Beach to Battleship 70.3 Half Triathlon Training Log
This year I have decided to ramp up my game a bit by challenging myself to complete a Half Distance Triathlon. I looked around for some Tri events that were open. Beach to Battleship, Wilmington, NC on Oct. 25th was the choice for me. No it’s not an Ironman Branded event, but honestly who cares. If this event goes well for me I will consider a full distance Ironman event in 2015.
Now with nothing more than sprint distance triathlons under my belt, I decided it would be best to train under the guidance of a USAT coach. I’ll reveal my coaches’ name after my completion of the event. For now I’ll just say I like the style and furthermore love the fact that I don’t have to use TrainingPeaks. Yeh, one less thing to not have to log into daily.
And so it begins. I am making notes daily and by October 25th, I can come back to this page and read it in reverse order from bottom to top. Everything I’ve done will be logged here for review.
Week 10: Taper Week
Day 6 – B2B 70.3 day. Swim was fast. Out of the water in 28 minutes thanks to the strong tidal current. Took my sweet time in transition 1. It had to be a 1/4 mile or more run from the pier to the bike. Bike leg was awesome and fast. I rolled the 56 mile course with ease. I maintained proper zones, never jacked my heart rate and breathing up, and didn’t get caught up in the excitement of ripping by so many other cyclist. I hit T2 with a 2:30 bike time. Again I took my time in T2 and continued to the run. No sooner than I hit the mile 1 mark, my low back and hip flexor was doing some serious aching. This is the point I knew, the only way I would finish is by run/walking the remainder of the event. And so I did with a 5:33 time for my first half distance Triathlon. I was happy with finishing but let down by my run. My goal was to finish the event and get the experience. Perhaps next year, the race is on.
Day 5 – Rest Day – Travel to Wilmington
Day 4 – Run 20 minutes E2
Day 3 – Swim 1000 – Pool swim in coldest YMCA water I could find. 18:30 total time. Probably my fastest to date.
Bike 40 minutes @ E2 on computrainer. Nice steady spin with good sweat.
Day 2 – Run 30 minutes at E2
Day 1 – Rest Day
Week 9:
Day 7 – Run 2 hours at E2 – This is a test…..a big test.. 1 hour went smooth and well. I challenged myself to hit all the hills in the area. Started in Davidson and went all the way to the very back of the greenway in River Run. 6.5 miles out. I was just over 7 miles at the 1 hour mark. I started counting down the miles. At 1:38 my left quad was on FIRE. The hills were taking a toll. I stopped briefly to stretch my quads and continued to run back into Davidson. I ended up at 13 miles, 1:52 an 8:42 pace with lots of hills. Needless to say, I was DONE! Stretched for 30 minutes and then went to dunk myself in the hot tub. I went 2 miles further than my longest run, and made it over 20 minutes further non stop. up, I’m pretty happy with that.
Day 6 – 2 Hour ride on the bike. Joined the Spirited Cyclist club ride from the Davidson shop. 32 miles total, nice workout but nothing terribly hard today.
Day 5 – Pool Swim – 2800m total. Main set was 20L, 5 x 4l, and 10x2L with paddles and pulls bouey.
Run Workout – Run Intervals workout. 43 minutes total. 10 minute warmup, 4 @ e2, 3 @ e3, 2 @ e3, 1 @ e3 with 1ve easy in between. Repeat set and 5 minute cold down. Had the pleasure of Jennifer doing the workout right behind me.
Day 4 – Bike – 69 minute Computrainer workout. Rode 3 15 minute 85% FTP efforts. 3 minutes at VE in between. 10 min. warm up, 5 cool down.
Day 3 – Designed plan states a rest day. I hadn’t been on my real bike in a week. Decided to get a 1 hour computrainer session in. I rode 1 lap of the Wisconsin Age Group National course. Pretty solid effort in mostly the small ring with high cadence. Ended up with 20+ mph/avg. Felt great.
Day 2 – Rest Day – Traveled back from St. John to Davidson, NC. Enuff said.
Day 1 – Last day on St. John Island USVI. Back to the Dreadmill for a 30 minute run. 3.5 miles total. slow to faster pace. Felt great.
I noticed an aquabike over at the Westin Resort yesterday and wanted to give it a shot. I figured it was at least a way to spin out the legs a bit. The Westin at Chocolate Hole Bay also has a nice roped off swim area on their beach.
The guys from Cruz Bay Watersports let us hang out on the beach prior to our snorkel excursion. This gave me time to get in a 25 minute open water swim. No Garmin today, so I swam to time instead.
