And the mileage adds up
Posted by Admin on June 6, 2011 in Training
In recent weeks, the bike mileage has gone up, that’s for sure. In mid-May, I participated in a group ride that took us from Penn Station all the way out to Montauk, some 145 miles or so. A couple of weekends later, I was up in Lake Placid for an Ironman training camp, and then this past weekend, I cycled another 100 on my own in the hills of Rockland County. None of it has been back-breakingly hard but there have been times when I have suffered and wondered how I’d survive the rest of the ride, let alone survive the Ironman events ahead of me.
The Montauk ride was supposed to be at an easy pace with friends and teammates as we rolled through suburban areas within Nassau and Suffolk county. What started out as just a half-dozen or so steadily grew as other riders joined our pack. With a spate of torrential rains the night before, and with sprinkles even as we left Penn Station, the roads were ripe for spewing up debris of all sorts, including the kind that causes flats. Invariably, our group became victim to one flat after another. As our group grew, so did the number of flats. Really, there were just a few guys who got most of the flats, but given that we wanted to ride together, the rest of us helped or watched and waited. There were several rest stations along the route spaced about 20-25 miles apart, and at one point, near our 78th mile, a van pulled up behind us along with a U-Haul truck to let us know that we were essentially the last group of riders out there, and that the next rest station was scheduled to close down before we could possibly get there. So, with tails between our legs at facing the reality that we’d be shortening our riding day, we loaded up our bike in the truck, piled into the van, and got a ride to the next rest station. Skipping it would have been foolish; we needed to replenish food and water and the like, so it was the right thing to do. Once we touched down, we splintered into different groups through natural selection and rode off towards Montauk. I wound up with a group of five and to my chagrin, I found myself at the tail end barely able to hang on. One of our teammates who didn’t do the Montauk ride, but who instead drove to Montauk and rode out to meet us, did us the tremendous favor of escorting us to the finish line. He’s particularly strong having placed among the fastest guys at a few very tough races, so we had our locomotive at the front to get us home. All told, it was a 131 mile day for me and though my neck was sore, my leg muscles weren’t. I burned around 7,000 calories which is good, but I’m sure I loaded a bunch back thanks to the post-ride burger and beer fest.
The following weekend, I ran the Brooklyn half-marathon. The course follows two loops of Prospect Park in Brooklyn, then goes along a very straight, flat path along Ocean Avenue right to Coney Island where athletes finish on the Boardwalk. I had it planned that this would be a low intensity run and that I’d run it at a marathon pace. For the first 7 miles or so, I ran faster than I should have as I clocked an average pace of 8:20 per mile. Shortly thereafter, I ran into a friend of mine who was running a bit slower at a 9:10 pace, so I was glad to slow down and enjoy some company. I finished with a fast final mile (can’t help the adrenaline sometimes) and had plans to run another 5 or so afterwards to make it a nice long running day. But, after crossing the finish line and chatting with friends, the attempt to all of a sudden start running caused my calf muscles to feel as if they were coiled up like a window shade. I managed to stretch and work it out, but then only managed another 3 miles for a total of 16 on the day. Again, I’m a little worried about race day since I’ll need to run 26.2 miles, not a measly 16.
