My past six days have been tough, but reassuring.
Friday, 15.2 mi run in 2:14. Instead of trying to hit the MP exactly, after the first six miles, I tried to work each successive mile a little harder. Especially the final four which were uphill on the 1-2% grade rail trail I was on.
Saturday I drove to Denver/Boulder, dropped my son off at the airport and had a great dinner with life-long friends. In between, I had a two hour bike fit at Retül headquarters. It was pricey, and didn’t really change very much in my basic position – saddle position, head tube spacers remained unchanged. But my elbows came out and up a fair amount. Seems I was just a bit too tight in my hip angle. I got high marks for two things: how low my head is between my shoulders, and how straight my knees are up and down while pedaling. I probably do need to replace my pedals, which are wobbly, and my stem, which is too long. The real key to the value though, came on the next day, and again on Wed, when I put the fit to a real life test with 11 hours of biking over those two days.
Sunday, I did a 5 mile run in Washington Park near my friends’ home, then drove back to Snowmass, stopping on the way to do a five-hour “Saturday Ride”. A good test of the new position. I felt a bit more “efficient”, if that makes any sense, in my legs, as well as having a bit less tension in my lower back. Monday, I intended to do a full 1.25 hour swim, but got kicked out of the pool when lightning started 25 minutes into the session. Oh well, I was tired anyway.
Tuesday, I went to the pool in Aspen, where it turns out my Medicare plan, which includes Silver Sneakers, gets me in for free, compared to the $11 in Snowmass. And the pool has actual suction gutters. I finished Monday’s session. I waited until the sun got less intense, then ran 5 miles in my neighborhood, which means it was mostly up and down, sometimes steeply so, and in rarified air.
The showery weather here is about to turn HOT, so I audibled the rest of the week, moving the RR to Wednesday (today) so I could have a chance of finishing the run without dying. My go-to RR route got altered a bit, as construction was plaguing my first out and back of 25 miles, which is at about 2% grade. Instead of that, I had to either back and forth in the valley several times. But I don’t like to do duplicate loops on the RRs – they’re boring enough as it is – and instead added a couple of climbs at the end. Made for a fun downhill into the finish, but overall about 3-4 miles shorter than I wanted. The construction snafu played into that as well.
The RR was very reassuring. Overall, I hit 2600 joule, 250 TSS, 5000′ of elevation gain, 107.5 mi/5:58 hrs @ 0.65 overall. Considering the altitude, that fits in just fine with what I wanted to do. When I was not going downhill, my VI was 1.005-1.02. Downhills, though, are really tough to get that VI into the proper range. Coasting really messes with the average power, apparently 
My average HR was 96, with a max of 112. This seems pretty low, compared to what I have done of the same basic course in years past. Either my heart is getting tired, it is getting bigger. Thinking about that, maybe the fit changes made my pedaling not stronger, but more effective and efficient, reflected in the lower HR. To chalk this theory out, reviewed my final RR for IM CDA last year, a year a a week ago. The weather was exactly the same per the temps recorded in the file; the elevation gain was the same. Last year, I had an NP of 127, with an average HR of 100. This year, my NP was 137, with the HR avg of 96. Ether I’m in way better shape, or the fit made a difference in what I was able to do.
Nutrition on the bike: total fluids – 140 oz (24/hour), peed twice; Sodium – 3500 mg; calories – 1720 (280/hour); sources – Infinit, Gatorade Endurance, Shot Bloks, Perpetuem Solids, EFS Gel.
It was high 60s-70s on the bike, sunny except for the hour between 4:30-5:30. The sun came out again for the run, and it got to 84F. I was on the rail trail, 1.5 mi down, 3 mi up then 1.5 back down, stopping in the middle at my car for a new fluid bottle. Overall time was 55:30, 9:15 pace, which is my LRP. My HR went steadily up (by design) from 106 to 122, for an average of 116. Fluid intake was 34 oz, 190 calories from Gatorade Endurance and a Shot Blok.
My weight dropped from 143.4 to 142.4 over the course of the entire RR, a pretty fair result, I think.
I’m gonna try a 75 min recovery ride up to the Maroon Bells tomorrow, as well as a 45 minute swim at the pool, which is at the base of the road to the Bells. Run intervals Friday, bike intervals Saturday with swims both days, then long run on Sunday. I’m beginning to feel pretty fit; I can almost see myself doing the race from here, just need a couple more weeks to get to proper form. My CTL is currently @ 120.