Ironman France Race Week

It always comes fast. The race is officially less than 6 days away. We leave for Nice on Wednesday. The adrenaline is running high, as this will be my first race outside the US. I always struggle with this week, because of the slow down. I continue to change my clock, as tomorrow night I will try to wake at 3:30am and only be off France time by 3 hours.

Last weeks numbers are about what you'd expect: 6400, 126 and 40. I missed a bike on Saturday, but it just doesn't matter anyway. All of the miles are easy, with the exceptions of some intervals in the heat, but I am acclimated to summer weather now, even though it has been mild in Nice the last few days.

This training period has gone very well. Probably my best ever and on less bike miles. I am also very fit; about 148lbs @ 5% body fat.

I want to thank all of my team-mates, training partners, friends and family for supporting me. The pressure is definitely on to qualify for the world championships. It may be possible with 8 slots going in my age group.

I am hoping results and maybe tracking? will be on either:

http://ironman.com/ironmanlive

or

http://www.ironmanfrance.com/

click on English version tab.

Thanks everyone! I will post a race report when I can.

-Kyle

Pat Bell Time Trial

I'm now into my second and second to last week of tapering. We leave one week from Wednesday for Nice. Wow, that came fast!

Last week I did the 11.7 mile Pat Bell TT in Southboro. I figured with three weeks before the race, I could do an all-out anerobic effort on the bike to test my speed. Boy, what a surprise! I can't figure out what is going on with me, but I was just flying and it came easy. 26.3 mph average! Not bad for an endurance guy. I think I started 2nd or 3rd to last with everyone going on 30 second intervals and finished about 2 minutes in front of everyone. 4 out of the 5 folks there are just out for a workout - I know, but I'm at the top of the list for 2008. We'll see how long the roadies let a triathlete have the fastest time in 2008! I'm sure they will be out to beat that time this week. And speaking of, we are going through a heat wave here in New England. Everyone is asking me if I'm out training in this weather and the answer is YES. I look at it as a good opportunity to acclimate to these temperatures, as I may have to race in this weather in two weeks. Today's 8 mile run was in the mid-90s and sunny.

I am trying to change my body clock which means up every morning at 5:am and I am going to try to get to 3:30am next week. On EST the race is at 11:30pm, so anything I can do to get closer to that time I am going to try. Unfortunately, I have been tired and a you-know-what and ... now for the stupid stuff. Two injuries; neither related to IM training. (1) I was pumping up my tubular disc wheel, which is diificult to do; you need to hold the "crack pipe" on the valve and pump. It can take up to 14 bars, which is almost impossible to pump and my right hand slipped off and the pump handle sent a blow to my ribs. I heard a pop and then two days later, it only hurt when I took a deep breath and tried to sleep anywhere near on my right side, ughh. Same pain as when I cracked my rib diving for the line drive at short stop. (2) Running sneakers + wet grass on soccer field = sprained wrist. The other coach and I covering the two open position so we could have a two full sides to scrimmage. I went to take a shot and slipped. Luckily, I have aero bars on both my bikes, because it has been KILLLING me. That's the only position I can ride in without pain. I need a wrist brace or something to immobilize it, but today the pain is a bit less. I hope to get 45 minutes in pool tonight and that will make me happy. Else I'll kick, do one-armor no-arm drills and try again on Wednesday.

This weeks numbers. Some volume, but mostly low intensity.

M: S-3200, B-32, R-10 (6min/4min fartlek)
Tu: B-28 (11.7 patebelltt), R-10
W: S-2600, spin 2omin, R-5
Th: B-39, R-8
F: S-2.4mi, spin 2+hours, R-3
Sa: B-20, R-6
Su: B-52mi

Totals:
S: 10K yards
B: 218mi
R: 42

The swim was a two loop with friend Karen and co. (co. for the first loop). She wanted to get the open distance in (1:15). She is doing Lake Placid for the first time in July. I did most of the pulling. That's my longest swim in a while and no more of that during taper. This week I will begin to shut things down and try not to inflect dumb injuries upon myself. Other than that, everything is great and I am ready to go!

-Kyle

Training Period Ends - Taper Begins

The hard part is over and I am now into taper phase. I will continue to bike and run, but distance and intensity will be lower. I will also add some rest days to make sure I am doing the right thing. This picture is a section of the bike course in the Alps. It is good to see that a couple of the guys are actually riding tri-bikes, as most just ride on road bikes with clip-ons. Anyway, the pre-race excitement has begun and I am starting to prepare for travel as we will be flying to Nice in a lttle over two weeks time - wow that came fast! - need to get ready!

