Various Race pictures

 

Since Triple T 2021 is canceled I've decided to put Triathlon on the back-burner.

I'm still going to swim, bike, run to be ready for Battle of Waterloo if it happens but I'm going to put more focus on the bike for track racing.  I'll be dropping my faster run and bring my swims down to 45 min sessions.  I'll be adding one or two quality sessions to the bike each week.

For my next semester in school I'll be going to class on Tuesdays so I'll have Thursday available for practice at the track.  In the fall I'll be going to class on Thursdays and be able available for practice on other days.

Racing at the track is happening right now and I'm having a good time doing it.  The track family has really helped me along.

Track bike and new wheels

Tammy's bike parts

Seems like a lot of wheel for a little bike

2012 Felt F5

Changes since these photos were taken:

Crank from 170mm to 160mm to open hip angle at the top of pedal stroke

Saddle raised 10mm to make up for the crank length change (I might bring it down slightly cuz it felt high)

Pads moved out 10mm to get the body to arm angle closer to 90°

Working on fit

With original stem

I'm going to try this for a while. It's a little higher than i normally have been but I may have been too low for the last few years. 

Felt IA front end

I just signed up for my first off-road race of 2020

Xterra Dino North on July 25th

I've done this race twice and it's a good time.

Week ending 6/14/20

A solid training week but I didn't swim at all, mainly cuz I was working afternoons and it wasn't convenient.

Bike:
Tuesday 21 miles in 1:06 on Hines drive
Wednesday 40 miles in 2:07 on Hines drive
Thursday 40 miles in 2:09 AA Trail to AA Road to Curtis to 7 mile to Hines and home
Saturday 35 miles in 3:22 on Mountain bike at Murray Lake and Torn Shirt trails

Run:
Tuesday 8.8 miles in 1:15 with 4X7(3) Threshold intervals
Thursday 4.5 miles around work
Friday 4.5 miles around work again
Sunday 12.3 miles Island Lake - around Kensington and back plus a little more

A pretty solid week of training.  I hit all of my goals with all workouts.  I substituted mountain biking for the interval workout on Saturday.

8:47 on bike (from TP)
4:15 on run (from TP)

13:03 total time (from TP) 

My end of season race Cancelled

Xterra USA in Utah on Sept 20th has been cancelled.

Garmin 830

Compared to my 820

Week ending 6/7/20

An easier week overall but mostly from cycling

I was able to swim twice in Trout Lake again for about 30 min at a time.  I'll try to swim 3 times next week.

Swim:
Trout Lake across and back on one day then across and around the second day.

Bike:
Tuesday 60 min easy
Thursday 60 min including 24 min threshold
Saturday Mountain bike Island Lake to Brighton Rec Murray Lake trail then back to finish IL.

Run:
Tuesday 49 minutes including 4X2.5(5) in Zone 4 (Target 6:30)
Thursday and Friday 4 miles Run around work
Sunday 1:33 run with 20 min of Threshold pace

I had a difficult time getting to 6:30 on Tuesday, I need some more practice running fast.
Running around work was subjectively easy but was faster than expected.
Sunday took some concentration to hold the Threshold pace but afterwards I felt really good.

10:34 total time with 6.5 hours on the bike, 3.5 hours on the run and 1 hour in the water.
I

A note about Spinergy Rev-X wheels from a Slowtwitch post a long time ago

To the person(s) or bot that keeps hitting my blog from the Spinergy post from Slowtwitch a billion years ago.  I don't condone the use of the Spinergy Rev-X wheel.  The youngest wheel is probably 20 years old and well past it's prime (if there really was one).

I made a comment on them based on my use of a set and of some friends.  The set I was using at the time was only a few years old and in good shape.  I was about 150 lbs then and I could sway the 650C rear wheel enough to hit my brake pads while climbing but they were fast when riding in a straight line.

Please don't use my experience from 17-18 years ago while deciding to use those wheels or not.  Just don't use them at all.

Week ending 5/31/2020

Second week back into training and I did pretty well this week.

With the addition of a longer bike ride on Monday I didn't plan to push the run volume and originally kept to the 25.5 miles of the run plan but I really felt good today.

Swim:
2 easy swims in Trout Lake.  It's been a while since I've been in the pool so I took it easy and kept the volume down to about 1500 per swim.  Next week I'll try 3 times and up to around 2000 yds.

Bike:
5 rides for 203 miles in 10:50
Since I had the day off I rode 3 hours on Monday.
Tuesday and Wednesday were a little more than an hour each of easy riding.
Thursday I had 4X7(3) at threshold in the 90 min ride.
Saturday was 59 miles in a little over 3 hours.  It included 10X1(2) in Zone 5.  Started about 230 watts and worked up to 300 watts.

Run
4 Runs for 29.5 miles in 4:11
Tuesday for about an hour including 6X2.5(5) at threshold
Thursday for about 40 min including 6X1(2) in Zone 5.  Started intervals in the high 6 min/mile and dropped them down to mid 6 min/mile by the 5th interval.
Friday half hour easy.
Sunday 2 hours easy to moderate.  I felt really good so I pushed the 90 min run to 2 hours and run the last 3.5 strong.

Another good week with about 16 hours of training.  Since I added a 3 hour run in on Monday I had to keep the rides easy on Tuesday and Wednesday to complete all the other workouts as scheduled.  Next week is supposed to be lower volume.  I will probably add a few easy runs to keep myself busy.

Week ending 5/24/20

I wanted to get ready for something so I chose the Xterra Pan American Championships in September because I think it has the greatest chance of taking place. 

I picked the 80/20 HIM plan because the race will take a little less than 4 hours, much longer than an Olympic distance race but about an hour less than a good HIM for me.  In 2017 I was 30 min on the swim, 2:07 on the bike and 1 hour on the run.  Since the bike time is similar to a HIM bike (about 20 min lower) I choose that plan.  I'll make sure I mix mountain biking and trail running into the plan, maybe in July or August I can make a trip to Utah or somewhere that has similar terrain to practice race execution.

Swimming - 0

Bike:
4 rides in 7:35
Tuesday easy 1 hour ride around the flooded parts of Hines drive.
Wednesday easy 1:45 down to DG's house via I275 trail.
Thursday 2:30 ride including 5X6(3) Zone 4 (was supposed to be 4X6(3) Zone 3 but I felt really strong that day.
Saturday I rode all four loops around DTE (with Erik) for the third time in as many weeks.  I remembered to pay attention to my training partner this time.

