I was a bad example for Team tonight since I broke from EN OS plan prescription. I had a lot of built up stress from work and pent-up energy, so decided to deviate from the prescribed OS bike workout. Decided to do a quasi FTP test and see what I got or dismount in shame. 12min at 75%, 2 x 20min (4') at FTP+10watts, 15min at 88% All-in-all a 75min workout, IF=95%. Current FTP is 260w, so did those 20min intervals at 270w, but took a little longer recovery since I new I wanted to spin for a good duration. I was using an erg file set at 270w so maybe (??) could have gone higher on those intervals --- who knows, but I believe the potential is there due to: (1) I never felt a lactate burning sensation on any of the two intervals and (2) I could have kept going at the 88% (230w) on the tail end for much much longer. I stopped because I got bored at 75min into the workout.
WORK WORKS !! Who thinks I will be getting a nice bump in FTP when I do an official OS test in a few weeks?
I was feeling so good after my run yesterday that I thought "hmmm.....maybe I'll upgrade from the beginner to intermediate plan". then, i did today's bike. hit my zone targets, but not w/o really pushing through it. think i'll stick in beginner for a while yet! eating a lot of garbage food for a late dinner last night probably didn't help.
Aimee- I love that song, especially when you listen to the lyrics, it's a great girl power song!
Peter- very cool on the return to school to become a teacher! That rocks.
Logan- Chocolate Chip Pancakes in the middle of the week make up for just about anything IMHO :-)
David- What Bill said! It's in the bag!!
Bill- FYI, I'm currently breaking in my new Selle Atomica saddle. First ride was last weekend, 2.5 hours and I, uh, obviously didn't have it adjusted right! Hoping a little more tension will resolve the problem.
Thursdays in the OS are tough since it's the only workout where it's our third day in a row and the only bike workout that follows a run day. My legs were really sore during the intervals but I managed to get through them and stay in my zones. Glad to have that one behind me and a day off to look forward to.
Looks like everyone is pushing through the Thursday workouts. I'm going to use it as motivation to get on the bike tonight. I postponed my morning ride because I just wasn't feeling it. Probably had something to do with the crappy ass run yesterday. This is where team accountability really kicks in. A couple of extra hours of rest for my legs might help as well.
@Dave - nice job on the swag FTP, you'll easily hit your goal at the next test date.
@Patachin - it's funny how a little fatigue can keep your confidence from getting the better of you. Good job with the mental fu to realize it's not the right time to switch plans.
@Nemo - I'm with ya on the new saddle. Each ride I'm making a slight tweak trying to get it dialed in. As soon as it warms up a little, I'm heading back to Retul for an official tweak (they have all my setting and can do it better than me).
I'll check back in after my ride tonight. Great job everyone!
Today it was 2 x 10; 1 x 8 all at 100%. On, ride, pant, sweat, get stronger, off. I don't much like the workouts with 3 reps. Seems endless.
Functional strength later today. Swear, I have to get my mental state in the right place just as much as a 2 x20 before I hit that training block. Oof. The whole dealio takes me ~60', so it's getting tough. But I am getting more stable and much stronger, which RULES!
Completed the Beginner OS workout (Bike MS: 2 x 10' (3') Z4, then Z3 to 60 min.) this morning. Here's my HR chart:
Thursdays in the OS are tough since it's the only workout where it's our third day in a row and the only bike workout that follows a run day. My legs were really sore during the intervals but I managed to get through them and stay in my zones. Glad to have that one behind me and a day off to look forward to.
@ Allen: Ditto on the sore legs today after yesterday's run. We'll be crushing it soon enough!
@ Aaron: Thanks and push through it tonight! Totally doable.
Another stationary FTP bike workout done. Legs tired, 6000ft elevation, 2 broken stationary bikes used, one broken in big gear, used for 12min intervals, second broken in small, used for recovery. You gotta get cretive with these gym bikes.
60min, 2x12min(4min), on target with unintentional low cadence work, cad 65-70, HR on target.
Got it done. Thanks guys.
@Dave, that is a solid ride and you are at 270W no doubt. You and I started with about the same FTP and we are progressing about the same. Be interesting to see the test. Looking forward to it.
I have to tell you when I saw 3x8(2) intervals on the schedule, I was totally stoked. No problem, I'll knock these out and have a bunch left in the tank. Well, then I got to the last interval and it sucked, it hurt, it was just totally NOT fun. I have overestimated once again. I need that stick that JohnS and DaveA keep swinging around to get me straightened out. Off day tomorrow, I need it after the day I had at the office.
