Week 16/5 … Don't Slack Yet!
I'm glad to see all the campers have taken two days off as advised. Now is NOT the time to let fatigue start to overwhelm our training. The next two weeks put the turbo charger onto the V8s we've been building.
Since I (a) didn;'t do the RR run, (b) did not do the two long bikes back to back and © took the day after my Sat RR off, I felt confident about hitting the swim yesterday morning and then running 2:15 in the evening. I felt OK this morning, except for some residual under hydration, so I went back out for the FTP interval session on one of my go to routes here in the central Rockies - Maroon Creek Road. It's 7.5 miles from the bridge over the creek to the bus turnaround at the end of the road, rising about 1300' in that span. So not too steep (mostly 3-6%), I can do most of it in the aerobars. It usually takes me 42-45 minutes, either as a one shot TT, or split into intervals. I did 14' (2.5') 16' (2') 8.5', just following the terrain for resting points. I did the whole thing @ 0.94 IF (altitude adjusted), VI 1.01, 43:30. And then I get to see this for the last 3 miles:
Comments
Awwwww....the Bells. I miss that ride. If I remember correctly, I won that TT back in 2011.
I have noticed an increase in accumulated fatigue since camp week (1 week earlier). Last week I hit all the high and medium priority WO's but dropped all lows. Then took saturday off and did an Olympic in Walla Walla on Sunday. Have been back to the plan since and hit all my paces on the run today. I have been doing all the swims including all the extra credit. So getting about 14,000 yards a week in the pool.
I woke up this morning feeling like whatever mojo I may possess had left my body. I managed to get myself out of bed and over to the YMCA where I got my 4200 meters in...it wasn't fun...I didn't enjoy it...BUT, I got it done and am glad I did.
I went and saw my MAT guy over lunch - found I am really tender on the muscle connectors of my IT band and hamstrings and calves...well, really my whole lower body. We'll see how tomorrow's ride go...I'll wait until the morning to make a call on the low priority run.
Hope everyone had a productive day today!
Good job on the improvement on the swim. I'm not sure why it totally caught me off guard that we get to do the RR three more times - but for some reason I was really surprised. And yes...talk about boring!!
Keep going!
We are trying to brainstorm a new route for tomorrow because I don't know if mentally I can do the local bike path again for 5 hours
@ steven & Steve - I'm jealous of those swim times - that's what I was doing 5 & 10 years ago
But I'm still alive and swimming 
Everyone - seeing many comments about "not hitting Z2" on the long runs, either by necessity or plan … Yep, these 2-3 weeks we are in now are when we will feel the MOST fatigued, and will seem to have lost all that FAST we built earlier in the year. But everything should be focused now on FAR. In the runs, I adjust mentally by thinking of my zones as ranges, not specific times. So, my LRP/Z1 is 8:40-9:30; my MP/Z2 is 7:40-8:30, etc. As long as I creep along within that range, I feel OK. And overall, I like to see the long run avg pace end up right on the border between Z1 and Z2.
And, looking ahead to next week when there is a terse built into the plan; if you haven't seen Coach P's Cocah Chat podcast for this week, he goes in depth on that very issue: how to decide whether to test or not, what to do if you don't test, etc. The link is at the top of the Dashboard.
I usually don't test this late in the season, but i am going to next week because I didn't test on the last one due to coming off Boston and having the flu. I want a "true" number to shoot for at Couer d"Alene. I will post those numbers and get some advise from the wise ones on how I should tackle my "new" FTP.
Al- I may have improved my swim a few minutes since last racing/testing for Ironman swim. My tests are a little faster and my Olympic swim has improved by 1 minute, old= 27:00...new 26:00 at Olympic Tri last weekend. If that carries over to an Ironman length swim it should translate to 3 minute swim improvement.
When I was 26:xx in Oly race swims, I was doing 1:06/7 for IM distance, FWIW.
I got my 40 minute run it but there was nothing Z4 about it! Spent the run in Z1 minus 30 seconds....feeling very "comfortable" at that pace these days.
My five hour bike experience today felt like a big mess. I was all over the place in terms of power - primarily because I spent my ride actively seeking out the three or four hills of any substance on my ride. I mean....I have never circled these hills as much as I did today - and all I have to show for it is a pitiful 2,659 feet of upness. Dallas is so pathetically flat it's depressing (I did my undergrad at JMU - right off the Blue Ridge Parkway...oh how I miss that part of the country!). I know Rich said that CDA's 5,000k of elevation is not a big deal...but for those of us living in flat terrain (or at least me) 5,000 feels like a really big deal.
Anyway - the net result was an ugly 85 mile ride with an IF of .854 and a VI of 1.173.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/510838950
Was suppose to get a 5 hour ride yesterday with 7-25 min z2 intrevals but could only get 3.5 hours in due to back really tight i will hit the 3.5 this morning and hope it doesnt trash me for next weeks training ....getting the nutrition dialed i every time i ride but still need to fix the salt level as it gets pretty hot toward the end of the rides and i am losing focus but this is the best training i have done for iron man prep and am looking forward to a succesful finish and a much better time
@Peter - on an unrelated note...I feel like i remember reading about how your cadence count was a red flag at IMCALI and it looks like your average cadence on your ride yesterday was in the low 70s. What are you going to shoot for in IMCDA? I'm thinking the sweet spot for me is 88-90 per minute....
The difference between a 25 and 28 large cog is huge when climbing. And since you will retain the 11 as the small cog you'll have that gear for downhills. There will be a few "holes" in your gears so it will take a few rides to get used to it. Check out this cool Gearing Calculator you can customize your gearing and see how it changes.
Today's ABP ride started out on a sore bum. I knew that I wasn't going to go the full 210 minutes due to other obligations and since I did some extra credit on yesterdays ride. I ended up with 41 miles in 2:15 with IF of .842. After about 10 minutes of riding the pain in my tush went away and I was able to concentrate on holding the power. Looking forward to my "easy" day tomorrow of 3800 yards in the pool. which will be my shortest swim in a month.
As for today's 3 1/2 hour ABP ride - I felt good about my effort. Ended up with 67 miles, an IF of .83 & a VI of 1.036. Got a flat tire about 2 1/2 hours in which ended up being a total blessing b/c I discovered that somewhere along the way I must have picked up a box of different CO2 cartridges b/c the adapter in my bag would not fit on them!! A guy stopped and let me use his. So glad to have made that discovery now! Plus it gave me a chance to practice changing a tire - was able to get it done in 10 minutes. Room for improvement but not too bad!
Four weeks to go!!
I swung by my LBS at lunch. Turns out my Felt road bike came stock with a 12-28 cassette. A little disappointing b/c I was hoping to pick up a little something to make the hills easier!!! But I guess if I wanted easy I should have opted for a winter/spring/summer of ice cream and cupcakes rather than an Ironman!!
I did go ahead & swap it out for an 11-28 to pick up some speed on the downhill side of life. Appreciate the feedback on the gearing...that's new territory for me. Always love learning more!