Peak Week Brain

I have watched friends and roommates experience 'peak week' over the last few years. In 2009, I lived in less than 1000 square feet with TWO roommates training for Kona - I figured I had some idea of what I was in for. However, I guess peak weak manifests itself in different ways.

Little did I know, I would basically lose any and all brain function during my last peak weekend - starting about mid-ride Saturday morning. A sampling of my lack of brainpower:

- Decided there was no need to bring water on my 60-minute brick run on Saturday. at 1pm. in 90 degrees. FAIL.

- Jumped in the car to the local bike shop in my pajamas. Sure, it's totally appropriate to buy ride glide in socks, boxers and a sweatshirt.

- Mapped out 8 different routes for my 3-hour ride on Sunday morning. I didn't want to ride hills. The WO&D sounded too boring. Laps of Hains sounded painful. So I decided on laps of Prince William Forest.  Sunday morning I did something completely different.

- In the middle of 10x400, I had to stop to regroup after 8. Force myself to go on. So I pushed off, did the first 50 of #9 and tried to flip and I literally could not do the flip turn. I took another few minutes to regroup, have a little cry, and finished off #9 and 10.

- Left the house on Sunday to ride, assured Dan I had my keys, and was off. I did indeed have my keys, my CAR KEYS. Which means, after 11.5 hours of peak weekend training, I rolled up to my house and was LOCKED OUT. 

- Decided since I was locked out, I deserved McDonald's. Got to the drive up window and literally COULD NOT ORDER. I froze. And ended up with a large coke and the only thing I could remember they had - those new spicy chicken nugget things. HUGE fail.

-Invited some friends over for dinner next week, finalized the plans, and literally almost LOST IT when they asked me what they could bring. Why would they asking such things?!?

Running Long.

A few weeks ago, in a fit of frustration about the pace of my long runs going in what seemed to me the WRONG direction, I had a long chat with my coach. I was worried my long run wasn't 'long enough' and that keeping them easy and effortless was resulting in paces that made me doubt my past running abilities. ie, How did I EVER run my half marathon PR?!

He convinced me to try to understand the method to his madness. We reviewed the paces of my long runs when I ran my marathon PR in 2009. Interestingly enough, they were quite similar, just longer. My coach has gotten me happy and healthy to this point, so I am trying to trust the process. However, he also told me to 'SPEED UP and starting WALKING' huh??!

So over the past two weeks, my three long runs have been at a faster pace (and interestingly enough, same average HR) and have included 1-min walk breaks. Even with the addition of 8-10 minutes of walking, my overall paces of my long runs have improved by over a minute, and are finally to a place where I am seeing and trusting my fitness and able to believe in some of my goals for race day.

This morning I had 2:30 on my schedule as my final (and longest) long run. I have been waiting to have the fitness to run the Mt. Vernon-Custis-WO&D 'Triangle' and I decided this morning I was finally going to attempt it. I mapped it out, and at about 16 miles, I knew it would put me over 2:30, but knowing I would have at least 10x1 minute walk breaks, I justified it in my mind, as I would still only be 'running' very close to 2:30.

Mt. Vernon - Custis - WO&D Loop

 I LOVED this run :) I had the company of my chatty neighbor for the first few miles, saw a cool guy on a pink huffy around mile 3, felt strong when I reached half way, and didn't panic when my pace climbed as I counted down the 4 hilly miles on the Custis Trail until I would hit the final 6 net downhill miles on the WO&D.  Yes, my feet were screaming by the end and my walk breaks were coming closer together, but I am finally FINALLY feeling better about my running.

Based on the course profile of IMMT and reading race reports from the 70.3, I wanted to pick a hilly course my my last long run, and am hoping the end results of today's run will help me be confident come race day.

Walk breaks are a funny thing. I will be using them on race day, and I'm glad I have taken the past few weeks to understand they don't hurt but have helped my long running.

Shhhh I may have 'power walked' some of the steeper hills on the Custis :)

Colonial Beach OLY Triathlon 2012

swim 28:25 (2nd overall female)
bike 1:07:48 (OLY bike PR)
run 50:06 (8:04 pace)
2:28:48 (7th overall, 2nd AG)

I have weird strange mixed up feelings about my results. I'm going to write this report candidly so I know how I was feeling during and after this race. This blog always was meant for a place to me to record my training/racing so I can look back and learn from my experiences. 

The swim was long/against the current, but I honestly felt great and strong the entire time. The course was a bit confusing, I had to do some breaststrok-ing to find the buoys and at one point I even asked a kayaker where the final turn buoy was (a buoy/left turn that MANY people in the water chose not to take and went straight to shore). It's nice to feel like there is a some payoff for the extra time I have been spending in the water leading up to Ironman.

When I got out of the water, the volunteers yelled that I was the 2nd woman on the course, then at bike mount I heard them yell that total race time was at 32 minutes. "WTF" went through my mind. In the moment, I forgot we had started 3 minutes back, but STILL - the swim actually hadn't even felt that long. I tried to push it out of my mind, knowing that all that matters was my place, not the overall time, as every course is different. One girl passed me almost immediately and also commented on how long the swim was/how many people seemed to be cutting the course, but after we exchanged some laughs, she disappeared down the road.

