26min pr.

5:41. Best bike/run ever. Had a flat tire overnight and almost missed my wave start.
After that, a 43min disaster of a swim complete with anxiety and rest stops at the first two buoys. But in 70.3, it all comes down to bike/run.
I will get a full rr up soon. For now I taking a little break. Even from talking to myself.

Race morning

530am in Austin before 70.3.
It is 46 degrees.
Over the past 12 hrs I have gotten gradually less brave regarding what to wear on the bike.
I started with just adding arm warmers and toe covers. I am now up to a jacket and lobster gloves as well.
It was suggested that I keep my wetsuit on as long as possible after I get out of the water. Go ahead and run to the rack with it on. Makes good sense.
It has also been suggested that we don't race to test our fitness. We race to test execution.
So with that, here are my execution goals:
Swim:
Stay inside. Swim as short a distance as I can.
T1: dont sprint to your bike. Put on as much clothing as you want
Bike: first 15 min look for 170w. Slowly inch up from there.
T2 this one should be shorter. Still, don't rush. Rushing could dump you into the run too hyped up.
Run: hr below 155 for first lap. After first lap, decide where you are. But no higher than 160 for lap 2.
Ok. Time to get moving.

Checked in

Busy day. Made big pre race breakfast at home with the kids. Scrambled eggs and pancakes with the help of a 3 yr old and a 6 yr old. We had fun but trashed the kitchen. Luckily mom was there to keep order and make sure everything was edible. After we were done, I told Terri that this must be what normal families do on weekends. I am always riding or running in he morning so I wouldn't know.
Actually, this whole taper week has been family catch up time. I made the bus stop 3 times and was at each kid's school.
The Austin 70.3 is a hassle in terms of logistics. At least compared to my tremblant. You have to drive everywhere. Lodging is 10mi away. And the town support is nothing compared to immt.
I got my t2 bag packed and dropped it off. In t2 I was reminded how this run is always slightly uphill or slightly downhill. It will not have the same ft of climb as immt but it just isnt ever flat.

My bike is checked in but I am going to wait till the morning to set up t1. Or maybe tonight.
Right now I have my shows with tow covers clipped in but the run to bike out looks a little sketchy. So that might change.
I need to re read the core diet list of what to eat for the rest of the day, go get supplies and then hunker down for the evening. I should take advantage of the fact that I am here solo to lay really low. There is no one here that I need to take care of/ look out for. I should take advantage of that.

Thursday of the week that would not end

Race in 3 days.
There is a front blowing in that will drop temps by 20 degrees.
So the race day high will be 70 instead of 90.
It is also kicking my allergies up. I am going to start taking my allergy meds today as well as the zinc just in case.
I don't think my allergies really impact my racing. They just make me a little more achy.
This week is dragging by really slowly. Today feels like it should be Friday. But yesterday felt like it should have been Friday as well.
Training wise, I am recovered and ready to go.
It has been nice to spend extra time with the fam this week. I was able to be at Ellie's bus stop in the morning twice, got to go on her evening field trip and was able to make an event at cc's school. Good stuff.

Up off the mat

My energy is back.
Monday through Friday was rough in terms of energy/attitute.
Felt depressed actually.
Very low energy.
But I am starting to pull out. Had a good session yesterday. Last real vol before Austin. Pretty much had my fastest time ever on the 34mi loop around my house. Ran a few mi as well. And I practiced grabbing bottles while riding.
Everything i in position for Austin. Now I just need to take it easy this week and I should be in my best spot do far going into an "a" race.

I am a little bummed that my kids won't be there to see me. But that is a good bit to ask. Besides, they were there for the cowtown marathon and they will be there at the end of imfl.

So health is good. Nutrition is set and I know what my goals are for each section of the race.
Swim- take an inside line. Behind the midpoint of my wave. But close to the line. I am gonna get caught and swam over by 1 or 2 waves but it will end up being a shorter swim. Every extra 50m is an extra minute.
In t1, I am not going to run hard. I want to focus on keeping my hr down. Drink a pickle juice, eat a gel, put other pj flask and run gels in my suit pocket, put on arm coolers and go.
On the bike, I want to get ahead on hydration. Look for avg power starting at 170 for the first 5mi and moving up to 180 by the second 1/2 of the ride.
T2 is super short. Visor, glasses and go.
Run is by hr. 150 to 155 for lap1. 155 to 160 for lap 2. Lap 3 the cap in off.

Training is not racing.