Run:
5 runs in 4:36 and 31.1 miles
Tuesday nearly 8 miles including 4X8(3) zone 3.  I felt good.
Thursday easy 4.2 mile run around work.
Friday easy 6.7 miles run around work.
Saturday easy 1.15 mile trail run after riding.
Sunday easy to moderate 11.2 mile run on Hines drive.  I started out easy, built up and ran strong but I was tired.  I gave myself an option to run 13 miles but didn't take it.

A pretty good week of training at 12 hours.  I ran strong and easy when I needed to, same on the bike.
I have some friends doing open water swimming at Island lake, I'm going to try and get out there this week.  They claim the water temp is in the low 60's right now (16°C) so I should be able to do that.

Week ending 5/17/20

This should have been race week, the weather in New Jersey looked OK but it wasn't meant to be.

Instead I rested early in the week and then rode pretty hard on Friday and Saturday.

Swim...

Bike:
3 rides
Tuesday 2 laps of Island Lake on the mountain bike in near record times.  Both laps in 58:35 and 57:45, so pretty quick.
Friday 56 miles on the road bike, rode the 275 trail to Willow Metropark and back.  The trail had some water covered spots between Eureka and Sibley roads but other than that it was pretty good.  The last 10 miles was in light rain but it was warm.
Saturday I road all loops of DTE again with friends.  I rode well but need to pay attention to my riding partners and make sure they are OK on mountain bike rides.  I didn't realize I let a friend bonk when I should have stayed with him.  He's an experienced rider but that's no excuse for me letting him down.

So a decent week of riding, probably a little harder than I should have but still OK.

Run:
3 runs of 3+ miles each.
Tuesday 3.3 miles at work
Thursday 3.5 miles at work
Sunday 3 miles on Hines drive, cut down from 7 miles cuz I was tired.

So next week I'm going to start another plan to get ready for Xterra Utah.  I don't know if that's going to happen but it's something to keep me going.
I'll be doing the 80/20 HIM Plan that I'll introduce Mountain Biking and Trail Running into.

Week ending 5/10/20

An easier week for me (as planned)  9:35 total time.
Overall, I feel better with Thursday and Friday off.  Because of those days off I ran really well today (Sunday).

I'm probably going to go 1 more week easy, I was planning to race next weekend and would have rested anyway.  After this week I'm going to get back into regular training for an event happening on 9/19/20.  As of now, I'm not sure what I'll do if that race doesn't happen.

This will end my 20 week training cycle.  With the 2 weeks easy I'll get the rest I need to be ready for the next cycle.

Swim - 0

Bike
4 rides all on the Mountain Bike Total 80.6 miles 6:54
Monday - Easy at DTE Energy Trail.  Green and Blue loops clockwise.
Tuesday - I rode the Poto by myself hoping to ride well and set a PR.  I rode moderately in the beginning and faster after I got past the sand pit.  I think it was my second fastest loop I've done 1:33:09 (1:35:01 ride time, I had to straighten my bars after I bumped something :( )
Wednesday - I rode 2 loops by myself with my 4th and 1st fastest times (33:09, 32:35) then 1 more loop with a friend.
Saturday - I rode all 4 loops of the DTE Energy Trail counter-clockwise.  I've said in the past that the trail was boring and predictable but now that I've ridden the Winn and Sugar loops I like it a lot better.

Run 18.5 2:42
Tuesday I ran for 2.2 miles after riding the Poto.
Wednesday I ran 3 miles after riding the first 2 loops at Maybury
Sunday I ran 13.2 miles, started easy and then built up to 8:25's for the second half.
I blew off the short run on Thursday cuz I didn't feel like running and it was windy and snowing.

Brick
I decided not to do the brick this week, I moved Thursday's long run to Sunday cuz it was cold on Thursday (and I blew off the short run on Thursday anyway).

Week ending 5/3/20

Another good week 14.5 hours of Bike/Run

Last of 3 harder weeks.  I was supposed to do USAT Cross Nationals in two weeks and I trained as if I was racing but it was moved to September 13th, now I'm not sure of what I'm going to do for racing.

In the next few weeks I'll probably know if later season races are going to happen and I'll make a decision then.  For now, I'm approaching 20 weeks of training and I need to plan a break.  From what I wrote back on January 3rd I'm near my limit on absorbing training and will need 2 weeks of easy/unstructured training and will then get back to a regular schedule.  That schedule will either be a HIM or another Olympic plan with Mountain biking built into it.

Swim

Nothing again and probably won't until the end of May.

Bike

4 rides plus the multi segment brick again.  157 miles for 10 hours 20 minutes.

Tuesday Mountain bike at Maybury 3 loops, 2 moderate and 1 easy.

Wednesday short zone 3 intervals on Hines drive

Friday easy ride on Hines drive

Saturday Mountain bike Island Lake 3 loops 2 quick and 1 easy.

Sunday Zone 3 riding on Hines drive as a multi segment brick.

Run

5 days of running plus the multi segment brick. 30 miles for 4 hours 13 minutes.

Monday 30' easy

Tuesday 50' easy

Wednesday 40' easy

Thursday 1:35 easy

Sunday Zone 3 running on Hines drive as a multi segment brick.

Brick

Nearly the same as last week, just a little longer cool down.

Bike 30 minute warm up

4X

     Run 7 min Zone 3 / 3 min Zone 1

     Bike 10 min Zone 3 / 3 min Zone 1

Bike 20 min cool down

Observations:

I rode on Hines drive, starting at Nankin Mills and turning around at Middlebelt Rd instead of on Zwift.  The sections were slightly longer than 13 min.

I kept the bike warm up at 30 min.

I rode a bit harder this week, I targeted just below 200 watts (3.1 W/Kg) which is the very top of Zone 3

I ran from Nankin Mills east 5 min out and 5 min back.  I ran hard for the first mile then backed it down.

I ran a little quicker than last week, something I wasn't sure would go well.

Overall I'm pretty happy since I rode and ran faster than last week.