@Aleksander- that is a very creative way to get the workout done. Great job!
Did my 3x10 ( I am a week ahead as I have a 2 week vacation coming up. Then I'll be behind.) I purposely went for just over 100%. Trying to see what I could achieve. I was surprised that my legs felt that good.
After the 2x12' (4') intervals I thought the 3x8' (2') intervals should be easy. Boy did I under estimate that. Looking forward to the rest day tomorrow!!
@Chuck - do the intervals actually "hurt" ? Or just an expression. Your comment reminded me of what I've been explaining to a friend.
In my n=1, I've never felt hurt on those bike intervals. Discomfort, Yes. In addition to these workouts getting us stronger, as evidenced by FTP gains, I believe the greatest benefit is teaching us to tolerate discomfort for longer and longer durations. It never really begins to feel easier. Pedaling at 80% - 100% FTP for some duration will always entail some degree of discomfort. We just get better and better at extending the duration of that discomfort before we need to ease up on the effort and slow down. I still remember clearly my first EN OS and the first few workouts. It was like, ... Oh, I've never really felt that too much before riding with my friendly group rides; I got to get used to that feeling". And that feeling is a level of discomfort that builds up a first on a given workout, but then just levels off and never actually hurts. So now I've gotten very accustomed to tolerating that level of discomfort for longer and longer periods of time. I find this a major factor separating myself from my non-EN friends on outdoor rides, particularly climbs. They can generate just as much power as me, but I can sustain it for much longer - tolerate the discomfort longer and gap them significantly on long ascents.
I got the workout done as promised (prescribed). 3x8's (1.08, 1.09, 1.07) but just 5 minutes extra. Total IF=1.03.
I'm glad I got it done, but it was a mental struggle. Looking forward to a day off from the bike/run tomorrow, gonna do a little stroke work in the pool and relax.
@DaveA - This is my 2nd OS and I totally get what you mean, you summed it up perfectly. Looking forward to gaping my friends again this spring/summer.
I was on the road but I had full intent to knock out the work on a spin bike at the gym yesterday. Nagging cold kept me up all night so the 0500 reveille plan was not happening. Got up at 6 instead and did some P90X yoga. Originally I was goign to recoup the workout this morning and then blow off Sat and Sun due to a Cub Scout ski trip. Well, my little Cub Scout came back from the doc yesterday with a double whammy: strep throat and the flu. Poor little guy has spent the past two days passed out on the couch so the ski trip is out. The silver lining is that I can now hit the weekend workouts. He seemed to be feeling much better when I left for work this am so that's good news, too.
My squadron has a PT (in the "physical training", not Leigh Boyle, sense) session scheduled for this afternoon which looks like a total body circuit. These sessions are usually geared to the lowest common denominator - i.e a squadron run is set at a very slow pace - but the circuits allow me to work as hard or easy as I want. I'll take it easy on the legs to keep them fresh for tomorrow and work hard on the upper body and core stuff.
I turned the Thursday bike into a brick to make up for the missed brick run on Tuesday. The problem was that I also missed Wednesday's 60 minute run (with 4x1mi@z4). So I did a 45 minute run on the treadmill (with 3x1mi@z4) mid-afternoon, then went home to do the brick.
I figured that since I've done 2x15'(4') @z4 a few times, the prescribed 2x12'(4') should be no problem, even after a 45 minute run earlier that afternoon. But it was hard. In fact, my calf started twitching with 5 minutes to go in the second interval...luckily it didn't cramp up but I had to stop for 2 mins after the interval to massage it before doing my z3 "remainder time" at a very easy pace compared with the usual 0.92-0.94.
Looking at the data I think I also overachieved by way too much on the z4 intervals. I have been pretty comfortable riding about 1.05 on these to date (I think by FTP is higher than my original test), but 1.075 is probably too extreme.
The brick run was pretty short 15-min due to the brutal cold (single-digit F) and snowy road conditions. Also my Garmin didn't acquire satellites until 10 minutes in so I have an annoying lack of data.
missed one workout this week, so i did the saturday workout yesterday, time to hit the slopes and beat up my quads some more!!! will post the details later today of yesterday's intervals
It felt good to extend the wko. I hit a pretty good groove late in the 4th quarter. I think a more focused (intense) warm up period will help the z4 intervals.
