Long Practice
2008 Father's Day. The Baileys came out to keep me company for the boring 0.43-mile loop parking lot skate. 6 hours into the session, Perpetuem sat in my stomach like wet cement looking for the first opportunity to project. It was now evident that the nutrition plan wouldn't work for the event that's less than 3 months away. The thermometer leaning against the tire said 103. My blisters were poised to have their own blisters. "You look great," Tanisha lied. She finished an Ironman 3 months after C-section and knew the loneliness of long distance training. Sam the 1.25-year-old boy enthusiastically maximized the breadcrumbs spread in the brand new Baileymobile. I wished I had his energy. I felt hopelessly unready for the 24-hour skate.
Motivation
I met my 2007 goals:
Ø fulfill the Ironman promise
Ø skate Hotter n Hell 100
Ø improve my A2A 38-mile time
Ø run a sub-8:00-pace half marathon
2008 wasn't scheduled around fitness targets; it would be the year I light a lamp inside of the Tibetan temple. I signed up for Montreal as a fun event and a chance to visit the city. The original plan was 200 miles: 10 mph was a speed I didn't need to train for, and 4 hours sounded like reasonable naptime. Chinese government closed Tibet boarder, then Danny Dannels threw his hat in the ring and asked me to skate pace line after his coast-to-coast skate. He convinced me to up my training using very few words. I wrote "300" on the wall. Friends visiting the house assumed I was a fan of the movie. Danny changed his skate plan and ditched Montreal. I couldn't think of a good reason to back out. Brian Shicoff, Bryan McKenney, Renee Coffman, and Mark Sibert encouraged me to stick with the plan. "There is nothing to be scared of, it's a really fun event. " emailed Bryan. Biff agreed to help with the trip. Biff and Tanisha guided me through triathlon and had a good understanding of my fitness limitations.
Foreseeable challenge 1: Aero or not aero
Past participants commented on the "aero helmet guy." A few actually laughed at the wearer who eventually won the solo event. Unable to find wind tunnel data for skaters, I found Eric Gee on facebook. He graciously shared his decision-making processes.
I took the aero helmet out of the box and started practicing with it.
Foreseeable challenge 2: Boots
In the custom Simmons boots, I could handle events up to 3 hours. The skin was very unhappy after 6 hours A2A in 2007. Mark and Lawrence both had major feet issue after their 2007 podium finishes. I seek more advice from Eric whom stayed in his homemade boots for the award. I adopted his grease system and had smellier but bloodless boots.
Foreseeable challenge 3: Nutrition
My philosophy had been "I don't participate in events long enough to worry about it. Proper carbo loading should store 2000 cal of glycogen. Body had 4+ lb of water to spare. Fat doesn't run out. Just need to consume some fixed amount of gel per hour and drink when body wants it."
Simple calculation shows this approach doesn't work for 24-hour skate even on paper. I started to keep track of food/fluid intake during long skate, where I stand on the bathroom scale hourly. Arrogantly ignoring Hammer's 280 calories / hr limit, I finished many long skates feeling ill. I started over using data from triathlon and 100-mile runs and reach a stable plan with gel and powder (233 cal / hour intake).
Hammer gel; espresso 8
Gu gel; no caffeine 2
Red Bull 5
Amino Vital 8
ibuprofen 12
Viviran 4
SportLegs 30
Antifatigue Cap 26
Endurolyte 23
Perpetuem 15
Training
Started with simple weekly programs:
Mon yoga or short run.
Tu TX F. Popeye fry chicken
Wed trainer ride w/ movie, low HR, 3+ hrs; meal on wheels
Th TX F. Korean Tofu bowl.
Fri rest
Sat group bike ride || hill repeats, short run. Stretch. Balance board.
Sun long parking lot solo skate
I increased the weekend volume weekly 'til body told me to rest. I'd start another mesocycle. This worked well 'til the long skate got to 7+ hours. Lower back pain and sciatica forced me to look for ways to trim training while maintaining the 1 long weekly skate. By July I was in survival mode.
Dress Rehearsal 7/19/2008
Brian secured Driveway in Austin for 12 hours for the long practice (Thank you Brian).
Hot and humid. Smooth surface. Lots of turns. 1 longish mild climb per lap.
I started comfortable and tried to sing for Brian when his iPod failed. I chattered away on mobile wishing for the Bluetooth headset. I looked forward to the hill every lap; the slope fed into the under-push so perfectly. The fun lasted < 3 hours. By midnight I was 4 lb lighter and had unnatural amount of fluid sitting in the gut. I skipped 500 calories of Perpetuem and felt weak. The core somewhat recovered by 3am and was able to hold reasonable speed in Lawrence's draft. I felt defeated. I focused on getting through each lap. Quads threatened to quit at every climb.
I ended up with 140 miles that night I was no longer confident about the 300 miles or getting through the event vomitlessly. I started thinking hard about pacing and reducing calorie.
2 weeks after the Austin skate I was unable to hang in the usual bike pack. The legs had no acceleration for run, bike, and skate. Eric told me about his 2007 months-long recovery experience. I was dismayed how I arbitrarily decided 2 weeks were sufficient recovery time. I thought all was lost at this point. Somehow I didn't freak out. Watching teammate Scarlett recovering from brain surgery helped put things in perspective. I would go to a beautiful city and enjoy a relaxed event. Weather and legs will do what they want. Worrying won't help recovery.
Power gradually returned 3 weeks after the 12-hour skate.
