Sylvester Stallone had it ! Mark Spitz had it! Brett Favre had it! And my son's high school wrestling coach claimed to have had it as well. This idea that you can somehow cheat time and aging just by being smarter, and working harder. While certainly I believe there is an element of experience that makes us better qualified for many things as we age, the unfortunate reality of deteriorating muscles, tendons, nerves, etc, trumps all that experience. At best our wisdom probably helps to offset the losses a bit.
Sitting on my bike today, I was pondering what my approach to the Ironman would be this time around. In my mind I was comparing my fitness to the same point in previous attempts, and although I feel pretty good, when I look at the numbers they really don't add up that well. I run slower than I used to, I swim slower, and I ride with less power. Some of that is intentional as I try to train wiser, and yet I can't help but think maybe I'm getting older……and weaker…..And to top it all off, I also need to admit that my body composition is slipping a bit.
My first race was in 2009 when I finished in 11:36, and then three years later was a bit disappointed to be 3 minutes slower. Since I had come all the way back from my illness the first time, I thought it was a reasonable expectation to be somewhat faster the second time around. Perhaps that attitude wasn't quite fair considering that I was indeed 3 years older. Of course I thought I would answer all those questions last year in Mont Tremblant, but somehow that didn't work out that well.
So although it's not urgent yet by any means, I would like to develop my race strategy sometime in the near future. And while some may say, why don't you just relax and enjoy the day, I'm not sure this is possible for such a long race. At least not for me. Without a clear plan, and one that's reasonable based on ones ability and fitness, the risk of a blowout is significant.
While I haven't quite finalized it in my mind, I am still quite committed to the same run strategy as I had intended last year. I will be initiating a run/walk approach right from the get go, and at least as of now I still want to run a 4 hour marathon. I believe this is do-able, assuming the rest of the race is handled properly.
The swim will be a no-brainer, which really brings me down to the big unanswered question. How to approach the bike? I believe I do have a significant advantage this time, namely my fancy new pedals. Once I get my bike outside and get a better handle on how much power I can generate on the road, things should become clearer. The advantage I mentioned is that come race day I will be able to measure how much energy I'm expending, rather than how fast I'm going.
Funny enough, I was at the triathlon shop today where I bought my bike. I happened to mention my new pedals and much to my surprise they had no use for them. They claimed to have experimented with them, and gave them up as a bad thing. That's okay, because I gave up on their technical knowledge as a bad thing some time ago. But just for my own peace of mind I checked out more reviews when I got home, and could not find a bad one anywhere.
So there!
And coming back to the race strategy that I said I didn't have…. I think I just outlined it above.
Swim as fast as I can…which is not very…
Then ride easy enough that...
I can run a 4 hour marathon!
Woohoo!! Game on!!
And while I again faced the days bike workout with some trepidation, I took the approach I had promised. To complete the workout, but without a serious commitment to the aero bars. And while that's the way it started out, I actually gained a bit of enthusiasm as it wore on. I did the first interval sitting up, but then did 4 of the remaining 5 on my elbows. I feel pretty good about that.
And I tried an interesting little experiment today as well. To get me through the hard parts I often count my pedal strokes, knowing that every hundred or so will get me through a minute of pain. When I consciously switched my counting from my right leg to my left leg, the left got seriously tired very quickly, Weird eh? It's as if the counting actually affects my effort somehow. Is it possible that I am actually exacerbating my right leg dominance simply by the metronomic effect of my counting ritual??? Hmmm. Interesting. I will experiment with this a bit more and let you know.
Long run tomorrow. And I need some decent weather, or I'm gonna be pissed!!
computrainer short intervals, 90 mins
“'Rocky Balboa' is about everybody who feels they want to participate in the race of life, rather than be a bystander. You're never too old to climb a mountain, if that's your desire.”---Sylvester Stallone
Sitting on my bike today, I was pondering what my approach to the Ironman would be this time around. In my mind I was comparing my fitness to the same point in previous attempts, and although I feel pretty good, when I look at the numbers they really don't add up that well. I run slower than I used to, I swim slower, and I ride with less power. Some of that is intentional as I try to train wiser, and yet I can't help but think maybe I'm getting older……and weaker…..And to top it all off, I also need to admit that my body composition is slipping a bit.
My first race was in 2009 when I finished in 11:36, and then three years later was a bit disappointed to be 3 minutes slower. Since I had come all the way back from my illness the first time, I thought it was a reasonable expectation to be somewhat faster the second time around. Perhaps that attitude wasn't quite fair considering that I was indeed 3 years older. Of course I thought I would answer all those questions last year in Mont Tremblant, but somehow that didn't work out that well.
So although it's not urgent yet by any means, I would like to develop my race strategy sometime in the near future. And while some may say, why don't you just relax and enjoy the day, I'm not sure this is possible for such a long race. At least not for me. Without a clear plan, and one that's reasonable based on ones ability and fitness, the risk of a blowout is significant.
While I haven't quite finalized it in my mind, I am still quite committed to the same run strategy as I had intended last year. I will be initiating a run/walk approach right from the get go, and at least as of now I still want to run a 4 hour marathon. I believe this is do-able, assuming the rest of the race is handled properly.
The swim will be a no-brainer, which really brings me down to the big unanswered question. How to approach the bike? I believe I do have a significant advantage this time, namely my fancy new pedals. Once I get my bike outside and get a better handle on how much power I can generate on the road, things should become clearer. The advantage I mentioned is that come race day I will be able to measure how much energy I'm expending, rather than how fast I'm going.
Funny enough, I was at the triathlon shop today where I bought my bike. I happened to mention my new pedals and much to my surprise they had no use for them. They claimed to have experimented with them, and gave them up as a bad thing. That's okay, because I gave up on their technical knowledge as a bad thing some time ago. But just for my own peace of mind I checked out more reviews when I got home, and could not find a bad one anywhere.
So there!
And coming back to the race strategy that I said I didn't have…. I think I just outlined it above.
Swim as fast as I can…which is not very…
Then ride easy enough that...
I can run a 4 hour marathon!
Woohoo!! Game on!!
And while I again faced the days bike workout with some trepidation, I took the approach I had promised. To complete the workout, but without a serious commitment to the aero bars. And while that's the way it started out, I actually gained a bit of enthusiasm as it wore on. I did the first interval sitting up, but then did 4 of the remaining 5 on my elbows. I feel pretty good about that.
And I tried an interesting little experiment today as well. To get me through the hard parts I often count my pedal strokes, knowing that every hundred or so will get me through a minute of pain. When I consciously switched my counting from my right leg to my left leg, the left got seriously tired very quickly, Weird eh? It's as if the counting actually affects my effort somehow. Is it possible that I am actually exacerbating my right leg dominance simply by the metronomic effect of my counting ritual??? Hmmm. Interesting. I will experiment with this a bit more and let you know.
Long run tomorrow. And I need some decent weather, or I'm gonna be pissed!!
computrainer short intervals, 90 mins
“'Rocky Balboa' is about everybody who feels they want to participate in the race of life, rather than be a bystander. You're never too old to climb a mountain, if that's your desire.”---Sylvester Stallone
Love
Peter
Thank goodness you're doing your long run today (Tuesday) and not Wednesday.... 10-15cm of snow Wed!
ReplyDeleteLove,
Michael