Last weekend, I traveled to the mountains to preview the Ironman Lake Tahoe course. It was a training weekend designed to assess how our bodies react to the elevation and to learn what will be in store for us on event day in September.
Mountains make me happy. I’ve always preferred rugged landscapes. The texture of mountains appeals to me: pointy trees, jagged rock outcroppings, winding rivers, rough stone and soft layers of snow. Being at Lake Tahoe warms my heart.
I just wish it was at sea level.
Cold Water
On Saturday, we gathered at a beach near Tahoe City for a swim. The morning air was colder than I wanted it to be and the water was a crisp 52 degrees. After a little time to get the wetsuits warmed up, we were off for a 1.5-mile swim.
What joy! “Keep Tahoe Blue” indeed. After a season of swimming in murky brown Aquatic Park, crystal clear Lake Tahoe was a surprise and a relief. I could see my hand stroking through the water ahead of me, I could see the rocks dotting the sandy bottom, I could see one teammate pulling the leg of another a few feet away. The taste of the water in my mouth did not make me recoil in horror. This was a great swim!
Elevation Debrief - SWIM:
Even at 6,000 feet, my speed and effort felt comparable to sea level. The 1.5 miles took 50 minutes, which is my standard pace for swimming. However, there were certainly moments when I felt like I wasn’t getting enough air and had to breathe deeper than normal. As long as I focused on my stroke, kept it strong and even, my breath was fine. When I sighted (i.e., lifted my head to look for the buoy and assess my direction), it threw off my stroke and made me gasp for breath. I usually sight every 3 strokes, but perhaps on race day, it will be easier to go longer between sighting to avoid throwing off my stroke and my breathing.
Ride like the Wind!
After a shudderingly cold transition, we were off on the bike ride. The real course involves 2 loops from Kings Beach up Hwy 89 to Truckee and then down 267 back to the Lake, ending at Squaw Valley. The route has an off-shoot of a couple miles that we couldn’t preview because it is in a gated community barred to the general public. Unfortunately, there’s a very big hill in that section that we won’t get to test ahead of time. Also unfortunately, that big hill comes right before an even bigger hill that we did get to preview, and frankly, kicked my ass. We’ll do both of them twice.
Aside from the hill, the course is pretty fun. The first few miles are rollers, and then Hwy 89 is a long down-graded straightaway that I couldn’t help but cruise at 20-25 mph. It will be so very important to remember to restrain myself on that stretch, because pushing a heavy gear on the flats to go fast will wear out my legs for the big, big hills awaiting me on the other side of the course.
The 78 miles we rode had about 5,000 feet of elevation gain, which isn’t that bad until you realize that 75% of that gain comes from one big hill (done twice). It’s a 4-mile climb that never seems to end. I pushed it too hard on the first pass and my back started hurting. I spun more on the second, and though it took a little longer, I didn’t wear myself out quite as much. It was still a miserable climb.
Mountains make me happy. I’ve always preferred rugged landscapes. The texture of mountains appeals to me: pointy trees, jagged rock outcroppings, winding rivers, rough stone and soft layers of snow. Being at Lake Tahoe warms my heart.
I just wish it was at sea level.
Cold Water
On Saturday, we gathered at a beach near Tahoe City for a swim. The morning air was colder than I wanted it to be and the water was a crisp 52 degrees. After a little time to get the wetsuits warmed up, we were off for a 1.5-mile swim.
What joy! “Keep Tahoe Blue” indeed. After a season of swimming in murky brown Aquatic Park, crystal clear Lake Tahoe was a surprise and a relief. I could see my hand stroking through the water ahead of me, I could see the rocks dotting the sandy bottom, I could see one teammate pulling the leg of another a few feet away. The taste of the water in my mouth did not make me recoil in horror. This was a great swim!
Elevation Debrief - SWIM:
Even at 6,000 feet, my speed and effort felt comparable to sea level. The 1.5 miles took 50 minutes, which is my standard pace for swimming. However, there were certainly moments when I felt like I wasn’t getting enough air and had to breathe deeper than normal. As long as I focused on my stroke, kept it strong and even, my breath was fine. When I sighted (i.e., lifted my head to look for the buoy and assess my direction), it threw off my stroke and made me gasp for breath. I usually sight every 3 strokes, but perhaps on race day, it will be easier to go longer between sighting to avoid throwing off my stroke and my breathing.
