Week 25: July 29-August 1, 2013

This week served as both a big confidence builder and a hard lesson in the importance of proper hydration.  I had decided a while ago that, since I wasn't racing a half ironman this summer, I would either do a half ironman training day or a metric ironman training day.  I decided to go for the metric ironman (2000 yd swim, 70 mile bike, 16 mile run), since it would be the longest back-to-back-to-back distances I've ever done and I knew it would be a confidence builder if it went well (and would show me where I needed to put in more work if it didn't).  When my friend, David, told me he had decided to stay in town and train instead of going to ride the IMLou course and said he was up for anything, the deal was sealed.

We met a few other triathlete friends at 7am on Saturday for the open water swim at Alum Creek.  It was cold and drizzling, but we wriggled into our wetsuits and jumped in.  We ended up swimming longer than planned in hopes that the rain would move out, but it looked like it was there to stay for a while.  I ended up doing just over 3500 yards before we finally moved on to the bike.  We actually drove about 25 min east so we could hit the hills of Sportsman Club Rd, which has become my staple hill route this training cycle.  It rained the first 25 miles and was cold and miserable, but then the rain cleared and it was a pleasant, overcast, mid-70s day.  I felt strong and comfortable on the bike, but made the huge mistake of not drinking enough.  I don't know what I was thinking, but I only put 3 bottles on my bike and we ended up riding 78 miles in just over 4:45.  As I would find out later on the run, 3 bottles in almost 5 hours is not nearly enough.  Duh!

After finishing the ride, we loaded the bikes and drove a few miles over to the head of a shaded, paved bike path for the run.  Two of my running group friends were kind enough to join us...one ran with us and the other carried water on her bike so we could refill.  I felt fantastic for the first 8 miles.  Then I began to experience GI cramping and had to run into the woods half a dozen times.   It was annoying, but I thought "no big deal, they'll have portajohns on the race course so I can deal with this".  My legs and lungs were still feeling fine, so I kept on going.  I was drinking from my handheld water bottle, but by about mile 14 I was apparently so dehydrated that my stomach shut down and stopped absorbing fluids.  Even though my legs felt fine and wanted to run, my stomach got extremely sloshy and queasy and I had to stop and walk.  At mile 15.75, literally as I could see our cars in the parking lot come into view, I threw up on the side of the trail.  That was a first for me.  I immediately felt better, and jogged back to the car to try to start rehydrating.  A chocolate milk, two 20-liters of ice cold water, and a bag of salt and vinegar potato chips later, I was feeling back to normal.  It was my birthday on Saturday, so everyone joked that it's perfectly normal to puke on your birthday :).

So, a lesson in proper hydration was learned the hard way, thankfully on a training day instead of on race day.  The plan for race day is 1.5-2 bottles (one Osmo, one water) per hour on the bike, plus eating a bar every hour or so.  For the run, I plan on carrying my handheld and refilling with Perform and taking water and ice and each aid station.  I'm also going to carry my Powerbar gels on the run and take them as long as I can tolerate them, and then turn to whatever looks good at the aid stations.  Based on how my body felt otherwise on Saturday, I'm feeling confident that I have the fitness to go the distance...and as long as I concentrate on keeping up my hydration on the bike then I should be good to go.

Also of note this week was the annual Irish Festival 5k, which all 3 of the kiddos ran.  It was Nate's first 5k last year, and he was determined to beat his finish time.  Last year my friend, Peter, paced him but this year he was on his own.  He ran a smart race, finished hard, and ended up with a 23:07...a 5 second PR.  Not bad for a just-turned 11 year old!  Claudia was running the race as the finale to her kids' summer running club, and Lydia and I joined her.  Both girls ran really well and, despite some complaining on Claudia's part during the middle mile, they PR'd by over 2 minutes (35:12 for Lyd and 35:16 for Claudia)!

The kids goofing off before the race

Monday: off
Tuesday: 3000 yd OWS at Alum Creek w/ Beth
5 mile run (:41)
Wednesday: 27 miles of CR-10 and CR-5 bike hill repeats with Ann and Beth (1:50)
Thursday: 3100 yd swim:
200 warm up, 5x50s dr/sw
3x100s on 1:20, desc
50 ez
6x (3x150s free on 2:15--1st mod. effort, 2nd--working on good form, 3rd--hard effort/50 ez).
12x50s on 1:00--2 kick/1 swim (3 of each stroke)
50 ez
8x25s on :30 fly down/free back
450 ez
Run #1: 7.62 mi run in 1:06; Run #2: Irish Fest 5k with the girls, 3.1 mi in 35:16 (over a 2 minute PR for both girls--so proud of them!!)
Friday: 1:30 z2 trainer ride; 30 min of strength and core
Saturday: 3500 yd OWS (1:00); 78 mile hill ride (4:46); 16 mile run (2:45<---included 6 bathroom stops and a puke stop; avg run pace was right around 9:15/mi)
Sunday: off!!

Weekly stats:
Swim: 9600 yards (5.81 mi)
Bike: 1:30 trainer hours + 105 road miles
Run: 31.63 mi
Strength: 30 min
Hours: 16:00

Training cycle totals:
Swim: 158,300 yds (95.93 mi)
Bike: 66:43 trainer hours (approx 1122 mi) + 1275.32 road miles
Run: 616.76 mi
Hours: 306:15