2016 JOS Wk 7 Bike Thread - A cold place
Writing this from the frozen tundra where there are few moguls in sight to actually get the blood pumping instead of biking.. Looking forward to Thursday morning to when I can jump on the bike and resume some wattage training.
Here we are week 7, I haven't peeked yet, but I assume that as we have our second major week in a row of 2x20s on Tuesday & 5x4s on Thursday we roll into testing week next week. While I called this a cold place, it should be warm now. We've all wrapped our heads around seemingly insurmountable intervals and crushed them, we will soon see measurable fruits of our labors...
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Thanks Captain D!
Now that you have 6 weeks of consistent load, Week 7 is where you really drive home the fitness gains on the bike, time to take out all the stops. Don't short yourselves, dig in, have fun, and see what you're made of! You might surprise yourselves!
Good luck all!
SS
Tues. bike work done: 2 X 15's @ 1.02 & 1.0 Nothing special, but HR seemed a little high this morning.
Run done as a brick.
Achieved 1.03 and 1.01... had to dig during the 2nd half of the 2nd interval and had thoughts of making it 20+10 and later 20+15 but could not bear the thought of posting that next all of your great workouts today...so took it minute after minute and got it done !
Thanks for the inspiration !
link--> https://connect.garmin.com/activity/1052564969
Did a short brick run on the treadmill after the bike.
Nice work everyone!
I had to do the tuesday bike/bric in the evening, not my favorite time, because.....
darling daughter chose to ignore a traffic ticket from 12/28-stopped by tempe police and cited for driving without lights, then for failure to provide insurance (in my car). I was notified by mail last thursday that my registration had been suspended, as well as her license and a fine of $1500. We were first in line at traffic court at 0630-everything resolved easily, and the judge through out the $1250 fine for failure to provide insurance
Anyway, 2x15' at 1.0, 1.03. Legs took a while to warm up. Then my 3 mile bric was the most painful every-quads and knees never loosened up. But weather was perfect
I went down into the basement and just sat with my KK trainer for a few minutes.
Gave it a hug.
A lot of work getting done here across the board for week 7! 2X15s and 2X20s are not for the weak minded, especially by the time week 7 rolls in. Just solid hard work all! =====>> The foundation for some great fitness gains being laid down for those pulling a 7 week load no doubt! Keep pulling folks!
Tuesday morning FTP stuff for me in Week 11 was definitely a slog. Still feeling a little fatigue from weekend. Pushed through a 12/20/12 but every minute of the 20 and last 12 was very special in terms of a Very Dark Place: https://www.strava.com/activities/494822744
130+ TSS effort =
SS
I have the cold from hades. Started Sunday night and is in full swing still today.
Looks like everyone is getting stronger! Fatigue may be setting in but you guys are Full Speed Ahead!
Brick run was just at comfort pace on the treadmill.
Thurs. bike done! As soon as I started pedaling, I knew this was going to be a tough one. The first 4' interval was brutal, the rest were ok, number 3 got cut a little short due to an interruption. Overall good workout.
5 X 4'(4') @ 1.11, 1.11, 1.11, 1.13, 1.11
Run done as a brick on a beautiful morning.
Finally getting back to normal. Last week was one of those 80-hr work weeks, on the road, early breakfast meetings, late dinner meetings, in bad weather. By the time Friday rolled around, the cold I started the week with had turned into Trish's Cold from Hades, leaving me bed- and couch-ridden Sat-Mon with horrible flu-like symptoms. Monday afternoon, started to come around. Tried to ride on Tuesday, but it was just a hack-filled spin. Jogged 5 yesterday in spring-like sunshine, felt fine (just a little slow). Didn't know what to expect this morning, hoping for 280, maybe a little more, for the 5x4's. But the legs felt surprisingly good: 282, 282, 285 and 287. I chased 290 on the finale, snagging a good-for-me 291. Allowed HR to reach 162, which is where a nearby trash can becomes a sound option, but not needed today. In a sick/twisted way, it felt good to be able to burn/pant/drip again. 6 weeks to get the FTP numbers from the 260's into the 270's, VO2's into the 300's. 10 weeks until the BRP Camp and its 30k of climbing. 22 weeks before I start thinking about TSS, CTL and Strava leaderboards.
I felt semi human this am so after putzing around I climbed on Bubbles and tried the EN warm up to see how I felt. Good was the answer, but not great, so I decided to do a sweet spot ride on TR instead of the regularly scheduled sufferfest. I did Entioch and rather enjoyed it and the pedal stroke coaching throughout the ride. I sweat tons. Felt good too! Hopped on the treadmill intending to run 2 miles but cut it at one. It was feeling hard and my hr was a little high for the pace. Noted. At least the left knee didn't bark!
