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Mark McCombe 2020 Season

*Name

MarkMcCombe

*Email

mark_mccombe@yahoo.com

*Phone Number

4133745534

*Shirt Size

L

Your Strava Account URL

https://www.strava.com/athletes/30946637

Your Training Peaks Username and Password

mmccombe  ENpass123

Your Garmin Connect Username & Password

mark_mccombe@yahoo.com  ENpass123

*Your Facebook Profile URL

https://www.facebook.com/mark.mccombe.9

Any other data or details we could need. This could be your Instagram profile, Twitter, etc.

Data in Training Peaks is most accurate and complete for 2018 and 2019.  Includes strength training, corrected treadmill distances, etc. Strava is pretty accurate except for treadmill running.  Garmin sort of messy with duplicated rides from different apps since I don't really use it.

Age Group, Height and Weight.

M45-49, 6'1", 170-175

140.6 Best Time in Last Five Years

11:55:11 Arizona 2019

70.3 Best Time in Last Five Years

4:26:04 Naptown 2018 (swim shortened to ~600 yards), 5:19:15 Lake Placid 2018 (not actually fastest time, but probably best non-shortened result considering course)

Oly Best Time in Last Five Years

never did olympic tri, closest are 2:23:58 Litchfield Hills Duathlon 2016 or 2:46:16 Greenfield Lightlife 2018 International Tri

26.2 Best Time in Last Five Years

3:13:05 Steamtown 2016

13.1 Best Time in Last Five Years

1:30:26 Hartford 2018

*Your Strongest Discipline

Bike

*Your Weakest Discipline

Swim

*Your Weakest Discipline: Tell Us More...

I only learned to swim in 2017 for Ironman Lake Placid.  Have slowly improved from bottom 10% swimmer first year to just better than median at Arizona this year despite pretty limited swimming effort (I don't mind swimming, but don't like going to the pool mostly due to the time frame and time commitment).  Hoping to alleviate that, I bought a Vasa Erg in Oct of this year and saw immediate decent gains in speed and endurance using it. I'm planning to switch much of my swim training to the Vasa as possible although I don't mind doing some real swimming as well.

*Your Injury / Difficulty History

I haven't had any major injuries since starting endurance sports 6 years ago.  I recently had an ankle/achilles problem in the month before Ironman Arizona so my running has been very limited recently.  I think I'm past that now, however. I have some chronic shoulder issues, but have managed them ok with a stretching and strengthening/stability routine.


I have celiac disease.  I've had this for many years and normally have no issues but mention it because I had my only DNFs earlier in 2019 (Chattanooga 70.3 and Placid full) before realizing that I had been accidentally using a salad dressing containing gluten for several months. I'm back to 100% now and generally extremely careful about this so it is unlikely to be an issue going forward.

*Top Three Lessons Learned in your triathlon career.

Consistency is key

Avoiding injury is more important than squeezing out all running performance gains

Better off bike training mostly indoors (although I may have take this too far to the extreme this year)

 

Your Top Three Races / Events this Season (with dates):

my tentative plan for 2020 is:

Ironman CT 70.3 May 31

Ironman Lake Placide July 26

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Comments

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    Call Prep Stuff

    Let's get your Strava set up so I can dive in any time.


    Results Info / Research:

    Bike Pictures from AZ


    Run Pictures from AZ


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    edited February 26, 2020 2:06PM

    Coach Notes In Video


    Your Races

    • Ironman CT 70.3 May 31
    • Ironman Lake Placid July 26


    Season Outline

    These are your recommended training plans, including the date you should start each one (sometimes you won't complete a full plan but transition to another one). You can change your plans on Final Surge by clicking on Training Plans / My Plans. Learn more about each plan on the Training Plan Central Page.

    >> Last updated by Coach on 02/26/2020

    • ✅ On 12/9/2019 Load the  -- Durability for Triathletes 2 (8 months out) -- 4 weeks to end on 1/5/2020
    • ✅ On 1/6/2020  Load the  -- OutSeason for Triathletes (Bike Focus) Plan, 14wks to end on 4/12/2020
    • 🔲 On 4/13/2020 Load the    EN Half Run Focused to end on 5/31/2020
    • On 4/13/2020 load the EN Full Prep Plan to end on 5/10/2020
    • **Transition Early**
    • 🔲 On 5/4/2020  Load the    EN Full Bike Focused  to end on 7/26/2020
    • 🔲 On 7/27/2020 Load the    Post Ironman Transition Plan, All Levels (4wks) to end on 8/23/2020


    Training Plan Support in Your First Month

    You can connect with @matt limbert as needed in your first month to get dialed in with your training plans and data. You can set up a call with him online here: https://calendly.com/new-member-phone-call/1 and he'll be on this thread shortly!