Losing the extra weight has really helped my run, I'm under 143 lbs now

Good run day

I haven't been putting out mid-week posts but since I did one this morning, I figure I'd do another one.

I had a really good longer run today.  My long runs have been ~90 min and have been generally easy.  I used to do 120 min runs, hold back on the first half and then run as I felt.  Most of the times I'd be down in the 8:20's and it was on the fast side of easy but not Zone 3 yet.

I felt like that today.  I started off in the high 8's and brought it down consistently until the last 2 miles were under 8:20.  All miles after the 3rd were in the 8:20's  I probably should have stayed there but I wanted to get my average under 8:30 and had to put in some quicker miles at the end to do so.

Anywho, a quicker but not too taxing of a run today and I felt good :)

Under 142 lbs today :)

That's 12 lbs lighter than last December.

Week ending 4/26/20

More of what I expected.  13.5 hours of training.

Swim
Still nothing :P

Bike
4 rides plus a multi-segment brick.  Tuesday and Saturday on the mountain bike at Island Lake, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday on Zwift.  There were no intervals on the bike this week but rode fairly strong on Tuesday in the cold, cold weather, Saturday for one lap of Island lake and Sunday on the four 13 min segments of the brick.  All other riding was Zone 2.

Run
5 run days, it would have been 6 but I skipped Tuesday because I was cold from riding, plus it was windy and snowing.  Wednesday was 4X6(3) Zone 3, Friday was long and Sunday was four 10 min segment of the brick.  All other running was Zone 2.

Brick
Nearly the same as last week but four times through

Bike 30 minute warm up
4X
     Run 7 min Zone 3 / 3 min Zone 1
     Bike 10 min Zone 3 / 3 min Zone 1

Bike 5 min cool down

Observations:
I increased the bike warm up to 30 min and felt much better.
I ran the same route as last week.
I ran about the same pace on each run but the last one was a little faster.  The runs were a little faster than last week.
Riding in Zone 3 was easier this week.  I use the Zwift Yorkshire short loop (Queen's Highway).
Doing same brick next Sunday.

I'm still under 144 lbs. Sometimes under 143 :)

Week ending 4/19/20

While more difficult than last week I still only worked out for 10.5 hours

Swim...nadda

Bike
4 rides plus a brick. 1 outdoor ride and the rest were indoor; the weather didn't cooperate with my tolerance levels :)  I made all my intervals with no issues and rode the planned time.  Unlike other weeks I didn't do over.

Run
4 runs plus a brick.  I missed one short run because of rain, I don't want to get sick and I don't have a race coming up.  I'm feeling much better on every run, instead of struggling with pace and motivation I find myself holding back a little bit to stay at my planned effort levels.

Brick
This was unusual for me but since it's in the book (80/20 Triathlon) I just did it.
I rode on the bike trainer on the Zwift Tempus Fugit (flat) and ran outside from home.

Bike 15 minute warm up
3X
     Run 7 min Zone 3 / 3 min Zone 1
     Bike 10 min Zone 3 / 3 min Zone 1

Bike 5 min cool down

Observations:
I still need more warm up, 30 min would be better.
To make the run timing easier I ran out 5 min then turned around and finished 1 mile in Zone 3.  After than I ran easier back home to finish out the 10 min.
I ran progressively faster on each run because I felt better.
It took a few min to get going on the bike, while it was mentally difficult to ride in zone 3 I was able to do it.
Most of my transitions were under 2 min.

I do the same brick next Sunday only 4 times through.

Edit:  I almost forgot, this is the first day I've weighed in under 144 lbs :)

Cervelo derailleur hanger

Week Ending 4/12: A lighter week

Bike
I rode 3 times last week:  1 loop of Island Lake on the mountain bike on Wednesday, some zone 3/zone 2 stuff on Zwift on Thursday and then back on the mountain bike for two loops of Island Lake on Sunday.
Wednesday was moderate and for fun.  Thursday was a little more serious and Sunday I burned off two back to back laps both under an hour (which is decent for me but I've gone under an hour several times).  While I had some intensity there, overall it was an easier week.

Run
4 Runs for 26.7 miles, a zone 4 interval run, two short half hour runs and a 90 min run with some zone 3 effort at the beginning.
Like on the bike it was an easier week.

Now I go back to normal training (sans swimming) for a few weeks.  It's going to be a little more stressful because I was selected to go back to work again (being an essential team member and all).  I hope the weather gets better :)

Week ending 4/5/20

I found that the two races I was interested in have been moved to the end of the season.  That was no surprise.

USAT Cross Championships are the weekend of September 13
Xterra Oak Mountain is the weekend of August 30.

Since Xterra Utah is the weekend of 9/19 it makes doing USAT Cross Champs difficult.  I don't plan on advancing past those races even if I qualified for Maui or ITU Cross Champs so I might just kill both of them.  I don't know how much vacation I'll have left anyway.

I might find some local races and prep for USAT Long Course Nationals instead.

On to rambling about my week.

Cycling and Running have gone quite well.

I rode 4 times this week, twice on Zwift, once on my Mountain Bike and once on my road bike.  157 miles in a little over 9 hours.  Zwift was easy riding on Tuesday and Wednesday, I did two laps of Island Lake on Thursday, one by myself and one with a training partner.  Saturday I road 70 miles on Hines with some long Zone 3 intervals and short Zone 4 intervals.  All of the rides I felt good.

5 runs for 31 miles with some high Zone 3 intervals on Tuesday and a long run today.  I thought I'd be tired for today's run after that longer ride yesterday but I felt well and ran stronger than I'd thought.  Still holding around 30 miles a week so I don't wear myself out, this is the 3rd week of it and will be backing off a bit next week, thinking of 15-20 miles.  After that I'm going for another 3 week block.  I normally do two week blocks but changing it around this year.

This next block will end where I would have been tapering for Cross Nationals.  I'll evaluate where I'm at then.

Hopefully I'll be back in the pool in May but we'll see what happens.

End of the Month Wrap-Up

Practically speaking...it's the end of March and time to ramble on about it.

First thing - I canceled my Georgia Training Camp.  I hated to do it but I think it was the right thing to do. 

It keeps me and my training partners safe,
It may keep others safe.
It may put less strain on Georgia's health system.
It keeps me from breaking the law.
It enables to do some concentrated training without too much overload.
It enables me to participate in a remote research project.