Thought about hitting the last 5 minutes hard; 95-100%. Then didn't. But I thought about it. Thought about a brick run too. But it's freezing rain out there and I could slip and fall and hurt myself so I didn't do that either. I did make myself an awesomeness recovery smoothie. I thought about it, then I did it. I made it happen. If you can believe it you can achieve it.
While Thursday's workout was painful being the third day in a row, today's workout felt great following a day off. My legs felt good and I have noticed that I'm biking a mph faster to stay in Z3 than I was 5 weeks ago.
Like Chris, I was tempted to turn it up a notch in the brick run but thought better of it knowing that tomorrow's run looks like a beast (MS: 2 x 1/2 mile (3'), 1 x 1 mile (3'), 2 x 1/2 mile (3') all @ Z4. Rest of 60' @ Z3).
Kids were off playing at the neighbors, DW was driving home from visiting her father, so had the perfect opportunity to get'r done!! Surprisingly the 3x10' (4') felt much better than Thursday's 3x8' (2').
First ever bike FTP Test w/Power done this morning (206 avg norm). Can only go up from here! Thanks everyone for all the help and insights on getting this set up on the PC and CT.
Another great outdoor ride in So. Calif. along Pacific Coast Highway {PCH) to Zuma Beach. Hopped on tri bike for first time in several full moons since PCH is meant for aero fast riding. Felt a little strange first few miles compared to my road bike which I have been riding a lot. Got in some solid interval sections and very happy with the results on the tri bike: 23min interval at 272w (104%); 7min interval at 237w (81%); 21min interval at 252w (97%); 6min interval at 274w (105%). I was decked out in new EN kit; must have looked like a fancy dude streaming along PCH. There were lots and lots of other tri geeks and cyclists out. Total ride time about 2:13, Total IF=89%. The best part....listen up Team....two friends (non-EN) attempted to stay tight on my rear wheel at the start of each interval section. Within 60secs, bye-bye...they could not even stay close with my draft and I ended up gapping them significantly each time. For those who have yet to get the weather to go outdoor riding with your non-EN friends. Just keep licking your chops....You are going to be dropping them BIG TIME. Work Works !
Keep up the great work JOS. Savior the momemt when all your riding friends will always be in the rear view mirror.
Well I got it done today and had a feeling that I hadn't felt in a long time...like a triathlete. The last couple of weeks the runs have not been feeling very good and I would really struggle. I need to back up a moment to yesterday's "rest day" when I went to do a little stroke work with my swim coach. It was the first time back in the pool in 4 weeks. I had a major breakthrough with my hips and thighs and all of sudden, I'm gliding on TOP of the water with minimal effort and something clicked, I got it. I continued to swim for another 30 minutes and as I would stop every 4-5 minutes and watch the video, I was blown away by how good I looked, not mention felt.
With that little tidbit out of the way, on to today's work out. 5 minute warm-up then on to the 3x10 intervals (1.11, 1.05, 1.02 respectively). I started playing with my gearing and cadence today and it really gave me a new kind of workout, one that I enjoyed. Then it was on to the 2x15 intervals (.90 and .93 respectively). Total workout was at .94. As I mentioned in a prior post, I feel a really big bump coming as soon as we test again. Part of me feels like doing it now, but I know better and will wait until week 8.
After changing clothes and heading to the gym (due to serious snow AGAIN), I got lucky and found my favorite treadmill. First 10 minutes where at 8:03 and the second 10 at 7:43. The highlight of the day's work was that I felt so strong when it was done that I could have easily continued running for a significant longer period of time (at the same pace). Perhaps, I'm turning a corner with my training.
@Allen - Love seeing your charts, that has to be a great feeling know that you are going faster and staying in the "zone."
@Peter - Gotta take advantage when the kids are out playing, that's what I did today and it was easy to focus on the job at hand. I also agree with you, today's 3x10's felt easier than Thursday's 2x8's.
@DaveA - Very jealous of your outside ride. I know that road and I'm sure you looked great in the new EN kit (I'm checking the mail every day for mine).
@Patachin - It really is amazing what training with power feels/looks like. Good luck and I'm sure you'll surprise yourself.
I have to agree with DaveA that the EN motto is so true...Work Works!
@Aaron - congrats on getting that feeling in the swim. Once it clicks and you don't feel like your arm efforts are attemping to prevent you from sinking --- is the best feeling ever.
