Vacation

While taking a week off from training 2 months before Ironman probably isn't a good idea, I have to admit that I was really looking forward to it. After 4 months of increased training, my body and mind were ready for a rest. I labored through a 3 hour bike ride on Friday and then woke up at 3 am on Saturday to drive our family to Colorado – where my wife's family shares a cabin.

Of course because I pushed myself in the last few days (at work as well) before vacation, I was so exhausted that I could barely pull off some runs during the first days in Colorado. However, by Tuesday I was able to get in an hour and a half run (a day later and half hour shorter than I was supposed to).

The cabin is at about 9,000 feet and my favorite run starts at the cabin and descends into the little town about 10 miles away. It's a beautiful run and I always enjoy the mountain air. I also enjoy the decent. At first, because the air is thin, I struggle to simply run even though I'm going downhill. Then, as the air gets thicker, my pace quickens and I end up flying (for me) down the road. It's always a great run.

Running in altitude, it seems to me, is great mental training for the bike/run transition. Because when you start a run at 9,000 feet, you're gasping for air and your legs feel weird and heavy. After a while, you learn to cope but you have to talk yourself out of panicking that you can't finish the run – kind of like your first few miles in a triathlon.

Ironman Louisville Bike Course

I've now done the Ironman Louisville bike course two and a half times (minus the 2^nd loop). The half of a ride was my first attempt at the course. I ended up getting a little lost, ran out of hydration and bonked. But I'm beginning to get a feel for the course and thought I'd write some of my observations – keep in mind these are the writings of an inexperienced cyclist and one person's slight incline is another's mountain:

Click here to see a google map of the course. Please note that this course is slightly incorrect. The course goes up L'esprit Road, rather than Cedar Run Road as the map indicates.

River Road, the start of the course, is flat. This road goes from concrete, to two lane black top with some bumps, to smooth black top and then back to black top with some bumps. It stretches for about ten miles until it hits a stop light on Highway 42. That is when you turn left onto the highway. Many cyclists ride on River Road and, while the road is always busy, motorists are generally aware that there are cyclists in thee area.

If you are going out for a practice ride, Highway 42 is the most dangerous stretch. Its four lanes for a while, but then switches to two lanes within a mile or so. The start of Highway 42 is also where you'll find the first long hill of the course. On race day you'll be able to gather some speed going up to it, but there are traffic lights that make it tough to gain momentum on practice rides.

I believe its about 17 miles from the start that you'll turn right on 1694 for the turnaround stretch. The entire turnaround is around 10 miles (5 miles each way). In both directions it runs flat for a little while and then descends quickly for a long stretch followed immediately by an equally long incline. When I say "immediately" – I mean there is about 20 yards between the finish of the decline and the start of the incline. One issue is that at this exact point there is a bridge that has a few bumps to look out for – nothing too bad but something to be aware of.

Coming back out of the turnaround, you head right toward the loop that starts on 393. It is here that you start to experience the rolling hills. On their own, not many are that difficult, for me the difficulty is in that they just keep coming. A good rule of thumb is that for every hill you go up or down is going to pretty much go the opposite way within a few yards. There aren't many long plateaus.

As I said, the loop that is circled twice starts on 393. This stretch is a lot easier to practice on – the traffic isn't too bad. The road is also pretty well paved. Again, it has rolling hills.

The left turn onto k-146 is a turn onto a busy two lane road that leads through a number of small towns – including La Grange that is advertised as a viewing area. This road is a mixed bag with some smooth and some rugged spots.

Coming down a long hill, you take a quick left onto a very narrow road – Ballard School Rd. This is a black top road with a series of small but sometimes steep inclines and declines. It's very remote and there is little to no traffic on it at all times.

You take a right onto Old Sligo and than another onto L'Esprit. These roads again contain rolling hills and are fairly smooth. While not as remote as Ballard School, you'll probably find as many horses as cars on these roads.

With a quick ride after you turn left onto 153, you are back on Highway 42 where you'll either head back to do the loop again or head back toward the river. The loop is about 30 miles (haven't measured it exactly).

If you're sightseeing during the event J, along the way you'll see a number of horse farms and fences that are synonymous with Kentucky. You'll also go through a number of small towns. The course is shaded through much of those first and last ten miles of the course on River Road and there are some patches of shade through the rest of the ride. However, for the most part, it's out in the wide open.

As I ride the course and notice other things or someone gives me better detail – I'll update this post.

