I spent last night racing against some of the world's best cyclists as they completed stage five of the Amgen Tour of California. And while I had a much easier (and shorter) ride than they faced, the sprinters still KILLED me at the end of the race.
Race season offers the opportunity to get in some training while watching the races. With the bike on the trainer, I started the workout watching E.R. Since I was a bit late getting going, I had to continue my ride after the show was over. I flipped over to Versus so I could "race" against the peloton in the ToC stage.
For the purpose of "realism" I established some simple guidelines for the workout. While the race was on, I had to be in the big ring with a low gear and keep cadence with the cyclists on T.V. That forced me to push my heart rate and work the legs. Commercials were for active recovery. That works really well, because it creates an irregular pattern of higher and lower heart rate efforts, while keeping a bit of control of the time spent at either level.
I was only about 90 minutes in when the peloton reached the finish line. Despite their being better than 100 miles ahead of me, there is NO WAY I could have kept up with them in the sprint to the line. Cavendish hit nearly 40 miles an hour in that final push. Amazing!
Regardless, using the race coverage translated into a more intense workout than might be achieved watching "regular" T.V. It might be time to invest in some cycling videos so I can use them when there isn't a race being broadcast.
Saturday posed quite a quandary when it came to training with the tri club kids. Since the Pol clan traveled Friday to camp with others at our churches tree farm, I decided to drive a second (and more fuel efficient) vehicle to drive back to town Saturday morning. The trip back to the camp site would be by Pol-R Express.
My only concern with the whole plan was the time in the saddle after so little recent bike training. Between the training ride with the kids and the trip to the church property, I figured I'd log at least 60 miles. And with the effects of last week's marathon, I questioned how my back would hold up.
The concerns, though reasonable, were unfounded. I biked about 10 miles with the one guy who was in town and available, made a pit stop for fuel, and headed out. The first 20 miles of the day had gone well, so I headed down the road hoping the rest of the trip would be the same.
I learned two things on that ride. Well, learned one and remembered another. First, at the moment, the bike is the best place for me. While my back was tight and touchy on the car ride into town, it only bothered me for one short bit during the bike back. That was a time when I was out of the saddle to give my rear end a break. Other than that, I felt great.
I also got a good reminder that base is base. The condition of my back notwithstanding, I figured the bike would be tough just because I don't have the riding time in, this year. On the trip, I made one stop for a safety talk with the youth and two for fuel. With the time for those stops included, my average pace over the 73 mile trip was 15.86 mph. Using actual bike time, the average was 17.25 mph. It seems all the time swimming and running helped offset the lack of time on the bike.
It's a good lesson to remember. When injuries limit our run workouts, we can hit the pool. If a recent Ironman has ended a love affair with the bike, swimming and running can maintain the foundation built over a summer of hard rides. There will still be considerable work required to get back to top form, but solid base work in one discipline can minimize the impact of missed workouts in another.
To round the weekend out, I found a lake for the first open water swim of the year. It had better clarity than most the likes I swim, and it was good to put the wetsuit to use. The first half dozen strokes were a struggle as I dealt with the shock of the very cold water, but I soon fell into a good rhythm. I did about 1000 yards, and that will pay huge dividends as I get ready for the first triathlon of the year.
Regardless of how flexible we can be with mixing up our workouts to maintain base, nothing replaces an open water swim.
When last we saw our intrepid triathlete... Wait, sorry, I was just channelling another blogger.
Anyway, I believe the last "detailed" report I filed for Louisville detailed the conditions in the water. And that would bring us to the truly interesting portion of the day, the transition.
Okay, it's really the bike, but allow me to comment on transition. Compared to Wisconsin, I REALLY liked the entry to transition in Louisville. That would be due primarily to the lack of a helix to climb in Louisville. While there is a decent run from the water to the actual transition area, it doesn't compare to the trip required in Madison.
And also allow me to point out the the smile in the picture shown here is a fluke. I'm fairly certain that every other moment on the bike was a grimace of "Dear God, not ANOTHER hill!"
Leaving T1 in Louisville requires a decision by all participants, particularly if there has been any rain in the days leading up to the race. Since the bikes are parked in a huge grass field, one must decide to either wear cycling shoes and possibly foul the cleats or leave their shoes on the bike and definitely get muddy feet. I opted to keep my shoes in the gear bag and decide on race day. In the end, I put the shoes on and didn't have any issues with mud.
The run from the changing tent to the bike mount line is about 100 yards. Most of that is, however, on a fairly wide sidewalk. The people were out in force, cheering on the participants, and they had a lot of help for everything from sunscreen to nutrition to pointing out the line for mounting bikes.
