IM Boise 70.3 Week 18 - Training Recap

Whew! What a long, emotionally and physically draining week this was. After returning home from our trip to Chicago to visit with my dad and family, the Kid immediately went off to his last Middle School overnight camp and then went straight to Spokane for a visit with his Grandma for the holiday weekend. Insert massive amount of free time for mom to get some serious training sessions in. Perfect timing as this was my last build week - and what a build it was!

Let's take a peek......(I'm tired just looking at this recap)


Monday - 4 Hour Chicago Brick (2.5 hour ride + 8 mile run)

Since my sister's graduation took place on Sunday, I decided to move my scheduled brick to Monday which would afford ample time at the gym. Still in IL and with Ben (my bike) nowhere in sight, I was forced to get my miles in via a spin bike and the dreadmill. Not.fun...but.done. I did learn something during that 4 hours of gym time though? I do NOT like spin class. Yep, got to the gym around 8am and made a bee line straight to the spin bike studio. Figured there was no way I was going to try and hash out 2.5 hours on a recumbent bike. About an hour and a half into my session the next spin class starting mulling in. I figured I might as well just stay on the bike and ride with these folks - see what spin is all about.

Um, yeah....no thanks.

He seriously looked like this - but with his eyes clamped shut the whole time!

The instructor was this big, bulky brooding guy, probably in his 50's who thought (and could have very well been) that he was a drill sergeant - the music started (at some insane decibel), the group got all fired up and then he started shouting in some lunatic language that I could not understand in any way shape or form. I followed along like a good soldier but honestly, I don't know if I was doing anything correctly. I spent most of the next hour trying to juggle the spinning/push ups combo that the Sergeant seemed to enjoy and keeping my heart rate down. Heck, I still had 8 miles to run!! Needless to say, although I do respond well to having a coach yell at me while in the pool, I am not a fan while on the bike. Think I'll try out another class here in town over the summer...maybe it was just a bad combo - the Sergeant and I.

Tuesday  - Rest Day (travel)

Most of this day was spent travelling, so although I really wanted to get a swim in when we got home, I ended up just taking a rest day. Probably for the best considering I had a long run planned the next day

Wednesday -  12 Mile Run

Ok, so I was tired. Super tired. Drained from 5 days of travelling and a very long day at work. Still, 12 miles on the schedule and I really needed to see how my hip was going to react at this distance. Funny to think how just 5 months ago I was "training" for 13.1 as my longest run ever, and now I can say, "12 miles? Eh, just a training run." Haha....not quite there yet but I was successful and so proud of myself when done. These 12 miles were a HUGE confidence booster! Started out at 7pm with tired legs, brain and all.............

   

Compression socks - I will never run a mile over 5 without them!

Boom badda Bing!

........and there it is! 12 miles in 2 hours and 4 minutes!! Had I kept up that last mile pace or even slowed down to 10 minutes, I would have PR'd my half marathon form December! So excited to pull out a run like this after being so mentally exhausted. Just the first of many confidence boosters I had this week.
                                                

Thursday - 1:20 Bike

Gorgeous day for a ride - just me and Ben out for some interval work along the river. Nice and windy so it kept me on my toes.

Friday - 3000 yd swim

Friday night date night with the pool. Still trying to play catch up with the sleep I forgoed (is that a word?) over the weekend, my swim was pushed to the evening. Usually I HATE swimming in the evenings as all of the gym rats have already had a chance to muck up the water with their sweat and urine (don't kid yourselves, there is plenty of pee in those pools!)...but given the holiday weekend I had the place to myself! Just a enjoyable session with an arm that is now at about 99%!

Saturday - Brunch + Farmer's Market + 53 Mile Ride

Love, love, loved my Saturday! P and I had a late, lazy morning - got up, made our way over to a new cafe for brunch (knowing that I had a long ride ahead of me, I piled up on delicious carbs and protein) and then visited the local farmer's market that just recently opened up for the season. Food, fresh produce, coffee, flowers, people...you name it. I love everything about the summer in Portland - especially the massive amount of local meats/produce/wine that is available. After picking up a few items (including the flowers below), and trying not to steal every single cutie of a dog that came up to say hi, we headed home.