Over Memorial Day weekend, a bunch of the Terrier athletes headed up to Lake Placid to participate in an Ironman training camp conducted by another triathlon team called Asphalt Green, named after the facility on the Upper East Side that houses an impressive aquatic center and sports complex. The weekend itself included a couple of rides, runs, and swims over 3 days, and a video analysis of each athlete’s running style and other very useful information. The coaches were tremendous and all of us benefited from the experiences. What we didn’t love was the pain and anguish served up to us by the many hills of Lake Placid. On day one, we did a few repeats of a long, grinding hill out of town to the top of a huge descent, and back. Eventually, we got to go down that descent where it was not uncommon to hit 50 mph. You all know that our tires are barely an inch wide, right? It was tough on day one as we clocked close to 70 miles, but we managed a little transition run and some of the folks also managed to get in a swim. On day two, we started with a run and headed on the Ironman Lake Placid run course to River Road where we stopped and were led through a running clinic. The coaches video-taped each one of us and later that night, we each had an individual critique of the various elements of form that are important to speed and injury prevention. Absolutely great stuff, all of it. All told, we did about 8 miles including ascending the two hills on that run course. They were tough! Later that afternoon, we managed to get into Mirror Lake despite the low 60s temps. Time and distance were up to each individual, and not feeling terribly enthused, I only swam for 30 minutes or so covering just under a mile. Finally, on day three, we had the real work to do: 100 miles of riding followed by 60-90 minutes of running. To say that it was difficult would be insulting to the word difficult (do words have emotions?) I did my best to stay under control and ride easy, and for the most part, I did. My neck however was just screaming from pain. Not sure why or how this has become my major issue on the bike, but it really debilitates me. As we ascended the long section of hills on the way back to Lake Placid (the course is a long loop), I wondered how in the world I’d complete two loops as planned. As I creaked towards the center of town following that first loop, I began to consider the ways in which I could duck out, head to the hotel room, and hide from the other folks out of sheer embarrassment. But just then, two of my female teammates rode cheerily past me and with that, my ego was awakened. I turned that bike around, headed after them, and after a pit stop here and there for nutrition, managed to ride that second loop… and quite well as it turned out. The neck pain didn’t subside much, but I’m thinking that I must have just become numb to it. The leg strength was there as I climbed those hills and I finished feeling fairly good. As time was an issue for me (my ride back to NYC was leaving), I didn’t get a chance to run, but I did manage a little dip into Mirror Lake. The cold water was sublime.
Finally, this past weekend, most of my Ironman teammates were racing in Connecticut, and while I was signed up to do the same, I had another committment that kept me local. So, on Saturday, I rode 100 miles and ran exactly one quarter of the marathon distance: 6.55 miles. The ride started off with a few female teammates who aren’t doing the Ironman distance but who had planned a 70 mile ride, so I rode with them just to get the company. At around mile 40, I bid adieu and went off on my own towards Bear Mountain. Again, the neck just destroyed my zeal, but I was encouraged at how the hill climbing was so much easier than expected. Lake Placid definitely had a good effect on me. I rolled home and once in the apartment, feelings of wanting to quit right then and there were hard to quell. I managed to get my running gear on and as most triathletes will attest, that’s often all a person needs to do to get motivated. It worked for me and as I began running, I felt a little light and uncomfortable. I didn’t know how to pace myself, so I just took shorter strides, remembered to calm down, and headed to Central Park. I wasn’t entirely sure how far I’d go, but I had it in my mind to run the full loop of the park and head home. That would have equated to 8.5 miles or about an hour and 15 minutes (if I ran slow enough), but then I remembered that the Ironman Germany course is four loops of 6.55 miles, so why not test out one of those loops on this run. I ran to the 3.275 mark (thank you Timex GPS watch) in just over 29 minutes, then ran back home at around the same pace finishing the total loop in 59 minutes. I did stop twice for just 30 seconds or so each to splash water on my face, so I figure that on race day, I can estimate a first loop of 60-65 minutes assuming that I am patient enough to run slow. The trick will be to duplicate that first loop on the second loop. The third and fourth loops, I predict, will be somewhat of a no-man’s land and while I’ll set a goal of not losing more than 6 minutes off of the first loop time, it really won’t matter because I’ll be sure to shatter my personal best at the Ironman time if I even come close to running like I did on Saturday. Suffice it to say that this Saturday was a good boost to the self confidence.
So next steps are another long weekend ahead including another 100 miler or so on Saturday, followed by a 30 minute transition run, then a 3,500 meter swim (the IM distance is 3,840 meters), and finally a two hour and twenty minute run. In the interim, I’ve already asked my massage therapist for an emergency appointment to address my neck and to discuss possibly going to a physical therapist. The following weekend will be Father’s Day weekend, so what better way to celebrate Dad than to ignore him completely and ride another 100 miles and run another ridiculous amount. Three weekends from now is the Philadelphia Triathlon, an Olympic distance event for me, so I’ll get a break, if you can call it that. Finally, on July 2nd, I’ll be doing my last big ride. The next day, I get married! I’ll have one more long run the week of July 4th, but thereafter, it’ll be a full taper period where we’ll do less distance, lower the intensity, and essentially allow our bodies to heal in advance of the big day in Frankfurt on July 24th. How’s that for a plan?!
This stuff is shaping up. Feeling good from the chest down and the chin up. The section in between will fall into line soon, I hope.
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