Week 9
I am now one with my bike - 32 hours on my TT ride in 12 days, all above 6000' elevation. (I;m living at 8400', swimming at 8000, running at about 6200, and biking between 5700 and 10,000.)
Last week (8/12):
Mon - Run intervals and swim per plan, except, at 8000', I'm about 10% slower, so yards times are like meters when I try to sprint.
Tue - 3 Hour bike @ IF 72%, 3700' elevation gain.
Wed - 2.5 hour bike ride, up and down gentle 1-2% grade for FTP intervals; IF 88% uphill, 80% downhill (12 miles each way). Discover that my FTP here is probably 10-15% lower than at sea level, per research quoted by Joe Friel. Also, uphill strides.
Thurs - Swim (briefly, as I am shot) in AM, get new wheel with PowerTap from Wheelbuilder, go an 5 mile calibration ride before 15 mile run. Considering two weeks ago I did 17 miles @ 8:06 at sea level, my 8:19 avg pace at 6000' seems OK. I try something different: instead of trashing my legs early with those HM intervals of 10-15 minutes, I simply built my pace over the course of the run, finishing the last two miles at 7:55 and 7:21. This seems to leave me less fatigued and trashed than the other way.
Fri - 2 Hour "Recovery" ride 2000' up to Maroon Bells; with the new power meter, and the elevation, I absolutely don't know what my FTP is, so I give up on TSS and IF data.
Sat - Swim 100/200/300/400/500/500/400/300/200/100 at my estimated meters T pace minus 3. Less boring than repeating 400s or 500s, andI can try and beat my time from the first set while I'm coming back down the ladder. Fail at that on the 400 and 300, but less than 1" per 100 difference. Followed by an "easy" 3 hour ride (I think the IF was 63%) of 50 miles up and down two valleys.
Sun - Race Rehearsal. 110 miles/6 hours, followed by 6 miles in a shade under 55 minutes. The bike is just about at Kona race pace for me and the run is at my race pace for IM CDA and AZ last two years. The morning started at 42F (!), and I finished the run in the sun at 80+F. The ride was good, considering I got thru 4 towns, each of them twice, and have to slow, start and stop for 5 minutes each time. I took in 1650 calories on the bike, 4.5 bottles of fluid (remember, it was COLD at the start) on the bike, and 32oz on the run. Again, guessing at my FTP, my IF is 65%, but I wonder - is it really possible to go 110 miles in 6 hours with a w/kg of 3.3? My NP was 136, and my HR avg was 100. I guess I'll have to wait until I can do an FTP test with my new PowerTap at sea level. My run felt OK, but I sure couldn't have gone too much farther at that pace.
That was the good news for Sunday. The bad news was, I felt just as awful for five hours after that RR as I do after an IM these days. But this morning, though fatigued, I'm not sore anywhere.
This coming week will be back home, but much less training time is possible, due to work constraints, Hope to absorb the training camp I just did, and in 7 days, make a final 10 day sharpening effort.
Comments
This is kind of a broad strokes question, but once back to sea level, do you feel an energy bounce? And if so, how long does it last?
@ Chris - That;s a good question, and one I really haven't considered systematically before, even though I've done this twice a year now since 2006.
I do this specifically as part of training for IM, and try to be there for at least 2 weeks, about 3-5 weeks before the race. What I usually feel in the first week or so afterwards is just tired, but then, I am trying to work myself to near failure while there. So, no immediate energy "bounce" `And, I am not doing any real testing immediately afterwards to see what the efect on an FTP or VDOT would be - I'm just doing my usual IM taper. So the real measure of success for me would be the results in the race. Here's the scoop on that.
2006: Spring, CDA. First AG win for me at an IM; my time was 15 minutes slower than the previous year, but the temp was mid 90s, compared to much cooler the year before. (Also, I was at altitude for 1.5 weeks before the Boston Marathn that year, coming down about a week before the race, and improved my time there by 30 minutes, despite training less specifically for an IM.)
2006, Fall, Kona. FIrst time racing there, but my marathon was a PR for an IM, which, given the temp, was big.
2007, Spring, CDA. Same time as preceedng year, with 7 minute improvement on Kona marathon time, but I had only three months of training coming off of foot surgery, and the bike course was changed - harder.
2008, Spring, CDA. Bike, Run, and IM PRs
2008, Fall, AZ. Bike, Run, and IM PRs
2009, Spring, CDA. AG win, course AG record, course run PR
2009, Fall, Kona. Hubris defeated fitness, and I dropped out at mile 10 of the run. Redeemed myself at AZ six weeks later with another win, AG course record, and run and bike PRs.
2010, Spring, CDA. 25 degrees warmer than the year before, but 6 minutes faster OA with another AG win.