What it doesn't do is let me play with my friends so I suppose it's a good trade-off.  I'm still not happy about it :(

Anywho, that's enough crying about it, I'll try not to do any more of it.

What's happened this month:

Swim
It started off well, I was feeling better in the water but it's been put on hold.

Bike
I've gotten my rest after the Arizona Camp.  Unlike last year when I got back into it too quickly, I basically a took a whole week off and then got back into it.  The second week back I held the volume down but added intensity, the third week I went back to 9 hours with the same intensity.  I'm going to give it one more harder week then back it down for some recovery whether I think I need it or not.

I think I'm improving on the bike again, I want to keep that going and will be roughly sticking to the 80/20 Olympic plan.  The only exception is that I will likely be riding longer and with less intensity on the weekend.

Run
Like on the bike I've gotten my rest after the Arizona Camp and eased back into training.  The last two weeks have been really solid training weeks and I've achieved my goals for intensity and volume.  I've done my short runs a little harder, completed my faster pace intervals on schedule and completed my longer runs at an easy pace to keep me ready for the next week.  I will also be sticking with the 80/20 Olympic plan with the run.  It's similar to the older EN plan I did back in 2009.

(By the way, if you haven't noticed you can find that plan in the Training Zone section on the right)

The Plan for the next month:

One more hard week then an easier week followed by three hard weeks.  I'm going to continue to train as if I am still racing in mid-May.  When swimming comes back I'll get back into the water, while I'm not the greatest swimmer, I am confident in the water and will pace myself according to my abilities.

If the USAT Cross Nationals are canceled then I'll be looking at Xterra Oak Mountain.  If Oak Mountain is canceled I'll start looking for another path.  It may be off road, short course road, long course or a combination of each.

About the Camp

We'd been planning it since last September.  We were supposed to go to Helen Georgia and ride the Gaps again.  I've done this every year since 2012.  Seven times with HFP and once with just my training partners.  This was going to be our second year on our own and planned 10 days instead of the usual 7.

In the past we did one epic ride after another.
Unicoi to Brasstown and back.
Helen 3 Gap
Helen 6 Gap
A long run to Ruby Falls
An easy day
100 mile ride around Devils branch and Clayton.

This year we were going to have a day off between most rides to recover.  On those days we were going to swim and run.  When the swimming got canceled we were concerned.  Our friends from Ohio canceled last week.  We waited until the last moment to cancel (14 days out) when we decided to pull out.  Our concerns were:

1.  We're pretty sure it's a misdemeanor to violate the Shelter at Home orders given by the Governor's of Michigan and Ohio.

2.  We didn't want to get ourselves or anyone else sick, which we all thought there was a very slim chance of doing because we were going to bring our own food and everyone had their own rooms.  We had no plans to go out and mingle with anyone.

3.  We thought that the Governor of Georgia (Kemp) was going to issue a Shelter at Home order which would have killed our training.

4.  We were concerned that if one of us got hurt we would have to access an "already strained" health system.

So, my next planned event was supposed to be USAT Cross Nationals in New Jersey.  While it hasn't been canceled, I think it will.  Second option was Xterra Oak Mountain (which was my original planned A race before Xterra canceled 70% of their USA races)  I'm going to continue to train as if the race is happening.  If it doesn't, I'll assess my situation then.

So that's where I stand now, hopefully this will blow over in the next 6 weeks and I can get back to the pool, velodrome and normal training.

I Canceled my Georgia Training Camp

It's a sad day :(

Week ending 3/22

The running went well but I was tired on the bike.

My goal for the week was to go a little faster on the shorter runs.  An effort with my HR just under 140 bpm or nearer 8:45 min/mile.  For the last year or so I adopted the run easy/run a lot approach and I don't think it's worked out for me.

I'm shifting back to a run as fast as I want as long as I can complete all my prescribed workouts approach and I'm going to keep my volume near 30 miles/week  This is what I did for many years and it appears to have worked for me.  I'm not going crazy on the easy runs;  I'm going to keep them with a HR of 135-140 and a little bit under 9 min/mile which is still on the easy side.

My second goal was to do all the intensity prescribed on the bike and hold the easy rides a little harder than I have (155 watts compared to the 135 I've been doing).

That didn't work as well as it did for the run so I'm going to go back to a slightly easier effort and put in a little bit more volume for the next two weeks.  I'd like to bring the time on the bike up to 7-9 hours with less intensity.

About the last post

As I reread the title (COVID-19 BS) it appeared to me that it's misleading.

I don't think the issue is BS, just that I have to deal with the problems it created for me.
Everyone should be taking precautions to slow the spread of this virus, I was just annoyed (wrongly) about how it's affected me.

COVID-19 BS

I've had to cut out all my swimming and velodrome workouts...I'm not happy about it.  Swimming was coming along well and I was really having fun at the Velodrome.

My plan was to go straight into Matt Fitzgerald's 80/20 Olympic plan to get ready for USAT Cross National, now I'm not sure that is going to happen but I'm still going to train like it will.

The race is 5/17/20, 10 weeks away.  I'm at week 11 of the 80/20 Olympic plan and it's going well.

Solid bike rides that aren't too long and runs with intervals and at the top of my aerobic zone.

Going to keep the 80/20 bike targets and add enough volume to the run to get me near 30 miles per week.  I don't know what I'll do about swimming yet.  I don't have any fears about racing so I'll see where it goes.

February Ramblings

My back
It feels much better.  I dropped the lifting and went to core workouts hoping to strengthen my back before I go back to strength exercises.

Swimming
Lots of swimming at Camp and consistent swimming before that.  It's going OK.

Bicycling 
I said in my last post that I wasn't sure where my skills were at on the bike but after Arizona camp my questions were answered.
Endurance-wise and threshold I'm probably the same as last year or better.  I was nearly the same speed on the 2.5 hour climb up Mt Lemmon and was 6 min faster on the 1.5 hour climb up Kitt Peak.  I never had a problem responding to accelerations in the group but am probably still near the same short climb power as last year, perhaps 10-15 watts stronger as I knew I could hold 260ish watts up short climbs.
I've had more time on the bike this winter but the run was much lower leading me to think that my overall fitness would be lower.  That really wasn't the case on the bike.  Because of that I'm not going to do anything drastic to get ready for Georgia Camp.  Just normal VO2/Threshold/Endurance training.

