Chain line on The Evil Twin

Time to take a little rest

I've had 12 solid weeks of training dating back to the first week of January and I'm in the place I'd hoped to be.

The swim came back a little this week,  I felt fairly strong on Friday and Saturday.  I'm not 100% but expect to be stronger after taking it easier this week.

I backed off of the bike intensity again this week.  I really didn't feel like riding long on Saturday so I only road 30 some miles.  This week I'll probably ride 30 on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

The running this week went well with Wednesday running 2X20'(10) and a long run on Sunday.  I felt fairly strong on the Wednesday run and finished the week with a 15 mile easy run with friends on the Hilly Northville loop.

Over all I'm healthy and ready to back it off to be completely recovered for the training Camp in Georgia.

Some more ramblings...

3 weeks done in the third run phase and I'm feeling OK

Two weeks ago I felt really good in my running and completed all the workouts as scheduled.  I was surprised that I warmed up quickly and got into the intervals on that Sunday's workout so quickly, normally it takes me 3 to 4 miles to get warmed up.  I thought the mile repeats on Wednesday would be more difficult but they went very well.  Everything went as planned and I finished the week strong.  

This past week went well too but didn't feel as strong as the previous week.  Sunday I completed on schedule but needed 3 miles of warm up instead of two, and I held the M pace better than I expected.  Wednesday I did the 2X15'(3)+10 and those intervals went on schedule as well.

Biking is going well, two weeks ago I finished the 2X20(5) to end the rotation of threshold workouts and did 3X20 SST on Thursday.  Last week I started the rotation over again with 8X5'(2) and moved Thursday to 4X20 SST.  Saturday the mountain route opened on Zwift so I did that, I kept the pace reasonable and finished just over 50 miles in 3 hours.

I thought swimming was coming back but am still tired.  Last Saturday I lead Dave in the workout where he's been leading for the few weeks before that.  I was able to put in some decent 100 repeat times but nothing extraordinary.  I still feel that I'll be able to swim much better when rested and am just going to put in the work now.

This week I'll be back up near 50 miles of running 6 to 7 hours of biking and 3 to 4 swim.  After that I'm taking it easy for a week to rest up for Georgia.  I most likely will not be running long on that Sunday or riding long on Saturday. 

After the first week on the third phase of running program

My legs still feel pretty good and my swimming is coming back.

It's taken a while but I've finally got more energy for swimming.  Swimming 100's on 1:40 is not a chore anymore and might drop back to 1:35 soon.  I've been consistently swimming 4 days a week near 12,000 yards.  All of those weeks with high volume without a break was just too much for me.  If I do another swim block like that I'll make sure I get an easy week every once in a while.

The bike is coming along well too.  I've been going though my regular rotation of threshold workouts and found doing them twice a week is a little too much for me right now.  I did the 5X8 on a Tuesday and Thursday, on the Thursday I had a difficult time on the last 3 intervals.   The following week when I did 3X10 on Tuesday, I did 3X20 SST on Thursday and felt much better for that workout as well as the weekend.

This week I had the 3X15 and felt pretty good.  My workouts for Wednesday to Friday got jumbled around because of a personal issue so Thursday's bike workout was only an hour which allowed me to ride a little longer on Saturday.  Overall the week was still productive.  Next week I'll do the 2X20 on Tuesday and 3X20 SST on Thursday.

I finished the faster stuff on the run in the last two weeks and moved on to threshold runs.  The faster stuff I was able to get near 6:45, a little short of the 6:30's I really wanted to be at but I'm training for what I'm capable of and not the goal pace.

Now I'm on the longer threshold stuff so it's a little slower but much longer.  This week was 4X10'(2) near 7:30's, next week has some mile repeats and then to 2X15 +10.  I've done all of those before and feel pretty good about them.  What I need to do is a 5K race to see what I'm capable of to reset or confirm my training efforts.

I'm still not running on Mondays, I think it's the right thing to do because the rest of my week feels so much better and is more productive.  Even though I'm taking that day off I'm still running the recommended weekly mileage, I just double on Tuesday.  Monday is just a swim day now.