I followed the swim with a little aqua bike workout while Jennifer tried out the kayaks and standup paddle bording (SUP).
Week 8:
Day 7 – TOOK THE DAY OFF – way too much “out on the town” the night before.
Day 6 – Rented a Dinghy from Little Noah’s Arch rentals in Cruz Bay, St. John. Ventured to all the beaches on the North Shore and decided to swim at Mahoe Bay beach again. Ended up with a 1.2 mile swim at a steady pace. Great swim day!
Day 5 – On St. John Island, there really isn’t a place to ride a bike. So today I ended up hitting the treadmill for a solid 1 hour run. 6.2 miles total. Felt great, no issues,
Day 4 – Today I had the great pleasure of swimming in Mahoe Bay on St. John Island. What an incredible place to work on open water swimming. The water at this beach is crystal clear. 1500m total swim distance today.
Day 3 – Rest day – Travel to St. John USVI
Day 2 – Bike 3 hours on Computrainer. Rode 2.5 laps of Tuscaloosa Ironman course. Good solid long paced effort. 52 miles total.
Day 1 – Run – 5 mins VE – 5 mins E2 – followed by 8 x 1 sprints VH – 2 mins VE between each. Cool down 5 mins. 39 min total. – Run went very well as planned. No issues completing the hard efforts.
OWS practice was cancelled tonight.
Week 7:
Day 7 – Bike 2 hours at E2. Back on the Computrainer. Focused on high cadence steady heart rate. Lowered seat down 2mil. Pay attention to see if I am still rocking(reaching) to the left side. ** saddle adjustment helped.
Day 6 –Rest Day – Will do the Spirited Cyclist Club ride from the Davidson shop. 32 miles total at a sweeper pace.
Day 5 – Swim Workout – Went to HFFA to swim int he cold pool (78 degree). Cold to me anyways. Did a 1000m TT run at 18 minutes. Not on the plan, but I’ll make up tomorrow with a long lake swim.
Day 4 – Swim Workout – Started out feeling pretty beat and tired. Needed to swim 2950 with a 1750 TT run. I managed to get in 1000 total before shutting it down.
Day 3 – The Tester! – Bike 3 hours @ E2 – Long steady high cadence ride. Took in 1 bottle of G2 and 1 bottle of pure water. Knocked down 2 packs of Power Bar Energy Gel Blast.
Followed the Bike with a 1 hour run. Plan called for 1:30 run at E2. At the 50 minute mark, my dishes were done. Too much discomfort in the hips and ankles to continue.
Overall a great brick practice day.
Day 2 – Bike 2 hours @ E2 – Created a computrainer course and rode with steady cadence at 75 to 85% FTP. Stayed on bars as much as possible.
Day 1 – 1 Hour Run @ E2 – My body was aching a bit this morning after my 10.5 mile run effort yesterday eve. I chose to hit the mostly flat greenway to help keep my heart rate at the proper level. Once I started running, most of the pain didn’t seem to bother me. My left IT band was the only real aching pain. More stretching and rolling occurred after the run.
OWS – Great workout tonight. Some deep water start drills 1 person starting at a time. Followed by a 20 minute steady swim of 1000 meters.
Week 6:
Day 7 – 1 Hour and 40 minute @ E2 run day. My longest run by far and I didn’t know what to expect. I started out in Davidson, ran up to Cornielus, back to Davidson and around a few neighborhoods. Very surprisingly made it al the way to 1:20 mark without a need to walk. My heart rate and lungs were good but the aching pain in my heels, ankle and left IT band were screaming at me to walk. I had to walk 2 short periods of 2 minutes and 1 minute. By 1:36 I had 10.5 miles in at a 9:20 pace. This was 3 miles further than I had ever run before.
Day 6 – Rest Day – The Lazy River at Ocean Drive Resort was calling my name.
Day 5 – Bike for 2 hours on Blue Triad up and down Ocean Drive, north myrtle beach. Rode into the wind in one direction and with the wind coming back. Ended up with 40 miles.
Pool Swim – 1800 meter workout in the cold pool at North Myrtle Beach Aquatic center. Great workout. I felt like I was flying thru the water.
Day 4 – Run Work out. 51 minutes total. 10 minute warm up followed by 2 15 minute sessions at E22. The second of which was hard to make it thru. Overall the run went well.
