was the rain yesterday taking a chunk out of my cycling mileage. Thankfully Friday's weather was good, so I was able to switch around the long ride for one of the medium distance ones in order to limit the damage. With that said, the heat and humidity have been lingering for most of the week so while I did get pretty close to my mileage targets the paces were a bit slower than I'd like.
On the swimming front, the pools are starting to get busier as the summer begins to come around. Tuesday's session, for instance, was packed and I basically had to choose between fighting through extremely slow swimmers (~3:00+/100m) in the medium lane or pushing it to try and keep up with the guys in the fast lane. I decided to bite the bullet and stick with the stronger group, and while it wore me out pretty good (trying to do 1500m sets while keeping up with guys doing 100m sets added to the complexity) I was able to get my mileage in :D
As for running, I was debating whether I should do another 16 miler like I did last week or back off a bit and call it a recovery week. With Canada Day coming this week, however, I figured it would be better to tough it out this morning and allow myself to take a few liberties next week as the schedule will likely be a bit tighter. Fortunately it was overcast this morning so I didn't have to deal with the sun like last week, but the humidity was pretty brutal and it was hard to breath in that thick air. Either way, I managed to fight through it and log another 16 miles at a reasonable pace.
Week 25 Totals:
Running: 59.7km (37.1mi)
Walking: 2.1km (1.3mi)
Cycling: 166.5km (103.4mi)
Swimming: 7.3km (4.5mi)
Total: 235.6km (146.4mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 1066.2km (662.5mi)
Walking: 57.5km (35.7mi)
Cycling: 2195.8km (1364.4mi)
Swimming: 160.1km (99.5mi)
Total: 3479.6km (2162.1mi)
I still haven't gotten around to settling in on a race plan for the year, and as such my training is still operating on an ad-hoc basis. Normally I'd be worried about not being in a structured plan at this point, however fortunately I've managed to maintain pretty high base mileage in all three sports so it shouldn't be too hard to work spool myself into a program when I do lock things down.
While there are tonnes of pre-planned running programs to work with, most Triathlon books I've read so far just give you the principles and leave it to the reader to build up their own plan. It makes sense as it would likely be difficult to pin down a fixed plan given all the variables inherent in multi-sport events. How much time one should devote to each of the three sports is going to depend on their strengths and weaknesses so some personalization is required. I'd love to sign up for a proper coaching service (where a skilled professional could design a dedicated plan for me), but at this juncture that's just not realistic. As such, I've got to find some time to sit down, consolidate the theory that I've read up on so far and put together something.
In other news, I've looked through my options of the hydration front and have pretty much settled on picking up a Speedfil for the bike. I still need to hunt down a retailer that actually has these things so I can check it out in person, but it seems to be the most logical choice for my requirements. While I do generally get enough to drink on training rides, I only tend to drink when I come to a stop. This means that I gulp water down rather than slowly sip during a ride, and in a race scenario where there are no stops I'm worried about not getting enough in. Having that straw in my face seems like a good way to address both of those issues, and I think that's worth the cost of a bit more aerodynamic drag.
On the swimming front, the pools are starting to get busier as the summer begins to come around. Tuesday's session, for instance, was packed and I basically had to choose between fighting through extremely slow swimmers (~3:00+/100m) in the medium lane or pushing it to try and keep up with the guys in the fast lane. I decided to bite the bullet and stick with the stronger group, and while it wore me out pretty good (trying to do 1500m sets while keeping up with guys doing 100m sets added to the complexity) I was able to get my mileage in :D
As for running, I was debating whether I should do another 16 miler like I did last week or back off a bit and call it a recovery week. With Canada Day coming this week, however, I figured it would be better to tough it out this morning and allow myself to take a few liberties next week as the schedule will likely be a bit tighter. Fortunately it was overcast this morning so I didn't have to deal with the sun like last week, but the humidity was pretty brutal and it was hard to breath in that thick air. Either way, I managed to fight through it and log another 16 miles at a reasonable pace.
Week 25 Totals:
Running: 59.7km (37.1mi)
Walking: 2.1km (1.3mi)
Cycling: 166.5km (103.4mi)
Swimming: 7.3km (4.5mi)
Total: 235.6km (146.4mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 1066.2km (662.5mi)
Walking: 57.5km (35.7mi)
Cycling: 2195.8km (1364.4mi)
Swimming: 160.1km (99.5mi)
Total: 3479.6km (2162.1mi)
I still haven't gotten around to settling in on a race plan for the year, and as such my training is still operating on an ad-hoc basis. Normally I'd be worried about not being in a structured plan at this point, however fortunately I've managed to maintain pretty high base mileage in all three sports so it shouldn't be too hard to work spool myself into a program when I do lock things down.
While there are tonnes of pre-planned running programs to work with, most Triathlon books I've read so far just give you the principles and leave it to the reader to build up their own plan. It makes sense as it would likely be difficult to pin down a fixed plan given all the variables inherent in multi-sport events. How much time one should devote to each of the three sports is going to depend on their strengths and weaknesses so some personalization is required. I'd love to sign up for a proper coaching service (where a skilled professional could design a dedicated plan for me), but at this juncture that's just not realistic. As such, I've got to find some time to sit down, consolidate the theory that I've read up on so far and put together something.
In other news, I've looked through my options of the hydration front and have pretty much settled on picking up a Speedfil for the bike. I still need to hunt down a retailer that actually has these things so I can check it out in person, but it seems to be the most logical choice for my requirements. While I do generally get enough to drink on training rides, I only tend to drink when I come to a stop. This means that I gulp water down rather than slowly sip during a ride, and in a race scenario where there are no stops I'm worried about not getting enough in. Having that straw in my face seems like a good way to address both of those issues, and I think that's worth the cost of a bit more aerodynamic drag.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Catching Up: Weeks 22-24
Have been pretty busy the last few weeks and unfortunately have been falling behind on adding my weekly reviews. As such, I'm bunching together the last three weeks into one post to get back on track and will have to make sure to find some more time in the upcoming weeks ;)
For the most part, the last little while has worked out relatively well. My running and swimming targets haven't been too much trouble, but my cycling is a bit behind thanks to a string of crappy weather on Saturday mornings (when I normally do my long rides). I've compensated by moving rides around a bit, but it's difficult to find the necessary amount of time on weekdays to complete significant distances. I'll have to try harder as I want to start ratcheting up my mileage and get some 100 mile rides in this summer, but that's going to be partially dependent on what mother nature throws my way ;)
Either way, my totals are as follows:
Week 22 Totals:
Running: 51.5km (32.0mi)
Walking: 1.3km (0.8mi)
Cycling: 140.9km (87.6mi)
Swimming: 7.1km (4.4mi)
Total: 200.8km (124.8mi)
Week 23 Totals:
Running: 56.6km (35.2mi)
Walking: 1.3km (0.8mi)
Cycling: 134.8km (83.8mi)
Swimming: 7.5km (4.7mi)
Total: 200.2km (124.4mi)
Week 24 Totals:
Running: 59.6km (37.0mi)
Walking: 2.9km (1.8mi)
Cycling: 137.1km (85.2mi)
Swimming: 7.0km (4.3mi)
Total: 206.6km (128.4mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 1006.5km (625.4mi)
Walking: 55.4km (34.4mi)
Cycling: 2029.3km (1260.9mi)
Swimming: 152.8km (94.9mi)
Total: 3244.0km (2015.7mi)
Longer term, I still need to figure out a racing schedule for this year. Things have been crazy recently so the two early season races I was eying have come and gone. As I've mentioned before, I'd really like to fit in Ironman Muskoka in September, but before I commit I want to get some intermediate distances in to make sure I'm ready. I'm probably looking at somewhere between five and six hours to finish such a race, which looks pretty intimidating considering my marathon only took 3.5 and I was pretty wiped by the end.
Additionally, it's also quite an expensive race ($270 for registration, plus a hotel for at least one night, pre-race meals, wetsuit rental, etc...) so part of me is thinking that it might be smarter to do a few other races and use the left over funds to buy my own wetsuit by the end of the year. It's not so much that I mind paying that kind of money for a race, but if I'm going to do that I'd like to be a bit more confident that I'm going to do well in it before I do.
Ideally I could do some of the unofficial half-iron races first (with the objective to simply finish) and then the real thing in September (with a proper time objective), but unfortunately those races are in the next couple of weeks and there was no way I could get up to speed this year. If I limit myself to a long course triathlon (2K/55K/15K) this year, I'd likely be able to ramp up fast enough to pull that plan off in the following year.
Either way, will have to think about it a bit more but I do have to come to a decision soon as a formal training plan is getting more and more critical :oP
For the most part, the last little while has worked out relatively well. My running and swimming targets haven't been too much trouble, but my cycling is a bit behind thanks to a string of crappy weather on Saturday mornings (when I normally do my long rides). I've compensated by moving rides around a bit, but it's difficult to find the necessary amount of time on weekdays to complete significant distances. I'll have to try harder as I want to start ratcheting up my mileage and get some 100 mile rides in this summer, but that's going to be partially dependent on what mother nature throws my way ;)
Either way, my totals are as follows:
Week 22 Totals:
Running: 51.5km (32.0mi)
Walking: 1.3km (0.8mi)
Cycling: 140.9km (87.6mi)
Swimming: 7.1km (4.4mi)
Total: 200.8km (124.8mi)
Week 23 Totals:
Running: 56.6km (35.2mi)
Walking: 1.3km (0.8mi)
Cycling: 134.8km (83.8mi)
Swimming: 7.5km (4.7mi)
Total: 200.2km (124.4mi)
Week 24 Totals:
Running: 59.6km (37.0mi)
Walking: 2.9km (1.8mi)
Cycling: 137.1km (85.2mi)
Swimming: 7.0km (4.3mi)
Total: 206.6km (128.4mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 1006.5km (625.4mi)
Walking: 55.4km (34.4mi)
Cycling: 2029.3km (1260.9mi)
Swimming: 152.8km (94.9mi)
Total: 3244.0km (2015.7mi)
Longer term, I still need to figure out a racing schedule for this year. Things have been crazy recently so the two early season races I was eying have come and gone. As I've mentioned before, I'd really like to fit in Ironman Muskoka in September, but before I commit I want to get some intermediate distances in to make sure I'm ready. I'm probably looking at somewhere between five and six hours to finish such a race, which looks pretty intimidating considering my marathon only took 3.5 and I was pretty wiped by the end.
Additionally, it's also quite an expensive race ($270 for registration, plus a hotel for at least one night, pre-race meals, wetsuit rental, etc...) so part of me is thinking that it might be smarter to do a few other races and use the left over funds to buy my own wetsuit by the end of the year. It's not so much that I mind paying that kind of money for a race, but if I'm going to do that I'd like to be a bit more confident that I'm going to do well in it before I do.
Ideally I could do some of the unofficial half-iron races first (with the objective to simply finish) and then the real thing in September (with a proper time objective), but unfortunately those races are in the next couple of weeks and there was no way I could get up to speed this year. If I limit myself to a long course triathlon (2K/55K/15K) this year, I'd likely be able to ramp up fast enough to pull that plan off in the following year.
Either way, will have to think about it a bit more but I do have to come to a decision soon as a formal training plan is getting more and more critical :oP
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Working on Climbing
For my first year and a half of riding, I used a simple Cateye computer that gave mean real time readings but didn't record that data. I used my Polar running computer to record some basic information (time, heart rate and elevation), but without speed/distance/cadence plots to go along with it that data had limitations to it's usefulness. I finally got around to getting a proper cyclocomputer (Garmin Edge 705) earlier this year, which has allowed me to better examine what I am doing on the bike.
One of the aspects that I've been trying to work on has been climbing on the bike. Looking over my ride data, it appears that it's more of a psychological issue than a physical one. Even during the biggest climbs, my heart rate while ascending is almost always significantly lower than it is on long flat stretches (where I'm pushing to get the speed up). Further, my cadence is generally up around 110rpm which indicates that I'm shifting down too early and the fatigue is likely more from spinning like a madman than pushing too hard.
Part of this is simply a matter of being over conservative when it comes to budgeting available strength. On the flat segments I can go all out as when/if I get tired it's easy enough to slow down and/or stop for a rest. On a climb, however, you need a good amount of power to simply keep moving forward so tiring out is a big problem. Stopping is also not really an option, as trying to cold start up a hill is very difficult and walking it up is pretty much impossible with cycling shoes. Rationally, however, most of those flats last a lot longer than any hill around here so I need to learn to cut into some of those margins when heading up a heavy grade.
