Conquering Mandeville

Last week was recovery week.  Glorious, lower volume recovery week.  Ah recovery week, how I love you.  Lower volume but in exchange higher intensity.  Lower volume = more sleep and more time not training.  Although, it also, apparently, means a visit from the hungry monster.  I was so hungry, all week long.  Seriously, ridiculous, I wanted to eat everything (I didn't eat everything, but that didn't change the fact that I was constantly hungry).  But, I still love the recovery week.  And, it came at a good time with work - launch of a new product and longer than normal hours.

I still had plenty of workouts to keep me busy all week, and I even got in the bonus run on Friday.  Yay!  (I still can't believe that I've become the kind of person who gets excited about EXTRA workouts. Who am I?)

Saturday was a "Bricktacular" workout.  There was an open water swim before practice followed by a special brick (bike/run).  I was tired and hit snooze twice on my alarm and didn't get to practice in time for the open water swim.  I love swimming, so I was actually kind of disappointed.  But, it is what it is, and there was another open water swim scheduled for the next day, so I wasn't worried about it (foreshadowing - I shouldn't have hit snooze on Saturday).

We still had to set up for two transitions and get in our wetsuits.  For T2 we had to put our stuff in a white garbage bag with our names on it and it was taken to another location (since Vineman, and I think Hawaii, have different T1 & T2 locations this would be good practice).  We started practice by running, in our westuits, down to the ocean, getting in and running around Coach Dave who was standing about waist deep in the water and then running back.  First, running in a wetsuit sucks.  Second, running in a wetsuit in sand sucks even more.  Third, the water was so damn cold my feet hurt (not gonna lie, kinda glad I missed that swim).

Then we changed and got on our bikes for the first part of the day.  We rode north from Tower 26 and did an Amalfi loop - up a windy hill and coming back down to our usual meeting spot at Ocean and San Vicente (OSV), about 9 miles.  I wasn't super fast, but I was still doing okay.  Then at OSV change for a run, 10 minutes or 1 mile, whichever came first.  I got close to a mile and was feeling good.  It was hard, but I was doing okay.  Then back on the bike for Amalfi loop number 2.  I went faster this time, by about 1.5 mph.  It was about 6 miles and then back to OSV for another 10 minute run.  I got about as far this time as I had the previous run.

After the second run we had to pack all our stuff back in our bags, tie them up and then head east on San Vicente to climb Mandeville.  Mandeville, for you non-LA folks is a 5 mile climb (with ~1,000 feet in elevation gain) in Brentwood.  We were to climb Mandeville until we reached the top and head back, or if we weren't at the top, turn around at 10:45am and head back to the start.  I began the climb figuring I wasn't going to make it all the way up based on the time (I only had about 25 minutes to go).  I was feeling good the whole way up, but unfortunately had to turn around before I made it to the top.  I've never been up Mandeville before (the other times the team has ridden it I've been injured or sick or having a mental meltdown), so I had no idea how far I had actually gotten. (When I got home I mapped it and saw I made it about half way up.) 

I headed back to Tower 26 and did my last 10 minute run.  This time I did less than the first two runs, but it was getting warm and my legs were tired.  We had a picnic and bike maintenance clinic and coach one on one's.  A lovely day.  Oh, and I wore my new Team Sun-Rype tri kit and it was really good and comfortable.  I'm going to wear it for a longer brick this weekend and see if I can handle a long ride/run in it.

Must remember not to wear a visor in pictures. I swear I have a face, even if you can't see it.
Also, please ignore bad tan lines that are forming on my legs.

So, the thing that's been slowing me down a bit on the bike, besides the uphills, is that I'm still nervous on the downhills.  I'm no longer in a death grip on the brakes every time I go downhill, so that's good.  But, I still need to get faster.  But, I had a big success on Saturday, I actually pedaled about 75% of the way back down Mandeville.  Yay!  Now, I need to pedal more and get going faster (really, I can not look at my speed or I'll totally freak out.)

Sunday morning we had open water swim again and a modified schedule for the rest of the day.  You could either just run 7 miles, or you could do another ride, climbing Mandeville all the way to the top and then run 7 miles.  I had told Coach Brad that I would be up for the ride on Saturday, I felt like I needed to conquer Mandeville, one way or another.  I woke up Sunday to get to Tower 26 for swimming, and before I left my apartment my crazy little washer/dryer unit flooded my kitchen.  It's done this before, I just need to stop using it.  So, I cleaned that up and wound up missing the swim.  :( Oh well.

I did manage to get there in time for the ride and that's where the real fun began (for me, at least).  I knew I was going to make it to the top of Mandeville, on my bike, no walking, ever, no matter what.  I kept a fairly good, steady pace and kept my bike in the middle chain ring in the front for as long as possible, saving the little ring for what I knew would be the hardest part - the top, where it gets steep.  I just kept plugging away at it.  I was close to the top when my awesome teammate Amy came riding down and turned around to ride the top bit up with me.  It was good having her there because she was able to tell me when we were close and what was coming.

As I saw the final bit of the hill I groaned a little, cause its kind of steep.  But, I was determined to do it.  I was in the lowest gear my bike would go in.  I was really close when Coach Brad came up next to me and asked me how I was.  My response?  "Don't talk to me."  I thought I might cry, or throw up, or both.  I just needed to get to the top.  And, you know what? I did.  It was hard, but totally worth it.

Woo hoo! The top.  Photo by teammate Riz

I then had to prepare myself for the descent.  The top part is steep going up, but I just started being okay with the downhills and that top part looked terrifying to ride down.  I probably sat at the top for a good 5 minutes steeling myself.

getting ready to go down

And then off I went.  And you know what, I pedaled a lot of it, most of it probably.  I did not pedal down the top part, cause, well, that bit still scared me too much.  But, the rest of it?  I rocked it.  Maybe rocked is too strong a word.  I never got about 23mph, but for me that's WAY fast.  Awesome!

Here is the elevation chart from my Garmin for the whole ride (from Tower 26 to the top of Mandeville and back).  I'm pretty impressed with myself for finally conquering it, finally!

After the ride we had a run, 7 miles.  I headed north on the beach path for 3.5 miles and then turned around to return.  I stuck to a 6:1 interval, and did good with it.  It was warm out, but I held my pace steady the whole time.  According to the pace chart I got from Coach Jason my long runs should be between 11:12 and 12:12/mile.  I did the 7 miles in 1:18:39, averaging 11:13/mile.  Not super speedy, I know, but I'm trying to stick to what the coaches tell me to do.  And, I easily, in the heat of the day, hit the low end of the pace.  I'm good with it.  

The next thing I need to do on the bike is get aero bars.  After a discussion with Coach Brad on Sunday, I've decided to wait until after Wildflower to get them.  I'm nervous, but excited.

Also over the weekend I did my timed 1.2 mile marker set.  I did it in just about the same time as last time. I wish I had improved more, but I am super excited, cause I got to use my new Garmin and it was fantastic for the swim.  Seriously, in love.  So glad I got it.  I'm such a nerd about run and bike data and now add in the swim data, totally rad.  Nerd alert right here.  Whatever, I love it.

I'm getting used to running in the heat and I'm excited about this build week and what it has in store for me.  There are some more bonus workouts, and you know what, I'm planning on doing them all.  The old, lazy version of me, she's been beaten in to submission by this new, powerful, ironman training version of me.