2- 1 Weeks to Go

Hey everyone,

Sorry the last 2 weeks prior to the race were very busy. I am currently working on my race report and will update the prior weeks after that is complete.

Cheers,
Nate

3 Weeks to go...

According to my schedule this week it was supposed to be my peak week but with the injury to my ITB I was unable to get all the hours. Overall with the injury it went really well with just over 12 hours of training this week.

This week I spent 7200 yards in the pool. I spent some time doing some water running and ended up spending about 2.5 hrs in the pool this week. Focus this week was on a steady 1500 yd main set with a 500 warm up and 100 cool down. I also did a 45 min endurance swim followed by 15 mins of water running.

The bike is where I kept my volume this week. I rode for 167 miles this week with 4 days of riding and my longest ride being just over 100 miles (riding close to 9 hours this week). I had a little pain while riding but nothing like the pain I was having running.

I did try to run again this week on Monday. Running 7 miles in 52 minutes, the pain kept me from running the full hour as planned. I also ran a short 3.6 miles on Wednesday. I was pretty sore both days after running so I decided to hold off on any other runs.

Went to see a physical therapist this week on Wednesday, who gave me some ideas to speed my recovery: doing some gluteus medius exercises and using resistance bands coupled with the foam rolling and ice massage I was already doing. He thought I should try to run short distances if I could. Which I did on Wednesday after the appointment.

Right now my goal is to get the pain in my ITB down to a manageable level. I have trained hard since December so I am not worried that I will be undertrained. I want to train smart over the next few weeks to ensure the pain in my knee isn’t going to keep me from running the marathon.

Very close now, 1 week of taper and then heading out to St George early the next week.

Cheers,
Nate

4 Weeks to Go

This was a rough week for me with the injury to my ITB and some treatment I had to cut back on my training. This was also my recovery week so it worked out well. Even though I only logged about half the volume I was planning but after 5 months of hard training there isn't to much more I can do with only a few weeks before the race. 

I started off the week (Monday) spending time giving my ITB the RICE treatment in hopes to ramp back up on my training. Tuesday I started out with a swim workout doing a warm up, 4 x500 yd and then a 100 yd cool down. I was feeling some pain every time I pushed off the wall with my right leg so I favored my left leg during my work out. I attempted to try less impact on my knee and used our elliptical for 45 mins. I was feeling good until the last ten mins then started to get some pain in my knee. I iced my knee and relaxed the rest of the night. 

Wednesday morning I did the same swim work out again and in the afternoon I had my appointment with my Sport Medicine Doctor, who is the Physician for the Army's World Class Athlete Program and personally is also an Ironman finisher. So I couldn't think of a better Doctor to see for an injury 3+ weeks before my Ironman. After some evaluation and discussion we decided to an injection with hopes the pain would subside. He recommended I rest the knee for 72 hrs and allow the inflammation to go down. I continued to ice, stretch and massage my ITB. It was a long 3 days with out training.

I picked back up on Saturday doing 55 miles on the bike with not to much climbing just sometime to work on speed, clear my head and refocus my goals over the next few weeks. After my bike I went the pool to do my endurance swim (30 mins) then spent 15 mins in the deep doing some water running. I felt really good but I didn't want to push it. I took Sunday to rest again hoping to maximize my training next week.

The race is getting close I was assigned Bib #643 for IM St George as it get closer I will post info to follow me along during the race.

Cheers,
Nate

6 and 5 weeks to go

Once again I found myself tied up in numerous life events happening and was unable to update my blog so I am going to catch you up todate on the last 2 weeks.

26 March – 1 April

I spent Monday driving back from St George, getting unpacked and preparing myself for the week. I got my official acceptance in to grad school for Exercise Physiology this week so I was on cloud nine ready for a new chapter in my life. Training wise I had a little less volume due to have 2 days off this week.

Swim: Tuesday was a light swim and did my 60 minute endurance swim on Thursday, only ended up with 5900 yds for the week due to the additional day off.

