Coach asks that we all send her our race plans the week of our race. This isn't just some little ole race plan that says, "Yeah, I'm going to negative split".
She wants details. She wants to know what we're eating the night before, what we're having for breakfast: warm up/cooldown, what's happening from miles 1-3 and 5-6, when are we fueling, how much, what are the temps going to be like, what is the course like, how will you adjust the plan....EXACTLY how we are going to hit our goals.
The race plans are pretty in depth. At first, I didn't really enjoy doing this, and I really didn't completely understand why she wanted it, but I did it anyway.
Then, this week....most of you know Coach went into labor and had her baby on Wed. YAY! (I am now anxiously awaiting the first non-pregnant post. I've only known her pregnant. I guess that means now only one of us will be having hormonal outbursts on a regular basis).
ANYWAY, I never sent her my plan for this week's race. Work was very crazy. My training volume over the weekend was very heavy. I kept putting it off.
Isn't that what we all do?
I want to do well at this race. It's another one of those training races where I get to figure things out.
Of course, being COACH, she said to keep emailing her and or calling or texting.
But y'know what? I'm not like that. She's in the hospital....and yes....she responded to my smart ass message only a few hours after giving birth. (WTF?)
I say...enjoy your first 48 hours with the family. I told her, "I Got this. I wrote a Liz pregnancy plan, which is just like a race plan with less GU." I could manage without her for a few days.
SO.
Here I am. On my blog. Writing my race plan because it's become a habit now....with one exception....I'm not putting down what I'm eating. I know. I know. You just can't get enough details of my life.
Warm Up: 15-20min swim.
Swim:
Pre swim: 1 gel, pre race tabs + salt tabs
I've been working on this, figuring out how to pace the swim. At Rocky Mtn, I did a great job, but I didn't pick up the pace soon enough because of my own miscalculation.
The swim needs to feel like the end of the swim felt at Rocky. I knew I was pushing the pace. My avg pace for that swim was 1:20, and that was after a much slower first half of the swim. I know I have a 1:10-1:15 pace in me (I've done 1:07 in training for 400m).
The big issue for me is hold my form. If I pull strong and hold my form, I can push my own limits. The hard part about the sprint is that it's short and painful. I have to remember to not try to swim FAST but instead PULL STRONG.
The bike
On the bike, 380 calories of sport drink + 24 oz of water.
I haven't hit threshold in a sprint bike yet. Each race, I've gotten a little closer. Because this bike is ~17 miles, I can afford to take a few extra minutes to get my bearings before I start going hard.
My goal for the bike: threshold and higher.
The run
On the run, shouldn't need anything. 5k
THE RUN is what I am most excited about. If you got caught up on the posts that I wrote when my blog was private, you know that since I started training for the 70.3, I've learned a lot about what it means to race shorter distances.
And of course, there are Coach's words of wisdom: SPRINT, redline, hurt, go after it, turn brain off & GO!
Sprints aren't EAT PAIN races. Hurting and eating pain are different. VERY different. EAT PAIN...that's reserved for the Oly.
I'm SUPERPSYCHED for the run. This week, I had a brick. I nailed the pacing. THAT's what I want to do at the sprint.
In the past, I:
1.) Slow down
2.) Pace too slow
slow-slow-slow
I recently ran a 5k on an extremely tired body. I PR'd the 5k. I know how it's supposed to feel now. Granted, my goal isn't to PR this 5k, but it IS to feel like I did the day I PR'd (a few weeks back). If I do that, it's another homerun.
The plan:
Increase pace :03-:05 per mile each mile. Starting about 10 seconds off of my pace for my PR 5k.
That's it. The goals always seem easy in writing but making myself do them is a different animal. However, I'm a lot stronger than I used to be. All the advice that Coach has been giving me....and the way she explains things to me....I'm learning how to race now.
As Clubber Lang says, "I got a lot mo'. A lot mo'."