Test ride

With the race tomorrow, and after last week's mess of a ride, I wanted to get Lightning McQueen out for a spin, to make sure everything was ready to go. The weather predictions were iffy at best, but it looked clear enough when it was time to go, so off I went. The plan was to get ~70km, enough for a decent training spin, not too much to burn all my matches. I met up with some folks from TTC, but only one other guy was going long, so it was the two of us for the 60k loop. We kept a good pace, but nothing too draining, taking a few extra km's to avoid some bad roads. The weather was surprisingly nice, except for a westerly wind that picked up as the ride progressed. (Of course, we finished heading west, right into the teeth of it. Could it be any other way?) The repairs to the bike performed perfectly, so I'll be just fine in race conditions tomorrow. Or, to be more accurate, the bike will be just fine. I'll probably be a mess.

Bike: 72 km, zone 1-3

Set up the weekend

With a bunch of us racing this weekend, we had a slightly different workout this morning, including the racers cutting the workout short. I didn't mind that too much, since it was a pretty tough workout. I brought out the wetsuit for the warm-up, to get one more time in it before Sunday. I felt pretty good, and just out of curiousity, did a timed 50. At 90-95%, I did 40-45 seconds, which is a ridiculous improvement over my usual. As long as my lungs don't freeze, I really think averaging 1:50/100m is more than doable.

The crux of the workout was sets of 4x50m sprints. I was in a heat with some of my new lanemates, so I had to go all-out. Unexpectedly, I won every sprint. Either they weren't going too hard, or my flailing works well for 100m or less. Now I need to learn to stretch that out.

Swim: 15 minutes of perimeter swim (~500m)
2x(4x50m sprints
100 ez free
200 ez pull)
4x50 drills
4x50 ez non-free
4x50 ez free
4x50 ez pull
Total: 2300m

Tonight is just an easy run, keeping the legs loose. Tomorrow my plan is to knock out about 70km. Other people will be doing 140-160km, training to race on tired legs, but that's not how I want to go into my first triathlon. The 70 should be easy, with lots of recovery Saturday afternoon. The only thing I need to figure out is whether I want to go outside, or stick to the trainer. The weather is looking iffy, but I'd also like to test the bike after last week's disaster. I guess I'll decide when I wake up tomorrow.

Run: 3 miles @ 7.2 mph

Still fixing

Another easy run to work on form, with some strides at the end. It's still not natural (who would expect it to be after 2 runs), but I think I'm starting to get things straightened out.

Run: 3 miles @ 7.2 mph + 4 strides

Hope it warms up soon

Man, it was cold this morning. Here we are at the end of May, and it was just a shade above freezing when I left for the pool. Luckily, a half-hour on the bike is a great way to warm up. The swim went well, although I still dislike sculling. I don't even know what I'm doing wrong, but I can't seem to go as fast as everybody else. During the timed 100s, after the first attempt, the coach pointed out I wasn't pulling all the way through again, exiting early. By keeping on top of that, I improved considerably on my next two attempts. I wish the race this weekend had a 100yd swim. I'd be a lot closer to the front than I will after 750m.

Swim: w/u - 500yds continuous as 200 free/100 non-free/200 pull
4x100 as 25 scull/25 free (front, mid, hip, full scull)
3x(300 ez free
100 free timed (1:29, 1:25, 1:25)
200 non-free) - no 200 in last set, ran out of time
Total: 2500yds

Bike: 30 minutes EZ

More fixing

Another short run tonight. It's a good thing that I'm doing an easy week right now, so that I can put some effort into fixing my running form, after the correct diagnosis by my swimming coach. I've been doing some of the POSE drills before the runs, and following each up with a set of strides, and during the runs, I'm focusing on good form, a quick turnover, and a slight forward lean. My cadence is around 190 spm (at 7.2 mph), so I might need to find a way to slow that down, or else I'll be over 200 spm at race speeds, which is getting into the inefficient ranges.

I don't know if I'll have this ready for the race this weekend, so I'll probably end up in my normal stride, at least in the last few km's when I'm tired. I'll keep working on this and should be straightened out by September. Maybe this is what I need to get to the sub-39 10k, sub-1:25 half that I'm gunning for.

Run: 3 miles @ 7.2 mph + 4 strides

Stuff that works, stuff that doesn't

Stuff that works: Good coaching, hard work
Evidence: Back in April, we had a 750m TT in the pool. I knocked it out in 15:46 (15:26 according to the coach's notes, but that's neither here nor there). Today was the repeat, and I was shooting for some serious improvement. I've had about 7 weeks of consistent work, so I should be in good stead. After a lengthy warm-up, we got after it. Fifteen lengths of the pool, I was shooting for sub-15 minutes. For some odd reason, my lanemates wanted me to lead, although I admitted they were faster over longer distances. I tried to keep my pace just behind the person in the faster lane next to me, which worked for about 25m, until I noticed he had a pull buoy. Knowing I would kill myself trying to keep within shouting distance, I tried to ease off. I still need to work on my pacing, although I'd imagine how it went will be similar to how the race will work on Sunday. I went through the first 250m in about 4:45-4:50, then just tried to hang on. My pace was slowly inching up to giving away that little bit of cushion. I tried to relax and keep good form, but I was definitely working hard. Once I got to the last 150m, I started to open it up a bit. When I hit the wall with 100m to go, the clock was just about 13:00, so I dug as deep as I could over the last stretch. I kept my nose to the grindstone, turned my arms over as quick as I could while continuing to use full strokes. I touched the wall and as I lifted my head out of the water heard my time called out, "14:56". The other four people in my lane were: 14:22, 14:52, 14:55, 15:11. So I belong. Give me a wetsuit and let me draft, I'll be 14:00-14:30 in Milton with energy left for the bike/run. It's starting to come together.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
300 as 12.5 head-up/87.5 ez free
300 as 25 quick/75 ez free
2x50 sprint, 30"
100 ez non-free
100 ez pull
(50 ez free to other end of pool)
750m TT - 14:56
300 ez as 100 non-free/100 pull/100 free
4x25 sprint, 30"
300 ez pull
Total: 3000m