The first half dozen miles of the bike were fairly non-descript. Much like other races, this portion of the course can be called the "get out of town" section. The city streets were pretty well maintained. Thankfully, they were also flat. That is the last time you should expect to see THAT word in this post.
A quick check of the course map shows an out-and-back portion near the beginning of the bike leg. This portion consists of what I will call "There Go the Legs" valley and "There Goes the Nutrition" valley. Keep in mind this is an out-and-back, so we got to hit both valleys twice. Heading into the first major downhill section (somewhere between miles 10 and 20), we had the excitement of some significant speed. I hit about 44 MPH without pedaling, and only the knowledge that I was going to have to go back up that hill at some point dampened my spirits.
Well, that and the fact that after hitting the bottom of the hill we started back up a hill, watching people on the return portion FLYING back down. It was exciting to know we were now headed up a hill similar to the one we had just descended.
If you examine the elevation profile on the course map, you'll note that the second major downhill comes immediately after climbing out of the first valley. It's followed by another major climb. And, just to straighten that profile out, we turned around right at the tippy top of the second major climb. I'm not sure what the profile did with that, but where it shows one down/up/down/up around the 20 mile point, there were two sets.
By the way, did you note how the map shows roughly 400 feet of climbing from the 10 mile point until the 20 mile point. That seems pretty accurate. It's spread way out, so it isn't truly killer, but it's a LONG way to keep going up.
So, let's move on to the rest of the course. That's were the title of the post comes into play. Ups and downs. Because that's the only way to describe the rest of the course. And I honestly believe I cannot reiterate it enough. If we weren't going up, we were going down in order to get to the next up.
Now, before we continue, I want to point out that this picture on the left was taken right near the end of the bike course. That was the other section that was sort of flat. Not really flat, as you will note that I AM, in fact, climbing. But this was only a little climb.
As with Madison, Wisconsin, where I completed one of my century rides prior to the Louisville race, this was a two loop course. Ironman officials will say that is to provide maximum efficiency when it comes to aid stations. I say it's so that the first lap can serve to totally demoralize you as you head into the second loop. Or, if you're like me, you can use it as a positive, mostly by lying to yourself. Saying things like, "Hey, those hills are mine. I know their coming, and I've already survived them once," can go a long way toward improving morale while on the bike.
I'm not sure how much it actually improves pace, but small bouts of insanity are always worthwhile.
The one positive of the second loop is the absence of monstrous hills. While the hills we faced were relentless, the worst hills of the day were on the out-and-back portion at the beginning of the course.
The volunteers on the bike course were a huge positive. They did an amazing job caring for everyone on the course. I haven't seen enough races to know how they compare, and I can only imagine they rank up there with the best the sport has to offer. Every volunteer went out of their way. Those handing off drinks did their best to ensure cyclists had bottles before letting go. If something was missed, another was right there to ensure the racer got what was needed.
When anyone stopped, there were volunteers right there to help with the bike, and take care of replenishing needed items while the owner took care of other needs. They constantly asked what else might be needed. I was constantly amazed at how professionally the volunteers performed, and did my best to thank them as much as possible.
The course was also very well covered by local authorities. They had police officials at nearly every intersection, often more than one. Though there were a few areas where cars were on the course, most drivers respected the race and did what they could to minimize interference. I even had one passenger comment that they knew I was there as they kept the driver aware of my location. The few times cars did interfere with my progress, I was able to deal with it, as the roads were so well cleared when viewed from the big picture sense.
Soon, if not soon enough, I was back in Louisville headed back toward transition. And the support there was as outstanding as the rest of the course. They had three volunteers providing information about the bike dismount area. One was about 100 yards out. One was about 50 yards out. And the third was just in front of the dismount line with a megaphone.
After getting off the bike, we headed back down the sidewalk and volunteers took our bikes as we headed toward the changing tent. In this case, Wisconsin has the slight edge. In Madison, volunteers take the bike as soon as the rider dismounts. In Louisville, the rider has to run with the bike for about 25-50 yards. Quite the trick after 112 miles of riding.
All in all, the bike course was extremely challenging. It was also a great ride. Anyone participating in the 2008 race should put in plenty of training time riding hills. Find some relentless rollers that are 50-100 feet minimum. And ride them over and over. Figure out how to get nutrition down when you are going up or downhill. If you do constant rollers and find nice flat spots for eating and drinking, you are doing yourself a disservice. Learn to eat ON the hills. Because that's what will happen in Louisville.
Ironman is all about ups and downs. IMKY just happens to have a few more than other races.
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