As a general rule I do not advocate epic training days. There is clearly a tradition of bragging rites, in cycling and triathlon and perhaps even swimming, concerning eight hour bike rides and twenty mile runs, and similar feats of endurance. Then there is research that shows a peak cost/benefit at three to four hours on the bike, and one and a half to two hours of running, beyond which the training effect declines while the risk of injury increases. Even when injury is avoided, the physiological cost of a long day can mean a complete halt to productive training for most of the following week.
On the other hand, there are coaches who believe in epic days. They argue that despite the enormous amount of fatigue they create, there is psychological value in staying out there for so long. It makes you tough.
I guess you could say I am a moderate. I fall somewhere in between these opposing points of view. For most long course training I place a limit on long workouts that is intended to create a useful stimulus while avoiding excessive fatigue. The exception comes in the build phase, where I follow the advice of Joe Friel who recommends two long race simulation days. You can read about it here: https://joefrieltraining.com/ironman-big-day/. I like this plan because it allows time to change venues, and can be done solo. I do the swim at Ala Moana then relocate to Kahala District Park for the bike and run.
For my day I made a few changes from Friel’s plan. I started my swim at 6:00 and limited the bike to four hours so that I would not finish so late. Doing it this way just squeezed my day into my family schedule, something that should always be a priority. I did the entire day in my tri kit, only to see how it would work. I found the Zoot bike shorts completely adequate. The pockets in the top are a lot smaller than a bike jersey but they worked fine with my fueling plan, at least for that day. For my rest period snack I relied on the local standard, SPAM musubi from Seven-11.
Overall, the day went well and I learned a lot. Throughout the day I kept reminding myself how fortunate I am to live in a place with so much perfect weather, and to have a day with almost ideal conditions. The challenge was the wind on the bike segment. I’ve been told that Cozumel can be windy, so battling the wind on Kalanianaole was good practice.
I was not expecting to feel pre-race jitters the night before, but I did. Good, as it gave me a chance to practice some mental toughness skills.
The one hour swim was a simple out and back. I must have gone faster on the return because I turned around at thirty minutes and got back to the start at 52:25. I hardly felt tired at all. My weak, uncoordinated left arm behaved well for once.
As I was swimming I kept thinking that I could go harder. Looking at the data I can see my HR was pretty low, average 114 bpm. My average pace was 3:45, well below my goal pace. This tells me that I need to spend time getting used to race pace.
The bike was a different story. I did this ride on my road bike in preparation for the HBL Century Ride at the end of this month. I carried one bottle of Precision Hydration Flo Gel, and one bottle of their PH1000 sports drink. The gel was more than enough for a four hour ride at 60 g. Carb per hour but the drink bottle would need to be refilled every hour. For an Ironman my plan is to carry two bottles of gel behind the saddle and use the front torpedo bottle for water, replenished at the aid stations.
Funny story here. When I arrived at Kahala Park I realized that the bathrooms were closed for renovation. I thought that meant no water for my drink mix. I had half a bottle I had consumed after the swim and figured I could fill up at the fountain outside the Aloha gas station. Nope. The water pressure was too weak. I did refill at Wailupe but the two homeless guys were camped out there so I moved all further refills to Kawaikui Park. That worked. I hit my hydration plan on the nose, one 16 oz. bottle per hour.
My goal speed is 14 mph. I saw that I could barely hit 9 mph against a tough headwind, and hoped I could make it back on the return. I was flying along like a madman, thankful for being on my road bike with great visibility. Max speed recorded for the day was 21 mph, not too shabby. Even so, my average was only 10.2. Frown! Well I did not stop the clock for those aid station stops, and they did involve a lot of walking and some conversation with the runners. Still.
(Sidebar for math lovers. If I ride from Kahala to Hawaii Kai at 5 mph below goal pace, I cannot make up the time on the way back by going 5 mph above goal pace. Why? Because I spend more time at the slow pace than at the fast pace.)
When I finished the swim I felt great. Plenty of energy. At the end of the bike I felt tired. Not exhausted. Comfortably tired. I doubt there has ever been a triathlon where an athlete felt fresh and ready to go after the bike. As a matter of fact, finding your running legs after the bike is a skill unto itself. Maybe that is why Friel wants a ninety-minute break here, to avoid digging the fatigue hole too deep and to lower the risk of injury from running on tired legs. I recall Bobby McGee recommending that we do the long run on Saturday and the long bike on Sunday. Injury avoidance must always be a top priority.
Average HR was 124, which is my zone 4. It felt hard and the HR data confirms it. But, there’s more. At 1:23 into the ride, just past mile 13, halfway outbound on the second of four laps, my heart decided to do its SVT thing. A quick spike up to 220, then a just as rapid return to normal. The data shows I stopped pedaling for a few seconds. The entire episode lasted one minute. I never felt it, I just happened to see it on my head unit. Was it A-fib? Maybe. I didn’t have time to record an EKG.
After putting the bike back in the car, I spent the rest of my break sitting in the shade eating my musubi and drinking another bottle of PH1000 while watching old guys play mountain ball. Just as I got up to run, one of the players came over and asked if I wanted to join their league. He described it as a pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon, an hour playing ball and three hours talking story and drinking beer. I must admit, I looked to be in much better shape than most of the players. What was not visible is the fact that I am terrible at baseball. Catching and running, passable. Throwing and batting, junk. I thanked him for the invitation and graciously declined.
Recently I have done several ninety-minute runs that turned around near Aina Haina, so I figured I could do a two-hour run the same way, just go a bit further. I made the decision to run as much as possible at my target 16 pace, making it a walk/run, rather than plodding along at my steady slow training pace. I was actually surprised by how much I could run at that pace without blowing up, but I did walk some to save something for the second half.
My nutrition for those early morning runs has been two Precision Hydration 30g carb gels, one at thirty minutes and one at sixty, with plain water in my Osprey hydration vest, more to get accustomed to fueling on the run than for the fuel itself. This being a longer run at higher intensity following a long and active morning, I knew I would need a little more. I have used Precision Hydration 90g carb gels before and they work well, so I carried one of those and planned on taking smaller hits more frequently, which is easy because the larger gel has a screw-on cap. I also filled my Osprey extra full.
Everything was going as planned until out of nowhere, almost to the halfway point, I had to stop at a red light and had a sudden dizzy spell so intense I was certain I was going to hit the deck. Stranger still, it left as fast as it hit. I checked my watch, HR normal. For a moment I considered going on, then reason took hold and I decided to turn around and walk back. My two-hour run ended up being ninety minutes, which was plenty good enough, and since I felt fine I hustled all the way back, even uphill.
I think the issue here is hydration. I hit my plan on the bike, more than I usually consume, and had one more bottle during the ninety-minute break. I was sipping regularly from my Osprey. Still, I showed signs of dehydration well into Monday. My two take-aways from Sunday, then, are 1) get more accustomed to the feel of race pace, and 2) push the fluids. Seems like the same issue I had at the last marathon.
Like I said, I am not a big fan of epic training days. As I write this on Wednesday, I still feel the fatigue from Sunday. Friel anticipated this by insisting these workouts be done on the weekend before a cut-back week, week four in the TrainingPeaks world, and prefers to do them on Saturday to get a full day of rest before going back to work. The real benefit of these long training days is to practice nutrition. The sensation of pushing through a cloud of fatigue is important, too, but the only way to nail your fuel and hydration is to test in race-like conditions. Even though there is no way to know for certain what to expect on race day, the more practice you have, the better your chance of success.