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Week of Aug 13th
I'll kick us off this week. I was slow moving out of bed this morning early. Thank God for a shorter swim on the schedule today! app.strava.com/swims/18295705
2,000 M with 12 X 100 and 8 X 50, half sprinting and half easy.......then core work....
Good luck this week all!!
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My plans for a good solid 90 min swim got waylaid by a small but painful flesh wound I got yesterday afternoon that messed up my sleep. But got out for an hour anyway.
I think I was doing the same workout as Shaughn, but I've gotten so used to more extensive warmups in this last year that I always do a bit more than the list calls for.
All LCM:
300 pull, 300 kick warmup
20 x 100 m as 50 fast, 50 moderate, ~10 seconds rest.
After I got going, the fast 50s were just about all sub-50 seconds, which is under 1:30 pace in a scy pool. [the distance is 10% longer plus you gain time on the extra turn] Happy with that. Plan to run in the evening.
I hit the pool for what will probably be my only swim workout this week...my family picked my up when I was done and we all drove to Michigan for a week of vacation.
This is week #17 of the HIM plan for me, and Professor Jenks is clearly hacking the plan becuase he should have had the same swim. But rather than do the scheduled 16x100(20) then 16x50(20), it looks like he manned-up to do a big set of 20x100(10).
In any case, I last did this exact same workout on May 14, and looking back my splits are certainly better this time around (although on May 14th I ran in the morning then did the pool workout in the evening…this time there was no run although I did do 6+ hours of biking this weekend plus a run yesterday too). I find these long speed workouts quite difficult…8x or 10x of the 100's somehow seems much more manageable than 16x or 20x…I get to the 3rd or 4th of these sets and am already tired and realize there are a LOT more to go.
Overall 2800 yd in 55:05 (avg pace 1:29/100yd, excl rest intervals. Avg efficiency 36.
Paces:
W/U 200 – 1:34, then rested for 1:00
MS1: 16x100(20) as 50 sprint / 50 easy – 1:27, 1:29, 1:28, 1:28, 1:28, 1:28, 1:28, 1:29, 1:28, 1:29, 1:28, 1:29, 1:29, 1:30, 1:30, 1:30
Rested 1:00
MS2: 16x50(20) as 25 sprint / 25 easy – 1:26, 1:25, 1:26, 1:26, 1:26, 1:25, 1:25, 1:23, 1:26, 1:25, 1:23, 1:25, 1:24, 1:25, 1:25, 1:26
Rested 1:00
C/D 200 – 1:36
Unlike the last time I did this workout, the 25's were much faster than the 100's. Clearly the fatigue was not as severe this time around.
Also unlike last time, on sampling the intervals it looks like my "sprint" and "easy" were quite a different pace. Last time I guess I was fading and the "sprint" felt harder but probably was more energy and worse form…leading to "sprint" and "easy" paces that were very similar
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/210223359
Mon AM ... Lost the battle with the alarm and ended up sleeping 10 hrs instead of gong to masters at 0 dark 30.
Mon PM ... In succession... 2000 SCY same as Shaughn; then 15 min core routine, then 7.2 mile run.
app.strava.com/runs/18461828
AM
7.5 mile run with 4 X 1s exceeding Z4 targets in the first 6 miles.......70 degrees and low humidity made it feel like I was cheating compared to the normal runs I have had lately......
PM
app.strava.com/swims/18513948 6 X 500M repeats...
Tue AM - 4000 LCM as 10 x 400m. Boy was I feeling it the last 2 repeats. Thought my arms were gonna fall off.
Entering taper.... woohoo!! 2 x 1/2 mi yesterday morning @ Z4/Z5 pace on TM. (Hardly seems worth putting on the running gear!)
Group swim in the evening. Drills then 400, 4 x 100, 300, 3 x100. Then shoulder rebeled. Coach took videos so spent 20mins reviewing. Extremely helpful. Only so much I can do re: form w/ left arm but plenty of other changes I can make. (Not major, just tweaks) Did some bilateral breathing and one-arm drills and man it feels weird! I felt like I had no stability when breathing on the left and had a much harder time w/ one arm drills on the right.
Whatever swim strength I have (and it's too late to make much difference now) is based on being able to keep up race pace, not on sprinting well above it. When I get to a certain pace (let's call it 1:30 for argument's sake), the amount of energy to go any faster at all (1:28-1:29) becomes ridiculous. I am not certain if this is form going to hell or just a physical limitation of mine; both are reasonable. Anyway, I can do a harder, more efficient, better form-feeling set taking it just a very small notch down and taking a little shorter rest. i learned in my masters experience this last year that the 20 x 100 (and similar) sets are better for me at race or just a bit faster than race/threshold effort. Real sprints require more rest or I go to hell.