Naturally, the physical aspect follows the psychological one. By falling back to an easy gear too early, I'm not developing the force necessary to keep turning a large gear at lower cadences. That in turn reinforces the behavior, as it becomes progressively easier to rely on high leg speeds rather than high force when climbing as that's what the body is adapting to. As such, the only way to break this habit is to explicitly focus on correcting it.
As such, I've been trying to go out of my way to select hilly routes over the last few weeks to work on this. This morning the weather was a lot cooler than it's been lately, so I elected to give it an extra push when I got to the uphill bits. Whenever I hit a steep uphill segment, I left it in the big ring (bottoming out at 50x19, but typically at around 50x17) and forced myself to push through it. Fortunately, I was able to get up all of them without any trouble (although I had to break down and stand to make it up the last bit of the final hill), and while I felt like crap on the way up I recovered reasonably quickly afterward.
This is certainly not the optimum strategy for normal riding as it makes for a slow final stretch when the legs are fighting off exhaustion. Regardless, I figure that the exaggerated quantities of force required are a good way to train myself (both mentally and physically) to be a little more aggressive with gear selection on my ascents. It's naturally going to take a lot more of this to build my climbing strength up, but with enough work I'm hoping to get a lot better at this aspect of my riding.
Situations like this are where power meters come in very handy as they provide objective guidance on what can be sustained. If one can hold X wattage down a flat stretch of road for Y minutes, then the same can be done on a hill. The speeds and gearing will be radically different, but if you're holding the same power level then all of that is irrelevant. Unfortunately resources don't allow me to get that particular tool at this point, but it's definitely high on the list ;)
One of the aspects that I've been trying to work on has been climbing on the bike. Looking over my ride data, it appears that it's more of a psychological issue than a physical one. Even during the biggest climbs, my heart rate while ascending is almost always significantly lower than it is on long flat stretches (where I'm pushing to get the speed up). Further, my cadence is generally up around 110rpm which indicates that I'm shifting down too early and the fatigue is likely more from spinning like a madman than pushing too hard.
Part of this is simply a matter of being over conservative when it comes to budgeting available strength. On the flat segments I can go all out as when/if I get tired it's easy enough to slow down and/or stop for a rest. On a climb, however, you need a good amount of power to simply keep moving forward so tiring out is a big problem. Stopping is also not really an option, as trying to cold start up a hill is very difficult and walking it up is pretty much impossible with cycling shoes. Rationally, however, most of those flats last a lot longer than any hill around here so I need to learn to cut into some of those margins when heading up a heavy grade.
Naturally, the physical aspect follows the psychological one. By falling back to an easy gear too early, I'm not developing the force necessary to keep turning a large gear at lower cadences. That in turn reinforces the behavior, as it becomes progressively easier to rely on high leg speeds rather than high force when climbing as that's what the body is adapting to. As such, the only way to break this habit is to explicitly focus on correcting it.
As such, I've been trying to go out of my way to select hilly routes over the last few weeks to work on this. This morning the weather was a lot cooler than it's been lately, so I elected to give it an extra push when I got to the uphill bits. Whenever I hit a steep uphill segment, I left it in the big ring (bottoming out at 50x19, but typically at around 50x17) and forced myself to push through it. Fortunately, I was able to get up all of them without any trouble (although I had to break down and stand to make it up the last bit of the final hill), and while I felt like crap on the way up I recovered reasonably quickly afterward.
This is certainly not the optimum strategy for normal riding as it makes for a slow final stretch when the legs are fighting off exhaustion. Regardless, I figure that the exaggerated quantities of force required are a good way to train myself (both mentally and physically) to be a little more aggressive with gear selection on my ascents. It's naturally going to take a lot more of this to build my climbing strength up, but with enough work I'm hoping to get a lot better at this aspect of my riding.
Situations like this are where power meters come in very handy as they provide objective guidance on what can be sustained. If one can hold X wattage down a flat stretch of road for Y minutes, then the same can be done on a hill. The speeds and gearing will be radically different, but if you're holding the same power level then all of that is irrelevant. Unfortunately resources don't allow me to get that particular tool at this point, but it's definitely high on the list ;)
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Week 21: Review
While the scorching heat this week made things a bit challenging, the weather was more or less stable so it was easy to fit everything in as planned. I did scale back some of the running mileage as the heat is still getting to me, but on the bike I managed to squeeze in my best week in a long time - logging a little over 150 miles. That included a lot of time in 40C+ weather as well as two individual rides longer than 50 miles (Monday and Saturday).
Yesterday's ride turned out great, as the heat and humidity abated for the day so I could enjoy the session a lot more than the previous rides this week. The winds were a bit strong, but they were relatively steady so it was just a matter of pushing a bit harder on the northbound segments of the route. I also picked a bit of a hillier route than normal, as that is one aspect of my riding that I still have to work on.
The stretch along St. John's Sideroad between Yonge and Dufferin offers a couple of long stretches of unrelenting climbs that do a good job of getting the legs burning. A small downhill segment in the middle looks promising, but unfortunately the traffic lights at its base mean that it doesn't really help much (just means you have to re-climb that lost altitude). Either way, it's difficult to find a good sustained climb like that in this area so I'm hoping to give it a few more shots this summer.
Regardless, thanks to all of that this week reaches a number of milestones with my YTD running total popping its head over 500mi and cycling over 1000mi. My cycling mileage this month is also the highest that I've recorded, with a little under 380mi/611km. I would have liked to add to that total tomorrow, but unfortunately it doesn't look like the weather is going to make that feasible (will have to see - may be able to head out in the morning).
This morning the temperature and humidity decided to climb back up, so it made my planned 14 miler a bit more challenging. Fortunately, it didn't hit me quite as hard as it did last week so I was able to manage a decent pace for the distance. The temperature was a bit higher, but the humidity was much lower so it wasn't quite as bad. With that said, after a week of training in these conditions I think the body is starting to get used to it a bit. Naturally, running with humidex readings in the high 30s is never fun, but once the body acclimates to it it does get a lot easier.
Week 21 Totals:
Running: 46.9km (29.1mi)
Walking: 1.0km (0.6mi)
Cycling: 249.0km (154.7mi)
Swimming: 6.5km (4.0mi)
Total: 303.4km (188.5mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 838.8km (521.2mi)
Walking: 43.9km (27.3mi)
Cycling: 1616.5km (1004.4mi)
Swimming: 131.2km (81.5mi)
Total: 2630.4km (1634.5mi)
The upcoming week is going to be a bit more unsettled, although fortunately it looks like the temperatures will be falling quite a bit. It will make scheduling a bit more complicated, but I could really use a bit of a break from getting back home soaked every time I go out ;) I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Saturday will clear up a bit, as we weren't able to get a group ride in this week due to scheduling issues (lots of races this weekend) and I'd like to get back into that this week if at all possible.
Tentative Schedule:
Mon 32.3K Ride (if I can squeeze it in, this will get me to 400mi for the month)
Tue 3.25K Swim, 6mi Recovery
Wed 30K Ride, 6mi Recovery
Thurs 3.25K Swim, 6mi GA
Fri 50K Ride
Sat 4mi Recovery, 80k Ride
Sun 15mi (24.1K) LSD
Yesterday's ride turned out great, as the heat and humidity abated for the day so I could enjoy the session a lot more than the previous rides this week. The winds were a bit strong, but they were relatively steady so it was just a matter of pushing a bit harder on the northbound segments of the route. I also picked a bit of a hillier route than normal, as that is one aspect of my riding that I still have to work on.
The stretch along St. John's Sideroad between Yonge and Dufferin offers a couple of long stretches of unrelenting climbs that do a good job of getting the legs burning. A small downhill segment in the middle looks promising, but unfortunately the traffic lights at its base mean that it doesn't really help much (just means you have to re-climb that lost altitude). Either way, it's difficult to find a good sustained climb like that in this area so I'm hoping to give it a few more shots this summer.
Regardless, thanks to all of that this week reaches a number of milestones with my YTD running total popping its head over 500mi and cycling over 1000mi. My cycling mileage this month is also the highest that I've recorded, with a little under 380mi/611km. I would have liked to add to that total tomorrow, but unfortunately it doesn't look like the weather is going to make that feasible (will have to see - may be able to head out in the morning).
This morning the temperature and humidity decided to climb back up, so it made my planned 14 miler a bit more challenging. Fortunately, it didn't hit me quite as hard as it did last week so I was able to manage a decent pace for the distance. The temperature was a bit higher, but the humidity was much lower so it wasn't quite as bad. With that said, after a week of training in these conditions I think the body is starting to get used to it a bit. Naturally, running with humidex readings in the high 30s is never fun, but once the body acclimates to it it does get a lot easier.
Week 21 Totals:
Running: 46.9km (29.1mi)
Walking: 1.0km (0.6mi)
Cycling: 249.0km (154.7mi)
Swimming: 6.5km (4.0mi)
Total: 303.4km (188.5mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 838.8km (521.2mi)
Walking: 43.9km (27.3mi)
Cycling: 1616.5km (1004.4mi)
Swimming: 131.2km (81.5mi)
Total: 2630.4km (1634.5mi)
The upcoming week is going to be a bit more unsettled, although fortunately it looks like the temperatures will be falling quite a bit. It will make scheduling a bit more complicated, but I could really use a bit of a break from getting back home soaked every time I go out ;) I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Saturday will clear up a bit, as we weren't able to get a group ride in this week due to scheduling issues (lots of races this weekend) and I'd like to get back into that this week if at all possible.
Tentative Schedule:
Mon 32.3K Ride (if I can squeeze it in, this will get me to 400mi for the month)
Tue 3.25K Swim, 6mi Recovery
Wed 30K Ride, 6mi Recovery
Thurs 3.25K Swim, 6mi GA
Fri 50K Ride
Sat 4mi Recovery, 80k Ride
Sun 15mi (24.1K) LSD
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Extreme Heat Advisory
The last few days have been brutally hot, with ambient temperatures in the low 30s and humidity in the 50-70% range. That works out to the equivalent of about 40C (~104F) and combined with the clear skies and limited wind, it gets quite uncomfortable trying to get a decent workout done. Given that we're still used to the cold temperatures, that makes it even more difficult to get used to these kind of conditions.
Fortunately, I managed to squeeze out a decent long ride on Monday before it got really hot. I brought along four 500mL bottles of water (two on the frame, two behind the saddle), and had to stop on the way back to buy some more. While I was refilling my bottles, I ran into a few other cyclists who were also going dry, including one fellow who was making his way down from Collingwood (he had traveled 115km before we met up in Kettleby). Given that we were both heading in the same direction we elected to stick together to make the trip back down a bit easier. As such, we traded pulls every 4-5K before splitting off into different directions at Kirby Sideroad.
By the time I got back home I was pretty much wiped, as even with proper hydration the heat takes a significant toll. It was still a great ride, but the conditions drained my energy near the end so I'll have to retry this route on a more comfortable day. Either way, these are the types of conditions that we'll likely be seeing more of in the coming months, so it's good to try and get the body used to it.
Yesterday I had a 6 mile run scheduled, but the temperatures and humidity had gone up significantly since Monday so I chopped it down to 5 miles and slowed down the pace. Even with those efforts, however, the heat was getting to me and I ended up taking a few breaks to let myself cool down. I brought along about 500mL of Gatorade which worked out to be about right, however some water would have been handy to wash the sweat out of my eyes near the end of the run ;)
This morning, I headed out for a short and easy recovery ride. Given yesterday's heat and the fact that the weather reports were calling for warmer weather today, I took it really easy from the start. I allowed myself to simply coast downhill and immediately downshifted to an easy gear for any climbs. I allowed myself to speed up a bit on the flats to generate a bit of a wind to better evaporate the sweat, but I kept the effort in check so as not to get too hot.
About 5K in, a City of Vaughan works truck slowed down alongside me and offered me a bottle of water. I declined as I hadn't even started on either of my bottles, but was quite appreciative of the simple offer. I continued on, and about 3K later another truck offered me water again - I thanked them and politely declined again. I made my way onto Weston Rd and started heading north and into King City. After clearing the large hill along this route, I made my way over to Jane and started heading back. When I turned onto Teston Rd and started heading back home, a third truck drove by and offered me water once again. I was still doing well with my own supply, so thanked them and continued on.