Stuff that doesn't work: Bad running form, neglect
Evidence: After the swim, I was talking briefly with the coach. First, I got the congratulations for a 30 second improvement (50 by my records). We got to talking about the duathlon, which he attended to cheer some of his athletes, and he asked if I'd mind some feedback on my running form. Obviously, I'm willing to take any advice, but with running I do my own coaching and no one who knows what they're looking for has really watched me. He told me I was a heel-striker, which caught me off-guard, because that IS my natural form, but during my initial running craze (15 years ago) I worked really hard to fix that. I thought my form was still good since I've started the comeback, so I never bothered with running drills or strides, preferring instead to focus on fitness improvements. All that has caught up with me. I checked the soles of my shoes, from my original marathon training shoes to my current ones, and they confirmed the story. I'm a heel-striker. A bad one. For those that don't know, heel-striking is like applying a brake every time your foot fits the ground, 180 steps per minute. It wastes a lot of energy, and can lead to injury (part of why I thought I was OK, I never get hurt running). Midfoot should be where you land, rolling the leg through the contact point. I know this form, I've taught this form, so I can fix this. I'd prefer to have a few months to just do form work and fix the stride, but that's not an option right now. I need to keep building fitness for September. So I'll try to slowly modify things, starting this afternoon. First, all runs will be with the best form I can muster. I may write out a sheet of cues and post them by the treadmill, of all the things I need to doing. Second, instead of my usual cooldown, I'll head outside (or stay outside for my "outside runs") and do strides up and down the block for a few minutes. I need to re-ingrain the proper firing pattern. Once the form is corrected, it will be like free speed, which I need. Combine that with the fitness improvements I've made, and will continue to make, and I'll have a new weapon. And it'll be a big gun.

Run: 3 miles @ 7.2 mph + 4 strides

To make up for yesterday

So yesterday sucked. At least the ride part of it, or more specifically the part that caused the end of the riding, and the next 120 minutes. Other than that, great day (housewarming party, actually a nice ride, good UFC card). So this morning I wanted to crank out my ten-miler and really get blood flowing. So I did. Pace was definitely up from previous weeks. Effort was about the same, maybe a bit more taxed, since this was the end of a block, and it was a very tiring day yesterday. But it was fun, felt good all the way through. I should be in fine shape to tackle the race next weekend, and the longer race a few weeks after that.

I really bruised the base of my spine yesterday. If you're ever considering doing that, just don't. It's less fun than it sounds.

Run: 10.5 miles, 43:17/41:03

Like a transition run, but different

Big plans for today. I really need to stat getting more long rides in, stuff over 100km. So I set out with the intention of about 108km, following the TTC 58km loop twice, with a part cut off. Things went really well for the first loop, I felt strong and was right with the fastest guys in the group. I did drop my chain a couple of time climbing (came off the inside chainring), but I was able to chase back on. I went out solo for a second loop. The wind seemed to have picked up, and the first stretch was a fight, but once I turned around, things were pretty smooth.

Until they weren't.

Going up another climb, I lost tension to my pedals. I was kind of pissed that I had dropped the chain again, when I realized that I hadn't this time. I had snapped it, as it was dragging behind me. I had pulled a link apart. It took about 30 minutes, but I was able to reconnect the chain, with the intention of soft-pedalling home. That lasted one pedal-stroke until it snapped again. I was now reduced to hiking the 15km back to the car, so I called my wife and said I was on my way home, but with no idea how long it would take.

So I walked. In cycling shoes. I sat on the bike and coasted when there was a downhill stretch, but mostly I walked. A few cyclists stopped to help, but no one carries a spare chain, and none had a chain tool. After 7km (I've checked the map since I got home), I got very lucky, and a driver stopped and offered me a lift. She was a cyclist herself, and would hope someone would do the same for her. So here's to paying it forward. With much gratitude, we threw the bike in the trunk and was back at the car an hour earlier than I expected. If she ever chances upon this little blog, thank you.

Now I'm tired, and hungry, I've been in the sun too long, and my butt hurts from the walk (and taking the saddle into the base of spine when my foot slipped during a coast). Quite the day.

Bike: 93 km
Walk: 7 km

Life in the fast lane

With Monday's swim cancelled for the holiday (and racing), today was my first shot at spending a whole day with my new lane. The thing about this is, the workout I do is now on the "fast" board. See, we have two chalkboards, one that can be seen by lanes 1-3, the other for lanes 4-6. The workouts are generally the same, but the distances are sometime increased for the quicker lanes (3x400m vs. 3x300m, for example). Now I'd be doing this workout right from the top, and having to keep my spot in the lane. It went fairly well, I don't think I threw off the speed of the group too much (if at all).

