NovOS Week 14 - Bike Thread

Sheila Leard

Well I guess you can see we have arrived! The last week of the Out Season. Wow - it covered Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years and any other Holidays you celebrate.

This week is meant to be a bike testing week and a 10k or Half Marathon. I know I am feeling some fatigue and had to pull back a few times. It's a reminder that we self Coached athletes and need to trust our judgement when it comes to our bodies not feeling it.

When we started at the very end of October, my CTL was a mere 16    Today it is 89. I think my injuries are behind me (sort of).
I'm thrilled with the progression and the patience to build fitness. There were times that I thought the intensity was too much for my body to absorb. I adjusted  - as we all should. I believe the fast before far is working. I have a goal to see my CTL grow and fatigue decrease.

I hope you can look back and see that the OS during the Holidays was challenging but the ROI is there!

Your Captain is signing off. See you in the other forums. May the force be with you and KMF !!!

Gary Lewis

@Sheila Leard  Thanks for leading us for the last 14 weeks.  I am fully recovered due to recovering for HM, then slacking then getting sick.

Keep up the hard work everyone and I hope to see everyone at the races.

Larry Peters

Thanks a million @Sheila Leard and everyone in Nov. OS. I didn't get in here much during the holiday & start of a new semester, but I did really appreciate having all of your support. Good luck to everyone & I hope you are over your cold/flu @Gary Lewis .

I plan to do a local 10k Saturday. I hope the roads are dry, so I can see where I stand vs. year's past.

This OS is my first time ever training with Power. I'm making gains & look forward to more to come. I'm LOVING Zwift so far. Just want to make sure it doesn't entice me away from riding outside too much when the weather is nice.

I would say my OS training was only moderate quality for the first while, but I had some really good training since ~12/24 with some time away from work. 

I have a great run streak going. I haven't had as many quality runs as I should, but I do feel stronger as a runner, I can comfortably & consistently run with a much higher cadence, and I think my form has improved. My feet & lower legs are definitely stronger than ever before (in terms of distance running).

I've got ~20 weeks till my first A-race, so I'm going to do swim camp & get faster for a while. I look forward to improving my focus on run quality and hopefully seeing some speed gains relative to last year.

I am hoping to have a test that is faster than this time for me last year. I haven't yet. But even if I can run a test soon that puts my run speed in the same place as this time last year, I'll be happy, because I will have accomplished that with very little quality running all winter & lots of quality biking. Vs. last year, all I did all fall & winter was train for a marathon & cross-train (started swimming & biking in March 2017 w/ zero bike/swim base).

I look forward to seeing you all in the forums and maybe at a race/camp too! Thanks!

Scott Imlay

Thank you everyone, and especially you @Sheila Leard!

For me, it was a moderately successful OS. Things were going great until January when a combination of work and vacation travel severely reduced my time on the bike. As a result, I don't think my FTP increased that much (I'll do a test next week). My running and swimming, on the other hand, are doing very well!

I'm still finalizing my plans for the year, but I'm tentatively planning to do 70.3 St George and IM Boulder. This means I'll be jumping into HIM training in a couple weeks and IM training early in April. No rest for the weary!

See you in the forums and, perhaps, at the races!

Shaughn Simmons

Thank you @Sheila Leard for captaining and leading us!  Congratulations peeps!

Consider how much more fit you are coming into Feb having gone through the 14 week EN OS protocol vs. many of your competitors!

Hoping some of you might join me in the GF plan now??

SS

Sheila Leard

@Shaughn Simmons the OS provided momentum. I’m not ready for the GF !!! Excited to get some focused swimming going. 

#KMF 

Larry Peters

@Shaughn Simmons , I would love to go right into GF plan. But, I've never been through the EN swim camp, and swimming is my weakest discipline. I did do some focused drill & cadence work in the pool this winter, and I'm feeling good about my swimming.  But I think doing swim camp (with a little extra biking & running) will force me to better explore the many resources EN has on swim technique, and hopefully become a better swimmer.

As of today (2/4/18), I do have 20 weeks till my first A-race (CdA 70.3), so I'm planning 2 weeks of swim camp & 8-10 weeks of GF before switching to my 70.3 plan. So I will be in GF with you @Shaugh Simmons soon.

I submitted my TSR request pretty late, so I haven't gotten @Coach Patrick 's thoughts on that plan. But if you all have any thoughts, they would be greatly appreciated!

Originally, I was thinking 2 weeks of swim camp starting tomorrow, 10 weeks GF & 8 weeks of 70.3 BUT, I will be teaching a class in Costa Rica during weeks 14 & 15 of the 70.3 plan (6 and 5 weeks from my HIM). I won't have reliable access to a bike and my volume may suffer a bit. So lately, I'm thinking 2 weeks of swim camp, 8 weeks GF & 10 weeks 70.3 may give me more volume to help compensate for my cut back training during weeks 14 & 15. Would any of you like to share your thoughts on that?

Also, 1 week after returning from Costa Rica, I plan to go out to Snowmass for a week long volume popping bike-focused camp with ENers (week 18 of my 70.3). So I want to try to be extra strong before leaving the country.

Thanks!

Larry Peters

PS. Good luck with your races today if you are following the plan!

I did a 10k outside yesterday. I was really happy with the effort, but it was snowing during the race & much of the course had a thin layer of snow/slush. So it is really hard to compare my time to previous years. But I know I'm in the ball-park with less-than-desired quality running so far this winter. Hopefully I'll get my Stryd set up soon, because I assume it can account for those types of things (compare power vs. speed just like in a bike ride).

I look forward to getting some more speed work in GF!

Tim Sullivan

Thanks @Sheila Leard!

I'm Super pumped about my progress this year.  I had a blast and now I have tje Austin Rattler coming up at the end of March. Trying both the 100k mtb and the 66k trail run. Both new for me. Only 5 people finished both last year.  The run will be tough for me as that's a lomg way.  Bike fitness is great and I'm on a 140 day run streak so we'll see how it goes.

I am planning on doing IM haugesund in Norway July 1 which should also be fun. 7000 feet of climbing on the bike in a single 180k loop.

Will also do some shorter races and maybe a later season IM

Larry Peters

PS. Just to update, today I got extensive feedback from Coach about my questions above and they have all been addressed . 

I'm going to stay in OS till 3/11, so I'm pumped about that!

Thanks!