I completed my second Sufferfest Spinnerval TT workout last night. It was a great workout! I've scheduled to do this Sufferfest TT at the end of each R/R week to see if my training is paying off. My first Sufferfest was in November, and I didn't have a heart rate monitor then (but I do now). My results my be a bit skewed by using a HRM this time, but overall I simply felt much stronger and faster. Coach Troy says I'm supposed to do this with fresh legs, which was mostly the case. But I did a really hard day in the backcountry skiing on Saturday, and my legs weren't 100%. But I had taken most of the week easy.
The setup: Since the last Sufferfest, I have been lifting weights in the gym regularly three times a week, doing a 1,000 yards swim for a warm-up (and to maintain swim technique and feel for the water), then an upper body weights workout, then I finish with the legs portion of the weights workout. I do a set of 12 reps with both legs on leg extension, followed by three sets of ten with each leg (ten reps with left, ten reps with right, ten reps with left, and so on). Then over to the leg curls, where I do one set of twelve with both legs followed by three sets of ten on each individual leg. Then over to leg press to finish with a set of twelve on both legs followed by three sets of ten on each individual leg. I haven't been running alot because of the weather, early darkness, and a bit of a strain in my left outside soleus area (probably caused by old shoes that I haven't replaced yet; it happens nearly every year this time of the year). I have been biking about 5-6 hours per week with varying intensity and formats (easy spin, Spinnervals, steady state ride, etc). Ultimately, my legs have increased in size and I am stronger on the bike. I know I'm stronger because my cadence and heart rate remain the same while I'm pushing bigger gears. My form has also improved, mostly because I analyzed my form using a video of both sides while riding on a trainer (I still have to video from front and back).
Anyway.....I think I nailed down my lactate threshhold on the bike, and it's 160-164 heart rate. It might be a bit high because that's from a 20 minute TT instead of a 40k distance. Once I get outside in the wind and on the hills on my local 40k route, I think it will end up being more like 156-160 bpm. My HR peaked at 175, which I remember holding for a total of about two minutes. Most importantly, I think, is that I held one gear higher throughout the entire 20 minutes maintaining the same avg cadence of 88 and same perceived exertion (I didn't have a HRM the first time); that means I pushed a higher gear and went faster using the same effort level.
The results are very exciting for me, and I think I am really improving my bike speed, power, and endurance. I also feel more efficient through better form/technique. I'm going to continue with my current training plan and theory, which is one Spinnerval 28 and one Spinnerval 21 each week, along with my individual muscular endurance workout pasted below. I also will keep lifting weights with the swim warmup becaues 1) my legs are getting stronger, 2), I like it and it's motivating, and 3) it will keep me from getting burned out because I'm going to stop lifting weights at spring break.
I was going to post my plan for building muscular endurance, but this blog won't paste an excel spreadsheet correctly. I guess it'll have to wait until I figure that out. This plan has one month blocks of the same workout, which then decreases the number intervals and increases the work minutes. Beginning this week, I am doing six sets of eleven minutes each with one minute rest, on my big chain ring and second gear up from bottom, hoping to hold a cadence of 86-88. Then next month, it's four sets of 17 minutes with same gearing and cadence. The heart rate will be what it will be, but hopefully it is between 158 and 164. The goal is to be able to hit the gearing, cadence, sets/minutes, and heart rate of 158-164 by the last week. If I hit it, I'll move to the next set up. If not, I'll give it one more week.
In the next few weeks, I'll post my training plan and overall training philosophy in case somebody is actually interested in it.
My main racing goal this year is to place in my age group at the Portland Triathlon in August. The main consideration is that I live and train and 4,600ft elevation, and going to sea level (almost, anyway) will give me an instant boost of about 10%. I know this because when I would go to Camp Pendleton for Marine Corps drill, that's about the difference I felt when I ran there. An effort level that resulted in a 8:30 minute mile here was a 7:45 there at sea level.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
Snow! Snow! Snow!
Pocatello got some good snow the past few days. A very white Christmas here! I spent much of Christmas Day shoveling. Went to church service in a near blizzard....not many others made it, so it was an informal, very family-like service, which was great. I hope everyone out there remembers the real reason and TRUTH behind Christmas.
I didn't do a workout on Christmas Day. I ate fairly healthy, so I'm putting it in the positive category. Our traditional Christmas Eve dinner was heathly, too....salmon and ribeye with sliced potatoes on the grill. Yum!
