Mt tremblant race report first thoughts

6:08. 231of 283. Yikes.
Splits were:
39:53 pr of about 1:30 over Austin. Felt very composed in the water. Got kicked a few times. Kept drifting right. I sure do prefer wetsuit swims. Came out of the water 220 in ag.
T15:43. Massive long run. T1 was 800m long. I put on socks but the real time lost here was the 1/2mi run from swim out.
Bike 3:05 2min pr. 236 in ag. Avg hr of 145. Lots of hills. I will be interested to see the elevation data from garmin. I should have put on a large cassette. I really had to work to get up the climbs at the end. I think it hurt me later. But I kept my avg hr in the 140's which is what I was targeting. Except for the last 5 mi where it crept up. I felt good on the flat sections but couldn't get enough speed on the downhill to make up for the time lost going up hill. Next time I race something like this I will adjust my gearing.
T2 1:58. Pretty simple.
Which put me out on the run at about 3:54. I remember hearing them already interviewing the winner as I was coming out of t2.
Run 2:14, 231 in ag. I felt crappy about this run but I guess I moved up a few slots. The hills on the run were torture after the bike. My hr was 144 in t2 so I was calm enough getting out on the run. My avg hr on the run was 163.i had to work really hard for that 2:14.
I started feeling cramp twinges early and went to a run 14/walk 1 routine very early. And I just tried to stay focused on 1 15min block at a time.
That seemed to work pretty well and I feel good about my ability to maintain focus on each block.
I didn't check my total event time until the 9.6k turnaround on the run. At that point I was at 4:49 but I was totally unable to do the math to figure out if breaking 6hrs was possible or not.
As far as I can tell I was 1:07 through the first 7mi and 1:07 through the last 6.1. So I fell off. Miles 11-13 were 11, 12, and 12:30. By then, I was back in the steep hills, cramping and struggling.
I think that while on the run, I really need to just cut the race into chunks and stay in my chunk. Not worry about pace. Or total time. Just get to a heart rate that I can maintain for the chunk and go till it is time to walk. My mind was calmer during the portion of the run when I stayed in my chunk. Once I checked my total time and started projecting my finish, I got stressed.i had hoped that it would motivate me to push harder if I knew that I was close to my goal time. But at that point in the race, I am pushing as hard as i can. I am right on the edge of cramping and blowing up. My hr is in the 160's with 170 as lthr. I can't go harder. All I can do is go steadier. Fewer breaks. And I think that setting a chunk size, be it 14/1 or 9/1 or even 5/:30 and then staying with it will help me walk less and stress less.
After some rest, I am looking forward to shorter races in the summer. More Crossfit too. Gotta put my strength back together.
This little village is the perfect spot for a race btw. Just need to flatten the course a bit.

It is a week later and I have a feeler thoughts about this race.
On the bike, I need to go to power. My target hr was 140 and I biked 145. That would indicate too much work. But my hr was spiked from the swim and run to t1 and it took an hr to settle down. I was on target in the flats but in the last 1/3 it spiked on the climbs. Power and bigger rear cogs would have helped.
For cramps, it turns out that I am taking about 1/2 the sodium that en suggests. I will fix that going forward. Might help with the cramps.
Also, I am going to try pickle juice sport the next time they hit. Research shows it stops cramps cold once they hit.

Race morning mt. tremblant

It is 4:45 am race morning.
The trip to the race site was a modest adventure of delayed flights and $250 can rides. But we are here and everything is ready.
I got on the swim course yesterday. I would guess that the water is 75. A far cry from 65. And the water is pretty clean compared to texas lakes. So the actual swim is not the problem that it could have been. Some light chop but not a big deal.
Gonna start a bit wide and find my stroke.
T1 i swear is 800m from the swim out. We run up the beach and down the street, turn a corner and into another parking lot. There is no way that t1 isn't 5min.
The bike and run courses are hilly. Period. 3 main uphill sections to each. But the weather is cool. Just going to take it easy uphill and the first few miles of the run.

Massive amounts of drainage

The amount of junk draining from my head over the past 12 hrs has been truly awe inspiring.
Meanwhile, my sore throat is gone. Completely. Which to me supports the notion that it was infection that was causing the pain, not drainage. I took the 3rd day of antibiotics this morning.
Then I went for a short 45min bike. It rained hard at a few points.
I do not have my legs back under me yet but I feel better than I did the Wednesday before cowtown.
We will see. Gotta keep my focus on my one thing for each event and let the race play out.

