The Week in Review

It's Sunday and I'm (Happily) Tired...it's been a big week of training, here are the highlights:

Sunday, Duke 1/2 Ironman:
It all started last Sunday at the Duke 1/2 Ironman, the first triathlon of the year. The race began well and (very) surprisingly I was 1st out of the water. Which either means that I cut the course short, or the Blue-Seventy zero point 3 swimskin that Cid gave me legitimately reduces drag. The swim felt good--I got into a good rhythm and the pace was comfortable, despite a slow time of 28:11. I don't trust the accuracy of non-champioship swim courses, so don't consider swim times an accurate guage of fitness.

Onto the bike...I rode conservatively the frist 16 miles soft-pedaling at low-end tempo or perhaps a bit easier. Then at the first turn-around I noticed the competition was within a few minutes, so it was time to build the pace. I felt strong-ish on the bike, but never great, finishing in 2:15 on a relatively flat course (never used the small ring), but a course that was ~0.7 mile long based on my GPS, which usually underpredicts distance. This is an annoying fact considering the course includes an out-an-back so could very easlily be corrected to the standard distance.

The run...felt like crap from the first step, simply survival. I PRed by almost 10-minutes on the run, a slow-PR that is. At mile 8, Alex went by me on the way to his second win, at a pace so much stronger that I had no hope of running with him. I sat back in an attempt to hasten my recovery.

Monday: Recovery
Just an easy swim day today. Swam about 4k with some drill-swim and pull 500's. It felt good to swim easy and get in some noon-time sun

Tuesday: Recovery + Initiate Operation 'Got Run? Get Run!'
Rob and I biked 3 hours this morning, so we had plenty of time to catch-up. It turned into an epic ride that will never be forgotten. 20-minutes into the ride it started rainig, then then pouring, and it didn't let up. We both had to drain the water out of our rims after the ride. That afternoon a nice-and-easy 8 mile run felt good and started a 60-mile run week. 60 miles has special significance for me; during my college years, if I ran this far I'd be fast simply from the volume. Just hope the body doesn't break.

Wednesday: Swim + Run
Today I had a decent swim then ran 12 easy miles on the flat forgiving trails of the UNC Biological Preserve by Finley Golf Course. This is a 1.6 mile loop on a grass Jeep trail that's perfect for either tempo, or putting in a run when you're attempting to avoid soreness and injury.

Thursday: Beach Ride 140 miles + 5k Run
Ahhhh...the Cary-to-Wilmington flat and fast 140-miler, complete with a BBQ stop near mile 100, clearly this is one of the best rides ever. Cid Cardosa Jr, Richard Armstrong, Alex McDonald, George Worrel, and I met at Cid's for an early start. My goals are simple today: get in 3x 30' LT then simply put in the miles, perhaps do a few upbeat paceline efforts at the end, then do a transition run off the bike.

The 30' LT sessions started well, probably 28-29 mph for an average to start, gotta love flat roads and gentle tailwinds(!), and I even added an extra 10' arrive at a good stopping point in Benson. Session #2 was not as crisp, but still a good effort, and by #3 I was pretty fried and my power was ~100W lower than on the first effort. No worries, nothing that a BBQ sandwich, fries, molasses cookies, and southern sweet-iced tea couldn't cure. After about 3,000 calories and 4 glasses of jet fuel...er...I mean iced tea, I was ready to get back on the bike. We warmed up gradually for the ride to Carolina Beach and started rotating in a paceline, invariably the pace elevated, enhanced by a tailwind. I love end-of-ride on-the-rivit pacelining so pulls were in the 30-32 mph range, occasionally 34. Nice. Then we cruised 6-miles into Carolina Beach and changed for the run, which I was told was a bit shy of 4-miles, but in reality was about 5k. Alex is a very strong runner so I settled in behind him and he dropped the pace to about 6'15", which after 6 hours of riding feels quick.

We recovered with a splash in the ocean, which made me wish I coudl stay longer, then grabbed a burrito and headed back.

Friday: Swim + Long Run
After starting the day with a good morning swim, I turned my attention to the real focus, a long run.