My mental tank is at zero. I am taki h today off. My body actually feels ok but my head is tired.
This feels a bit familiar though. Something about this point in the training cycle. I am about 10 days out from my race. The vol has backed off a bit but will be even lower next week.
I can see the finish line for the season and my brain may be gathering itself for one last big push.
Swimming is the hardest. I have felt this mental tiredness coming on in the pool for a week now. Group runs and bike have been easier to keep focused on.
But when the mental heaviness increased last night and then even more this morning, I knew I was taking the day off. My hunch is that if I rest enough, my body will get antsy and talk my brain into moving it around a little. Worst case, I have gotten sick at this point in my other two main races this year so let's rest and avoid that!

Rr#2 in the books

Race rehearsals are a chance to see what is working and what is not within the context of a workout that won't take too long to recover from.
For a 70.3, the race rehearsals are a race intensity ride followed by a 6mi run at the intensity of the first 6 mi of the run.
Saturday I had rr2 the last dress rehearsal before Austin.
I had roger it done early because Ellie needed to be at gymnastics by 10. So I aimed for a 4am wake up a d 5am start. By 9am it should be all over.
I set up transition in the garage. On the bike I had 3x24oz perform and 4 gels. In transition I had a gel and a pickle juice. In the run I had another 24oz perform and another gel.
Since I was supposed to have 3.5 bottles on the bike I downed one with a gel right before I headed out.
My goal was avg power of about 175w with as little variation as possible.
At 5am in October in boerne texas, it is dark. Really dark. I had never been out in this kind of dark. Then it started raining. I guess that helped explain the dark.
For the first 90min on the bike, I had to take it easy. I had to coast down hills because I couldn't really see very far in front of me. As the ride went on a d the visibility improved, I was able to pick it up a bit. As a result, the ride was a little underpowered and the last hour was a little overpowered.
I was a couple of minutes slower than I wanted to be and the power levels were to variable but in the circumstances I think I did the best I could.
I peed twice. Once about 30min in and once at about 90 min.
Back at the house I changed, peed again, drank a pickle juice, ate a gel, grabbed my run bottle and got back out. T took about 3min.
In the run, I felt good from the start. Like the ride didn't really take anything out of me. I dropped my bottle on a corned and did out and back 1mile loops around it. I stopped for a drink each time I went by and ate a gel at 30min. For pacing on the run, I wanted to target a heart rate of 150, allowing it to drift up to 155 going up hills but slowing down if it got that high.
I was able to put down 6mi at a little under 9min per mi. With no real problems at all.
When it was all over, I really felt fine. Not at all like I did in the past. I know I am more trained but my guess in that the increased calories and fluid are the main reason.
Over the 4hrs and 62mi, I consumed 4.5 24oz bottles of perform and 8 caffeinated power gels. My weight prior was 165 and after was 161.
Today is a rest day. I slept in till 7:45, then went to church with the kids and took them to breakfast with my dad.
Even though I didn't execute on the bike like I would have wanted, I felt great on the run.
I really like the new bike position. And running is going well.
Now I just need to put a decent swim together and I should be in position to pr in 2 weeks.

Rr#2 coming up.

Tomorrow is my last race rehearsal before Austin.
Putting together these big events is always a logistical effort.
In this case, it looks like I will be getting up at 4am so that I can be on the road by 5 so that I can be done by 9 so that I can take Ellie to gymnastics by 10.
And today I need to get gels, a gate clicker and applesauce so I may or may not get to swim.
Had a tough run yesterday. Had tu push really hard to hit target interval paces and today my lower back is complaining. So, again resting today might be a good idea. If anything next week could be a little swim heavy if I feel like I need to make up for it.

3 2 1

3hr interval ride Saturday. 55mi in 2:54.
Felt good. I used the new fueling plan from the folks at core diet.
Big change. Instead of 3x24oz of perform, I had 3.5 plus a gel every 30min.
The extra cal and caffeine put me in a good spot and I got home feeling great.
Then Sunday I took stepdad out for a ride to Helotes. Comedy of errors. First, the temp had dropped to the upper 40's. And he didn't bring cold weather riding clothes. I have a little so we cobbled together what we could.
Then about 1/4 of the way into the ride, going down a steep descent the front end of my bike started to shake. 35mph. Big time shakes. I managed to get out of aero and come to a stop. The front end had come loose. As I was looking at it, Sandford realized that one of his cleats is about to fall off.
So we limped in to the bike shop in Helotes for repairs. And jackets!
Today was a 1hr run. 3mi easy, 2ni hard 1mi easy. 53min.
In the afternoon, I got new bars so that I could get more forward. The bike feels and looks great. And I am broke!
Let's get out to the track tomorrow.