Nothing but drugs. Day 3.

Tuesday. Antibiotics, steroids, and rest.
Today I want to run. Hopefully tomorrow I will.
I don't feel 100% in terms of being sick. But after a week of much more rest(in the past 5 days I had 1 day of work and it was a 30min swim and a 20min run) I feel pretty strong. And ache free. My achillies have been on the mend nicely. Knees feel good.
I actually feel like I could go put out a respectable run right now.
So maybe a bike run tomorrow and a swim Thursday. Travel Friday with maybe a short run.

Taperitis

Apparently, getting sick right at the start of a taper is not unusual.
This time I went ahead and started the Antibiotics. I will take my last dose Friday of I take them all.
I am feeling much improved and really want to train a little tomorrow. I won't. But I want to and that is a good sign.
I have been advised that this close to the race I should let go of time goals and focus on execution goals. So here they are:
Swim- get in to a rhythm. Find a stroke and sighting pattern that I can string together. I think I found it last weekend. I will practice it one more time in the pool and one more time at the race site.
Bike- maintain a steady effort. Same work level uphill and downhill. Hr in the upper 130's.
Run- pace the first 3mi at 9:30, the next 7 at 9 and the last 3 as fast as I can.
Starting to get excited.

Crap. I really am sick

In February, after a really good training run up I came down with a fever a week before the cowtown. I stayed in bed all week and ran the race but I wasn't myself. Got the first wave of calf cramps at mile 3, had an elevated heart rate the whole time and didn't race as well as I had trained.

I got the same bug. After skipping Friday, I decided to ows Saturday and run for 20min. I was pretty fatigued. I made it thru the rest of the day but by last night I could really feel it coming on.
I woke up at 12 with a pretty high fever. I managed to get up for more Advil but I was shaking. A few hrs later I woke up in a big pool of sweat. I think the fever may have broken. I turned off my alarm. No 2 he ride for me today. Gotta find a time to spin the legs of I can though. Even if it is on the trainer.

Hmmm... Habit?

Another Friday and I am skipping out.
I feel kinda crappy for the 2nd day. Soar throat, aches. So I am resting today in place of Sunday.

I have not had good tapers. Either I get sick or hit a wall or something. I tend to hit the peak workload then crash. So file this one under "listening to your body". And today mine does not much care to run and REALLY does not want to get in a pool.
On the positive side, I am eating well. No big cravings for crappy food. It feels like my caloric needs are backing off with the reduced workload.
My body feels pretty good. Achillies are in decent shape. Still having problems with the outside of my left ankle. But they are sporadic and when they occur while painful they clear in a few minutes.
Let's hope this is allergies or a mild cold. Either way it should be well clear by race day.

75 min in the sweat lodge

Yesterday I did my 75min run with a z4 and z3 interval.
I waited to run till lunch in 93 degrees. And it only got hotter.
I lost 5lbs during the run. Pushed my heart rate way the hell up compared to my pace. Once I popped it up on an interval, it never came back down.
To me the message was not to spike your hr on the run. Not till the last few miles and not till you plan to keep it elevated.
I am missing a swim this week but I'm not worried about it. Really, I'd like to get to the lake. I'm just not sure how to fit it in.

My dog is still dead.

That is my central reality today.

Monday was an interval run and a swim. Did em.
Today was an interval bike brick run. Did em but didn't quite hit the run times on the back half of the run.

I drop my bike off for transport today.

I have a soar throat and feel a little sluggish. Could be allergies. Will be getting extra rest.

Might have to schedule juggle the next couple of days to accommodate a work trip to Austin on Thursday.

