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Workout posts - week of June 4
Race week for me!!! I am starting to get super-excited!!
Did my last hard swim workout this morning. Rather than do the taper-week swim it is all guns blazing on training until tomorrow when the crash taper begins. So I did the swim that would have been called for based on the HIM plan targeting Racine in July. Hopefully not a tactical blunder but this is the taper approach I took for Steelhead last year when I was building for Vegas and it worked (for Steelhead at least!!).
Overall 3200 yd in 1:01:39 (avg pace 1:49/100yd, incl rest intervals). Took 1:00 rest between each MS. Avg efficiency 37. Avg. 10.5 strokes per length in 25 yd pool.
Paces:
W/U 400 – 1:37, then rested for 1:00
MS1: 8x100(15) as 50 sprint / 50 easy – 1:29, 1:31, 1:30, 1:30, 1:29, 1:28, 1:29, 1:32
MS2: 5x200(20) targeting negative split – 1:32, 1:32, 1:32, 1:33, 1:34
MS3: 3x300(30) with last 50 of each a sprint: 1:35, 1:36, 1:36
C/D 300 – 1:40
Actually the 300's were supposed to be "last 100 as a sprint", but I hadn't written it down so remembered it as 50. Oh well. As for the 200's, all were a negative split (barely…negative splits were, in seconds, 1.9, 2.5, 2.4, 2.0, 3.0).
Overall felt very good in the pool today...we'll see how the run goes this afternoon after not running since Thursday (and that one being pretty disappointing).
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Like Matt, I'm racing this weekend. I am taking the same swim approach, but swimming with the local club in the 50 m outdoor pool now. Feel like kind of a woosie getting out after only 75 min or so. :-) Today was ~3200 m with a lot of sprint stuff. I actually thought that was good for me to keep the body from going into full shutdown or whatever. I'm as bad as anyone in terms of feeling very up and down during a taper, and I'm taking a more-or-less-as-on-the-books two week gradual taper, except on the swimming.
@ William - I am doing much of the same as you. I use an outdoor 50 M pool and will be basically swimming my ass off between now and my June 24th HIM.
@ Matt - I think you're going to set a PR bro! Taper smart after this crash cycle.
SS
Interestingly, the USAT refs did not know the skinsuit rules and overruled myself and another athlete when we politely told them they were confusing WTC's rule dispensation with the standard USAT rule. I wrote USAT the night before the race and received an apology from Charlie Crawford today. I'm hoping they send out a reminder to alll refs so the don't misinterpret rules at other races. At a minimum, I was assured that USAT deal with those particular refs.
Second-to-last run before Kansas. Beautiful weather – unless you're preparing for a 90-degree race, which apparently I am – 70's and sunny. The plan called for 30' with 3x3'(1') @z2, but I extended to 45' as part of my "crash taper" plan (which begins tomorrow) and added an extra interval. And I ran based on RPE so thepaces ended up more like z3/4. The wind was very strong from the north so I ran into the teeth of the wind first, hence the first two interval paces vs. the second two. The 14' of extra time at the end was also a lot faster than RPE would suggest…I'd rate it a mid-z3 effort at most.
Overall 6.72 miles in 45:01, 6:42 pace with no stops. Current paces z2=7:09, z3=6:53, z4=6:45
Warmup 15'@ 6:55
4x 3'(1') – 6:29, 6:27, 6:07, 6:14
(1' recoveries 7:59, 7:44, 7:41, 7:56)
"Remainder time" – 14' @ 6:34
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/185720262
@ William, the "swim efficiency" is a metric calculated by the Garmin that incorporates your stroke count and pace. A lower number is better, i.e. for the same pace, fewer strokes would yield a lower score (or, for the same strokes / length, a faster split would yield a lower score). The metric is normalized for a 25 meter pool so comparable across pools. If you've never clicked on the Garmin links in my swim workout posts, give the one above a try. The output from the 910xt is pretty cool.
@ Matt, smoking run, those paces are blazing!
Did 3,000 yards in the pool late tonight. Was gonna take the day off and do it tomorrow before work but then started thinking that I didn't want to get up that early
Looks like there's lots of good work going on. I'm also looking forward to the race reports from you guys who are racing this weekend. Well, this is my first week into the half Ironman training plan. I did a run and a swim workout.
Run 30' easy with some strides. Then 2 x 1 mi repeats at 7:27. Then I did a relatively easy 20' run back home.
The swim was 2050 yds. Less than planned but this was the first long swim since last Sept.
I hopped on the bike this evening and the legs just wouldn't go. I tried for the Z4 a few times but just couldn't hit the groove. Rolled back to the apartment casually spinning along. I may try it again tomorrow depending on how the run goes.
@ Doug - yes it was much more difficult than it looked on paper if you did the weekend work! Doug, way to fight through that one bro!
5 miles in the AM @ 129 avg HR. I'm giving up on speed work for a few months and just doing HR running within my target ceiling.
No swim- rained out with thunderstoms
PM - 74 mins on the trainer with TSS = 84
Swam 2,500 M early then got out of the pool and ran 6 miles with 3 X 1 at sub 7min/mile pace.......
Swim: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/186281464
Good luck today all!
SS
Week 18 of HIM porgram:
Moday - Swim 20x100M on 20sec rest as 50hard 50 recover.
Tuesday: 75min bike with a MS of 3x15min Z4. Had a much easier time finding z4 heart rate than I did on sunday. It is funny, when I am cooked, I cant keep my heartrate down on the run and I cant get my heart rate up on the bike.
