IMCHOO Training Wk 7/27 - 8/2 2015
Week 12 - Be a Scientist
Hello CHOO CREW! Sorry for the delayed posting of this weeks training forum. Race weekend at Lake Placid. Interesting enough this week coaches want you focused on exactly what I witnessed watching non EN athletes compete at IMLP.
- Measure
- Gather Data
- Don’t forget to Sweat Test
I saw lots of athletes that had something as simple as not knowing their nutrition down pat that cost them. I also saw how well EN athletes were at executing because they had practiced and were prepared. Lots of little things can take a toll on you over 140.6 miles (or in your case 144.6) Having their muscles be so tight on the run from poor form on the bike. Not knowing their sodium totals to account for the change in temperature on the course. Knowing their power meter numbers, knowing their heart rate numbers in case power meter fails, etc. Coach Patrick said to me how important it is to have multiple "A games" because so many things can change within a race. This is what we talk about when we say "stay inside your box" You can adapt and change to the things outside of your control on the course but that comes from testing, gathering data about your body, how it reacts to nutrition, heat, cold, rain etc. And those results are gathered now. Be a scientist, a student of your body as an athlete in this sport. This is another reason why posting in the forum and weekly training recaps is critical.
Here are the sweat test rules in case you forgot or haven't done one in awhile (hopefully nobody on this team has NEVER done one)
1) Weigh yourself nude right before a run.
2) Run at race pace for one hour, keeping track of how much you drink (in ounces) during the run.
3) After the run, strip down, towel off any sweat, and weigh yourself nude again.
4) Subtract your weight from your prerun weight and convert to ounces. Then add to that number however many ounces of liquid you consumed on your run. (For example, if you lost a pound and drank 16 ounces of fluid, your total fluid loss is 32 ounces.)
5) To determine how much you should be drinking about every 15 minutes, divide your hourly fluid loss by 4 (in the above example it would be 8 ounces).
6) Because the test only determines your sweat losses for the environmental conditions you run in that day, you should retest on another day when conditions are different to see how your sweat rate is affected. You should also redo the test during different seasons, in different environments (such as higher or lower altitudes), and as you become faster, since pace also affects your sweat rate.
P.S. Ya'll Rock - Now go out there and crush it!
Comments
MS1: 3 x 4 x 50 Descend, MS2: 3 x (4 x 100), MS3: 3 x 200 Descend. MS4 (Optional): 600 any pace.
I managed MS1 right on target (which surprised me with my limited swim speed work lately) and the first 4 x 100 but then my shoulder was tired (I swam on Sun too) so I decided to just do 1000 slow. Not wanting to re-aggrevate my mystery shoulder issue!
https://connect.garmin.com/activity/846778488
basically ran up a great fitness level, tapered with a purpose and had to stand down... now it is time to heal, fire it back up for Choo!!
looking forward to creating some positive energy here in the forum and carrying that forward to race day!
Good advice Mariah on always thinking about our race day nutrition in all our workouts!
Since today was the final weigh in for the weight lose challenge, I got a few donuts after lunch today. FYI, not a good idea on test day. :-). However Duck Donuts are amazing if anyone else has had them.... Hmmmm
Despite 92 and humid, my test went well. +7w (3%) on VO2 to 214 and +7w (4%) on FTP. I feel like I def could have gotten a few more watts on the FTP but I was trying to pace properly and not blow up, esp given the weather. Pretty pleased even if I could have gone harder. I'll take the extra watts.... Now to ditch those extra kgs!
https://connect.garmin.com/activity/847786150
Time to check in. I do a lot of my workouts with Emily, so I usually just let her post on my behalf. Last week I fell victim to a sneaky stomach bug that had me feeling pretty sluggish and uncomfortable, but not enough to keep me from trying my long run and my Big Volume Day. Needless to say, I paid for it. If I was coaching someone else, I would have sidelined them immediately. Why does our IQ level plummet when dealing with ourselves???
Anyway... Bike Power test today. I had a rough test last time around, and combining that with my illness last week, my strategy was to execute the FTP test with a bit of restraint. I finished it comfortably (which is not what you'd normally want) with only a 5% drop in power from my highest mark in the Outseason. Considering how I felt last week, the result is what I expected.
Going to knock out my 5k test in the morning, OWS on Thursday, and head to the Blue Ridge Parkway on Friday to climb Mt. Mitchell. All of those workouts will be done with Emily, so I'll probably defer back to her to post all the glorious details. Keep up the great work everyone!!!
