Quality Sessions.....

The last two days have been some very good quality sessions for me prepping for Canada. Yesterday, I had a “front-half” simulation day and had a lactate test on the run. The plan yesterday was to do 5 loops at the res (~900m/loop) exactly how I would swim on race day, including warm-up. As quickly as possible, get changed and onto the bike for a 60 mile sim ride. Practice my patience early on in the bike, get fueling, and stay calm. Once off the bike, transition again as quickly as possible and then out the door for a 5.3 mile run. Here is how they went:

Swim – 63 minutes (~4500m – 5 laps)
Felt as in control as I could ever be of my pace. Felt pretty relaxed and didn’t “feel” any high rates, pretty steady swim. Took the first two laps bilateral breathing, then gradually switched to 2 breathes on right for every 1 breath on left. The last lap I then switched over to every side breathing about half way through. As fast and strong of a swim I have all summer. Grade – A
T1 - ~8 minutes or so. (Hopefully faster on race day)

Bike – 2:45:09 (57 miles)
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/co/boulder/693889688

Seemed to be quite a bit of wind today, didn’t feel like I got to many breaks. I had to take 4 “relajar (relax in Spanish) timeouts,” 2 scheduled and…..well…uh…2 unscheduled. The timeouts are for me to reassess my pacing and how I feel to make sure that I am pacing correctly to run the marathon of my life. The two scheduled were 1 on the way out and one on the way back. What I usually do is stop pedaling completely, sit up, and roll for about 10-15 seconds. I ended up adding two more b/c I felt they were necessary. I needed to settle back in and realized that this ride wasn’t the full monty and I needed the reigns pulled back a little.

All in all, the ride was ok, not quite as fast as I would have liked, but was definitely in the ball park of the pacing I needed to be in. Grade – B-

T2 – 5:09

Run – 45 minutes (5.3 miles – 8:29/mile)
http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/co/boulder/689600224

Legs felt great! I really concentrated on making sure to take it out slow, really slow. I was somewhat forced to as I climbed a gradual hill up to Fourth street from Kalmia. All in all, regardless of how I felt on the bike, it must have been just about right. I still felt very “peppy” by the end of the run and felt like I kept my HR down the entire run. Grade B

Today I had a scheduled lactate test on the treadmill for my first data points. I haven’t had one done in probably 5 years. I was able to really give it a go, saw my HR at 190. Ended my test after about 35-40 minutes running 5:30/mile pace. The test helped confirm that I might have made some ground into my marathon goal when comparing it to my last MAP test. I will be doing another MAP test again when I get to Canada. Finished the day with a 3K easy swim.

All in all, great simulation day and lactate test. I found being on my own sometimes was difficult on the bike as I didn’t have any electronic feedback to gauge how fast I was going and I didn’t have anyone around me to gauge my pace. Probably a good exercise for me, since I need to race my race, not anyone else’s.

“Its better so slow down when you decide, rather than when the race decides for you” - Gordo

J

If you are looking for a great read, Alan wrote a great article on run development in the Alternative Perspectives section at G-World.