Last year I was worried about land sharks ruining my race, this year it's I'm worried about the vicious blood-sucking chupacabras who leaves only bone-dry livestock in its wake. Sure, it's unlikely that the spiny wolf-sized demon will attack me, mostly because it is fictional. But still... the chupacabras is a nocturnal creature and if I'm in the lightstick crowd, I'm sure it will be lurking behind some resort landscaping waiting to suck all the blood out of me. Your aerobic capacity really goes down if you've been sucked dry. Even though it's unlikely, my coach has pointed out that it's always a good idea to have a hotel room on at least the second floor.Beyond the chupacabras, I'm also being haunted by a very real menace: airline baggage trolls, who I have become convinced will lose my bike in any one of my long layovers. Before you suggest I ship, I've already looked into it, and both UPS and FedEx are over $300 each way to ship. The airline's only $100 each way. Because I'm poor, I've had to go for a less-than-ideal travel itinerary: namely a 9-hour layover in NYC and an overnight layover in Cancun. In my mind, the longer your bags are sitting in an airport, the greater their chance of finding their way onto the wrong plane.
But one thing could go wrong to fuck up the whole thing more than any of that other stuff: me.I'm not saying that I don't think I can finish or anything, I'm saying that I have the ability to fuck up my race more than any of the baggage trolls ever could. If I have learned one thing since starting this Ironman training under someone else's guidance, it's that I don't know shit about my body. This is not something that my coach has told me, but a conclusion that I have reached independently.
First, there's my swimming. I always thought that swimming was kind of a formality: just a chance to offer contestants up as chum and to make sure that you were good and uncomfortable when you got on your bike sopping wet. I never figured that a short little 1-hour splash would be enough to get me tired enough to have an effect on my overall race. Sure, there's a short adjustment period when you get back to dry land and need to shunt blood back to your legs, but that's over in about 10 minutes. To my surprise, it turns out that swimming is also my first chance to fuck up this race. Recently I have been having swim sessions that are challenging enough to make me think I'm going to throw up in the gutter at the pool (10x100's at 1:25 pace with 10s rest when my best 100 time is around 1:21). I have noticed that after these sessions I feel... tired. And hungry. And... drained. I know that I can swim 2.4 miles at around 1:35 pace fairly comfortably, but what if I go too fast? When my mind doesn't get in my own way, there's always the fear of sharks.
Then there's the bike. If there is one thing that I thought I knew about that has been challenged most, it's my perception of myself on the bike. I used to think that I never got tired on the bike and that I got stronger as time went on. For some reason, suddenly I started getting tired around the time I got a coach. (I actually think it was the running that ruined my cycling legs.) On top of that, around fall every year I come to the conclusion based on no evidence whatsoever that I will never be able to ride a bike again. Normally it doesn't matter because all I have waiting for me and my bike are long trainer hours. But now... not so much.For some reason, when it's cold I can't "feel" my legs. No, not like they're numb from the cold. It's just something about not having skin exposed to air fucks up something with my propioceptive awareness (sense of my body in space) and it's like someone unplugged my legs. My bike feels squishy. I can't and don't want to get my heartrate up. My body wants to ride 16 mph, and I can't seem to overcome it. I do not want to ride 16 mph. Right now I can't even hit the heartrate that was my average heartrate at Patriot in June.
But then again, since I'm finding it so hard to judge my bike fitness right now (it's been months since I rode with anyone else), I have no idea how fast I can ride. And you know what happens when that happens? I see a low average speed and decide that I should be riding faster. And I hammer. (It's a good thing that the pro's leave 15 min. before the age groupers, because if not I'd be coming out of the water with Yvonne van Vlerken, and I KNOW I would be tempted to try and keep up on the bike. THAT would be a mistake!) And when I hammer, I have learned, I REALLY fuck my chances for a good run. I want to have a good run. Which reminds me, I have no idea about how to run either...
My REAL Worry
Yeah, you think I know how to run, but know what? I have no idea. I've run what? like 9 races of marathon distance or longer, and it's taken me 5 years to figure out that I have no effing clue what I'm doing. I learned this when someone else took over my running and I inexplicably dropped 1 min/mile off my average pace for no reason whatsoever (certainly not training, anyway). That was when I surrendered my running completely to someone else, but the problem is that I'm STILL running faster than the paces that he sets for me, unintentionally. And here's the terrifying part: I haven't run longer than 15 miles in this whole Ironman build-up. So not only is my sense of pacing completely baffling me, I also have no clue how my body responds to fatigue these days. How am I supposed to know how to pace a marathon???Think about it: When you start a marathon, based on your training runs you know more or less the rate of perceived exertion or pace that you can hold for the better part of 26.2 miles. This is based on two things: your knowledge of your body's preferred "steady" pace, and the knowledge of how your body has responded to fatigue on long runs. Pick a "steady" pace that's too fast on your long runs and you crash at the end. Lesson learned, don't do that in a race. But I have no idea what my "steady" pace should be (I've dropped about 5 s/mile off my average pace on each my 90+ minute runs for the past several weeks), nor do I know how my body will respond to anything above 15 miles.
