2017 IM Louisville- Week 12- LOVE the chatter- TESTING
Week 12 - Be a Scientist!
This week is a test week. The coaches want us to focus on the following:
- Measure
- Gather Data
- Don’t forget to Sweat Test
When you head to an Ironman event, you will see lots of athletes suffer because they did not know something as simple as having a nutrition plan. However- in the “haus”, EN’rs know how important EXECUTION is because we practiced and show up prepared. Lots of little things can take a toll on you over 140.6 miles. Having muscles be so tight on the run from poor form on the bike. Not knowing sodium totals to account for the change in temperature on the course. Not knowing their power meter numbers, not knowing their heart rate numbers in case power meter fails, etc. Coach Patrick has said 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
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.
Coach Patrick does a GREAT video this week on managing your long run and all its effects. CHECK IT OUT! He explains how to get the most out of it with the least amount of impact on everything else.
P.S. Ya'll Rock - Now go out there and crush it!
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Comments
switching the discussion here.
If carrying alot of bottles with you is an issue, can you think of a road that you can repeat and know that you can refill the bottles ? When doing the long RR I always do the same road, I know that each turn around has waters and corner store where I can buy or refill as needed - that helps alot on the logistic !
have a nice testing week !
I'm planning to bike test either Tuesday or Wednesday, based on how I'm feeling Tuesday. I'm planning to test outside, which will be my first outside test this year (others have been on the trainer). I'm not doing the run test as I'm very comfortable with my running paces.
Anyone else testing? Outside or on the trainer?
@Derrek Sanks I asked Coach P a few weeks ago about indoor vs. outdoor. He recommended doing outdoor if you have a safe place to do it. FWIY - I did the bike focus plan just before this plan and tested outside and got a new FTP number from Training Peaks. A week later, I did a race on Zwift where I went all out for about an hour. Training Peaks took the data from that race and gave me an FTP of 1 watt higher. To me, that validated that mine is roughly the same inside and out. I just find that the 20' goes by quicker outside.
The other factor for me is that I did a bike fit session today. Wasn't expecting too much to change, but wow things are different! Switched to the Cobb JOF saddle, which allowed for a more forward pelvic tilt; which led to the front end coming down 25 mm; which leads to needing shorter cranks since my legs now touch the lowest rib in the aero position.
I honestly think my max power will be reduced in this new position, but who cares about FTP at this point; I want to hold a nice steady power in a spectacular aero position for 5 hours, and be comfortable the whole time. Here's the "after" pic:
http://alex-cycle.blogspot.com/2008/05/the-seven-deadly-sins.html?m=1
@Brian Hagan - sounds like your FTP is solid, plus the 2x20 will give a good FTP too. Have fun!
@Paul Curtin - sounds like good changes to your bike fit. I think being more comfortable in aero position produces on average higher power over longer hours...IOWs higher 5 hr power.
I've changed my mind and am going to do the standard 20 min test today.
Also, on the loops, I do similar to what @Derrek Sanks mentioned. I've have been doing loops in a park where I go my car every 35 miles. I've been trying to keep the stop to a minimum. I open the rear hatch, refill bottles and go. I like this, because I know I need to be empty (mostly) by the time I get to my car. I keep everything in a cooler on ice, so it taste better and makes we want to drink.
As for the sweat test... I do not think its necessary to get naked if you are wearing the same clothes in both weigh-ins (before and after). I would get arrested if I did that at the parking lot of the park.......
I ended up doing the standard 5'/20' test on a strip of good road. I was happy to see a bit of a bump, and I want to see if I can use that number to set a higher NP target for Saturday.
I went for a 6 mile run today at TRP effort by HR. My training partner has left me to go do his first IM at Mont-Tremblant, so I am going to do the run myself. I do not like the split run, so I will be doing them both together in one long run after work tomorrow.
Good luck with the rest of your week everyone!
@Bill Eckert - Great job on the FTP. It's truly an art to nailing FTP test, especially on a trainer
I tested outside, TT bike, in aero position. Result was 250 FTP, which was a little lower than what I was expecting but in-line with recent FTP workouts. After Nov OS, my FTP was 276 on a road bike, on a trainer and I knew it was lower as I self adjusted it to 258 several weeks ago. It's good to know where I stand. I did the Wed swim this AM and plan to do the split LR tomorrow.
Tuesday's FTP test was shortened to 10' instead of 20' -- the new bike position seems good but I got really uncomfortable trying to push it. Hopefully that works itself out. New shorter crank arms will be installed tomorrow
@Brian Hagan - from that blog you shared I found the power calculator site and it was interesting
https://www.cyclingpowerlab.com/MonodCriticalPower.aspx
It seemed to do well interpolating between two points, but trying to extrapolate 60' power from recent 5' and 10' numbers led to a lot of variability ... a higher 5' power number seemed to reduce FTP given the same 10' power. I'm going to run another 20' test to be more certain of FTP
Today's split run went well -- got in the full 75 minutes this morning and another 60 minutes this evening. Legs are tired but hopefully I recover for tomorrow's WKOs
@Paul Curtin I will check that out.
