My Week 14 highs & 'lows'
Hi Haus - thought I'd share my thoughts on this week - my OS week 14. For both an EN & multisport newbie its been pretty mixed so any observations or reality-checks more than welcome!
First the bike test - actually struggled on this but kinda knew I would - some observations:
- had been struggling at my new FTP since Wk8 & felt that the VO2 had done very little to contrubute to any gains in this area - I even hacked the VO2 intervals to get up to 20mins of work rather than the prescribed 12' to try add build a bit of ceiling as well as roof 
.
- Mental approach for bike test was off - for week 8 (which I crushed!) I knew that my power was good and was real excited of setting a new FTP target, that plus a weight drop, left me up-beat about a new & cool w/kg figure. This week, I knew in advance it was going to be a struggle and wasn't expecting anything especially as I also appreciated that the last 6-7 weeks had been focused on VO2 efforts; so guess what happened?!
- First 20min interval I was up on watts but only slightly, legs felt ok - 2nd Int I died and allowed myself to mentally slip away & lose concentration. I think this was the main difference & a reason why I dropped 9 watts @ FTP.
- Stress - crappy week at work & wasn't handling it well - eat too much over the weekend (wedding anniversary dinner!) and my body seemed to react negatively.
- Over the period between the 2 tests I've lost a total of 7lbs in weight - perhaps a contributor to a pwr loss? Seem to have that feeling that I'm 'bumping along' the bottom of weight-loss, i.e. body seems to be lagging in adapting to the new weight - I have been very tired all the time and have started to really looking into what nutrients I'm eating and when ('nutient timing' and %ratio of nutients).
Run Test - did that today over lunch (GMT).
- Not sure whats good or not so good here so any advice welcome.
- Went out too hard, paced it to crap & died for the last mile; new faster time however of 20:08, 37secs quicker. Peed-off for not getting under 20 BUT considering my 5k route has me having to stop & turn-around (i.e. loss of momentum & the extra effort to get upto pace) I reckon I'm sub-20! Vdot 50 I believe.
- Was 2lbs heavier this morning (damm weekend!) - maybe didn't help much mentally perhaps.
- Altho' the running at IP doesn't feel easier, running at Zone 1-3 does.
So, pretty much had everything this week - must admit the plateau (or even drop) in FTP was hard to take & I did 'throw my toys out the crib' for a while!
Upon reflection, the drop was hardly anything - my 'roof' is higher now, ready to take some solid FTP work - my weight is down significantly - and I've been swimming 2-3 times per week. throughout with some 1:1 coaching sessions.
Do think I'm missing some ABP / hilly outdoor rides as I feel that really 'brought me on' FTP-wise last season - planning on a 3 day bike 'pop' over Easter to get my climbing legs back for my very hilly 70.3 in June.
Can't complain & still glugging the Kool-aid! 
Cheers everyone,
Dave
Comments
Hey anyone can have a bad test, it can be attributed to so many things and it's half mental stuff! I'd ask RnP if it's cool to stay with the week 8 numbers.
What i thought was absolutely painful in weeks 9 - 13 was the Saturday bike sessions the Z4 intervals followed by Z5 intervals and then Z3 intervals absolutely killed me. I had a real hard time holding the Z3 stuff at the end as my legs were so shot from the Z4 and Z5 stuff.
Hey, theres always week 20 right? And, your run numbers are UP!
Cary
Dave,
Having just listed to Rich's week 19 (i think) podcast about not worrying too much about the final test. I think this applies to any particular test in the OS. Why? Look at the factors your list. Struggle with FTP since week 8; mental approach off; weight loss/nutrition off. There are several factors that could easily give you 9 watts + here. Motivation itself could lead to a bigger loss over a test than that.
You have been crushing yourself on the bike and run, one day does not make a man. I think you need to honestly assess given the factors and move on.
Don't beat yourself up over the 20:08. Remember that's 37 seconds quicker at week 14. sub 20 will be there...
The 3 day bike pop sounds like a good investment in your time with proper positioning in the schedule.
Gordon