Directions

I decided that I was going to focus on cycling for the rest of the season. I need to set some goals now... FTP gain => "good finish" in Tour de Terra Cotta. I think Centurion is going to be very hilly, so finishing strong will mean being smart on the climbs.

Bryan just added this week's workouts to trainingpeaks, looks like a good mix with the WCC Tuesday group ride and the ITT on Thursday, plus some power-based work and longer rides on the weekend.

Week 37 review (Transition)

So just some easy base building stuff this week at the recommendation of Bryan, plus I was flying the child care plane solo for the last half of the week, leading to a massive 4.05 hours of training time.

I've decided to leave triathlon behind for the rest of the summer and focus on my bike, with the intention of a few races and building my bike fitness. I would like to raise my FTP to ~260 by the end of the season with the intention of getting to 4w/kg in next one/two years...

Peterborough half RR

Swim (2000m): 36:12 => 1:49/100m
Bike (86km): 2:33:17 => 33.5km/h, Av 188 watts, NP 202 watts
Run (20.6km): 1:51:06 => 5:24min/km

The swim includes about a minute of running out of the water to the timing mat going into T1, so maybe 35:something. Not overjoyed about the time, but it's not bad. I went through a 10 minute phase about 500m in where things felt really bad, but then got better. Maybe I need a longer warmup. Also toe cramps suck. I had two gels 10 minutes before the swim. I need to figure out the logistics of warmup, while waiting until just before the race starts to eat.

The bike was my favourite part of this race, but some of the terrain was discouraging, there were only a couple spots where you could get into any sort of rhythm, otherwise it was up and down. I played cat and mouse with a couple other riders who were passing me on the uphills, then I would zoom past on the downhills. I was trying to keep my power between 190-200 watts, so I would slow right down going up, but 200 watts will get me 50+km/h on a reasonable descent. Psychologically, it felt harder to maintain watts at speed than going up a hill.

Nutrition on the bike went:

0-20 minutes => sip water
20' => gel + water
40' => gel + water
1hr => 1/2 peanut butter powerbar
1:20 => gel + water
1:40 => gel + water
2 hr => 1/2 peanut buttter powerbar
2:20 => gel + water
2:30 => gel + water

That gets me about 850kcal => 340kcal/h which is  beyond what I have ever done in training, especially at that pace, so that was an error.

I was also drinking water mostly by feel, but trying to err on the side of drinking rather than not. This may have not been the best strategy (see run). I probably took in 3 bottles (went through 4, but a lot of that was poured on me to keep cool). I went into the race thinking that it was going to be really hot, but it turned out to be only 25C/78F.

The first 5k of the run seemed to go ok, I was going at an "easy" pace, right around 5min/km. I had about a cup of water, that got me out of the park and onto the long out and back portion, which is much hotter, and much more lumpy. I started to have some stomach problems, feeling full and sloshy. I slowed my pace to try and get things settled, and stopped taking anything in for the first 7km or so. It seemed to get better, so I tried a mouthful of cola, that went okay for another couple km, but then started to feel poorly again (burping, cramps). This pattern repeated a couple times more, once with a gel, once with just water in an attempt to get something in. I started walking up hills, hoping that would help. I spent a lot of that time wavering back and forth between feeling like I was going to puke, and then feeling a little better, so I'd up the pace a little, then right back to feeling sick. With 4k left, I just decided to give up on  getting any more nutrition or water in me and just get to the finish (hoping I could still go under 5 hours). Looking at my GPS files, it doesn't really look like I went any faster (though there were more hills in that last bit), but my RPE was up, I think I was just feeling the effects of battling stomach and heat at that point.

So the TL;DR is: Went 5:02 on a mediocre swim, "good" bike (except the eating part), and a miserable run -- I had hoped to go under 5 -- but the course was shorter than I expected, so it wouldn't really have been what I was hoping to do anyway.

Lessons learned: Don't get stuck in a plan if the underlying assumptions of that plan are no longer valid -- I had thought I would be out on the bike for 2:40, but the course was shorter, and the day was cooler, so I over-ate and drank for the conditions. Not sure if I could have saved the run in any way, shape or form...

[edit] I was comparing my results in terms of where I placed in my AG from when I raced this in 2010 (primarily to make myself feel better:), and though my swim was worse (adjusting for field size), my bike and run were both significantly improved. In addition, I had hoped to place top 10 in my AG this year, and despite my crappy run dropping me 8 minutes outside 10th, I out-swam and out-biked 10th place.

