IM Plan: Wed Bike FTP session reflection (with data)
This season marks three years of following the EN OS and Ironman Plans. Overall this is my 4th year of Triathlon. During this season’s IM build I have finally enjoyed some success with the Wed FTP bike session. I'm just finishing up week 18 about to do RR2. Previous to this season, I have had a very poor track record with the Wed interval session or what I like to call, “what’s wrong with my legs/mind” bike session. This season has been a completely different story. I have been able to execute the mid week interval sessions very consistently and without much fuss.
I wanted to share this for those other folks who might also be struggling with the Wed session or really any particular session during the week. Persistence has paid off.
Of course, any other comments or thoughts are welcome.
Contributing factors of my success 
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1. Generally just better at managing the fatigue and a better understanding of how to execute an IM plan after having already done it two times. When feeling tired I swam easy or Ran more by feel versus sticking to what’s in the plan. BTW, I have only taken 4 days off since July 1. So super consistent, but not crushing myself into dust 
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2. BIG FACTOR I believe is the new Long ride guidance, “race pace plus”. I’ve tried to be much smarter while riding on Saturday. Clearly my body and mind are responding to the new guidance. Previous, 45 plus minutes of zone 4 work within a long ride would often leave me excessively drained. Add to this a Sunday ABP ride and this was a bit much for me to recover from. After IMFL 2012, I was giving this a lot of thought. I underperformed my bike primarily due to getting sea sick during the swim, but also because of lack of race experience and maybe some lack of proper fitness at the .70IF range. Overall, I still had a good day managing an 11:54 and a 4:04 run. BUT, I was left wondering if next time I really needed to focus more on Race Pace type efforts and riding steady.
3. I have been Mr. Consistent for training since 2010. IMLP 2011, IMFL 2012, Chesapeake Man 140.6 2013 (currently in week 18 of IM Plan).
I decided to review my Sat and Wed bike rides from 2012 and 2013. This was a good exercise to do. I now have better perspective on my 2012 season by looking at the data. See table below.
Besides my Wed interval session improvement, one other point stood out to me as I reviewed my data. For IMFL 2012, I had done 4-6 longer (2:30-3:30) rides previous to the 12-14 week build of the IM Plan. I had also done a bike focus week as 6 sessions at 2-3 hours per session. Gearing up for a late season IM, I think the numbers also show I was a little more burned out than I realized during the second half of the IMFL build. You can see how I road stronger in the beginning weeks of training for Florida and kind of fizzled out (duration). I did do RR2 and a few more rides in 2012 that I’m not showing. Late season, plus too much early training, and BBW left me a little fried for IMFL. I didn't really understand this at the time.
For 2013, I showed up 12 weeks out in very good OS type shape. I did have multiple 90 minute runs under my belt but had zero long rides over 90 minutes. Those first two long rides were not comfortable but after a few weeks my body adjusted and as a result in week 18 my mind is a bit fresher than in past seasons. I think the 2013 data also shows my fitness growing over the last few weeks as well. Overall, being able to execute a solid mid week FTP session has left me feeling strong and confident with my bike strength. I’m also very certain of my FTP as I can do 2x20 or 3x15 all within a solid zone 4 range. I also think come this OS, I will be in much better shape to do the FTP work and continue the upward climb of my FTP numbers.
Some data. Data is side by side showing Saturday long ride followed by the next weeks Wed bike FTP session.
|
2012 Data |
Intensity Factor |
Duration |
2013 Data |
Intensity Factor |
Duration |
|
Long Ride |
.81 |
4:02 |
Long Ride |
.70 |
3:14 |
|
Interval Session |
.78 |
:40 |
Interval Session |
.87 |
:58 |
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Long Ride |
.68 (big day) |
4:21 |
Long Ride |
.70 |
3:05 |
|
Interval Session |
.79 |
:42 |
Interval Session |
.88 |
:53 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Long Ride |
.87 |
4:06 |
Long Ride |
.69 (big Day) |
4:10 |
|
Interval Session |
.63 |
:44 |
Interval Session |
.91 |
:59 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Long Ride |
.67 (RR1) |
5:59 |
Long Ride |
.72 |
3:31 |
|
Interval Session |
.76 |
:42 |
Interval Session |
.90 |
:51 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Long Ride |
.76 |
3:15 |
Long Ride |
.74 |
3:33 |
|
Interval Session |
.79 |
:51 |
Interval Session |
.91 |
:58 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Long Ride |
.71 |
3:03 |
Long Ride |
.74 |
3:58 |
|
Interval Session |
.78 |
1:00 |
Interval Session |
.87 |
:50 |
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Long Ride |
.69 (RR1) |
6:05 |
|
|
|
|
Interval Session |
.89 |
:55 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Long Ride |
.76 |
3:56 |
|
|
|
|
Interval Session |
.92 |
:59 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Long Ride |
.71 |
3:58 |
|
|
|
|
Interval session 9/4/2013 |
.92 |
:52 |
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