Trains, Travels

Early starts have established themselves in the Hawaiian routine. I checked my watch as soon as I woke and sure enough it was 4:30. Two hours till I’d swim and no early run planned I could have used more rest. It wasn’t to be and complaints now will be forgotten when the early race day start feels less of a chore.

I was pleased with yesterday’s ride – far better than I’d expect so soon after arriving. It’s impact was significant as my legs ached round the ankles. A specific soreness I associate with water retention like the tendons are under pressure. There’s a way to go before I’ll consider myself acclimatised.

The tapering process is about getting yourself to race day in good shape. There needs to be flexibility so whilst I plan using the Performance Management Chart I adjust on feel. It didn’t feel like a good day for a run the impact would likely aggravate any soreness. My morning swim would be fine and probably the bike too, but I’d take things as they come.

I headed to the pier early to meet Mark and Till for a swim. Whilst Till stayed in close to the pier Mark and I swam out to the last orange buoy arriving in time for sunrise. This time I’d brought a camera to capture the experience. There’s work to be done on my abilities as a director, but video will eventually come!

The sea was a little lumpy and you felt it more on the return journey. More importantly I felt strong and never struggled in the water. A few moments of poor navigation almost took me off course, but compared to last year I’m feeling far more confident.

Once ashore the first thing was to check the Skinfit shorts out. White has the potential to be seriously revealing, but I think I got away with it! Worse case I’ll have a clear drafting deterrent for the first 30 minutes.

Mark and Till had to dash off to pick up the Biestmilch Pros on their morning run at the Energy Lab. I headed up Palani to Jamba Juice to meet the crew when they’d returned. A perk of being a Biestmilch Ambassador was being greeted by Chris McCormack with the phrase “Russ, we meet at last”! I only hope whoever told him about me said nice things! It was fun hanging out with the group I’m looking forward to doing it more.

When they left for the pool I returned to the hotel and got ready for another ride on the Queen K. My plan today waso a short session with a couple of threshold intervals. Since I tried this whilst tapering for ITU Worlds I like having a couple of hard sessions in the final weeks.

Riding out of town I quickly settled into a decent pace and pushed on out beyond the airport. I’d packed a Biest Booster suspecting a little bit of extra stimulation might be needed. The first interval proved the point as I struggled to match the power I worked at the day before.

Ten minutes in I was ready to abandon. My legs weren’t feeling it, but the mind cajoled them and bargained for a few more minutes. Somehow I made twenty minutes feeling better than I’d started. The Scenic Viewpoint arrived with perfect timing and I stopped briefly to take in the views. Compared to much of the barren surroundings it is scenic.

The second interval went much better not on target, but a significant 20W higher than the first. My legs felt stronger and after the interval I pushed much harder home. I didn’t have the session I wanted, but there were plenty of reasons why. It boosted my confidence that if I ride like this now how will I be fully rested and acclimatised?

Training done I took the afternoon off and relaxed. A wander round town (under gray skies and rain too for those back home), some coffee and exploration of the Farmer’s Market. some very tasty Macadamia Nut brittle in there that I wouldn’t dare buy before the race! Might be potent race nutrition though!

I can look forward to a proper easy day tomorrow. I’m sure I’ll be up at 4:30, but once the swim is out the way that’s it I’m done. I’ll need to find something just to ensure I can fill a blog!

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Another early start in Hawaii as my body decided 4:30am is the perfect time to wake. At least I could slowly come round and get ready for the day’s training. After an easy beginning to the week there was work to be done starting with another easy run at first light.

I took side roads out to the Queen K and ran the final rise to the top of Palani. It’s the point I tried to break away from my running companion last year. I surged at the base of the hill soon realising my mistake as the ‘small‘ hump was much longer than expected. By the top I’d worn myself out and was promptly dropped.

I took it easy today enjoying the fact I can run again even if it’s not as fast. No surges and a mental note that if I’m fortunate enough to be in that position this year I wait till the top! You never know it might gain me a place!

One workout in the diary it was straight to the pier for the morning swim. The tide was high and compared to the day before the water seemed calm. Beyond the pier it proved to be an illusion as the sea was lumpy, but I felt good and pushed on out heading for the turn point.

Once I’d past the last safety kayaker and had nothing to sight off I paused and floated. It’s a beautiful place to swim, but when you’re all that way out on your own and can’t see the final buoy it’s lonely. I decided to turn and head back for company doing laps further in was as valuable as swimming the course. Despite rough water I enjoyed the swim immensely feeling strong and comfortable in the water.

Two workouts in the diary I met with Tim, Laura and their respective partners for breakfast at Lava Java. I’d spotted the Pancakes yesterday and decided they were going to provide the carbs to fuel the day’s ride. I’ll assure you they didn’t disappoint and I was stuffed! There wasn’t time for a leisurely breakfast as we were all keen to get on with the ride.

Things didn’t start well as Laura suffered first one puncture followed by a double puncture five minutes down the road. Out of spare tubes with suitable length valves she had no option, but to bail and call her husband Andrew for a pick-up.

Tim and I headed on for the turn at Kawaihae generally keeping the pace easy and enjoying the benefits of a tailwind. A quick Diet Pepsi at a service station and then it was back home. We both aimed to ride at race pace meaning it wasn’t long before Tim vanished up the road. I was working hard, but he was really going strongly.