I gave myself a full spa treatment afterwards...epsom soak in the fancy bubble tub I rarely use while I "washed that gray right outta my hair". Hey...I am a chicka...I don't get more distinguished with gray...just older looking than my inner age, so they gotta GO!
After all that activity (yeah I know...not much) I'm stuffed up again and pretty tired. I think I made the right call on the bike doing sweet spot vs 110%.
So I got the week done. Wow - there are some really impressive numbers out there! It is so motivating, and it's almost hard for me to do the Z4 WKOs at 95% when everyone is killing it over 100%! So Tues. I got home from a visit to my daughter's and exhausted from a night "sleeping" with my two Grandkids in my bed:-) It rain the whole way home and I think the windshield wipers were putting me to sleep! I got home late afternoon and called upon my Facebook Tri Chicks to give me some encouragement and talk me into getting on the bike! Boy - did they ever come to the rescue!! Got it done - 2 * 15' at 1.0 and 1.02.
Last night my son surprised me and came home around 7:30 for an overnight:-) We stayed up 'til midnight talking and drinking wine... I swear - my kids are such bad influences on me! So today's Vo2 workout was a big question mark. Lo and behold!! Got my 5 x 4' in ... 110% up to 115%:-) The brick run was not easy, but it's done!
Nice work everyone! I foresee some big FTP bumps for many of you next week!
1.05/1.02/1.02/1.02/1.0
https://connect.garmin.com/activity/1055469824
One more step complete towards next week !
This AM, my power meter crapped out. I only had time for 15 min wu, then 4x4'. I just went as hard as I could. Had an epiphany later in the day that my Garmin was set for the wrong bike. Checked it when I got home- yay! Power meter didn't crap out!
Had a terrible 4 mile brick run in my new Hokas. Felt like running in sand. You may see them in the classifieds next week. I'll give them a few more runs...
This AM, my power meter crapped out. I only had time for 15 min wu, then 4x4'. I just went as hard as I could. Had an epiphany later in the day that my Garmin was set for the wrong bike. Checked it when I got home- yay! Power meter didn't crap out!
Had a terrible 4 mile brick run in my new Hokas. Felt like running in sand. You may see them in the classifieds next week. I'll give them a few more runs...
This AM, my power meter crapped out. I only had time for 15 min wu, then 4x4'. I just went as hard as I could. Had an epiphany later in the day that my Garmin was set for the wrong bike. Checked it when I got home- yay! Power meter didn't crap out!
Had a terrible 4 mile brick run in my new Hokas. Felt like running in sand. You may see them in the classifieds next week. I'll give them a few more runs...
This AM, my power meter crapped out. I only had time for 15 min wu, then 4x4'. I just went as hard as I could. Had an epiphany later in the day that my Garmin was set for the wrong bike. Checked it when I got home- yay! Power meter didn't crap out!
Had a terrible 4 mile brick run in my new Hokas. Felt like running in sand. You may see them in the classifieds next week. I'll give them a few more runs...
My advice, for what it's worth, if you think the tired legs are real, is to nip in in the bud and take a day or two where you just do the time...or at least tone it down. Nothing wrong with having one tired day; everyone has them. But if it's a pattern, you want to really keep an eye on it. It's better to nip gross fatigue in the bug and be ready to hit it hard again in a couple days than it is to have to take a week or more. I've been That Guy.
Maybe because *I* was the guy who didn't have such a good run on Wednesday, I had a good bike ride today. 5 x 4' at 1.13, 1.13, 1.13, 1.15, 1.16. NP was a little higher than usual at 209 (FTP=230), but still in the norm of 200-210.
Brick run was on the treadmill to save time. Nothing exciting, but got it done.
@William- I don't "think" I have tired legs. My hill run went great this AM. Actually averaged TRP for the whole thing and I felt really good in my usual shoes. I think I hate the Hokas. This week, I started using my Garmin with HRM on my 20 mile round trip bike commute so I can see how that figures into my TSB. That was running about -31 last Saturday. I think the real problem is a I didn't do a proper test and went off FTP numbers from 2 months prior to OS bc I "didn't have time" to test. Yeah- I know. I might be learning a lot this OS!! So- next week is a test week and I will do a proper test on the trainer. I usually test outside, but I'm trying to be disciplined with the zones and training.
Further advice is certainly welcome! I know -31 is kind of a scary number for TSB. It was -20s for most of last week. I don't load my Garmin up every night- I do it on Sunday.
TSB is ONLY an indicator of what you're doing the last couple weeks vs what you were doing 4-6 weeks ago. It is NECESSARILY going to be highly negative right now unless you were working out hard right before the OS. Also, if you've improved your hypothetical FTP or VDOT by now, but not changed the numbers, you'll be scoring more TSS points now than 6 weeks ago just naturally...which makes your TSB more negative.
My point: how you feel is more important than the number unless you really, really, really understand the number, which almost no one does. And even then, how you feel is more important. :-)