So far, I've kept my weight under 185. I find the R/R weeks to be kind of stressful because I can watch my weight go up. I gained two pounds this week. Of course, some of that is the Christmas treats, but still....I did a few half hour workouts: two swim and weight sessions and a 30 minute elliptical session, all in the gym. The gym is closed now until Jan 6 I think, so that will put a big damper on things. I'll definitely have to watch what I eat, make sure I hit some extra time on the bike trainer, and get creative with pushups, pullups, and dips and stretching exercises to make up for that. Maybe I'll get in some run if the roads look ok, meaning there isn't a huge probability of me slipping and breaking an ankle.
I was supposed to do a bike fitness test today, but that didn't happen. The weather was pretty nice today, so we took the baby and the dog out for a little snowshoe fun. Family fun in the winter sun, I called it. It was really nice. Interestingly, I find that snowshoeing is a great exercise for hip flexors, mostly because you have to pick up your foot and the snowshoe with snow on it (three pounds per foot?) and lift it high enough to get over the 6-8 inches of posthole.
Backcountry skiing also works the hip flexors alot, and I plan to get ALOT of that tomorrow. I'm hoping for a full day of backcountry turns. Down the hill, then up the hill. I figure with skis and boots on, my feet are about 6-7 pounds that have to be picked up and moved when going uphill. It's a great workout. And the downhill burns the quads pretty good, too. Best of all, I get to get outside again. The mountains should have some great snow, but we'll have to be careful with avalanches. The Sawtooths and Tetons have avalanche warnings, and the local mountains aren't completely safe from that, but it is a bit less of a danger. My pack is set and weighs about ten pounds, with water, safety gear, and stove/gas for a mid-day coffee during a break. Should be fun!
I've been thinking about power meters for my bike. "Dreaming" is a better word since they cost over $1k. But the iBike website is interesting. They have a power meter for $200. Somehow it measures power without attaching to the wheel hub. I wonder how accurate it really is. And you can get a firmware upgrade for $40 that allows it to measure power on an indoor trainer. It's really quite interesting. But, again, I question its accuracy.
I didn't do a workout on Christmas Day. I ate fairly healthy, so I'm putting it in the positive category. Our traditional Christmas Eve dinner was heathly, too....salmon and ribeye with sliced potatoes on the grill. Yum!
So far, I've kept my weight under 185. I find the R/R weeks to be kind of stressful because I can watch my weight go up. I gained two pounds this week. Of course, some of that is the Christmas treats, but still....I did a few half hour workouts: two swim and weight sessions and a 30 minute elliptical session, all in the gym. The gym is closed now until Jan 6 I think, so that will put a big damper on things. I'll definitely have to watch what I eat, make sure I hit some extra time on the bike trainer, and get creative with pushups, pullups, and dips and stretching exercises to make up for that. Maybe I'll get in some run if the roads look ok, meaning there isn't a huge probability of me slipping and breaking an ankle.
I was supposed to do a bike fitness test today, but that didn't happen. The weather was pretty nice today, so we took the baby and the dog out for a little snowshoe fun. Family fun in the winter sun, I called it. It was really nice. Interestingly, I find that snowshoeing is a great exercise for hip flexors, mostly because you have to pick up your foot and the snowshoe with snow on it (three pounds per foot?) and lift it high enough to get over the 6-8 inches of posthole.
Backcountry skiing also works the hip flexors alot, and I plan to get ALOT of that tomorrow. I'm hoping for a full day of backcountry turns. Down the hill, then up the hill. I figure with skis and boots on, my feet are about 6-7 pounds that have to be picked up and moved when going uphill. It's a great workout. And the downhill burns the quads pretty good, too. Best of all, I get to get outside again. The mountains should have some great snow, but we'll have to be careful with avalanches. The Sawtooths and Tetons have avalanche warnings, and the local mountains aren't completely safe from that, but it is a bit less of a danger. My pack is set and weighs about ten pounds, with water, safety gear, and stove/gas for a mid-day coffee during a break. Should be fun!
I've been thinking about power meters for my bike. "Dreaming" is a better word since they cost over $1k. But the iBike website is interesting. They have a power meter for $200. Somehow it measures power without attaching to the wheel hub. I wonder how accurate it really is. And you can get a firmware upgrade for $40 that allows it to measure power on an indoor trainer. It's really quite interesting. But, again, I question its accuracy.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Winter is here!
Winter is hitting Pocatello...finally! That makes it tough to get up in the morning because it's dark and cold. I solve that problem by getting up Baby Paul at 0530 almost every morning. I normally can't get up early on my own, so that works out great!
