Weekly Ramblings - 3/21/2011
Workouts:
Well workouts for the past 2 weeks have been minimal with our recent move. Luckily week 8 was a recovery week, and week 9 was supposed to get back into build, but my time has been stretched thin trying to get things settled in the new place. I am going to leave off my volumes, let's just say I should be good to start back in on my building this week. My long run yesterday was going to be around 90 minutes and ended up being a few minutes short, but I covered around 11 miles, so the pace was quick. I felt good building some distance at speed and know that I have not lost much from the longer recovery period.
Week-In-Review:
We are getting settled in the new place, there are still boxes around, and I still have problems finding where things are stored, but at least they are stored. Why is it that when there are piles of junk, you can find exactly what you want, but when it is organized, you have to look everywhere twice to find what you are looking for?
I am building up my 4000, slowly, but since weather has been gross, I am not in a huge rush to get it built when I know I will be inside for a while. I am still waiting on one part to arrive so I can do the full build. I will probably take it in to have the brakes setup properly, this is one wrench skill I lack. Hopefully the shop will let me watch as they adjust them so I can do it in the future. The 4000 has a brake system that is a bit different than the standard.
I am officially registered for my first race of 2011. It is a sprint race the weekend before Knoxville. This should give me a good idea of what to expect. It is a simple 300 yard serpentine pool swim, 25k bike, and 5k run. I have been doing well in the pool on my interval sets. I fully expect to be sub 1:30/100 yd over 300, putting me at faster than a 4:30 swim pace. I think this will put me towards the front of the group for the swim.
Without having been outside on the bike, I cannot say what I am expecting. A 25k translates to 15.5 miles. The course looks to start heading downhill for the first few miles and then a gradual climb over the middle miles. Since it is mostly an out and back with only a few turns, I fully plan on pushing the bike hard. I had an issue last year with racing at a higher wattage. For some reason mylegs mind cant get over the fact that I may be cruising 23 MPH on 200 watts and I cannot muster the leg power to bump it up. I have raced one race at 209 watts, but everything suffered past that. I wonder if it is because my season last year spiraled downward as the year went on? We will see... Say I hold 20 MPH, something I think is a quite realistic goal, that would put me in around 46.5 minutes.
Talk about 2 minutes total for transition.
Then the run. Ahh my first "shot" at a 5k this year. I want sub-20 so bad it makes me cringe every time I think about it. Sub-20 (on a real 5k course) is like my pot-o-gold at the end of a rainbow, it is the box at the back of the top shelf that I can almost reach, but have to get the chair to ever get it. Lets say I can dial this in at even 21 minutes.
It doesn't require a math minor (albeit I do have one... yeah yeah yeah nerd I know) to add up the above predicted times 4.5 swim + 2 transition + 46.5 bike + 21 run = 1 hour 13 minutes. Odd... this seems to be right at the same as my finishing time last year at New Brighton, which was a half mile swim. Well that is because the bike is very conservative and where I am going to make up my time.
I don't want to kill myself before Knoxville as that has been my training, but my heart lives for uncomfortable. That burning pain in the pit of your stomach that is ready to make you look like an idiot as you cross the finish line emptying your stomach. Call me crazy, but there is something about the burn of your quads on the bike aching to be "that guy" who is just hammering it. I am not the fastest runner by any means, so I know I have to push the bike without killing my run. I know my race setup is fast. My position... well I again reference Lil Jon - "Get Low" That about sums it up.
I have pre-race jitters just typing this up. I am ready to race, almost where I want my race weight to be, and fitness on the up... I am feeling good. My biggest concern for Knoxville, is that I run a good race. The distance is new to me, so I am intimidated about pacing. I will be on the course for almost twice as long as my sprints.
I am building up my 4000, slowly, but since weather has been gross, I am not in a huge rush to get it built when I know I will be inside for a while. I am still waiting on one part to arrive so I can do the full build. I will probably take it in to have the brakes setup properly, this is one wrench skill I lack. Hopefully the shop will let me watch as they adjust them so I can do it in the future. The 4000 has a brake system that is a bit different than the standard.
I am officially registered for my first race of 2011. It is a sprint race the weekend before Knoxville. This should give me a good idea of what to expect. It is a simple 300 yard serpentine pool swim, 25k bike, and 5k run. I have been doing well in the pool on my interval sets. I fully expect to be sub 1:30/100 yd over 300, putting me at faster than a 4:30 swim pace. I think this will put me towards the front of the group for the swim.
Without having been outside on the bike, I cannot say what I am expecting. A 25k translates to 15.5 miles. The course looks to start heading downhill for the first few miles and then a gradual climb over the middle miles. Since it is mostly an out and back with only a few turns, I fully plan on pushing the bike hard. I had an issue last year with racing at a higher wattage. For some reason my
Talk about 2 minutes total for transition.
Then the run. Ahh my first "shot" at a 5k this year. I want sub-20 so bad it makes me cringe every time I think about it. Sub-20 (on a real 5k course) is like my pot-o-gold at the end of a rainbow, it is the box at the back of the top shelf that I can almost reach, but have to get the chair to ever get it. Lets say I can dial this in at even 21 minutes.
It doesn't require a math minor (albeit I do have one... yeah yeah yeah nerd I know) to add up the above predicted times 4.5 swim + 2 transition + 46.5 bike + 21 run = 1 hour 13 minutes. Odd... this seems to be right at the same as my finishing time last year at New Brighton, which was a half mile swim. Well that is because the bike is very conservative and where I am going to make up my time.
I don't want to kill myself before Knoxville as that has been my training, but my heart lives for uncomfortable. That burning pain in the pit of your stomach that is ready to make you look like an idiot as you cross the finish line emptying your stomach. Call me crazy, but there is something about the burn of your quads on the bike aching to be "that guy" who is just hammering it. I am not the fastest runner by any means, so I know I have to push the bike without killing my run. I know my race setup is fast. My position... well I again reference Lil Jon - "Get Low" That about sums it up.
I have pre-race jitters just typing this up. I am ready to race, almost where I want my race weight to be, and fitness on the up... I am feeling good. My biggest concern for Knoxville, is that I run a good race. The distance is new to me, so I am intimidated about pacing. I will be on the course for almost twice as long as my sprints.
Trakkers:
I am pretty pumped to know that our TYR Category 5 wetsuits are on the way shortly as well as our race kits. I am looking forward to representing this team and their sponsors for all they do for us.
Stay tuned this week for the unveiling of Project X... Finally I know :)
1 comments:
I had similar brake sensitivity challenges. She's one hell of a high tech bike! I finally found a great bike shop who's worked on those type of return the center brakes and they helped out a ton. It's more about the adjustable dropouts than the brakes...
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