Fat Kid’s Ironman Fitness Blog

Post by:Brad Hefta-Gaub

Saturday, November 8th, 2008 at 9:19 pm  |  6 Comments »

 

Final Ride & Final Thoughts Before Race Day

So I took my bike out for a quick spin today before dropping it off into T1. I rode from T1 up the rode for 18 minutes and then turned around and headed back. It turned out to be 5.5 miles out and back… and since I finished in a little over 32 minutes, that put my pace at 20.6mph, my average HR was 147, and max of 172… this has me a little bit concerned.

“What?” you ask!

Well, my concern is that 147/172 is too high of a HR for me to survive this race at… I will need to keep it lower than that. And although coming out of T1 is a big hill, it’s not the biggest hill of the ride by any stretch of the imagination… no, the hills just get bigger and bigger from there.

The thing is, I love to climb hills. I love to eat them up. I can usually climb a hill, jumping in to Zone 3, bouncing off the bottom of Zone 4, and do pretty well for myself all the way up… 20-30 minute climbs… no problem. And I recover quickly… I’ll usually be back to Zone 1 in less than 2 minutes after the climb. And if I have a similar decent, I can easly drop sub-aerobic and get down to as low as 60-80bmps after 20 minutes of descending or riding flat.

But… probably, this pace would kill me by 112 miles, and certainly it would ruin my run… so I know I need to keep it down.

Here’s the problem, I thought I was riding pretty slow… and although my HR alarm was going off on the climb out of T1, I really was going as slow as I thought I realistically could for a climb.

So… tomorrow will indeed be a true test of my ability to keep myself in check.

I will have to watch my heartrate and REALLY REALLY back off, as soon as my heart rate goes into Zone 3.

With that in mind, here’s my expected schedule tomorrow:

  • 3:00am wake up, start coffee, get dressed
    • 3:05am make breakfast,
    • 3:10am drink coffee, eat breakfast
  • 3:40am drive to Sunset Station Hotel to get Shuttle to T1
  • 4:00am Shuttle to T1
  • 4:30am Arrive at T1
  • 6:30am Swim Starts
  • 8:30am Done with swim - into T1
  • 7.5 hours or so of riding my bike
  • 3:30pm-4pm - Done with ride - starting run.
  • 6pm-6:30pm - First Lap complete of Run
  • 8pm-9pm - Finish Race

That’s right… My last IM was 12:38, my PR is 12:18, and I am predicting that I will complete this race in 15.5 hours… Ok, maybe I’m being a little conservative, but consider this…

Dave Scott, 6 time Ironman World Champion, described this race course as “Ridiculous”… as a good friend of the race organizer, he apparently discouraged him from make this course this hard.

If that’s not bad enough, also consider that the current forcast is for 20mph SUSTAINED winds, with gusts to 35mph!!!

Oh boy! Thank goodness I brought a spare wheel.

As for mid race updates, check my sidebar, I’ll be attempting to phone in live twitter updates as the race progresses using Twitterfone.

Thanks to all of you who wished me well.

Workout:

  • Type: Cycle
  • Date: 11/08/2008
  • Time: 20:54:26
  • Total Time: 00:32:03.00
  • Average Heart rate: 147
  • Max Heart rate: 172
  • Distance: 11 miles
  • Average Speed: 20.59 mph
  • Ascent: 400 ft
  • Descent: 400 ft

Filed under: Cycle, Ironman, cycle, triathlon  |  Digg! this story.  |  Leave a Comment

Post by:Brad Hefta-Gaub

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 at 10:00 am  |  No Comments »

 

Fixie Commute in the COLD

This week the weather in Seattle has been COLD, but dry and clear. The sky has been a beautiful blue with little puffs of clouds. The mountains have been out and clearly visible. The sun has been shining. It’s been amazing. Yes…. cold… but beautiful.

Workout:

  • Type: Cycle
  • Date: 01/22/2008
  • Time: 10:00:00
  • Total Time: 1:20:00.00
  • Distance: 21.5 miles
  • Average Speed: 16.12 mph

Filed under: Cycle, Seattle, bike commute, cycle, fixie  |  Digg! this story.  |  Leave a Comment

Post by:Brad Hefta-Gaub

Sunday, January 20th, 2008 at 1:27 pm  |  No Comments »

 

Lake Washington Loop on Fixie

Workout:

  • Type: Cycle
  • Date: 01/20/2008
  • Time: 13:27:00
  • Total Time: 2:59:02.00
  • Calories: 2747
  • Distance: 50.4 miles
  • Average Speed: 16.9 mph
  • Max Speed: 30.7 mph

Filed under: cycle  |  Digg! this story.  |  Leave a Comment

Post by:Brad Hefta-Gaub

Saturday, December 29th, 2007 at 9:02 pm  |  3 Comments »

 

Now that’s Cyclocross!