This weekend I did some more cross training in the snow. I wanted to spend all day Saturday skiing, but I stayed home to give Tera some free time. Sunday after church, I headed out for some backcountry skiing at Pebble. I hiked up the Canyon and took two runs south of the saddles (not sure what they're called). The snow up top was great! I was really rusty on the downhill, though. Oh well, it was a lot of fun. For the workout stats, I got a good aerobic workout for three hours. The fact that I biked hard for 60 minutes Friday and moderate for 60 minutes on Saturday made it more interesting because my legs were tired at the start. I had a really good sweat going on the uphills, and the heavy winds froze the sweat in my hair (one more reason to keep a short haircut). I was pretty tired at the end of the day.
I took Monday off for my legs but lifted weights on upper body. Reed Gym has reduced hours for the Christmas break. The shortened pool hours put everyone in there at the same time; lunch time was packed, so I bailed and shoveled snow; shovelling heavy snow counts as aero if you ask me). In fact, I shoveled snow in the morning before going to work, too.
I was supposed to get 13.5 hours of training last week but ended up with 11.5. I'm realizing that I can do 9-11 hours of training each week easily, but anything above 12 gets really hard, at least during the winter months. I don't have far to travel to the gym (5 minutes!) and to work (5 minutes), but the extra time adds up and shortens available time. My work has a shower now, so that's good for running at lunch, which I couldn't do before. That will really help in the spring and summer.
This week is an R/R week, nicely coinciding with the Christmas week. But next week begins a new Base 3 week, but the gym is closed the entire week. So, no pool, no weights, and if the weather sucks, no running/stairmaster/ellipictacle. I guess I'll do lots of biking and see if my legs can take it.
I'm not too worried about missing my training hour goals. Number one, I don't want to burn out. Number 2, I can get my swim in shape quickly in about 6-8 weeks. The run takes a bit longer to get into shape, but I can start that in earnest in March when Spring breaks. My focus is to build a good foundation of cycling, with additional speed and endurance (duh!). I can tell my legs are getting stronger already from consistent biking and weight training (leg extensions, leg curls, and leg presses).
I'm really shooting for being at about 80% at the end of March, at which time I plan to begin all outside training, at least running and most biking. The weather here can be really tricky, so the biking in March and April is 'hopeful.' In any case, I want to be doing two bricks a week beginning the end of March, with full 40k bikes and 3-4 mile runs.
Two more things I want to do soon ("soon" actually began in November!) is get a video of me swimming and running to review my form. I have an underwater case for a camer that takes decent video, but I just haven't found somebody to do the video. I guess I'll just take it to the pool one day and ask somebody to video it (lifeguard could do deck shots easily, somebody else would hopefully want to see a video of themselves in exchange, right?). The run portion could be a bit more difficult because of all the clothes we'd wear outside, so I'll have to do that inside on the ISU track. I've done a video analysis of my bike on a trainer, and it revealed some interesting things about ankle position that I would have never known otherwise. I'm sure the swim and run analysis will be just as interesting.
Until then, I'll focus on the bike, lift weights consistently but not build any more mass, swim when I can, and run as consistently as possible. Backcountry skiing will be my endurance builder via 3-4 hour adventures on a Saturday or Sunday.
Keeping a focus without burning out in the winter is going to be difficult for me. I use the training hour goals as a starting point for each week and try to hit them, but it's not the end of the world if I miss a few hours.
This weekend I did some more cross training in the snow. I wanted to spend all day Saturday skiing, but I stayed home to give Tera some free time. Sunday after church, I headed out for some backcountry skiing at Pebble. I hiked up the Canyon and took two runs south of the saddles (not sure what they're called). The snow up top was great! I was really rusty on the downhill, though. Oh well, it was a lot of fun. For the workout stats, I got a good aerobic workout for three hours. The fact that I biked hard for 60 minutes Friday and moderate for 60 minutes on Saturday made it more interesting because my legs were tired at the start. I had a really good sweat going on the uphills, and the heavy winds froze the sweat in my hair (one more reason to keep a short haircut). I was pretty tired at the end of the day.
I took Monday off for my legs but lifted weights on upper body. Reed Gym has reduced hours for the Christmas break. The shortened pool hours put everyone in there at the same time; lunch time was packed, so I bailed and shoveled snow; shovelling heavy snow counts as aero if you ask me). In fact, I shoveled snow in the morning before going to work, too.
