Ultraman 2009 Training Part 3 – October 17-18, 2009

Well, I must report that nothing new and exciting this weekend happened in my training. I know you would to like to read some crazy story from my training or a wild/totally different workout I completed, but my experience and from chatting with other elite athletes I know – consistent training is the key to success!!!

Saturday – Nothing new here – just like last weekend, the long ride consisted of some hill repetitions in the hardest gear my legs would allow. This weekend even the weather was consistent…consistently raining! In the last hour of the ride I gave myself credit for a swim workout; it was raining so hard I could barely see the road surface. However, it was little bit warmer than few weekends ago and I was able to feel my hands and my feet when I finished the ride. As my tradition has become I followed the ride with a shorter brick run.

Sunday – I am CRAZY, I must admit I was actually looking forward to my long run on Sunday. It has become a challenge…to go farther and/or faster than the week before. The first 5 miles were surprisingly easier than last week. I guess that was a good sign, but I was still treating this section as an easy warm-up. When I was planning this weekend's run, I wanted include more hills and longer loops that I could use for future comparison. The loops ended up being slightly over 11 miles, with a stop after the loop to measure my Lactic Acid (LA) and to put some nutrition and hydration in the engine. About halfway into the loop, at 6.3 miles, I had another hydration stop set up. These loops help to eliminate any GPS miscalculation, from now on these loops will be standard and I con compare the splits instead of stressing over the exact distance. The first loop felt pretty easy and I stayed right around 7 minute pace and a LA of 2.7 which verified that it was a comfortable pace. The second loop was purposefully a little faster and harder than the first. I help around 6:50 pace with a LA of 3.5 which is sustainable. Then the hard stuff kicks in, the miles get long and I start expecting the leg soreness to come out to play and I go into survival pace. The GREAT news is this survival mode set in 5 miles later than the week before, it set in this week at about mile 28. I was pushing for 3 loops which would allow me to finish with 34 miles. The last 6 miles were not much faster than my overall pace but I was able to push through the last section. In conclusion my overall pace was in the mid 6:50s and the final LA was 4.7. That’s a pretty high LA number but I really didn’t feel that bad. I completed my longest run in preparation for Ultraman 2009 and the good news was I was 1 second per mile faster than the previous week and had to really work for the last 5 miles.

My run nutrition included: 2 liters of EFS grape flavor, 200 calories from liquid shots, 1 liter of the infamous “Kotland” cocktail, and 2 liters of water. It came out to be 250-260 calories per hour which is a little on the low end.

To be consistent I followed the run with the slowest bike spin of my life to just to loosen up my legs. ***It should be noted that my athletes hate when I give them this ride after their long runs, but it really helps.