A long run the day after a long ride is a workout that's proven it's worth 3 weeks before an Ironman. Tim Surface offered to do this long run with me at Umstead Park. Umstead has shaded gravel trails with good footing nad good hills...not too steep, but longer hills than you'd find on pavement, so it's perfect for a long run. Tim's a 2:24 marathoner and agreed to run any pace I needed, which was certainly not 2:24 pace. I hoped to run 6'40" pace for the first hour, then 6'20"s for the second hour, then finish with one mile fast, but given my mediocre run fitness, wondered if this was a realistic possibility. Well, we ended up averaging 6'15" pace after a 20' warm-up and I felt some of the 'ol college run fitness returning to those legs. I'm stoked! A decent run in Kona is now a possibility.

There are a few more key runs I hope to do before Kona: next week: a track workout, 10-miles upbeat off of a long bike, and a fast 10k after the P-Ride or State TT champs; the following week some 10k-paced intervals after some 40k TT bike intervals, and a 5k-marathon pace mix track workout. Then it's taper time!

Saturday: P-Ride
I rolled out to the ride, wondering if my legs would be able to contribute anything to the pack today. I gave them 50-50 odds. The great thing about cycling is that you can wreck yourself one day, then head out the next day and just spend 1-2 hours spinning the legs and you're good to go again. Long story short, I had a great ride, TTing off the front or pulling the pack, breaking away with other riders, and just having fun throwing in surges, bring back breaks, and then elevating the pace. I ended up in a 2-man break to the finish with Brian. I was too exhausted to run after...I've had a great week of training and just need to guard my form.

Tomorrow i'm planning to swim early, then run in the afternoon, which will probably turn into an easy run.

Sunday: Open Water Swim + Run
Corey and I met Alex and Rob for an open water swim at the Jordan Lake Cove. The nominal plan was to do 3x 20' faster than Ironman race pace (LT) then sprint for 1' after a short recovery. We did 2 intervals from the point to the bridge, each lasting about 15'. I felt bad, just couldn't get going...the training is catching up with me. Everyone felt similarly tired so we called it a day after 2 intervals. The run this afternoon is going to be easy...I'd skip it or postpone it til tomorrow, but I don't have the luxury of extra time, and I'm too much in need of the run training right now.

My run actually felt ok! Corey biked beside me and we went to the UNC Biological Preserve. I just cruised with 7-something miles for the first four miles to the preserve, then did a few laps at 6:30 pace, and then ran 7's home. It's all I needed. Run training is still fresh enough that simple volume = increased performance.

Ok, after that week I'm exhausted. Tomorrow will be an uber-recovery day. Goal #1 is to sleep in!

40 Kilometers of Soppin' Wet Fun

This evening I had the opportunity to fulfill a long-time goal, riding a 40k time trial in less than 50 minutes. The venue was the Lowe's Motor Speedway near Charlotte, NC. If you love going fast on wheels, whether ti be NASCAR or cycling, this is the place for you. Lowe's is a 1.5 mile track, nearly perfectly flat except for the short pitches crossing onto or out of the banking, and has silky-smooth pavement.

Though the venue is only second in speed to a velodrome or high-altitude course, the weather was not cooperative. It poured all day and was still raining heavily through the evening. I'm an optimist and kept hoping and believing that it would clear up, if only for an hour, even if it were an hour of drizzling, but the steady rain just kept coming. What had been anger melted into acceptance as I went through the five-stages of grief realizing the near-impossibility of achieving my goal--may as well get in a good workout I told myself.

In the end it was a fun ride. I had been feeling blah all week sine a hard Sunday workout and the sustained LT effort of a 40k TT seemed to shake the junk out of my legs. I finished in 50:28, which made me question if I did indeed have another 30-seconds in me and perhaps a more focused and determined resolve would have resulted in a 49:59. Regardless, it my PR for the distance, and with a fast 20-minute run afterward, made for a good workout. So, all-in-all mission accomplished. A sub-50 40k TT remains on the to-do-before-I-die list.