The final push peeps and my favorite week it is "Test week". Back from Lake Placid with a fire of motivation under my feet. Bike test done today in 34 celsius weather just awesome. Got a small bump and my ftp now stands at 251(watts/kg 3.57).There will be some moving around of my plan this week as I have a long course race on Sunday 2km/56km/15km, this race will be interesting. Every workout I do now feels critical, time to make the most now of what fitness and smarts I can bring to raceday. Will check in soon again peeps but time to take advantage of this weeks plan and plot your trg with your new testing standards. Keep up the good work !
@Scott - Can't wait to read your RR. Congrats on an awesome day!
@Kim - No surprise you were going to see these results. With the intensity numbers you've been posting on the forum, I knew you were in for a big bump. Congrats!
@Jonathon - I don't blame you a bit for going and getting your doughnut party on. I am extremely jealous!
I did my test yesterday and had great results. I had already moved up my FTP a bit (193 to 195) last week, but even then, I just needed to suck it up and test since it had been a while. I started out with my own 20 min warm up before starting Trainer Road. Calibrated, and continued the program warm up. I then ate an entire sleeve of Carb Chews, and slugged a bit of Gatorade. VO2 was 205, New FTP is 201. Puts me at right about 3.4 w/kg = Excited and scared for the next couple of weeks!
Got a great swim in tonight - Headed to rest up for the 5k test early in the am. Keep it moving, folks!
Emily- congrats on the 200 watt club! That's my goal by the end of the year! (Actually, it has been a goal for a long time but I'm feeling like it is achievable now....). I also want to hit 3/w/kg. That may be the harder part of the equation....
Eyes forward and remember to control your breathing! The pain is temporary, so suck it up and get that 3.12 miles in. Good luck, gang!
Happy Training!
The swim was a bit rough so I cut it short (~42m). I felt like I was working waaay too hard and spending way too much energy due to the very steep chop in Lake Ponchartrain. I definitely used as much energy in 42 mins as I would have in an hour at the pool. My thought is if the river in Chatty is this rough, we are all in trouble!
Bike: (https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/844095325) The bike went very well and I was over my targets for the day. My nutrition went well although I am failing at solids on the bike. I may just stick with liquid/gel and stop trying to eat solids.
Run: (https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/846130539) My run was executed well. I tried to hold back but still started a little too hard (about 20s/mile). Got back on track after a bit but still need to work on starting out slower. The good news is I was faster than target for all 6 miles and ran my last mile at my fastest pace which made me feel good.
Aftermath: As soon as I was finished running, I had about 30 minutes of downtime in the pool to cool off before showering to head to the kids school for The Little Mermaid play. I am very proud to say that I did not fall asleep, which indicates my body was not so trashed that I could not function. To top it off, a few hours after the play the wife and I went out with some friends from high school and really threw down until late in the morning. I know this doesn't follow the post-big day recovery plan but we did have a lot of fun. Plus, I wouldn't have done this if Sunday wasn't a scheduled rest day.
My swim on Monday afternoon went really well, although I am a little confused why we are doing so many 50s and 100s at this point in our plan. I followed the plan verbatim and plan to do the same for today's (Wednesday) swim, but it seems like too much speed work to me. I trust in the EN Gods, though, so I guess I will just shut up and do it.
My bike test yesterday was great (https://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/2229429-20-Minute-Test). I boosted my FTP from 191 to 209. My last test suggested a FTP boost from 185 to 197 but I only adjusted to 191 because I thought it may be too much. This time it suggested 209 so I think I will just go with this and see what happens. My big day bike was still about a .75 overall even using the 209 so I must be a little more fit than I give myself credit for.
Good work everyone! I love reading about the workouts. It's amazing how much I learn from reading what is going on with others.
Thanks and see you at camp in about 2 weeks or at the race in 59 days 19 hours 58 minutes.
Brandon DuMontier
Speaking of swimming, I did the Fri. swim today (making sure I get in the top priority WKOs first) Did the MS only and it was a good swim for me. I was seriously thinking I had lost my swimming groove and any speed I had (Not much!) based on a super crappy OWS 1 mile race a couple of weeks ago. I think the speed work I did Mon. helped.
https://connect.garmin.com/activity/848800821
Well the carnage is over and so it was. I have never felt so pushed today I was close to puking(not pretty just dry heaving). Started my run fitness fresh from Boston Mary at a marathon vdot of 46. To date had a 1/2 mary vdot at 48 then started IM trg. So 3 tests later 48,52, and topped out today at a 5 km TT 18:25 VDOT of 54. Not pretty and the new paces seem a little unrealistic for me to perform at, butt..... we will see. So peeps did you get out the door today and get er done eh !?