I found this cool picture on Adrian Fitch’s fotostream.

Cyclocross 1932 Style

I loved it so much I had to share it!

Thanks Adrian!

Filed under: bike, cycle, cyclocross, photo  |  Digg! this story.  |  Leave a Comment

Post by:Brad Hefta-Gaub

Thursday, December 20th, 2007 at 12:00 pm  |  No Comments »

 

Casual Ride on my Funny Bike

Took my new fixie out for a casual 25 miles ride.

Workout:

  • Type: Cycle
  • Date: 12/20/2007
  • Total Time: 1:30:00.00
  • Distance: 25.5 miles
  • Average Speed: 17 mph

Filed under: Cycle, bike, cycle, fixed gear, fixie  |  Digg! this story.  |  Leave a Comment

Post by:Brad Hefta-Gaub

Wednesday, December 19th, 2007 at 2:27 pm  |  1 Comment »

 

More Amazing Fixed Gear Tricks

Here’s another amazing example of a style of bicycle riding called Artistic Cycling. More of an acrobatic/gymnastic display than even bicycle riding, the leaders in this sport are able to balance themselves on bicycles in truly amazing ways. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Amazing Fixed Gear Tricks, Artistic Cycling, bicycle, cycle, fixed gear, fixie, video  |  Digg! this story.  |  Leave a Comment

Post by:Brad Hefta-Gaub

Sunday, November 18th, 2007 at 11:20 pm  |  1 Comment »

 

Bicycle Commute - to Bee Movie!

Bee Movie

My eldest daughter and I had a special “Hang out with Dad” day. We considered going to the YMCA to practice some swim drills, but ended up deciding on going to see Bee Movie instead. Since the Theater is only about 4 miles from out house, and he weren’t going to get exercise swimming, we figured it was a perfect chance to ride our bike (bike+half bike) down to the theater. Read the rest of this entry »

Workout:

  • Type: Cycle
  • Date: 11/18/2007
  • Time: 23:20:14
  • Total Time: 00:45:00.00
  • Distance: 8 miles
  • Average Speed: 10.67 mph

Filed under: Bee Movie, Cycle, Daughters, Family, Fitness, cycle, exercise, global warming  |  Digg! this story.  |  Leave a Comment

Post by:Brad Hefta-Gaub

Monday, October 29th, 2007 at 10:32 pm  |  No Comments »

 

Commute to work on fixie

I rode my fixed gear bike to work this morning. This weekend I cleaned it up, added the fenders back on for the winter, and decked it out with 2 extra flashing lights to make the morning/dawn/dusk/night rides safer.

Workout:

  • Type: Cycle
  • Date: 10/29/2007
  • Time: 22:32:29
  • Total Time: 1:27:14.00
  • Distance: 25 miles
  • Average Speed: 17.2 mph

Filed under: Cycle, bike, commute, cycle, fixed gear, fixie  |  Digg! this story.  |  Leave a Comment

Post by:Brad Hefta-Gaub

Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 at 4:12 pm  |  No Comments »

 

Hello Wind, My Old Friend

Wind. Wind in my hair? The wind against my face? Wind beneath my wings? Read the rest of this entry »

Workout:

  • Type: Cycle
  • Date: 10/02/2007
  • Time: 16:12:32
  • Total Time: 1:29:30.00
  • Average Heart rate: 144
  • Max Heart rate: 162
  • Calories: 1355
  • Distance: 25.55 miles
  • Average Speed: 17.13 mph
  • Max Speed: 27 mph

Filed under: Cycle, Redline 925, Seattle, commute, cycle, fixed gear, fixie, wind  |  Digg! this story.  |  Leave a Comment

Post by:Brad Hefta-Gaub

Tuesday, September 18th, 2007 at 12:00 pm  |  4 Comments »

 

Don’t Spill Coffee in German Made Cars!

I spilled coffee on the “gear shift” of my German made station wagon on Tuesday night. The result? Well… German’s really don’t like food and drink in their cars, and so I guess as a punitive measure they make a point of not building in protection from spills on key vehicle components. Read the rest of this entry »

Workout:

  • Type: Cycle
  • Date: 09/18/2007
  • Total Time: 00:20:00.00
  • Distance: 3 miles
  • Average Speed: 9 mph

Filed under: Cycle, German made cars, commute, cycle, fixie  |  Digg! this story.  |  Leave a Comment

Activities: Year to Date

Distances
Bike: 76 miles
Run : 24 miles
Hours of Activity
 Bike: 5.5 - 57.1%
 Run : 3.5 - 36.8%
 Flex: 0.6 - 6.1%
  Total:9.6