    Start Learning

    Every month we hold live events as part of our commitment to make you just as smart as you are fit. Feel free to visit our Coach Lesson page and our Office Hours page to find the next opportunity to connect with Coach Patrick and your Teammates.


    Contact Points

    As part of your journey to becoming a Self Coached Triathlete inside TeamEN, we are prepared to give you excellent support for your first 90 days. Our goal is to transition you from live, in-person support to using our digital resources and the Team to help you continue your progress as you execute your Three Year Plan.


    These are all the key points in your first year where we must talk. Please remember to include your phone number.


    • Welcome Call in Week One (set it up here)
    • Training Plan Call in Week Two to talk about your season (set it up here)
    • End of Trial Call -- We review your experience & Unlock Year One / Race Execution for you (set it up here)
    • End of Season Call -- We review your year & Strategize for your End of Year Gap and Year Two (TBD in this Coach Thread)


    Questions

    • Coach Questions - Right here in this thread. Always reply to this same thread, it keeps a record for us as we evolve together!
    • General Questions - Simple stuff can go to the General Discussion Forum for the Team to answer. For example, Best Bike? How to improve run cadence? How to flip turn?
    • Need Help? - Please check the EN Help Site first!
    • Admin Questions - Billing or orders or whatnot? Use the red chat button at the bottom of the Members Site (not forums) or email us here.
    • Specific Questions about a Race or Power, etc? - You can post those into the General Discussion Forum and set the title or tags for that topic. Race questions to the Racing Forum, etc. Not sure where to post? Put it in the General Discussion forum and we will sort it out. Whatever you do, PLEASE ask your questions!!


    For short or last minute questions, we recommend you use the Red Chat Icon on the main Members website.

    We have also organized a complete chart of the best ways to contact us online here.


    Your First Month on the Team

    You have quite a few things to do when you start up. There are instructions on the top of the website, but you can review them under Resources / Trial Member Welcome.


    Looking forward to working with you this year,


    ~ Coach P

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    Thanks for all the great information!  I rode on Zwift tonight before seeing this, but will start following the plan tomorrow. We can talk in more detail on Thursday, but I put a few comments about things you mentioned in the video below while they are fresh in my mind.

    Regarding the bike fit, it became pretty clear to me at Arizona that the saddle was too high, so I I dropped it just under a cm earlier this week (and was thinking I might drop it a couple of mm more). I had a very good bike fit from Todd Kenyon, who I know you recommend and I think is great, but my seat post slipped after the fit and even with some guidance from him, I struggled to get it exactly right afterward. I had moved it up slightly a few weeks before AZ, which was clearly a mistake.

    I did do CT when it was still Quassy prior to Placid in 2017 (5:37 - s 42, b 3:04, r 1:43) so I am familiar with the course. Other than a sprint I had done for fun a few years prior, it was actually my first triathlon. So I appreciate your comments about the difficulty of the course and wish someone would have explained that to me back then. :)

    It is fascinating to me that you can tell all that from the Ironman run pictures. You are correct about me having very tight hips and running at a high cadence (for example, for the races I mentioned my marathon cadence was 185 and HM 191). My problem was with my right ankle/achilles and, as you noted, that is where I'm landing strangely. I've previously noted pain in my right ankle (although more in the front) when that hip gets extremely tight, which goes away with stretching. Although I had an xray that showed minimal bone spurs and saw a Physical Therapist who did some manipulation of that, I felt that my achilles problem dramatically improved when I focused on daily stretching, particularly of my hips. I mentioned this to the PT and he thought it was quite possible, seemingly due to limitations in my hip (and IT band) flexibility that he noted as well (primarily that I can't due a full squat without my toes pointing far out, particularly my right foot, and without my outer right foot coming somewhat off the ground). I should note that I don't think that this was a significant injury and it went away pretty quickly, it just bad timing for AZ, and I thought it was worth mentioning mostly because it was recent. My ankle did not bother me in the race itself at all and has seemed normal since.

