Short Course WKOs week of April 22
Monday is a rest day for me (although that's not how the plan is written... Sssshhh don't tell) but wanted to get the thread set up for all you non-slackers. 
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I am sleeping IN till 0545AM.
Swam tonight, per plan, but own production for variety. 3400 SCY in 1:00, mix of swim, pull and kick, very hot pool as I am on the road so went to DFW/ Irving LA Fitness and swam in their pool. Yep water was like 84F, blah...
Some 200s went down in 2:38@3:00 send off, otherwise another routine swim......Have good night, see you all tomorrow.
Waking early tomorrow to hit the 60 min bike & 40 min run. The bike includes the 10 x 1' (1'). Ever notice how your job often gets in the way of training?
Today I am on week #8 on the 20 week short course plan. Where is everyone else? I am taking the rest of the week easy to kinda taper for my first sprint triathlon of the season this Saturday (200m swim, 10mi bike, 2 mi run). Looking forward to seeing the triathlon community come together again as another season opens up. After all this OS/Run focus/Bike bike week training it'll be good just to go out and race!
Joe- I'm on week 15 of SC plan. Race is Rev3 Quassy Oly.
Did bike tonight w/ 8' ON and then 1 mile on the treadmill. I just started a low carb diet to burn some fat. I always that that wouldn't work for athletes but science says it does so I'll give it a shot. I am a little nervous about WKOs and I think that screwed me up mentally. Able to hit 1.20-1.3IF on the VO2 intervals but cut the run short. I want to try to save my energy to get all the MS part of the WKOs done and skip the Z3 or non-essential stuff. We'll see how it goes...
Good morning gang. It is my work week and my posting lags so does the order of my workouts gets turned upside down. Very typical during my work week as I travel and every day is a 12-13hr day, so, I really take each as it comes and have to juggle a lot. Please forgive me for being out of order with workouts.
Kim-nice job, consistent and have to listen to body for sure, I dug holes before.
Jim-nice swim improvement for sure, wish I could find 10sec somewhere
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Joe- great to have you here posting with us.
I am in week 17 of 20, SC Adv. Tuesday brought the heaviness in my legs typical of either overachieving catching up or humidity in AM at Orange County, LA, was 60F and 67% humidity. Had to take the run first as there was no stationary bike where I started, flew into SNA than out on the run.
MS: 20min as 10min@HMP+10min@TP, total 45min, it went down as 7mi in 52min, avg 7:32, WU 2mi......+CD 2mi
I did not hit the 20min correct, shortened it to 15min or so, legs felt heavy and I was sweating much heavier than usual which lead me to believe humidity had it's effect. HMP=6:45 pace and I did hit it on the way out, RPE was way high, HR lagging but eventually was showing that I could not sustain that as it kept climbing. Turned at 10min mark and had few interruptions for traffic, accelerated to TP=6:35 pace, than just quit 5min early. Fail.
The bike workout was VO2max. I ended in SEA and given that I could not produce pace this morning I made a decision to take advantage of nearby pool, so give legs a break and go swim. I have hard time finding pools on the road so I could not pass up along knowing that bike workout would have been sub par.
The swim: SEA YMCA, SCY, 3000 in 45min, MS own production but similar to EN, EN was 4x500, mine was:
500@7:00 pull/ 2x250@3:45 at T+2sec, held 3:23/ 500@7:00 pull/ 5x100@1:30 at T, all went down as 1:18
I felt much better and giving legs a break was a good decision.
This AM in SEA, before leaving, bike VO2 from yesterday, all on stationary bike, so no numbers. It went solid.
Since I shuffled stuff around, today's run goes tomorrow and I will loose Thursday's bike. Oh, well........Shame on me for overachieving last week. Listen to coaches, don't do it. It does catch up.
Have a great day and will be reading this today as you post.
I'm coming out of JAN OS & 1 TW onto 9 wks of SC - so starting on week 12 of the 20 wk training plan. First time doing the SC plans. 3rd yr w/EN. Current w/kg at approx 3.15.
Came out of OS w/a hip injury that is steadily improving and actually resulting in more flexibility than pre-injury - so this will be good in long run. But for the last 4 weeks its been slow easy runs for me. I last tested at a vDot of 45.xx and I was definitely on track for a bump to 46 pre-injury. Just now starting to add back some z2 / z3 speed work. The bike went well - ended up at 290 FTP, but I know there is a lot more improvement there. I swam all winter doing workouts similar to what the SC plan calls for. I'm basically at a 1:45 per 100m pace (about 17:50iish for 1000 meters) - about where I usually at mid-summer.
Tuesday did the bike wko which called for 2x20. @ FTP. Since I just tested a week ago and got new zones I knew I wasn't gonna be able to hold z4 for 2 x 20 (like wk 9 of OS) - so I modified and did 2 x 10 @ .95 / .95 and 1 x 8 @ .94 plus 12" of RT @ .80. I will keep lengthening the FTP intervals as I progress thru SC plan.