Quick bike check and I was off for my 53 mile ride. With the next day's loooong brick ahead of me, I made sure to take it easy, finding a route that wasn't too hilly allowing for a nice high cadence and steady spin. 45 miles up and down Marine Dr (road that borders the Columbia River), the weather was perfect and fellow bikers super friendly. The ride went ok - nutrition down pat - it was that time of the month though (TMI?) so my back was aching like none other. Happy to know that there was a specific reason for it and not just my body rejecting the length of time in aero. :)

Bike route leads right passed Portland International Airport. Kind of cool riding with planes but 100 feet overhead.

Sunday - 51 Mile Bike + 3 min transition + 9 Mile Run (race day prep incl. tri kit)

So here it was. 18 weeks of training had brought me to my long anticipated race simulation. After coming directly off of a 50+ ride the day before, I was pretty nervous and already assuming that my legs weren't going to hold up. Even worse, I planned on riding up a 900+ ft "hill" to start off the course. This was to be a training session that simulated as close to race day as possible, so that included wearing my race kit, utilizing what nutrition/hydration I had planned as well as having P meet up with me to hand off the bike and dress rehearse a proper bike/run transition.

And away we go!.....and OM.G. here is that climb! 7 miles up and up and up.........bring on the hurt locker!

But all that pain was worth it..........

One of my favorite views in all of Oregon!

Small break at the top - just enough time to snap a selflie! :)

And back down I went......one would think that a solid downhill for 7 miles would be fun. Unfortunately the route is on a fairly busy road with lots of twists and turns so you really can't sit down in aero and just fly. That and still holding a few nerves from my bike crash, you better believe I was riding the brakes. Down the hill and out along the river's edge till it was time to head home for the run....I managed to maintain a 17 mph pace over the course of my 51 miles so I was fairly pleased.

Hand off the bike to P, take a quick potty break, slip on the shoes/visor, stash my water bottles and GU in some bushes near by (I HATE running with a belt, so the bushes acted as a makeshift aid station) and it was time for those awful 9 miles. It took me about 3 to find a good pace and convince myself that it was possible. Back and forth along my neighborhood roads with the wind and rain starting to pick up around mile 6 - I'm sure all of this made for a ridiculous scene for my neighbors. Here was this girl, in knee high socks and a one piece suit/visor getting soaked in the rain. Needless to say I didn't give one damn. I was bound to keep my pace and finish this thing. No better test for Boise.

Done. 60 miles in one day. 51 miles of biking + 3 minute transition + a 9 mile run in 4 hours and let's say 45 minutes. I have no idea as to whether or not this is a "good" or "bad" time. All I can tell you is that if I keep this same pace during Boise, make it out of the water around the 43/45 minute mark and add in two 5 minute transitions (I have no intention of trying to hurry my way through transition - besides, those dang compression socks take forever to get on!) that should put me somewhere around 6:43. 6 freaking hours and 43 minutes!

My say-it-out-loud goal right now is 7 hours. Anything better than that is just icing on the cake!

TOTAL:
Swim - 3000 yards
Bike - 160 miles
Run - 29 miles
Hour - 16 hours 14 minutes

Wow - by far my hardest training week and very heavy on the bike/run. Thankfully that was it for build and am now on to my two weeks of TAPER!!!!! Hours and miles are slowly decreasing which is much needed for these old bones. I had a massage yesterday and one more PT appointment scheduled for later on this week. Almost to my 10 day countdown - EEKK!!!

Anyone else in taper right now?

When is your next race?

IM Boise 70.3 Week 15 - Training Recap

Busy, busy, busy. As you can tell from my lack of posts, scheduling and simple exhaustion got the better of my free time this week. That being said I had another solid week of training and was finally able to get outside for a ride - first time since the crash a month ago and it felt ah-mazing! Week 15 was another good one - let's see what went down....