Running
It is going OK but I focused on the bike more than the run.  The last two weeks have seen 2 and 3 hours of running.  This week will be significantly less, but next week I should be back to 30ish miles.

The Plan until Georgia Camp 4/10 to 4/19
Swimming:  Be consistent in the pool with 3 to 4 swims a week.
Bike:  Do my best to get 8 to 10 hours a week on the bike
Run:  Get back to 30 miles per week.

I'm starting to plot out Matt Fitzgerald's 80/20 Olympic plan on Training Peaks to use as I guide for my volume and intensity.  I'll write more about that next time.

Thoughts on the week ending 2/23/20:

1.  My back is still hurting.  I've brought down the stress on it by skipping the weights and working on core instead.  It is feeling better, I've taken some Ibuprofen sporadically to help myself out but it really doesn't do much.

2.  My running is getting better, not back to 2014 better, but better than last October.  I had a hard interval day two weeks ago with 10X400 at 6:50.  I completed it, but in reality it was too much for me to complete as planned.  I looked over my notes from Daniels and his recommended volume based on my current mileage was 6X400.  That's about 5% of my weekly mileage.
Last week I did 6X400 and was able to run at the prescribed pace.  I also felt much better afterwards.
I finished with week with an easy 13 mile run doing my best to keep my HR under 135.

3.  My swimming is getting better.  I've been consistent on getting the 3 swims a week for the last two weeks.  I plan to do the same this week.

4.  I added the Tuesday Velodrome workout last week.  Since I was just tooling around on Zwift on that day I figured I'd try it out.  Honestly, it was really fun and not as hard as I thought it would be.
The workout started with an 80 lap lead in (pace-line) that I was only allowed to do 40 laps of because I'm a noob.  I could have kept up for more of it but I wanted to follow the rules and learn the routine.  That was likely the right thing because the pace-line was about 40 people long and stretched half way across the track.  After the 80 laps was finished, the other noobs and I were allowed to do our last 40 laps with the 10 at the black line.
After that we did a drill where we had two groups of 6 riding on opposite sides of the track.  Every lap the front rider would sprint to the back on the other line 5 times through.  The next drill was one group where we sprinted by pairs around to the back of the line 5 times through.  The final drill was a ten lap four person pursuit, we lost two people right away and I switched off leads with another rider that was much faster than I was.
I did a 15 min cool down afterwards.

5.  I'm going to Arizona next week so I'm going to back off the intensity this week a bit.  I'll probably go to the Velodrome on Tue, Wed and Thu but skip Saturday.

January's Rambling Roundup

After thoughts for January's training

Swimming
I had to take the first two weeks off of swimming because of the tattoo.  I started again on Jan 13th and am way behind where I have traditionally been.  I struggle to bring in 100's under 1:30 where before I had no problems being under 1:25.

I feel the best way to get past this is to be more consistent in the water.  I need at least 3 times a week and probably a 4th.

Bicycling
It's hard to say where I'm at on the bike, I've got more time in than last year but still do not have the volume that I'd like to be at.
6:47 First week
7:24 Second week
9:15 Third week
8:02 Fourth week

A lot of that has been done at the Lexus Velodrome as high power sprints and easy breaks in between them.  The 9 and 8 hour weeks are deceptive in that they include a lot of easy time.  I go to the Velodrome on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings.
Wednesdays I will warm up with 100 laps (~10 miles) and follow the direction of the coaches.  Normally that's 3X Flying Zeros, 2X Flying 200's, 800 from the Tempo line and 500 from the Tempo line.  I normally cool down with 100 laps again.
Saturdays I warm up with a run then do some strength training and running drills.  After that it's 100 laps on the track, various sprints and then 15 to 30 min cool down. (50-100 laps)

For the last two weekends (last of Jan and first of Feb) I've ridden 2 hours (on Zwift) before going to the Velodrome on Saturday.  I need to bump that up to at least 3 hours.  I also need to bump up Tuesday's ride (on Zwift) to be a little longer.  I didn't have a Thursday ride last week but before that I had either been riding easy or doing Cody Waite's workout. (on Zwift)

Running
I've been conservative in my running lately,  not the big miles like last year but still 25ish per week.  I've been doing a mix of easy running and intervals on 1 day.  I'd like to keep that volume near 30 miles per week for the month of February.  I'm still concerned about my left hamstring.  It isn't giving me any problems but I want to be safe.

Goals for the rest of the February
Be consistent in the pool.

Get the run volume up to 30 miles per week over 4 runs.

Get my bike volume up to a solid 9 hours per week.  Tues 2hrs, Wed 1.5 hrs Velodrome, Thurs 1.25 intervals on Zwift, Sat 3 hours before Velodrome and then sprints on the track.

Tentative race schedule:

Arizona Training Camp 3/1/20 to 3/8/20
Georgia Training Camp 4/10/20 to 4/19/20
USAT Cross Championships 5/17/20
Shawnee Camp (Weekend of 5/31?)
Motus Illinois Wilds 6/13/20
Maumee Bay Sprint 6/21/20
Xterra Dino North 7/25/20
Alum Creek Sprint 8/2/20
Motus Dino South 8/8/20
Portage Lake Sprint 9/13/20
Xterra Utah Pan American Championships 9/26/20
USAT Long Course Championships 11/15/20

Ramble Ramble - What I'm doing now January 2020

I've started a base training plan from Cody Waite, I bought it last fall and went through it loosely once but now I'm serious about every workout.  The only issue I have is that I'll be unable to swim for another week or so because of the tattoo I got.  See the tattoo post here.

I'm doing most of my bike workouts at the Lexus Velodrome unless I have to do them on Zwift or on the road and my run workouts are on the treadmill, Livonia Rec Center track or on the running track outside of the Velodrome.

The plan has strength training built into it, I've not done strength training since 2004 so I'm doing exactly what it says to do.  Cody Waite has a spreadsheet for the plan and videos showing how to do everything.  Strength training can be done at LRC or the Velodrome.

Ramble Ramble about the end of 2019

Things that have happened to me at the end of last season.