With race season about to begin, we opened with more OW sprints, but a little different this time. Instead of having almost the whole pool to work with, we had about 15 people between the lane lines (two lanes wide) hammering for the end. I tried to move around a little to be in different situations. The first time, I was mid-pack, and actually started by folding my arms across my chest to protect myself from flailing feet. There was no space to pass, so I just tried to keep my hands from getting broken. Second pass, I started at the front, and took off. No one was close to me, and I "won" the sprint. Three, again I was mid-pack, but found a hole after about 20m and was able to scoot through. The last time, another swimmer requested I swim over her, so I started at the back, and proceeded to slam her legs and arm until I was even with her. At that point, I didn't want to elbow her in the face, so I just moved over to force her off the feet she was trailing and stealing her draft. In its own messed-up way, I guess that was the gentlemanly thing to do.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull (I was in a wetsuit, so pull would be redundant)
4x50 OW sprint/50 ez free
200 truck and trailer
300 single-partner drafting
200 ez non-free
300 Milton race pace, 1'
200 ez non-free
300 ez pull
300 Muskoka race pace, 1'
200 ez non-free
300 ez pull
Total: 3300m

Run: 4 miles @ 7.2 mph

The same, but better

I repeated last week's VO2 max workout. I didn't want to, but it was what the schedule said to do. I was tired, and just wanted to lay on the couch and eat M&Ms. But that won't make me faster, so I had to do the work. Once more, I set out for 6x3 minutes @ 330w.

And it was easier than last week.

I'm under-recovered from the races the past two weekends, and I've training right through, keeping high efforts up. I can feel it in my legs pretty much all the time, just a woodenness as opposed to any pain. But tonight felt much easier than last week's ride. Heart rate was a little higher (2.5 bpm average), but RPE was lower, and that's what counts. So the attic is probably a little bigger now.

Then I laid on the couch and ate M&Ms.

Bike: 65 minutes, w/6x3 min @ 330w, 5 minute recovery
Run: 2 miles @ 7.2 mph

Short and sweet

A small change this morning in the swim schedule. It seems that our Wednesday pool feels that for "security" reasons, we can no longer open the pool, and have to wait for an employee. This means the start of the swim for the rest of the year is now 6am, only giving us 1 hour in the pool. The workouts will be shorter, and probably a bit more intense to compensate. This morning would be a good example. Long sets, no rest periods marked, so basically "keep moving" was the order of the day. I wasn't quite at the front of the lane, in part because of fatigue, in part because my name was on the board. The coach wanted to those of us who raced on the weekend to take it easy, and we were listed by name. (I guess he wouldn't have approved of last night's Hour of Power.) A good workout, it was nice to get back in the water (who would have guesses six months ago I'd ever say that?), and I put in a solid effort. I got caught shortening my pull during one of the harder sets, which I have a tendency to do when I'm pushing the pace. I need to slow down and do full strokes and I'll be even faster. So, that's my new cue for hard sets.

Swim: w/u - 400yds as 75 free/25 non-free
400 as 25 scull/75 pull
400 as 25 head-up/75 free
400 race opener pace
400 as 100 non-free/300 pull
400 sprint race pace
c/d - 400 as 100 non-free/300 free
Total: 2800yds

Right now is a bike focus, so I'm not doing any big running, but I'm keeping the mileage up, and trying to tick up the distance of the Wednesday runs every couple of weeks. It will never get too long, barely into double-digits, but with some carry-over fatigue of the Tuesday rides, will strengthen the system. The run at the Muskoka Chase may be a bit of a struggle for me since it will be near the limit of my mileage at that point, but I've run on pure guts before, so I'll get through it.

Run: 6 miles @ 7.2 mph

Hour of Power

Yesterday I raced. Today I'm back at training. It wasn't an A race, there wasn't a taper, so no need to schedule a bunch of rest days after the fact. I don't usually have two hard days back to back, to it won't kill me to do it, and this is the second week of a block, so I'll get lots of rest next week. So with that, I headed to the basement for a workout that was eerily similar to yesterday's race.

I picked up this workout from Xtri.com a few months ago. It's called the Hour of Power, and it gets the name from the 60 minutes at high intensity that's part of the session. After a warm-up, there's 2x20 minutes at 90% FTP with 5 minutes recovery on the bike. After the second interval, try to have a fast transition (no helmet to remove), and knock out 20 minutes (0r 3 miles in my case, ~21 minutes) at marathon pace (Daniels' M-pace). This was a tough workout, the bike required a solid effort, maybe a bit harder than what I did yesterday. The pace on the run was close to my average pace during the second run leg. I could feel the effort for a couple of hours after I finished. Fatigue was definitely a factor, but it is these days that will pay off in September, when I ride this hard, and can hold this pace for the whole 13.1 miles.

Bike: 70 minutes, w/2x20 min @ 270w, 5 min recovery
Run: 3 miles @ 8.5 mph

February in May - Victoria's Duathlon Race Report

This story starts with the weather. This seems like the right place to start because of the impact the weather had on the race. To describe the weather as "unpleasant" would do it a disservice. It was nasty. This was not May weather. On the drive in, the flags looked like they came back from the cleaners with extra-starch. Temps around 5 at the start line, winds over 30km/h, "feels like" temps around freezing. More than a few people bagged the race before the start, or planned on just doing the first run, and part of the bike. Me, I paid for a full race, so that's what I'm doing.