    Finally, I think that leading up to Arizona my running was actually slightly better than when I ran those open half and full times. While I do think I lost some run fitness having to take time off, I believe it is more a matter of running poorly in the Ironman than my running overall having regressed.

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    edited December 19, 2019 6:47PM

    It was good to talk last week. Here are a few short term updates regarding things we discussed. I made the schedule changes I mention in Final Surge for this week.

    1) I replaced the hour Friday swim in run durability with 20 minute Vasa sessions on Sun, Tue, and Thu. From reading some of your writing about the Vasa, I assumed you'd agree that more, shorter sessions are preferable and they are easy to fit in my schedule. My plan is to stick with that for the rest of durability and then reevaluate for the OutSeason. At some point, I'd like your input on this since I don't see any EN swim plans specific to the Vasa and I don't think it would be ideal just to replicate the pool workouts.

    2) I replaced the Mon and Fri core strength sessions with power yoga. My plan is to try to stick with two sessions a week for the last few weeks of the run durability plan, then reevaluate whether one or two makes more sense going forward, perhaps replacing one with strength training.

    3) I had been doing some strength training once or twice a week and was thinking about adding that back in with some modifications based on the EN functional strength training program. I was thinking of adding that on Wed for the rest of the run durability program just to get used to it. Generally, how important do you think strength training is? Just from looking at your training plans, it looks like you don't include it in season in any way? Just in run durability and OutSeason?

    4) After Christmas I will have a Stryd.

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    edited December 19, 2019 5:32PM

    Just after I posted this, I listened to the podcast you posted today, in which you pretty much answered my question about your general views on strength training.

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    @Mark McCombe - great to see your changes and where you are at. Thank you. I am following your there and am happy with where you are at.

    I did add some Vasa Specificity in there...but you are right 1 -to- 1 switches don't make sense at all for theWKOs...I'll have to get on that. 🤣

    When you get a second, shoot me an update!

    Some thoughts:

    • Let's get that damper door on Le Vasa to #2. I'd rather you focus earlier part of this year getting your cadence up closer to 50 (you are closer to 44)...so do "focus" points where you are sitting at 46, 48, etc. Sometimes even a damper #1 set with high cadence can help stimulate the turn over. To be clear, we recover from each stroke by letting the arm return to the front, straight, in alignment with the cord, finger tips pointed Towards the floor, all relaxed. In this image...pull is the line, recover is the dotted line.
    • For your ankle, I addition to your hip work, you might want to get a thick band to anchor so you can do some distraction stretching. Here is a video of what I do; I think tight ankles area limiter as well as the hips. This sits around the pole in my basement next to my trainer and I do it every few days...


    • For strength, you can go to Training Plans / View My Plans and add the Functional strength one "on top of" your current plan in FS...it's basically layering it on there.
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    Thanks for adding in the Vasa specific stuff. It is possible I could have done 50 cadence with the damper at 3 already (I just had no idea what to shoot for so wasn't trying to), but will try 2 and see how that goes. I'm sure I don't look as good as that guy in the picture, but I am trying to do exactly what you described form wise.

    I'll also add that strength training routine next week modifying a bit because I have some different equipment plus add a few light hamstring and shoulder exercises that have seemed to prevent injuries for me. I'll try out the ankle disctractions as part of it. My ankle has actually felt fine for a while now so I'm hopeful that may be behind me already.

    One interesting thing from the ABP ride I did on Zwift today. I had listened to your winter training podcast where you said you mostly sit up on the trainer at this time of the year to work at a slightly higher power. I decided to try that, but since I've been struggling with my bike fit, experimented with dropping in the aerobars from time to time and closely watching my power. It is shocking how less power I can hold in aero even for short durations (but is consistent with what I was able to do at Arizona riding almost all in the aerobars). I was very quickly dropping from holding ~260 watts sitting up to ~220 in aero (with my cadence also significantly dropping) and I don't think I could have even held that for very long. I thought this might be a problem, but because I had been training exclusively on TrainerRoad in erg mode, I didn't realize how much (at some point I would just sit up rather than scale the workout percentage wise). On my old bike with a slightly less aggressive position, I didn't have this issue (and was able to race at expected percentages of ftp) so I feel like it should be fixable.