Ride like the Wind!
After a shudderingly cold transition, we were off on the bike ride. The real course involves 2 loops from Kings Beach up Hwy 89 to Truckee and then down 267 back to the Lake, ending at Squaw Valley. The route has an off-shoot of a couple miles that we couldn’t preview because it is in a gated community barred to the general public. Unfortunately, there’s a very big hill in that section that we won’t get to test ahead of time. Also unfortunately, that big hill comes right before an even bigger hill that we did get to preview, and frankly, kicked my ass. We’ll do both of them twice.
Aside from the hill, the course is pretty fun. The first few miles are rollers, and then Hwy 89 is a long down-graded straightaway that I couldn’t help but cruise at 20-25 mph. It will be so very important to remember to restrain myself on that stretch, because pushing a heavy gear on the flats to go fast will wear out my legs for the big, big hills awaiting me on the other side of the course.
The 78 miles we rode had about 5,000 feet of elevation gain, which isn’t that bad until you realize that 75% of that gain comes from one big hill (done twice). It’s a 4-mile climb that never seems to end. I pushed it too hard on the first pass and my back started hurting. I spun more on the second, and though it took a little longer, I didn’t wear myself out quite as much. It was still a miserable climb.
It was a screaming descent. I took it cautiously because there was traffic on the road, but still managed to hit 46 mph while curving downward for 5 miles with views of Lake Tahoe peeking through the trees. Ahhhh!
Getting off the bike at mile 79, I realized that my legs were kaput. I felt so fatigued, mostly from that last climb, but exacerbated, I’m sure, by pushing faster than advisable on the flats.
Getting off the bike at mile 79, I realized that my legs were kaput. I felt so fatigued, mostly from that last climb, but exacerbated, I’m sure, by pushing faster than advisable on the flats.
Elevation Debrief – BIKE:
As I learned when I was up at South Lake earlier this month for AMBBR, biking at elevation is generally okay for me, except for occasional moments of breathlessness. However, I noticed that some smaller hills felt a little harder than I think they would have at sea level. (Brockway would be hard anywhere.) It will be important for me to let go of how fast I think I SHOULD be going and just listen to my body when it tells me it needs to slow down.
River Run
Luckily, we didn’t need to run right after our bike ride, because I don’t know that I could have. Instead, we went to a restaurant and I ate a bacon cheeseburger. This was much better than running.
As I learned when I was up at South Lake earlier this month for AMBBR, biking at elevation is generally okay for me, except for occasional moments of breathlessness. However, I noticed that some smaller hills felt a little harder than I think they would have at sea level. (Brockway would be hard anywhere.) It will be important for me to let go of how fast I think I SHOULD be going and just listen to my body when it tells me it needs to slow down.
River Run
Luckily, we didn’t need to run right after our bike ride, because I don’t know that I could have. Instead, we went to a restaurant and I ate a bacon cheeseburger. This was much better than running.
On Sunday, we headed for Squaw Valley to preview the run course. The course winds a bit through Squaw Village before heading across Hwy 89 to a bike path that runs from Squaw down along the Truckee River all the way to Tahoe City. On race day, the course will be 2 out-and-backs, the first covering 16 miles and the second 10 miles, ending, finally, in Squaw Village. Sunday, we just did 1 loop, for 16 miles of elevated running.
The Truckee River bike path is spectacular. The river rushes at some points, coursing furiously over rocks and around corners. At others, it widens, slows, calms, and ducks paddle around reeds. Though the highway runs along-side, I never noticed it was there, a shield of trees keeping the path secluded and serene.
Since, for me, the run will be happening in the evening and at night, I worried a bit about how dark it would get without ambient light, and whether there was room for people to cheer, and if I would need to wear my glasses to see the path while running. But mostly, during Sunday’s 16-miler, I just observed the scene. Oh, it made me happy.