I am very pleased with my training. Things have gone really well and I feel good. This week's long ride was out to the Quabbin area in Central Mass. with lots of hills and flats! When I say flats, I'm not talking about flat road, I'm talking about tires! We had three flats within 52 miles of riding! (luckily I had none) - it made for a long day. We covered 100mi in 7 hours! and we never really stopped except to refill bottles and fix flats. I think the storms the day before washed a lot of junk onto the road. Big thanks to team-mates Dave for the route planning, Steve for pushing me and Gary for hanging in there. It really was a scenic ride with lot's of climbing. I really appreciated having the company. I solo'd a 3 mi ran-out-of-time transition run, followed by a 23mi LSD the next day in which I continuously had to hold back. I modestly have to say the 100mi ride felt like nothing and it felt good to do some 22-23 mph surges with Steve to put pressure on the legs. The running is just coming easy for me. The 23 miles went by fast and I finished without really being tired. I am probably running better now than in April, so maybe it was just meant to be and is promising for Nice. The numbers this week are good. I could've used another long bike, but with the thunderstorms this week and all, I will just get in a medium bike this week. Showing up to the pool just as it was being evacuated because of lightning was also a bummer, but I managed to get the swim in later anyway (in between storms).

The numbers:

• M: Well deserved and planned rest day
• Tu: S-3K, B-8 (4x Flagg Hill), R-10 (4x1mi)
• W: B-100, R-3 (trans)
• Th: R-23mi (7:45 pace LSD)
• F: S-1K (open no WS), B-26, R-7mi
• Sa: B-18, R-3
• Su: S-3K (fast Walden loop), B-12, R-4

Totals:

• Swim-7K
• Bike-164mi
• Run-50mi

It (again) seems like a lot of running, but I really needed to do the long-bike/transition run then long-run the next day thing. I think this ranks in importance over the mileage and is key for a good ironman. All of the distance covered over multiple consecutive days.

The body feels excellent. No real issues and I will continue to take good care.

I am also trying to change my body clock, which is going to be a test. I am gradually getting earlier and earlier, and will try to split the time difference before flying out. I think it is best because I want to avoid being jet lagged the day of the race. Anyone have any suggestions?

The race is less than 20 days!

-Kyle

Final Weeks Of Ironman France Training

This coming week will wrap up the hard training period for IM France. It really came fast and I look forward to the trip. It is also costing me a boat-load of money, but this is my (and the family's) first trip to Europe and who knows when that will ever happen again. It is going to be very exciting and a trip that I think we will reminisce about it for several years! I also look forward to the challenge of racing in the alps. It will be interesting to see how I match up against an international field of athletes, with only 7 Kona slots last year in my AG. It is going to take a great race to get me to Hawaii in October. Anyway, I have been training hard and once again, I am fit. I measured in at about 6% body fat. My weight is still around 150 - although after all the eating and drinking yesterday at John's cookout - we'll see if those numbers still hold up. I also took the day off yesterday - see, there is still hope! It was due and planned, because I have not taken a day since the marathon recovery in April - almost a full month! The numbers last week are good with plenty of bike miles. I could feel it in my legs toward the end of the week. I am running real well, so I think I will maintain focus on bike miles again this week. I do need to get a long run in though, boy I don't think I've had an LSD in weeks now.

Last week's numbers:

M: B-10, R-10, S-3K (Kim's killer workout, with timed water treading, Ughh!)

Tu: B-28, R-10 (8x3min on/off @ 10K pace moderate/hard)

W: B-53, R-5

Th: B-54, R-8

F: B-44, S-2500 (open water, fast Walden loop with Calvin)

Sa: B-36, R-5, S-1K

Su: B-40, R-5

Totals:

Swim: 6500yds

Bike: 275mi

Run: 43mi

A very good bike week. This is probably going to be my largest bike week. Does not compare to IM Lake Placid training with several 300+mi and one 350mi week, but I don't seem to be having the issues that I had last year. A June race is impossible for that kind of mileage seeing how the snow has only been gone for 8 weeks. I still have some tightness in my lower back, but I am doing some yoga and stretches, which has made it feel a lot better - almost gone.

One more hard week! Off for my run!

-Kyle

Wow! What a week - The Kancamagus Ride

Wow! What a fantastic day pal John and I had in the White Mountains! I did not take this picture (no camera), but we had a spectacular day with temps around 70 deg. and clear blue skies. The views of the mountains were absolutely great. This ride ranks on top of my best rides ever - I spent a lot of time gazing at the scenary. There was no real agenda for me on this trip except to get as much climbing as possible in prep for Ironman France. I would get the same amount of climbing as in the Alps broken into two, on the out and back of the Kancamagus highway. We made short work of the first climb leaving from Linclon center - I think we made the top of the notch in 50 minutes. We also made short work of the entire Kancamagus and continued on West Side Road all the way up to Attitash. They had the road torn up for resurfacing, so we came back and stopped and had lunch in N. Conway. This was something I had never done before and it was great! What was the name of that Deli? Great food and it gave the feeling of the whole bike touring thing. It also gave me a recharge as I have had no shortage of training or any rest heading into this ride. John on fresh legs cranked back up the to the notch - I was really feeling the climb. No switch backs or breaks on the return climb, just straight climbing to the top. It is also more total altitude on the return climb, making it the most difficult climb I have ever done - mission accomplished! I am gaining more confidence for tackling the Alps! The one negative; I was hoping for more technical decent. The switch-backs really slow down the bike, so I could let it just fly, but I'm told I can't do that on the decent on the IMF course.