Yesterday I had to go to the physician for an infection in my arm. Got a tetanus shot and a dose of big antibiotics. By evening run, I felt like crap. I ran anyway, but knew that real threshold miles were out of the question, so I ran 3 miles continuous between HMP and MP...which faded to MP by the end in the middle of an hour run. Went home, feeling light headed, nauseated, and generally crappy.
This morning, I felt better and got myself out for the oddly math-challenged swim workout listed for today.
Did 5 x 500 LCM each with a little variation (one as pull, one as descend, one as 50/50) to alleviate boredom since i was the ONLY person in the pool...crazy!
Again, about 300 swim with small paddles to force me back into good form at the end.
I will probably not be able to have time for the full brick tomorrow, so I will probably run a bit tonight during my kids' soccer practice. We'll see.
Brick tonight. 3 x 6' Z4 on the bike:
6' @ .948IF
6' @ .979IF
6' @ 1.00IF
30' run as Z4 out, Z2 back. Didn't quite hit the paces. (Much harder for me in the "real world" vs. treadmil):
15' @ 11:03 pace (10:00 target)
15' @ 12:04 pace (10:46 target)
Total about 2.9mi.
Rest day tomorrow. Yiiipppeeeeee!! SAUs!!
Overall 2:52:41 @ 219 watts, IF 0.864, TSS 213.9. Distance 60.19 miles, avg 20.9mph.
Warmup
15' – NP: 179 (IF 0.704), VI 1.02, HR 117/128, cad 73, 16.3mph
FTP intervals
20'(4') – NP: 256 (IF 1.009), VI 1.00, HR 151/160, cad 90, 23.2mph
20'(4') – NP: 248 (IF 0.977), VI 1.01, HR 152/160, cad 90, 20.8mph
ABP (z3) intervals
30'(2') – NP: 210 (IF 0.827), VI 1.04, HR 136/143, cad 84, 20.1mph
30'(2') – NP: 216 (IF 0.849), VI 1.01, HR 137/146, cad 85, 21.4mph
30'(2') – NP: 223 (IF 0.879), VI 1.00, HR 141/148, cad 87, 22.4mph
Remainder time
13'(2') – NP: 197 (IF 0.777), VI 1.01, HR 134/142, cad 85, 21.4mph
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/210666486
I did get out for a little more quality run tonight (Tuesday). i decided to keep the length down so I don't get myself so fatigued as to mess up Thursday's last really key long run. (I need long runs...)
So, over 50 min, I did three intervals of 1.0, 1.4 and 0.3 mi. (I know... a little screwy...function of where I was). Paces were 6:35, 6:30, 6:43, respectively. Prettty good for me right now.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/210703522
Tue PM - 60 mins sweat test on the drainer @ steady Z2 (lost 76 oz). After post drainer weigh in, I ran 3.14 miles @ 8:38 average
Wed AM - 3125 SCY (yeah, I got out on the other side of the pool). Ran 4.05 miles in 8:09 average. Slow first mile, then hard fartlek workout the next 3 miles.
And so it continues...down the yellow brick road to COZ!
I am going to completely shut down till I am recovererd. Hopefully I will be ready by saturday to get back on track. But right now I am sticking with "it will take aslong as it takes". If that is 1 day, fine. If it is a week, fine.
In the mean time I am turning my energy to work. Work could use some energy at the moment anyway.
@Paul - my last sweat test I lost 48 oz of water in one hour........unusually high sweat rate......hard to keep up with in terms of hydration for me....
Early morning V02 session with 14' ON time 2X(3X2', 1X1')
app.strava.com/rides/18592738
Duration: 1:10:16 (1:10:39)
Work: 991 kJ
TSS: 94.9 (intensity factor 0.904)
Norm Power: 263
4.7 mile run with hill Repeats - 10 X 50" (2') -with my 9 year old twin boys. They each did 5 repeats............
app.strava.com/runs/18619252
Shaughn, a 70 min ride at 0.90 with VO2 sounds like you were a BEAST.
Swam again this morning. 600 w/u, then 20 x 100 (10") at race effort with paddles, focusing on lats and core.
Overall 1:53:49 @ 211 watts, IF 0.832, TSS 130.4. Distance 39.47 miles, avg 20.8mph.