I hurt my left hamstring, to the point I sought professional help.  I've not gone that far before so it was a big learning experience.  Fortunately I have a friend that is a physical therapist and she was able to see me the day after I stopped running due to the injury.

Four weeks into therapy I was doing really well.  Pain was gone, I finished my racing season and thought I was on track to train for Long Course Nationals again but I hurt it again.  After that setback I let go of my interest in LCN and just went for recovery.

Along with that I was tired.  I had a difficult time getting my HR up for any workout, I knew I needed time off but never took it.  The hamstring injury presented a good time to get that time off.

I had started training for 2019 Triple T back in November with a lot of running.  I quickly got up to 45 miles per week, peaked at 50 and then went back to 40 when I added my bike training in January. 

I went to a training camp in Arizona with HFP and rode well, not at peak form but good for that time of year.  I then went to Georgia camp in mid April and rode well there.  Everything was going well but I was getting tired, by the time I got to Triple T camp I was beyond peak and on a downswing. 

I did well at Triple T but could have done better.  I was really gassed on the bike and run in the last race but still wound up winning the AG.  There were 2 to 3 people there that should have beat me but they had issues on Saturday that affected their Sunday race and 1 that I was able to out-run on Sunday.

After Triple T I raced a Sprint in each of the next two weekends.  I felt I did well in both of them but in reality I should have taken that time off.  Everything else went downhill from there.  I never ran well again, I was just tired all of the time.

By late August I got the hamstring injury and forced time off.

So what did I learn from this:

From looking at my training data, I have it all the way back from 2010 thanks to Garmin Connect, I noticed that I'm able to put 20 to 24 weeks of good training and then I need a break.  For several years I've had a good spring race, decent summer races and then the fall races were hit or miss.

The good fall seasons had 2 weeks of downtime in the summer which I think let me rest and rebuild up for the fall.

Also, when I noticed a twinge in my hamstrings it probably already too late to rehab and keep racing.  I need to keep them strong with strengthening and stretching.  I'm going to keep up that routine throughout my training schedule.

I got this yesterday (leg band triathlon tattoo)

Goggles from Swimoutlet.com

My crowded bars...Playing around with the 820

Harlequin taping on The Evil Twin. It's harder to do than you'd think

HED CX 650C from around 1998 I think.

Xterra Maui

This is a recollection of the race day:

The race started at 9am so there was no hurry to get to the race really early.  The transition opened at 7am and I got there just before then.  There were only about one hundred people there already so I was able to get a fairly good spot.

The Swim.

It certainly wasn't the hardest swim I've done but it was still challenging.  The waves were rolling about 4 feet and crashing into the shallow beach quite regularly.  Unlike other races I've done with bigger waves, there was a lot of movement in the water when they did.  What I mean is that when a wave came in, the water flowed in for about 20 seconds onto the beach and then flowed out for about 20 seconds whereas other races I've done when a wave crashes on the beach it was in and out in 10 seconds.

I started near the center and back a few people mainly cuz I wanted to stay away from people.  I knew I was a better swimmer than most but 30 seconds didn't make a difference to me in this race.  There was really no problem getting through the surf and I got into a rhythm very quickly.  As usual people were killing themselves in the beginning and tired out after the first turn buoy.  I passed several people there and took it easy coming in.  I made the turn on the beach for my second lap, while I was passed by a few people, I passed them back going out into the surf and then probably passed 20 more people heading out to the second turn-around.  There was a time when I was bumping next to someone and I had enough energy to four-stroke a few times and get in front of them.  It was then that I knew that I was probably going too easy and picked it up a bit.  After the second turn-around the water seemed a bit rougher and the waves were probably nearer 5 feet by then.  I surfed in on some of the waves and it was fun.  When I got near the beach I was just waiting for a wave to crash over me.  There were two times that I thought I was going to get tumbled but was in the right spot not to, then about 20 yards away from the beach I had a wave crash over me and tumbled me over a time or two.  I really don't remember how many times I went over because I was patiently waiting to come up and get some air.  I never panicked and came up after about 10 seconds,  I was able to touch the bottom by then, cleared my goggles and swim in the rest of the way. 

Transition was uneventful, I just ran up to my bike, put on my shoes, camelbak, helmet, glasses and gloves and I was on my way.

I started off easy on the bike, I rode it two days before and knew how hard it was.  I stayed to the right with the other athletes that knew was was coming and gave anyone and everyone that wanted to go by a lot of room.  I remember someone yelling for room behind me and then heard some crashing, I didn't look back but thought to myself how stupid they must have felt to crash on the asphalt within the first mile of the race.

The climbs were hard, I knew they would be.  After the fact I looked at my Garmin 810 and counted 5 climbs that were 14 minutes or longer, two of which I had to walk my bike up the rest of the climb.  They were really steep and I didn't want to compromise my run any more than I had.  The downhills were not really that fast, not as steep and fast as Ogden but still rather bumpy, I had my suspension set up too stiff for them.  I seem to be in the habit of setting up too stiff.

The bottom section was fun since it was more like riding the trails at home.  Slightly tight and twisty like Maybury but with more traction from the softer ground.

I finished the bike, rolled into transition in pretty good shape.  I was tired but not exhausted and knew it was going to be a tough run.  I started off short-stepping and watching my heart rate to keep it below 150bpm.  I know at that HR I'm running pretty hard and will blow up if I go much past it.  I had to walk a few time to get my HR down, then after the last climb I knew I was in decent shape to finish the race.  During the first half of the run I probably passed about 30 people some of which seemed quite dazed.  At one point I asked a guy if he was OK, he nodded so I continued on.

A lady in a older Age Group passed me on the last decent, she was nice and was running for a podium so I made sure I got out of her way.  She was nice and cheered me on.  When I got to the bottom the mountain and it got flat again I had to cross the beach, it felt like a half mile but was probably only a quarter.  I looked behind me for anyone but I was alone so I could relax a bit and run into the finish.  In front of me there was a guy finishing with his kids so I waited up a bit and let him go through so I wouldn't mess up his picture.  After the finish I found Karen who had sherpa'd for me, she congratulated me and took some more pictures.

Points about the race:
1.  Know how to swim in big waves and surf.

2.  The bike course is the hardest course I've ever done.  Be prepared for steep hills, 5 sections of 15 min of hard climbing.