Ride Stats:
101mi, 4871' ascent, 4890' decent, max alt. 2855, avg. speed 18.5mph
30 Minute transition run 4+ miles (around 7 min pace)

I also ran the Stow 5K on Sunday in support of my friend Kendra who puts this on ever year. Numbers:
18:22, 5th overall, 1st master, pace 5:55 - not bad for all endurance training the last 5 weeks

Last week's numbers:

M: Swim -3K yds, Bike-20, Run-10
Tu: Bike-28, Run-8 (6x800 @ 6:00 pace hard)
W: Bike-101, Run-4+
Th: Swim-3K yds, Run-12
F: Swim-3K yds, Bike-32
Sat: Bike-12 (easy), Run-10
Su: Bike-16, Run-9 (5K race)

Totals:
Swim: 9K yards
Bike: 200 miles
Run: 53 miles

Some slight soreness in the lower back - only bothers me when I sit at my desk or in the car. I will continue to do extensions until it is gone (also minimize time at desk and in car). Yeah, yeah, I know - too much running. I will focus on BIKE miles this week, as there is no plan for a long ride after 3 weeks in a row (80, 101 and 101). All quality workouts though, all the way around, so I have no complaints about the training. I still need to get cloer to 250-300 miles with only a few weeks to go! Ughh!

Exactly one month until Ironman France!

-Kyle

All Out Training and Prep-Race

Yup, once again, this blog has been left for dead. There's only so much time in a day. I have been off training all out in solitary mode once again. I missed last week's post and didn't record the numbers. but I had a good ride up Mt. Wachusett and around central Mass for 80+ miles with no shortage of climbing. I also ran the Westford 10K on Sunday in 39min flat.

Yesterday I did the season opener in Hopkinton. Great Race. It was good to do all out fast stuff after nearly 5 weeks (other than the marathon and 10K) of doing absolutely no speed work. The one thing I would have done different was to take 5 seconds to put socks on after the (cold!!!)swim. I could not feel my feet during the run and it definitely impeded me. Fun race though, a definite for next year (RD - please move race until after mother's day).

Race results:

14th Overall 169 KYLE BOWERS BOXBOROUGH MA
Total: 1:01:39 7th EOPENM
Swim 1/4mi: 39th 9:02
T1: 1:09
Bike 11.8mi: 11th 33:04
T2:0:48
Run 3.1mi: 15th 17:38

Here's last week's numbers:

M: S-3200yds, Bike-20mi, Run-11mi
T: Bike-28mi, Run-7mi
W: Bike-101mi (3x25mi TT Oak Hill loop with 6mi recovery loop), Run-1mi transition
Th: S-1mi (Walden Pond), Run-14mi
F: S-2800, Spin-1/2 hour, Run-6mi
Sa: 14mi Tri course ride (rest day)
Sunday Race: 1/4mi, 11.8mi, 3.1 mi

Total: Swim-8300yd, Bike-184mi, Run-44mi

I am happy with the numbers. The body feels good, no issues. I gave myself rest after the killer ride workout on Wednesday - nothing short of being tortured. Total of 5:38 on the bike. My three loops avg: 20, 19.5 and 19+. I will have bigger miles this week now that the race is out of the way. Wednesday I will be riding with John up the Kancamagus Highway for some deadly climbs. This will be my first time riding the K and I hear it is a brutal climb. I will post some numbers on altitude next week. This is the only place in NE where I know there are switchbacks.

Cheers!

-Kyle

Boston Marathon Race Report

Wow, what a great day for the spectators! All in all a pretty good day. I was out fast with the studs at a fast pace for the first half. No complaints, I was right at the pace I wanted to be at - it was all or nothing on this one. I laid it all out on the course, shooting for that sub-2:50. I wanted to break my 2:53 PR. A little bit warmer than expected, maybe slowed me down (and everyone else) in the mid-section of the course. My legs got a little tight at the downhill before 16 and got worse. A bit of a struggle 21-24, but with two to go I pushed hard, ending up at 2:58. 2nd fastest marathon. I'm happy and will take it. Statistically, a lot of runners had the same slower half as I did, no surprise. I think we are still not acclimated to this warm weather. Happy recovery everyone. IM training resumes next week. This is me at the 30K mark - right before heartbreak hill. -Kyle