Day 3 – Swim- Warm up- 12L swim/ 8L pull. @VE with rest- 10secs. Drill set- 8 x 2L as 1L
drill*/ 1L swim. @VE with rest- 5secs. Sprint set- 4 x 1L swim**. @VH with rest- 20secs. Main set- 20L swim/ 2 x 10L swim/ 5 x 4L pull & paddles. @E2 with rest- 50secs on 20L 25secs on 10L, 15secs on 4L. Cool down- 8L choice. @VE. Total- 2700.
Day 2 – Bike in Computrainer – Warm up- 5mins@VE/ 5mins@E2. Main set- 8 x (1min@VH/ 2mins@VE). Cool down- 5mins@VE. Total- 39mins.
Day 1 – Long run day – run 1 hour at E2. Started at the River Run soccer field, ran into Davidson, up to Davidson Day then circled town and back. All went well up to the 46 minute point. My hips were aching in the ball joints. Could have been from the run last night. Had to walk it our for 2 minutes an then finished up the hour. 6.8 miles total.
OWS workout.
Week 5:
Day 7 – Make up for yesterday. Rode with my Team Ignite teammates Izzy Justice and Jennifer Finney. Izzy needed to get his long ride in and didn’t want to go solo. We started out in the rain and did a hard 28 mile loop effort. Jennifer joined us for the second loop in reverse. 56 miles total.
Part 2: Bike workout on the computrainer later in the day. – 10 minute warmup followed by 4 x 10 minutes at 80% FTP. with 2 minutes easy in between. 5 minutes cool off.
Part 3: Run for 40 minutes at e2. Ended up with 4.7 miles and a 8:33 avg pace.
I was very pleased with the brick workout, especially with the 56 mile earlier ride.
Day 6 – Long Bike day. Should ride for 3 hours @ E2 this morning. Started at 7am on the Computrainer due to rain. At 8, nine riders showed up to do our club ride. I grabbed my road bike and headed out. Normally we ride for 2 hours, but I had to cater to a few newbie riders. I took them on the 17 mile route at a very easy pace. Once back at the shop I hopped back on the trainer for 20 more minutes. Overall I got about 2 hours in on the bike. Not enuff.
Week 5:
Day 5 – Swim OWS 2000m –
Run Work Out – Run- Warm up- 5mins@VE/ 5mins@E2. Main set- 5 x (3mins@LowerE3/ 1min@VE). Cool down 5mins@VE. Total- 35mins.
Day 4 – Swim Workout – Pool: 2800m total
Warm up- 8L swim/ 8L pull/ 4L kick. @VE with rest- 10secs. Drill set- 8 x 2L as 1L drill*/ 1L swim. @VE
with rest- 5secs. Sprint set- 4 x 1L swim**. @VH with rest- 20secs. Main set- 12L swim/ 8L pull & paddles/
12L swim/ 8L pull & paddles/ 12L swim/ 8L pull & paddles. @E2 with rest- 30secs on 12L, 20secs on 8L.
Cool down- 8L choice. @VE.
Day 3 – Today felt like a rest day because I had to wait until 7pm to complete my last 10 mile time trial out at lowes motor speedway. The TT went well. I picked up about 10 seconds over the last time out. The conditions were right, so I expected to be a little faster. It was a solo effort with no drafting, s the time was true.
Day 2 – Rest Day
Day 1 – Run Workout – Run 1 Hour at E2. Started at Greenway in the back of River Run. Left greenway, ran thru the back entrance of River Run, and all the way to the front entrance point. Turned around at 3 miles and headed back. Steady climbs out of the gate followed by rollers. Had 6 miles in at 52:30. Continued running until I hit 7 miles at 1:01. Managed heart rate an rarely went over 148 bpm.
OWS – long warm up, followed by out and back mass start bouy drills.
Practiced deep water starts, waste deep starts and beach starts.
Week 4:
Day 7 Looking forward to watching and cheering for 11 Spirited Cyclist club members as they compete in the Lake Davidson Triathlon this morning. I’m certain there will be a larger crowd there this morning due to the Nascar driver Jimmy Johnson being there.
Day 6 – Bike – 2 Hours at E2 – Did the Spirited Cyclist Club ride out of Davidson, NC. Added on an extra 20 mile loop just to get 50 in. Road Bike. The Beach to Battleship course will be very flat compared to riding around the Davidson / Mooresville area. But, we have no winds to deal with here so to speak.
Day 5 – Swim – changed from OWS to Pool Workout.
Warm up- 8L swim/ 4L kick/ 8L pull. @VE with rest- 10secs.