And of course I got a bit of a spring fever (headache and sore throat) so I'm not gonna swim today, may do a light run instead. Will likely add a swim over weekend.
Got my 1st Oly of the year in 10 days (just a b/c race).
Glad we got a place to post daily stuff - does force some accountability to the training.
Pete- Thx, so glad to be back. Missed the crowd very much. Looking forward to following your work. Like how you break up the new FTP ints, gradually building. I will likely do the same. I tested at the start of SC @270W, 3.8 w/kg, suspecting I am around 275W now but will likely not test again in a while, will race based of 270W and poor any extra into the run. Did not test my run in very long time. All the interval work points to much below 19min 5k but will confirm with racing. Have to find one that fits in schedule, flat, no wind.....
too picky, I am.
San Diego, marina path, this AM, found a .75mi stretch, today ran yesterday's run, MS 3x1200m @IP with full recoveries, weather 57F, rain, humidity 100%, calm- no wind.
7.58mi in 59:25, avg 7:50, rTSS 96.1, opted for no HMP as I want to recover, avg pace shows that, runs are slower without it....
int 1 pace 5:58 HR 159/166, recovery 4:30min, I use 1:1 for full recovery on IP
int 2 pace 5:58 HR 166/171, recovery 4:30min
int 3 pace 6:08 HR 166/171 , here I backed off in the second half, no agonizing, just wanted smooth hard effort.....
Now to work. Friday........than weekend, looking forward to it. Bummer is my E112 is in the shop for Brzza II install, they found a crack in the steerer tube....no powermeter for me this weekend likely and will have to set myself either on my road bike or Slice 5 that I have for these reasons, will have to get the whole thing set up. No power is a bummer.
Aleksandar- Speaking of San Diego, I did the 5k there in March for my test. Do you travel there often? If so, run that 5k course and I guarantee a fast time! (And associated target paces to go with it!) Last 2 miles are downhill. Which is why I don't stress about missing my paces in training. I suspect my time was 60-90 secs. faster as a result of the course. I'm doing a new 5k on Sat. so we'll see. And yes, no power definitely blows!
VO2 bike tonight.....
Well I took Wed and Thurs day off due to my annual spring fever. This Fri AM I did the Thurs bike wlo which called for 2 x 15 @ z4. I modified to 1 x 12, and 2 x 8s and hit .96 or .95 on all 3. We'll see how the body feels rest of day. So far fever is just in head and sinuses - not in chest or muscles and I haven't had the whooping cough yet. Would like to run this evening. I think swimming in cold pool would be the worse thing to do.
Unlike Pete - I also took off the last couple of days, not because of spring fever, but to taper for a sprint triathlon. Yesterday at packe pick-up, the race director said the outdoor pool might get up to 70 dgrees. So, I repaired my short john and brought it out of retirement. I did a rehearsal today and if it was 65, I'd be surprised! Shortness of breath, disorientation, nausea, the normal "hey this is cold" stuff we all know. Although it is only 200 yds, I can't imagine doing it without a wetsuit of some kind. Amazing, we work hard to get our body comp down and then swim in way cold water. No Alcatraz for me! 54 degrees this year - yikes!
So - hope everyone is training well and I look forward getting on with week #9!
Kim- great job on those IFs that is solid. I am really random with travel. I am a fractional pilot, Netjets to be exact. My 7 days are a total random chaos with no pattern. So it happened to be SAN. Today I am inbound from NYC to Palm Springs and Orange County.........I am getting tired of that.
Thanks for that course suggestion gonna have to look it up. It never hurts to have a flat piece of land with EN training 3x1200 would suck uphill, but would do it if I have to.
Pete- great work too. Nice and even.
Joe-thanks, been working on it. Ran a lot this Fall, just all easy and trail stuff but at 50-60mi/ week. Now EN flavor does a wonderful job of bringing that speed out. I am no really fast runner but ok just could never translate that in tri racing. Looking to change that this year.
Swam at Teterboro NJ, 3000 SCY in 50min all my own production, all IM swimming FL/BK.....that odd ball stuff that fish does, felt great and never challenged my motivation. I struggle to swim alone due to previous years mega swimming mostly in solitude. 5000 and 6000y are no fun alone. Done that long enough to burn out. Now attention span very short in the water.
More posting for the weekend. It will be crazy, travel home plus my swimmers have a 3 day meet that starts today.......
Interesting job. You've certainly got my respect as a pilot. Always on - can't be off in the cabin as a professional!
Joe- Good luck at the sprint! Guess the cold water is extra incentive to go faster, right?
Decent swim today. 4 x 200, 5 x 150, 200 for fun to round at a mile. Hit TT pace for all (or close enough for me) but I think it was supposed to be TT minus 2-3secs. Maybe next time. Then I got a massage. Very relaxing!