While I wasn't able to really take advantage of it, I do appreciate the city crews going out of their way to help. We're under an extreme heat advisory right now, which means that municipalities take extra effort to help people cope with the weather - but I didn't expect them to go to these lengths, and am very appreciative of the offers. Having their trucks acting as rolling aide stations on days like this is something that's relatively easy to do, but can make a significant difference for a cyclist who didn't bring along enough to drink. Had they been around on Monday, I most definitely would have taken them up on their offer ;)
Either way, we've got a group run scheduled for tonight that should be interesting and the weather is expected to stay in this range for the next couple of days. Fortunately, it looks like it will be cooling down a bit over the weekend so hopefully I won't have to fight through too much more of this. Unfortunately, it's just May at this point and summer hasn't even started so I'm a bit nervous about what the next few months are going to bring...
Fortunately, I managed to squeeze out a decent long ride on Monday before it got really hot. I brought along four 500mL bottles of water (two on the frame, two behind the saddle), and had to stop on the way back to buy some more. While I was refilling my bottles, I ran into a few other cyclists who were also going dry, including one fellow who was making his way down from Collingwood (he had traveled 115km before we met up in Kettleby). Given that we were both heading in the same direction we elected to stick together to make the trip back down a bit easier. As such, we traded pulls every 4-5K before splitting off into different directions at Kirby Sideroad.
By the time I got back home I was pretty much wiped, as even with proper hydration the heat takes a significant toll. It was still a great ride, but the conditions drained my energy near the end so I'll have to retry this route on a more comfortable day. Either way, these are the types of conditions that we'll likely be seeing more of in the coming months, so it's good to try and get the body used to it.
Yesterday I had a 6 mile run scheduled, but the temperatures and humidity had gone up significantly since Monday so I chopped it down to 5 miles and slowed down the pace. Even with those efforts, however, the heat was getting to me and I ended up taking a few breaks to let myself cool down. I brought along about 500mL of Gatorade which worked out to be about right, however some water would have been handy to wash the sweat out of my eyes near the end of the run ;)
This morning, I headed out for a short and easy recovery ride. Given yesterday's heat and the fact that the weather reports were calling for warmer weather today, I took it really easy from the start. I allowed myself to simply coast downhill and immediately downshifted to an easy gear for any climbs. I allowed myself to speed up a bit on the flats to generate a bit of a wind to better evaporate the sweat, but I kept the effort in check so as not to get too hot.
About 5K in, a City of Vaughan works truck slowed down alongside me and offered me a bottle of water. I declined as I hadn't even started on either of my bottles, but was quite appreciative of the simple offer. I continued on, and about 3K later another truck offered me water again - I thanked them and politely declined again. I made my way onto Weston Rd and started heading north and into King City. After clearing the large hill along this route, I made my way over to Jane and started heading back. When I turned onto Teston Rd and started heading back home, a third truck drove by and offered me water once again. I was still doing well with my own supply, so thanked them and continued on.
While I wasn't able to really take advantage of it, I do appreciate the city crews going out of their way to help. We're under an extreme heat advisory right now, which means that municipalities take extra effort to help people cope with the weather - but I didn't expect them to go to these lengths, and am very appreciative of the offers. Having their trucks acting as rolling aide stations on days like this is something that's relatively easy to do, but can make a significant difference for a cyclist who didn't bring along enough to drink. Had they been around on Monday, I most definitely would have taken them up on their offer ;)
Either way, we've got a group run scheduled for tonight that should be interesting and the weather is expected to stay in this range for the next couple of days. Fortunately, it looks like it will be cooling down a bit over the weekend so hopefully I won't have to fight through too much more of this. Unfortunately, it's just May at this point and summer hasn't even started so I'm a bit nervous about what the next few months are going to bring...
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Week 20: Review
It was a pretty good week overall. The heat and humidity are beginning to climb again, which made the sessions a bit more difficult, but thankfully there wasn't much rain so it was easier to get everything in. Yesterday was the only real exception to that, and while it looked like it was going to pour all day long it didn't really amount to much. To be safe, I skipped my ride yesterday (didn't want to get stuck in a downpour) after doing a longer than planned ride on Friday.
I did end up missing one of my planned 6 milers this week due to scheduling. I had a meeting in the afternoon on Thursday, so I elected to move the run back to Friday and treat it as a brick. Unfortunately I didn't account for the extra time the ride would take due to traffic (Friday before a long weekend and all), and when I did end up getting home I didn't have time to squeeze it in.
Other than that, this week pretty much went exactly to plan. This morning's 14 miler was punishing thanks to the heat and humidity, but I managed to get it all in without any problems. I was pretty much drenched by the time I got home and my shoes got saturated with about 5 miles to go, so I was sloshing around in them for the last little bit ;) Fortunately, I brought along all four bottles of Gatorade in my hydration belt, so I had plenty of fluids to take care of me for this distance (only ended up using three of them during the run, although I polished off the fourth while I stretched).
Week 20 Totals:
Running: 47.9km (29.8mi)
Walking: 0.6km (0.4mi)
Cycling: 150.7km (93.6mi)
Swimming: 7.2km (4.5mi)
Total: 206.4km (128.3mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 791.9km (492.1mi)
Walking: 42.9km (26.7mi)
Cycling: 1367.5km (849.7mi)
Swimming: 124.7km (77.5mi)
Total: 2327.0km (1445.9mi)
The upcoming week is looking like it's going to be a scorcher, however it also looks clear of any precipitation so it will likely be good for getting everything in. Tomorrow is a holiday in these parts, so I'm hoping to squeeze in a nice long ride to take full advantage of it ;) I will have to be careful to take in lots of fluids over this week, however, as my body is still getting used to dealing with the heat and humidity again.
Tentative Schedule:
Mon 80K Ride
Tue 3.25K Swim, 6mi Recovery
Wed 30K Ride, 6mi Recovery
Thurs 3.25K Swim, 6mi GA
Fri 50K Ride
Sat 4mi Recovery, 80k Ride
Sun 14mi (22.5K) LSD
I did end up missing one of my planned 6 milers this week due to scheduling. I had a meeting in the afternoon on Thursday, so I elected to move the run back to Friday and treat it as a brick. Unfortunately I didn't account for the extra time the ride would take due to traffic (Friday before a long weekend and all), and when I did end up getting home I didn't have time to squeeze it in.
Other than that, this week pretty much went exactly to plan. This morning's 14 miler was punishing thanks to the heat and humidity, but I managed to get it all in without any problems. I was pretty much drenched by the time I got home and my shoes got saturated with about 5 miles to go, so I was sloshing around in them for the last little bit ;) Fortunately, I brought along all four bottles of Gatorade in my hydration belt, so I had plenty of fluids to take care of me for this distance (only ended up using three of them during the run, although I polished off the fourth while I stretched).
Week 20 Totals:
Running: 47.9km (29.8mi)
Walking: 0.6km (0.4mi)
Cycling: 150.7km (93.6mi)
Swimming: 7.2km (4.5mi)
Total: 206.4km (128.3mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 791.9km (492.1mi)
Walking: 42.9km (26.7mi)
Cycling: 1367.5km (849.7mi)
Swimming: 124.7km (77.5mi)
Total: 2327.0km (1445.9mi)
The upcoming week is looking like it's going to be a scorcher, however it also looks clear of any precipitation so it will likely be good for getting everything in. Tomorrow is a holiday in these parts, so I'm hoping to squeeze in a nice long ride to take full advantage of it ;) I will have to be careful to take in lots of fluids over this week, however, as my body is still getting used to dealing with the heat and humidity again.
Tentative Schedule:
Mon 80K Ride
Tue 3.25K Swim, 6mi Recovery
Wed 30K Ride, 6mi Recovery
Thurs 3.25K Swim, 6mi GA
Fri 50K Ride
Sat 4mi Recovery, 80k Ride
Sun 14mi (22.5K) LSD
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Cycling Hydration
Over the last few days we've been starting to get the hot and humid weather that summer around these parts often brings. It's certainly nowhere near as hot as it will get in the coming months, but with the body still used to the colder weather it's still a bit of a rough adjustment. The biggest adjustment to all of this is taking in enough fluids. I've done enough running in this weather to have a good feel for what works and what doesn't, however on the cycling front I'm still trying to work that out.
One of the caveats is that I find myself needing a lot more fluid on the bike than I do on the run. Thanks to the higher speeds, the continuous stream of airflow means that the sweat evaporates much quicker so it's easy to go through a good amount of water. For instance, on yesterday's 70K ride I brought along four full bottles (two on the frame, two behind the saddle) and ended up drinking pretty much all of it (~2L) before I got back. Usually I just stick with two bottles and buy more along the way if necessary, but if at all possible I'd prefer to avoid doing that.
Part of the issue is that I'm still not crazy about reaching down while I'm riding to grab a bottle and take a sip. Aside from the aerodynamic penalties of this process, when riding at speed I'm not particularly fond of taking my hands off of the controls (and attention away from the road). On a training ride this isn't a huge liability as there are enough stops (traffic lights, crossing busy streets, etc.) for me to get what I need when I'm not moving. In a race, however, there aren't any stops so taking in water/sports drinks on the move is critical. In a Triathlon this is especially important, as on the bike I have to drink enough to make up for the fluids lost during the swim stage as well.
As such, ever since I added the aerobars I've been looking at various alternative options that effectively put a straw right in the cockpit to make it easier to drink during the ride. As I wouldn't have to reach down to grab the bottle, I'd likely end up drinking a lot more often (ie taking regular sips over the whole ride rather than periodic gulps to catch up). Further, it would allow me to stick in the aero position for longer as I wouldn't have to stand up whenever I needed something to drink.
The most popular product appears to be the Profile Design Aerodrink, which mounts the reservoir directly onto the aerobars. This makes for a simple and clean installation, and is by far the easiest to fill up while on the move (as the quick fill cap is right in front of you). The downside, however, is that it adds a good deal of weight (~2.6lbs when full) to the front of the bike and is apparently prone to splashing (although it's hard to tell if this is still the case with the new plastic top, or just with the yellow sponge they used to use). It's also not a sealed container, so if the bike is knocked over (eg a careless neighbour in the transition area) you end up losing the majority of your liquids.
Bontrager appears to have a similar product called an Aero Race Pack. It holds less water (600mL vs. 1L) so it's actually a closer competitor to Profile's Aqualite, but it does have the advantage of a better designed mounting apparatus and a pocket to store gels. Either way, as it shares the same basic design as the Aerodrink, it also has the same fundamental pros and cons so there isn't a lot of point in rehashing all of that.
Inviscid Design's Speedfil system is another interesting option. Rather than mounting on the aerobars themselves, it places the reservoir inside of the front triangle and runs a straw up to the cockpit. This provides the benefit of moving the weight to a much better position (low and central) and allows for a slightly larger capacity. Normally I'd be concerned about the effort required to draw the fluids up such a long straw, but fortunately they've incorporated a bite valve so once you prime the system it shouldn't be too difficult.
The downside to this design is that refilling it on the fly would be more difficult (as the cap is by the knee rather than right in front). I'll have to do some measurements to figure out where that inlet would line up, but I'm guessing that it would be difficult to continue pedaling while the bottle is emptying in this position. Further, it's dry weight is nearly double that of the Aerodrink (and 3X that of the Aqualite) so it means more mass to drag along. I don't think these are huge liabilities, however as this product is difficult to find in normal retail channels it's hard to evaluate these parameters.
As for the splashing aspect, I'm not sure how well this will do compared to the other products. I haven't seen much in the way of complaints on that front, but I also haven't found any real reviews on this unit as of yet so it's difficult to compare. From what I can tell, it looks to be an unsealed unit like the Aerodrink (both the straw and cap appear to be open) so if it was tipped over it would likely have the same problem as well. With that said, having never seen one in person it's difficult to tell.
The NeverReach system takes a similar approach, but places the reservoir behind the saddle rather than in the frame. This puts the weight further from the ground, but further back on the frame (likely a good thing, given how front-heavy the aero position is). It has a much larger capacity than the other systems (2L vs 1-1.2L), although whether or not I'd want to drag that much along is a question (the water alone would weigh 4.4lbs). The caveat is that it would appear to be much more difficult to refill on the fly (grabbing a bottle from behind your saddle is hard enough, never mind trying to squirt water into a cap). As with the Speedfil, I've yet to find a retailer that carries this product so it's difficult to make any evaluations on this front.