I was in the third wave off, at 11:06. I tried to set a decent pace, keeping in range of the front of the field. Since the first 2k of 4 were with the wind, it was easy roll off 3:40 and 4:05. Then it was back into the wind. Things slowed down considerably at this point, hitting the next marker at 4:22. The effort was solid, not killing myself. It felt like I was in a decent position, probably top 15-20 (turns out I was 21st, so my counting sucked). I went through transition at a decent pace. I need to work on these, since I'm giving away time. Then off on the bike.

The bike course was the opposite of the run, where the first half was all into the wind, and the second half was tailwind. Speed was unimportant here, just effort and passing people. Again, I kept the hammer down, passing a large number of the earlier starters. I didn't notice too many racers from my age group pass me, which I took as a good sign. I had a bike issue, where my chain was slipping in the 19-23 cogs. This made me fight the climbs a bit more than I'd prefer, grinding up in a 39x17 at 60-70 rpm, instead of cruising up at 90 rpm. I don't think those efforts caught up to me on the second run; they were infrequent, and I kept my HR under control as much as possible. Once we hit the turn around, it was big ring the rest of the way home. My heart rate dropped by 20 bpm, and my speed was 40+ km/h for the whole stretch. That's fun. Back through transition, and off for one more trip on the run.

My focus was a quick turnover, and try to pull back a few runners. I accomplished both, but couldn't bring back anybody from my AG. I can't complain about my pace. The wind was still pretty stiff, and that killed any fast running in the second half. I was closing some gaps, but couldn't quite make it. I tried to finish with a good sprint, but the chute was on unlevel terrain, and my legs were too tired to go fast with my ankles rolling around. Hit the line, and headed for inside to warm up and wait for results. After waiting, this is what I saw:

1:20:57, 74/511 overall, 15/59 AG (Sportstats AG results)

My thoughts: I was top 15. That puts me in the points, just barely. As I'm about the 25th percentile, I would be considered back of FOP, or front of MOP. Since I was point-getter, I'll call it BFOP. Better to be the slowest fast guy than the fastest slow guy. (Also an improvement from my DFL last year.) I can't complain about my run or bike times. They don't look like much, but given the conditions, no one was going fast. My only disappointment is my T2 time. Looking at the results, I could have been 12th if I was even 40 seconds faster through transition. And I could have been, except my hands were so cold after the bike I couldn't get my helmet off. It was a struggle to open the clasp. At one point, I was trying to pull it off without undoing the buckle. Then I couldn't get my left shoe on, because I couldn't grip it hard enough to pull. Lost a bunch of seconds, and obviously a few places. That will become part of Saturdays or Sundays for the next few weeks, improving my transition times. But if that's the only thing that went wrong, my day wasn't too bad.

Two races, an AG podium and a spot in the points. So far we're off to a good start.

Subaru OTS Series points: 5, Season Total: 5

Countdown to raceday

Tomorrow's the start of the multisport season: Victoria's Duathlon in Kitchener, a 4/24/4 duathlon. I'm feeling pretty confident about my run right now, and based on yesterday, I think my bike is in pretty good shape, so I should be able to put in a nice effort tomorrow. The weather is looking particularly iffy, with high winds and "feels like" temperatures just above freezing. I'm glad it's a du and not a tri, because getting wet in those conditions would suck.

I'll be up early and off to the racesite. The gun goes off at 11:06 for my wave, the third to leave. That should give me lots of people to chase, which fits my mentality. I like picking someone ahead, and pulling them in. With luck, I'll be doing lots of that tomorrow.

Report to follow.

Bike: 30 minutes, zone 1
Run: 3 miles @ 7.2 mph

Rainy day

Weather-wise, I've had better days. But it wasn't much of a damper on a pretty good ride. With the first triathlon of the season coming in two weeks, TTC was hosting a reconnaissance of the bike course. It's a 30k loop, but I had plans for 60-80k. Luckily, I met another rider who was shooting for 70k, so we rode together for the remainder of the day.

The rain seemed to start up just as we pushed off, and ended as we returned. It wasn't a heavy rain, so not a big deal, but there was a stiff wind which felt pretty cool when all wet. By the end, we rode 70-75k in about 2:15. I had a couple of nuisance issues, and will be retiring my Xlab Saddlewing. I can't make it work. The first time out it was launching bottles every time I looked at it, today it dropped the tube from the X-Straps, and the CO2 cartridges got loose and were rattling like a skeleton in a ghost pirate movie. I harnessed the anger at these issues and turned them into speed, repeatedly chasing up to the group by doing 39 km/h into the wind. This aero position is fassst. (The extra S's are for extra fast.) I have a Bento box on order, so that will become the new system by next week. The race on Monday will probably be gear-free, hoping for the best. So if anybody needs/wants a Saddlewing, I know a guy who's selling.

Bike: ~75 km, 2:15

Crossing the threshold

It's a long weekend, and the pool is closed on Monday, so you can guess what that means: tough swim today. A bunch of people, myself included, are doing a duathlon on Monday, so the coach was nice enough to not work the legs too hard. Translation: 2000m timed pull set. Shoulders will be angry by the end.

I warmed up in my wetsuit again. I got the fit a little better, and wasn't as restricted through the shoulders as Monday. Man, does that make you fast. It's like a personal Slip 'n Slide. Off goes the wetsuit, and I prepared for the long set. Once more, I got the call to move to Lane 3; in fact, getting moved into second position of the faster lane. The set went off, I held my place without getting passed. My pace was slowing near the end, but I held it together pretty well. I didn't get much of a draft at any point, since I started 10 seconds after the first swimmer, and by the end she was 30-40 seconds ahead. My time was OK (sub-39), so for a half-IM swim (1.93km) I'd be about 37:30. Give me a draft and a wetsuit, and I could be 35ish maybe. That's a lot better than the sub-40 I was hoping for. And there's another 4 months to improve.

