Wow, I'm impressed with everyones numbers this week. I'm really starting to get burnt.
This is my last weekend in the OS... I wanted to thank everyone for the motivation to keep going and hit my numbers! I have IM 70.3 Oceanside next weekend and then I start getting ready for IM CDA.
Holy hard workout Batman! Wow, I have major respect for anyone who actually did the 2x20, 5x2, 2x15 as wrote. I got most of it done then tanked about halfway into my first 15 minute interval. I got a flat as well during the first 20 min set. 2x20 295, 297 TSS 119. IF .91 Wow that was hard
Did the Expo TT yesterday. And while the only person I was faster than was Steve Ford, and only because he ate a hot dog during the event, I was still faster than ME LAST YEAR!!
I had a blast. Have been questioning whether I was digging myself into a hole and got my answer yesterday. Less than 1 mile into the TT, my legs were ready to quit. And twice more during the event, I actually was having that "why am I pushing myself so hard? I can just sit up and easy pedal, no one will care" discussion.
My PMC chart does not clearly indicate fatigue. I was actually +0.2 yesterday. But I am feeling something completely less than rested. So I skipped the Saturday planned ride and run.
Today I got up and decided to meet some new folks for a ride. I had the sense this would be a very mellow ride, and I was right. One guy showed up on a hybrid, clipless pedals, AND A KICK STAND!!!! Really nice people.
Here's a tip: You will never make new friends if you drop them on the ride and they get lost.
Yes that is what happened. I was with the lead group. We stopped a few times to regroup, but folks were saying it was all good as there were 3 distinct groups. The girl that had sent out the invite was in the middle group. First group, we got back to the park and waited. We were all ready to throw another loop and wanted to see who else was interested. Then the BOP group arrived. UH-OH! So myself and another woman did some serious TT work trying to find the lost folks. Got a text that they were OK and we headed back. My new TT friend is doing IMAZ. We hope to hook up for some training rides. I don't think the other girl wants to see my face again. Oops....
No one wanted to do a 2nd loop by that point. Half the total group was planning to run and the other half was going to SWIM!! Seriously- the ice just melted last week! Crazy!!
As much as I want to run, gorgeous weather and all. I know I need more standing down. So this weekend, I did not complete a single workout.
Way to go Michele, looking at some of the other OS threads you and me aren't the only ones who the VO2 stuff is beating up on. I couldn't finish yesterday either. I did nail my run today 2x2 @ 6:15 rest at LRP which is about 7:45 (I went a little faster the last few miles like 7:30). Felt great took my dog with he is now snoring at my feet. Got 10.5 miles in. My longest run of the season. I'm still thinking of doing the Drake Half Marathon in about a month. Have fun at the beach Marianne! I'll go shovel some snow or something.
Like Michele, I tried something new today, running with a group, something I never, ever do. Five of us, in Tacoma's Pt. Defiance Park, which is filled with one-ways roads and myriad trails. Everyone had a different agenda, so the "group" was together for about 20 minutes, and folks kept peeling off and on, but it was friendly and worked for all. I got my 90 minutes in, including the time at Z4, which ended up being more like hill intervals than anything else, due to the terrain. I saw some new geography, like running along puget sound in a spot where I'd never been before (lived here 30 years!). It did make the time go better. Oddly, the guy who organizes this (a member of my local tri club) is training for a May 2nd marathon, and so was doing 2.5 hours, but took NO WATER or other fluid during the 90 minutes I ran with him. How is that possible? I carried 32 oz of Gatorade, and drank it all on this grey 50 degree morning.
I got up Saturday morning for the race and it felt okay, but as a test, I did the stand on one foot... I couldn't do it on the right leg. So, with a heavy heart I bagged the race. I did do the posted Saturday workout (which, I might add, when it's 70 and gorgeous outside, having to sit on trainer for 90 minutes sucked... damn cat). But I rode my heart out wearing the race shirt for inspiration!
I tried the week 6 posted run this week - heading out I told myself that if it bugged me after the 10 min WU I would turn around and walk home. I did the WU, the 1.5mi @Z4, the 6" recover, then walked home. I chose a flat 3 mile loop to be on the safe side, so it worked out perfectly. The ankle wasn't killing me, but it wasn't right and so I decided to cut my losses.
On a happy note, I hit the pool today as is my standard Sunday afternoon -- typically alternating 250s of swimming and kicking to rest my hand. Well, drumroll.... I did 250 and felt ok, so I did 500 straight swimming. Took a minute off and tried another. No problems... I SWAM an entire mile (with breaks every 500). No kickboards. No real pain. Woo Hoo!!! That makes up for scratching my half.
I hope you all had great weekends... Mike, I hope you had a great half mary today!
looking forward to my day off.... I think I'll nix the running until Friday (as opposed to Wed) to give me more time to rest, ice, etc.... thanks for all the advice in that regard!
Well training was off this week with work travel butI finally got in my week 20 FTT. I went for it and blew up. On week 8 and 14 I felt that I left a few watts on the table so I went out strong but could not hold it. It hit 220 for the test which was exactly the same as week 14. 234 for the 1st 20' and 209 for the final 20'.
I'm not concerned because I will now take 1 week off, from everything and then come back in week 13 for the run with this group. Week 14 I will test again so that's really why I went for it and did not go with a more conservative test. I believe that I could have hit 225, but 220 is what I get for the Nov OS as that's the numbers I put up. For reference I started in week 2 with a test (work travel and new PT wheel) at 180, so a 40 watt gain was great. My goal was 216 or 20%.
Looking for a few more watts in weeks 14-20 of the Jan OS. I'll set out my goal right here as 235 for the end of the Jan OS. It's probably a stretch but why not go for it.
After yesterday's monster brick and last night's occluded sleep I had low expectations for today's run; I simply pried myself out the door and hoped for the best. Against all hope I had a great run: 4x1/2 mile, then 1x1 mile, all@z4. I finished thrilled with the week; I hit every workout as written and then some. I'm getting fit!
@Dan- I saw your post and knew that we were in the same place. I did the Power Clinic, so I did not do the OS weeks 2-7 biking. I am going to stay on the run plan, but back the biking down to only FTP work. I can not do short and intense for biking and running at the same time. I think this is why after OS last year I was burned out and decided against any long course racing. I want to be smarter this year. I am taking a lesson from others and standing down (hopefully) before I can't get out of the hole without some serious long rest. Good for you that you got the run done.
@Al- Sounds like you had fun! Way to go! I did have a good time too. I just want to be invited back!
@Becky- bummer on the race, ankle, and having to ride indoors. But YAY! for the swimming! The healing is happening!
@Gordon- there is a lot of fatigue by week 20. If you get some rest, you will definitely see that you made more progress than that.
@Bill- you are still my hero for riding outside last week. Linda quotes you often and I am listening hard to all of the guidance about rest.
Everyone is working so hard, and it sounds like several are hitting the edge of what our bodies want to let us do. For me, I am loving it - I know when I have to just force through or even miss part of the plan, that I am working. Work Works!! Be sure to let your bodies talk to you - get plenty of sleep, eat well, and keep moving forward.
Getting back to the work week here, but wanted to drop a quick note to thank everyone for their good wishes on my 1/2 mary yesterday. The race went well, with a 1:39:55. Not a PR, but right on my target for the race. Avg pace: 7:33, range: 7:16 - 7:49. What was really great was watching my wife, Vicki, finish her first half marathon - Priceless.
What a great Sunday it was - bit cooler than it was the previous few days, but I'll take near 60 and sunny. 2 x 1/2 (4:08, 4:06) 1 x 1m (8:22) 2x 1/2 (4:18, 3:57)
@Al - You are rock solid man! Way to put it to the young guns. I concur with Bill. @Peter - Congrats on finishing the OS and good luck at Oceanside! @Dan - I hear you on the Saturday rides...I hit mine solidly last weekend (hardest trainer ride for me yet this year), but the VO2 work plus lack of rest caught up to me on this past Saturday's ride (details below). Lesson learned: get a quality rest day the day before with good sleep the night of. @Becky - Rest, rest, rest. Give that ankle the break it's screaming for so you can get back on the horse. @Gordon - 40 watt gain! That's huge @Mike - Nice race yesterday! And tell Vickie congrats for me - I'm so happy for her. @Andrew - Keep posting those numbers. Great run, keep it up.
As I mentioned above, I struggled with the Saturday ride after hitting the VO2max sessions hard on Tues and Thurs, bike commuting to/from work on Friday (40 miles of easy spinning) and less-than-normal sleep. I wasn't too worried about not hitting the interval watt targets exactly as I would be doiing my first running race on Sunday since the injury, but I got in the 2 hours at decent effort followed by an easy 15' brick run.
Sunday was the Shamrock Shuffle 8K which is the largest 8K in the world through downtown Chicago. Plan was to see how I felt in the first mile and then decide if I wanted to use the race as my first test of Vdot since the injury. I felt awesome before the gun even went off. Plan was to go out conservatively in the first mile at just under a 7:00 pace then reasssess. Well, I felt great throughout so I went with it. Here are the splits:
Mile 1: 6:29 Mile 2: 6:19 Mile 3: 6:11 Mile 4: 5:56 Mile 5: 5:57 Overall time: 30:55 Vdot=53.4 (only down 2.6 Vdot pts from peak form of last season) - pretty stocked about that. I thought my run fitness was down much more than that after the long break.
Time to finally start the OS run workouts to reach my goal of surpassing last season's 56 Vdot.
Comments
This is my last weekend in the OS... I wanted to thank everyone for the motivation to keep going and hit my numbers!
I have IM 70.3 Oceanside next weekend and then I start getting ready for IM CDA.
Good luck everyone on the rest of the OS!
Peter
2x20 295, 297
TSS 119.
IF .91
Wow that was hard
the rest of you take care!
Did the Expo TT yesterday. And while the only person I was faster than was Steve Ford, and only because he ate a hot dog during the event, I was still faster than ME LAST YEAR!!
I had a blast. Have been questioning whether I was digging myself into a hole and got my answer yesterday. Less than 1 mile into the TT, my legs were ready to quit. And twice more during the event, I actually was having that "why am I pushing myself so hard? I can just sit up and easy pedal, no one will care" discussion.
My PMC chart does not clearly indicate fatigue. I was actually +0.2 yesterday. But I am feeling something completely less than rested. So I skipped the Saturday planned ride and run.
Today I got up and decided to meet some new folks for a ride. I had the sense this would be a very mellow ride, and I was right. One guy showed up on a hybrid, clipless pedals, AND A KICK STAND!!!! Really nice people.
Here's a tip: You will never make new friends if you drop them on the ride and they get lost.
Yes that is what happened. I was with the lead group. We stopped a few times to regroup, but folks were saying it was all good as there were 3 distinct groups. The girl that had sent out the invite was in the middle group. First group, we got back to the park and waited. We were all ready to throw another loop and wanted to see who else was interested. Then the BOP group arrived. UH-OH! So myself and another woman did some serious TT work trying to find the lost folks. Got a text that they were OK and we headed back. My new TT friend is doing IMAZ. We hope to hook up for some training rides. I don't think the other girl wants to see my face again. Oops...
.
No one wanted to do a 2nd loop by that point. Half the total group was planning to run and the other half was going to SWIM!! Seriously- the ice just melted last week! Crazy!!
As much as I want to run, gorgeous weather and all. I know I need more standing down. So this weekend, I did not complete a single workout.
I did nail my run today 2x2 @ 6:15 rest at LRP which is about 7:45 (I went a little faster the last few miles like 7:30). Felt great took my dog with he is now snoring at my feet. Got 10.5 miles in. My longest run of the season. I'm still thinking of doing the Drake Half Marathon in about a month.
Have fun at the beach Marianne! I'll go shovel some snow or something.
What a gorgeous weekend in DC!
I got up Saturday morning for the race and it felt okay, but as a test, I did the stand on one foot... I couldn't do it on the right leg. So, with a heavy heart I bagged the race. I did do the posted Saturday workout (which, I might add, when it's 70 and gorgeous outside, having to sit on trainer for 90 minutes sucked... damn cat). But I rode my heart out wearing the race shirt for inspiration!
I tried the week 6 posted run this week - heading out I told myself that if it bugged me after the 10 min WU I would turn around and walk home. I did the WU, the 1.5mi @Z4, the 6" recover, then walked home. I chose a flat 3 mile loop to be on the safe side, so it worked out perfectly. The ankle wasn't killing me, but it wasn't right and so I decided to cut my losses.
On a happy note, I hit the pool today as is my standard Sunday afternoon -- typically alternating 250s of swimming and kicking to rest my hand. Well, drumroll.... I did 250 and felt ok, so I did 500 straight swimming. Took a minute off and tried another. No problems... I SWAM an entire mile (with breaks every 500). No kickboards. No real pain. Woo Hoo!!!
That makes up for scratching my half.
I hope you all had great weekends... Mike, I hope you had a great half mary today!
looking forward to my day off.... I think I'll nix the running until Friday (as opposed to Wed) to give me more time to rest, ice, etc.... thanks for all the advice in that regard!
Well training was off this week with work travel but I finally got in my week 20 FTT. I went for it and blew up. On week 8 and 14 I felt that I left a few watts on the table so I went out strong but could not hold it. It hit 220 for the test which was exactly the same as week 14. 234 for the 1st 20' and 209 for the final 20'.
I'm not concerned because I will now take 1 week off, from everything and then come back in week 13 for the run with this group. Week 14 I will test again so that's really why I went for it and did not go with a more conservative test. I believe that I could have hit 225, but 220 is what I get for the Nov OS as that's the numbers I put up. For reference I started in week 2 with a test (work travel and new PT wheel) at 180, so a 40 watt gain was great. My goal was 216 or 20%.
Looking for a few more watts in weeks 14-20 of the Jan OS. I'll set out my goal right here as 235 for the end of the Jan OS. It's probably a stretch but why not go for it.
Gordon
@Al- Sounds like you had fun! Way to go! I did have a good time too. I just want to be invited back!
@Becky- bummer on the race, ankle, and having to ride indoors. But YAY! for the swimming! The healing is happening!
@Gordon- there is a lot of fatigue by week 20. If you get some rest, you will definitely see that you made more progress than that.
@Bill- you are still my hero for riding outside last week. Linda quotes you often and I am listening hard to all of the guidance about rest.
@Marianne- Enjoy the beach!
Getting back to the work week here, but wanted to drop a quick note to thank everyone for their good wishes on my 1/2 mary yesterday. The race went well, with a 1:39:55. Not a PR, but right on my target for the race. Avg pace: 7:33, range: 7:16 - 7:49. What was really great was watching my wife, Vicki, finish her first half marathon - Priceless.
Off to the pool - have a great week everyone!
2 x 1/2 (4:08, 4:06)
1 x 1m (8:22)
2x 1/2 (4:18, 3:57)
Z3 to finish.
@Peter - Congrats on finishing the OS and good luck at Oceanside!
@Dan - I hear you on the Saturday rides...I hit mine solidly last weekend (hardest trainer ride for me yet this year), but the VO2 work plus lack of rest caught up to me on this past Saturday's ride (details below). Lesson learned: get a quality rest day the day before with good sleep the night of.
@Becky - Rest, rest, rest. Give that ankle the break it's screaming for so you can get back on the horse.
@Gordon - 40 watt gain! That's huge
@Mike - Nice race yesterday! And tell Vickie congrats for me - I'm so happy for her.
@Andrew - Keep posting those numbers. Great run, keep it up.
As I mentioned above, I struggled with the Saturday ride after hitting the VO2max sessions hard on Tues and Thurs, bike commuting to/from work on Friday (40 miles of easy spinning) and less-than-normal sleep. I wasn't too worried about not hitting the interval watt targets exactly as I would be doiing my first running race on Sunday since the injury, but I got in the 2 hours at decent effort followed by an easy 15' brick run.
2 x 20' @ FTP (299): 292 / 284
5 x 2' @ 110% (329): 325 / 331 / 329 / 327 / 334
2 x 15' @ 85% (254): 242 / 236
Overall ride IF: .831
TSS: 140
Sunday was the Shamrock Shuffle 8K which is the largest 8K in the world through downtown Chicago. Plan was to see how I felt in the first mile and then decide if I wanted to use the race as my first test of Vdot since the injury. I felt awesome before the gun even went off. Plan was to go out conservatively in the first mile at just under a 7:00 pace then reasssess. Well, I felt great throughout so I went with it. Here are the splits:
Mile 1: 6:29
Mile 2: 6:19
Mile 3: 6:11
Mile 4: 5:56
Mile 5: 5:57
Overall time: 30:55
Vdot=53.4 (only down 2.6 Vdot pts from peak form of last season) - pretty stocked about that. I thought my run fitness was down much more than that after the long break.
Time to finally start the OS run workouts to reach my goal of surpassing last season's 56 Vdot.