2 weeks till race day

Today was a 2hr ride. Zone 3. Maintain focus and ride hard. Did pretty well.
It is funny how much road quality can effect average speed. I do most of my rides on a bumpy, hilly bad stretch of road that does not get much traffic. You can go for 20mi without a stoplight.
Today I went on the freeway access road. Smooth. 1.5 mph faster.
Sure hope the roads are smooth in Canada.
I miss my dog. It has been 48hrs and I guess that it is starting to sink in. He is really gone. I wish at times like this I had a belief in an afterlife. I told our 6yr old that George is in heaven. Where he is allowed to get up on the couch whenever he wants and he gets to eat lots of peanut butter. I wish I believed it.
And I can't really get behind the idea of racing for George either. Like "that is what he would have wanted". Because it isn't. What he would have wanted would have been for me to sit on the floor with him and feed him treats while I scratched his ears.
Endurance nation says that in an ironman or a half at some point in the race you reach "the line". The line is that point on the run where it gets very very hard to keep going. All of your race plan execution is about pushing that line back as far as you can get it to go. But once you get to the line, you need to rely on your "one thing" to keep you moving. The one thing is your motivation. The reason that you race. I'd like to say that george was my motivation. But it isn't true.
What seems true at the moment is that I train to stay strong and sane. And to put myself in a position to race well. To do something special that I can be proud of.
And I guess that I race to validate the work of training. So at mile 6 on the run when I want to slow down, it will be all of the times that I got up at 4:50am to train. All of the money I didn't make because I didn't have the energy or time to work more. All of the times I was short with my kids or with my wife because I was exhausted.
The vacation that was centered around going to MY race. All of the people who gave a little or a lot so that I could get to the starting line. If I won't keep going hard for me, I need to do it for them.

Post brick

51mi in 2:52 or so. A little slower than goal pace but I was dogging it. My hr was like 128avg.
Ran 6mi in 53min. Run pace is just fine.
I felt really easy the whole time. Tonight I don't really feel like I did much today. Very odd. But I'll take it.
Guess I am ready for Canada.

Goodbye dear George

Terri and I had to put our great Dane George to sleep yesterday afternoon.
He was 9 years old and had developed a form of heart disease common to his breed.
He lived a full life and was a wonderful companion. He saw me change jobs, houses and bring home two kids from the hospital.
I will remember him fondly for the test of my days.

Playing workout hookie

I'm skipping today. It is set to be a recovery day anyway. A relatively easy swim and a 45min z1 z2 run.
But, I am feeling beat up. After the 12mi run on Wednesday and the interval run yesterday, I am feeling it.
And I can see tomorrow's 4hr brick coming.
The clincher is that I am waking up a lot during the night. That is a pretty clear sign for me that I am red lining.

So instead of today's work, I am going to get a massage and doze off during it.

I will be up at 5 Saturday morning to get on the road by 530 so that I can be back in the house by 930.

So if I Dnf in Canada, you can all point to today :)

Thursday

Ok, got some sleep. Feeling a bit better.
Got Tuesday's high intensity ride in.
Yesterday was a 105min run with z3 and z4 intervals.
Today and Friday I have short runs and swims. I had planned to get to Crossfit for the first time in a couple of weeks. But work is getting in the way.
So I will just do what I can do. Saturday is the final race rehearsal before Canada. Let's hope it goes better than the last one.

Sleep... Must have sleep...

Tuesday. Need some sleep.
Got sunfay's ride and run in. Solid work but not spectacular.
Monday was swim. Ms was 20x100 as 50sprint, 50 recover. Broke it in to 4 sets of 500.
Today is a shorter 75min bike. But a ton of z4. I will get as much hill in there as I can.
I have to travel to and from Dallas today for work. Hope I can fall asleep on the plane.

I want to do texas.

So a big goal for 2012 is to sign up for a full ironman for 2013.
But which one?
My original plan was to shoot for Florida or Arizona like everyone else and just hope that I am quick enough with my computer to get in.
Why? Both are flat and late in the year. I have committed to the cowtown marathon in late feb for one more year and I need to see that through. That makes any race before june tough.

But I keep thinking about texas. The woodland is just a few hours away. Yes it is hot and humid. But. I know the area. And I could get out there to train on the course. And it would be easier to have family close during the race. And for some reason I just feel good about it.
I can't sign up yet. Wtc is still duri g it out with the local govt over the details for the race.
By the time registration is open, I will have raced mt tremblant 70.3.
Who knows, I might want to go back there for the full. The timing is better and I will have raced the course once already.
Yesterday was a 120min interval run. Mostly z3 and 4 intervals. I did as much hill work as I could.
Today was 25min z1 run followed by 180min interval bike. Got it done. But I couldn't get to z4 on the bike. Just didnt have the legs.
Tomorrow is 25min z1 run then a 120min bike. I have a loop that takes about that long. I will see how fast I can get through it.
I already looking through next weeks workouts for something I can skip in place of Crossfit. I miss heavy things and I miss my family there.