Category Archives: Zipp 404s

Seven Days…

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And the countdown begins… T-minus 7 days till Rev3 Maine Half-Ironman…

I officially began taper last Thursday. The weekend of the 11th/12th contained my last big long run and brick workout. Unfortunately, they didn’t quite go as planned. I had to change my Thursday and Friday workouts around due to a work conflict. I wasn’t feeling the best on Friday. I had leftovers for lunch on Friday and they just didn’t sit right for the rest of the day. The weather that Friday wasn’t great. The fog had rolled in and it was a light rain. I don’t mind riding in the rain, but fog is another story. I decided to play it safe and ride the trainer indoors. It was a super tough workout to boot! Three intervals of 12 minutes with 4 min @ 60% FTP, 80% FTP, and 100% FTP with five minutes easy spin between each 12 minute interval. I made it through the first two intervals, but pretty much died on the last. I was feeling shaky and literally sweated several pounds worth of sweat all over my poor bike and the carpet. I got off my bike and succeed to drink a couple bottles of water. My body was done. I wasn’t feeling well. My gut was not pleased with my earlier food choices and was making itself known. I showered, weighed myself to see how much sweat I lost, and went to bed after eating a banana. BAD! Yes, I knew I needed to eat food to nourish my poor body, but when I don’t feel well I loose my appetite and I have a hard time forcing myself to eat.

My puddles of sweat on the floor… next time a bucket to catch it all!

I got up around 5am to get ready to go to a boot camp class, but I about passed out on my way to the bathroom. Back to bed. I woke up later feeling better, so I had a large breakfast of oatmeal, yogurt, and some eggs. I drank lots of water and finally felt good enough to knock off my 1:45 long run. I knew my body was still weak from hardly eating anything the day before, but I wanted and needed to get the run done because I had to work in the afternoon. My hands were shaking as I was putting my contacts in, but I completely ignored the signs that I probably shouldn’t run. I strapped my Garmin on and headed out the door. The first 3 miles were uneventful, but a little slower than normal. I was okay with that. Then it hit me! My body was starting to bonk. Mentally I kept telling myself to keep going. You’re going to do an Ironman next year! You need to be mentally strong. Mind over matter! Blah, blah, blah…

I began playing the “run to the next mailbox or house” game. That worked for awhile. Then I hit mile 5 and my body was done. DONE. I walked the last mile home. I was light headed, a little dizzy, and just nausea. The worst part of the whole ordeal was the fact I knew exactly what I was doing and that it was a very bad idea. I chose to ignore my voice of reasoning and just do what I pleased. Moral of the story… Nutrition is key!

Sunday’s workout was much, much better! I met up with a fellow TriMoxie athlete and swam about 1.2 miles at Kettle Cove. It was foggy, rainy, and very wavy in the ocean, but not a bad swim. I swam through a ton of seaweed, but at this point it doesn’t bother me. After swimming, I ate a big lunch and hung out at work till my 2 hour and 40 minute bike and 40 min T-run. It was a HUGE workout too. I’m pretty sure my coach was trying to kill me! It contained 4 x 3:30 sprints, 2 x 12 min @ HIM watts and 4 x 2 mins @ VO2max wattage. I forgot to upload the workout details to my Garmin and thus had to resort to writing my workout on my arm in Sharpie since I always forget my workouts as soon as I step out the door.

The workout of the day

The ride was good. I felt good on the bike, but I was seriously hurting after the ride because it was a tough workout. The weather was pretty good. It rained in parts and sunny and humid in others. I usually go through about a bottle an hour for hydration, but I finished my 3 bottles within 2.5 hours. I was thirsty and it was a bit odd. As soon as I got back to my car I chugged a cold bottle of water before heading out for 40 minutes of running. The run was okay. My legs felt okay, but didn’t have the strength to run fast. Those sprints on the bike (which occurred on the hilliest part of my route) killed my legs. My left side cramped up a bit from all the water chugging in “transition.” I made it though and was done with my last big brick before race day!

Ice bath after a tough brick workout

Last week I had good workouts. My body was tired though and very ready to begin taper that Thursday. I ended up taking Friday off too to rest my body. I needed too. My right hip has been bothering me for the past week or so. I felt super good on Saturday for my run. Azul went into the shop on Thursday to get a tune-up, race wheels (thanks Bike Shop Boy for the borrowed wheels!), and new bar tape (Lizard tape is the best!). She is now one sleek and mean racing machine!

