Summary of Week 11
Training Goal: Threshold brick
Personal Goal: Long ride (build mental toughness)
Distance Covered: All Activities: 147.95km
Duration: All Activities: 16h08m
Elevation Gain: 1547m
Swim Time:
2h35m
Swim Distance:
5.8km
Bike Time:
8h16min
Bike Distance:
112.4km
Elevation Gain:
702 m
*For indoor bike - time measurement only and some (insignificant) distance may be recorded
**Including brick
Run Time:
3h34m
Run Distance:
29.75km
Elevation Gain:
723 m
*Including brick
Time Spent Doing Strength/Core/Stability Exercises:
1h31m
*Including rest/chit chat
Time Spent Stair Climbing (ascent):
11m54s
Elevation Gain:
122
*not accurate - some are not recorded so figure stated should be higher
Unaccounted for
~ foot workout
~ run drills/warm up/cool down
~ Stair descent
*No garmin record either deliberately or by accident - not pushing button and some other fucked up reason due to my own negligence such as forgot to turn off garmin after workout, so data is rubbish and I was forced to discard it
Training Notes for Week 11:
1) Swim was ok. Didn't hit the total target distance but manage to at least complete the main set. I feel I could probably beat the Ironman swim cut off time. Rhytym is there. Still haven't practiced sightings and using open water goggles. Next week perhaps.
2) Bike was tough. Had to do the long ride at 11 am, ending at around 3 pm. So it was hot and mentally/psychologically challenging with people staring at you. But overall it was ok. Did the 70.3 loop twice with some hills. Bonked a little towards the end. Bike this week were mostly focused on breathing and trying to get everything sync to a rhythm. Did push it on the spin bike and manage to sustain longer controlled max efforts.
3) Run was good. Focused a lot on breathing to sync with everything else. I think this could count as a major breakthrough in training. Didn't really pay attention to breathing, but will start practicing more. The long run this week was the Semenyih eco Trail run. Blew up, got lost and cramped. More on that to follow.
4) Brick was hard as it was the focus of the week. It was suppose to be a max aerobic effort on the run but I think I was at threshold most of the time. It was tough to hold that pace and effort but I gave my best.
5) For strength workout, some routine feels fairly easy now. So maybe it's time to increase the rep or something or add variety.
Feeling Notes for Week 11:
1) Scheduling was quite challenging but did my best to make it work. The after effect of training is now somewhat more visible. Sunburn and getting rather skinny. So, most people I know, would point that out to me and I tried explaining that I have to be outdoors to train. But they don't seem impress with the reason why you train. They just think it's something they wouldn't do and it's sort of weird or just borderline dumb (They always put in in a nice way though). I'm cool with that. Most times people are often impressed with what we triathletes do since it seems a bit crazy with the commitment and dedication required to attempt such things. It has this sort of dreamy kind of idea which mesmerize people. Probably the same effect those motivational sports ads (underarmour, nike, salomon, Ironman) does to consumers. It's probably why triathletes have so much gears and don't mind spending to get them LOL. Anyway, it feeds the ego a bit when people gets impressed especially knowing that you are capable of such feat and you are a part of this niche circle. And among triathletes, we always talk about races, trying to downplay our achievement and shit like that with some humblebrag here and there. So it's kind of refreshing when someone says something else like, triathlon is stupid and there are better things to do. It's a valid argument to a certain extent, so I kind of respect their position. In fact some are valid points which I totally agree with.
2) My phone got stolen at the pool. Needles to say I was annoyed and quite angry. I mean, the phone was an obselete model, slow with cracked screen. The idea that someone would steal such a low value thing annoyed me. The phone serve it purpose and it has so far avoid me having to take time off to go get a new sim card and phone. So that's why I think it still has some value though not monetary. So most workouts are done without music. In hindsight, it does help with the mental bit, you know, doing repetative things for a long duration. It's boring and music helps, but I think it would be really helpful in long races.
3) I did non triathlon things during the weekend. Went for a short get away and had fun. Things are getting into a routine and it certainly feels routine. But as soon as workout started it's all good. But there were times when I have to tell myself to push through and not skip on anything cause I will not get that time back. So I tell myself it's right here, right now or it will not happen.
4) This week's race was terrible the way I see it (more on that to follow). So having Week 12, recovery week, is great. Distance and time significantly will go down, relax a bit. Have a tri race on sunday and looking forward to that. Will try and execute a good race.
Race notes for Week 11:
Semenyih Eco Trail Run 2016
1) I had a race plan for the race. The plan was 1/3 negative split (attack final third), push the downhill, hard but controlled on the uphill. The main objective was obvious - race hard but controlled. Negative splitting it by attacking the final third of the race. Go as fast as you plan, non stop if you can aaaaaaaaaaaand race plan in garbage can!
2) Everything went to smoke as soon as the gun went off. I was way off in terms of heart rate, but pace was good and I was near the lead pack so I thought that was kind of cool. I decided to continue with the pace. Though I noticed my legs were heavier than usual, breathing was out of tune but I thought at that time, oh well, I could sustain this effort and who knows. Then at around km5 got confused with the trail and probably lost some time trying to figure out the right way, until a guy who I've passed catches up and showed the way. A bit pissed but I needed to lower my heart rate anyway so I was quite ok about it. Then, there were a fair amount of hills and that sort of closes the gap a bit between competitors. I was running with a strong female runner (I'm sure she was well in the top 3) and we traded places a bit.