Open water isn’t too bad if it’s shallow

I swam 2 miles in an open water event at a lake outside of Louisville today. I suppose I should have been a little more intimidated by it. Although my swim workouts are usually around 2 miles total, this was the farthest I'd swam at one time. But for me, this wasn't nearly as intimidating as the 1.2 miles I swam about 3 weeks ago in an aquabike race (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike). That lake was pretty deep. This lake was fairly shallow and you could touch the bottom at the beginning of the ¼ mile loop and at the turn around. In fact, a number of people used it as a resting point – which was rather annoying to those of us who wanted to make believe we were in a deep lake or river.

There is something discomforting knowing that, unlike biking or running, you can't stop and take a breather. Usually in open water swimming, there is nothing under you or a wall to grasp; you have no choice but to keep swimming. But because I knew that in this event I could take a rest every 400 yards, it really wasn't that scary. Other than the murky water, it was like being in a long swimming pool. I fully expect swimming up and down the Ohio River to be completely different (and terrifying).

It was still a good experience though. After clearing myself of the crowd, I became somewhat comfortable in being able to keep my direction (despite the murky water) by sighting landmarks and swimmers to my side and in front of me. However, the 70 swimmers at this event doesn't come close to the over 2,000 swimmers at Ironman Louisville. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle over 2 miles of battling swimmers and a current and keeping my direction.

I also handled my first good kick in the face – didn't panic and kept swimming without breaking a stroke.

Also on the good news side – no goggle leakage and I came out of the water feeling pretty fresh (I don't think I smelled fresh though – probably smelled fishy).

Clarification

Earlier in this journal I wrote that the swimming portion of Ironman Louisville would be a straight shot down the river. Triathletes would be dropped off a barge and would swim down river for 2.4 miles. I was told (by an Ironman rep) that was the original plan. However, they changed their minds and it will be an up and back swim. In other words, we'll be swimming against the current for 1.2 miles and then heading back. You can see the course here.

I guess just going down stream wasn't "Ironman" enough.

Hopefully I'll have the chance to swim it before race day. If so, I'll post my experience.

Good goggles don’t leave marks

Lesson for the day – don't go cheap on the goggles. After continually having leakage problems and painful raccoon eyes after workouts (from tightening the straps to keep the water out), I finally broke down and bought a $20 pair instead of a $12 pair. I swam comfortably for an hour with clear vision and when I took off the goggles – no markings around my eyes.

After all the money I've spent on this sport in the past 4 months, you'd think I'd have no problem spending an extra $8 for a good pair of goggles. I guess I just thought the difference in goggles was only marketing. They looked the same in the package. But boy was there a difference.

Learning to ride a bike

On Friday, I went out on a ride with Marcus Moran – from Train Smart in Louisville. The objective was to figure out why I couldn't seem to have a decent ride. While running is something I've done my whole life and swimming has seemingly come naturally in the past 4 months – having a tolerable bike ride beyond a couple hours has been elusive for me.

I had always heard that if you can run well (which I can run pretty well), you can become a good cyclist. Despite spending no small amount of time on the bike, I still stunk.

Marcus is a long time cyclist and frankly way better than I'll ever dream of being. During our nearly 3 hour bike ride he provided me with loads of important information on cycling. I think I provided him with a nice warm up – I'm not sure he worked up enough of a sweat to shower.

Things I learned –

1. I never seem to bring enough liquids to consume and if I do, I don't consume them quickly enough. Bike rides are just plain sneaky. Because you don't exert as much energy as you do on a run, you underestimate the work your body is doing. As a result, you suddenly find yourself out of gas because you haven't hydrated or fed your body.
   
2. You can stick water bottles in those pouches on the back of your cycling jersey – told you I was a newbie.
   
3. Gears are there for a reason – I never realized how much you're supposed to use these things. I was kind of sticking to a favorite gear and using it regardless of hill or flat terrain. Turns out you can change gears multiple times just going up a hill.
   
4. Speed or pace isn't what you concentrate on in the Ironman – it is cadence and effort. I was trying to keep to a certain pace and I was tiring out my body too quickly as a result. Churning up hills at a higher gear, trying to keep some speed going - taps into the reserves. It's far better to keep the cadence going up the hills, with low resistance on the legs – keeping your heart rate down. From this point on, I'm not worrying about how fast I'm going.
   
5. Always keep your legs moving at an even cadence – even on downhills (if possible). This keeps lactic acid buildup from occurring.
   
6. You can get comfortable on the aero bars – particularly if someone is questioning your manhood.
   
7. Real cyclists obey the traffic laws – Marcus didn't appreciate my lack of appreciation for stop signs.