Azul is one sexy bike! 🙂

On Sunday I headed out to Kettle Cove again for a short swim and also to watch a little bit of the Tri for Preservation. My coach took 2nd overall because she is just awesome! 🙂 I then headed to Panera for some lunch and work/school stuff for awhile. After a few hours of computer work I headed out to ride in the Cumberland/Yarmouth area. I only had a 2 hour ride with 3 x 10 min @ HIM watts followed by a 40 min T-run with 3 x 5 min @ HIM pace. This was my first ride ever with race wheels! It’s hard to tell if I was faster with the wheels. I think I would have to ride both sets on the same course, in the same conditions, etc… BUT, I could definitely feel the difference in the ride. SO much smoother! Plus, they make cool “woshing” noises. I’ve decided that Bike Shop Boy is going to have to pry them out of my cold, dead hands before I give them back! I know that won’t fly with him, so I decided that either I’m going to sell one of my kidneys or start fighting all the hobos for the cans and bottles on the side of the road to return! I only need to collect about 54,000 cans! Start drinking people!! I need Zipp 404s!

My T-run went absolutely beautifully! I felt super strong and my legs were ready to fly off the bike. I even ran slightly faster than HIM goal pace during my intervals. I’m hoping I feel this great on race day! After the brick it was home with another ice bath, compression tights, foam rolling, and a good solid dinner.

Rev3 is in 7 days! I’m excited. I’ve been ready for this race for the past three weeks. At this point I just want to get it over with. It’s my “A” race and I have been training for it the past 8 months. After signing up for Lake Placid though, my mind is already focused on next year. I still care about this race, but next year really is the big dance and I can’t be more excited! I’m very excited about seeing how much my overall fitness has improved and putting in a good, solid race to end my tri season. Mentally and physically I’m ready for next Sunday. I have my race plan from my coach and I have a goal time to finish. So far the weather is looking to be good. I know my wattage/pace and nutrition plan. What’s really nice about this race is that I know so many people from various walks of life doing this race. I’m competitive and that will definitely help drive me to meet my goal time. I’m ready to leave everything out on the course. I just need to be smart this week with nailing my workouts, getting enough sleep, proper nutrition, making sure my gear is ready, and staying mentally strong. I’m ready… Let’s GO!

~ Happy Training!  

65 Mile Recovery Ride

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I raced a sprint tri on Saturday (race report coming later this week) and I was suppose to have a rest day/light OWS if I wanted too. Well, Bike Shop Boy and I decided that it was a beautiful (and hot day) for a nice recovery ride. I mentioned in an email to my coach Saturday night that I would be doing a recovery ride on Sunday, but I didn’t really tell her how long. I told Bike Shop Boy as we were riding that my coach was probably going to kill me. She didn’t kill me, but I got a small reprimand because apparently, even though I was very good and rode slow in my recovery wattage zone, 65 miles isn’t a recovery ride! Opps…

I have a few big HIM target training rides coming up in the next few weeks so I wanted to check out the Rev3 HIM course so on target training days I didn’t have to deal with stopping to check my directions. Plus, I was excited to ride the course after reading Jen from Miles, Muscles & Mommyhood‘s review of the course earlier last week. I uploaded the course onto my Garmin Edge 800. I was hoping that it would give me turn-by-turn directions, but I guess you had to pay extra for that. We did pretty good following the directions. We only took a wrong turn twice. Once up a big fing hill that I’m glad is not on the course!

From Rev3 Website

We decided to park at my place of employment so we didn’t have to pay $20 for parking in OOB. We rode from Route 1 in Scarborough, down to Pine Point Beach and then down to OOB. We started riding around 11am so at this point it was quite hot and humid out. We actually did this on purpose to train for the heat. We passed a few people coming in from doing the course as we were heading out. We took our time and enjoyed the scenery. It was a recovery ride and thus I made sure to keep my wattage belong 120 watts, which is my recovery zone. The first 15-18 miles are pretty flat with a few rollers. The roads are in good shape. This will be a fast section for sure. However, once you get onto South Waterboro Rd through Lyman it gets a bit hilly. There are a couple decent little climbs. I have a feeling a lot of people are going to blow up here or shortly after because of poor pacing at the beginning section of the course. Even though it’s going to be a fast course, you need to ride it smart or else your going to hit the last 15 miles and just die.