I’ve incorporated a build into my Saturday bricks to be prepared for a camp in Kona at the end of March. Today was the first of three times I’ll do the longest day which calls for adding 6 x 15 (2) @ 80% – 85% Z3 to the prescribed workout. It brought my total time to almost 3:30 on the trainer. It’s pouring ass rain here in the Pacific Northwest and I got through it happily enough with a little help from the movie “The Social Network” (four stars) and several “Man vs. Wild” episodes. That doode is truly effing nuts!
In any event, I was glad to see my cardiac drift was relatively minor and I finished strong. The brick run was build to Z1 for 10’ (whimper!), build to Z2 for 5’ then I was able to do the last 5’ at Z3 but it didn’t really feel that good. Gee, I wonder why.
Huge mental boost to hit this one and glad there are only two more long ones to go ‘till I see Mr. Sun. In an effort to be half as cool as Allen I’ve uploaded a graph. Woo hoo – data geeks unite!
@ Dave: TOTALLY jealous of your weather but very much looking forward to chicking some non-EN peeps at the camp. Thanks for the motivation boost!
@ Beth: Bikram Pain Cave? In Chicago in January? What the…???
After feeling unexpectedly bad on the 2x12' 60 min ride on Thursday I headed into today's monster-session with some fear. After correcting RnP's math, I was looking at 90 mins including 2x15' + 1x5' @z4, plus 2x15' @z3.
I took it easy on the first interval (1.014) and built from there...the second at my usual 1.05 and the third (which was only 5 minutes after all) at 1.075. Then a solid effort on the 2x15'@z3 with 0.931 and 0.933. The HR was pretty low and I felt very, very good today.
Overall including warmup at 0.64 it was 90 mins at 0.944, which makes me think there's a nice FTP increase coming at the next test. But before that I need to make it through the upcoming 2x20' @z4 workouts...yikes!!!
The brick run was very strong. 25 mins @ 6:50 (8 sec faster than z4). Just concentrated on cadence and ran based on RPE. No Garmin-checking untail the end. Felt very, very good. My HR -- which almost always hits 186 or 187 during a fast run like that -- didn't really make it above 180 until I kicked it for the last quarter mile at 6:11.
Overall this was a day where you say to yourself "I really hope I feel this good on race day" (and you know you won't, because these days are so rare and random). But I'll try my best to replicate all the factors I can control that led to today, and hope for more like this.
The bike workout this morning was a mini SoCal EN meet-up and ride (that was billed as - a soft pedal, small chainring ride). Sure, that was short lived when about 2 miles in I looked down at my Joule while I was hanging on to John Stark's wheel and realized we were doing 31.5mph across a long flat stretch of PCH!! So the EN part of the ride included John Stark, Jim Yanoschik, Jeff Ku, Coach Rich, Paul Bradford and me. I am sure John will post more deets and hopefully some pics he took, but I had a great time riding up PCH with the group and meeting everyone -- very cool to meet people from the team!! Thanks Jim and John for setting this ride up!
For my part, the total ride was 65 miles in 3:14:57 @ an IF of .854, 184W and 20mph average - and I am seriously spent! Worked in the intervals before and after the group ride:
Yep, great ride this morning. I NEVER ride on truly flat routes and this was pancake flat! As noted, was supposed to be easy, small cookie ride but never really happened. I have to say that I did the first jump in the beginning and just put the hammer down. Was A LOT fo fun. I pulled, Yano pulled, Greg pulled, Coach Rich pulled. Was a fun paceline.
Didn't bring the cord to download from the Joule from WKO, but my data on the CPU shows 1:44 bike, .898 IF and avg. 20.1 MPH. Those stop lights SUCK!
Hopefully I didn't shell myself too much for the half marry tomorrow. But who cares. i had my fun today. Tomorrow will be the frosting on the cake.
Here are some pics:
Me and Greg at the pier.
Group at PCH light.
Hammering up the San Gabriel river trail. See the sweat under my helmet?
Stop at the park to split off. Jeff?, Paul (Greg's bro-in-law), Greg, Me, Coach Dick (in new EN kit) and Jim Yanoshik.
Comments
So I changed things up a bit, rolling 2x20@80-90%FTP. We'll see how I recover come tomorrow.
Switched up workout days.....
