LA Rock n Roll 1/2 Marathon

Last weekend was a "simulation" weekend.  On Friday morning I did a 4k swim.  Saturday morning was a full 112 mile bike ride using all of my race-day gear, followed by a 7 mile brick run.  And Sunday I ran in the Los Angeles Rock n Roll Half Marathon.

The half marathon wasn't part of my training plan, but several people I know were running in this inaugural event so I decided to sign up, and I'm glad I did.  I finished in a new PR time of 1:43.33.  Over 2 minutes faster than my previous best from 2006! I can only imagine what I might have done if I was fully rested for the race.

The training plan is starting to wind down now.  My last really long run was yesterday.  Only two more long bike rides this Saturday and next Saturday, and then two full weeks of tapering before the big event!  Then I just need to take it easy and try not to go stir crazy!

Motivational Movie Monday

Ironman Motivation - Just four weeks to go!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNnSM7xAZNU

T minus 1

Only one month left before Ironman Arizona!

A few months ago I ordered a MyAthlete Shadow GPS tracking device from MyAthleteGPS.com and it's scheduled to arrive TODAY!  I'm pretty excited about trying it out.  If you've never heard of these, they are worth checking out at your next major endurance event. It's a small pager sized device that has a built in GPS and limited cell phone.  Every 30 seconds or so, it reads your current location, direction and speed and transmits it via cell towers to the MyAthlete website so friends and family can see where you are on the course in real-time (not just when you pass over a sensor mat on the course).  It won't work during the swim, but I think my swim time will be fairly predictable so I'm not too worried about tracking during that portion (though it would be cool if it worked at some point in the future).

I'll be testing it out this Saturday on my first simulation brick (112mi bike & 6mi run) where I'll be wearing and using all of the gear I'm planning to use in Arizona. Two weeks later I'll do another simulation ride/run making adjustments based on this weekend's training.

This Sunday I'm running in the Los Angeles Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon, so I'll test the GPS device again there. I'm very curious to see how I feel on Sunday during the Half Marathon after doing the 112mi ride and 6mi run on Saturday.

Support Crew T-shirts have been designed and ordered for my whole team of Iron Sherpas.  They are scheduled to ship this Friday and will hopefully arrive next week. I REALLY hope they look OK.  I have a lot of people coming to AZ to help me and I'm sure they don't want to wear lame tshirts all day...

Motivational Movie Monday

Ironman from the Inside

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuNZQ8uyoIc

Motivational Movie Monday

Scott Johnson - Ironman Finisher

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngvkj3IAb-I

Ironman Perform

Beginning in June 2010, Ironman branded events started using Ironman Perform Sports Drink in place of Gatorade at the Bike and Run aid stations.

I read so many bad reviews of the drink in Ironman Louisville race reports that I thought I better give it a try on some of my long workouts to make sure I wouldn't have any problem with it at Ironman Arizona.

I'm happy to say that after two weeks of using Ironman Perform, I haven't had any negative issues with the drink on the bike or during my long runs.  It's a little bit too sweet for my taste, but I also think Gatorade is a little too sweet, so honestly I didn't find much difference between the products.

I still prefer my Heed/CarboPro mix, so I'll start the bike fully loaded with Heed/CarboPro. But I'm glad to know I won't have any issues with the new Ironman drink when my pre-mix runs out.

3% and 3 Seconds

Last week (week 12) was my final testing week of my 20 week training plan.

Continuing to use the same route on the bike test, I increased my average power by 3.4% or an average of 9 watts for the 40 minute test.

Prior to start of training plan
223 Average Watts
10.3 mph average
65 rpm average cadence

Week 4 testing
242 Average Watts  (+8.5%)
11.5 mph average
74 rpm average cadence

Week 8 testing
263 Average Watts (+8.6% compared to week 4; 17.9% increase overall)
11.6 mph average
74 rpm average cadence


Week 12 testing
272 Average Watts (+3.4% compared to week 8; 22% increase overall)
11.8 mph average
70 rpm average cadence


On the run, I only improved my time by 3 seconds compared to week 8.  And really, it was probably more due to stubbornness than fitness.  I pretty much have my running speed dialed in, so it doesn't surprise me that I didn't improve much this time.


There's no more testing, but October 23rd is the first of two simulation rides - 112mi bike followed by a 6 mi run.  And on Oct 24th I'm running in the LA Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon.