Week of Dec 9 pre-OS
Alright, just about a month to go until the OS!
Today I got on the bike and did 60' with 5x5'(2') @ z4. Althought my FTP is an untested approximation, I turned in some strong numbers with IFs of 1.057, 1.070, 1.082, 1.088, and 1.124. Then I finished with 7' @0.955. Overall 60' @0.945
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/414089729
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Yesterdays bike.... lotsa V02 and this one hurt... http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/530728-Goode
Todays swim... 40minutes... wu , 10 x 100 (15sec) , cd with toys http://connect.garmin.com/activity/413967750
@Steve.... keep in mind the OS swim is based on ROI... me ahhh I'm willing to work the swim in the OS for those few seconds to a minute it may save me 6 months from now... not a good ROI but I'm willing....
I too am swimming in the OS. I've got lots of time to pick up in the swim and I'm a firm believer that consistency, technique drills, and lots of yardage are the only way to make the improvements I want.
Got in the pool today for first swim since IMAZ. It was shorter than I would have liked ~1500m ( time constrained, my night to make dinner!) , but nice to know I haven't lost anything in 3 weeks off.
@Matt, yeah dude, you're due for a FTP test!
You don't mention any focus on what your hands and arms are doing while they are moving through the water. Stopping any lateral movement - no crossover - and feeling smooth - stretching out - are good first steps, but getting a grip on the water with a high elbow, rotating in sync with your pull, pulling straight back, and finishing strong at the end by your thigh are where the real money is. Using paddles without the straps can really bring all that into focus,
As to high elbow recovery - stop thinking about it - pay attention to what your hands are doing under water.
My 2¢
Finally took my sore ankles to the PT today and got the diagnosis I expected - a relatively low grade bilateral achilles tendonosis. The place I go to is the local "sports" place so when he says "Well, theoretically the fastest way of this healing is with no running whatsoever, but I know that's not going to happen," I have to chuckle. We agreed I'd cut down to three quality runs/week for a few weeks during the acute phase. He is ok with the quality runs, not just easy running. Kind of irritates me, but I do have to get this tendon thing taken care of. I'm allowed to bike instead of the off-day runs....so I'll be doing a more balanced program than I have been for the next 2-3 weeks.
Ironically, I'm running tonight. :-)
I know you all yelled at me about the intermittent diet/fast thing, but I like to be a sample of 1, so I'm going to try it out for a while. There are many studies documenting the benefits of fasting and recent studies document some of the weight-loss benefits of an intermittent diet/fast. I will say that it feels very good to go light one or two days a week. I still fuel my workouts well just like before.
Totally off subject: I went to a urologist a few years ago who gave me a prescription then told me as I was walking out the door that I couldn't exercise while taking it...and that I needed to take it long term, maybe for a year. It blew my mind. I decided not to go back or take the meds (this is not medical advice--just my way of thinking). I do want to say, I a very grateful for the medical profession, but I am guarded (very) about taking meds.
@ Steven: It just occurred to me to mention that for swim self-help I've had HUGE success using the SwimSmooth training plans (http://www.swimsmooth.com/trainingplans.html). They focus on technique blocks for every workout, and at least once a week dedicated technique workout. Their plans fit perfectly into ours just substitute them in. I've been using the Level 2 (Intermediate) Ironman Plan this past year (did the plan twice), and dropped 10sec off my 100yd pace and 7 minutes of my Ironman swim.
I'm ordering the next level and starting over now, with planning to repeat their plan at least 2-3 times this year.
All right, I give up. I've been trying for a week to get motivated here in the dark of winter three weeks after IM AZ to do some disciplined training, but I haven't been able to convince myself that a few weeks of Get Faster now, and starting OS in Jan like a good ENer is what I should be doing. Also, a colleague got sick, so that meant extra work, we had a cold snap, it's foggy, etc etc. I NEED the OS to get enough mojo to actually get on the trainer and WORK. So, taking a cue from Tim, I'm calling this week Week 1 of the OS. SInce I've already tested, that means the REAL OS starts for me next Monday. I'll take 2 weeks off Jan/Feb to ski, then hit the remaining weeks to finish all 14 by the end of March. A week of transition, to include the Tucson Rally, then 12 weeks of IM build for Couer d'Alene.
So I guess Tim and I will be reporting as OS Early Birds next week.
Today (Wednesday), I ultimately decided I needed to take a mental health day. A whole day off. I don't do that often outside of real rest periods. But the job has been absolutely crazy and so were so many other parts of my life this week (e.g., my dog is almost certainly dying) that I just need to take a deep breath tonight.
I'll be back on board tomorrow.
The run was a rare treadmill run. I did a 10' warmup then 4x3'(2') of hard efforts, starting the first one at 9.3mph (6:22/mi) then ticking up each successive interval until I got up to 9.6mph. My HR peaked at 190 so it was a very solid effort! http://connect.garmin.com/activity/414830437
I got on the bike about 8 hours later and did a 60' ride with 20' of warmup (10' easy then 4x1'(1')@z4 then 2' easy) followed by a 10x1'(1') VO2 set where I targeted ~300 watts or ~125% of my estimated FTP. I nailed the set with a lot lower HR than when I did the same set around a week ago, and did a good job of building gradually to higher numbers as the set progressed. Interval NP: 303, 308, 310, 312, 316, 311, 316, 312, 317, 323. Also I managed to hit z1 wattage or better in all the recovery intervals. Perhaps the best part of the ride was the z3 "remainder time" which I did as 2x 8.5'(1') hitting IF 0.984 and 1.013 for the two intervals. That is much better than I was able to muster after the z5 work last week. So it was an extremely strong workout of 60' at average IF 0.982. When I get onto my tri bike all these numbers will go down of course, but I'm feeling optimistic that my FTP is not too bad heading into the OS. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/414830376
So ... I'm retiring in 5 weeks, and at my age, you go downhill quicker. Reminds me, at my 40th birthday party, an "older" guy (?45) said, Just remember, when you're over the hill, and start going down, you pick up speed." It took me 25 years to understand what he meant.
At the end of this week's travel , I will have logged about 16 absolute ZERO days , many days of 30min easy work, and gained a bunch of weight since my last IM 6 weeks ago , all in the big picture theory of rest, recovery, rejuvenate, to come back stronger and better... But I'm not really sure... Either way I don't think its hurting me and wanted to do it since I didnt have a chance last year..
Two treadmill days in a row is very rare for me but it was -2F when I woke up this morning and I just couldn't bear going outside. So I did 45' on the mill at 1.5% incline. 10' warmup then 4x 1mi @ around MP with ~3' recoveries. A good workout: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/414970651
In the morning, I went to swim, and the boys at the pool took 20 of my available 45 minutes installing lane lines. I went ahead and swam since i was already there and (un?) dressed for it, but I'm not sure what a big deal a 25 minute swim is.
In the afternoon, the vet confirmed our fears about the dog, and we had him put to sleep. I brought my 13 year olds with me. I don't believe in "sheltering" them from difficult things and I wanted them to understand the choices we had to make. Samson the Newfoundland was 13 years old too...let's just say that was a difficult thing. I took the kids home and mourned with them for a while...then got them involved in their homework. (Swimming had been before school.) I went outdoors and ran. The weather was better here than it has been...around 20-24 degrees. But dark and dreary. Kind of like my mood. And it turned out the snow hadn't been cleared well from maybe 20% of my route. I hate running on ice.
Needless to say, this did not result in one of my greatest runs. One "fast" mile was around 6:45 and the other (with more snow) was a little over 7. I just did my 6.5 mile loop...and now I don't have my little Garmin ANT receiver to document my mediocrity. One of those days.
The good news is that my ankles loosened up faster today, even though I was running in the cold.
@WJ, so sorry about your pup. Its always such a difficult loss, no matter the circumstances and age.
Don't know whats going on with my running, but I seem to keep getting faster post race. Wednesday I did 3x1mi in solid z4 HR range outdoors @ 6:27 pace and felt just a tick beyond comfortable…my current Vdot (50) says it should be 6:51. Maybe its the post race rest and reduced fatigue. Ill take it, but I really don't want to test till I have to. Solo 5k time trialing sucks. I could guestimate my Vdot to be low 52? and work it for awhile to see how it goes.
Bike on Thurs wasn't really a good workout, I ended getting sucked into getting TrainerRoad configured and trying to find a virtual trainer profile that matched my PowerTap output (I have a wired unit). After about 30min of messing about I found one that fit better than the generic traveltrac fluid that I have. Nevertheless I got a couple 5 min @ 110% intervals in. Looking forward to Sundays workout on the trainer.
Will do a swim to day ~2500 steady pace.
Today I did the 2.5 hour bike from the GF intermediate (WU, 2x15'@Z4, 5x1.5@Z5, 60' @Z3, cool down). Yesterday was a long(er) run. I'll admit that on the third Z5 interval I took a breather and regrouped. Next time I'll be tougher, Carl. I could have used better music, too. I've got to check out Pandora. I'm feeling good moving toward the JOS. Maybe I can even hit the mythological 4 watts/KG. I would take a miracle, but I believe in miracles.
The base had a "Jingle Bell 5k", and as this was a testing week for my Half-Marathon plan, it was perfect. There were only about 30-35 participants, but SECOND OVERALL is still SECOND OVERALL. 3.12 miles in 19:43. 6seconds off my all time best.... I will gladly take it.
Per the attackpoint VDOT calculator, that is a VDOT of 50.91. Yikes. Now I have to try and run to potential in the Half (1:30:06). I have some work to do....
I had a brief, but good cycling workout today. Over 50 minutes, I did 2 10 minute intervals and two 4 minute intervals, targeting my guess FTP of about 225 on the TT bike. It was kind of my fault not to have the 60-70 minutes I wanted, but I did get some quality. NPs were 228, 239, 227, 239. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/415394119
@Joe - great race! The VDOT makes two assumptions. (1) You are equally well trained for both race distances; (2) You are "average". The first one is usually less true for the longer race; the second can be true or not true. It's VERY common for half marathons to be about 1 VDOT point below 5K tests and marathons about 2 VDOT points lower. There are some people who have pretty flat VDOT profiles, and only a few who have higher VDOTs at longer distances.
As to longer races, I have found that the VDOT predicted times for 10Ks and 1/2-marys are a great "carrot". Last year I ran a Half mid-way through the OS wherein I had done no longer distance running than the basic plan called for. I used the VDOT pace as my goal and was pretty much able to hit it (except for the hellatious headwind part on the beach). Knowing what I (ostensibly) should do is a great way to push through performance plateaus.
I have 5 weeks till race day. Time to get used to these new paces.
I'm in week 2 of the Run Durability plan as part of the new plan Coach P put together - Long Term IM Marathon Improvement. It is an 8 month plan that modifies the OS and IM training plans to set you up for an even better IM run. So here has been my week:
Monday: Core Challenge, travel for business.
Tuesday: 6 mile run on hotel treadmill with 2 x 1 mile @ 7:08 Z4 pace with 2% incline.
Wed: rest, travel
Thursday am: run 4 miles @ 8:55 Z1 pace with 6 x 30" strides @ 7:25 pace, 2% incline. PM: Computrainer bike class for 75 mins including 8 x 2' (3') @ 315 watts (OUCH), then 1 x 8min @ 220w. NP was 238w for entire ride. IF.87, VI 1.19.
Friday am: swim 1500 m. Mostly drills with 2 x 200m, 2x 50m intervals. It had been 2 weeks since I had swam and I felt slow (clock said so too). PM: Holiday party @ neighbors. 6 x 1 beer.
Sat: Bike spin class with 8 x 30" @ 260w, 8 x 45" @260w, 6 x 60" @ 260w. Ran 3 mile on treadmill @ 8:55 pace, 2% incline. Core Challenge & long stretch. Time for a nap then to shovel snow.