Doing a Half Iron Race (Duke Liver)

I must be crazy. I signed up for the Duke Liver Half Iron distance race. I’m not sure if I’m ready for that distance. I haven’t even done an olympic distance race yet. The idea has been in the back of my mind for a whlie. I had a really good track workout yesterday, and I came home feeling on top of the world, so I just signed up!Here are my thoughts:

1. I need to do 5 races to have any hope of getting into the NCTS invitational race (and Kure Beach didn’t count because I failed at the swim)
2. I opted not to do JF Hurley and Bandits Challenge because of bad weather. Those two races don’t fill up ahead of time, so you can go and just sign up on race day. That was my plan…but it was rainy on both those days, and I don’t want to race in the rain! Also, they are both a 3 hour drive from my house, and I can’t get up at 3am to drive to a race, and don’t like doing the whole hotel thing because that takes too big a bite out of my weekend. The Duke liver race is in town.
3. The week of the Duke Liver race, I need to do a 3 hour ‘A1c’ bike ride. That’s a fast aggressive group ride where I try hard to pass people. What better place to do that than in a race?
4. 3-4 weeks before my key event (which is Pinehurst) I need to do a Breakthrough workout. That’s a murderous workout where you work so hard that you train your brain to allow your body to go farther in endurance than it’s ever gone before. A half iron sounds perfect for that!

I’m not going into this without some forethought, or perhaps I should say afterthought! I looked at a couple of 1/2 iron training plans (one in my book, and one at beginnertriathlete). Both show long swim at 1.25 hours, long bike at 3 hours, and long run at 2 hours. I’m at that point in my training. The only thing I haven’t done is a long brick workout. I’m planning to do a 3 hour hard bike ride followed by a 2 hour run this wed. If I get thru that without too much damage, then I think I’m good to go. I’m also going to practice my nutrition plan that day to make sure I can maintain good energy levels during a 5 hour workout.

My goal for this race is to go easy on the swim and try to stay relaxed. I’ve heard the swim is choppy, so I’m mentally prepared for that (which is half the battle). I plan to go fast on the bike (~19 or 20 mph). Go easy on the first half of the run (pace of 11). Then go moderate for the next 3 or 4 miles (pace of 9-10). Then go all out for the rest. If I don’t have anything left for the run, and have to walk part of it, I’m okay with that. As long as I finish and get points for the NCTS.

I’ve done 50 mile bike rides before at a pace of 16-17 mph and it doesn’t leave me feeling wiped out. So, I think I can do this. The only unknown is proper nutrition and hydration during such a long event. I think I have time to figure that out in training.

I’m not posting this yet (leaving it in draft mode). I don’t want anyone to try and talk me out of doing this. Tho, I may end up talking myself out of it! I’ll post it the morning of the race if I think of it, or after the race.

Update August 21, 2006.

I went for a 5 mile tempo run today, with six hill repeats inserted in the middle. It was hot out. I felt great and full of energy during and after the workout. I would have done more hill repeats, except I was running low on water.

I was reading about fueling for a 1/2 iron race on this site:
http://tinyurl.com/lsjkr

Basically, here’s what I need to do…

• hydrate well before the race
• hydrate well on the bike (i learned this the hard way during my 2x sucky brick workout )
• take in 200 calories per hour
• plan on peeing at least once (you’ll probably need to after hydrating well on the bike!)
• sipping water sits better with your stomach than drinking large amounts, so carry a water bottle with you on the run. (this is so true for me)
• ironman race pace is 70-80% of MAX HR. During a 1/2 iron, some athletes can sustain 85-90% for longer periods. Not sure what ‘longer periods’ means. I plan on doing 85-90 on the bike, and keeping it below 80 on swim and run. Except on the last part of the run if I have anything left!

Update August 23, 2006:

I did a killer brick workout today. It was fun! I went on a 60 mile bike ride. I rode 10 easy miles to meet up with a group from the Tarwheels. Then we went on a 40 mile ride at a fast pace (20 mph on rolling hills). We took 1 pit stop at a gas station for maybe 10 minutes. I had trouble keeping up with the group on hills. Then I’d have to really sprint to catch back up. I stayed in the draft zone most of the time. A nice guy named Lu was coaching me on my riding skills, which was really great. After the group ride, I rode 10 miles home at a moderate pace. Then I went out for an 8 mile run. My pace on the run was 10:45. Not bad considering I had just done the hardest longest bike ride of my life. I feel fine right now. Not overly tired or sore. Weird. I tell you, the Pose running method is superb. I know I can do the 1/2 ironman now. I think I may have to lower my bike pace goal since I was drafting today, which saved 25% of my energy. So, how can I expect to do the same pace at a race with no drafting?? Will think on that. My hydration and nutrition plan worked perfectly today. On my run today, I did the first 4 miles at a steady easy pace (HR 150). The next two I picked up the pace a bit (HR 155). The last two miles, I pushed hard.

Update Sept 6, 2006:

I ran a 1/2 marathon last Sunday in 1:59:32. It was hard work! And very hard on my leg muscles…I felt like I got run over by a truck! Climbing stairs and sitting down / standing up were excruciating for two days after. No joint pain, tho – yeah! I went for a 20 minute recovery run on Monday (it was more of a recovery hobble). Tuesday my legs were still quite sore. Today they feel much better. I can get around without wincing! I did my physioball core workout and skipped the split squats because they hurt a little.

My average heart rate during the 1/2 marathon was 167 bpm. I plan to keep my heart rate lower this time, since I won’t really be concerned about my run time…I just want to finish this race in one piece! Still, I’m curious to see what time I will get on the run portion of the 1/2 iron race.

My workouts planned for this week are all easy. My original training plan calls for a 1 hour hard bike on Tuesday, but I cut that out. Otherwise, here’s what I have:

• 0:20 minute E1 recovery run on Monday
• 1:30 E2(Form) swim on Tuesday, easy on the legs.
• 0:40 open water swim (E2) on Wed
• Brick – 1:00 S5 Bike (keep cadence at 90+) ; 0:30 S2 run (pickups) on Thurs.

Weather looks hot for Sunday’s 1/2 iron race. I know from training that I’ll need to drink LOTS of water, and go easy on my run pace.

Water temperature looks like it will be above 78 degrees so no wetsuit. I’m glad because I’ve gained 5 pounds (crap) so I’m not sure if my wetsuit will fit me right now!

Update 9/9/2006:

They just posted the water temperature and it’s 79 degrees. It’s possible that it will read 78 degrees on race morning, so I better bring my wetsuit. I lost those 5 pounds (must have been water weight), so the wetsuit should fit.

Midweek, when my quads felt better, I noticed joint pain in my feet and had ITB issues in my right leg. I did a brick workout on thursday, and the bike went well, but I felt really ‘off’ in the run. I was a bit worried I wouldn’t be ready for this race. I’m feeling alot better today, so I think I’m good to go. I’m mentally prepared to walk part of the run, since I know one week is not enough time to recover from a 1/2 marathon race. I won’t take any ibuprofen tomorrow and will listen to my body. I don’t want doing this race to cause an injury. I just want it to be a killer bike workout and finish the race just for sine NCTS points.