After the swim, the coach told me again I was swimming really well. Impatience got the better of me and I had to ask if the move to Lane 3 should be permanent. "Yeah, it'll be pretty crowded, but we'll make it work." That's a two-lane improvement since the start of the year. Only two more lanes to go!

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free
4x25 quick/25 easy, 10"
(remove wetsuit)
2000 pull (~38:45)
c/d - 2x(200 pull, 200 non-free)
Total: 3400m


After work:
Run: 4 miles @ 7.2 mph

Flat

Once upon a time, there was a peak for my abilities to generate power on a bicycle. Starting from an endurance pace, it was a climb to FTP, then another climb to CP5, more climbing to CP1 and a sheer face to sprint power. Well, in my months of endurance work, I seem to have taken a bulldozer to the mountain.

Tonight was my first session in a long spell working at super-threshold intensity. A year ago, I would have considered this a pretty easy workout: 6x3 minutes at 110% FTP. At this point, it was a fight. I won, but was mortally wounded during the battle. Using the "attic/ceiling" analogy, I have almost no attic anymore. It was already scheduled that I was going to spend two months working on this, so at least I know what I'm in for. If I want to to build up my FTP and endurance paces, I need to significantly raise my short-term power.

Bike: 65 minutes, w/6x3 minutes @ 110% FTP, 5 minute recovery
Run: 2 miles @ 7.2 mph

Some adjustment required

After work, I did a little run, about 6 miles, at a relaxed pace. Now that I have an actual race result, I get to pull out Daniels' VDOT tables, and know how fast I'm supposed to be running for everything I do. As it turns out, I should be right about where I thought. I do have to make one change, though.

I'm having a little issue in my knee. Nothing major, at least not yet, just some niggling irritation below the kneecap. I can feel it on the bike and when I'm running. Luckily, I've been through this before, so I know what's wrong, and how to fix it. I've switched to doing a bunch of my rides on my road bike in the last week, and because of the difference in geometry, I need to raise the seat about 5mm. That will clear things up in no time. Better to get this corrected now before I miss any time or miles with a bum leg. Give me an Allen key and thirty seconds, and everything will be right with the world (or at least that part of it that is the corner of the basement where my trainer lives).

Run: 6 miles @ 7.2 mph

Maybe I can lead the lane

Another Wednesday, another attempt at proving I belong in Lane 3. And it seems that it's not just about earning a spot here to carry over to the other days, but about proving I can run the show. After last week, in the e-mail I received from the coach, he mentioned I'd end up leading the lane in a few weeks. With humility, I tried to play it off, just wanting to belong. But when we got to this morning's workout, and we were setting an order, the group's reaction was, "D's fast. You go first." So that settled that. And I think I did a pretty good job of leading the lane. No one was on my feet, and I opened up a few small (1-3 second) gaps.

During the workout, the coach was taking a look at us from underwater (apparently, there's a window). He had a few comments for most, mostly about the high elbow catch that I've been trying to work on (and probably the reason my speed has increased so much in the last couple of months). All I got was, "D ... looks good", and the OK sign. More positive reinforcement. Good coaching + hard work = drastic improvement.

Swim: w/u - 200yds each free, non-free, pull
2x400 free, descending, 1'
3x300 pull, descending, 45"
4x200 free, descending, 30"
c/d - 200 non-free
Total: 3300yds

Back to the salt mines

After six weeks, speed work on the run is complete, so it's time for a new block. Now I will do about 9 weeks focusing on the bike, with one session a week as a threshold day, another working on VO2 Max. And tonight was threshold.

I've been doing FTP work during my run speed block, up to 2x20 at FTP, now I wanted to switch things up a bit. Rather than shorter intervals, I went to a 1x50 @ 85% FTP. I'll build the intensity of the ensuing weeks, but for a first shot, tonight was good. It wasn't particularly hard, although the last ten minutes required good concentration as the lactic acid was starting to build in my thighs. I ended with 5 minutes of spinning, then knocked out an easy 3 miles on the treadmill. These are the types of nights where you can feel the money going into the bank. It will be good to have this to spend as the season progresses.

Bike: 65 minutes, w/1x50 minutes @ 85% FTP (255w)
Run: 3 miles @ 7.2 mph

Sausage

If I'm going to race in a wetsuit (and with the water temperatures around here, that's pretty much a guarantee), I better practice swimming in one. So today I brought my wetsuit, just to try things out. What I learned: I need to keep trying things out. I didn't quite get the suit in the right spot before getting in the water. It was pulled up enough in the crotch, but I think there was too much material in my torso, because I could feel an air bubble in there, and the shoulders were a little tight. At the full length of my stroke, I was fighting the suit to stretch, which was more taxing than it should have been. So that's something to work on for next time. Other than that, it's a weird feeling. You just float. I don't think I kicked at all in the suit. I didn't time anything, so I don't know how much faster I may have been, but it felt a bit quicker (also a bit tougher, but that was from the tight shoulders). And what feels like a sausage casing on dry land, fit a bit nicer once it got wet. Almost three weeks to make this work. I ditched it after the warm-up, because in the pool I was sweating my sack off, then turned in a pretty good swim. Lane Three was still a little crowded, so I had to stick with my lane and opened a few big gaps. Hopefully I'll get the call soon.