This week I moved the Saturday ride to yesterday, and ran long today. I am racing an oly on Saturday, and will use that bike data as my "test". As for the run, I am plodding along at my Run Durability plan paces as I have been since the beginning of the year. Nothing flashy I'm afraid.
I bow to all you testers. I rather dislike it. Steve's description is why!
My run test today went really well. Ran the fastest 5K I've ever run! first two miles were nice and fast and held on for the last 1.1 which took about all I had as I was on the verge of blowing up! Overall, I'm getting used to training within the HR Zones in the plan and feel like I'm going to be set up for successful run @ CHOO! Sounds like it's quite the test!
My biggest opportunity is with the swim. I swam terribly @ IMMaryland last year (sick multiple times in the water, zig-zagging, etc.) so I've been working really hard for the past 75 days or so to really work on technique and thinking about how to avoid similar disaster in the river. I am seeing some big improvement and look forward to testing in the water tomorrow morning.
Congrats to all of you that did IMLP!
WU: 300.
MS1: 3500 swim or pull, your choice, at a Steady effort/your choice of pace. Set Total: 3500.
MS2: 10 x 50 (20"), as odds Fast, evens Easy. Set Total: 500.
CD: 100 easy. Total: ~4400
Coach Notes:
This test will establish your T-Pace" which we will use as a reference for future interval work.
The note refers to the "test". Is this supposed to be a 1000 yd time trial?
Now I'm sitting in a parking lot gearing up to climb Mount Mitchell today!! Hurray for 6k elevation gain! (Ouch...)
http://www.strava.com/activities/358322885
Hardest, hilliest ride ever today. Took all of my physical and mental strength to get it done. Great fitness builder but NOT a good confidence booster... First Half @ .73IF, 2nd Half @ "Make-This-End-Survival-Mode-The-Best-I-Can-Muster" .61IF.
I'll be digging in to the data, nutrition, etc. I figured I should be able to ride 100miles without a marathon after a little harder than IM pace but might have been a little aggressive, esp. given my FTP is about 8 watts higher than when I rode my last Century. Ouchie. Plus it was SOOOO hilly (for me) I don't think I ever swore so much on a ride before.
https://connect.garmin.com/activity/853033056
Sorry for not checking in regularly. It's tough with the huge training load and all the other stuff going on. Last week I was up in LP to support the team and do a camp like week of training. I got 3 consecutive days of good riding with lots of elevation! I did a few swims in Mirror Lake and a bunch of runs in too. With all of the training and being on my feet all day for the race this past week has been a combination of recovering from last week while still getting some quality work in. I had a light week of swimming this week but I got a bunch of quality running and riding in. With 8 hours in the saddle this weekend my legs are toasted right now. Going to hit the sack early tonight and try to get back on track tomorrow.
Keep up the great work everyone. Race day is 8 weeks from today which will be here much sooner than we realize!
Back in China after three great weeks in the USA.
Managed a monster week 7/20 -7/26 almost 1600 TSS and 27 hours of training. The other two weeks were pretty much the normal work load.
No testing last week as I'm still working with my numbers from a couple weeks back. Did manage another 100 mile ride before I got on the plane to come back.Yesterdays ABP ride was brutal, real feel temperatures here in Shanghai were 116 degrees F at 8am. managed a decent ride with the locals. Followed the ride with a short swim.
This week I'm back on the normal schedule. Got my swim in this morning.
Bike is at the shop installing the compact crank. All training going forward will be on the TT bike with the race gear setup.
Work hard! The race will separate the pretenders.
Yesterday turned into a rest day for me. Had to put some SAUs in the bank. About to hit the 2x1 now with my 6 yo in tow on the bike. Wish me luck.
Just keep swimming!
Tom- Def. solid training there! Yes, keep tweaking the nutrition. I need to do the same!
Pat- Props for continuing to work even when traveling, and with super hot temps. Ouch!
Emily- Great rides it sounds like. You're lucky to have local ENrs! And that SAU bank is important! I built some going car shopping on Sat.
Catherine- Bummer, but I'm sure Toughman won't be as tough as the training.