The course was an out/back and I felt like the entire first half was into a strong headwind. I didn't ride with my Garmin/any data, but my quads didn't feel close to recovered at 2 weeks of HUGE bike miles, and I just couldn't find that 'sweet spot' on my gears. I just tried to keep my head down and focus on getting water/nutrition in. Another girl passed about mile 10 and I felt like she just went FLYING by. I kept her in my sights for a few miles of rollers, but once the course flattened out again, she was just GONE. I literally felt like I was moving backwards, but really just tried to stay present and focused mentally. This became the biggest challenge of the day. STAYING FOCUSED AND ENGAGED MENTALLY.

At the turn around I could see there were a few ladies withing striking distance, but I felt pretty solidly in 4th. I was happy to hit the turn around and hoped for some tailwind on the way back to transition. I strangely felt like it was still quite windy (crosswind?) but definitely not as much of a struggle on the way back. As this was quite a small race, the bike course was pretty empty and I pretty much rode alone the entire way. There was a general steady stream of men passing me, either from the wave behind or some I had passed on the swim, but I never found anyone riding my same pace to help me focus in. Something else worth noting is that it was hot and HUMID out there. I was literally dripping sweat down my nose and on my glasses the entire ride, and my nose strangely also was running like crazy. Totally gross- it was like liquid snot all over my face the entire ride.

Shoes out, on to the run. This was the big unknown of the day. Which running legs would show up? The legs that have been hitting intervals on a regular basis, or the heavy weighed down legs that show up on Thursday morning long runs? It was a flat out and back course along the water. I told Dan before the race I just really wanted to hold a sub-8 pace. This didn't used to be a chore, but over the last year, the pep seems to have disappeared from my legs. I was passed almost right out of transition by a woman, and debating trying to stick on her shoulder or run my own race. She was running solid, but I was holding 7:40ish and felt comfortable so I chose to just run my own race. I wish I had tried to stay with her. Again, I was struggling to stay mentally present. I began asking myself if really racing this OLY would help the ultimate goal of Ironman? Maybe I should slow down to my IM pace and just focus on that? I knew with the long swim and windy bike, my sub 2:20 ultimate goal was likely out the window, Why should I keep pushing? I tried, I really really tried, to just push all these thoughts out of my mind. I made it to the turn around (a bit more than half way) and was still running sub-7s, but it just felt SO HARD (ya, duh, it's a race). So more negative thoughts came - "Why is this so hard? It's only a 10k! I have to run a marathon in a month. Why are my legs so tired, I only biked 24 miles!?" And I also saw a few women closing quickly. I had visions of my races at the end of last season, when I was passed over and over again in the last few miles of races and how demoralizing it was. So I tried. Until about 4.5 and then I was done. I turned my watch over so I couldn't see pace and decided to just dialed it in. I TOTALLY GAVE UP MENTALLY. Yes, physically I was cashed, but I just didn't have the mental strength to overcome the physical pain for the final 10 minutes. I was passed about mile 5 by the female masters winner who I believe actually started 6 minutes back.

I crossed the finish line a bit in a daze. I was totally bummed. And it's not even about the time. I just felt SO AWFUL on the run, and I feel like it keeps happening over and over again. I ate more, I drank more, I didn't ride the bike super super super hard, why are my legs so tired? After the race, I was so tired, hot and just wanted to go home. I didn't stay for awards, I was home and eating a good diner breakfast by 11:15 with Dan. And by the time I got home, the results were posted and available for dissection. And it was only then, 3 hours later, that I realized that I had a pretty damn good race. 7th overall, 2nd overall swim (no comment on 1st), 2nd in my AG, OLY bike PR on a windy day.

Triathlon is a process. There is no such thing as a 'PR' as every course is different. All the matters is where you finish and HOW you finish. I am really proud of where I finished yesterday, but not HOW. I dialed it in, gave up mentally, and feel like I left at least 1-2 minutes out on the course. I hoped going into this race I would be flying high with confidence going into my last two BIG weeks of training for IM. I know I am in the best biking shape of my life right now, my swim is in a better place than it has ever been for triathlon, but my run continues to mystify me. In all honestly, I am scared to death right now that I have to run a marathon in 4 weeks. If I can't even mentally commit to a 10k, how will I feel for 26.2 miles?



Nutrition:
Breakfast (between 4:30 and 6am): PB Bagel, banana, coffee, water
Pre swim, lots of water+nuun, 1 honey stinger gel (100 cals)
Bike: ~250 cals CarboPro in full aero bottle + 1 bottle water/nuun, 1 honey stinger gel (100cals)
Run: 1 Hammer gel at mile 2 (80 cals), water at every mile.

NYC on my mind.

I'm not sure what it is, but this morning, I'm yearning for NYC. Perhaps it's the much needed rest week allowing my body and mind to return from being close to the breaking point in training, or the newly adopted 'clean and healthy' diet for the next 5 weeks making me a bit cray-cray, but this morning, I can't get NYC out of my mind.

I miss my closet-sized bedroom.
I miss the satisfaction of climbing 4-floors with my bike to get to my front door.
I miss the view and sounds out of my window.
I miss sunrise park rides.
I miss the bridle path, water fountains, and bathrooms in Central Park.
I miss the pizza place around the corner.
I miss really good Indian food being delivered in 10 minutes.
I even miss the M15 bus.

I love DC. I love the friends I've made, the guy by my side, and being able to spend 7 blissful days at the beach with my family. But some days, NYC pulls at my heart.