Bike: I took my TT bike to the shop for a full tune since it had almost 2000 miles on it since I purchased it so I had my road bike this week. After all the miles on my TT bike it was hard to adjust to riding my road bike again but still got some good miles in. Did two good rides during the week one with 3449 ft of climbing in 27 miles and another 23 miles ride mostly flats. On Saturday rode 90 miles with some brutal winds and 4870 ft of climbing, Totaled 140 miles on the bike this week.

Run: This is where it gets rough... I decided to focus on my long run this week which I did on Friday. I was to run for 2 hrs and 20 mins. I ran about 1:20 covered 10.25 miles having some knee pain after the first 8 miles. Come to realize I was having issues with my IT band. I will talk more about this in the next week. I decided to end my run and spend the weekend letting it rest.

2April- 8 April

I started a pre-req class I needed for my Graduate program. I also wanted to keep up on my training prior to my recovery week. So busy week balancing family, work, training and school work.

Swim: High volume swim week since I had to scale back my running. Tuesday and Wednesday did 2600 yd workouts in a 25 meter pool so it was more like 2843 yds both days. My pool (5 mins from my house) had some mechanic problems so swam at Peterson AFB. Then on Friday I did my Endurance swim. I covered 4500 yds (2.55 miles) in 1:07:23. Speaking my race I only need to swim 2.4 miles and planned to swim under 1:10 for the race I think I am in good position right now, totaled 10187 yds for the week.

Bike: I got my TT bike back on Sunday! Had my last power test Monday over lunch and saw my power increase to 236 watts average which is 3.07watt/kg, so nothing but improvement over the winter on my power. I also did a spin video that night. I did a 37 mile ride on Thursday south of my house to work on some speed, averaged 20.5 mph which is pretty good with stop lights and traffic. Then Saturday I did my first century ride of the season, covered 102 miles in 5:20 with about 4400 ft of climbing and totaled 165 miles of cycling for the week.

Run: So with my IT band I worked on stretching more (2-3 times a day), icing it and using my foam roller to massage it out. I still have pain but it was manageable. I attempted to run again on Wednesday for 75 mins hoping to get 10 miles. Well made it about 7 miles and the pain became too much so I had to walk/jog the last few miles to my house. Continuing with all mentioned above I am going to see my Sports Medicine Doctor to see what we can do with less than 4 weeks till my race I want to do whatever I can to be able to race as hard as I can.

Little info from Sports Medicine on About.com on IT Band Pain:

IT Band runs along the out side of the thigh iliotibial band friction syndrome is a common cause of knee and hip pain in athletes. Knee pain from this injury is most commonly felt along the outside (lateral) knee and the lower thigh. IT band syndrome may also result in a nagging or acute pain on the outside of the hip.

The iliotibial band is a strong, thick band of fibrous tissue that runs along the outside of the leg. The IT band starts at the hip and runs along the outer thigh and attaches on the outside edge of the shin bone (tibia) just below the knee joint. The band works with the quadriceps (thigh muscles) to provide stability to the outside of the knee joint during movement.

So with that said I am going to take it easy on running and try to heal up. I will update next week with progress on treatment.

Cheers
Nate

7 weeks to go and Trip to St George

Hey everyone, I had a great week. I was able to make a trip out to St George (SG) with a fellow athlete who is also doing the Ironman in May. I think it was more of a confidence booster of the training I have already done.  So let’s get started on the training this week.

Swim: This week I started with a longer work out on Monday doing 10x200 yd and 1x250yd with warm up and cool down. My times have significant decrease due to finally getting the mechanics of my swim stroke down going from 1:35-1:40 100s to 1:25-1:30 100s.  On Wednesday I did a shorter workout with 5 x 200 yd and 5 x100. Then on Saturday while out in SG I did 60 minute endurance swim which I covered 3900yd. This is the longest distance I have gone which was about 2.2 miles. We swam at a community center along the course in Washington City due to the water temp being 52 degrees in Sand Hollow so I opted for the 80 degree water. For the week I swam 5 miles. 