    Overall, I feel good. I like running and run durability feels productive, but like a nice break after Arizona. I'm looking forward to ramping up with the OutSeason, but January feels like the perfect time to start.

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    Of course, after ending that last post with "I feel good", I got sick the next day. :) Nothing serious, but it completely wiped me out for a few days. I took Mon, Tue, and Wed as rest days to recover. I felt much better on Thursday so I did the scheduled run and Vasa. Today (Friday), I skipped yoga and did the planned Wednesday 30 minute run along with some strength training that I had also intended to do on Wednesday. I'm back on the regular schedule for the weekend, except that I plan on adding the one missed Vasa session on Sunday. All told, I only missed the Tuesday tempo run and yoga.

    This is all updated in Final Surge, but since I deviated from the plan quite a bit this week, I wanted to mention it.  I needed the recovery time and, in the spirit of run durability, I will still get in four runs this week, so it seemed like a reasonable approach.

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    That's a great compromise on the recovery. Our bodies are super sneaky like that; when it needs rest it will find a way to make you stop. Good to hear it was just a pit stop and not a disaster. 🤣

    The goal here is to really bridge the seasons, so you are doing the right work by prioritizing listening to your body before the actual workouts.

    That bike fit differential isn't uncommon; I am happy to give up 10% of my super FTP if it means I am 2mph faster in the aerobars. IOW, the benefits of the position aren't necessarily evident indoors. That said, reducing that Power Drop will absolutely lead to better speed outside in the bars.

    As we move into the OS, you can begin working on that by paying attention to your cadence during those "off periods"...not in a mandatory way, but in a "arms in bars = eyes on cadence" way so that we can build a better habit. One of the downsides of being a taller, stronger athlete is that it's tempting to muscle through a cadence drop even if it isn't effective!

    Happy New Year to you...

    ~ Coach P

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    Happy New Year to you as well!

    Regarding the bike fit, I just feel like I'm giving up too much power and I'm not very comfortable. On my prior bike (an old P2 which I also had a bike fit by Todd, with a slightly less aggressive, but still good position), I was probably losing something like 10-20 watts over my max ftp in the aerobars. On this bike (although the old P5, a new bike to me this year), it feels like I'm giving up more like 40-50 watts. And prior to this year, I could average reasonable percentages of ftp for races (at least 80% half, 70% full), but this year I was struggling at even 10% less than that. Of course, there could be factors other than the bike fit contributing to that, but since I'm also pretty uncomfortable so I'm planning to go back to Todd at some point this winter. This is a better side view of me on the bike at Arizona -- I feel like I can improve power and comfort by coming up a little and still be pretty aerodynamic.

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    Thanks for reaching back out again. I agree, getting another check in on the bike fit in a sense. I made some brief color markings on the picture that you sent over and I’m going to put it below. I can’t believe how far forward you are reaching with your elbows even though you are off the front of your seat. That leads me to believe that you have very long legs but a relatively short torso.

    i’m on my phone so I can’t scroll back to far, but I’m thinking of maybe getting some shorter cramps in my feet and your future that we can create some room with a better hip angle for you without having to raise the bars too much. We absolutely need to bring them back however, as you are just too far out there. Todd is the expert, of course, but in that position is definitely not sustainable for 100+ miles.

    when you get a chance come on let’s set up a call for this month. https://calendly.com/pmccrann/30min

    ~ Coach P

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    I don't see the marked up picture, but I get what you mean. Thinking about it from that perspective, I'm pretty sure I figured out what the problem was. The picture below is from ttbikefit, just after Todd had set up the bike. It had looked similar to the IMAZ pic to me because I was focusing on body angle and saddle height, but in the IMAZ picture I'm further forward on the saddle with my forearms (instead of elbows in the ttbikefit pic) in the armpads, yet my arms are still stretched at a wider angle.  Also, the arm pads appear further forward relative to the brake levers.