Warmup
15' – NP: 179 (IF 0.704), VI 1.01, HR 120/128, cad 81, 19.3mph
ABP intervals
29'(2') – NP: 224 (IF 0.881), VI 1.00, HR 142/147, cad 88, 22.1mph
29'(2') – NP: 219 (IF 0.864), VI 1.00, HR 139/145, cad 85, 21.5mph
15.5'(2') – NP: 219 (IF 0.861), VI 1.02, HR 139/145, cad 85, 20.5mph
18.5' – NP: 209 (IF 0.824), VI 1.01, HR 136/144, cad 86, 21.2mph
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/211017020
Tonight ... 72 mins on the trainer w TSS = 76. I was really feeling my run this morning so was happy to get this much work out of the ride. Tomorrow is all Z1/Z2 work!
20' 243 W
10' 245 W
10' 243 W
Total IF 0.85, TSS 99, VI 1.06 in 82 min. Another 20+ mph day, this time 20.9 ave.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/211080471
@ Matt, Paul and William - all very strong work on these bike performances, frankly amazing considering the load you all carry from swimming and running as well.
@William - I have done only one IM - IMLV @ 12:05 and consider myself a newbie at this distance unlike Paul. I have raced more than 60 triathlons and about 12 HIMs however. If I could run like you guys after my bike performances I would be in good shape, however, I still have a lot of work to do in that area.....I am hoping some your talents will rub off on me.....
This morning was long run morning in week 7 of Get Faster plan:
app.strava.com/runs/18710152
I have not taken 2 consecutive rest days since Mt Tremblant 70.3 in june.
It feels very foreign. One day at a time.
@ Jimmy - smart to stand down and let your body get better. Get well soon!
Well the great thing about an out-and-back course is that once you do the "out", you have to run all the way back.
This run was very interesting. First off, I did not expect to be running in DC today given that I'm supposed to be on vacation in Michigan. When an urgent client meeting got scheduled in DC I planned a day trip, but then today's meeting led to a C-level meeting being quickly scheduled for tomorrow, so I have to stay another night. Big bummer from a vacation standpoint, but could be worse from a work perspective. In any case I had a pretty well totally unscheduled afternoon in DC so decided to knock out my long run.
As usual I decided beforehand to pull the total duration back from 105' to 90' max. It ended up being 95' due to course and pace, but close enough. The schedule was for 20' W/U then 20' MP then 30' at z3/HMP. Because I pulled back the total time I shortened the W/U to 10' and ran that at roughly MP. Then I went into the 30' @z3 but ended up hitting a very solid z4 – about 9sec/mile faster than my z4 cutoff. I felt this was okay since that portion of the trail is mostly downhill (elevation loss of 225 feet over the 4.6 miles), although it flattened out in the last 5' and my HR was well over 190 for that whole time. So by the time that interval was over I was COOKED.
But, as I said, when you're on an out-and-back, you really have no choice but to turn around and start running back…
Overall 12.88 miles in 1:32:59, avg pace 7:13/mile. Several inactive recoveries / water stops (was running with a bottle but it wasn't a sport bottle). Current z4=6:45, z3=6:52, z2=7:09.
Warmup 10' @7:10
30' @ 6:36
15' @ 7:51
15' @ 7:42
10' @ 7:44
10' @ 7:21
3' @ 6:59
There was another 3' in a different Garmin file after I left the trail but I didn't bother including that in the stats.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/211310451
Thu AM - 8.24 miles slow Z1 run but it felt like work. In fact, it was a mental work-out to push through this. When you get into your 50's you start to question whether you are tired because A) you've been working hard or
@Matt A - My whole running weakness this year has turned out to be that Z2-Z3 (MP-HMP) range. I can do the 1-miles at TP (near 6:30), and when not already pretty tired for some reason, I can run indefinitely near 7:30... but that range of HMP and MP I have had a hard time really working this summer.
That makes it ironic that I intentionally cut out the MP/HMP stuff from today's long run... but the other thing I know is that for a race in tough conditions (which LV will definitely be), the time/distance thing does me some real, measurable good...and there's only so deep a hole I want to dig myself into. :-)
My plan is to try to get a lot of that kind of pace in over the next 2+ weeks as some of the other fatigue sheds. Hope it works out.
So anyway, I went ahead and stretched today's long run out to 2:05 or so instead of the 1:45 on the schedule...but ran the whole thing at a very steady LRP of just over 8:00. Still had that slow warmup, which is a sign of fatigue. Covered over 15+ mi, but I don't have the exact figures uploaded yet.