Drill set- 8 x 2L as 1L drill*/ 1L swim. @VE with rest- 5secs.
Sprint set- 4 x 1L swim**. @VH with rest- 20secs.
Main set- 20L swim/ 20L pull/ 20L pull & paddles. The paddles kicked my butt!!
@E2 with rest- 50secs.
Cool down- 8L choice. @VE.
Total- 2700.
*Recommended drills- Single arm/ Kick & glide.
** Recommended sprints- Sprint each 1L with deepwater start.
Run workout: 1 Hour at E2. Others might call it slow but I call it a great run today in the heat. 1 hour total 6.5 miles. Not fast, but steady and non stop. Building up the base !
Day 4 – Brick Night: Bike Workout on Computrainer / PerfPro Studio Course –
10 minutes warm up VE to E2
5mins@UpperE22/ 218-244 Watts 1min@VE
4mins@LowerE3/ 244-260 Watts 1min@VE
3mins@LowerE3/ 244-260 Watts 1min@VE
2mins@UpperE3/ 260-270 Watts 1min@VE
1min@UpperE3/ 260-270 Watts 2min@VE
4mins@LowerE3/ 244-260 Watts 1min@VE
3mins@LowerE3/ 244-260 Watts 1min@VE
2mins@UpperE3/ 260-270 Watts 1min@VE
1min@UpperE3. 260-270 Watts 5min@VE
Run: 40 minutes at E2 – last ten minutes, pushed the limit of E2 up slightly.
Day 3 –Pool Swim workout: 2400m total – warm up – 8L swim/ 8L pull/ 4L kick. @VE with rest- 10secs. Drill set- 8 x 2L as 1L drill*/ 1L swim. @VE with rest- 5secs. Sprint set- 4 x 1L swim**. @VH with rest- 20secs. Main set- 6 x 8L swim. @E22 with rest- 15secs.
Cool down- 8L choice. @VE. drills- Fists/ Catch up. I’m whooped !
Day 2 – Rest Day – 45 minutes of P90X Yoga and Core exercises.
Day 1 – Rode 60 miles on road bike with 1 water stop. Pedal the Park charity group ride. The route included about every possible hill in our local area.
OWS Practice – Warm up followed by three sets of team relay competitions. Fun stuff. One team had to swim with a hat on. 2 teams had to swim with a shirt on. One team went normal. Each person had to tag the teammate and pass the hat or shit off to the next person. Did a cool of lap between each sprint. total .8 mile workout.
Week 3:
Day 7 – Rest day and needed it badly. soaked feet in sea salt.
Day 6 – Langley Pond International Triathlon – 1st Intl. event. Goal was to swim steady and smooth. Go 90% on the bike course and conserve some for the run. Struggled on the run after mile 2. The heat and humidity resulted in multiple blisters on both feet. I managed to finish by running a mile and walking 20 seconds for the remaining way with a strong run to finish at 2:54. Not great, but not bad for my first Intl. event. The bike course included a 3 mile climb that Intl. participants had to hit twice. The Blue Triad SL was amazing on the climbs, staying on the bars and shifting with the Dura Ace DI2 was super nice. This was the first time I rode a Dash Nine saddle. I’m so glad I used it compared to the Fizik Tri 2 saddle which totally sucks for me.
Day 5 – Run 20 minutes at E2 – 138-148 heart rate zone
Day 4 – Rest Day
Day 3 – Bike 40 minutes at E2 – Rode tri bike on the computrainer – used perf pro studio course with 10 min. warm up, 80% x 10 min x 2, 90% x5 min. Maintained heart rate in correct zone.
OWS Practice – wearing HUUB Speedsuit tonight. Lots of max effort sprint starts out to the turn bouy. Followed my max sprints to the bouy, turn, and hard effort recovery to the shore. I mixed up starting spots. (right side, middle, back of the pack). Great practice with 20 people. The HUBB speedsuit made a noticeable difference.
Completed Beach to Battleship participant online meeting and quiz.
Day 2 – Run 30 minutes at E2 – run went great. 8:35 mile at 3:53 total distance.
Day 1 – Rest Day – glad too because neck is sore from the tri bike. Rode 14 miles easy at the business par with the Junior team.
Week 2:
Day 7 – Bike 2 hours at E2. Great ride on the Blue Triad SL Rode up into Mooresville and down Linwood to 152. 2 minute Break and reversed the route. Averaged 19mph and stayed on the bars most of the time.