Finally, I could take the simpler course of action and simply get a bottle cage mounted between the aerobars. This naturally means I still need to manipulate the bottle to get a drink, but it saves me from having to reach down and grab it. As bottles are sealed, I wouldn't have to worry about spilling it, and when empty I could simply swap it out for another. It also makes it easier to fill up and keep clean, as there are no complex piping systems to flush out ;)
Either way, will keep digging for the time being and see what I can find on the topic. Naturally, I'm open to any input that people have on this front as it's very difficult to find any independent information on these products.
One of the caveats is that I find myself needing a lot more fluid on the bike than I do on the run. Thanks to the higher speeds, the continuous stream of airflow means that the sweat evaporates much quicker so it's easy to go through a good amount of water. For instance, on yesterday's 70K ride I brought along four full bottles (two on the frame, two behind the saddle) and ended up drinking pretty much all of it (~2L) before I got back. Usually I just stick with two bottles and buy more along the way if necessary, but if at all possible I'd prefer to avoid doing that.
Part of the issue is that I'm still not crazy about reaching down while I'm riding to grab a bottle and take a sip. Aside from the aerodynamic penalties of this process, when riding at speed I'm not particularly fond of taking my hands off of the controls (and attention away from the road). On a training ride this isn't a huge liability as there are enough stops (traffic lights, crossing busy streets, etc.) for me to get what I need when I'm not moving. In a race, however, there aren't any stops so taking in water/sports drinks on the move is critical. In a Triathlon this is especially important, as on the bike I have to drink enough to make up for the fluids lost during the swim stage as well.
As such, ever since I added the aerobars I've been looking at various alternative options that effectively put a straw right in the cockpit to make it easier to drink during the ride. As I wouldn't have to reach down to grab the bottle, I'd likely end up drinking a lot more often (ie taking regular sips over the whole ride rather than periodic gulps to catch up). Further, it would allow me to stick in the aero position for longer as I wouldn't have to stand up whenever I needed something to drink.
The most popular product appears to be the Profile Design Aerodrink, which mounts the reservoir directly onto the aerobars. This makes for a simple and clean installation, and is by far the easiest to fill up while on the move (as the quick fill cap is right in front of you). The downside, however, is that it adds a good deal of weight (~2.6lbs when full) to the front of the bike and is apparently prone to splashing (although it's hard to tell if this is still the case with the new plastic top, or just with the yellow sponge they used to use). It's also not a sealed container, so if the bike is knocked over (eg a careless neighbour in the transition area) you end up losing the majority of your liquids.
Bontrager appears to have a similar product called an Aero Race Pack. It holds less water (600mL vs. 1L) so it's actually a closer competitor to Profile's Aqualite, but it does have the advantage of a better designed mounting apparatus and a pocket to store gels. Either way, as it shares the same basic design as the Aerodrink, it also has the same fundamental pros and cons so there isn't a lot of point in rehashing all of that.
Inviscid Design's Speedfil system is another interesting option. Rather than mounting on the aerobars themselves, it places the reservoir inside of the front triangle and runs a straw up to the cockpit. This provides the benefit of moving the weight to a much better position (low and central) and allows for a slightly larger capacity. Normally I'd be concerned about the effort required to draw the fluids up such a long straw, but fortunately they've incorporated a bite valve so once you prime the system it shouldn't be too difficult.
The downside to this design is that refilling it on the fly would be more difficult (as the cap is by the knee rather than right in front). I'll have to do some measurements to figure out where that inlet would line up, but I'm guessing that it would be difficult to continue pedaling while the bottle is emptying in this position. Further, it's dry weight is nearly double that of the Aerodrink (and 3X that of the Aqualite) so it means more mass to drag along. I don't think these are huge liabilities, however as this product is difficult to find in normal retail channels it's hard to evaluate these parameters.
As for the splashing aspect, I'm not sure how well this will do compared to the other products. I haven't seen much in the way of complaints on that front, but I also haven't found any real reviews on this unit as of yet so it's difficult to compare. From what I can tell, it looks to be an unsealed unit like the Aerodrink (both the straw and cap appear to be open) so if it was tipped over it would likely have the same problem as well. With that said, having never seen one in person it's difficult to tell.
The NeverReach system takes a similar approach, but places the reservoir behind the saddle rather than in the frame. This puts the weight further from the ground, but further back on the frame (likely a good thing, given how front-heavy the aero position is). It has a much larger capacity than the other systems (2L vs 1-1.2L), although whether or not I'd want to drag that much along is a question (the water alone would weigh 4.4lbs). The caveat is that it would appear to be much more difficult to refill on the fly (grabbing a bottle from behind your saddle is hard enough, never mind trying to squirt water into a cap). As with the Speedfil, I've yet to find a retailer that carries this product so it's difficult to make any evaluations on this front.
Finally, I could take the simpler course of action and simply get a bottle cage mounted between the aerobars. This naturally means I still need to manipulate the bottle to get a drink, but it saves me from having to reach down and grab it. As bottles are sealed, I wouldn't have to worry about spilling it, and when empty I could simply swap it out for another. It also makes it easier to fill up and keep clean, as there are no complex piping systems to flush out ;)
Either way, will keep digging for the time being and see what I can find on the topic. Naturally, I'm open to any input that people have on this front as it's very difficult to find any independent information on these products.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Week 19: Review
Another bit of a weird week this time around, but fortunately I managed to squeeze in most of what I wanted to do. Thankfully, the weather finally gave us a decent Saturday so our cycling group managed to get together for the first time this season. Unfortunately, this was also the first ride outdoors for a couple of the guys, so the pace was pretty slow as we wanted to stick together for the duration. Either way, we managed to squeeze out a little under 73K through Bradford and Queensville and plan to up that mileage as long as the weather permits. It was nice to again have some company for these trips, and despite the slower pace it was a great ride.
I took the opportunity to try out the Edge 705's navigation features, as we wanted to do something a little different than normal. I made up a quick route on RunSaturday and after a few back and forth emails to find a consensus, I redrew it on BikeRouteToaster and loaded the TCX file into the computer. Fortunately, the mapping capacity worked flawlessly and it made it easy to find our way down an unfamiliar route. Aside from guiding us along the path, being able to see exactly what was coming up ahead was quite handy.
In this case I used the courses functionality (BRT generates the entire path and the 705 follows it), but at some point I'd like to give the routes option a shot (the route contains waypoints and the 705 navigates between them). The downside to this option is that if there are differences between the 705's routing engine and the website that generated the map, the path may vary a bit so one has to be careful. The upside, however, is that the 705 gives much more detailed turn instructions and can provide countdown readings (ie distance/time to the next turn). It also has the benefit of allowing you to go off of the route and the 705 will then try to get you back to it (with courses it just tells you you're off route and waits for you to get back to it). BRT only generates courses, however, so to try this out I'm going to have to find another website (or piece of software) that can generate the necessary files.
As Saturday was relatively cold, we elected to leave a bit later than normal (10:00am) which combined with the slow pace meant that there wasn't enough time to squeeze in my 4 mile recovery run. I also had to move around my mid-week runs a bit, but fortunately I managed to squeeze in the intended mileage. Cycling mileage is down as well this week, as between last week's long run offsetting my Monday ride and rain on other days I only managed to ride on Thursday and Saturday.
All was looking good for my long run this morning, with a plan to get 14 miles in to make it a clean 30 for the week. In the latter half of the run, however, my heart rate was reading higher than normal so I tried to back off the pace. That didn't help a whole lot, so I took a few breaks to let it settle back down. Unfortunately, it wasn't recovering as quickly as I would have liked. Aside from being warm, I felt fine, but I figured that I didn't take in enough fluids on my ride the other day so to play it safe I cut it short at 12 miles and called it a day.
When I got back to the computer, however, I looked at the R-R plots from my HRM and it appears it was just a matter of noise in the signal. I had tightened the strap a bit before heading out as it was getting a bit loose, and that likely through off the numbers. As such, I likely should have just ignored it and did the last two miles, but given the information at the time I figured it was the best path. With that said, my weight is about 3lbs lighter than it was yesterday, so being a little low on fluids may have played a part as well (I drank about a liter during the run, but only had 500mL yesterday). Either way, I've readjusted the strap and am drinking a lot today so hopefully I can avoid this situation in the future.
Week 19 Totals:
Running: 44.7km (27.8mi)
Walking: 1.0km (0.6mi)
Cycling: 95.1km (59.1mi)
Swimming: 7.2km (4.5mi)
Total: 148.0km (92.0mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 744.0km (462.3mi)
Walking: 42.3km (26.3mi)
Cycling: 1216.8km (756.1mi)
Swimming: 117.5km (73.0mi)
Total: 2120.6km (1317.7mi)
Fortunately, the weather this week is looking pretty good so I'm hoping to begin to ramp up the cycling mileage to proper levels again. I'm still trying to find an alternative to highway 9 for my eastbound trip, but for the time being I may simply have to go back to using it as I've had no luck so far. Queensville Sideroad looks like it will be useful for my longer rides (~100+km), but when I start from home it's too far north for the shorter routes.
Tentative Schedule:
Mon 50K Ride
Tue 3.25K Swim, 6mi Recovery
Wed 30K Ride, 6mi Recovery
Thurs 3.25K Swim, 6mi GA
Fri 50K Ride
Sat 4mi Recovery, 80k Ride
Sun 14mi (22.5K) LSD
I took the opportunity to try out the Edge 705's navigation features, as we wanted to do something a little different than normal. I made up a quick route on RunSaturday and after a few back and forth emails to find a consensus, I redrew it on BikeRouteToaster and loaded the TCX file into the computer. Fortunately, the mapping capacity worked flawlessly and it made it easy to find our way down an unfamiliar route. Aside from guiding us along the path, being able to see exactly what was coming up ahead was quite handy.
In this case I used the courses functionality (BRT generates the entire path and the 705 follows it), but at some point I'd like to give the routes option a shot (the route contains waypoints and the 705 navigates between them). The downside to this option is that if there are differences between the 705's routing engine and the website that generated the map, the path may vary a bit so one has to be careful. The upside, however, is that the 705 gives much more detailed turn instructions and can provide countdown readings (ie distance/time to the next turn). It also has the benefit of allowing you to go off of the route and the 705 will then try to get you back to it (with courses it just tells you you're off route and waits for you to get back to it). BRT only generates courses, however, so to try this out I'm going to have to find another website (or piece of software) that can generate the necessary files.
As Saturday was relatively cold, we elected to leave a bit later than normal (10:00am) which combined with the slow pace meant that there wasn't enough time to squeeze in my 4 mile recovery run. I also had to move around my mid-week runs a bit, but fortunately I managed to squeeze in the intended mileage. Cycling mileage is down as well this week, as between last week's long run offsetting my Monday ride and rain on other days I only managed to ride on Thursday and Saturday.
All was looking good for my long run this morning, with a plan to get 14 miles in to make it a clean 30 for the week. In the latter half of the run, however, my heart rate was reading higher than normal so I tried to back off the pace. That didn't help a whole lot, so I took a few breaks to let it settle back down. Unfortunately, it wasn't recovering as quickly as I would have liked. Aside from being warm, I felt fine, but I figured that I didn't take in enough fluids on my ride the other day so to play it safe I cut it short at 12 miles and called it a day.
When I got back to the computer, however, I looked at the R-R plots from my HRM and it appears it was just a matter of noise in the signal. I had tightened the strap a bit before heading out as it was getting a bit loose, and that likely through off the numbers. As such, I likely should have just ignored it and did the last two miles, but given the information at the time I figured it was the best path. With that said, my weight is about 3lbs lighter than it was yesterday, so being a little low on fluids may have played a part as well (I drank about a liter during the run, but only had 500mL yesterday). Either way, I've readjusted the strap and am drinking a lot today so hopefully I can avoid this situation in the future.
Week 19 Totals:
Running: 44.7km (27.8mi)
Walking: 1.0km (0.6mi)
Cycling: 95.1km (59.1mi)
Swimming: 7.2km (4.5mi)
Total: 148.0km (92.0mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 744.0km (462.3mi)
Walking: 42.3km (26.3mi)
Cycling: 1216.8km (756.1mi)
Swimming: 117.5km (73.0mi)
Total: 2120.6km (1317.7mi)
Fortunately, the weather this week is looking pretty good so I'm hoping to begin to ramp up the cycling mileage to proper levels again. I'm still trying to find an alternative to highway 9 for my eastbound trip, but for the time being I may simply have to go back to using it as I've had no luck so far. Queensville Sideroad looks like it will be useful for my longer rides (~100+km), but when I start from home it's too far north for the shorter routes.