I don't know if the altitude camp has any effect. But my basic race strategy has been the same since IM Moo in fall 2005, totally EN style. And the training plan I used from 2006 through 2009 was the same (not EN - brand X) - same workouts, same number of hours, miles per year, etc. The biggest difference I have noted in my IM performances before 2006 and after is much improved run endurance, more confidence and feel of ease while running late in the race, as well as much faster times. I think that the race strategy is more important than the altitude for that, but there must be some efect. My 5K times and 21 K times have NOT improved during the same time frame, but then, I haven't raced those distances in the 4 weeks or so after being at altitude.
I haven't checked any blood values like hematocrit. Again, my only important measure is race performance,and if that's better, it's all I care about.
It seems your return to sea level is in a really depleted state so the bounce is hard to notice, but can't hurt recovery. I love going from altitude and coming back and having that "epo week". A former climbing pal came back from 10 days in the Tetons and wanted to ride (rip my legs off) last night. I ducked him, knowing he was el dope at sea level.
I have read stuff that suggests that the "ultimate" is to live high/train low, so that you get maximum intentsity at training. However, I wonder if that's less true for IM training, since the %VO2max of the workouts is generally lower. Just speculating!
Yes, Wm, I plan my trips to try and take advantage of the three week maximum effect. The timing this fall was a little off - I'll be hitting Kona 3 weeks and 5 days after I left altitude, but that's my general plan, to arrive at the race 3 weeks after I leave altitude. Also, the live high/train low idea does indeed apply, but the "low" is constrained by two things. One, the geography of where I am (at 8400', which is a good place to "live"): it's easy to drop 2500' (about a 20 minute drive), but getting lower than that requires a LONG drive of 1-2.5 hours. Second, the biggest effect on training of altitude is on ability to hit higher intensities, say, IF of 88% and above on the bike, and 10K paces and faster on the run = even @ 6-6500'. Swimming sprints @ 8000', where the pool is, is a disaster. At this stage of the IM training plan, the "slower" paces are emphasized, and fairly easy to accomplish @ 6000' or so. And it's true, that the climbing is what it is - as the air thins, I just go slower, but not easier. According to research quoted by Friel, FTP keeps dropping with increaisng altitude. It's great for leg strength, I think.
I am able to do this due to the wisdom/luck of my parents in buying their retirement place near a CO ski area in 1967, which my sister and I have inherited. So the only expense is my time in getting there. I've been going there so long, it really feels like home to me.
Now I'm back in the Pac NW, where the rain started precisely at 2 PM today, the time I'd planned for my long run. So I will move to Plan B for heat acclimation: to the treadmill indoors with no fan for an hour+ a day, six days this week.
Perhaps it was Friel (not sure) who noted that for the training he was interested in (which was not specifically ironman), there were very few places in the world where the live high train low was possible, and I believe one of them was in Colorado. And again, there was the issue you bring up - a couple of hours commute each way. That makes it something that only a rarified few can do with any regularity.
I had a week in Laramie this summer and took advantage of it for a few rides (7000-8500 feet roughly as I recall); I agree with your assessment that the climbing at sub-FTP efforts is/was still a very good thing.
Never fails, a month away from my A race and I get swamped at work. This has happend every IM and Marathon I have done and I used to get mad about it, but now I just go with the flow. The next month is going to continue to be very busy with projects in Germany, US and China so meetings at all hours.
On the positive side, I am horrible at tapering and taking it easy, so staying busy at work should help me from overtraining or doing anything too dumb.
Anyway - week 8
Monday - Did my ABP ride since it was a holiday. Solo ride was ok, not my best but I ended up with 0.79 for 3 hours. The wind was really bad and I rode with a deep front wheel and standard back wheel to get used to getting blown around. Great brick run after with 5 miles in 31:50.
Tuesday - Am run did not go well as my stomach had some issues. Called it quits after two pit stops in 30 minutes. Solid master's swim workout at night though.
Wednesday - Ok long run. Just under 18 miles in 2 hours. Should have been faster but legs weren't feeling it and I was about 10" per mile slow on the MP work.
Thursday - 13, 13, 14' @ .97 on the traininer inside, no fan. That was tough but I survived and left a HUGE puddle under me. Quick 20' 3 mile brick on TM with no fan. Another good masters swim with 6 x 200 on 3:00 and some new times on 100s and 50s as well.
Friday - 1:00 9.1 mile run at a steady pace between EP/MP.
Saturday - IMWI Team EN ride with RnP, Terry and Brian (everyone else wimped out becuase it had rained out over night). I went 3:30ish with the guys and was at .85 and then faded when I went off on my own to finish. Total was 4:11 at 0.84 and my IF was only 1.1 so I was riding pretty steady and had my highest average power of the year for a long ride. I've hit .85 for 2 4.5 hour rides this year, but on both my IF was 1.15ish. Decend brick after with 5 miles in 33:00.
Sunday - Rode a loop backwards with RnP to spectate. Just ABP and only ended up at .79ish, kind of week. Short jog when I got back to the hotel and before heading out to watch the marathon.
Up next: last long run (already down since I'm so far behind on posting), last RR, and heat acclimation/taper begins.