3) Then, my weekdays training buddy caught up and I decided to pace him since he's naturally strong on the uphills. Did that for a bit and then boom. I felt a twitch on my left thigh. Then, some awkard cramped like sensation on my left toe. I'm cramping. Slowed down a bit, walked a bit and started running again. It was still there, on and off. Until I reached a small climb where I have to stop or be forced to stop. So I walked. Took deep breaths, took some salt, drank some water. I thought that was it, but still subtly hoping that I can catch up and maybe be in the top 10 since there was a fair amount of distance yet to be covered. I also just had a gel. It's not a foregone conclusion I said to myself. Later, a bunch of guys caught up and that's when I started running again. We sort of formed a group. A few minute later, I was stopped not because of the bloody cramps but because of some hills followed by our group going off track. This was when I realized the race was over.
4) We lost a lot of time trying to find the next marker only to realize we need to go back to the last marker since we're getting into some quite thick bushes and dead wood and stuff. So we went back and were screaming hoping other runners would respond. Our screams were answered. We managed to catch another group and was glad to find the next marker. This was at around km12 i think and we have lost about 10 to 15 minutes. At least the cramps were gone. So I was just gonna go as hard but controlled which was my primary objective anyway. Didn't have much in the tank but manage to pass about 10 guys and gals. River crossing and then finish.
5) Stayed a bit after the race and went back. On my way back I question myself, what the fuck happened?
6) So naturally I started the process of pointing fingers, finding faults, you know, trying to sooth this broken heart, boo hoo. Here are some excuses to justify my bad race that I came up with:
- I am in the middle of training so was not fully recovered yet;
- I didn't sleep well;
- Didn't have good breakfast;
- Didn't carbo well;
- Got lost in the trail; and
- Didn't warm up enough.
7) These excuces were actually quite valid, but if I am to be honest and critical about my performance and ask myself, if I did all of the above would it change the outcome? Probably, but there were major underlying issues which I think contributed more than the excuces stated above. Some of them are:
- Overconfident Pacing: I bit more than I could chew. I was basking in glory before the race was over. Went too fast, too early.
- Plan was very offensive and not flexible: This was very ameteur of me. I knew I was not well prepared and yet I compound that with lack of warm up and starting the race too fast. I should have slowed down or be more conservative (defensive). Should've had some sort ofcontingency or default race strategy and adjust accordingly.
- Insecure racer: The tought of people passing me at that time was the main motivation for me to keep pushing though all signs showed that I should've slowed down. Heavy legs? Heavy breathing? heart race off the chart? screw that, let's race (me at Km1 - Km3 before spectacularly blowing up later).
9) Hindsight is a wonderful thing isn't it. It wasn't all bad though. Some positive out of this:
- Didn't get top 10 but I was 14 in my category and was about 10 minutes of the tenth guy. I passed a lot of guys en route to finishing the race. So all that base training carried me to the finish line a bit faster than the other guys though it does left me wondering what could've been.
- I cramped, recovered and ran to a reasonably strong finish. So cramps probably is inevitable as even pros have them, but I managed and dealt with it better.
- I enjoyed the trail more this time. During the times when a bunch of us got lost, we chatted a bit, complained to a common theme (not enough markers!) joke around a bit. I realized, these guys are probably like me and at that instant, I was grateful I was out there, running in thejungle (there were some really nice trail through out the course). I decided to moan after the race. I have huge respect for these people and felt great to be part of the experience that day. I guess that changed my mindset from self pity to just being positive and to do my best to get to the finish line as fast as I can.
- Managing Expectations: I was about 10 - 15 minutes off the top 10 and around 30 mins off the 1st spot. So let's get real now. It would be really naive to target top 10 or whatever. Placing and race times are result of the decisions you made, execution of race plan and luck. I should've focus on the small things that significantly influence the outcome of the race such as breathing, managing heart rate, managing pace etc. The usual stuff you would monitor during training.
- Race plan/strategy: Flexibility, adaptability, adjustability. Whatever you want to call it, I didn't do it. I should've been more aware of my fitness, environment and conditions and adjust. Sometimes things just doesn't work out and you have to make do and maximize with whatever you have.
- Confidence: Yes it's good to be confident. But training and lots of experience racing help build confidence. Which I honestly lack. They help make you feel less insecure when people catch up to you or when the shit hits the fan. I was probably insecure mixed with overconfident that day. And I totally paid the price.
- You are stronger than you think: In hindsight, if I just let the race unfold and listen to my body I would've probably made top 10. I realize the training done did yield some result. It doesn't necessarly translates into race timing or placing but it's noticeable nonetheless. I just need to find the right balance of pushing and being conservative.
- Race objective(s) should be about what you can control. Heart rate, pace etc. and attack the final third of the race.
- Pre-race/race/post-race protocols: I should have some sort of checklist that I need to tick off so I would be more aware of what was done and not done before and during a race.
- Race Plan: Default setting would always be negative splits (effort, not pace). Also to start races slowly especially in the absence of proper warm up. Use the early part of the race to warm up.
- Specificity: Trail running is fun because of the terrain. I haven't done lots of long sustained effort on hills. So yeah, I was clueless when approaching those long hills. Need to train more.
- Had a bad day, but learned a lot. In fact, it makes me more pumped up for the next race to see whether I can stay true to my words. In terms of Ironman training, races like this help diversify my pain portfoio which will definately help me prepare and race the Ironman. I'm glad I had this sort of race scheduled because racing pushes your body and mind out of its comfort zone, something that can never be replicated in training.
- Trail running is fun. Racing is fun. Developing and executing a good race plan is fun. Bad race is no fun, but it's necessary. Especially for a newbie like me as it keeps my feet firmly to the ground.