Tentative Schedule:
Mon 50K Ride
Tue 3.25K Swim, 6mi Recovery
Wed 30K Ride, 6mi Recovery
Thurs 3.25K Swim, 6mi GA
Fri 50K Ride
Sat 4mi Recovery, 80k Ride
Sun 14mi (22.5K) LSD
Monday, May 10, 2010
Week 18: Review
It was another somewhat unpredictable week this time around, thanks to a combination of the weather and outside circumstances. Naturally, I missed my Monday ride as I pushed back last week's long run to that day and figured trying to squeeze both in would be problematic. The next couple days went as planned, although the winds on Wednesday made my mid-week ride quite a lot more difficult than I would have liked (it's supposed to be a recovery ride, but with 30+km/h winds and heavy gusts that's not going to happen).
Later in the week, the rain started rolling in and I wanted to get the grass cut before it came down. Unfortunately, the machine stalled on me part way through and we couldn't get it started. As the mower is getting quite old (~30 years), we elected to go out and research replacing it. That took a little longer than expected, which meant that I had to put off the 6 miler I had planned for the afternoon. When we got back, after a bit of fiddling we got the old machine running again (the gap in the spark plug was closed up) but it was too late to do anything with it.
On Friday I set out to finish off the job, however after about 20 minutes it stalled out again. Pulling out the spark plug the gap was closed again, and pulling it back out got it started for a few minutes until it did it again. As it was obvious something in the engine was running into it, the repair was going to be a little more complicated. Fortunately, our neighbour was out at the same time and offered to let us borrow his to get the job done. After that, we headed back out to pick up a new one (as it was unlikely to be worth fixing the old machine) which again meant missing the pushed back run. Unfortunately the mowers they're selling now aren't nearly as well designed/built as that old one (steel vs. aluminum decks (prone to rust and much heavier), plastic wheels, overcomplicated 4 stroke motors, unnecessary (and highly annoying) safety levers, etc.) but there isn't much choice on that front anymore :(
Saturday was pretty much a write off thanks to the weather and other scheduling issues, and with Mother's Day on Sunday I wasn't able to get out until the afternoon. Working in enough time between eating lunch and the long run would have been difficult, so I elected to do a brick ride/run instead and do the long run this morning. Fortunately, all of that worked out so I only lost one 6 mile run and a ~30K ride for the week ;)
Week 18 Totals:
Running: 44.2km (27.5mi)
Walking: 1.4km (0.9mi)
Cycling: 116.7km (72.5mi)
Swimming: 7.0km (4.3mi)
Total: 169.3km (105.2mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 699.3km (434.5mi)
Walking: 41.3km (25.7mi)
Cycling: 1121.7km (697.0mi)
Swimming: 110.3km (68.5mi)
Total: 1972.6km (1225.7mi)
Fortunately, the weather this week is starting to look a bit better and hopefully (knock on wood) Saturday will be rain free so I can get out there for a proper long ride. I'll have to talk to the guys and see if we can get a group ride going, as it would be great to get back into the full routine ;)
Later in the week, the rain started rolling in and I wanted to get the grass cut before it came down. Unfortunately, the machine stalled on me part way through and we couldn't get it started. As the mower is getting quite old (~30 years), we elected to go out and research replacing it. That took a little longer than expected, which meant that I had to put off the 6 miler I had planned for the afternoon. When we got back, after a bit of fiddling we got the old machine running again (the gap in the spark plug was closed up) but it was too late to do anything with it.
On Friday I set out to finish off the job, however after about 20 minutes it stalled out again. Pulling out the spark plug the gap was closed again, and pulling it back out got it started for a few minutes until it did it again. As it was obvious something in the engine was running into it, the repair was going to be a little more complicated. Fortunately, our neighbour was out at the same time and offered to let us borrow his to get the job done. After that, we headed back out to pick up a new one (as it was unlikely to be worth fixing the old machine) which again meant missing the pushed back run. Unfortunately the mowers they're selling now aren't nearly as well designed/built as that old one (steel vs. aluminum decks (prone to rust and much heavier), plastic wheels, overcomplicated 4 stroke motors, unnecessary (and highly annoying) safety levers, etc.) but there isn't much choice on that front anymore :(
Saturday was pretty much a write off thanks to the weather and other scheduling issues, and with Mother's Day on Sunday I wasn't able to get out until the afternoon. Working in enough time between eating lunch and the long run would have been difficult, so I elected to do a brick ride/run instead and do the long run this morning. Fortunately, all of that worked out so I only lost one 6 mile run and a ~30K ride for the week ;)
Week 18 Totals:
Running: 44.2km (27.5mi)
Walking: 1.4km (0.9mi)
Cycling: 116.7km (72.5mi)
Swimming: 7.0km (4.3mi)
Total: 169.3km (105.2mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 699.3km (434.5mi)
Walking: 41.3km (25.7mi)
Cycling: 1121.7km (697.0mi)
Swimming: 110.3km (68.5mi)
Total: 1972.6km (1225.7mi)
Fortunately, the weather this week is starting to look a bit better and hopefully (knock on wood) Saturday will be rain free so I can get out there for a proper long ride. I'll have to talk to the guys and see if we can get a group ride going, as it would be great to get back into the full routine ;)
Monday, May 3, 2010
Week 17: Review
It's been a bit of a crazy week, so my mileage is a little short this time around. In addition to bringing the bike in to get the flat replaced on Monday, on Wednesday's ride I snapped the front shifter cable and had to bring it in again on Thursday to get that fixed. Given that the shop doesn't open until 10:00, that messed with my schedule enough that I ended up missing one of my scheduled runs.
The weather this week was also pretty hostile, with some incredibly powerful north winds (~45km/h with gusts up to 80km/h) to fight on my Monday and Wednesday rides. On the east-west legs of both trips, the crosswinds were so strong that I had to lean the bike on a 15 degree angle to keep it tracking in a straight line. Needless to say, this meant that the northbound leg was pretty much a continuous fight where I was actually looking forward to the steep uphill grades as they provided some shielding from the wind.
The upside, however, is that the return trip was incredibly fast thanks to those tailwinds - once I came out of the hills and onto the flats, I got down into the aerobars and easily managed to average speeds in the high 50s to low 60s. I likely could have gone faster too, but I ran out of gears (50x12) and the tired legs from the outbound trip didn't much feel like spinning out higher RPMs to squeeze a bit more speed in. Got a few confused looks from drivers when they realized that I was keeping up with them ;)
On the weekend, the reports called for rain so I wasn't able to squeeze in a Saturday ride once again. I did go out for my recovery run, and unfortunately ended up being out there for about 80% of the precipitation that we actually got :P My footpod batteries also ended up dying just before I headed out, so I managed pace by feel and figured out the distance based on the calorie computation of the wrist unit (ie I stopped when I hit 400kcal).
With the forecast calling for rain on Sunday as well, I elected to hold off my long run until this morning. While it pretty much looked like it was going to pour all day, it didn't end up amounting to much so in retrospect that wasn't really necessary - but hindsight is 20/20 and I didn't want to spend an hour and a half in the pouring rain ;)
Given the shortage of mileage in the other sessions this week I ended up adding an extra mile when I went out this morning and logged a 13.1 miler. The rain was gone today, but in its place there was lots of direct sunlight, heat and humidity. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't too bad (~27C/63%), but my body is still used to the cold weather and it's going to take some time to get it adapted to these kinds of conditions again. Either way, aside from the heat it was a great run and was nice to squeeze out a little extra distance once again.
Week 17 Totals:
Running: 44.7km (27.8mi)
Walking: 1.3km (0.8mi)
Cycling: 122.5km (76.1mi)
Swimming: 7.2km (4.5mi)
Total: 175.7km (109.2mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 655.1km (407.1mi)
Walking: 39.9km (24.8mi)
Cycling: 1005.0km (624.5mi)
Swimming: 103.3km (64.2mi)
Total: 1803.3km (1120.5mi)
The upcoming week is looking like it's going to be pretty soggy, so my cycling mileage is likely to suffer a bit again this week. Fortunately, if the current forecast holds it looks like the weekend is going to be decent for a change and hopefully I'll be able to squeeze in a good long ride on Saturday ;)
The weather this week was also pretty hostile, with some incredibly powerful north winds (~45km/h with gusts up to 80km/h) to fight on my Monday and Wednesday rides. On the east-west legs of both trips, the crosswinds were so strong that I had to lean the bike on a 15 degree angle to keep it tracking in a straight line. Needless to say, this meant that the northbound leg was pretty much a continuous fight where I was actually looking forward to the steep uphill grades as they provided some shielding from the wind.
The upside, however, is that the return trip was incredibly fast thanks to those tailwinds - once I came out of the hills and onto the flats, I got down into the aerobars and easily managed to average speeds in the high 50s to low 60s. I likely could have gone faster too, but I ran out of gears (50x12) and the tired legs from the outbound trip didn't much feel like spinning out higher RPMs to squeeze a bit more speed in. Got a few confused looks from drivers when they realized that I was keeping up with them ;)
On the weekend, the reports called for rain so I wasn't able to squeeze in a Saturday ride once again. I did go out for my recovery run, and unfortunately ended up being out there for about 80% of the precipitation that we actually got :P My footpod batteries also ended up dying just before I headed out, so I managed pace by feel and figured out the distance based on the calorie computation of the wrist unit (ie I stopped when I hit 400kcal).
With the forecast calling for rain on Sunday as well, I elected to hold off my long run until this morning. While it pretty much looked like it was going to pour all day, it didn't end up amounting to much so in retrospect that wasn't really necessary - but hindsight is 20/20 and I didn't want to spend an hour and a half in the pouring rain ;)
Given the shortage of mileage in the other sessions this week I ended up adding an extra mile when I went out this morning and logged a 13.1 miler. The rain was gone today, but in its place there was lots of direct sunlight, heat and humidity. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't too bad (~27C/63%), but my body is still used to the cold weather and it's going to take some time to get it adapted to these kinds of conditions again. Either way, aside from the heat it was a great run and was nice to squeeze out a little extra distance once again.
Week 17 Totals:
Running: 44.7km (27.8mi)
Walking: 1.3km (0.8mi)
Cycling: 122.5km (76.1mi)
Swimming: 7.2km (4.5mi)
Total: 175.7km (109.2mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 655.1km (407.1mi)
Walking: 39.9km (24.8mi)
Cycling: 1005.0km (624.5mi)
Swimming: 103.3km (64.2mi)
Total: 1803.3km (1120.5mi)
The upcoming week is looking like it's going to be pretty soggy, so my cycling mileage is likely to suffer a bit again this week. Fortunately, if the current forecast holds it looks like the weekend is going to be decent for a change and hopefully I'll be able to squeeze in a good long ride on Saturday ;)
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Week 16: Review
Another great week working back into my normal rhythm. With the bike now outside and decent weather to ride in, I'm finally getting my cycling mileage back up. I had hoped to get it to 100 miles for the week, but unfortunately a flat tire yesterday threw a wrench into those plans. Other than that, running went quite well with everything going roughly as scheduled. As one of the guys I run with on Wednesday had run Boston on Monday, we did a bit shorter distance than normal for our group session. Swimming also went well, with all sessions going down as planned.
Getting back outside on the bike it's difficult to reign myself in as I'd love to do some longer rides again. With that said, as I mostly did a maximum of distance of about 30K on the trainer this winter I limited myself to 50K rides this time around to be safe. I'll stretch that out a bit more this week and hopefully we'll be able to get the Saturday group rides back together shortly for the longer sessions.
Naturally, the downside to riding outside is that the weather sometimes can be unpredictable. On Wednesday's 30K ride, for instance, I ended up getting caught in a cloud burst just as I was heading back home. It didn't last too long and I managed to get to shelter pretty quickly, but I had to clear one of the larger hills on the course during the thick of it (bicycle brakes are significantly less effective when the rims get wet, so high speed descents can be a bit unnerving).
The one upside to that ride, however, was that I got a chance to try out the 705's mapping capacity. I was originally planning on doing the normal route, but part way through I felt like trying something a bit different than normal. There was a hill in the area that I've driven on a few times and have wanted to ride for a while, but most of the roads going towards it aren't particularly friendly for bikes (no shoulders, blind turns, etc.). When I stopped at an intersection I pulled up the map page on the cyclocomputer and managed to find a route that could get me there safely. It ended up working great, and aside from the weather (which I would have hit anyway) it turned out to be a good route that I'll likely do again sometime.