Swim: w/u (in wetsuit) - 200m free, 200m non-free, 4x50 as 25 hard/25 ez, 10"
Strip the wetsuit
2x
(200 race pace, 1'
200 ez as 100 non-free/100 pull
200 mod-hard (tempo), 1'
200 ez as 100 non-free/100 pull
200 pull w/paddles
200 ez as 100 non-free/100 pull)
Total: 3000m

No rest for the weary

OK, so another problem with evening races: the ache in the legs has little chance to dissipate, and so will make sleep difficult. I think I managed about 5 hours last night. Not nearly enough.

Since this was far from an A race, it was back to training today. My intention was to get in a good ride today, since I didn't get much yesterday. According to the calendar, I was planning to do an FTP test, but it didn't take long to decide that that wasn't a good idea. There's no way I'd be able to generate a respectable result in this condition, and if I can't plan my next month's workouts on the test result, why put myself through it? Instead, I went back to the collection of RLVs, and went through the Green Heart Classic, Part I.

Like my usual plan, I broke the work into 20km sections, picking up the intensity every section. I started at 195w, and went up by 15w every block, finishing at 240w (~80% of estimated FTP). This set a new PB for the 76.7km route, by about 2 minutes. I was struggling through the last bit, but tried to finish strong, and kept the effort where it was supposed to be. Good ride.

Then I tried to sleep the remainder of the afternoon away, and was mostly successful at that. Good nap.

Bike: Green Heart Classic RLV, Part I, 76.7 km - 2:08, 221w average

The Mississauga Marathon 10k Race Report

Evening races are tough. They take up pretty much your whole day, especially if you have to travel to get to them. With a 6:30 start, and packet pickup before 3, that was our day. We hit the expo briefly, then hung out by the lake for a few hours, just relaxing, then I was off to the start line. I got a brief warm-up, with some pick-ups, then tried to get a spot near the front of the corral.

That's one of the problems with races like this, the lack of seeding. If you can hold any kind of pace, you might end up having to fight traffic for the first few km's. Another (related) problem is the scholastic relay. Now, I'm all for getting kids into running, and exercise in general, but there's no reason for a nine year old to line up right near the front. They can't hold the pace. There was one little girl who lined up right behind the elites, sprinted off at the gun, and was so shot by the first incline (about 300m into the race), she was weaving across the road. Their coaches need to pull them to the back of the group.

My race went OK. I went out a little quick, but scaled it back to an appropriate pace, and was solid through 5k. Then things started to go a little south, and when I got into the bad stretch around kilometre 7, I had pretty much resigned myself to missing my goal of sub-40. It just wasn't there. I can't blame the ride this morning, my legs were good to start. I doubt that the extra push of the first km used up too much gas. It was the best I could do today. Just like the 3:31:26 plagued me for two years, I'll have this as motivation for my next effort.

Splits:
1 - 3:36
2 - 4:03
3 - 3:56
4 - missed hitting the button, swallowing bugs
5 - 8:02
6 - 4:10
7 - 4:08
8 - 4:16
9 - 4:59
10 - 3:25
Total: 40:35

It should be noted that the km 9 marker HAD to be in the wrong place. I wasn't going that slow, and my last km wasn't that fast. I would guess closer to 4:15/4:10 for those .

Official results: 40:40 clock, 40:35 chip, 33/1273 overall, 3/70 M30-34. I placed in my age-group (kind of a weak field), so I got a nice technical shirt as a prize. So that dampens the disappointment a little. Missed my time goal, got some hardware, we'll call the day a push.

Easy spin

Since I didn't get any advice to the contrary, I followed my plan of going out for a quick little spin this morning. I met up with other TTC members just before 9:00. Unlike last week, this week the parking lot was full. Another coach was using the same spot as a jumping off point for his group rides today, so spaces were limited. Our little group got together to plan out the day. Since I was around last week, and somewhat knew the roads, somehow I became Ride Leader for the 40km loop group. This actually worked out well, since I couldn't go too hard without dropping them, so my pace was very controlled.

All told, we did ~40km in ~90 minutes, I was zone 1 HR (maybe zone 0) for everything but the occasional hill (where I tickled Z2). Very easy ride. Now I can relax for a few hours, get my stuff together for tonight's race, then fire it up. Think fast thoughts starting at 6:30 EST. Hopefully, you can stop by 7:10.

Race report to follow.

Bike: 40km, zone 1-2

Guerilla Missions

On Wednesdays, I kept sneaking (or being assigned) into the faster lane, until I finally became a regular. However, I was still held out of that lane on Mondays and Fridays. Now, I've begun the process of becoming part of that lane on the other days. I feel kind of like Jane Goodall (so maybe the title should be Gorilla Missions). I hang out on the edge (or the back), until I'm accepted as one of the tribe. So it was today.

After more open-water practice and sprints (these are still not fun), once back in our lanes, we were to do some drafting work, swimming 2x2. My regular lane had seven people today, and our neighbours had five, so to even things out, somebody had to move up. And that somebody was me (you would have thought my lanemates were trying to get rid of me or something). I'd like to say I hung in pretty well. I wasn't killing myself to do any of the work, except for the sprinting, where by definition I should be killing myself. Hopefully with a few more days like this, I'll be moved permanently. It was different from when I'm leading the lane, and dictate pace. "Hard" before was 90% effort, since any more would open too large a gap. Today. "hard" was 95% effort, so even with less yardage, I'm feeling pleasantly worked over. This is how I'll get faster.