Monday - Planned: 1:30 min bike
                 Actual: 1:30 hour bike (trainer)

Interval work:
10 min warm up
4x15 min @80-85% LTHR - harder gear every 5 min while maintaining rpm
5 min recovery
15 min cool down


Tuesday - Planned: 3000 yd swim + 12 mile run
                  Actual: 9 mile run (Pool time next week!)

Whew! Rough 9 miles on a fairly hilly course around my neighborhood but I got the sucker done and despite some nagging pain in my right hip, was able to stretch it out just fine afterwards. So nice to finally be able to get my mileage up and still feel good the next day. Come on body - don't fail me now!! :)


Wednesday - Planned: 1:30 min bike
                       Actual: 1:30 (trainer)

More interval work on the trainer once again but I'm starting to notice some real changes in the definitions of my leg muscles as well as improved endurance to the pain and lactid acid build up.


Thursday - Planned: 4.5 mile interval run
                    Actual: 4.5 mile self defeating trail "run" in 85 degree heat

Not gonna lie, this was gross! It's been since Sept that we've seen temps in the 80's so my body was nowhere near prepped to run in any form, let alone on a dusty trail. I walked about 5 times and averaged something lame, like 12 min/miles. Didn't help that I hadn't hydrated enough throughout the day either. Here's hoping we get some more hot days in before Boise or this gal is going to struggle.


Friday - Planned: 3.5 hour bike
               Actual: 3.5 hour bike ( trainer)

Heck yeah!! 3.5 hours hole up in my bedroom rockin' the trainer. In all honesty the time went by fairly quickly. I was able to get on the bike pretty early and finished up by 9:30pm. So much better than last Friday. This was the first night that I practiced my liquid nutrition plan (CarboPro) for Boise and am excited to report that everything went very well. I was able to maintain decent energy levels all 3 hours and my stomach handled the liquid just fine! Besides having to pee A LOT more than usual, I think I have it nailed down. 3 bottles on the bike (16oz water + 1 Nuun tab + 2 scoops CarbPro) should get me through the whole 56 mile bike leg without needing to stop at any aid stations. (which I heard can be a massive cluster so even better)


Saturday - Planned: 3:40 hour Brick (2.5 hour bike + 8 mile run)
                   Actual: 3:40 hours of brick domination

Another great brick workout this weekend! The best part was FINALLY being able to ride outside again as well as meeting up with friends to tackle the run. "Run" is a bit of an overstatement as we spent a decent amount of time chatting - but it was sure nice to get some miles in with company for once! The time flew by and thanks to the decision to wear my compression socks that whole day, my legs felt strong and more than capable of going faster/longer.

After the run we celebrated with some naughty food and a cold beer.

 What? I burned enough calories to justify this! 

Sunday - Planned: 2800 yd swim
                Actual: Foam roll and stretching

Plan was to get back into the pool this day but the arm was a little sore after yesterday's outdoor ride so I played it safe. The last thing I want is to do anything that might hinder my easiest/strongest portion of the race simply because I wasn't patient enough.

No better way to recover after a long workout than a 20 min ice bath and dual compression tights. My legs felt so energized the next day - LOVE this new routine!

TOTAL:
Swim - 0 (last week of no swimming - time to get back at it!)
Bike - 152 miles
Run - 21.5 miles



So 15 weeks down and only 5 more to go! It's recovery week the next 7 days and the last one scheduled till tapering begins so I am going to focus on the quality of my runs, add in a little yoga and get back to some more strength training and PT for the hip.

Also finalizing accommodations for the Boise trip - right now we have P, the Kid and myself going, as well as my brother (who is racing too) SIL, their two kids and then my mom and aunt. What's the best possible scenario for a group of 9? VRBO baby!! Forget hotel rooms - we found a great house that is plenty large enough to fit our group and will allow so much more privacy and general space for our 5 day trip. It's right outside of down town but still a close 15 minute drive away. Plus, with having our own kitchen we are in complete control of pre-race snacks etc. If you are ever looking for a place to stay when visiting from out of town, I would highly suggest checking the VRBO (Vacation Rentals By Owner) site to see what may be available. We've gone through this company to rent homes for a myriad of vacations -  from little cabins in the mountains to gorgeous beach homes. You just can't go wrong!