The map was also useful yesterday, as it made it a lot easier to tell my family where to find me after I flatted. Rural roads have some great scenery, but unless you are keeping track of every cross street it's sometimes difficult to pin down exactly where you are ;) Sideroads have a tendency to look somewhat alike, and trying to guide drivers to your location based on visual landmarks can be a bit sketchy. Fortunately, as I'd just made a turn it likely wouldn't have been too difficult to describe - but with the GPS I was able to be very specific.
On the tire front, I didn't get around to grabbing a replacement tire today between the long run this morning and short hours at the local stores. I'll be heading out tomorrow morning to grab what I need, although I'm still debating about whether to do it myself or have it done and worry about learning later. If the weather permits I'd like to get a ride in tomorrow afternoon, so part of me doesn't want to risk messing it up and figuring that out 10K into that ride ;)
Week 16 Totals:
Running: 48.8km (30.3mi)
Walking: 2.0km (1.2mi)
Cycling: 143.6km (89.2mi)
Swimming: 7.4km (4.6mi)
Total: 201.8km (125.4mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 610.4km (379.3mi)
Walking: 38.6km (24.0mi)
Cycling: 882.5km (548.4mi)
Swimming: 96.1km (59.7mi)
Total: 1627.6km (1011.3mi)
Getting back outside on the bike it's difficult to reign myself in as I'd love to do some longer rides again. With that said, as I mostly did a maximum of distance of about 30K on the trainer this winter I limited myself to 50K rides this time around to be safe. I'll stretch that out a bit more this week and hopefully we'll be able to get the Saturday group rides back together shortly for the longer sessions.
Naturally, the downside to riding outside is that the weather sometimes can be unpredictable. On Wednesday's 30K ride, for instance, I ended up getting caught in a cloud burst just as I was heading back home. It didn't last too long and I managed to get to shelter pretty quickly, but I had to clear one of the larger hills on the course during the thick of it (bicycle brakes are significantly less effective when the rims get wet, so high speed descents can be a bit unnerving).
The one upside to that ride, however, was that I got a chance to try out the 705's mapping capacity. I was originally planning on doing the normal route, but part way through I felt like trying something a bit different than normal. There was a hill in the area that I've driven on a few times and have wanted to ride for a while, but most of the roads going towards it aren't particularly friendly for bikes (no shoulders, blind turns, etc.). When I stopped at an intersection I pulled up the map page on the cyclocomputer and managed to find a route that could get me there safely. It ended up working great, and aside from the weather (which I would have hit anyway) it turned out to be a good route that I'll likely do again sometime.
The map was also useful yesterday, as it made it a lot easier to tell my family where to find me after I flatted. Rural roads have some great scenery, but unless you are keeping track of every cross street it's sometimes difficult to pin down exactly where you are ;) Sideroads have a tendency to look somewhat alike, and trying to guide drivers to your location based on visual landmarks can be a bit sketchy. Fortunately, as I'd just made a turn it likely wouldn't have been too difficult to describe - but with the GPS I was able to be very specific.
On the tire front, I didn't get around to grabbing a replacement tire today between the long run this morning and short hours at the local stores. I'll be heading out tomorrow morning to grab what I need, although I'm still debating about whether to do it myself or have it done and worry about learning later. If the weather permits I'd like to get a ride in tomorrow afternoon, so part of me doesn't want to risk messing it up and figuring that out 10K into that ride ;)
Week 16 Totals:
Running: 48.8km (30.3mi)
Walking: 2.0km (1.2mi)
Cycling: 143.6km (89.2mi)
Swimming: 7.4km (4.6mi)
Total: 201.8km (125.4mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 610.4km (379.3mi)
Walking: 38.6km (24.0mi)
Cycling: 882.5km (548.4mi)
Swimming: 96.1km (59.7mi)
Total: 1627.6km (1011.3mi)
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Flatting
After a great 50K ride yesterday, I headed out again just after lunch today to get in some more miles ahead of the rain coming in the next couple of days. Tentatively I was looking at doing an easy 40K (to make it a clean 100mi for the week), but I left the option open to go a bit longer if I felt good. The skies were overcast and temperatures great, so the conditions were quite comfortable from the start.
When I got out the developed areas and into the rural roads, however, the easterly winds were quite strong (~35km/h steady with ~45km/h gusts) so it was a bit of a fight. Fortunately, as I was heading east to start with this wasn't an entirely bad thing as the legs were still fresh and the tailwinds would likely help to offset the tired legs on the way back. Once I made the turn north, the crosswinds were a bit annoying but they were a heck of a lot better than fighting off the headwinds.
Once I got to King Road the original plan was to head east again to Keele and then loop around to get the 40K I had planned. Despite the winds, I was still feeling pretty good so I elected to plot out a different path and add some more distance. I could have just repeated yesterday's ride, however I felt like mixing in a few more hills so I pulled up the map on my Garmin and planned an alternative route continuing on to 16th, across the highway and then back south via Weston Road (which has a number of rolling hills vs. the long downhill grade on Jane). It added a bit more difficulty to the mix as well as some variation on the scenery I ride past.
With the plan finalized, I headed up the long climb along Jane and made my way up the long climb to the 16th sideroad. I then carefully made the left and took the tree lined rolling hills over to Weston Road. Once I got to the intersection, I pulled over and took a quick break before beginning my trip back down Weston. At this point the majority of the climb was complete, and aside from a few rolling hills on the way back I'd be able to log some quick splits as I descended back towards my place.
Unfortunately, once I got going at hit the first downhill segment (just before a decent climb) I heard a rumbling noise from the rear end of the bike. I promptly pulled over and dismounted, only to see a small hole at the top of the tire and a quiet hissing noise as air escaped. It was a pretty slow leak and the tire was still pretty hard, however I was too far away from home to attempt to ride through it. While I did have a spare tube and was thinking about getting some practice changing it out, the tire was obviously damaged and as I didn't have a replacement for that there wasn't much point. As such, I called it a day and took out the phone to arrange for a pickup.
The upside is that I managed to get the most difficult components of the ride in, so I likely got a good percentage of the intended training effect. The portion of the ride that I did do was pretty much all either uphill or into a headwind, and the portion that I missed was mostly downhill or with a tailwind so I didn't lose too much work. Unfortunately, that means that my average speed was pretty crappy, but getting the heavy work in is the important part ;)
This was the first time I've had a flat in the field so I don't really have a lot of experience with this sort of thing. Having a spare tire would have been helpful, but unlike tubes they're pretty big and heavy so I'm not sure where I'd put one at this point. Either way, I've never actually changed a tube/tire myself as of yet so I likely would have made a mess of it even if I'd attempted it ;) Naturally, the only way to learn is to give it a try at some point so I'm thinking of just picking up a tire and trying to replace it on my own rather than bring it into the shop like I normally do. This was bound to happen at some point, and while there wasn't much I could do this time around I'd like to have some experience making the switch in case this happens again.
When I got out the developed areas and into the rural roads, however, the easterly winds were quite strong (~35km/h steady with ~45km/h gusts) so it was a bit of a fight. Fortunately, as I was heading east to start with this wasn't an entirely bad thing as the legs were still fresh and the tailwinds would likely help to offset the tired legs on the way back. Once I made the turn north, the crosswinds were a bit annoying but they were a heck of a lot better than fighting off the headwinds.
Once I got to King Road the original plan was to head east again to Keele and then loop around to get the 40K I had planned. Despite the winds, I was still feeling pretty good so I elected to plot out a different path and add some more distance. I could have just repeated yesterday's ride, however I felt like mixing in a few more hills so I pulled up the map on my Garmin and planned an alternative route continuing on to 16th, across the highway and then back south via Weston Road (which has a number of rolling hills vs. the long downhill grade on Jane). It added a bit more difficulty to the mix as well as some variation on the scenery I ride past.
With the plan finalized, I headed up the long climb along Jane and made my way up the long climb to the 16th sideroad. I then carefully made the left and took the tree lined rolling hills over to Weston Road. Once I got to the intersection, I pulled over and took a quick break before beginning my trip back down Weston. At this point the majority of the climb was complete, and aside from a few rolling hills on the way back I'd be able to log some quick splits as I descended back towards my place.
Unfortunately, once I got going at hit the first downhill segment (just before a decent climb) I heard a rumbling noise from the rear end of the bike. I promptly pulled over and dismounted, only to see a small hole at the top of the tire and a quiet hissing noise as air escaped. It was a pretty slow leak and the tire was still pretty hard, however I was too far away from home to attempt to ride through it. While I did have a spare tube and was thinking about getting some practice changing it out, the tire was obviously damaged and as I didn't have a replacement for that there wasn't much point. As such, I called it a day and took out the phone to arrange for a pickup.
The upside is that I managed to get the most difficult components of the ride in, so I likely got a good percentage of the intended training effect. The portion of the ride that I did do was pretty much all either uphill or into a headwind, and the portion that I missed was mostly downhill or with a tailwind so I didn't lose too much work. Unfortunately, that means that my average speed was pretty crappy, but getting the heavy work in is the important part ;)
This was the first time I've had a flat in the field so I don't really have a lot of experience with this sort of thing. Having a spare tire would have been helpful, but unlike tubes they're pretty big and heavy so I'm not sure where I'd put one at this point. Either way, I've never actually changed a tube/tire myself as of yet so I likely would have made a mess of it even if I'd attempted it ;) Naturally, the only way to learn is to give it a try at some point so I'm thinking of just picking up a tire and trying to replace it on my own rather than bring it into the shop like I normally do. This was bound to happen at some point, and while there wasn't much I could do this time around I'd like to have some experience making the switch in case this happens again.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Week 15: Review
After a couple of slow weeks, I managed to get back into the routine of things this week. I had to move some runs around to work around some rain, however I managed to get in everything that was planned for a change (including a great 12 mile run this morning). Either way, the weather has simply been spectacular considering the time of year and that's made it much easier to stay on track. There's been a bit of rain, however temperatures have remained comfortable (if not a bit warm) so I've been able to stay away from the winter clothing and enjoy the much more comfortable summer stuff.
Thanks to the conditions, I brought the bike in on Wednesday to get the tires switched around for outdoor use and a tune up to make sure nothing was wrong. While I didn't get the group ride we wanted to do yesterday in due to bad weather (strong winds, rain, snow and a bit of hail), I did manage to get in two good outdoor rides. It felt great to finally get back onto the roads, as the miles go by much faster when you're not staring at a wall. I likely could have done more distance on both rides, but I elected to hold myself back and keep the mileage down to the 30-40km I've been doing on the trainer. I'd love to put down a 100km ride again, however it's been a few months at this point so I figured I should rebuild the mileage carefully.
Additionally, getting out on the bike gave me an opportunity to try out the new aerobars, saddle and cycling computer. I've been practicing with them for a couple of months on the trainer, however being bolted into position didn't really allow me to get the full experience. The new saddle worked well, although the 76 degree seat angle (vs 73) is going to take some getting used to especially on the hills. It pushes the weight a lot further forward, even when using the drop bars, which has significant effects when dealing with large grades. While I can switch back and forth quite easily, I'm planning on sticking with the aero position for the time being to get myself more used to it.
I also spent a lot of time down on the aerobars, and they definitely make handling a lot more challenging. The first time I used them the bike was swaying back and forth quite a bit with each pedal stroke, but that's been getting much better the more I use them (and program my brain to generate the corrective steering inputs). With that said, their benefits to aerodynamics were immediately obvious - once I got up to speed, I was managing about 4-5km/h faster without any additional effort. Further demonstrating this, on Thursday's ride there was a nasty 45km/h headwind along an exposed stretch of road, but as soon as I got down in the aero position it became an order of magnitude easier. They're such a simple addition to the bike, but it's clear that they can make a substantial difference.
As for the cycling computer (Garmin Edge 705), it is definitely a lot more useful outside than it is on the trainer. The amount of information that it can display and record is staggering, I just wish that there were more than two user-configurable displays (vs 6 on my Polar) as it's difficult to take full advantage of that in the field ;) Being able to pull up a graph on the elevation covered was quite handy, and I can definitely see the maps coming in useful for some of my longer rides. The colour screen was easily readable in the sunlight (backlight was off), and the controls easy to operate while still rolling.
I also put together a pre-programmed course on bike route toaster and used in on Thursday's ride. In addition to providing turn-by-turn directions, it also allowed me to program in a desired pace (taking into consideration slowdowns on uphills) and determine how far ahead or behind that target I am. As this was a very familiar route that didn't provide a whole lot of benefit, however when we start stretching out to the long rides again and hit roads that I don't know so well I can see this being quite a powerful tool.
