KET Fitness

Ironman Training Update  and Volume Tips:
Now that the short distance season is over for me my focus now changes to the ironman distance triathlons. This is what I truely enjoy. The challenge of nutrition, rest and taper, high volume sessions and nursing minor injuries along the way.

I am ready for the Louisville Ironman on August 28th. Ready means I have completed my long swim of 90 min(3x’s), the long bike of 100 miles (5x’s) and well….the runnning is a different story. Regarding the running I have completed a long run of 2.5 hrs and have decided to use the marathon portion of this IM to prepare me for the next IM distance tri I am doing in Sept. the Chesapeakeman at the same location as the Eagleman 70.3 but twice the distance. The “chessyman” I am considering my “A” race.

I have been avg 10-14 hrs per week w/ the breakdown approximately 1-2 hrs of swimming 2x’s/week, 4-8 hrs of cycling per week 2-4 x’s/wk and 2-4 hrs of running per week 2-4x’s. Some of you may consider that volume as low but it has worked for me in the past and I find it helps keep my injury rate down.

Bill did the following for Lake Placid:

“I put in 10 to 17 hours per week of cardio including swimming, riding and running plus 4 hours Yoga/core per week for the 20 weeks prior to the event (14-1/2 hours average including Yoga/core). I also did 5 months of base training, @ 9 hours per week cardio during the fall and winter before I started on the 20 week training program.”

Comment from Lake Placid

“If I had to pick one thing I’d have to say the thousands of spectators along the route cheering us on was the most interesting experience. I thoroughly enjoyed almost everything about it. Now I have a better understanding of what to expect for next year and I hope to push the pace a little harder.”

Bill-
A Report from the NE Maryland Tri Turned “Adventure”

Hello everyone,

Hope you all had a safe and dry training/racing weekend. I wanted to write you all about my experience at this years NE Maryland triathlon.

I raced the Olympic last year and took third in my division so I decided I’d have to do this race again this year to keep the streak going. Well, this race turned out to be the most interesting and frustrating race so far for me. As most of you know it rained it’s ass off the past two days. I contemplated just staying home and putting long distance in on the trainer and treadmill. As is turns out I couldn’t because my girlfriends entire family had already planned on coming to support me so I had to follow through.

The drive down: On the way down to the race we hit pockets of rain that went from a slight drizzle to a torrential downpour. We kept joking as we drove past cars that had bikes strapped to the back of them that we weren’t the only crazies going to the race. As we continued to get closer the the exit for Rising Sun we noticed a lot of lightning. In the early morning sky it wasn’t hard to see the flashes as they lit of the sky. I was beginning to think the race was cancelled.

Waiting around in Transition: After I picked up my packet I had to quickly get into transition and set up. I rushed around and got everything together only to find out the race was delayed by 30 minutes. They were deciding on whether to have the swim or a bike/run that would start in a TT fashion. While standing around in transition is proceeded to rain and rain and rain some more. During this period of downpour the race directors found out that portions of the bike course were washed out and every attempt they had taken to clear the debris failed. So, the bike course was shortened to an 11 mile out and back. They also decided that the swim would be on but that since so much debris was being swept into the river that each race, sprint and Olympic, would swim the 750m course. This was a relief for me since I had some anxiety about the swim. During my last race I had a near death experience. The scrum of the swim left me coughing up water and being dunked while trying to catch my breath. Very very scary for me.

The swim: the swim turned out to be ok. I came in at 16:23 which was not great but good for me since I was trying to stay out of the way of everyone. I never felt in trouble and kept saying to myself to stay “long” in the water. I was able to draft off some swimmers and before I could really think about the swim it was over for me. I got out of the water and ran the 150-200 yard dash to the transition area.

T1: nothing to write home about but with the dash and chaos of the muddy transition I had a 2:02 transition.

The BIKE: The bike is my strength. I’ve spent all season focusing on the bike. This is the area that I can make up the most time on my horrible swimming. I had a bit of trouble slipping my wet feet into my clipped in shoes but after I got that figured out I peddled as hard as I could for those 11 miles. The trouble with the short bike was that it wasn’t long enough for me to get any real time back on those folks that are better swimmers.

T2: Coming into T2 was just nuts. The entire path was a huge mud puddle and my feet were covered with mud when I entered into transition. I got myself together as quickly as possible and off I went. T2 was 1:10.

The Run: As I began to run I started to feel the sock on my right foot clumping up under the ball of my foot so I stopped for to straighten that out. I wore socks only for the fact that I know that I would get blisters on my feet with all the water. I can’t risk any foot injuries since I’m only 4 weeks out from Rev3 Cedar Point! The run was the only leg of the race that stayed the original distance. I followed the same course that the bike followed so we got to run up and down the same hills. I felt great the entire run. I was fortunate to have someone who ran the whole run with me. He kept a good pace and we both pushed each other. We ran together until the last turn when you enter the finishing shoot. He took off like a bat out of hell and I did everything I could to keep up. After we crossed the finish line and I looked at my watch I noticed my time was 50 mintues and some change. My goal was sub 50 but I’ll take it considering the hills. You see, being a bigger guy I’m not that much of a runner. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve improved my run tremendously with the help of my coach. It’s just that when I played football the last thing I wanted to do was run. This whole endurance game has made me realize limits I thought I would never consider tempting. Official run time, 50:13!

Overall I’d say I had a great experience. Though the race was shortened I still put out a good effort and as a result I took 2nd this year. I finally got the 3rd place monkey off my back! I’ll keep you all posted about how Rev3 Cedar Point went. I’m feeling very good about my conditioning and though my training has been good I know it could be better so I’m not hoping for any podium spot. Just finishing my first Ironman distance race will be good enough for me, this time 😉

Thanks for reading! If you need a training buddy during the next four weeks let me know.

Until next time…

Doug