Recovery Going Well

Monday came with three perks. First, there's no morning swim practice, so I could SLEEP IN! Second, swim practice was at noon, which doubled as a great tanning session. And, third but not least, it was a recovery day and I had no pressure to kill myself with a painful workout.

Swim training can typically be done independently of biking and running, so despite it being a recovery day I mustered some decent intervals, then worked on technique at the end of practice. I've been swimming since the age of 4 and technique is still a work-in-progress/mystery!

In the late afternoon I headed out for my favorite recovery workout, a SUPER-EASY bike ride. Some people advocate a HR of less than 120 on a recovery ride, but when I need to recover my HR is less than 100; and when I REALLY need to recover, I'll keep the average HR less than 90. This ride's average was in the low 90's. I casually cruised the rural parts of the county. These roads are smooth and tree-lined with little traffic and gently rolling hills, a cyclist's dream. My favorite part of the ride is "Heart Rate Hill." This is not the typical Heart Rate Hill you'd suffer up in a race, but just the opposite. It's a downhill stretch where I set a personal HR record a few years ago, a riding low-HR record of 46. Today's was in the 60's.

Tomorrow I suspect I'll need another recovery day to do a good 40 km, but will be able to be aggressive in the swim.

Saturday Showers Bring Sunday Long Training Hours

Hanna rained out the P-Ride but it was clear in the afternoon so Corey and I swam open water a Jordan Lake. The water was higher the we had ever seen it before. I had intended to do the 1/2 IM TT that evening, but by the time we got back from dinner I'd be starting the workout at 9 pm, so I did a set of strength intervals instead: 6x 2' @ 450 W at a low cadence. It's a quickie w/o that takes less than an hour, and feels productive. Plus, with so much distance training, it's important to maintain some power and strength, and avoid becoming a long-slow-distance-zombie.

Sunday I finally got around to the dreaded workout. The ride went well, 2hr22' for 56 miles with a 311 W average. I was 321 W after the first hour, but faded, perhaps the strength intervals affected me. Then came the run, 10 miles, picking up the pace every 4 miles. The first 8 were according to plan start a little faster than Easy-Long pace, then drop 15"/mile (6:40's then 6:20's-30's), but the final 2 "fast" miles weren't, both were in the 6:20's.

Goals for this week are to recover well from this session and have a good 40 km TT on Wednesday, follow it up with a fast LT run or interval session, then recover from that well for the Duke 1/2 Ironman.

Good News Comes In Small E-mails

Yesterday Shaphan Jernigan, manager of the Electro-Mechanics Research Lab at NC State e-mailed to inform us that our submission on a novel atrial retractor has been accepted to the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. This project was my baby for a year and a half, starting a year prior to med school, and continuing for the summer between 1st and 2nd year. The article will be my first first-author publication, and I'm thankful to have concrete results for all the work. Above is a picture of a simulated robotic surgical repair of a mitral valve using our atrial retractor. A pig heart is inside the model rib cage, which guides the approach of surgical tools.

Mt. Shasta

On Friday I spoke at my mom's Elementary School, Bethesda, to Mrs. Evans' 5th grade class about climbing Mt. Shasta. They were studying landforms and geology and already knew many facts about one of California's tallest peaks, like how tall it is (14,162'), where it's located (45 miles south of the CA-OR border) and how it was formed (stratovolcano). They also knew quite a bit about mountainclimbing includeing the equipment a climber needs, and why climbers start their ascent in the week hours of the morning. At the end of the presentation they bombarded me with those insightful questions without true answers that only children can ask: "What's taller, Mt. Shasta or a tornado?", "If a tornado hit Mt. Shasta, what would happen?", "What if an earthquake hit at the same time?", and "If Shasta erupted, would there be a big crater?"

Tropical Storm Hanna

It's pouring here in NC thanks to tropical storm Hanna. With a heavy heart I suspect my favorite ride of the week, the wonderful P-Ride, will be cancelled. If so, I'll train indoors by TT-ing the first 1/2 of Ironman Hawaii on the CompuTrainer. 1/2 IM TT's on the CT are extremely effective for a fast IM bike split--no complaints there; this technique helped me to a 4:49 at Silverman, but I was hoping to ride outdoors and be social today.