I haven’t written one of these in a while so I figured what the heck. Good training for my IM at the end of the month. Plus it is a monday and who can work on Monday!
Nice report, thanks
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Proud to say my wife won her AG at the sprint tri in Welland on the weekend.
Tell her great job!!! Wish I had known you were there.
Markus, great job. Us old school guys would never dream of doing an Ironman without several preparation races. Races are also a great way of meeting people from all walks of life (ie…not just your usual training friends) and a great chance to practice your psychology for the A race. I am glad you raced this weekend. It will help you for LP. As for anything feeling “long” trust me, everything in Ironman feels long. The best thing you can do is not think about the length of anything, but focus on the present and divide it into manageable chunks.
For example:
Swim: Think about the next 30 stokes
Bike: Think about your strategy to the next landmark, no more than 1K away. For example, I will pull up with my right hamstring for 10 strokes, then my left for 10 and so on and so on.
Run: Think about what you are going to work on between aid stations. For example, 90 RPM running, catching the guy 20 ft in front of you, efficient heel lift for the next 200 m with the right foot, then the following 200 m with the left foot.
Basically, think of any technique related thing to take your mind off the fact that you might still have the majority of 141 miles left and you still feel like crap…cause you will at some point :-).
There is one exception with respect to looking ahead. This is when you feel good, you feel like hammering. Bad move. Think ahead three hours. If you keep hammering you will blow. This is when you need to plan and execute pace and nutrition for future self preservation instead of getting caught up “in the moment”
Dev is bang on with is comments about approaching an IM. Preping for my first IM last year, I found mp3 files of a Richard Strauss talk at http://www.enduranceradio.com/special.htm talking pretty much about the same thing. Break the race into mall chunks. Think of a box around you and only be concerned about what’s in that box. Slow is smooth; smooth is fast. Well worth pulling down and listening to in the time leading up to your IM.
Welland sounds amazing. It may have to land in my schedule next year. Seems like you had a pretty good, even paced race. I don’t know what your goals are for the IM, but it seems to me that your bike speed isn’t anything to worry about especially with being able to have a solid run.
Cheers,
Rob
Thanks for the advice/thoughts folks. Dev gave some great advice and actually, I have been feeling a LOT better lately coming off my bike to the run so perhaps I am more dialed in than I think I am. I will have to check out the mp3’s. Thanks!!
"Tell her great job!!! Wish I had known you were there. "
I’ll tell her, but I wasn’t there. Was doing a century with the roadie group.
My tri training is way off since I had a respiratory infection/cough for over six weeks and am just finally getting over it. I haven’t done any running at all and have been concentrating on the bike, mostly long/slow. I’d pretty well have to be on my death bed to stay off the bike.
This was the first time this season that I wasn’t hacking during exercise. My first tri won’t be until the end of July.