I was a bad example for Team tonight since I broke from EN OS plan prescription. I had a lot of built up stress from work and pent-up energy, so decided to deviate from the prescribed OS bike workout. Decided to do a quasi FTP test and see what I got or dismount in shame. 12min at 75%, 2 x 20min (4') at FTP+10watts, 15min at 88% All-in-all a 75min workout, IF=95%. Current FTP is 260w, so did those 20min intervals at 270w, but took a little longer recovery since I new I wanted to spin for a good duration. I was using an erg file set at 270w so maybe (??) could have gone higher on those intervals --- who knows, but I believe the potential is there due to: (1) I never felt a lactate burning sensation on any of the two intervals and (2) I could have kept going at the 88% (230w) on the tail end for much much longer. I stopped because I got bored at 75min into the workout.
WORK WORKS !! Who thinks I will be getting a nice bump in FTP when I do an official OS test in a few weeks?
That 270 is yours for sure.
I was feeling so good after my run yesterday that I thought "hmmm.....maybe I'll upgrade from the beginner to intermediate plan". then, i did today's bike. hit my zone targets, but not w/o really pushing through it. think i'll stick in beginner for a while yet! eating a lot of garbage food for a late dinner last night probably didn't help.
Peter- very cool on the return to school to become a teacher! That rocks.
Logan- Chocolate Chip Pancakes in the middle of the week make up for just about anything IMHO :-)
David- What Bill said! It's in the bag!!
Bill- FYI, I'm currently breaking in my new Selle Atomica saddle. First ride was last weekend, 2.5 hours and I, uh, obviously didn't have it adjusted right! Hoping a little more tension will resolve the problem.
@Dave - nice job on the swag FTP, you'll easily hit your goal at the next test date.
@Patachin - it's funny how a little fatigue can keep your confidence from getting the better of you. Good job with the mental fu to realize it's not the right time to switch plans.
@Nemo - I'm with ya on the new saddle. Each ride I'm making a slight tweak trying to get it dialed in. As soon as it warms up a little, I'm heading back to Retul for an official tweak (they have all my setting and can do it better than me).
I'll check back in after my ride tonight. Great job everyone!
Today it was 2 x 10; 1 x 8 all at 100%. On, ride, pant, sweat, get stronger, off. I don't much like the workouts with 3 reps. Seems endless.
Functional strength later today. Swear, I have to get my mental state in the right place just as much as a 2 x20 before I hit that training block. Oof. The whole dealio takes me ~60', so it's getting tough. But I am getting more stable and much stronger, which RULES!
@ Allen: Ditto on the sore legs today after yesterday's run. We'll be crushing it soon enough!
@ Aaron: Thanks and push through it tonight! Totally doable.
Another stationary FTP bike workout done. Legs tired, 6000ft elevation, 2 broken stationary bikes used, one broken in big gear, used for 12min intervals, second broken in small, used for recovery. You gotta get cretive with these gym bikes.
60min, 2x12min(4min), on target with unintentional low cadence work, cad 65-70, HR on target.
Got it done. Thanks guys.
@Dave, that is a solid ride and you are at 270W no doubt. You and I started with about the same FTP and we are progressing about the same. Be interesting to see the test. Looking forward to it.
Did my 3x10 ( I am a week ahead as I have a 2 week vacation coming up. Then I'll be behind.) I purposely went for just over 100%. Trying to see what I could achieve. I was surprised that my legs felt that good.
Keep going team!
After the 2x12' (4') intervals I thought the 3x8' (2') intervals should be easy. Boy did I under estimate that. Looking forward to the rest day tomorrow!!
Interval #1:
Duration: 8:01
Work: 96 kJ
TSS: 13.5 (intensity factor 1.004)
Norm Power: 201
VI: 1
Pw:HR: 6.68%
Pa:HR: 3.15%
Distance: 2.498 mi
Interval #2:
Duration: 8:02
Work: 98 kJ
TSS: 13.8 (intensity factor 1.015)
Norm Power: 203
VI: 0.99
Pw:HR: 0.85%
Pa:HR: 2.29%
Distance: 2.542 mi
Interval #3:
Duration: 7:59
Work: 98 kJ
TSS: 13.8 (intensity factor 1.02)
Norm Power: 204
VI: 1
Pw:HR: 4.31%
Pa:HR: 2.36%
Distance: 2.549 mi
First 15':
Duration: 15:04
Work: 154 kJ
TSS: 18.3 (intensity factor 0.853)
Norm Power: 171
VI: 1
Pw:HR: -0.34%
Pa:HR: 1.15%
Distance: 4.473 mi
Entire workout (172 watts):
Duration: 1:00:03
Work: 618 kJ
TSS: 81.5 (intensity factor 0.905)
Norm Power: 181
VI: 1.05
Pw:HR: 8.48%
Pa:HR: 3.86%
Distance: 17.474 mi
In my n=1, I've never felt hurt on those bike intervals. Discomfort, Yes. In addition to these workouts getting us stronger, as evidenced by FTP gains, I believe the greatest benefit is teaching us to tolerate discomfort for longer and longer durations. It never really begins to feel easier. Pedaling at 80% - 100% FTP for some duration will always entail some degree of discomfort. We just get better and better at extending the duration of that discomfort before we need to ease up on the effort and slow down. I still remember clearly my first EN OS and the first few workouts. It was like, ... Oh, I've never really felt that too much before riding with my friendly group rides; I got to get used to that feeling". And that feeling is a level of discomfort that builds up a first on a given workout, but then just levels off and never actually hurts. So now I've gotten very accustomed to tolerating that level of discomfort for longer and longer periods of time. I find this a major factor separating myself from my non-EN friends on outdoor rides, particularly climbs. They can generate just as much power as me, but I can sustain it for much longer - tolerate the discomfort longer and gap them significantly on long ascents.