Weight is also coming down a bit faster since I am totally off carbs. (Thats a topic for another thread which I will start this week as week 1 of carb-free wraps up)
5k tomorrow... I know I won't beat my San Diego time of 28:08 but I want to get under 30'. (5k in Jan. was 30:36 so that should be doable)
So, it's back to training and the run intervals tomorrow. 1mi @ Z4 and 3 X 800m @Z5. This hard work pays off - but it is still hard work that has to be done. Meanwhile - time to do some BBQ and a beer or two!
@Kim - I will read your carb free diet. I'd like to tweek mine a bit, but won't give up beer until Lent next year. Good luck on your race and be sure to post!
I haven't been doing too much crazy stuff in terms of training, mostly just getting back in a good routine of quality workouts for the past few weeks. Did about ~25 min of FTP time for each of my bike workouts this week. I'm aiming for a half-marathon in late June, so I'm really focusing on getting good run workouts consistently every week. Namely, I'm putting a quality track workout, hilly run, and long run on my weekly schedule.
Admittingly I've been kinda spotty on my swimming recently, which really shouldn't be happening, heh...
Trainin'. More hill training in my future. I am going to adjust my vdot based on this race vs. my previous 5k which had 2miles of downhills.
First outdoor ride on the bike today! 25.5mi in 1:43, overall .82IF. Got in some Z4 intervals in between lights but otherwise fairly easy paced... Just nice to get out there!
9' @ .96IF
8' @ .93IF
7' @ .93IF
7' @ .92
35' @ .77IF
Then 1mi around the hood at Z1 pace. Next time I'll take off the thermal bike tights from the morning chilly ride before I run when the temp has risen 15 degrees. Ouch!
Beautiful day here in CT! Going to enjoy a bit before "the boss" calls me in to the office to help build more furniture. I should have a season's worth of SAUs between last weekend and this!
Sub30 is in your near future Kim - I know it. Just keep doin the work.
Friday evening I did an adhoc 3 mile run - just ran as fast as I could w/o stressing my hip. No garmin w/me so don't know exact pace but I'm sure I got some 7:30 or better time in there which felt good. Saturday biked outdoor for about 2hrs searching for every hill I know to get some V02 work in. BIG BONEHEAD MOVE - got flat tire, and ran thru both air cartridges before I realized I put the same punctured tube back in tire rather one of the 2 new ones! STUPID ME! A good samaritan gave me another cartridge and I made it home. Talk about a brain freeze.
Sunday - golf @ 6am (yes I know - crazy) - home by 10am. 6 mile tempo run - felt good. Sore for about 1hr afterwards but then goes away. Progress I believe.
@Kim - like RnP said on one of those podcasts, a test in itself is a workout that will make you stronger. So, it wasn't a wasted effort! Building furniture - interesting job. When I lived in North Carolina 2005-09 that was a vanishing business!
@Anson - good to see you back in a forum!
Kim and Joe- congrats on your races, Kim every race is a fitness gain opportunity, it is all good. Joe that was a good sprint, good bike split, like that.
Anson- the more the merrier, great to have you here with us.
Joe- you would be surprised how alert the auto-pilot is all the time
Yeah, silly stuff like 6x400FR+16x100IM main set, remember sinking after that one couple of years ago. While I was with EN, the Head Coach I worked for offered to manage my swim training, so that was her cookbook, 3-4x week 5000-6000y per day, mix FR+ all strokes.....all of that during OS, you know where I ended, off the cliff.....
Weekend is over. Glad. Travel home, kids swim meet, my training, preparing the training week for the team.....Very briefly, day by day:
Sat: plan 4x800IP+2x1miTP, did 3x800IP paces 5:54 5:55 6:00, 1x1mi 6:25 pace, 1x.75mi 6:35 pace, shut it down for 10mi in 75min
Sun: 2x20min(4min) on HR only, was pretty hard int 1 HR 152/157 avg speed 23.83, int 2 HR 158/163 avg speed 24.67
course, flat loop, wind s@10mph, 74F, humidity 57%, ride total 40mi, 1:59:xx, was very dehydrated, dry mouth..........had 2 bottles of Infinit along, needed more water and sodium
run: brick ended terribly in cramps, only 10min@HMP and cramped up pretty badly
I am taking today off likely, maybe swim with the team very easy, than will eyeball tomorrow, I am plateauing with run paces as I am getting tired and not able to produce speed. That is a first sign for me. My peak IP paces have been stagnant for the last 3 weeks and I likely going to easy off to recover in order to be able to produce high paces. Tomorrow will be key. I have usually needed recovery 3-5 days every 3 weeks or so. I have not taken those now into 5th week. I am 42 and recovery is the key.
Will be posting tomorrow again for tonight and tomorrow's work. Keep it up.