Sand Hollow IMSG Swim 

  Bike: This was the last week of my Progressive cycling class. We mostly did intervals of hard efforts. I am going to get a power test done on Friday this week to see where my power is at now just before the race.  The rest of my riding was out on the course. On Saturday we started from the Community Center (where we swam) out to Sand Hollow Reservoir where the swim for the race is (about 13 miles) also T1 (Transition from swim to bike) then we started the course. All year I have been hearing how tough this course is and all the climbing that is involved. One part of me thought, “I live in Colorado they don’t know what climbing is” and the other part thought “this course is going to kill me”.  So here I was riding the course all in my big ring (harder effort). The scenery was beautiful.

Some of the scenery on the course

 We rode in to town (about 21 miles) and began “the loop”. I could tell it was a long steady climb but I was still moving along well. The roads are rough which I ran lower tire pressure (105 -110 psi) vs (120-125 psi) and I was on my carbon Zipp 808 Fire Crest wheel to absorb the road vibrations. I pushed ahead a few times and really was enjoying the ride up to Veyo then I came the “The wall”. At first I didn’t know it was the wall until I climbed to the top and met another cyclist that just climbed it and asked him. It was hard towards the top where I switched to small ring but nothing I haven’t done before in my training. Then there was two longer steady (5-6% grade) climbs then it was 14 miles of downhill.  I rode back to my truck and totaled 5:15 hrs and 91 miles the first day. I was very pleased with the day.  The next day we rode from the hotel and did another loop. I climbed the wall twice just for good measure.  So I ended up with some high volume on the bike this week. Over 10 hours in the saddle and 175 miles.

Bottom of "The Wall"

Almost to the top

Run: Shorter week of running this week due to my trip, taking a day to pack and spend time with the family before I left. I had a track work out on Tuesday doing an 800 m warm up then 8x 400m hard efforts (averaged 1:20 laps) then a nice 800 cool down. I didn’t run again till I got out to SG.  We ran off the bike on Sunday from the hotel to T2 (Transition from the bike to the run) which was about 1.5 miles. Then we started the course. Which is almost shaped like a pitch fork with a handle; running out and backs down 3 streets to the south then one long out and back to the north.  For the Ironman I will run 3 laps with each lap being just over 8.5 miles. I was comfortable with the run course. I started out with my partner but he was having some IT band issues so he had to cut out early so I just tried to study the course and run it comfortably.  I ran just over 12 miles heading back to the hotel.  It was a great run my goal is to run a sub 4 hour marathon for the race and I think with the motivation of seeing my family a number of times on the course I should have enough gas in the tank to push it.

Over all, I had a great week of training and I am looking forward to the race. Couple more long bikes and runs coming up with some high volume weeks then it will be time to taper before I know it.

Thanks,

Nate

8 Weeks to Go (Recovery)

Oh yes the week I have been waiting for.... Recovery week. Even though I logged just about 10.5 hrs of training it was a good week. My brother-in-law and his wife moved back to North Dakota so I was able to take a day to help them load the truck up. And the pesky time change this week threw me off. So lets get started.

Swim this week was my favorite work out which was 10 x 200 yards, 1 x 250 and 1 x 100 cool down. Totaling 2850 yards with the 500 yd warm up. I was able to keep all my times with in +/- 5 seconds of each other on the 200s so I was happy. My endurance swim was 45 minutes this week due to recovery. After missing my swim Monday, just couldn't get out of bed in time, I totaled 5600 yards this week.

On the bike this week I did an outdoor ride Monday and Tuesday, Spin class on Wednesday and long bike on Saturday which was part of my brick. Monday and Tuesday just tried to work on my speed on the flats (if you can call smaller hills flats..). I still climbed about 1300 ft on Monday riding for an hour and covered 20 miles. Tuesday was a ride on post only had a 45 minutes. Spin class was a warm up then 8 x 4 min hard effort time trials. Saturday was my brick,  I had 180 min ride on the schedule. But I am also taking part in a March Madness work out with my Tri club. I drew 2 teams that were knocked out in the first round so I have a 64 mile bike for each team thanks to Davidson and Notre Dame!! So I planned to just ride 64 miles today to get one of them done. The ride went well, got a little windy but ended up with 113 miles on the bike this week.