    The way the built in BTA bottle holder is on my bike, I have to remove it and the arm cups to get at the di2 battery. The day before I sent my bike off to AZ via tribiketransport, I stripped a bolt trying to remove it, so I brought it my local bike shop. They fixed the bolt, charged the battery, and reassembled the armpads without me there. The put the pads it in the middle fore-aft position, which I'm pretty sure is wrong.  I changed it back to the further back setting, which brings the arm pads exactly an inch back toward my body. I tested it out today and it made an amazing difference in comfort and power, basically back to how I felt prior to Arizona.

    So, I think that problem is solved. A little disappointing that I messed it up for Arizona since I think it had a significant impact on my biking, but I'm now optimistic I can ride closer to what I expected in the future. I might still experiment with spacers to bring the pads just a tad higher, but I think you saved me 300 bucks and a trip to RI. Thanks! :)

    I scheduled a call for Thursday at 9:30. Talk to you then!

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    $300!!?? Sweet!

    Of course you’re welcome to visit Rhode Island anytime! Looking forward to
    our call tomorrow.

    ~ Coach P
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    @Mark McCombe - 01/09/2020 General Call Resources


    You are going to think about the races for your season. Once you get that nailed down, we can talk about what it means for us to set some targets, per the below (end of Jan/early Feb call).


    Next Steps = Month 2: Race Goal Planning

    Race Goal Planning

    • Swim Target Time
    • Bike Target Time
    • Run Target Time


    Create Training Targets from Race Goals

    • By Discipline, both strength and mileage / frequency targets:

    Swim

    Bike

    Run

    Body Composition


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    Thanks for the GroupMe invite (I joined) and Vasa workouts. One note - I switched the Vasa session from Mon/Fri to Sun/Wed. Although I didn't have it populated forward in Final Surge, I'm back to doing Power Yoga on Mondays, which I think is good for, but stressful on, my shoulders, so I didn't want to Vasa the same day. The short Vasa sessions aren't very stressful aerobically and don't involve my lower body so seems ok to have them on my quality running days. Sun/Wed seemed reasonable since they are still well spaced out, but if you disagree, please let me know.

    After some thought, I think I'm going to keep IMLP as my A race for the year. As we discussed I wasn't particularly excited about Connecticut, so I'm going to skip that (also I now have another commitment the night before so it would be difficult logistically anyway). I believe you generally recommend a half marathon at the end of the OutSeason. I haven't done a standalone running race in a couple of years so that will give me a race to look forward to even if I don't do a 70.3 before Placid. 

    Two weeks down and all is going well with the OutSeason. Some tough workouts, but have finished everything in the plan and feel good overall. Fitness seems to be coming back quickly! Was pleasantly surprised by 3x12 at 300, 309, 321 average watts on the bike today.

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    @Mark McCombe hey I answered this earlier in the week, via email, but for some reason it didn't show up. Sorry for that. 😢 But I am caught up...

    1. Vasa change is OK; and anything that's challenging your shoulder is bueno with me! 👍
    2. LP for the Key Race is great. Would be good to put a serious hurting on that course.

    As for the bike, I see great growth there alongside your steady running. Let's keep your run in the 25 to 27.5 range for the next two weeks..but I want you to challenge yourself on the bike.

    FTP Build work starts at 305 for the first 5' of the interval, then goes 310 for 10', then 315 for last 3'. Second 18 mins is 310 for 10', then bump it up a bit for each of the remaining 2' intervals...see where that gets you.

    For the Sweet Spot let's have you sit at 280. I think you can do it. But we can let the data show us!

    Have a great week!

    ~ Coach P

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    Thanks, that all sounds great. Did the first of the bike workouts today. I did Interval 1: 5@306, 10@312, 3@318 and Interval 2: 10@312, 2 each@315,318,321,324. Added a few bonus watts since I can only increment in multiples of 3 on the fly and wanted to keep the spirit of the build interval. That was definitely challenging, but I felt good afterward and had a solid run a few hours later so I don't think it was too much.

    One thing possibly worth noting is that I switched from my tri bike to road bike on Saturday. Although moving the pads has me back to normal power levels, I've had problems with comfort on this bike (mostly the saddle) all year when riding indoors, and still am. I do think I will go back to Todd at some point this offseason to try to improve that, but after a long season, I just needed a break from it for now. My plan is to use my road bike for the rest of the OutSeason and then switch back. My road bike has a very aggressive position (I had Todd do a quick fit on it when I was there and he confirmed that) so I've always found my FTP on it on the hoods and sitting up on the tri bike are exactly the same. Besides putting me in a better frame of mind for the bike workouts, I think it will lead to me riding longer (I did 30 minutes more than originally planned on Saturday, for example) and more likely to experiment with Zwift (after being on the TT bike long I'm way too uncomfortable to use the app or chat). Reading the OutSeason material in the wiki, it was pretty clear that using a road bike was generally considered acceptable, but if you don't think it is a good idea for me, please let me know.  