A post from last June that I decided not to put on Slowtwitch but felt it was important for me to remember

I've had this saved in a note pad for a while, I thought it was an important point:

At Rev3 Rush I was the 3rd fastest runner in my AG and that showed in the first 2 races where we were kind of figuring out who could do what.  One guy was hands down the fastest runner, the next guy was almost as fast and then there was me.  I was clearly the strongest biker.

In the third race those two guys came out of the water 10 sec in front of me, I caught them on the bike, (which wasn't easy) rested for a lap then drilled it for the next few laps.  Because of that I felt that I wore one of the guys out and was able to outrun him afterwards.

So yes, the fastest runner won the race but the third fastest runner got second because of his bike strength.  I really think it came down to the capacity to do work, while I appear to have a max speed that I can run at, it isn't affected as much by a hard bike ride as some others may be.

jaretj

4 weeks into the second phase of running

My legs feel a lot better.

Again following the recommendation volume for the Daniels plan and I was at 44.6 miles last week for running,  I took Monday off and felt a lot better going into last week.  Tuesday I was ready for the bike and Wednesday I ran the intervals a little quicker.

I swam 11,800 yds last week in 4 swims where Monday was tough and the rest went well.

I got 6.5 hours on the bike last week with two 40 mile rides with 3X12'(3) intervals and a 51 mile ride done moderately. 

Overall I felt strong the whole week finishing with a straight, easy 2 hour run.

This week has started well, I took Monday off of running again, I could have run but I really wanted to know how I would feel today (Tuesday) after having another Monday off.  Swimming was OK, not where I hoped I'd be, but it's not bad either.

I'm going back to my regular rotation of bike intervals during the week starting with 8X5'(2).  I'm adding an extra minute of rest time in there mainly cuz I need to fill in the 40 miles and feel that the extra minute will allow me to perform and recover better.  I may do some SST on Thursday or stick with the 8X5', I'm not sure yet, it depends on how I feel.

The revised rotation is 4X10'(3), 3X15'(4) and 2X20'(5) where I've added a minute to the rest time on each set.

3 Weeks into the 2nd phase of running

My legs are tired

I've been following the recommended volume for the Daniels plan and I welcomed last weeks lower values.

The last 3 weeks have been 40.1, 40.7, 38.4 miles and with the higher intensity on Wednesdays and Sundays the volume has been about right.  What's been nice is that I've been able to get on the road a few times and off the treadmill and track.  That has made the training more pleasant.

I've backed off the swimming hoping that I'd feel stronger and I have.  I've going to give it another week of lower volume to see if I feel even better.  The last 3 weeks have been 11,700 14,900 and 9600 yards.  I'm planning to be near 10,000 yards again this week.

I've picked up the bike riding this week.  The last 3 weeks have been 4:42, 4:34 and 5:25.  I would like to bring myself up to 6 hours for the next 3 weeks and then 7-8 after that.  I've doing 3X8'(2) two weeks ago and 3X10(3) last week, I'm planning on doing 3X12(3-4) this week and then move into my normal rotation of 8X5(1), 4X10(2), 3X15(3) and 2X20(5) after that.

Through the first phase of running training building to Triple T

I'm finally though the first 6 weeks of running and things are looking good.

1.  I'm not hurt, the issue with my hamstring last fall has not returned.  I honestly think it's because I've done my best to lengthen the muscles by stretching.  

2.  I've put in the distance.  While I had some downtime because I went snowboarding in Colorado, my running has been consistent.

Weekly Milage

32.8

35.7

41.9

20.4 In Colorado

27.9 In Colorado

31.5

45.6

51.8

I will probably be nearer 46 miles this week as I took Monday off.

3.  I've been working on Cadence and Range of Motion.  I've laid off of pushing cadence up over 180 and brought it up naturally to about 176, that feels comfortable to me.  Last year at this time I was nearer 170-172 which I felt was too low.

I think that increasing my range of motion will help me with running faster this year.  My legs are not that long and it's hard to make longer steps.  Last season while running fast, my cadence was always near 185 so they will not be getting much faster.  Also last year I didn't work on stretching at all since I felt it was unimportant, hopefully going back to it will show improvement.