Wednesday - Had to do tomorrow's 105min run today. I was able to hit the interval paces but My HR got up higher than I would have liked.
Racing Sunday, so tapering hard by now...
I have to keep reminding myself that taper is so up and down. Last night I did that last brick and felt dead on the bike, but ran like the wind. (Actually, running like the wind = 6:30ish, but toned it down and ran "easy" under 7:00)
It'll be good. :-)
Couldn't hit the FTP bike stuff yesterday but I think doing some spinning on the bike helped get them ready for today's work.
Went out for a run this morning and had 3 X 1 mile intervals at Z4-5. I felt really good and hit all 3 at Z5 (6:07, 6:09, 6:07). Wow, those things are hard! Details here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/186338224
Went straight to the pool to do today's swim workout. I was gunning for 4000 yards but only got 2100 yards in. During the swim there were a couple times that my left hamstring and left calf tightened up a little bit. During the last lap that I did my left calf tightened up into a knot in the middle of the deep end. I thought I was gonna sink but was able to grab a lane marker and pull myself to the edge of the pool. Wow, it didn't seize up completely but I reached down to massage it out and the thing was hard as a rock and hurt like a #$@!. Needless to say I got out of the pool.
Went home got some food and fluids in me, rested a bit and then hit the bike to try and get back some of yesterdays missed Z4 work. I didn't get all 45' in but did get 36' in. Did one 15' interval and then had to piece together a bunch of stuff because I just couldn't go more than 3' or 4' at a time. All in all though I was happy to get back some of that work. No issues with the left leg on the ride. I just hope I didn't impact tomorrow's run. We shall see...
Entire workout (215 watts):
Duration: 1:24:36 (1:25:18)
Work: 1090 kJ
TSS: 96.6 (intensity factor 0.834)
Norm Power: 243
VI: 1.13
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 27.635 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 529 215 watts
Cadence: 32 174 79 rpm
Speed: 0 40.2 19.6 mph
Pace 1:30 0:00 3:04 min/mi
@ Doug - Holy Mother of GOD! Nice triathlon you hammered out today Superman!
@ Jimmy and Enrique - strong work gentlemen!
@ William - good luck on the race and feeling like caged tiger this week!
@ Paul - just keep leading!
@william the secret is running a bad 5k. Still, I have serious doubts about holding z2-3 for 13.1 in a couple of weeks.
AM - 4,000 yards in the pool
PM - 15 mins core + 52 mins recovery spinning and technique work on the trainer
Pre-race powermeter problem...yikes...
@ Matt - the shake up ride sounds nerve racking. Can you just buy a new valve extender and stem? have you triued re-calibrating one more time after the ride to see if the first pass was just a fluke?
My week 18 long run:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/186609414
PM - 60 mins on the bike with about 35 total at Z3. Out of mojo and need to hit the sack early.
@ William, go get em man!
@ Shaughn, you're faster than you know, way to nail the run!
@ Paul, nice work, now take a break!
It was warm here today and my stomach was off. I didn't eat anything out of the ordinary so I'm not sure what was up. I started out trying to do the prescribed intervals but backed off in the end and just did a standard long run. Garmin site is down again but I did a little over 13 miles in a little over 100 minutes. Nothing special about it. Looking forward to the final RR Saturday!
Felt a bit salty today so I went for and exceeded my z5 pace instead of z4 on the run. It was hot! I weighted in before and after rand dropped 2 lbs of water in 45min.
The swim happened. No fireworks but the work got done. I am starting to get pretty amped for Mt Tremblant in a little over 2 weeks!
Overall 1600 yd in 32:19 (avg pace 1:58/100yd, incl rest intervals). Took 1:00 rest between each MS. Avg efficiency 36. Avg. 9.7 strokes per length in 25 yd pool. Actually the consistency in strokes/length today was pretty remarkable, look at the chart! Some issue with the last lap b/c I forgot to stop my watch when I got out of the pool and it triggered an extra 50 yd. Oops.
Paces:
W/U 300 – 1:33, then rested for 1:00
MS1: 6x150(30) as 100 race pace / 50 easy – 1:31, 1:33, 1:33, 1:33, 1:32, 1:32
MS2: 8x25(15) odds as sprint, evens as easy
Sprints – 1:20, 1:20, 1:21, 1:20
Easys – 1:28, 1:27, 1:31, 1:29
C/D 200 – 1:33
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/186708291
Today is supposed to be a shortish recovery run and a 3rd swim. I am skipping both and replacing with a massage and a nap. I have been waking up at night a bunch over the past few nights and given that I have my last RR tomorrow and have to be up at 5am to get it done in time for family duties I have decided hat the best choice for today is rest.
Question: I got my long run in yesterday. First time doing a long run on a Thursday. It went ok, except that I had to break up the back end of the run into intervals in order to try to keep the pace up at around HMP pace. Anyone else do that sort of thing or do you just run steady at a slower pace?
It looked something like this:
Total: 100 minutes
WU: 30'
MS: 1 x .5mi (4' RI)
1 x 1.0 mi (4')
1 x .5 mi (4') all at TP pace
Then ran remainder of time (~30min) @ HMP broken up into 4 half mile intervals
@ Enrique - Good Job.. Yes, i break up the last part of the long run into intervals too. In fact, I think that is a key part of the training. It gives you both mental and physical strength to be able to run fast at the end of the HIM or IM.
PM ... 20 mins core and stretching
Lots of HIMs this weekend, and I'm looking forward to great EN results!