Daily Nutrition
I found myself losing weight steadily when training started (Oprah's dream). I ate junk food to fuel the weekend long skate just to slow the weight lose. I also frequented pizza buffet, Popeye's Tuesday manager special, and Osaka all-you-can-eat sushi. The downside of eating all the time was food no longer tasted as good.
After the Austin skate, I decided to lose 5 lb to reduce calorie need. Weight control has been the 1 aspect of endurance sports I did well, but this time it was difficult because of recovery from the long skate; I constantly worried about nutrition. The drastically reduced training volume made required fuel difficult to gauge. Somehow things worked out, and I left for Montreal with target weight. I thought of writing Oprah to explain how to do this: step 1, sign up for a long-ass endurance event….
Goal
I was disappointed to learn 300 miles wouldn't necessarily break the course record. No one knew how far Eric Gee skated due to a defective timing chip. I usually assume 13 mph is my forever speed, but I was unable to hold that speed after 5 hours at 2007 A2A.
13 mph x 23 hr = 299 miles
The official course record is 288 miles.
I decided to go for 110 laps = 289 miles => average 12.6 mph for 23 hours of skating.
Mileage is function of weather and draft opportunities
Teammate
Biff received a last-minute spot for solo racer. Montreal would be part of his preparation for his upcoming Half Ironman event. He would deliver hourly nutrition, supply, standing updates, and slipstream. I happily crossed out 2-way radio and aero helmet off the pack list.
Uncertainty
Lots of questions remained unanswered during last mesocycle. Usually decisions are arbitrary made when the deadline knocked on the door:
Ø 100mm or 110mm wheels?
Ø Am I better off with 2nd weekly long skate or yoga?
Ø Fluid intake at much cooler climate?
Ø How many pee bottles?
Ø Wheel changes?
Ø Bearings. 6 or 7 balls? Oil or gel?
Ø Jersey change?
Ø 3 20-min stop or no stop?
Ø Lights on helmet?
Ø Could I walk Montreal downtown the next day?
Ø Could I recover in time for Texas Time Trial?
Ø Could I recover for A2A?
Shoulders of the Giants
Participating endurance events is like solving engineering problems:
Finishing Ironman is about identifying weaknesses and paying the minimum price to get around them.
Skating Hotter n Hell 100 is about moving quickly enough before Hell's Gates and dehydration become factors.
Skating 24 hours is about minimizing down time while holding the parameters within tolerance.
Having no experience with 24-hour events, I rely on others' footprints:
1993: Kevin Setnes used 25-5 strategy at the Olander Park 24 Hour run to set the North American record of 160.4 miles.
This was the base of Biff and my 2007 marathon strategy. Biff continued to drill into my head: recover _before_ fatigue. Start at the speed that barely feel like working, then go a little slower.
1995. Dean Karnazes ate a cheesecake after a large pineapple and ham pizza while in motion during a 199-mile run.
This is almost as cool as Kobayashi ingesting 10000 calories in under 10 minutes.
I was forced to accept Hammer's 270 calorie/hr limit after ugly experiments.
I also rejected Karnazes run-'til-drop approach.
Start easy and go slow 'til someone provides draft, and then enjoy Montreal the day after the race.
2006. Carmichael added 700 calories/day to Dean Karnazes diet before Edurance 50.
I increased calorie intake by junk food to fuel the weekend long skate March ~ July. The downside of eating all the time was food no longer tasted as good
2007: Michael Secrest Indoor Track unpaced cycling: 535.86 mi in 24 hours at age of 54 and didn't let an asthma attack stop him
Training: 1 weekly long ride. Boring unchanged routes. Alternating hard-easy days. Ignore age
Race: All liquid-based fuel. Even-ish splits. Backup equipment. Ignore pain
2007 Robbie McCuen commented on the Tour: "it's not how much energy you use, but how much you save."
I routinely bonked within 4 hours of what I thought was reasonable pace. I lasted < 5 hours at 2007 A2A.
Need a realistic pace strategy that's more concrete than "Start slow, stay slow, and maybe go harder after the 16-hour warm-up."
Drop 5 lb to reduce calorie need.
2008: George Hood pedal stationary bike for 176 hours at a suburban YMCA, never slept for more than 12 minutes at a time. Allegedly Hood used Will Ferrell movies to pass the time.
To practice boredom, I scheduled weekly 4-hr trainer rides and learned that Jackass is superior to yearning –based French films. It's hard to stay awake unless something happens on the screen, which is defined as car chasing, automatic weapon firing, or Sharon Stone re-crossing her legs.
2008: Barefoot Ted skateboarded 242 miles in 24 hours.
This became the lower bound. There ain't no way I'd let him beat me using a skateboard no matter how perfect his race condition was. Somewhere between 242 and 535 is my optimal skate mileage.
2008 Steve Larsen explains his Ironman strategy after qualifying for Kona
"No matter what I do with the swim, I know I'm gonna suck.... I'm only going to focus on my strength and completely ignore my weakness."
My weakness is pacing. I can't hold constant pace even with GPS. I'll pick a steady skater and follow him/her as much as I could. This means skating at other's optimal speed, which beats skating too fast then burn up.
2008 Le Man solo winner skated 355.6 miles under good dry light-wind at age of 49.
I probably ain't old enough for this sport.
2008 July. Lawrence Pelo, the top returning participant from Montreal 24-Hour 2007, tapped out machine-like steady pace in Austin for 160+ miles in 12 hour.
I watched in awe every time he lapped me on the 1.6-mile course. I would use his pace during the event.
8-31-2008, last weekend before the event