Question for you all who follow your PMC / CTL etc... I just do not like how it gives rTSS based off of pace for the run. Can you change it to go off of %of max HR? I was super slow yesterday Z1 speed but Z4 heart rate.
My husband was on travel all week, and my schedule was a little wonky. I couldn't fit in the split run with my work schedule and the kids' activities so ended up doing just one long run. It was longer that 75% but I wanted to do a half. I think I descended that pretty well: https://www.strava.com/activities/1134858883
Got a run in this morning, then off to swim later today. We are heading up to Bryson City for the weekend to ensure we are in 100% totality of the eclipse. Will be taking the trainer with me unless you all may know of some good rides up there. I do plan on kayaking the Nantahala....whitewater kayaking was my thing before I got the tri bug.
Overall feeling good about things. Glad this week was what it was with all the work/travel/fall sports starting. It's hardly fall here. So sick and tired of the humidity. I know LOU will feel amazing compared to this!
Solid swim this morning (WU:300 MS1:3500 CD:100 = 3900 total in 1:06:48). Used pull buoy for the MS and swam a nice smooth and even pace. I have used the wetronome a lot over the last 6 weeks when I began to swim serious again and it has helped a lot! I primarily use it as a pacing tool for my sets to ensure I remain even throughout. It really showed this morning. Once I joined EN, after IMLOU (Swam 1:07:xx) last year, I drank the kool-aid and only swam about 10-15 times (over 8 months) going into July. In the interim I did a lot of band work to supplement and save time. Ironically enough, I really didn't lose much off of what I ended last season with. It will be interesting to see how the swim progresses in the coming weeks as the volume increases. Looking forward to the weekend of training!
@Brian Hagan - I hear ya...it took me awhile to buy into the split LRs (I only did 1 or 2 last year). I like doing one LR too, but with the humidity in N. VA right now, I'm appreciating the split runs. I hope when the plan goes to the one LR our weather will be more tolerable for running long.
My focus for Saturday's ride is nutrition and drinking 3 bottles an hour (2 of GE and 1 water) and one gel. With 4 bottle holders, this means I need to find a 25-35 mile loop to refuel each hour. This will give me 470 cals/hr.
I hope everyone have a good training weekend.
From the WKO details screen, there's a combo box on the TSS line that lets you switch from rTSS to hrTSS. I just tried this and it instantly changed my TSS for that workout as well as for the weekly total
Honing in on nutrition: Saturday was 358 calories per hour ... a bit on the low side for 4+ hours; Sunday was 478 per hour; somewhere in between the two seems to be the right number
@Brian Hagan -- new bike setup seems to be working ... at least for now. Rode 90 Saturday and 58 Sunday; arms and butt are sore from the new position and new saddle; but my back wasn't stiff ... that tells me the improved hip angle was a good adjustment
My work-around is to push the lap button to track an interval. As an example, Saturday I did 3 x 60' Z3 with 15-minute recoveries between sets. TrainingPeaks says overall ride VI was 1.12, but each interval was at 1.03
My main issue with VI, is that I have been riding with a guy who is a bit faster than me. I don't draft him, but I just try to keep him in my sites. I eventually catch him at stop lights or when we meet back at the car (2 stops per ride), but every now and then I have to put my head down and go harder than I should to catch up to him. Also, the route we have been doing has about 4500 ft in elevation game, and I have been going up the climbs harder than I should (sometimes) for interval work. I believe I have been getting stronger by riding with him, but my VI is high and the second half of my ride is weaker when he drops me I go on my own.
We have camp week coming up in a few weeks, so I plan to try to ride more to goal watts for those rides. I will take Friday off work and ride solo.
As for nutrition..... I looked at my plan for IM. I was thinking that if I took in that much on a 5 hr bike ride without running a long run after, I would be taking in a lot of excess calories. I depend on GE for a lot of my sodium intake, but I am not drinking 2 bottles an hour like I would in a race. I am going to start taking the salt tabs during my training rides to get more sodium, and I bet that will help me in the second half of my training ride.
Also, my knee starting hurting in the last hour. I am pretty sure it is because I got new pedals that have a different type of cleat. I need to get in with my bike fitter and make sure they are at the right setting. No issues at all on the run, so I am pretty sure that is it.
@Derrek Sanks - So glad things went better this weekend. I had a small taste of the humidity you get, and know it must be such a challenge!
I just did this for my 2 "refill" intervals. You can see the new blank spaces at the 1:40 and 3:05 marks. It recalculated total time, average power, and VI. Much better!