Week of 4/4 Workouts Discussion
I started off my first ever HIM training plan today. I finished off day 1 of the 12 week intermediate program. Started the morning off with a 60 minute run with 2x1mile @ ;Z4/5 (mostly Z4).
Lunchtime swim of 3000y, which is my longest swim ever. My arms are pretty spent, and the best part is I get to do it again tomorrow! 
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Starting week 3 this week I skipped both the swim and the run for yesterday (Monday) and will pick back up today in the pool. This Saturday is a race rehearsal for us. It looks like coach has us doing a 60 min swim, 3 hour bike ride, and 1 hr run. So should be fun and we even get Sunday off. Looking forward to week 4 we are testing all three disciplines. Looking for a bump in my FTP, think my vDot will hover around the same and my last swim was 16:33 so I would love to see a few more seconds come off of that but we will have to wait and see........
Have a great training week all....
Still trying to settle into the new routine a bit. Life has been getting in the way a bit. I raced a sprint last weekend and otherwise missed the rest of the weekend bike work. Went off schedule a bit yesterday and hoped on the trainer for 3x13. My lack of focus has cost me some of the winter fitness. They came in at IF's of .92, .92, and .94. I am going to try to stick to once a week on the trainer to hit consistent watts. Ran a quick 25 minutes off the trainer. I am hoping to get things back up to where they were pretty quickly.
I did yesterday's run today with 3 x 1 mile @ 6:18, 6:08, and 6:12. They were all a bit of a struggle and I was never able to relax into the run. Overall I think I just need to draw a line in sand and recomit to the plan. I won't even mention swimming.
8 min @.927
10 min @.937
12 min@.937
8 min @.925
8 min @.967
Excited to get back to the zone on the last one.
First bike workout of this HIM plan for me. Highest TSS workout for me since Jan 31st. Had to break up one of the intervals to get through it. I was watching the 13th stage of the 2004 TDF where Armstrong and Basso were battling up some mountain and Thomas Voeckler was struggling like mad to hang on to the yellow jersey. I think the last climb was over 10km. Phew.
Anyways :
10 @.967
12 @ .943
6 @ .889 (yuck)
10 @ .948
10 @ .954
Followed up with a 30 min brick run with 12 min @ Z4.
Bike hurt. Run felt great.
I'm really hoping in a couple weeks, it will all have settled into a more normal feel.
Last Saturday and Sunday: long bike rides in high winds. I actually got blown off the road, and I wasn't even using aero wheels. I did get to use my Speedfil for the first time and loved it. Couldn't hit the FTP targets, though, which I'll blame on the winds and on the Speedfil for keeping me well-hydrated and in need of bathroom breaks. The little brick run on Sat was enlightening, because while I could run off the bike and didn't feel shaky, my legs were too tired by the bike to push me beyond Z1 speed. Gave me some insight into why long-course triathlon is so challenging.
Monday swim: 2400yds, avg pace 1:59.
Tuesday swim: 2000yds, avg pace 1:56, tired arms, technique didn't feel right, bailed out 400yds early and scheduled a swim lesson for this Sunday
Wednesday bike/run: still too cold/dark so back on the trainer. 10'/12'/8'/8' at IF .94/.91/.90/.93, 11' at .77; seems I can't hold Z4 anymore but at least I can nail Z3. Also nailed the Z3 intervals on the brick run.
Thursday long run: 4 x .5mi @ NGP 6:04/7:01/6:36/6:41 (Z4 tgt 6:38), 35' @ NGP 7:22 (Z2 tgt 7:02), total 12.4mi in 100'. It's the reverse of the bike: on the run I can hit the Z4 but can't sustain Z2 LOL.
Weather is looking good for the big SBR day on Saturday!
@William - I'll be looking forward to 2 weeks from now
Swim: 1hr, 2450yds, 2:01/100 avg, slow but low-effort, swim lesson this morning will hopefully fix my technique a bit
Bike: 2.5hrs, 40.9miles. First 60' IF 0.69 (tgt 0.75), cadence 85, VI 1.04 on a rolling course. Second 50' IF 0.73, so at least I negative-split.
Run: 1hr. That was tough. Running Z1 7.3MPH straight off the bike wasn't a problem, but increasing to Z2 8.5MPH at the 30' mark? My legs wouldn't have it. It wasn't until the 55' mark that my legs loosened up and I could kick it up to 8.3MPH. Anybody else experience that long a delay? I'll be interested to see if it improves in the coming weeks as I get more practice.
Sunday was better. 2 hour ABP ride. I'm still adjusting to outdoor positions and demands, so the power wasn't quite what I would have wanted, but I felt a lot more human.
Monday - I rocked the run. 60 minutes with a 20 minute 5k in the middle of it instead of 2 x 1.5 at 6:33.
I've been working on my swim in the last few weeks. I got some instruction from a good local coach and he is pleased with the improvement in my stroke. The arms are theoretically a lot more efficient now, though I still have some of the low-butt-and-legs issues. I'm finding that the adjustments I need to make there are complicated by how it affects my breathing (because the head is necessarily a bit deeper). Anyway, his prescription going forward is to work on that issue and get a little more manly with my upper body strength, so I'm trying to do do both of those.
@Kevin - are you talking about 2 min/100 including breaks and such in a normal "set" workout? That sounds about right to me for most of us "decent but not great" swimmers. Right now, 100 sprint is in the neighborhood of 1:30 and 100 "pretty hard" is around 1:40 for me...but by the time you take the little breaks, get paddles or buoys or whatever, it's 2 min/100 when all is said and done.