{"id":34,"date":"2008-05-01T17:01:40","date_gmt":"2008-05-01T22:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/?p=34"},"modified":"2008-05-19T08:47:29","modified_gmt":"2008-05-19T13:47:29","slug":"the-last-hard-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/?p=34","title":{"rendered":"The last hard weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a good week of training leading up to this weekend which marks the final long weekend before I begin to taper. Yesterday, I swam a straight 1.2 miles (half the distance of the Ironman swim leg) very comfortably, then quickly got out of the pool and walked around the pool deck area for about 2 minutes before jumping back in and swimming for another 5 minutes or so. At the Lake Placid Ironman and from I can gather, at the Brazil<\/span> race as well, the swim leg is set up to be a 2 loop course. That means that each swimmer completes 1.2 miles, gets out of the water, goes through a set of exit and entry scaffolds (through which the athlete\u2019s chip registers the split time), and then completes the final 1.2 miles\u2026 thus my efforts to somewhat mimic that experience albeit in a pool setting and without a wetsuit. Herein lies a good segue\u2026<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In Lake Placid<\/span> , I didn\u2019t use my wetsuit and as it turned out, only a dozen or so of the 2,000 athletes did the same. I had all kinds of rationale points to make about how that strategy would work great for me and to be honest, I didn\u2019t have a bad experience\u2026 but I was S L O W. This time around, I will definitely wear the wetsuit. For those who don\u2019t know, it offers added buoyancy which translates into slightly less energy use to keep the body in the correct technical position. Saving energy and being efficient is what the swim is all about. And of course, wetsuits also provide warmth. Mine is a hand-me-down from a guy with whom I used to swim-train, but he told me to keep it since he had upgraded. It seems to fit perfectly, but I have no reference point since it\u2019s the only one I\u2019ve ever used. One day, I may get a newer (better?) version, but for now, I\u2019d rather spend my money on a ridiculous bike item which will save me a grand total of 3 seconds. Brilliance. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I biked in and around my office yesterday since I had a softball game late in the evening (people think I\u2019m nuts for playing, but the sports thing is like crack\u2026 I\u2019m severely addicted), and since the office resides in a valley in NJ, it features lots and lots of hills. The Brazil<\/span> course was initially described to me as pretty flat, but from what Terry Kerrigan said (see the post that precedes this one if you don\u2019t know who he is), there are rollers which I generally think to mean short, low-grade climbs. Better to get some hill training into these legs just in case he\u2019s downplaying reality. I was actually very, very strong in all the long (one mile plus) climbs and had a very high average speed overall despite the fact that it was just a training ride\u2026 because there are downhills too! I feel very comfortable on this tri-specific bike of mine, but being so sensitive to every little nuance, I\u2019m itching to get to my bike mechanic and address the very minor items. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m also a little conflicted about which wheels to chose for the race. I have these super light carbon race wheels that feature only three \u201cspokes\u201d, though they are quite wide and aerodynamic so as to really not resemble the common definition of the word. I also have two other sets of high end wheels that are very strong and very reliable, but they aren\u2019t as aerodynamic. The race wheels however are considered to be \u201ctubular\u201d, which means that they do not have an inner tube the way most wheels do. Those types of wheels, FYI, are called \u201cclinchers\u201d. In any event, I can change a clincher pretty easily. In a half-Ironman event many moons ago, I had a flat at the turn-around point of the bike leg, which was about 28 miles from transition. I didn\u2019t have a lot of experience with changing flats, but I wasn\u2019t going to walk the 28 miles back! I managed to get the tube changed in about 9 minutes. With tubular wheels, the tire is actually glued onto the wheel rim and if there\u2019s a flat, it\u2019s going to be because something actually punctured the tire. While one can easily carry a spare tire, getting the glue to adhere to the new tire and the wheel rim while you work on it on the side of the road is quite another story. So, do I finally learn how to change a tubular tire and go with my fast race wheels, or do I play a conservative card and go with my other wheels? <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I remember in my second or third year of triathlon, I wanted race wheels in the worst possible way. I felt they would give me street cred\u2026 oh, and also make me faster. Now, I\u2019ve got three top-notch wheel sets. Naturally, I want to move another next step up and get a rear disc wheel for next season. All it takes is money. Damn this mortgage! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On Saturday<\/span>, I have to run a \u201cfast\u201d 16 miler. Fernando\u2019s father-in-law\u2019s recommendation was to take 15 or so seconds off of my 18 mile pace of 8:32. So my goal will be run it in 2 hours and 12 minutes which is an 8:15 pace. The weather is supposed to be crappy and there is a breast cancer walk that morning in the park, so equipment and attire as well as timing will be key. Sunday, I\u2019m getting up very early, heading out to Long Island<\/span> , and riding the full Ironman distance of 112 miles. The weather again looks ominous, but I\u2019m praying for the forecasters to be true to form and be way off base with their predictions of rain. I actually don\u2019t mind riding in the rain, but I just don\u2019t want my pretty bike to be out in it. That 112 mile bike ride will be tough, but the plan is to focus on not working hard in the first half and to instead focus on consuming 600+ calories an hour. On the way back, I\u2019ll work a little harder and again focus on nutrition. When I get back to my car, I\u2019ll quickly change into running gear and run for 30 minutes to again simulate what will happen on race day. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I like to treat myself after races or super long\/hard workouts. Sunday night<\/span>, I\u2019m already planning on my favorite chicken parm hero and diet coke. Then again, after the Bronx Biathlon, I didn\u2019t feel like eating much around dinner time (maybe because I had a great brunch)\u2026 but in either event, Monday will be a well-earned recovery day\u2026 except for softball. Remember, it\u2019s an addiction.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a good week of training leading up to this weekend which marks the final long weekend before I begin to taper. Yesterday, I swam a straight 1.2 miles (half the distance of the Ironman swim leg) very comfortably, then quickly got out of the pool and walked around the pool deck area for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-training"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}