Another good week of running with (1) 45 min speed work run and (2) 60 min runs with one of those being my brick on Saturday. All of them went well still keeping my pace between 7:01 and 7:31/miles during the week. Ran for a total of 22.6 miles this week.

Now to enjoy the rest of the weekend. Next week I start back up and will be traveling to St George to spend Saturday and Sunday riding/running the course. I hear the water temp is still below 50 degrees so not sure if I will swim or not guess we will see when I get out  there. Looking forward to see if all the hill training prepared me for this bike course. I will post my St George Trip separate from my training in Colorado next week.

Cheers
Nate    

10 and 9 Weeks to Go

Hey everyone, better late than never it has been a busy couple of weeks with work, family and training.  Both of these weeks were about 14 + hours of training each week.  I am feeling really good knowing my race is just around the corner.

27 Feb- 4 Mar

Swim: Pretty good week of swimming: (2) of my work outs were 500 yd warm up, 4x250s, 5x100s, 1x500 with 100 cool down.  Then Friday was my long swim 60 minute endurance swim covering 3500 yards, totaling 8700 yards (Just under 5 miles) for the week. 

Bike:  Spin class was focused on hard Time Trial efforts this week. Monday we did (3) 4 min hard effort then Wednesday we did (4) 4min hard effort. I also was able to get out and ride on Monday. It was a little chilly (30’s) but rode about 29 miles. My long ride was with a group, which I will never do again. If it is for social and just getting out riding it is fun but when you are riding for time and trying to cover as many miles as you can it just doesn’t work with different abilities. I still managed to bike 71 miles in 4.5 hrs with about 6150 ft of climbing. Total for the week I was in the saddle for 8:15 riding 132 miles.

Run: Rough week for running this week. Tuesday I ran 800s at the track. Had about a 25 mph wind so half of the lap was easy but the other half was brutal. I ran one 800 as a warm up then 8x800 as the work out times between 2:59-3:11, then ran a cool down 800. I was hoping to keep them closer to 3:00 but wind just got the best of me. I had a long run which I had to split due to some scheduling conflicts but got in 1hr 50 min run total. Saturday I was suppose to run an hour after my bike but due to the many stops and time wasted I was only about to run for 30 mins but I felt good coming off the bike and ran 7:40/miles during this run. I was able to run 24.4 miles this week.

5-11 Mar

Swim: Great week of swimming: (2) work out were 500 yd warm up, 10x 100s, 5 x 200, 5x 50 and 100 Cool down. Times are getting faster as I am working on the efficiency of my stroke (i.e. using fewer strokes per lap yet keeping speed or increasing speed). This is going to conserve energy for the bike and run.  During my endurance swim for 60 minutes I was able to swim 3600 yds this week, totaling 9300 yards (just over 5.25 miles).

Bike: Again another week of max effort time trials, you would think they would get easier but they still suck, increased the number of sets. Weather was perfect this week to ride so I took a lunch to get out for an hour and got in 20 miles. My long bike we mixed up some hills and flats riding 81.5 miles in 4:36. Had about 4100 feet of elevation gain and kept 17.7 mph average.

Run: Much better week of running then last. I had a 75 minute, 60 minute tempo and a 2 hr run. For my 75 min run I was able to keep 7:23/mile pace, 60 minute tempo was 7:07/mile (on the tempo runs I run 5 mins normal pace and one min all out effort) and my 2 hr run I was super comfortable running 7:35/mile pace. So I ran 34.4 miles this week and feel like I should be able to maintain my running until the race spending extra effort on the bike over the next few weeks.

Currently in my recovery week, getting ready for my trip out to St George Utah to ride and run on the course 23-26 March. This is going to let me ride the whole course so I know where I need to conserve energy and where I need to put foot to pedal. Also going to let me visualize the run course and how set my short goals for each of the 3 laps for the marathon.

I will update this weekend on my recovery week.

Cheers

Nate