- You're still gonna see me working out a lot.
It's a happy day.
It's a happy, happy day.
Morning, trainiacs.
So I sat down with coach Pat last night
and we got a race plan
for Ironman Campeche
and I'll share that with you later today.
Also, got the new Huub outfit here.
Outfit.
Race suit.
Wanna make sure that I give this a good test out
at least a couple of times before the race.
You never wanna go into a race with anything.
Like, nothing nutrition-wise, race plan,
pacing, gear, that you haven't done before in your training.
So, I got this good looking little number
from Huub yesterday.
So that means today, I hop on the bike,
I'm gonna give it a try.
And, in related excellent news
to the meeting that I had with coach Pat yesterday,
he promised that there would be no more surprise
murderous workouts.
Ting!
So that means that we're actually
into the full-on taper process.
Nothing but active rest.
You're still gonna see me working out a lot,
looking at the schedule for the next two weeks.
It's just gonna be a lower volume.
45 minutes here today instead of an hour and 10.
And that, because I've been smashing my body
for four months, in itself,
is enough for a rest for my body to recover
for Ironman Campeche bike time.
Oh shoot, forgot the heart rate monitor.
Easy, take it out.
I need my phone.
Alright, now I'm ready.
45 pretty uneventful minutes later, done.
Doesn't look like it was uneventful.
It's kinda hot in here.
Gotta go get more hot in the sun.
Alright, gang.
I met with coach Pat last night
and we came up with the half-Ironman Campeche
70.3, 2017 race plan.
I get a lot of questions from y'all
about what my goals are for Ironman Campeche.
I give a bit of a BS answer whenever I'm asked that
and I say, I don't really have any time goals.
That's kinda how I approach a lot of races,
especially races like Campeche
where I'm going in, knowing that I'm in
a pretty rough environment.
The heat is gonna be brutal.
And a lot of people say it's not that hot.
Have you seen what I train in?
It's awful out there.
Going from doing four months of training
and minus 20 to 30 celsius temperatures in Winnipeg
down to plus 20 to 30 in Campeche.
It's gonna be tough.
We're trying to curb that a little bit with a sana.
But, I go in with goals more along the lines of
just being more in control of the race
than the race is of me.
And what I mean by that is,
I don't want to get out of the swim
feeling like I've been pushed around.
I wanna be in control of the swim.
I don't wanna end the bike
feeling like I'm flat or that my legs are ripped to shreds,
and I wanna be able to finish the run,
having not cramped, not walked,
and the pace itself ends up being
a little bit of an after-thought.
If I can execute all those little things
and be more in control of the legs of the race
than they are of me, then a goal time
will come out of it.
And the reason that I don't have a specific goal time
in mind, is because the heat
is something that I don't really know
how it's gonna work out.
Here's Pat's suggestion for a race plan.
I talked with him last night
and the first thing he says is
"we're gonna keep this simple here, Taren."
Thanks, bud. Essentially, that is the plan.
I wanna go fast.
But, here's how we're gonna break up the race.
For the swim, we're gonna take the first
400 meters pretty quick.
It's gonna be like not quite
time trial 400-meter pace, but certainly faster
than I can hold for the entire duration of the swim.
Why we're doing that is to get
any swimmers that are gonna hold me up,
knock me around, get 'em in behind me
and see if I can get onto some fast feet.
After 400 meters or the first buoy,
whichever one comes quicker,
then I settle into a steady pace.
And I'm not really looking
to gain a lot of time in the swim.
So that's the plan for the swim.
The bike, we're gonna do in sections of 25 percent,
50 percent, 25 percent.
They're abouts.
So that means the first 25 percent of the bike,
being about 22 kilometers and 13, 14 miles,
we're gonna be settling in.
And just drinking, getting our heart rate adjusted,
taking it easy, going at like,
somewhere around 65 to 70 percent of FTP below race pace.
The middle 50 percent is where we crush it.
That's where we go 75 percent of FTP
to maybe 80 percent of FTP if I'm feeling good.
The last 25 percent of the bike,
so the last 22, 23 K,
13, 14 miles, we settle back in
to about 70 percent of FTP just under race pace
because we want legs not to be thrashed
in that last little bit.
We want them to feel refreshed and ready for the run
because the run, in my case,
is where I've lost the most time.
We've also got a cap on the beats per minute
of my heart rate on the bike of 155.
If I start going faster than 155,
throw the race plan and the FTP numbers out the window
and just keep my heart rate lower than that
because probably, something's going wrong with nutrition,
the heat's getting to me too much, something's wrong,
and if I push it passed that,
I'm probably in a lot of trouble.
Then the run.
Well, again.
Can you see that?
Just (snare) run is what he tells me.
All of our training has been at
1:35 half marathon type of pace.
That's a 430 per kilometer.
708 mile?
Something like that.
And we're going to try to hold that 430 pace
for the first eight miles.
If I'm feeling good, then the last five,
just leave it all out there.
Don't worry about cramping.
Hammer it.
If I start going out too hot
even though I might be feeling good,
I am probably going to be setting myself up
for a pretty tough last 15 kilometers.
And again, I've got a heart rate
beats per minute danger zone of 165 to 170.
A little bit higher than on the bike
because on the run, you've gotta hold your body upright
and your heart rate is naturally higher.
Pace itself ends up being
a little bit of an after-thought.
If I can execute all those little things
and be more in control of the legs of the race
than they are of me,
then a goal time will come out of it.
So overall times, swim.
We're looking at somewhere around 32 minutes.
Bike, 225, 230.
Run, we're looking at about 135
for a total of 437 plus transitions,
getting to around 440
If everything goes according to plan.
There you go, there's your answer.
That's what I'm shooting for.
We'll see how it goes.
Now, I gotta wrap up the day and head to...
What do I have?
It's taper week, Tuesday run.
Six mile tempo?
I think it's a six mile tempo.
I haven't done a Panem to run in ages.
Let's go do that.
Alright, just a five mile or so run.
We have about two miles at tempo pace.
Nothing serious.
Just an easy peasy turn the legs over for a little bit
kind of run.
And then I think I'm gonna go eat a whole pizza
and watch curling with Kim.
It's a happy day, it's a happy, happy day.
That's that.
36 minutes.
Taper week? Taper weak.
I mean, process.
Process is for real this time
and I'm digging it so far.
Alright, pizza and curling and wine
and the lovely wife, Kim, goodnight.