Either way, once I've had a chance to put it through its paces on some longer rides I'll make up a proper review of the 705 and post it here. But from a first impression I'm certainly satisfied with my choice at this point in time ;) Now, just have to save up the cash to get a power meter to go along with it...
Week 15 Totals:
Running: 51.3km (31.9mi)
Walking: 1.9km (1.2mi)
Cycling: 98.4km (61.1mi)
Swimming: 7.2km (4.5mi)
Total: 158.8km (98.7mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 561.6km (349.0mi)
Walking: 36.6km (22.7mi)
Cycling: 738.9km (459.1mi)
Swimming: 88.7km (55.1mi)
Total: 1425.8km (886.0mi)
As an aside, I'd also like to wish everyone running the Boston Marathon good luck for tomorrow's race. Hopefully I'll be able to join you guys in future years, but for the time being I'll be cheering you on from here ;)
Thanks to the conditions, I brought the bike in on Wednesday to get the tires switched around for outdoor use and a tune up to make sure nothing was wrong. While I didn't get the group ride we wanted to do yesterday in due to bad weather (strong winds, rain, snow and a bit of hail), I did manage to get in two good outdoor rides. It felt great to finally get back onto the roads, as the miles go by much faster when you're not staring at a wall. I likely could have done more distance on both rides, but I elected to hold myself back and keep the mileage down to the 30-40km I've been doing on the trainer. I'd love to put down a 100km ride again, however it's been a few months at this point so I figured I should rebuild the mileage carefully.
Additionally, getting out on the bike gave me an opportunity to try out the new aerobars, saddle and cycling computer. I've been practicing with them for a couple of months on the trainer, however being bolted into position didn't really allow me to get the full experience. The new saddle worked well, although the 76 degree seat angle (vs 73) is going to take some getting used to especially on the hills. It pushes the weight a lot further forward, even when using the drop bars, which has significant effects when dealing with large grades. While I can switch back and forth quite easily, I'm planning on sticking with the aero position for the time being to get myself more used to it.
I also spent a lot of time down on the aerobars, and they definitely make handling a lot more challenging. The first time I used them the bike was swaying back and forth quite a bit with each pedal stroke, but that's been getting much better the more I use them (and program my brain to generate the corrective steering inputs). With that said, their benefits to aerodynamics were immediately obvious - once I got up to speed, I was managing about 4-5km/h faster without any additional effort. Further demonstrating this, on Thursday's ride there was a nasty 45km/h headwind along an exposed stretch of road, but as soon as I got down in the aero position it became an order of magnitude easier. They're such a simple addition to the bike, but it's clear that they can make a substantial difference.
As for the cycling computer (Garmin Edge 705), it is definitely a lot more useful outside than it is on the trainer. The amount of information that it can display and record is staggering, I just wish that there were more than two user-configurable displays (vs 6 on my Polar) as it's difficult to take full advantage of that in the field ;) Being able to pull up a graph on the elevation covered was quite handy, and I can definitely see the maps coming in useful for some of my longer rides. The colour screen was easily readable in the sunlight (backlight was off), and the controls easy to operate while still rolling.
I also put together a pre-programmed course on bike route toaster and used in on Thursday's ride. In addition to providing turn-by-turn directions, it also allowed me to program in a desired pace (taking into consideration slowdowns on uphills) and determine how far ahead or behind that target I am. As this was a very familiar route that didn't provide a whole lot of benefit, however when we start stretching out to the long rides again and hit roads that I don't know so well I can see this being quite a powerful tool.
Either way, once I've had a chance to put it through its paces on some longer rides I'll make up a proper review of the 705 and post it here. But from a first impression I'm certainly satisfied with my choice at this point in time ;) Now, just have to save up the cash to get a power meter to go along with it...
Week 15 Totals:
Running: 51.3km (31.9mi)
Walking: 1.9km (1.2mi)
Cycling: 98.4km (61.1mi)
Swimming: 7.2km (4.5mi)
Total: 158.8km (98.7mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 561.6km (349.0mi)
Walking: 36.6km (22.7mi)
Cycling: 738.9km (459.1mi)
Swimming: 88.7km (55.1mi)
Total: 1425.8km (886.0mi)
As an aside, I'd also like to wish everyone running the Boston Marathon good luck for tomorrow's race. Hopefully I'll be able to join you guys in future years, but for the time being I'll be cheering you on from here ;)
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Weeks 13 &14: Review...
Didn't manage to get around to writing up a review for last week, so I'm just combining the two together to simplify things. Unfortunately, both weeks were well short of mileage targets due to a combination of factors. Either way, I did what I could to make the miles I did put down count for as much as possible and as I'm still in base training it's not really a huge deal.
Week 13 started out a bit rough due to time commitments in the early week. We got in a great group run on Wednesday, however directly following that my right glute was feeling a bit tight. With the Harry's 5K on Saturday, I decided to play it safe and skip the sessions until the race and stretch it out as much as possible. I was worried that I'd be dealing with another injury, however it didn't bother me at all during the race and it's felt fine since then so it looks like I dodged a bit of a bullet.
On Sunday I ended up missing my long run as we went out to a family Easter party, and there just wasn't enough time to fit it in. Normally I'd just reschedule to Monday, but with the race on Saturday and the muscle tightness before I elected to just write it off and continue on as planned. I generally try to avoid missing this run at all costs, but without a specific goal I figured that the recovery was more important at this juncture.
This week worked out very well for cycling and swimming, however I missed one mid-week run for my yearly physical and my Saturday recovery run due to scheduling issues. The group run on Wednesday was also a bit shorter than normal as one of the group members was tapering for Boston, so that cut into the mileage total a bit as well. Other than that, the weather this week was quite good so the sessions that I did get in were quite productive. Thankfully the race was a big confidence booster, so I allowed myself to push a bit harder than I've been doing in previous weeks to get back up to speed.
Fortunately, I was able to get in my long run this morning under near perfect conditions. I did overdress a bit as it was a bit cool when I left (8C with a cool breeze), but rapidly got pretty warm (18C with full sun and little wind). It wasn't too bad, but it was enough to elevate my heart rate a bit more than usual. Either way, I brought along extra Gatorade in case I needed it and that kept me fighting through to finish off the planned 11 miles. I was thinking of adding another mile into the mix as things were going well, but decided against it as I was already pretty soaked.
Additionally, due to the rescheduling I ended up doing another brick session on Friday. As I've yet to trigger the lead legs feeling that I've been told you're supposed to get in these sessions, I picked up the pace a bit on the bike to target about 260w (a little under 33km/h). That certainly made the bike leg more challenging, but again I still felt great for the run leg so I'm likely going to have to push a little harder next time.
On the cycling front, I'm likely going to bite the bullet and get the bike shifted over to outside use early this week. The long term forecast is looking relatively good, and our cycling group has been talking about getting out on Saturday so it's likely as good a time as any. The weather today in particular was spectacular, and I would have loved to have gotten out there in these conditions. With that said, the weather can be unpredictable in April around these parts, so I may be regretting it down the road ;) Getting outside, however, will allow me to do much longer rides than I can mentally take inside, so even if I do end up missing a few sessions I'll likely still be ahead of the game.
The other upside to getting out on the road is that I'll finally be able to try out the new cycling computer and aerobars. I've been using them for a couple of months now, but taking them out on the road will realize a lot of potential that sat idle when on a fluid trainer. The aerobars are likely to take some getting used to as the handling is a good deal more complex, but the more time I have to get used to them before the races start the better ;)
Week 14 Totals:
Running: 34.2km (21.3mi)
Walking: 1.3km (0.8mi)
Cycling: 100.3km (62.3mi)
Swimming: 7.4km (4.6mi)
Total: 143.2km (89.0mi)
Week 13 Totals:
Running: 16.7km (10.4mi)
Walking: 0.0km (0.0mi)
Cycling: 40.0km (24.9mi)
Swimming: 3.5km (2.2mi)
Total: 60.2km (37.4mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 510.3km (317.1mi)
Walking: 34.7km (21.6mi)
Cycling: 640.5km (398.0mi)
Swimming: 81.5km (50.6mi)
Total: 1267.0km (787.3mi)
Week 13 started out a bit rough due to time commitments in the early week. We got in a great group run on Wednesday, however directly following that my right glute was feeling a bit tight. With the Harry's 5K on Saturday, I decided to play it safe and skip the sessions until the race and stretch it out as much as possible. I was worried that I'd be dealing with another injury, however it didn't bother me at all during the race and it's felt fine since then so it looks like I dodged a bit of a bullet.
On Sunday I ended up missing my long run as we went out to a family Easter party, and there just wasn't enough time to fit it in. Normally I'd just reschedule to Monday, but with the race on Saturday and the muscle tightness before I elected to just write it off and continue on as planned. I generally try to avoid missing this run at all costs, but without a specific goal I figured that the recovery was more important at this juncture.
This week worked out very well for cycling and swimming, however I missed one mid-week run for my yearly physical and my Saturday recovery run due to scheduling issues. The group run on Wednesday was also a bit shorter than normal as one of the group members was tapering for Boston, so that cut into the mileage total a bit as well. Other than that, the weather this week was quite good so the sessions that I did get in were quite productive. Thankfully the race was a big confidence booster, so I allowed myself to push a bit harder than I've been doing in previous weeks to get back up to speed.
Fortunately, I was able to get in my long run this morning under near perfect conditions. I did overdress a bit as it was a bit cool when I left (8C with a cool breeze), but rapidly got pretty warm (18C with full sun and little wind). It wasn't too bad, but it was enough to elevate my heart rate a bit more than usual. Either way, I brought along extra Gatorade in case I needed it and that kept me fighting through to finish off the planned 11 miles. I was thinking of adding another mile into the mix as things were going well, but decided against it as I was already pretty soaked.
Additionally, due to the rescheduling I ended up doing another brick session on Friday. As I've yet to trigger the lead legs feeling that I've been told you're supposed to get in these sessions, I picked up the pace a bit on the bike to target about 260w (a little under 33km/h). That certainly made the bike leg more challenging, but again I still felt great for the run leg so I'm likely going to have to push a little harder next time.
On the cycling front, I'm likely going to bite the bullet and get the bike shifted over to outside use early this week. The long term forecast is looking relatively good, and our cycling group has been talking about getting out on Saturday so it's likely as good a time as any. The weather today in particular was spectacular, and I would have loved to have gotten out there in these conditions. With that said, the weather can be unpredictable in April around these parts, so I may be regretting it down the road ;) Getting outside, however, will allow me to do much longer rides than I can mentally take inside, so even if I do end up missing a few sessions I'll likely still be ahead of the game.
The other upside to getting out on the road is that I'll finally be able to try out the new cycling computer and aerobars. I've been using them for a couple of months now, but taking them out on the road will realize a lot of potential that sat idle when on a fluid trainer. The aerobars are likely to take some getting used to as the handling is a good deal more complex, but the more time I have to get used to them before the races start the better ;)
Week 14 Totals:
Running: 34.2km (21.3mi)
Walking: 1.3km (0.8mi)
Cycling: 100.3km (62.3mi)
Swimming: 7.4km (4.6mi)
Total: 143.2km (89.0mi)
Week 13 Totals:
Running: 16.7km (10.4mi)
Walking: 0.0km (0.0mi)
Cycling: 40.0km (24.9mi)
Swimming: 3.5km (2.2mi)
Total: 60.2km (37.4mi)
Year to Date:
Running: 510.3km (317.1mi)
Walking: 34.7km (21.6mi)
Cycling: 640.5km (398.0mi)
Swimming: 81.5km (50.6mi)
Total: 1267.0km (787.3mi)
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Harry's Spring Run-Off 5K Race Report
One of my favorite races of the year, Harry's Spring Run Off goes through the hilly terrain of High Park. While it isn't exactly ideal for setting personal bests (thanks to the 350m long 8.5% grade at the end), the it's a gorgeous route and does a great job of setting the mood for the coming season. Further, a number of friends from University run it as well so it's a good chance to get caught up.
I didn't really know what to expect this time out, as it had been months since I've done any speed or hill work (trying to avoid re-injuring the back). Further, after the group run on Wednesday my left thigh was a bit sore, so I took the last two days off to rest it before the race. It was still a bit tight this morning, but fortunately a few stretches before the race seemed to loosen it up. Either way, my target was to squeeze in somewhere between a fun run and an all-out effort. I didn't want to push it too hard and blow up on the final climb, but I also wanted to test how well my fitness was progressing.