IM Boise 70.3 Week 14 - Training Recap

Although it was another seven days of being banned from the pool, I actually had a great and much needed motivational week of training! Got all my planned rides in and managed two decent runs. Still working on upping my mileage to where it should be, but the simple fact that I was able to get in both an 8 and 6 mile run without any hip pain is a triumph in itself! I'd say I'm well on my way towards being 100% for Boise, and that is my main goal at the moment.

                                  

Another great part of the week worth mentioning is that after confirming our last two member spots, we finally got around to registering our team for the Gorgeous Relay. This 60 mile/6 person relay event runs through the Columbia River George and ends at Base Camp Brewery in Portland.  80 teams and 60 miles on one of the prettiest courses you could imagine. We've got a team of crack ups and total badasses so I'm super excited to participate in what sounds to be like the beginnings of another great Oregon relay tradition.

So onto this last week's recap -Week 14:

Monday - Planned: 1:30 min bike
                 Actual: 1:30 hour bike (trainer)

A few of you have asked me what exactly I do while on the trainer, so this week I am going spell out what each workout looked like.
Interval work:
10 min warm up
4x15 min @80-85% LTHR - harder gear every 5 min while maintaining rpm
5 min recovery
15 min cool down

Tuesday - Planned: 3000 yd swim + 12 mile run
                  Actual: 8 mile run

Still slowing building up my run base after the hip issue so 8 miles on the treadmill it was (far too wet outside).

Wednesday - Planned: 1:30 min bike
                       Actual: 1:30 (trainer)

Interval work on the trainer once again:
10 min warm up
Fast legs 1x10 min @ 95-100 rpm. Includes 10 min power burst every 2 min.
5 min recovery
5 min 75-80 rpm low zone 3
5 min recovery
5 min race cadence zone 3
5 min recovery
10 min 70-75 rpm zone 2
5 min recovery
5 min race cadence zone 3
5 min recovery
5 min 65-70 rpm zone 3
15 min cool down


Thursday - Planned: Rest Day
                    Actual: REST DAY!            


Friday - Planned: 3 hour bike
               Actual: 3 hour bike ( trainer)

3 hours - done. The Kid had swim practice that night as well as a buddy staying over so I wasn't able to get started on my ride until 8pm. 8pm on a Friday night after a long week of work?! Needless to say I kept the lights off in my bedroom, put my head down and pumped out 3 hours. Late night smash fest complete.


Saturday - Planned: 3 hour Brick (2 hour bike + 6 mile run)
                   Actual: 3 hours of success!!

Awesome, awesome, awesome brick workout this day! Though my legs were still a bit wobbly from Friday night's ride, I kept to the plan, spun at race pace for two hours, practiced my nurtition plan to a T and then headed out for my 6 mile run immediately after.

I've been playing with the idea of introducing the Galloway run method into my training and decided to test it out today. Knowing full well that my body will probably decide NOT to run the full 13.1 in Boise, I would much rather have a plan of action to incorporate some scheduled walking breaks rather than just go by feel come race day. In doing do I chose to test out a 5:1 (5 min run/1 min walk) method during the run portion of this day's brick. And dare I say it was a huge success?! The route I took was a 2 mile loop around my neighborhood that included at least a half mile hill on each loop. Even with the hills, by using the Galloway method I managed to complete 6 miles in just under an hour (barely). Average pace on the hills was at 10:30 and 9-9:30 on the straightaways. The best part was not feeling like I was going to die by the end. My legs were turning over just fine and energy level was excellent! Much needed motivational day!


Sunday - Planned: 2800 yd swim
                Actual: Foam roll and stretching

Really wanted to get back into the pool this morning but decided that I would give my arm one more day of rest and test things out on Tuesday morning.


TOTAL:
Swim - 0
Bike - 138 miles/9 hours
Run - 14 miles


That's it for now folks. Have some fun posts heading your way this week so stay tuned!