Add that to the fatigue of an Ironman and well... you get the picture. Last year I was so underfed and hot that I could barely move after the bike. After my 110-mile training rides this year, my legs have still picked out a low-8-minute pace for me. I could NOT keep that up for a marathon.
Plus, even though I ride better in the heat, I run like shit when it's hot. Put those two together and you get a bike that's too hard and wrecked running legs that couldn't even run if they were fresh. Also, have I mentioned that it's been in the 40's and 50's every day here. It's going to be in the 80's in Cozumel. Which means that anything I thought I knew about pace, heartrate, etc can be thrown out the window.
A question:So I have a question for those of you who are successful runners (I'm especially interested in those of you who can keep your pace for the final 10K of the marathon within 10s of your pace for the first 10K). How do you pick your perceived effort for the first 10 miles of a marathon??? How do you know???
6 comments:
The only way that I really came to "know" that I was at the right pace was through experience. And, while I've done some long triathlons, including a 2M-100M-30K (trail for the run) in the Sierra Nevada, that run on trails wasn't the same as a road marathon.
So, it's hard to answer your question. I would say that until 18 miles or so, if you were just running a marathon, your pace should feel simultaneously hard but easier than you know you could be doing. From mile 18 on, it should feel hard - period. And from 22 to the finish, it should feel like you're inches from death and why is the next damned mile marker so far away?
But, after the previous events, you might not have any miles that feel comfortable. I'd say that based on that, you want to feel "in control". Run at a pace where you feel you could go a little faster for a long time, but it would really hurt if you did it. That's where I think you want to be at mile 10. If you can hold that pace to 18, it's going to feel a lot harder then than it did at 10. And from 18 to the finish, curse at yourself for being so stupid to sign up for this ridiculous event, but at the same time, push hard so it will just be over. Don't give in to the voices in your brain that are reminding you that you'd feel better if you quit or slowed down. Fight back, push hard, and finish as soon as you can. You should come into view of the finish line feeling just a tiny bit better than Julie Moss.
Remember that if you do slow down, it won't really feel any better and it will just last longer.
i have no doubt you will finish this race strong, and faster than you ever could have imagined. you are finally learning a few things! :) how is your nutrition going? i hope you are eating GOOD things. take care.
Ok kiddo, here are some nuggets that I have learned over the years.
1.) You will not swim the pace you are swimming your 100 repeats at. Once you get through the washing machine effect of the start and you find your pace and settle in you will do fine even if you have to punch a few people in the nuts.
2.) This is a salt water swim and once you will get on the bike you will only want to drink fresh water for the first bottle. You already have salt in the system from the swim and sports drink could give you too much and lead to GI problems.
3.) Eat as much as you can early on in the bike leg while your stomach is still good and the heat is still reasonable. Have both sweet and salty things so that when another Gu looks revolting, you have options.
4.) S-Caps or Enduralytes will save your ass in a race with this type of heat and humidity.
5.) Sometimes you have to toss out going by speed and going by heart rate on both the bike and the run.
6.) From now until you hop on the airplane, if you have access to a sauna or steam room I encourage you to sit in it every day for 30 minutes to get used to the heat and to start training your body to move blood to the surface of the skin for cooling.
Again, I am not your coach. He may have better information and suggestions that are suited to you specifically. I am looking forward to meeting you and if I can find you a "Mal de Ojo" talisman to ward off any stray Chupacabras or "El Cucuye", I will be sure to pick one up and bring it for you.
:)
For the unholy demon beast as a Practicing Catholic I urge a blessed St. Benedict medal and a bottle of holy water...granted it's Mexico so you might have cheap and easy access to a Desert Eagle magnum with silver bullets...and that would definitely be a better option...ok where was I oh yes...
Which airline are you using? if it's American or their affilates they tend to be good with bike cases granted I would pack my wetsuit, race clothes, helmet, bike shoes and goggles in my carry on. Also milk the international flight thing for all its worth that's how I got around baggage charges with IMNZ.
For the run go as fast as your legs feel but mentally continue a mantra of just keep running...take coke at aid stations because after 4+ hours of gulpping gatorade your mouth will want something different. Also set a moderately conservative pace for your self ( for me in NZ it was finish my half in under 2 hours) and bury it your last 10-15k.
Your coach should know better than my quack ass so follow his instructions for the run and you should bury my run split...which when you do run a 3:49 or faster at this bitch I expect a phone call or a text message with the phrase boo-yah somewhere in it.
Goodluck and Go getum tiger!
What advice has your coach given you regarding pacing?
I will miss you if you get eaten by the chupacabras. Try to avoid them please. :)
A combination of heart rate and perceived effort (learned from experience). But I suppose that doesn't help you much as you've said your heart rate, when running, isn't a good predictor for you.
You know your body better than you think you do. If it were me, I would push to the point where I thought I was running at a pace I could handle for 20 miles (the last 6 will suck no matter what)and then I'd dial it back a notch. I'm positive I'd overestimate my abilities in those conditions - the heat factor will be big. I would re-evaluate the pace around the 13 mile mark and adjust accordingly.
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