Sufferfest done

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.