3.  The run is hard and you have to have enough gas left in the tank for the first half, after that it's all downhill.

This is going to take some work but I know it will be a better bike for me

Missing a spacer for the front axle and the seat post binder nut.

Need (want) to replace shifters, and saddle.  Seatpost has way too much setback for me and the stem is just a little too short.  Will probably change the rear derailleur with a mid cage.

Will replace crank with my P2M.

I don't like the bars and I have replacements ready to go right now, not completely sure about that though.  I will also have to re-cable the entire bike, it's not bad but isn't great either.

Frame sizing looks good, I may have to change the cap under the stem with a smaller one to get the bars low enough.

From the balcony of the condo in Maui

For some reason I posted this, don't know why

Same ting

The spot where a fellow racer went off the cliff. He was OK

Interesting track workout I wanted to write down thoughts about

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1244593145

I've long thought that my run is limited by how fast I can physically run, I've also thought that it's linked to the fact that I've never really practiced running fast.  Yesterday I did something about it.

The workout went as follows:

Run 20X200 on 1:50-2:10
5X200 high knees 45 ish
5X200 butt kicks 45 44
5X200 big arm swing 44-43
5X200 relaxed shoulders 43-41

The groups were to work on different aspects of my run.
The first 5 Reps I concentrated on keeping my knees high, driving them forward and getting a decent push off.
The second set of 5 I concentrated on trying to kick my butt with my heels.
The third set of 5 I concentrated on swinging my arms
The last set of 5 I relaxed my shoulders and hips, put everything together to run fast

In previous workouts with plenty of rest I was able to run at best, a 46 second 200.  Those workouts were a combination of 400's and 200's.  In this workout, while working on specific aspects of the run, we ran a 200 then rested until the next interval started.  We started with 1:50 then moved to 2:10 since we were losing people and it was 90+ degrees outside.

By getting a little more rest I was able to practice running faster than I had before.  I started off near 45 seconds and then the times came down and I got comfortable running faster.  I really think that another 4 weeks of this is what I need and will try to fit it in my schedule.

Triple T post race

Triple T went well, not as well as I'd hoped but the result among the competition was the best I've done.

I'm happy with second place in a very competitive age group but I could have gone faster if I had prepped differently.

Race 1:  I pretty much went as fast as I could in all three sports.  I swam OK, I rode with a higher power than I expected and I ran slightly faster than I expected.

Race 2:  Decent swim but it was short, rode fairly conservative and ran quick but fairly conservative.

Race 3:  I was still a bit tired from the first race but normal.  I didn't ride as hard as I'd hoped but still within my expectations.  I swam better than I expected and ran fairly conservative again.

Race 4:  I was really tired before this race, to the point that I was sick to my stomach before and during the first lap of the swim.  I knew this would go away after I got going so I wasn't nervous at all.  The swim went well, no surprises, I rode within my plan on the bike and let people go that were faster and then the run is where the surprise happened.

There were three of us that were fairly close, Scott, Andy and myself for 2nd, 3rd and 4th.  I was in 4th by about 40 seconds and didn't realize it at that time, I thought I was racing Andy for 3rd which we have done before at another race.  Andy passed me on the bike near 35 miles in, he was going too fast for me to follow and still stick with my plan so I didn't try to keep in contact with him.  I saw him go up the climb on route 125 and timed him to be about 1:45 in front of me, after that he rolled away on the fast rollers.  I saw him again on the climb up 3 stage hill, I figured he was about 1:15 in front of me then.  The next time I saw him was in transition where he left about :15 seconds in front of me.

When we went out on the run I was really gassed, more so than I thought I should have been, but so was Andy and I saw him short stepping near my pace.  I thought I might be able to stay with him and did.  At the first turn-around we were about 30 seconds apart then at the second turn-around heading out for the second loop I was catching him.  When we went into the woods and up the first small hill, I caught and passed him, I didn't say a word, I mean really, what was I going to say to the guy I was racing for third, was a good friend and fellow Georgia Camp training partner?  I didn't even look back to see his reaction, all I knew was I had to gain about a minute on him and I'm a better hill runner than I am a flat land runner so I kept going hard hoping he wouldn't follow.

When we got to the switchback (my favorite part of the run) I didn't see him for a minute or so and kept going hard up and over.  At the turn-around I timed him to be 3 minutes behind me and just thought to myself that with his long legs he would catch me going downhill.  (He's about 6'2" and I'm 5'4")  I ran hard up the hill, when I got to the top I decided that I'd try to hold a HR of 140 going down.  That worked well, so well that I caught my breath and decided to push it a little harder after the switchback.  I tried to hold a HR of 150 for the rest of the way since I know from experience that I'll fell like I'm going to throw up if I go harder, while doing so I was passing lapped runners very quickly.  In my mind I was running scared to stay in front of Andy who I thought was going to be right behind me and ran hard right up to the finish line.

I was pretty wiped out by then and just sat down, Karen greeted me with some water and congratulations.  About a minute or so later Scott B finished, I really thought nothing of it.  Near 4 minutes later Andy finished and then Dave D finished shortly afterwards (at least I think).  I was pretty happy about being in 3rd place and when the announcer called out the podium spots he said I was second, by :14 seconds.  I was surprised and happy that I ran so hard down that hill all the way to the finish to get the best result I'd had at that race.

In hindsight, my transitions were the key to me getting 2nd instead of 4th
Fri pm :43, :40 ---(1:23)
Sat am :57, :56 --- (1:53)
Sat pm 2:29, 1:09 --- (3:38)
Sun am 2:00, 1:40 ---(3:40)

My competition was:
Fri pm :42, :42 --- 1:10, :48 --- (1:24, 1:58)
Sat am 1:51, :47 --- 2:13, 1:36 --- (2:38, 3:49)
Sat pm 2:12, 2:35 --- 3:59, 4:00 --- (4:47, 7:59)
Sun am 3:13, 1:38 --- 3:59, 2:03 --- (4:51, 6:02)

Transitions do matter and I'm happy that I practice and execute them well :)

I did something last weekend that I rarely do

I pretty much took the weekend off.

I was just tired and didn't want to deal with the cold weather crap.