We were invited to bring wetsuits today. I didn't, but probably will next week. But I am amazed by the speed increases that people derive from them. Folks from two lanes slower than me were outsprinting me during the OW practice. With the floatation and slipperiness (and drafting other swimmers), I might get a 10-20 second/100m benefit from the suit. That will put me in the 1:40-1:50 range, which will be back FOP or front MOP. And then I can get to the sports I'm actually not bad at. Twenty-three days until we find out if the total package is there.

Swim: w/u - 550m free, OW practice
4x50m mass start sprint/50m ez recovery (no recovery on 4th)
500 drafting 2x2
100 ez non-free
300 forward echelon, 1'
300 backward echelon, 1'
100 ez non-free
300 forward echelon, 1'
c/d - 100 ez non-free
Total: 2600m

Tomorrow's the first race of the spring. It's a 10k run, in the evening. Right now my plan is to do about 40km on the bike in the morning. It would be easy pace, mainly just time outside and aerobar practice. But I'm wondering if maybe I should just rest and get ready for the run. There will be about 8 hours from when I get off the bike to the gun going off, so easily 2-3 meals. Anybody have any thoughts? Votes for or against, with explanations are welcome, from anybody who happens upon the blog (even people who found this post by searching for "Soldier of Fortune" in Google. Sorry about the confusion.)

After work, I will:
Run: 3 miles @ 7.2 mph

Two days to go

Run: 3 miles @ 7.2 mph

Different feel

As part of the easy week, tonight I was on the trainer for a short bike ride. Since I'm riding regularly outside on the tri-bike, my roadie has moved into position as the stationary bike. It's odd how something that seems like it's almost the same can actually feel vastly different.

Obviously my position on the roadie is different than the aero position, but I was surprised how far back I felt. I think I need to move the saddle a little forward, check the saddle height, and perhaps drop the nose a touch. I was also caught off guard by how taxing it seemed to be on my hands and forearms. I used to be able to sit there for hours and not feel fatigued, but 30 minutes was starting to get uncomfortable. The other thing to note was the increase in power. I don't know if this is caused by muscle activation, or is just a representation of the differences in tire rubber between the bikes, but I was generating close to 200w, and never left a zone 1 heart rate. Again, this is why I don't trust the i-Magic as accurate, hopefully just consistent. I'll have to do a FT test to set up my zones for the next few months. We'll see how I feel on Sunday after the race.

Bike: 30 minutes, zone 1

The mysteries of the human body

I'm recovering, but I'm still not 100%. I barely slept last night, maybe a total of 2.5-3 hours. And so I went to the pool, and crushed the workout this morning. I just don't get how it works some days.

It was a nice morning to ride in, cool, but no wind. And once we started swimming (I'm now firmly entrenched in my new lane on Wednesdays) I felt pretty good. Once we got into the descending sets, I was in second position. I had moved up and used the draft for the first two intervals, so during the last (all-out) set, I put everything I had into it. Within 100 yards, I was tapping feet, and after being allowed to pass, I gapped the other swimmer. It was like I was possessed. We took an easy break, and then I volunteered to go first for the timed 200, and again opened up a wide gap on my lanemates (beat the next best time in the lane by 18 seconds). Something is going very right recently. I almost want to get back in the pool right now and do it again. Improvements like this are very addictive.

Swim: w/u - 200yds free, 200 non-free
500 truck and trailer
400 as 25 head-up/75 free
400 pull w/paddles
3x300 descending, 30" (5:23, 5:12, 4:53)
200 ez non-free
200 free timed (3:05)
c/d - 100 non-free
Total: 3100yds

OK, just as I was typing this up, I got an email from the swimming coach. Not a group email, but just to me specifically. Mostly, it was an invitation to join the Computrainer classes he runs on Tuesdays and/or Wednesdays. (We briefly were discussing my training this morning before the swim.) But this is what he ended with, and I quote:
"Anywho, there you go. Good swim today. I think you should be leading that lane in the very near future…once we have the other lane mates get accustomed to having you there. Fair?"

I'm a little shell-shocked right now. Good coaching and hard work seem to pay off every once in a while, eh?

Not very exciting

Just a little run today. I was nice and relaxed, not taxed at all. I can feel the gas tank filling up for Saturday.

Run: 3 miles @ 7.2 mph

Not the easiest start of easy week

Looking at my last few posts, I've developed an unhealthy obsession with this recovery week. I must have really been digging a hole, because it was all I seemed to think about. But now I'm here, I'll get fully rested, and things will be flying again by the weekend.

I got a pretty good night's sleep, almost staying awake all the way to the alarm (better than my usual 30 minutes pre-alarm). This morning's swim was good, but the sprints at the end were mean. I think a lot of people were still kind of shelled from Friday, because by the 5th or 6th, we were just glancing among the group during the rests, muttering about how hard it was. I don't have times for them, because it seems the two clocks at the pool are not in sync. I couldn't figure out how I did 40 seconds one way, then 50 coming back, then 40 again. So call it 45ish on each of the 8.

I kind of liked the descending set today. I admit to sandbagging the first 400 a bit, but the second was a medium pace, and the last was about as good as I could do. I was hoping to go sub-8:00, setting me up that I could do my 750m TT sub-15, and just missed it. I still have three weeks to put it together, then I'll tear it up.