Week 35 Summary

Recovering from my crash last weekend, most of the swelling and bruising is fading, just some lovely road rash is remaining. Thanks to Chris Kraemer at Dearborn Health for giving my knee the once-over and some suggestions for maximizing recovery speed.

This week was pretty light with a combination of taking two complete rest days, plus my wife going for a much-deserved girls-road-trip to Vermont. They make a lot of chocolate there, judging by what she brought back.

The plan is now to get a couple more days of work in before the race without taking away from my energy for the race (keep fitness loss to a minimum while maximizing form -- it's an art form, glad I have a coach taking a look at this).

Tour de Waterloo Race Report

Provisionally a 130km road race, the Tour de Waterloo didn't go exactly as I thought it might have. At the start line, I recognized a lot of fast guys, so the plan was really just hang with the front pack until it started to get stupid, then ride it in with whatever gruppetto I could keep up with.

However, the race ended for me at 12km in when someone veered hard left under braking as the pack accordioned up a hill, crashing into myself and another rider. The two of us went down onto the shoulder, luckily out of the way of the pack behind us. My bike was pretty banged up, but mostly cosmetic, except that my rear wheel was bent enough that it wouldn't turn through my brakes. I had some nice road rash on my leg, and a couple cuts from random rocks / pointy bike bits.

Luckily there's some pretty good support on this course, and after about 10 minutes the mechanics came  by and managed to true my wheel up enough that I could continue. By that point, I had pretty much stopped bleeding, and the adrenalin was still going pretty strong, so I decided to push on.

I was now at least 25 minutes back of the last group of riders, and was now going to start a 118km time trial. On a road bike. With a really bruised knee.

Finishing the climb at Hawkesville:
way off the back, but upright and smiling.
Pics thanks to Ron Head

Over the next four hours I managed to work my way up through some smaller groups and a few individual riders, just trying to hold a steady effort (140-ish bpm). I also had lots of time to practice my nutrition (which went pretty well: hour 1 was a banana plus a power bar, hour two was a power bar plus a honey waffle, then hour three to the end was gels). 


I'd like to just point out here how well this event was managed: All the traffic control was still there, the rest stops were still manned, and the volunteers were there helpfully telling me which way everyone else had gone 40 minutes ago. There was even some pulled pork left when I managed to roll in 1.5 hours after the winners had sprinted through the finish line. Additional thanks to the St. John’s Ambulance team who patched up my cuts/road rash.

So the total damage report is a very bruised knee (I have an impressive limp now), some minor road rash on my leg, butt and side, torn-up saddle, and a rear wheel badly in need of some service.

Not really what I was planning when I woke up.

Guelph Lake Olympic Triathlon 2012 Race Report

PLACE	NAME	CITY	BIB #	TIME	CATEGORY	CATEGORY PLACE	GENDER PLACE	1500M SWIM CAT OVR TIME /100M	40.0 KM BIKE CAT OVR TIME KM/H	10.0 KM RUN CAT OVR TIME /KM	T1	T2
47	Graham DUNN	Waterloo	1474	2:21:55.1	M35-39	10/47	46/255	10 66 26:11 1:45	9 48 1:08:32 35.0	16 59 44:21 4:27	1:38	1:15

Guelph Lake Olympic Triathlon 2012 Race Report

Prelude

I was very concerned about the heat this year because a) the run course at Guelph can feel like running through a brush fire, depending on how keen the campers are with their BBQ activities and that there's very little shade on the course and b) the last time I checked the weather, it was supposed to be 30C before humidex. The lesson here is to actually check the weather the day before the race, because they were predicting thunderstorms, not heat. Luckily, we dodged that lightning bolt and were into the water on time. 

Swim

The swim course was a one-loop affair this year, which I prefer (I think it's mentally easier than knowing you have to go back out once you get to shore). I started near the front of our wave, but way left (which was where the buoys were going anyways), and had clean water for most of the way out, unlike last year where I got trapped in the washing machine for the first 500 meters. I swam on some good feet for large chunks of the race, but had to start sighting more often as we were catching up to the wave in front of us and swim around more people. I swam with clear water in front of me (no drafting, boo) for the last leg in, coming out around 26 minutes (there's a long run up the hill before you hit a timing mat).