The pleasant tailwind was now a relentless headwind that slowly ground away at us. With 55km to get back to Kailua-Kona it became the perfect race simulation. I worked to keep power up, but found myself experiencing low patches and struggling. Probably residual jetlag and the lack of acclimatisation.

I pushed through and made it back to town with a solid ride (details on Garmin Connect) and workout three in the diary. I rode past my hotel and straight to Lava Java for the second group get together there. Over a more leisurely lunch I was pleased to learn that Tim had been suffering too and he’d been going over his race wattage early on!

My legs felt shattered. Reminiscent of those hot, dehydrating turbo sets the RPE for this ride far outweighed the actual intensity. Conditions here are unforgiving and it pays to pace wisely on the course. Proper acclimatisation should take the edge off it.

Whilst it was a tough day and my legs ache I certainly didn’t suffer in the way I recall last year. It was satisfying to see the power data represented a significant step up over last year too. I may have felt RPE was off (and cursed that the battery has died in my HRM Chest Strap), but it was still better than in 2009. All I need is for this to carry through till race day.

Race Day Fuelling Plans

My recent metabolic testing has given me data to use in the Ironman. I’ve a clearer picture of the amount of carbohydrate I’ll use at race pace. That single piece of knowledge helps contribute to judging the fuelling strategy required.

Starting with an assumption my muscles are full of glycogen on race morning and estimating the amount of CHO required for the swim (if anyone has ‘typical’ figures for CHO usage during swimming I’d be interested) gives me an idea of how much remains in the system when I leave T1.

The objective of eating during the race is to help spare limited glycogen reserves. Knowing the rate of CHO usage at a given intensity and the maximum rate you can potentially absorb allows you to double check your ability to fuel your race. Ultimately you want to arrive at T2 with reserves still left.

If my target wattage is 230W based on my tests I’m be burning carbs at around 2g CHO/min. If the fructose/glucose combination allows me to potentially absorb 1.9g CHO/min then I can save a lot of muscle glycogen. I suspect 1.9g is optimistic so estimated off 1.5g about 90g CHO/hour.

Conveniently Powerbar gels contain 27g of carbohydrates in a fructose/glucose mix. Three per hour equates to 81g CHO close to my target intake. Making a final assumption that 230W would take me under last year’s ride time of 5:16 and you can estimate I’ll need 16 gels to get me through.

As part of today’s ride I sampled gels to see which was most palatable. Current winners are Raspberry Cream and Strawberry Banana though I’m not 100% certain which will fill my gel bottle. Whilst the hint of caffeine in Strawberry Banana doesn’t harm the taste I’m not sure I want it in bulk quantities. I suspect like last year a couple of chocolate gels will go in the back pocket as a pick me up.

I’ll admit these rough calculations don’t change my previous strategy much. They do confirm it and give me more confidence I can race at this wattage. What I’ll focus on is keeping my intake of gels evenly spread over the course of the race. Swigs of gel every 20 minutes should do the job perfectly. I’ve a couple more rides to test this out.

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The first day in Kona is a story of relaxation and coffee. Having been sick for a couple of days before I left and then spent eighteen hours on planes I needed to ease back into it. Waking at 4:30am wasn’t part of that plan, but I felt rested. With so much unexpected time I went out for a gentle run along Ali’i Drive.

Few were out on the roads at sunrise and it was good to get training done in the relative morning cool. I jogged along noting little seemed to have changed over the past year. Favourite restaurants and coffee shops remained with the only shock being the apparent loss of breakfast favourite Splashers. It was a great relief when I found they’d relocated next to my hotel and I can still enjoy the Meat Lover’s omelette for breakfast.

I headed to the pier for seven my first sea swim in a long while and the start of the Kona social gatherings. I don’t recollect it being quite so busy this far out from race day last year. I know it’s nothing compared to next week, but already the bag rack was full and large groups were swimming.

Memories don’t do the sea justice. The clarity is amazing and you have to concentrate to avoid being distracted by sea life. I’ve plans to test how waterproof my video camera is out there. I didn’t really like the idea of shoving it down my speedos before heading out!

I’d arranged to swim with Tim Bishop and Laura Trimble. None of us had plans or expectations of hard training so we enjoyed a leisurely swim with long intervals chatting at each buoy. From a training perspective I was pleased to feel so comfortable in the water reassuring after all the murmurs of confidence coming from pool sessions.

Being obsessed with food I’d been looking forward to breakfast as much as the swim! We headed to Lava Java making the most of the remaining days before it gets busy. Once again there was no sense of urgency and we enjoyed a long breakfast. A real sense that the work had been done and all that was left was the fine tune. Temptation was there to train more I’ll admit, but ultimately the surroundings chilled me out.

The rest of my day proceeded along similar lines. A few chores in the form of shopping, but carefully broken with a Cubano Latte at Kope Lani. I’d remembered how good their coffees were, but forgotten about the Cubano a slightly spiced roast that has a distinct cinnamon flavour.

Just as I got back from coffee I got a call from my mate Mark to tell me he and the Biestmilch crew were in town. I turned round and headed out the door for the chance to meet a few more of the guys and to wander around town exploring the shops. It’s Mark’s first time out here and as an enthusiastic Iron Tourist I had to remind him to pace himself. There’s two whole weeks to get Kona souvenirs.

Only a little training today, but a lot of walking. Better to get that done now than be on my feet next week. I kept stress levels low and was active enough to get blood flowing to the legs. Tomorrow I’ll test them out on the Queen K and see how they feel. Powermeter in hand it’s time to find out what race pace feels like on the course.

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