Hong Kong/Australia Training Report & Bike Porn - Pack a Lunch

TerryO

Pack a lunch for this one.  It's long for a training report but I think it's a pretty good anecdote.  I hope you enjoy.

Finally back on the grid after a 3 week vacation to Hong Kong and Australia.  People always wonder how they are going to get their training in on vacations or business trips, and I was no exception. This is one reason I wanted to do this repor; so you all could hopefully learn from my experience and gain the confidence in knowing that it can be done.  Due to this trip, I started the JOS 2 weeks early so I could be finished during my trip and be able to do OS style workouts until I was back, then hop into a little rest before starting race training.  It was also important to me to keep exercising to maintain as much as possible the body comp improvements I've made over the last 3 months.  That being said, vacation for me is vacation which means I eat and drink what I want.  This also coincides with the importance of SAU's.  I needed to earn a bunch heading into this season considering it's another IM year and because I have given this year's OS more time and effort than in years past.  And this year I have regained my motivation and am determined to have yet another breakthrough year of racing.  That will require more committment, and therefore, more SAU's.

Just for a little more background, for those that don't know me, the last year and a half has been crazy for me.  Two years ago I moved to Alaska in the middle of training for IMAZ 2011.  I had been making steady, solid gains in my fitness and my initial experience in Alaska was good culminating in a breakthrough performance in Tempe.  Soon after, the job in Alaska was turning out to be crap which meant I was looking for another job and staring another huge move in the face.  As I was signed up for IMCDA, I was IM training, indoors, with all the other $hit going on in my life.  I was not into it mentally.  I had already been losing motivation for months, and with everything else going on, I just wasn't into it.  This culminated in a lackluster showing in CDA.  Fast forward 6 months and I'm settled in a new place (Duluth, MN) and a new, much better, job.  I decide this is the year I buy my superbike.  I ordered a custom painted, Trek SC 9.9 with the new 11 speed Di2.  Estimated delivery date...November, 2012.  I sold my previous bike and on the day I shipped it to it's new owner, actually while I was standing at the FedEx counter, I received an email that the bike was delayed at least a month.  December....no bike.  The bike shop loaned me a SC 7 series and I started the JOS using TR and virtual power.  January turned into February turned into March with no bike.  The Di2 system was holding things up, the crankset in particular.  During this time, power meter selection was happening and was much more difficult than I had anticipated with an 11 speed drivetrain and a desire to go to a 52/36 compact.  That is a whole other story.  Finally, after almost 6 months, my bike showed up.  But because of a huge debacle trying to coordinate acquisition and shipping of a back ordered Quarq PM (Elsa) and 11 speed compatible chainrings (Stronglight - ordered from Power2max distributor in Canada), a bike store that is 150 miles away, and a long stretch of call prior to my vacation, there my bike would sit.  I was ultimately able to take delivery and have my formal fit the day before I left the country.

My trip and training went like this.  I kept the days and workouts recorded according to US times/dates to avoid confusion in my WKO+ and so I didn't need to change my Garmin 910XT.  All runs were recorded with Garmin + footpod, rides recorded manually in WKO+ with estimated IF's to keep some record of TSS, and swims with Garmin.  All runs were on treadmills except for 4 runs when I was in Sydney.  All rides were on stationary bikes including 3 spin classes.  Two of my swims were in the ocean at the Great Barrier Reef.

• Monday before trip:  swim drills, run with Vdot test (new PR at 19:30), and OS bike with TR
• Tuesday before trip:  travel to Minneapolis and get new bike.  Short workout with fit.
• Wednesday:  short ride on new bike (brought my trainer down there) prior to flying to Los Angeles
• Thursday:  bike and run at hotel prior to flying to Hong Kong
• Friday:  off while flying and getting situated in Hong Kong
• Saturday and Sunday:  hotel pool swim, 2 runs, one ride then fly to Sydney Sunday night
• Monday-Wednesday in Sydney:  hotel pool swim, 2 outdoor runs, one ride prior to boarding cruise ship - click here to see my run around Sydney Harbor and the Sydney Opera House
• Thursday-following Friday while cruising:  2 open water swims, 6 runs, 7 rides, and 1 cross training session
• Saturday-Sunday in Sydney:  2 outdoor runs - click here to see my run across Sydney Harbor Bridge then back again to loop around the Opera House
• Monday-Wednesday:  flying back to LA, then Minnesota, then driving home to Duluth - rest
• Thursday:  home and on the new bike, still in the basement due to the huge winter storm

Here are some pictures from one of my runs in Sydney.  That's my cruise ship.

So to summarize:  3 weeks of training (Monday to Sunday), 3 countries, and 10 days on a cruise ship.  Two full days in Hong Kong and 4 full days in Sydney.  Approximately 23 hours as 12 rides, 14 runs, 5 swims, and 1 cross training session.  That includes 2 S/B/R days, 7 B/R bricks, and 1 S/B brick.  It also includes my biggest run week ever (5 hours 7 minutes - 40 miles).  And of course I got to run across the Sydney Harbor Bridge (twice), around the Sydney Opera House (4 times), and open water swim at the Great Barrier Reef (twice).  Unfortunately I didn't take the time to swim in one of the many 50 meter pools, oceanside, in the Sydney area.  And with all this training, I managed to have an awesome vacation and earned tons of SAU's.  And I only gained about 8 pounds in the process.  All in all a great time.

So now that I'm home, I'm back on my bike and my training has not suffered a bit.  Yesterday's ride which was supposed to just get the cobwebs from the stationary bikes out ended up being an hour with a suprisingly easy feeling .9 IF.  I'm sensing an FTP bump at my next test.  Here are some pictures of the new bike.  Pay particular attention to the sweet EN paint colors and my signature on the top tube.  I know, I know.  It would look cooler with race wheels, but I don't own them, I rent them.  Will look much sweeter with a set of Zipps at Racine.  Thanks for reading.

MattAaronson

Awesome!! That's a crapton of training for a vacation. I went to Hawaii for 10 days and got in two runs and 3 swims in a resort pool...so props to you for makin' it happen. Love the bike and can't wait to see it in action at Racine!!

Bill McKee

Thanks for the writeup Terry. What a great vacation and it's great you could use training to see some of Hong Kong and Sydney sights. Those pics of the harbor are great!

Your new Bike is amazing. I remember your writeup this winter of that new Stages powermeter and wonder if you went with that and how you like it (once you get some miles on your new bike once the snow melts in June up there).

Glad you are feeling your IM mojo again. Always enjoyed reading your RRs. Good luck this season and see you at Racine

(PS I clicked on your Garmin maps but it said "You do not have sufficient privileges to view the activity with id 295035921.".... Maybe you can switch it to public-viewing...)

TerryO

@ Bill - I ended up not getting the Stages PM due to issues with availability of the PM and of the Dura Ace crankset. Both were delaying my bike delivery. My brother got one though and he is having no perceived issues with it.

I'm not sure why the link isn't working. I've made my workouts publicly viewable but I must be doing something else wrong.

TerryO

OK the links are now fixed and workouts are now viewable.

Dino Sarti

I love the sticker! Soooo pro!