Bike

I decided that I was going to put on my bike shoes in transition this time, the run to the mount line was mostly over grass/carpet. I got yelled at by some guy behind me to keep moving as we were coming up to the line, I pulled over to get clipped in, he did a fancy flying mount, but then I passed him 400 meters down the road as he was still struggling to get his feet into his shoes. After allowing myself a small moment of smugness, I started to pick up the pace. My plan had been to try and hold an average of 230 watts (~93% of my FTP), but staying on target was much more difficult than I anticipated. The course certainly isn't mountainous, but is always going up or down, and there was a fierce wind from the SW, which meant that we had a very strong crosswind for most of the home-bound leg (the course is an out and back). The wind and hills make it tricky to ride consistently by feel, so I was trying to check my power meter more frequently, but was often under my target. In the last 10k, I was passed by someone in my AG, so I felt like that was good motivation to push a little harder, and ended up passing him, and then we were back in transition.

Run

I really like to have fresh socks on for the run, which costs me another 10 seconds in transition, but it feels so nice, especially at about 7km in (BTW, that guy I just passed on the bike caught up with and passed me about 500 meters into the run). My legs were feeling pretty good, so I went out a little faster than I would normally, especially as the first little bit of the run is net downhill (the rest of the run is a long uphill to the turnaround(s)). The run course is shaped a bit like a fondue fork, with two tines being mini out and backs, so you get a good idea of who's chasing you (or vice-versa) and where they are by the time you've gone through the second turnaround. I felt like I struggled on the hills on those sections, but once I got back onto the homeward-bound portion of the course, I managed to pick it up. I was really pushing the last 1.5k, and saw Lisa Bentley cheering on her athletes, I tried to say "hey, big fan!", but probably just blurted out "mrhy, bla lmm". My conversational skills are not at their peak at 180BPM. At the turn into the last 200 meters to the finish, a friend told me "three guys about 10 seconds back", so I really pushed (I had been passed by two other guys in my AG already), and luckily the last bit to the line is all downhill, so I managed to make it without any further damage.

Conclusion

It turned out to be an awesome day, maybe a little windy on the bike, but the temperature was perfect on the run. The thing I really like about the local triathlon scene is there's a tradition of supporting the other athletes, getting or giving a "good work" as you go by someone, or saying hi to your friends on the run is not unusual. South-west Ontario has a very active triathlon community, you can race just about every weekend during the summer.

Week 33 summary

Some solid work this week, only missed a couple sessions due to boy not sleeping, 686TSS and 10.1 hours.

Guelph Lake: I talked to Bryan about this on Friday, he had a couple suggestions.

1) Nutrition: Eat your regular pre-race breakfast, then instead of sip sports drink before the race like I normally would, just take in water, but then 15 minutes before the swim start, take two gels. The theory behind this is that waiting avoids the insulin rise that constant sugar will provoke, leaving more sugars available in your system (and also avoiding raising your insulin, which is really designed to tell your body to store the sugar, not leave it around to be burned). Then, on the bike, take one gel after you've settled in and gotten your heart rate down (say somewhere around the first third), then another gel somewhere around the last third/quarter. This should set you up for just taking in whatever sports drink is on the course, or just water, going by feel.

2) Pacing: I was planning on racing at about 85% of FTP (so 230-ish). I was advised to break the ride down into thirds, first third stick to target watts, middle third go up if you feel good, last third either fall back or continue at higher wattage depending on feel. The other pacing suggestion was to try and negative split the run.

Execution of these two suggestions was sort of 50-50. I got the nutrition part down, no problem. It felt good, and I actually didn't take anything in on the run, just a few mouthfuls of water (it wasn't nearly as hot as predicted, so I wasn't concerned). The pacing execution was not as airtight, alas. The course is pretty hilly, and occasionally I would lose focus, so my average watts were lower across the board than they should have been. The first third of the course felt like a struggle to maintain anything close to 230, lots of burning in the quads, but that faded in the middle and last thirds of the race. I ended up chasing a guy in my age group and beating him into T2 (but then was swiftly passed by him on the run. boo.). The run ended up being not so much of a negative split (the first 5k were faster), but the last mile of the race was my fastest mile, so not a total disaster. Average HR was pretty much right at threshold, so I guess that was appropriate, the last 2k were a lot higher though as I was worried about being caught up by some other guys in my AG.