I was supposed to get 13.5 hours of training last week but ended up with 11.5. I'm realizing that I can do 9-11 hours of training each week easily, but anything above 12 gets really hard, at least during the winter months. I don't have far to travel to the gym (5 minutes!) and to work (5 minutes), but the extra time adds up and shortens available time. My work has a shower now, so that's good for running at lunch, which I couldn't do before. That will really help in the spring and summer.
This week is an R/R week, nicely coinciding with the Christmas week. But next week begins a new Base 3 week, but the gym is closed the entire week. So, no pool, no weights, and if the weather sucks, no running/stairmaster/ellipictacle. I guess I'll do lots of biking and see if my legs can take it.
I'm not too worried about missing my training hour goals. Number one, I don't want to burn out. Number 2, I can get my swim in shape quickly in about 6-8 weeks. The run takes a bit longer to get into shape, but I can start that in earnest in March when Spring breaks. My focus is to build a good foundation of cycling, with additional speed and endurance (duh!). I can tell my legs are getting stronger already from consistent biking and weight training (leg extensions, leg curls, and leg presses).
I'm really shooting for being at about 80% at the end of March, at which time I plan to begin all outside training, at least running and most biking. The weather here can be really tricky, so the biking in March and April is 'hopeful.' In any case, I want to be doing two bricks a week beginning the end of March, with full 40k bikes and 3-4 mile runs.
Two more things I want to do soon ("soon" actually began in November!) is get a video of me swimming and running to review my form. I have an underwater case for a camer that takes decent video, but I just haven't found somebody to do the video. I guess I'll just take it to the pool one day and ask somebody to video it (lifeguard could do deck shots easily, somebody else would hopefully want to see a video of themselves in exchange, right?). The run portion could be a bit more difficult because of all the clothes we'd wear outside, so I'll have to do that inside on the ISU track. I've done a video analysis of my bike on a trainer, and it revealed some interesting things about ankle position that I would have never known otherwise. I'm sure the swim and run analysis will be just as interesting.
Until then, I'll focus on the bike, lift weights consistently but not build any more mass, swim when I can, and run as consistently as possible. Backcountry skiing will be my endurance builder via 3-4 hour adventures on a Saturday or Sunday.
Keeping a focus without burning out in the winter is going to be difficult for me. I use the training hour goals as a starting point for each week and try to hit them, but it's not the end of the world if I miss a few hours.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Weekend cross-training
I got in some good cross training this weekend. A buddy and I went backcountry skiing in the mountains east of Pocatello. It was backcountry skiing without any downhill turns, so I guess it's really cross country skiing. Anyway, three hours uphill for 5.5 miles and 2,000 vertical feet, and then we turned around and came back. It was a long day, made longer by have AT ski gear instead of a cross-country setup. Great to be back outside, though! More snow this weekend means we'll get to hit the mountains soon and get some turns after all the work.
I really think the best overall cross training available in the winter is backcountry skiing (telemark, alpine touring, randonee, etc). It is physically demanding for sure! Most people run out of energy before they run out of daylight, so that's a good part of it.
I've been following "The Triathlete's Training Bible" recently, and I just don't get it 100%. I can understand alot of the base training and such, but I've always thought that it just wouldn't work for me, so I didn't completely trust it. Along comes endurancenation.com and talks about exactly what I've been thinking. I like the way these guys think. It's all about Return On Investment...what do you get for your efforts, and is it worth "the big picture"results considering family and work? Great stuff at http://www.endurancenation.us/index.php.
I really think the best overall cross training available in the winter is backcountry skiing (telemark, alpine touring, randonee, etc). It is physically demanding for sure! Most people run out of energy before they run out of daylight, so that's a good part of it.
I've been following "The Triathlete's Training Bible" recently, and I just don't get it 100%. I can understand alot of the base training and such, but I've always thought that it just wouldn't work for me, so I didn't completely trust it. Along comes endurancenation.com and talks about exactly what I've been thinking. I like the way these guys think. It's all about Return On Investment...what do you get for your efforts, and is it worth "the big picture"results considering family and work? Great stuff at http://www.endurancenation.us/index.php.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Getting this thing started!
This is the first post for the 20-60-40 Triathlon blog. Why am I doing this? I want to get the goal of a 20 minute swim, 60 minute bike, and a 40 minute run in an Olympic distance triathlon. Maybe other triathletes are out there and looking for someone to share that goal with. I figure this might also be a way to stay motivated for training.
If all goes well, I'll be posting about once or twice a week on what's going on with training, races, and other stuff that comes to mind in the realm of triathlons.
If all goes well, I'll be posting about once or twice a week on what's going on with training, races, and other stuff that comes to mind in the realm of triathlons.
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