I'm glad I got it done, but it was a mental struggle. Looking forward to a day off from the bike/run tomorrow, gonna do a little stroke work in the pool and relax.
@DaveA - This is my 2nd OS and I totally get what you mean, you summed it up perfectly. Looking forward to gaping my friends again this spring/summer.
Great job everyone!
My squadron has a PT (in the "physical training", not Leigh Boyle, sense) session scheduled for this afternoon which looks like a total body circuit. These sessions are usually geared to the lowest common denominator - i.e a squadron run is set at a very slow pace - but the circuits allow me to work as hard or easy as I want. I'll take it easy on the legs to keep them fresh for tomorrow and work hard on the upper body and core stuff.
I figured that since I've done 2x15'(4') @z4 a few times, the prescribed 2x12'(4') should be no problem, even after a 45 minute run earlier that afternoon. But it was hard. In fact, my calf started twitching with 5 minutes to go in the second interval...luckily it didn't cramp up but I had to stop for 2 mins after the interval to massage it before doing my z3 "remainder time" at a very easy pace compared with the usual 0.92-0.94.
Overall stats:
Interval 1 (12'@z4) - NP: 227w, TSS: 23.1, IF: 1.074, VI: 1, cadence: 89, HR: 149
Interval 2 (12'@z4) - NP: 225w, TSS: 22.7, IF: 1.064, VI: 1, cadence: 89, HR: 161
“Remainder” 19’ @z3 - NP: 183w, TSS: 23.9, IF: 0.868, VI: 1, cadence: 92, HR 145
Looking at the data I think I also overachieved by way too much on the z4 intervals. I have been pretty comfortable riding about 1.05 on these to date (I think by FTP is higher than my original test), but 1.075 is probably too extreme.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/66523130
The brick run was pretty short 15-min due to the brutal cold (single-digit F) and snowy road conditions. Also my Garmin didn't acquire satellites until 10 minutes in so I have an annoying lack of data.
2x15@ 95,96%
1x5@ 100%
2x15@ 82,83%
It felt good to extend the wko. I hit a pretty good groove late in the 4th quarter. I think a more focused (intense) warm up period will help the z4 intervals.
Thought about hitting the last 5 minutes hard; 95-100%. Then didn't. But I thought about it. Thought about a brick run too. But it's freezing rain out there and I could slip and fall and hurt myself so I didn't do that either. I did make myself an awesomeness recovery smoothie. I thought about it, then I did it. I made it happen. If you can believe it you can achieve it.
Oh! Bikram pain cave this morning for a 3x10 and a 2x15. It is ridiculously warm in my apartment -- even with all the living room windows open.
Unspectacular, except for all the hurt in my calves.
Just finished the Beginner OS workout (Bike MS: 2 x 12' (4') Z4 & 2 x 15' (2') Z3 | Brick Run MS: 10' Z2 & 10' Z3). Here's my HR chart:
While Thursday's workout was painful being the third day in a row, today's workout felt great following a day off. My legs felt good and I have noticed that I'm biking a mph faster to stay in Z3 than I was 5 weeks ago.
Like Chris, I was tempted to turn it up a notch in the brick run but thought better of it knowing that tomorrow's run looks like a beast (MS: 2 x 1/2 mile (3'), 1 x 1 mile (3'), 2 x 1/2 mile (3') all @ Z4. Rest of 60' @ Z3).