Day 6 – Lake Norman YMCA Sprint Tri – 750m swim , 17 mile bike, 5k run. Swim was good, bike was good, run not so good. Relied on my Garmin and didn’t realize it has missed 5 minutes of the swim. No more Garmins on sprints.
Day 5 – Rest Day
Day 4 – Swim- Warm up- 4L swim/ 4L pull/ 4L kick/ 4L pull/ 4L kick. @VE with rest- 5secs. Drill set- 8 x 2L as 1L drill*/ 1L swim. @VE with rest- 5secs. – Sprint set- 4 x 1L swim**. @VH with rest- 20secs. – Main set- 6 x 4L swim. @E3 with rest- 10secs. Cool down- 8L choice. @VE. Total- 1800. *Recommended drills- Sculling/ doggy paddle. **Recommended sprints- MAX sprint first 10 strokes of each 1L, with remainder of length easy.
Needless to say, My but was wooped after this swim workout.
Day 3 – Run 1:30 at E2 – Struggled on this workout, stopped at 1:10 7.5 miles. Was very hot toward the end.
Day 2 – Bike- Warm up- 5mins@VE/ 5mins@E2. – Main set- 8 x (1min@VH/ 2mins@VE). Cool down- 5mins@VE. Total- 39mins. Created a modified version of Sufferfest on Perf Pro Studio and completed the workout on the computrainer.
Day 1 – Run- Warm up- 5mins@VE/ 5mins@E2. – Main set- 3 x (10mins@LowerE22/ 2mins@VE). Cool down- 5mins@VE. Total- 54mins.
OWS Practice – Total 1 mile – Lots of sprint out practice with long swim & recovery.
Week 1:
Day 7 – Bike- Warm up- 5mins@VE/ 5mins@E2. – Main set- 2 x (10mins@LowerE22/ 2mins@VE/ 5mins@UpperE22/ 1mins@VE/ 5mins@UpperE22/ 1min@VE). Cool down – 5mins@VE. Total- 63mins.
Rode indoors on the Computrainer. Created a course on Perf Pro Studio to match the workout plan.
Day 6 – Bike 3 hours E2 – Rode 2 loops of the Lake Norman YMCA Triathlon loop 17 x 2. Then went out in the country and pulled Jennifer along until I had my 3hours in. Rode the Blue Triad SL, focused on staying on the tri bars as much as possible.
Run- Warm up- 5mins@VE/ 5mins@E2. – Main set – 5mins@LowerE3/ 1min@VE/ 3mins@LowerE3/ 1min@VE/ 2mins@UpperE3/ 1min@VE/ 3mins@UpperE3/ 1min@VE/ 2mins@UpperE3. – Cool down- 5mins@VE. Total- 34mins. Bailey Road Middle School Track. Very Hot day!!
Day 5 – Swim 1500m E2 steady pace – Started 6:30am in Lake Norman – out and back with no drafting help. Forgot my Garmin 910.
Day 4 – Swim- Warm up- 12L – swim/ 8L pull. @VE with rest- 10secs. – Drill set- 8 x 2L as 1L drill*/ 1L swim. @VE with rest- 5secs – Sprint set- 4 x 1L swim**. @VH with rest- 20secs – Main set- 8 x 1L swim. @VH MAX with rest- 30secs. – Cool down- 8L choice. @VE. – Total- 1400. *Recommended drills- Finger drag/ Water polo head up stroke. **Recommended sprints- Start each 1L easy with last 10m MAX sprint. —- All was great but I didn’t realize L stood for lengths rather than Laps. 🙂
Run 40 minutes at E2 ( 138-148 heart rate ) – Heart rate spiked on the last mile with the incline. Otherwise perfect run.
Day 3 – 10 Mile Time Trial at Lowes. Rode the Blue Triathlon bike for the first time. Out of the box build, eyeball fit, with a high stack headset. Good result – 1st in AG and 25 seconds below last TT.
Day 2 – Rest day before Time Trial at Lowes otor Speedway
Day 1 – Run 1 hour @ E2 maintain heartrate 138-148max – Run went well, first time I made it an hour without stopping. Controlling heartrate was the key.
Swim – Open Water Swim Practice ( OWS ) – Sprint drills – deep water starts, beach starts, double sprints with beach runs. 1 mile total distance. 30 people at training.
Bought a New Blue Triad SL Tri bike with DuraAce DI2.
400 meter swim test: 7:48
CP20 test on computrainer: 257 FTP:239
Max Run Heartrate: 177bpm