    Regarding "You are going to think about the races for your season. Once you get that nailed down, we can talk about what it means for us to set some targets, per the below (end of Jan/early Feb call).", since I'm pretty set on Placid now, I scheduled a call for next Tuesday afternoon. Talk to you then!

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    @Mark McCombe great news on the watts...let's keep that internal pressure up. I think you can handle it!

    YES to the road bike. 🎉 I hear you on the discomfort. Some folks have found the rocker plate addition a nice change, but I prefer the FUN and COMFORT piece now. Plenty of time to "work" later in the year. And more time on Zwift, the better.

    Your zwift challenge is to get a bit chattier on the rides (not the races) so you get engaged. I have a few consistent rides with "zwift friends" and it really keeps me showing up and engaged. Worth a shot.

    Talk to you on Tuesday!

    ~ Coach P

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    After we talked today, I ran to the makeshift track at the nearby middle school, realized it was not maintained at all and more like running on a sandy beach than a track, and ran home. So, aborted bike and run tests in the same day. :) Got some TRP running and a short bike in, at least.

    New plan is to do the FTP test tomorrow. Due to the weather forecast and work commitments, I will probably do the run test on the treadmill on Thursday. I do much of my faster running on the same treadmill so at least it gives me something climate controlled to compare to even if it isn't quite the same as running outside. Also, stryd claims it is accurate on the treadmill, so I can probably get a better critical power from the test.

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    A day with two aborted tests sounds like a perfect taper for an actual test! Sending you lots of mojo for today and looking forward to some data. 💪

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    Decent test I think. Faded slightly, but reasonably consistent power. Averaged 324/325 on trainerroad/garmin for the 20 minute interval for a new ftp of ~308 (trainerroad said 307, trainingpeaks 309 so I split the difference), which was up 8 watts from my initial SWAG.  A couple watts below my best ftp off a ramp test (and exactly where I was on my last ramp test of the season when I was pretty much at peak fitness), but my best on a 20 minute test by quite a bit, so feels more legit.  Thought I had a little more in me based on recent training, but I'm optimistic and pretty much always think that. :) I was hoping to get up to 320 by the end of the OutSeason, so this has me on track to get there. BTW, impressive estimate yesterday when you said I might want to sit at 325 watts!

    Planning on the treadmill run power test tomorrow since the weather looks terrible.

    One thing I forgot to mention yesterday is that my Vasa workouts run out this week. If you could give me some direction on those going forward, I would appreciate it.

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    Just to wrap up the test week data, I did the run test on the treadmill today. I think the Stryd pace and power is supposed to be pretty accurate on the treadmill (and Stryd pace very closely matched treadmill pace) other than the impact of no air resistance (I ran at 0 grade so no elevation to offset that).

    Ran first 12 minutes at 10.0 (6:00/mile) and final 8 at 10.2 (5:53/mile). Per Stryd, hit 5k at 18:40, but kept running for 20 minutes to get a 20 minute power number. Average power was 356. Stryd detected new critical power of 348 (up from 316). My power zones are now in line with pace and perceived exertion so that feels correct to me. Data from Stryd is below (for the test only, I stopped briefly after the warmup).

    Since I'm off by a day due to my initial failed tests, I'm going to skip the recovery ride that was originally scheduled for today and resume the normal OutSeason schedule tomorrow.


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    Excellent work! Just for reference, you might be the first person in the history of Endurance Nation to successfully complete a bike and run test in the winter indoors in the same week. 😱 You should go out and buy a lottery ticket right away. 🤣

    Remember that adjusting to the New Zones will be a little challenging. Give yourself a little wiggle room in that first week. I'm OK if you halve the distance between a value a new value and then pick it up in the second week.

    I will work on those swim workouts this weekend.