The running itself, not so much. My fatigue from Saturday carried over, and my butt muscles were quite sore from the climbing. (I will be doing hill repeats from now until September 22.) I started the run doing 8:1 run/walk intervals, closely monitoring my achilles and calf muscles for pain and cramping. Both threatened, but I think the walk breaks and plenty of Enduralytes helped fend them off.
By mile 12 or so, I was no longer able to maintain 8:1 intervals and switched to 4:1, which was a sweet relief. It was at this point that elevation began to impact me, compounding the fatigue I was feeling. My pace slowed significantly, but I powered through to the end. I finished in 2 hours 48 minutes.
Elevation Debrief – RUN:
The elevation was apparent right from the start of the run. It felt as if the air around me was harder to move through than normal, like running on sand sucking at my feet. However, just like the swim and the bike, if I kept my pace steady and calm, I did okay. The walk breaks were necessary, but starting up again was very difficult. By the time that fatigue truly set in, about mile 12, my breathing got shallow and gaspy, and I had to focus more on taking deep, slow breaths to get the oxygen I needed to continue. On race day, I assume I’ll be fatigued right from the start, so I will need to remember to keep my pace even and stop if my heart rate rises too high.
The Truckee River bike path is spectacular. The river rushes at some points, coursing furiously over rocks and around corners. At others, it widens, slows, calms, and ducks paddle around reeds. Though the highway runs along-side, I never noticed it was there, a shield of trees keeping the path secluded and serene.
Since, for me, the run will be happening in the evening and at night, I worried a bit about how dark it would get without ambient light, and whether there was room for people to cheer, and if I would need to wear my glasses to see the path while running. But mostly, during Sunday’s 16-miler, I just observed the scene. Oh, it made me happy.
The running itself, not so much. My fatigue from Saturday carried over, and my butt muscles were quite sore from the climbing. (I will be doing hill repeats from now until September 22.) I started the run doing 8:1 run/walk intervals, closely monitoring my achilles and calf muscles for pain and cramping. Both threatened, but I think the walk breaks and plenty of Enduralytes helped fend them off.
By mile 12 or so, I was no longer able to maintain 8:1 intervals and switched to 4:1, which was a sweet relief. It was at this point that elevation began to impact me, compounding the fatigue I was feeling. My pace slowed significantly, but I powered through to the end. I finished in 2 hours 48 minutes.
Elevation Debrief – RUN:
The elevation was apparent right from the start of the run. It felt as if the air around me was harder to move through than normal, like running on sand sucking at my feet. However, just like the swim and the bike, if I kept my pace steady and calm, I did okay. The walk breaks were necessary, but starting up again was very difficult. By the time that fatigue truly set in, about mile 12, my breathing got shallow and gaspy, and I had to focus more on taking deep, slow breaths to get the oxygen I needed to continue. On race day, I assume I’ll be fatigued right from the start, so I will need to remember to keep my pace even and stop if my heart rate rises too high.
It was so helpful to preview the course and continue the process of learning what my body needs for race day.
Countdown: 88 days! (officially less than 3 months)
We’ll go up to Tahoe again in August, and until then, I will keep training and pushing my body to gain the fitness I’ll need to succeed at IMLT. (And until then, I'll enjoy this wonderful, oxygen-rich sea level air!)
Countdown: 88 days! (officially less than 3 months)
We’ll go up to Tahoe again in August, and until then, I will keep training and pushing my body to gain the fitness I’ll need to succeed at IMLT. (And until then, I'll enjoy this wonderful, oxygen-rich sea level air!)
Week 32 Mileage
Monday, June 17 Bike - 1 hour 30 minutes, 18 miles (hills) Tuesday, June 18 Cardio - 1 hour (elliptical) Wednesday, June 19 Rest Day Thursday, June 20 Swim - 1 hour 5 minutes, 1.7 miles (open water) Friday, June 21 Travel to Lake Tahoe Saturday, June 22 Swim - 50 minutes, 1.5 miles Bike - 5 hours, 79 miles, 4900 ft. gain Sunday, June 23 Run - 2 hours 50 minutes, 16 miles | Totals: Swim - 1 hour 55 minutes, 3.2 miles Bike - 6 hours, 30 minutes, 97 miles Run - 2 hours 50 minutes, 16 miles Cardio - 1 hour Total - 12 hours 15 minutes |