Swimming is going well too but I'm tired.  I only swam 4 days last week because I've been tired and I felt better on Saturday's swim because of it.  My training partner canceled on me yesterday so I bagged the workout, I feel a lot better today and may get in the pool for a short swim and then go back to my normal schedule tomorrow.

Bike riding is starting to come back up, I started riding on Zwift and it's entertaining.  I'm probably going to start riding some shorter intervals this week and I'd like to build to over 4 hours for the next few weeks.

After the first full week in January

Number one goal going into this year is to be able to train consistently.  So far that has happened.

I've had a very solid buildup in my swim.  I wanted to put more time into it and have done so without hurting myself.  Weekly yardage since I got back from Florida:

11750 yds
14300 yds
15700 yds
17950 yds
13900 yds (I went Snowboarding in Colorado for a weekend)
12100 yds (It was a good break that I needed)
19700 yds
19300 yds

Now realistically I have 12-13 weeks to work on my swim until I need to concentrate on race prep for Triple T.  There will be a few down weeks in there for camps and recovery but I want to keep working on speed and endurance in hopes to drop 1.5 to 2 minutes off of my sprint distance (750Meter) open-water time.

Next, I've had a safe build up of my run.  I originally wanted to be at a higher weekly mileage right now but swimming has taken more time and energy than I thought it would.  Because of that I'm about 2 weeks behind the original plan right now.

Weekly Mileage since Florida:
29.1 miles
32.8 miles
35.7 miles
41.9 miles
20.4 miles
27.9 miles
31.5 miles
45.6 miles

Now the plan is to keep the high weeks between 45 and 55 miles.  I've got one more week of easy then 6 weeks of faster stuff followed by 6 weeks of threshold work then 6 weeks of race pace work.  Again I'm doing the Daniels Marathon A plan which has been very successful for me in the past.

Lastly and the least important of the end of last year's training is consistency on the bike.  I've been riding 2 times a week on TougDeGiro and it's been fairly successful.  I've put the time in and now am ramping it up.  I'll be a 3-4 hours for a few weeks with some high power intervals then bump up to 5-6 hours for a few weeks afterwards.  HFP Camp is 13 weeks away and hopefully I'll be able to get some longer rides outside for 4 to 5 weeks before the Camp.

That's all of the planning I have right now.

2014 Cervelo P2

The aftermath of Clermont Draft Legal Sprint and Challenge Florida

Things went good and not as good...

First the DL Sprint:
I honestly expected to place around 15th in this race.  There were a lot of good athletes there and I wasn't at my best.  My swim was at about 90%, my bike and run were about 80%, still I did better than I expected.

I swam conservative at first which was probably a good decision.  I stayed out of trouble and picked it up after the first turn where I passed about 25 people and came out of the water about 2 min down from the leaders but only about 10 sec behind a decent group of riders.

When I got on the bike I quickly caught a group of 5 riders and stayed with them, the group swelled to about 20 riders between the previous wave, then later waves.  I was one of 6 riders doing the work but needed to go hard enough to keep faster runners behind me so I never went into the red zone.

I got off the bike in fairly good condition but was only able to run a 23' 5K because of the heat (90°F and 80% Humidity) and my poor run conditioning. Because of that I managed to finish 11th in my AG and was just out of the qualifying position.

By some stroke of luck either someone got a DQ in front of me or a previous qualification (there were 2 people in front of me that already qualified for Cozumel) I was given a slot to ITU Worlds in Cozumel Mexico.

What I need to do to better my performance:
The fastest swimmers came out of the water in about 11 minutes and I came out in 13:25.  Realistically I think I can get under 12 minutes but 11 will be a stretch.  If I came out of the water at 12 minutes I could catch the guys just in front of me by my transition speed and biking ability but probably only about 15-20 seconds.  I feel with a good focus on swimming I will be able to swim a 750 meter open water swim near 12 minutes and get into a good group of riders.

The fastest runners in my AG run near 18 for the day.  That is much quicker than I have ever gone and feel that is out of my reach even on a cooler day.  However I do feel that running under 20 minutes is achievable.  It will take a lot of running this winter and a good focus during the summer to achieve this but I feel it's within my reach.

Challenge Florida was a bust:
The swim went well and statistically I do well in no-wetsuit swims.  However it was very hot again (same as above) and I wasn't in the best running shape.  I tried to go really easy on the bike and I probably went too easy.  I had a goal of keeping my HR down near 130 and that was just too low, my power was closer to 150 watts and I should have just rode nearer 160-165 to come in about 10 minutes faster.

The run was just a death march.  Hot on the way out, turn along the canal was just baking hot with no wind, turn around into a slight breeze then turn back to the transition area where there was no wind again.  Turned around and did the course again but a little slower.  A 1:58 is all I could manage but with my less than optimal running condition I was happy with it.

Lesson learned:  6 weeks is not enough time between two HIM's to do well at both, especially when the first on was Long Course Nationals and I went in unprepared for that one as well.  I think that if the first one was built up to and the second one was race prepped I could have done better.  This was not the case as Caseville (earlier in the season) was the build up and LCN was the race prepped one.

Also, 4 HIM's in one season is too many bigger races for me.  Next season will have to big races and one bigger race to build up to mid season.

The Prep for Clermont Draft Legal Sprint and Challenge Florida

My running has been going really well for the last several weeks.

I rested a little after Redman but really continued on my long runs and fast runs without issues since then.  Including the run at Redman I've had 5 good long runs and 5 good faster effort runs while continuing my easy days in between them.

The difference between last year's and this year's running is instead of doing threshold I'm doing short and fast intervals with 3 minutes of rest.  I'm hoping that will help me run faster for the DL sprint.

The bike training has been going ok since the weather has been warmer but nowhere near where I was during the summer.

Swimming is going well, I've had 5 good weeks in the pool and now it's time to rest up and see how things are going to go.

This week will be easier with 4 days of running, 3 easier rides and swimming as I feel.  I need to be at 100% to make it in the top 10 at the sprint, I don't know how that will turn out but I do have experience doing draft legal racing that I think others lack.

Now the last 2 weeks are here and I need to be smart and get my energy back. 

A followup from Redman (Long Course Nationals)

The race went pretty well but I was not as strong on the run as I hoped to be.

I had a solid swim, things went well.  I stayed out of trouble in the beginning by staying to the right.  It was a one loop swim and the first turn was a long ways off so I had time to settle in.  Starting on the right makes me a little more comfortable cuz the water is calmer to my breathing side so in the beginning it's easier for me to breathe.

After things settled out I was looking for someone to follow, I found some feet a few times but really just hopped around from person to person.  I remember being on someone's feet most of the return leg but I don't think it helped much.

There was a small (and by small I mean 6 inches) chop on the way out, it seemed like boat traffic waves but they were consistent.  On the way back it appeared to be a little bigger but they were behind me by then.

On the bike the first goal was to get my HR down under 140bpm, it's an arbitrary number I picked because during training most of my pacing practice produced a HR of 135.  It took me about 5 miles to get it down and then planned to ride on the short side of 170 watts.  After a few miles I noticed there was someone about 100 yards ahead of me going the same speed so I figured rather than ride by myself I would sit 10 meters behind him and save some energy.  It took another mile to close the gap and I settled in behind him.  Shortly after than 4 or 5 guys passed me slowly and both of us latched onto them.

It seemed to me that all of these guys knew what they were doing, everyone stayed 7 to 10 meters apart and passed up from the back.  When we went uphill everyone kept the same effort and rode smart.  Sometimes a person would get off the front or fall off the back buy we seemed to ride well together for most of the time.  There were a few guys that rode through us and the draft marshals were on us from mile 30 to 45 but we were clean.  I saw a group of 20 people that was riding fairly close, I was with them for a few miles but they were going faster than I wanted to go and I held back.

Near 50 miles I dropped back to save some more energy since I knew my running was undertrained.  It was a wise decision, as I was able to get my HR down nearer 130 and got ready for the run.

The run started off well, I short-stepped the beginning cuz I knew my fitness wouldn't support a fast run, after 5 miles I started dropping off and was really just holding on.  My HR was really high for that effort but again I expected that.  I wound up running a 1:47 which isn't too bad but is still a long way off of the 1:38 I ran last fall.