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    Thanks for the Vasa workouts. They look challenging, so I hope the power gains keep coming. For the limited time I've spent on the Vasa over the winter, I'm happy with the progress I've made.

    After we talked about half marathons, I decided on the Fort Hill Brewery Half Marathon on April 19. That's one week after the OutSeason ends, which, from our conversation, seemed fine timing wise . It looks like a pretty fast course. Since I don't have a 70.3 planned, I'm looking at it more like a B race than just the final test of the OutSeason.

    Training wise, all is well - no problems with the new power numbers and have been completing all the planned workouts. After we talked about body composition, I stole your night protein shake idea (I generally eat pretty healthily, but often binge late at night) and think I have dropped a few pounds. Weighed myself in the AM a couple of days ago and was only 176.4, which lighter than I expected and not bad for me in mid Feb. On the equipment front, I picked up some Vaporfly Next % and ran a couple of miles in them today. They felt comfortable and significantly faster than the Hoka Cliftons I've been running in.

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    Who is this? Who hacked into @Mark McCombe account and decided to become awesome overnight? What the hell is going on!? 🤣

    The half an hour zone sounds perfect, especially with the timing. Love where the body composition is that, just remember we don't have to force it. Just make smart decisions everything else will take care of itself.

    Those shoes are the real deal, just remember they have a limited lifespan. Mainly for guys like you and me. I would only use them two or three times more for short runs before April 19. Can we put them back in the vault and wait for closer to race day.

    Onwards!

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    Thanks, I had originally thought I might run in the Vaporfly's more to make sure I was comfortable in them (and get a second pair or Alphafly's if needed), but it is pretty clear that they work for me so I'll take your advice and put them on the shelf. It seems like there is probably a psychological advantage to training in normal shoes and then only racing with mini trampolines under my feet anyways.

    Everything continues to go well training wise. Since we last talked before the first set of JOS bike and run tests and I see the next round of tests scheduled for next week, I put a meeting on the calendar for next Thursday (3/12) morning. I thought two sets of tests five weeks apart would yield some good data to assess progress.

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    @Mark McCombe

    Mini trampolines is the perfect analogy. Like magic as far as I am concerned...don't cut them open and tell me it was make with anything but magic!

    I have the calendar event (bueno) and yes to the tests. Do your best to repeat the conditions / setting so the tests are as similar as possible.

    Note, let's keep that weekly run mileage in the 30-32 MPW range for now (use long run to "get there" as needed each Sunday). I want some wiggle room for you when we get into the IM build. And the "random" 20 mile week (very 6 weeks) is okay...you don't need to keep run "pressure" up as long as training time is consistent (more on the bike for example).

    ~ Coach P

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    I cut today's long run to 8 miles, which brought me to 33 for the week (much of that was on the treadmill, where I'm slightly faster, so effectively in the 30-32 range). Since I've been doing almost all the to their full specified duration or slightly over, I may cut back just slightly on the length of some of the weekday runs to make it easier to stay under 32.

    Since I did both the bike and the run tests indoors last time, the conditions should be very similar for these.

    Talk to you Thursday!

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    edited March 13, 2020 1:28PM

    Bike and run tests complete. Bike FTP 308=>318. Stryd Run Critical Power 348=>353

    Heart rate just slightly lower on each of the current tests so I think those are real fitness gains.

    edit - Just to keep this all in one post for me to look back at, I also did a 20 minute Vasa test on Thursday. Average power up to 79 from 75 on the last test (avg HR the same).

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    03/13/2020 Call Notes // Month 3: Season Check In

    @Mark McCombe

    Current Workouts - Stick with structured intervals for the remainder of the OutSeason®. If it ain't broke.... 🤣

    Run Mileage: Stay in the 32 mpw average window here for run safety.

    Alert Levels: IF something sticks around for a few days, notify patrick!

    Race Schedule seems to be on track, so we continue forward with season plan.

    Long Term Plan for the Year

    • Body Composition Check In: Still at 176.
    • FTP up: 308 watts to 318 watts
    • Run FTP: Up slightly Tmill
    • Swim FTP: Up 4 watts

    In this chart we can see the new bests here in FTP (real focus on threshold this phase)....

    In this chart we can see How your gains this year compare to last year...you are eating up that threshold. Interesting to note gains at longer intervals as well....

    Keep up the good work!

    ~ Coach P

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