As such, the tentative goal was to aim for a ~4:30/km pace (roughly tempo effort) and then decide what to do as the race unfolded. I lined up about three rows back from the front of the corral ahead of the start. I didn't want to be right up front as I wasn't going to push it, but I also didn't want to be weaving in and out so I didn't go too far back either. Thanks to a slight downhill grade for the first 15 meters or so, people have a tendency to go out way too fast for the first 500m and then start falling back in groves, so it's a bit tricky to position oneself well.
1K 4:14 169bpm
When the starter's horn sounded, as with previous years, the field took off at about a 3:30/km pace so I pulled over to the right side and did what I could to keep my pace within range. After about 300 meters or so, the crowd thinned out a bit and I was able to stabilize my pace to a 4:20/km level. I was feeling great and the thigh wasn't giving me any trouble, so I elected to hold onto that pace and see what happened. My breathing and heart rate were still in the comfortable range, and the legs weren't showing any sign of fatigue.
Nearing the end of the first kilometer was an aide station (positioned more for the 8K race before this one), and at this point I started to pass through the hordes of traffic that had started out too fast and were now falling back. I managed to find a path through without much resistance, so I was able to maintain my pace coming around the corner and starting the descent.
2K 4:04 183bpm
The second kilometer of the race starts with a level section and then proceeds to drop a little more than 100 feet. As such, I took advantage of the descent and accelerated a bit when I hit the downhill segment. Thanks to this, I was able to shave off about 10 seconds from this split while maintaining a relatively stable heart rate. I was still passing a lot of people in this segment, but fortunately the road is still pretty wide at this point so that was relatively easy.
At the 1.9K mark, the steepest part of the descent begins - stretching out for about 400 meters at a -7.6% grade. I've always had trouble with this hill, as it's steep enough that my body wants to brake itself to control the descent speed. Intellectually I know that I should just let gravity take over, but overcoming the instinct takes a lot of effort. Either way, I averaged a 3:55/km pace over this stretch, maxing out at about 3:35 near the top of the hill.
3K 4:16 185bpm
After the big descent, the course levels off so the third kilometer is relatively flat. There are a few small rolling hills, but nothing of significance. As such, I settled back into my 4:20-ish pace and kept going. My heart rate and breathing were remaining rock stable at this point, and the body was feeling great, with no signs of fatigue setting in.
At this point I was well ahead of schedule, but while I was gaining confidence in my speed I still wasn't entirely sure about my ability to scale that final hill without the specific training I'd done in previous years. As I neared the end of the kilometer, I elected to pull back the pace a bit to leave some fuel in the tank for the final push. I hated to do it as I was making great time, but as it didn't seem likely I'd beat my 20:55 PB on this course I felt it was better to do it now than be forced to do it on that hill.
4K 4:28 187bpm
The fourth kilometer has a few more significant rolling hills, and traffic started picking up again as fatigue started to kick in for many runners. I weaved in and out to get through it, but took a conscious effort to keep the pace reduced as per my concerns in the last kilometer. My heart rate picked up a bit on the climbs, however on the flat and downhill segments it was dropping slowly so I was getting a bit of rest in.
In retrospect, that slowdown was a bad decision as I was still well within zone 4 and my breathing wasn't problematic at all. The legs still felt fresh, and while the final hill is definitely challenging I don't know that this bit of rest really did a lot to help. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure what to expect as I hadn't gotten around to testing out my fitness on climbs in recent weeks. While I didn't do any formal hill training, the bike provides similar muscle recruitment so it's obvious that that did the trick.
5K 4:28 190bpm
The final kilometer of this race is always challenging, as the knowledge of the upcoming hill tends to hover over everything else that is happening. For the first 650m or so, I held the same pace as I did in the previous kilometer (4:28) and focused on deep breathing to minimize my heart rate. Fortunately, I was still pretty comfortable at this point so that was relatively easy to do. The heart rate did go up a bit as there is a small positive grade in this section (0.7% overall, 2.1% in the latter half).
With about 350m to go, I turned the corner and started heading up the final climb. The hill has an average grade of 8.5% and includes a 200m stretch at over 10%, which at the end of a race like this can be incredibly painful. When I hit the bottom of the hill I started to lose some speed, but thanks to a friend cheering me on I sucked it up and pushed through managing to average a pace of 4:10 for the final 200m of the climb. While it was draining, when I reached the top and ran the final 15m stretch to the finishing line there was still plenty left in the tank.
In the end, I hit the finish line in 21:35.5s which was a lot better than expected. Had I gone all out and not slowed down after the third kilometer, I may have been able to get close to my personal best. I don't know that it would have been possible to beat it regardless of what I did, but it is obvious that I am in better shape than I had thought. Either way, the intent of getting out today was more to get back into racing mode than hitting any specific time target, so I'm happy with what I achieved.
This particular race is a difficult one to plan, as that big hill at the end makes it a highly strategic course. Short distance runs like this are easier to do by feel, but having to save some energy for that final push means that it needs a bit more foresight than that. If you go out to fast, you implode when you hit that hill and lose a lot of time. If you hold out too much on the initial segment, you've got plenty left in the tank for that hill but you sacrifice time that would have been easy to get. Unfortunately, there's no way to know for sure until you hit the finish line and at that point it's too late to do anything about it ;)
The other tricky part about it is that that final hill always makes me feel like I am moving at a snail's pace. Looking back at the telemetry, it's obvious that it didn't slow me down much - but if you asked me to estimate my pace while I was climbing I likely would have guessed somewhere around 5:30-6:00. I'm not sure if it's just the extreme grade, the other runners fighting alongside me or the lactate messing with my brain but it can be quite deceiving ;) Fortunately, the slower I think I am going the harder I'll push so maybe that's a good thing!
Chip time: 21:35.5 (overall results)
Gun time: 21:36.6
Pace: 4:19K
Place overall: 67/1633 (95.9 percentile)
Place in men: 56/775 (92.8 percentile)
Place in age group: 15/138 (89.1 percentile)
Full Telemetry
I didn't really know what to expect this time out, as it had been months since I've done any speed or hill work (trying to avoid re-injuring the back). Further, after the group run on Wednesday my left thigh was a bit sore, so I took the last two days off to rest it before the race. It was still a bit tight this morning, but fortunately a few stretches before the race seemed to loosen it up. Either way, my target was to squeeze in somewhere between a fun run and an all-out effort. I didn't want to push it too hard and blow up on the final climb, but I also wanted to test how well my fitness was progressing.
As such, the tentative goal was to aim for a ~4:30/km pace (roughly tempo effort) and then decide what to do as the race unfolded. I lined up about three rows back from the front of the corral ahead of the start. I didn't want to be right up front as I wasn't going to push it, but I also didn't want to be weaving in and out so I didn't go too far back either. Thanks to a slight downhill grade for the first 15 meters or so, people have a tendency to go out way too fast for the first 500m and then start falling back in groves, so it's a bit tricky to position oneself well.
1K 4:14 169bpm
When the starter's horn sounded, as with previous years, the field took off at about a 3:30/km pace so I pulled over to the right side and did what I could to keep my pace within range. After about 300 meters or so, the crowd thinned out a bit and I was able to stabilize my pace to a 4:20/km level. I was feeling great and the thigh wasn't giving me any trouble, so I elected to hold onto that pace and see what happened. My breathing and heart rate were still in the comfortable range, and the legs weren't showing any sign of fatigue.
Nearing the end of the first kilometer was an aide station (positioned more for the 8K race before this one), and at this point I started to pass through the hordes of traffic that had started out too fast and were now falling back. I managed to find a path through without much resistance, so I was able to maintain my pace coming around the corner and starting the descent.
2K 4:04 183bpm
The second kilometer of the race starts with a level section and then proceeds to drop a little more than 100 feet. As such, I took advantage of the descent and accelerated a bit when I hit the downhill segment. Thanks to this, I was able to shave off about 10 seconds from this split while maintaining a relatively stable heart rate. I was still passing a lot of people in this segment, but fortunately the road is still pretty wide at this point so that was relatively easy.
At the 1.9K mark, the steepest part of the descent begins - stretching out for about 400 meters at a -7.6% grade. I've always had trouble with this hill, as it's steep enough that my body wants to brake itself to control the descent speed. Intellectually I know that I should just let gravity take over, but overcoming the instinct takes a lot of effort. Either way, I averaged a 3:55/km pace over this stretch, maxing out at about 3:35 near the top of the hill.
3K 4:16 185bpm
After the big descent, the course levels off so the third kilometer is relatively flat. There are a few small rolling hills, but nothing of significance. As such, I settled back into my 4:20-ish pace and kept going. My heart rate and breathing were remaining rock stable at this point, and the body was feeling great, with no signs of fatigue setting in.
At this point I was well ahead of schedule, but while I was gaining confidence in my speed I still wasn't entirely sure about my ability to scale that final hill without the specific training I'd done in previous years. As I neared the end of the kilometer, I elected to pull back the pace a bit to leave some fuel in the tank for the final push. I hated to do it as I was making great time, but as it didn't seem likely I'd beat my 20:55 PB on this course I felt it was better to do it now than be forced to do it on that hill.
4K 4:28 187bpm
The fourth kilometer has a few more significant rolling hills, and traffic started picking up again as fatigue started to kick in for many runners. I weaved in and out to get through it, but took a conscious effort to keep the pace reduced as per my concerns in the last kilometer. My heart rate picked up a bit on the climbs, however on the flat and downhill segments it was dropping slowly so I was getting a bit of rest in.
In retrospect, that slowdown was a bad decision as I was still well within zone 4 and my breathing wasn't problematic at all. The legs still felt fresh, and while the final hill is definitely challenging I don't know that this bit of rest really did a lot to help. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure what to expect as I hadn't gotten around to testing out my fitness on climbs in recent weeks. While I didn't do any formal hill training, the bike provides similar muscle recruitment so it's obvious that that did the trick.
5K 4:28 190bpm
The final kilometer of this race is always challenging, as the knowledge of the upcoming hill tends to hover over everything else that is happening. For the first 650m or so, I held the same pace as I did in the previous kilometer (4:28) and focused on deep breathing to minimize my heart rate. Fortunately, I was still pretty comfortable at this point so that was relatively easy to do. The heart rate did go up a bit as there is a small positive grade in this section (0.7% overall, 2.1% in the latter half).
With about 350m to go, I turned the corner and started heading up the final climb. The hill has an average grade of 8.5% and includes a 200m stretch at over 10%, which at the end of a race like this can be incredibly painful. When I hit the bottom of the hill I started to lose some speed, but thanks to a friend cheering me on I sucked it up and pushed through managing to average a pace of 4:10 for the final 200m of the climb. While it was draining, when I reached the top and ran the final 15m stretch to the finishing line there was still plenty left in the tank.
In the end, I hit the finish line in 21:35.5s which was a lot better than expected. Had I gone all out and not slowed down after the third kilometer, I may have been able to get close to my personal best. I don't know that it would have been possible to beat it regardless of what I did, but it is obvious that I am in better shape than I had thought. Either way, the intent of getting out today was more to get back into racing mode than hitting any specific time target, so I'm happy with what I achieved.
This particular race is a difficult one to plan, as that big hill at the end makes it a highly strategic course. Short distance runs like this are easier to do by feel, but having to save some energy for that final push means that it needs a bit more foresight than that. If you go out to fast, you implode when you hit that hill and lose a lot of time. If you hold out too much on the initial segment, you've got plenty left in the tank for that hill but you sacrifice time that would have been easy to get. Unfortunately, there's no way to know for sure until you hit the finish line and at that point it's too late to do anything about it ;)
The other tricky part about it is that that final hill always makes me feel like I am moving at a snail's pace. Looking back at the telemetry, it's obvious that it didn't slow me down much - but if you asked me to estimate my pace while I was climbing I likely would have guessed somewhere around 5:30-6:00. I'm not sure if it's just the extreme grade, the other runners fighting alongside me or the lactate messing with my brain but it can be quite deceiving ;) Fortunately, the slower I think I am going the harder I'll push so maybe that's a good thing!
Chip time: 21:35.5 (overall results)
Gun time: 21:36.6
Pace: 4:19K
Place overall: 67/1633 (95.9 percentile)
Place in men: 56/775 (92.8 percentile)
Place in age group: 15/138 (89.1 percentile)
Full Telemetry
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