Swim: w/u - 200m free, 200m non-free
500 free, drafting, switch every 50
3x400 free descending, 1' (8:55, 8:27, 8:02)
200 ez non-free
8x50 sprint on 2'
c/d - 100 non-free, 100 pull

Run: 3 miles @ 7.2 mph

A stiff breeze

I get to start resting for the next week. First race is Saturday, and I just finished the hardest sixteen days I've done so far this year. So I get five days of easy runs and rides, so I can be at a pseudo-peak for the 10k. Today was a windy ten miles. The breeze was cold. When at my back, I was feeling overheated and planned on dropping my jacket at the house at the end of the first loop. As soon as I turned into the wind, I rethought that plan. Stiff cold wind. First loop was a bit slow, but I put a good effort into the second. Not too taxing, but a solid run.

Run: 10.5 miles, 44:11/41:37

So this is "outside"

I finally got to ride outside. The TTC group rides started today, and I was right there. The weather was a bit daunting: heavy mist, with predictions of thunderstorms on their way. Luckily, we didn't see a drop of rain during the entire ride. This afternoon, it was coming down in sheets, but this morning was all clear.

Riding itself went really well. This was the first time out with the triathlon bike, so my first chance to use the aerobars. Admittedly, the first few miles were a bit sketchy, and I was hesitant to take my hands off the hoods. But I knew that it would be a waste of money if I did use the actual aero properties of the bike, so I forced myself into position. Luckily, I didn't wipe out, and within a few miles, it was old hat. I could groove along, getting up when necessary for stop signs, but mostly in the tuck, including most of the climbs. We got in about 70 kms. I was hoping to do more, but this was my first time out in that area, so I didn't want to go for an extra loop solo. Plus, it's been a tough two weeks, so it's not like a really need the miles.

The only issue I really had was that my behind-the-seat water bottle cages launched bottles three times during the ride. I need to do something to avoid that in the future. I looked at tightening the cages (using shoelace and elastic bands), then looked at switching to some different cages. This is when my day took a turn for the worse. When I was removing one of the cages from the Cinelli, first the cage snapped, so it was useless. When I tried to unscrew the bosses, both screws snapped in the frame, so now I can't mount another bottle cage on the seat tube. Luckily, I don't use that bike for particularly long rides anymore, but it's a little frustrating to do that to my favourite bike. So here's a reminder to everybody: loosen and tighten every bolt on your bike at least once a year, so that nothing freezes. I did that for most of the bike, except the bottle cages, and that's what happens.

Bike: ~70 km

The Payoff

I've been doing this swimming thing for around 6 months. I've gone from barely covering 50m, to comfortably completing 3800m non-stop. Not only that, but I've gotten faster. I've worked pretty damn hard, and I'm seeing the results. I like that.

Today was our most recent test day, a repeat of a test from about 6 weeks ago: 8x100m on 4 minutes. This is a pretty tough day, so we got about 1200m in warm-up, and then it was go time. So that's what I did. Every bit of competitive juice I have in me was on tap. My pacing may suck, and maybe I could be a bit faster if I did a better job of that (my 100m strategy is: 50m hard, 25m all-out, 25m panic splashing). If I started at the same time as someone from the faster lane, I wanted to beat them. If I started 10 seconds behind someone I consider slower than me, I caught them. I sunk myself into a world of hurt. But my improvements were huge. Across the board, 6-10 seconds better than last time. My best 100 was 1:34, my worst was 1:43 (compared to 1:39, 1:51). Now if this new found strength shows up for our 750m TT test in a few weeks, I'll know that I'm ready for the season (ignoring my lack of OW and transition experience).

Swim: w/u - 400m ez free
300 as 100 pull/100 non-free/100 pull
200 as 25 quick/25 ez
2x50 hard, 30"
2x100 ez free
Main set: 8x100 on 4' (1:34, 1:35, 1:39, 1:40, 1:41, 1:43, 1:43, 1:42)
c/d - 300 as 50 breast/50 back/50 free
100 pull
Total: 2400m

Although I'm dead-tired, after work I will ...
Run: 3 miles @ 7.2 mph

That's It

As of tonight, outside of races, there isn't any more fast running for over two months. I've finished building the speed for the 10k, all my races have distances under that, so now I have other foci until its time to build for half-mary speed. I'm sure I'm going to miss it. Running fast, although fun, is also very, very, hard. It requires a level of suffering that similar work on the bike just doesn't have. So I'm glad I'm done, and with luck, giving this workout tonight 9 days to soak into my legs, I'll crush the 10k on the 10th.

I've been quite nervous about tonight for a while. From when I first wrote it in my schedule, I knew that it would tough, it was such a step up from the previous work. From 40 minutes of threshold work up to 50, and long intervals at that. It's similar to what I did four weeks ago, with intervals of 15, 10, and 5 minutes, except with one more interval. 20 minutes, to start the day. So it breaks down as 20/4, 15/3, 10/2, 5 minutes work/rest. And as punishment for being so apprehensive, I moved the pace for the last five minutes of each interval up to 9.0 mph, just for that extra little bit of hurt.

All in all, I survived. I didn't struggle through too much, although the 9.0 mph work felt considerably harder. It's funny how what seems like a small jump can be so much more difficult. I should be well-recovered for tomorrow's test day in the pool, and I should be ready to explode at the start line of the 10th. It's Go Time.

Run: 80 minutes, w/ 15+5 minutes @ 8.8/9.0 mph, 4 minutes @ 6.3 mph
10+5 minutes @ 8.8/9.0 mph, 3 minutes @ 6.3 mph
5+5 minutes @ 8.8/9.0 mph, 2 minutes @ 6.3 mph
5 minutes @ 8.8 mph