Lessons from this race:
Probably need to drink a little more on the bike.  Drinking only 1.5 bottles might have contributed to the higher HR on the run.  At Florida I'm going to try and get 1 bottle down in the first hour of the ride and see how things go.  Hopefully I can get another bottle down in the next 1.5 hours.

Sitting 7 to 10 meters behind someone all of the time really helped the speed.  I road 2:24 on 163 watts.  That's about 7 watts saved.

Starting off conservative on the run was the right way to go again.  I knew in the first 5 miles what kind of shape I was in.  Still 4:47 in a half is good for me despite the run issues.

About 1 week out from Long Course Nationals

While preparing for this race I had an unexpected injury.

On Sept 6th I was participating in an Olympic distance race where I made a wrong turn and wound up dropping out of the race.  I was pretty upset but oh well.

Since I didn't run I decided to run later in the evening, I needed a long easy run and this was a good opportunity to do it.  The run was supposed to be 10 miles, nothing extraordinary, but didn't go as planned.

The run started off easy like normal but about 3 miles in my left hamstring started twitching.  I've had aches and pains before so I decided to run through it.  About 4 miles in I slowed way down and was getting a bit concerned, Karen drove by to check on me but the pain was going away so i waved her on.

It got better for the next mile or so, Karen drove by again and I waved her by like before.  Right after that it started to hurt really bad, I was about 7 miles in and started taking walk breaks, then I wished I would have gotten in the car with Karen.  I ran/walked for another 3/4 mile and saw Karen waiting for me near my 8 mile mark, I hobbled to the car thankful I didn't have to walk another 2 miles and drove to our destination.

It's unusual for me to get an injury, normally when I take time off it's because I've tired.  I'm so close to a big race I needed to make sure it healed up completely rather than have it at 75% and still be fast.  I've got 2 more races after this one so my season is no where near over.

I took the day after (Monday 9/7) off from running, 

Tuesday I rode my bike, tried running but quickly bagged it.  

Wednesday I rode easy then tried to run again, I got around a mile and bagged it.  

Thursday I ran a mile after riding and then bagged it, it felt better though.

Friday I ran 4 miles at lunch, the hamstring still twitched a bit but it was better,  

Saturday I rode 80 miles and ran 3 miles, it was OK.  

Sunday I ran 7 miles at Island Lake, it was twitching around 6 miles so I just ran back to the car and waited for Karen to finish swimming.  I ran 2 miles later that evening, it was OK.

Monday I took off from running and just swam, I felt great in the pool and got 4000 yards in.

Tuesday I ran 4 miles at lunch, I stretched my hamstrings very thoroughly and felt much better.  Later that day I rode, 3X10' very strong and felt great, I wanted to run afterwards but didn't just because I was concerned about healing up.

Wednesday I wanted to run long, my goal was 10 miles and hoped to run 12 if I was feeling well but would have been happy with 8 miles.  I wound up running 13.1 miles and felt pretty good.  I felt a few twinges but I really think they were from my lack of running and not from the injury.  All the miles were easy so I wouldn't stress anything.

Thursday (yesterday) I rode 3X20' HIM pace on the bike then ran 5K afterwards, I felt good but noticed my lack of fast run practice.  The leg/hamstring felt good and stretching seems to help a lot.

Now Friday, 8 days out from LCN I feel healthy but and concerned about run speed.  I need to have a very good run to make Team USA, I figure I need to go under 1:40 combined with a strong swim and bike.  Today I'll swim only to make sure my leg is healing up.

Plans for the near future:

Saturday:  Swim open water, bike ~45 miles and run easy

Sunday:  Run 10 miles max with last half at HIM pace ~7:45

Monday:  Swim, Run easy

Tuesday:  Bike moderate maybe run

Wednesday:  Run easy, start driving

Thursday:  Finish driving, maybe bike

Friday:  Easy bike, run a mile or two

Saturday:  Race, start driving home

Sunday:  Finish driving home

Front end of tri bike

Cannondale R800 CAAD5

Cannondale R800 CAAD5

New wheels