Yesterday was my last solid ride and it felt amazing. My HR is super responsive which is a good thing... all systems are firing and ready to roll. I have a fairly high amount of anxiety at the moment but it's not about biking 100 miles. It's mostly about the first ~20 miles on Saturday where I'm going to need to stay out of trouble, something I'm not very good at. I'm excited to do something I've never done before though. After ~40 years I'm a "first timer" again. The last time I really felt like this was in 1997 as a completely unprepared first time Ironman guy at Hawaii. I had only done maybe 4 triathlons and had just quit smoking a little over a year prior. I had no idea what to do. I swam 1:06 (averaging 1 hour a week of swim training), biked 5:37 on an old road bike that was 2 sizes too big, no aero anything, and ran 3:07 having never run more than 20 miles at one time. 9:52 for my first Ironman which still stands as my slowest ever out of 15 Ironmans (which includes Ironman Wisconsin where I took a wrong turn and had to back track and ended up running 29 miles). Last year at the Leadville 100 run I averaged ~51 miles a week for the 18 weeks leading up to the run and tore my meniscus a month before. I take a great amount of comfort is remembering things like these.
My thoughts for Saturday are that if I stay positive then I have a great capacity for suffering and the last ~30 miles will be solely about that. Nutrition is not a concern, it's just a habit at this point. Not eating correctly would be weird. I have to be patient at the start and focus only on what I can control which is my effort and avoiding hitting the ground. Outside of a mechanical if I can put these things together I think I'll ride well. Anything under 9 hours will make me pleased and my gut it leaning heavily towards something in the 8:45 range which is probably where my fitness is right now.
Post race I have nothing planned outside of putting insulation under our kitchen floor and putting stone facade on our chimney... and fishing with my boys. But I did catch myself looking at last years Leadman results... I have a new found passion for mountain biking and running is still a passion too. Seems like a pretty good fit.
10 comments:
Might be the best header pic yet. and me likes the post.
I am trying to think of some hop stupid crazy run bike insanity post all this that includes ding dong ditching Sweeney.
I'm excited to hear how it goes this weekend for you. But I'm going to predict you're being waaay too conservative on the 8:45. Maybe that's just your way of making sure you don't fall off your bike flying down powerline early on. But If I were betting I'd put my money on a sub 8 hour time.
"Be relentlessly positive" My favorite quote to keep in my head on race day!
Just out of curiosity, what are you going to eat/drink during that? How many calories/carbs are you estimating you'll need? Is it different since you've been eating Paleo for daily nutrition?
Have a super day!
Thanks guys!
Michelle- 100% liquid maltodextrin/ sucrose mix. 25-30oz per hour with ~75g-100g of CHO per bottle.
Lucho, do you go with no protein at all in the course of the race?? I have no clue about long course nutrition, I was just curious.
Love the header pic, almost at the beach-sunset level :)
Drafting is rarely a concern in a real XC MTB race, but is there some paved parts of the Leadville course where sitting the right place will save you a lot of energy, supposing your not in the front, pulling the bunch... Good luck with your race on Saturday, keep the rubber down! 8.48 would be a nice time...
Dave- Not at high altitude. The oxygen required to metabolize protein and fat "costs" too much. At altitudes above ~7800ft your body will shift to a glycogen heavy preference because it's the easiest nutrient to use. Plus there's a good chance of protein (and particularly fat) wrecking or shutting down your GI tract. Catabolism is minimal for a one time 9 hour event anyway. In training I think it is beneficial however. But each person is unique! For some it works and other's it doesn't. Me.. not so much.
I'm bummed we didn't get a chance to have you over one last time!
Claus- Drafting is huge at Pb. The middle miles are flat to rolling. Putting my head down and time trialing is my thing. I hope to pass a few hundred people between mile 28 and 40... if no one wants to help then that's fine with me. But getting in to a fast group on those flats is useful.
Good luck!!
My girls are pulling for you and said to say "Be safe".
grip it and rip it!!!!!!!
LOVE the header photo
Awesome answer, fascinating stuff (and I can see why you're a great coach). Crush dreams!
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