Tried another experiment for confidence. I am anticipating things being pretty hot, so drinking on the bike to get calories to not be an issue. But sometimes very hot doesn't lend itself well to a lot of calories on the run. So today, I had a bit bigger than usual breakfast (carb heavy, maybe 800 cal), and put some gels in my pockets, but didn't consume any. While my run was not fast, it was strong, and I didn't feel bonked. So I'll take that as a positive sign that I can muscle it out if I need to. As long as I get something reasonable in me during the bike I know that run bonking should be the least of my worries, and if I can get my usual caloric intake, all the better.
This morning's weight was 148 with 138 lean mass (according to Tanita balance) That's pretty good if I can hold it there.
And Paul, though i'm just 48, I know exactly what you're talking about on the ABC thing! I'm still doing fine, but I do feel like it's a bit different than even just 5 years ago. Enough wise people seem to say that rest/recovery is more important as we get wiser that I'm willing to believe it. My hope is to be able to train at least almost as well, but just be really careful not to cheat on sleep/stretching/etc like I might have gotten away with in the past.
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Perhaps this falls into the "please talk me off a ledge" category.
Next week will be HIM plan week #18, target race is 70.3 Vegas on 9/9. The Saturday workout of week #18 calls for a race rehearsal. In the absence of any changes I would do the rehearsal as specified, even though I've done a couple RR's already this summer in addition to two races. So the workout is more about a "workout" and less about a "rehearsal". Sunday is planned off although truthfully I'd probably do an ABP ride anyway.
Sunday 8/26 is also the Chicago Triathlon. I really love to race and I hate to think there's a massive triathlon going on in my backyard in which I'm not participating. But I'm not willing to treat it as a complete "C-race", so best case would be to get a 2-hour ride in on Friday, take Saturday off, race Sunday and recover Monday. Then resume the plan.
Do you think that's workable given the half-iron on 9/9?
Another interesting option is to try to switch my entry to the "triple challenge"…a super sprint on Saturday, then on Sunday race the sprint and the Olympic events back-to-back. That would certainly increase the total volume of the weekend and make it less of a writeoff. But the recovery would probably be longer.
Thoughts?
Matt- I'm certainly not an expert but I would think the Oly would be OK, but that triple threat sounds like potentially too much to recover from. How does the volume compare to what is in the plan for that weekend?
"Long run" tonight was 5.5 miles. Actually hit first mile @ Z4. I rarely attempt anything beyond Z1 (12:22 pace) on the long runs but gave it a shot since it was a shorter run. (@ William- seems to be a common theme re: MP/HMP on long runs!)
1st mile @ 10:10 pace (Z4 is 10:02)
first 2.75 mi @ 10:50 pace
second 2.75 mi @ 11:33 pace
No negative split, but still happy that I got in the Z4 and still able to exceed Z1 targets. Grade on the trail in my favor first half, not so much on the way back. (Unlike my usual route which is opposite)
Up off my sick bed and back on the road. Did yesterday's 1:40 long run this morning. 10.26mi. Hit the 2mi worth of z4 intervals (8:00 for me) but was mostly at LRP for the rest.
It is slowly dawning on me that the faster of you are hitting or passing 13.1mi in many of your longer HIM training runs. I know that we run for time but I have to think that this distinction matters.
Also, looking at Matt's garmin file (thx pls keep posting btw), I notice that his Avg HR for his 95min run was 93% of his stated max. In my 100min run today, my Avg HR was 83% of max. Surely lots of factors effect HR but in this comparison, Matt was clearly working harder (well done Matt).
Here is my Garmin file for comparison: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/211562438#
I think that I need to work harder during the periods surrounding the hard intervals.
@ Matt - Yes to the oly, no to the triple challenge. I'll be racing a near oly on the 25th, but then again, my entire training schedule is pointing to IMCOZ.
Friday Workload - took the morning off and:
Swim - 4000 SCY as 4x400, 4x300, 4x200, 4x100 w decreasing rest intervals and increasing speed on each set
Bike - 94 mins on the drainer including 2 x 30 mins as 10 IM pace, 10 70.3 pace, 10 IM pace (no break)
Run - 5 miles steady
@ Paul. Wow. :-)
@Jimmy I got a sore on my chest from my HR strap cuz I hadn't been wearing it and then wore it and forgot to lube it... so no more HR strap for me for the last little while and another few days!
This morning - just a RR swim that went pretty well. I think the biggest thing I've gotten from overdoing the swim this year is a lack of fatigue when I am done more than getting tons and tons faster. Some faster, yes, but I think it's in the bike where I saw payoff at KS, and what I'm anticipating again in LV.
This evening, I'll do a bit of hill running again in order to be able to shorten the Saturday to just the ride in the afternoon- more kids stuff in the morning.