After South Waterboro Rd you take a right on to Route 202, which has a nice wide shoulder. It’s mostly flat with a slight up grade. Definitely a headwind around here too. We stopped at Hannaford to get lunch and some lovely people watching. I never got so many weird looks from people in the grocery store because I was walking around in my cycling kit and shoes!

Re-fueling

After our mini re-fueling break, we hit Route 202 to Route 5. There was a horse show going on at the Hollis Riders Club so obviously I had to stop and see what was going on because I use to compete there sometimes. I got yelled at by someone because apparently horses are afraid of bicycles. First of all I would like to say, a) I am not a biker. I am a cyclist. A biker rides a motorcycle and cyclist rides a bicycle, and b) if your horse is a afraid of a bicycle then your either a poor rider who can’t control her horse when it spooks and/or you haven’t done the proper groundwork with your horse to familiarize them with outside environmental noises/objects. What happens if an ambulance or a Harley went screaming by? Sorry, that just annoyed because I was just sitting quietly on my bicycle watching the riders warm up. I informed the rider who yelled at me that I grew up with horses and I wasn’t stupid and not going to make any sudden noises. It was a dressage show. No offense to MiddleAgeRunner, but most Dressage riders have a whip up their ass. It’s one of the reasons I didn’t compete in Dressage growing up.

Anyway, after our brief break we continued our way through the course. Bike Shop Boy really enjoyed the course and for a brief second considered registering for the race. And then quickly decided he’d probably drown in the ocean. He did make a comment that it would be funny if there was a good stinking climb somewhere at the end of the course. Well, his dream did come true. After Route 5, you take a left onto Clarks Mills Road, which I believe was uneventful back to Route 202. We did see a hot dog stand on the side of the road that wasn’t open. Bike Shop Boy was rather sad because he wanted a hot dog. The Route 202 is fast, but with some false flats and a headwind too. You cross over the Saco River and take an immediate right onto Route 117 that is a small climb. I have a feeling a lot of people are going to be hurting on this climb and/or blow up.

Bike Shop Boy taking the lead

At the top of the hill you take a right onto Simpson Road. Simpson Road just plain sucks. It sucks because the road conditions suck! There are cracks and small potholes everywhere. Beware of lots of flat tires here. The road also has a false flat too so it’s not a fast section. The road goes on a ways and then a small downhill over a one lane bridge and up a steep little hill. This hill is going to hurt! It’s one of those that is going to separate the smart riders from the dumb ones. If you rode the course smart then you’ll be fine. Just put your bike in the granny gear and spin up the hill. But, I have a feeling there will be several cocky people who are going to try and haul ass up the hill and then blow up during the run. The nice part about crossing the bridge and riding the hill is that you enter a new town and then pavement gets much, much better!

The course then winds through some local, rural side roads that are all in excellent condition and fairly flat. The course then connects back to Route One where you’ll ride back the same way you came out. At this point, Bike Shop Boy and I headed up Route One to hit up the Dairy Bar for some frozen yogurt and then back to our cars. Overall, we did over 65 miles. If we have gone back through OOB and Pine Point we would have hit over 75 miles. Seventy five miles is a long way for a recovery ride, but 65 is okay… 🙂

Overall, I’m pleased with the course that Rev3 chose for the HIM. I really like how it’s an out-and-back, one-loop course. I hate two-loop courses! The road conditions for the most part are excellent with either low traffic local roads or wide shoulders. However, Simpson Road just plain sucks! I have a feeling that there will be lots of flats on that section of the course! I just hope I’m not one of them! We averaged a moving speed of 16.0 mph for 65 miles with my average wattage of 99 watts. A perfect recovery speed and wattage! I’m excited to ride the course in a couple of weeks where I have 4 x 20 min at race pace wattage. That should be a fun ride! Hopefully, it won’t be 90 degrees and humid as hell, but you never know what race day will bring!

I’m also very excited that Bike Shop Boy is going to let me borrow his Zipp 404s from his road bike to use for the race! Azul is going to smokin’ hott on race day! 🙂

Zipp 404s!

~ Happy Training!