Kids were off playing at the neighbors, DW was driving home from visiting her father, so had the perfect opportunity to get'r done!! Surprisingly the 3x10' (4') felt much better than Thursday's 3x8' (2').
Interval #1:
Duration: 10:06
Work: 121 kJ
TSS: 16.7 (intensity factor 0.997)
Norm Power: 199
VI: 1
Pw:HR: 5.17%
Pa:HR: 2.6%
Distance: 3.216 mi
Interval #2:
Duration: 10:06
Work: 122 kJ
TSS: 17.1 (intensity factor 1.009)
Norm Power: 202
VI: 1
Pw:HR: 2.94%
Pa:HR: 2.36%
Distance: 3.279 mi
Interval #3:
Duration: 10:08
Work: 124 kJ
TSS: 17.6 (intensity factor 1.021)
Norm Power: 204
VI: 1
Pw:HR: 1.17%
Pa:HR: 1.4%
Distance: 3.243 mi
First 15':
Duration: 15:03
Work: 152 kJ
TSS: 17.8 (intensity factor 0.842)
Norm Power: 168
VI: 1
Pw:HR: 1.68%
Pa:HR: -0.13%
Distance: 4.459 mi
Second 15':
Duration: 16:05
Work: 158 kJ
TSS: 18.2 (intensity factor 0.825)
Norm Power: 165
VI: 1
Pw:HR: -0.33%
Pa:HR: 1.44%
Distance: 4.677 mi
Entire workout (167 watts):
Duration: 1:25:04
Work: 854 kJ
TSS: 111.6 (intensity factor 0.889)
Norm Power: 178
VI: 1.06
Pw:HR: 5.92%
Pa:HR: 4.55%
Distance: 24.862 mi
First ever bike FTP Test w/Power done this morning (206 avg norm). Can only go up from here! Thanks everyone for all the help and insights on getting this set up on the PC and CT.
FTP Test WORK 20':
Duration: 20:01
Work: 243 kJ
TSS: 27.6 (intensity factor 0.921)
Norm Power: 203
Distance: 8.053 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 186 243 203 watts
FTP Test REST 2':
Duration: 2:01
Work: 10 kJ
TSS: n/a
Norm Power: n/a
Distance: 0.502 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 55 216 90 watts
FTP Test WORK 20':
Duration: 19:57
Work: 252 kJ
TSS: 30.8 (intensity factor 0.963)
Norm Power: 212
Distance: 6.659 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 177 280 211 watts
Keep up the great work JOS. Savior the momemt when all your riding friends will always be in the rear view mirror.
Well I got it done today and had a feeling that I hadn't felt in a long time...like a triathlete. The last couple of weeks the runs have not been feeling very good and I would really struggle. I need to back up a moment to yesterday's "rest day" when I went to do a little stroke work with my swim coach. It was the first time back in the pool in 4 weeks. I had a major breakthrough with my hips and thighs and all of sudden, I'm gliding on TOP of the water with minimal effort and something clicked, I got it. I continued to swim for another 30 minutes and as I would stop every 4-5 minutes and watch the video, I was blown away by how good I looked, not mention felt.
With that little tidbit out of the way, on to today's work out. 5 minute warm-up then on to the 3x10 intervals (1.11, 1.05, 1.02 respectively). I started playing with my gearing and cadence today and it really gave me a new kind of workout, one that I enjoyed. Then it was on to the 2x15 intervals (.90 and .93 respectively). Total workout was at .94. As I mentioned in a prior post, I feel a really big bump coming as soon as we test again. Part of me feels like doing it now, but I know better and will wait until week 8.
After changing clothes and heading to the gym (due to serious snow AGAIN), I got lucky and found my favorite treadmill. First 10 minutes where at 8:03 and the second 10 at 7:43. The highlight of the day's work was that I felt so strong when it was done that I could have easily continued running for a significant longer period of time (at the same pace). Perhaps, I'm turning a corner with my training.
@Allen - Love seeing your charts, that has to be a great feeling know that you are going faster and staying in the "zone."
@Peter - Gotta take advantage when the kids are out playing, that's what I did today and it was easy to focus on the job at hand. I also agree with you, today's 3x10's felt easier than Thursday's 2x8's.
@DaveA - Very jealous of your outside ride. I know that road and I'm sure you looked great in the new EN kit (I'm checking the mail every day for mine).
@Patachin - It really is amazing what training with power feels/looks like. Good luck and I'm sure you'll surprise yourself.
I have to agree with DaveA that the EN motto is so true...Work Works!
Happy Saturday JOS!