I swam 4000 on Saturday morning, started biking on Zwift in the late afternoon.  I got about a half hour into it and said screw this, I'm tired.

On Sunday I got dressed and went outside for my planned 8 mile run.  It was cold, my ankle hurt a little, I was tired so I said screw it again and went back inside.

All of this the weekend before Triple T...I'm just tired of being tired.  I want my energy back going into this race and if I'm a little under-trained, then so be it.

On a positive note...Monday I ran at lunch, swam 2700 fairly strong then rode 23 miles fairly strong.

Ramble Ramble Ramble...I did the 2X20 on the trainer...some interesting notes

It's much easier for me to pace the interval on the trainer than outside but there are a few differences.

Since it was raining I decided to ride Zwift instead of outside (good choice) even though it was warm in my bike room.  I warmed up like usual for 1 lap of Richmond (~30 min) then went straight into the 2X20(4) on the flat section.  Using the flat section, it's easier to hold a steady power cuz I don't have to ride downhill.

It was difficult at first and I was trying to hold my cadence above 77 (just something personal I'm trying) then after 10 minutes, I was able to bring my HR up a little more.  During the last 10 min I was holding back a little cuz I knew I had another interval.

The second one felt much more comfortable right from the start and I just built on it a bit.  Just before the second one I re-zeroed my PM just to be sure it was right. (-653, -655)  As the interval went on I felt better and better so I went with it.

Here's my rambling...

The power for each interval was 213 and 224.  A little lower on the first one than I expected but within the acceptable range.  I'm a little lower this year on FTP and I don't know if it's the PM, training, freshness, a combination of all or something else.

The HR for each interval was 139, 139.  I feel it should have been higher on the second one but maybe the PM was low on the first interval or high on the second interval.  Compared to the one I did outside last week on my tri bike, the power was 217, 207 the HR was 148, 152 there is a definite difference between riding on the trainer and outside.

I'm going to put more emphasis on the 2X20 this year rather than the 8X5.  When I do the 8X5 I'm going to keep more effort on the rest interval as well and see what that does.

In addition to the 2X20 I'm going to add it some VO2max efforts for 6 weeks after Triple T to raise my FTP and sprint effort power.  Probably start with the 5X3'(5) and progress to 5X5'(5)

2 weeks of thoughts

Week ending 5/1

Swim: OK, nothing new

Bike: OK, did the 4X10 went about as expected holding near 210-215 watts.  Ran well on the brick run.  I'm slowing down that run so I can concentrate on the Quality run on Wednesday

Biked long on weekend, got 60 miles in but the rain started and I cut the last 10 miles.

Run: OK.  Not showing any improvement on the pace for the Hill Run but did see a slight decrease in HR.   I was a little tired for the long run on Sunday but still managed to run 15 miles easy as planned.

Overall a pretty decent week with a little less volume

Week ending 5/8, Triple T Camp Week

Swim: OK, tired but nothing new.  Swam Monday, Wednesday and OW on Saturday

Bike: 2X20 on Tuesday, faded at end, should have targeted 210 for the first one instead of 217.
Triple T bike rides went well, I just wanted to ride the courses and not kill myself.  While I rode hard, I was nowhere near all-out.

Run:  Ankle hurt on Tuesday so I took it off (the run).  It rained on Wednesday so I just ran easy at lunch, good thing cuz I was tired.  Ran the hill at Shawnee on Thursday evening, brick run once on Friday.  Didn't run on Sunday after the drive like I should have.

Overall a short run week and I'm not satisfied with the run volume.  This week is the last week for harder training and the weather doesn't look good so I'm going to have to suck it up and train indoors.

Goals for this week:
There is a swim meet this weekend (for the kids) so I'll need to get my swims in earlier, probably MWTF.

Bike: 2X20@210, 4X20(5)SST on Thursday, longer and easy on Saturday.

Run: Hill workout but keep HR in a lower zone more in line with the effort I will target at Triple T.  I'm thinking around 150bpm and see how I feel from there.  Sunday I'm going to go with the Daniels plan (2 miles E pace + 10 to 15 min T pace with 3 min rests + 30 to 45 min E pace)

Catching up on Thoughts

It's been 4 weeks since my last post on March 29 and here's what's happened

4/3/2016 

Rested a little bit near the end of the week to get ready for Georgia camp

I didn't have a long run but still got in some solid work during with week with the 8X5'(:30).  I felt better on the workout than I thought I would.

Swimming went OK but still tired.

4/10/2016

Georgia Camp Week

Drove down for the annual camp with HFP Racing in Georgia.  While it was cold, everything went fine and completed every workout.  

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I felt really strong and held back a bit.  Thursday's run was OK but wasn't as strong as I'd hoped to be.  Friday's ride was OK and I was holding back just a little bit on the rollers cuz I felt everyone was riding them harder than they should, turns out I was right and rode strong up the last climb. I chose to ride with Erik and Dave on Saturday because we were hoping it would warm up a bit, it didn't but it took a lot of stress off of the ride.

All of the swims went OK, I held back on them to save energy for the bike.  All of the brick runs went well too.

4/17/2016

I was tired like I was supposed to be.  We started the hill runs on Wednesday and I ran better than expected.  I ran fairly strong on Sunday as well (12 miles)

I took Tuesday off from the bike, Thursday I was tired but still rode an hour, Saturday I felt a lot better.

Swimming was hit or miss but by Saturday I was better.

4/24/2016

Feeling much stronger overall during this week.  8X5(1) on the bike on Tuesday and 4X20(5)SST on Friday.  I moved the long ride to Sunday because of the weather and still rode strong despite running long the day before.

Running was back on track with Wednesday's hill run and Saturday's long run with HIM paced intervals at the beginning and end.  My left ankle still seems to be a little sore from the previous Wednesday's hill run.

Swimming is still hit or miss.  Monday and Thursday I was OK.  I started doing shorter pacing intervals with a lot of rest to be ready for racing in a few more weeks.  Fast 50's on 1:10 (under :39) and fast 100's on 2:00 (under 1:20).

This week is just starting but I'm dropping the run volume to 38.5 miles this week while holding the bike and swim volume up.  Next weekend is my Triple T Camp and I have 17 people going.  Erik has volunteered to ride with a B group so I'll be able to focus more on my own efforts while getting ready for the race.

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.