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