I’ve incorporated a build into my Saturday bricks to be prepared for a camp in Kona at the end of March. Today was the first of three times I’ll do the longest day which calls for adding 6 x 15 (2) @ 80% – 85% Z3 to the prescribed workout. It brought my total time to almost 3:30 on the trainer. It’s pouring ass rain here in the Pacific Northwest and I got through it happily enough with a little help from the movie “The Social Network” (four stars) and several “Man vs. Wild” episodes. That doode is truly effing nuts!
After feeling unexpectedly bad on the 2x12' 60 min ride on Thursday I headed into today's monster-session with some fear. After correcting RnP's math, I was looking at 90 mins including 2x15' + 1x5' @z4, plus 2x15' @z3.
I took it easy on the first interval (1.014) and built from there...the second at my usual 1.05 and the third (which was only 5 minutes after all) at 1.075. Then a solid effort on the 2x15'@z3 with 0.931 and 0.933. The HR was pretty low and I felt very, very good today.
Overall including warmup at 0.64 it was 90 mins at 0.944, which makes me think there's a nice FTP increase coming at the next test. But before that I need to make it through the upcoming 2x20' @z4 workouts...yikes!!!
The brick run was very strong. 25 mins @ 6:50 (8 sec faster than z4). Just concentrated on cadence and ran based on RPE. No Garmin-checking untail the end. Felt very, very good. My HR -- which almost always hits 186 or 187 during a fast run like that -- didn't really make it above 180 until I kicked it for the last quarter mile at 6:11.
Overall this was a day where you say to yourself "I really hope I feel this good on race day" (and you know you won't, because these days are so rare and random). But I'll try my best to replicate all the factors I can control that led to today, and hope for more like this.
Cheers!
Interval 1 (15'@z4) - NP: 214w, TSS: 25.7, IF: 1.014, VI: 1, cadence: 87, HR: 153
Interval 2 (15'@z4) - NP: 222w, TSS: 27.6, IF: 1.05, VI: 1, cadence: 90, HR: 163
Interval 3 (5'@z4) - NP: 227w, TSS: 9.7, IF: 1.075, VI: 1, cadence: 91, HR: 164
Interval 4 (15'@z3) - NP: 196w, TSS: 21.7, IF: 0.931, VI: 1, cadence: 95, HR: 156
Interval 5 (15'@z3) - NP: 197w, TSS: 21.8, IF: 0.933, VI: 1, cadence: 96, HR 154
Bike: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/66762049
Run: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/66763095
What can I say, except AWESOME ride today!!
The bike workout this morning was a mini SoCal EN meet-up and ride (that was billed as - a soft pedal, small chainring ride). Sure, that was short lived when about 2 miles in I looked down at my Joule while I was hanging on to John Stark's wheel and realized we were doing 31.5mph across a long flat stretch of PCH!! So the EN part of the ride included John Stark, Jim Yanoschik, Jeff Ku, Coach Rich, Paul Bradford and me. I am sure John will post more deets and hopefully some pics he took, but I had a great time riding up PCH with the group and meeting everyone -- very cool to meet people from the team!! Thanks Jim and John for setting this ride up!
For my part, the total ride was 65 miles in 3:14:57 @ an IF of .854, 184W and 20mph average - and I am seriously spent! Worked in the intervals before and after the group ride:
#1 -- 1X10min, 215W @ 1.00 IF
#2 -- 1X10min, 210W @ .980 IF
#3 -- 1X10min, 212W @ .987 IF
All, Greg:
Yep, great ride this morning. I NEVER ride on truly flat routes and this was pancake flat! As noted, was supposed to be easy, small cookie ride but never really happened. I have to say that I did the first jump in the beginning and just put the hammer down. Was A LOT fo fun. I pulled, Yano pulled, Greg pulled, Coach Rich pulled. Was a fun paceline.
Didn't bring the cord to download from the Joule from WKO, but my data on the CPU shows 1:44 bike, .898 IF and avg. 20.1 MPH. Those stop lights SUCK!
Hopefully I didn't shell myself too much for the half marry tomorrow.
But who cares. i had my fun today. Tomorrow will be the frosting on the cake.
Here are some pics:
Me and Greg at the pier.
Group at PCH light.
Hammering up the San Gabriel river trail. See the sweat under my helmet?
Stop at the park to split off. Jeff?, Paul (Greg's bro-in-law), Greg, Me, Coach Dick (in new EN kit) and Jim Yanoshik.