The Cache Valley Classic was this past weekend, and here's a short report on it. I take much longer notes about what went right/wrong, but this is this short version.
Pre-Race Night Before:
- drive to Logan went nice. One of the reasons I wanted to do this race was to see what this valley was all about. Beautiful area. Easy driving; people actually drive the speed limit! Easy directions to get to the campground, where the swim was.
- Pulled into campsite. The guy next to us has a 6.5kw(!) generator running. That's enough power to run most homes! Loud as hell. But he has every right to use it, so I don't say anything. Paul had alot of fun setting up camp, and he's quite the little helper. He also loved running around the park area.
- Check out transition area and swim area. Looks very well organized. There's a quarter mile run from the beach to the transition area, but that will be nice to warm up the legs coming out of the water. Rains off and on; we hope it stops for the race.
- Within an hour, all of our ears hurt from the generator. Quiet hours don't start til 10pm. We get in the car and drive around, hoping Paul will go to sleep and to get away from the generator noise.
- Generator quits at 10:02pm. Finally! Paul finally goes to sleep. Raining. We all get to sleep shortly after 10.
- 12:43am: Paul wakes up. He's not happy without being held while Mom is standing up. There will be no laying down for this little guy for the next two hours. I stay up while Tera holds Paul. Miserable two hours til he gets back in his bed.
Race-Day
0530: Up and at 'em. No rain. Feeling suprisingly fresh for missing two hours sleep in the middle of the night.
Setup my bag, go to local gas station to get a double of coffee. Setup transition.
- Transition area is really nice. We had assigned spots! Unbelievably nice grass with lots of room for our stuff. This is going to be a good race. Still no rain.
0730: Wetsuit on. Warmup about 300meters. Water is nice and cool. I feel good.
0755: Race brief. Water temp is 57.8. Standard temp at the races I do in the mountains around here.
0800: "Open" wave goes off. These are the studs and the guys who screwed up their entry and put themselves in the wrong group.
Swim:
0805: Male and female olympic wave goes. It's a two-looper triangle course.
- I go out too fast, faster than I really wanted to. At 300 meters I start looking for someone to draft off. Where is everybody? Oh, they're 50 meters behind me. That's great, right? Not exactly. My chest is thumping and I'm starting to feel the wetsuit crush my chest and the swim cap crush my skull. Panic coming on, but I chill a bit and it goes away. Back to swimming.
- at 500m and the second buouy, I find my groove. Long and strong pulls, snapping the hip. Life is good.
- 750m, still going good.
-1,000m, hands are starting to freeze. Another panic coming on, I get on my back. My backstroke is suprisingly fast today, and I stay there for about 50m.
- 1,2500m, Hands frozen into claw position now, very hard to get a good grip on the water. I can't kick because my feet cramp immediately if I do kick. I'm about 30m behind the lead as far as I can tell and in a small pack around me. Time to push in, some water sloshes in my face mask and screws up my contact. Gotta stop to fix that or it will be a long day with one contact; it's very hard to lightly mess with my contact in my eye with frozen hands and treading water, but it works out.
- 1,500m: done in 26minutes and some seconds. Very slow, but in the front. Results show #5out of the water in my wave, with a 14-19 year old male and a 14-19 year old female beating me by several minutes (!).
T1: Shoes on at the mat, and I'm off and running to the bike. The run here went well. T1 was slow, and I went into the race not worrying about transistion times because it was cold (mid-40's) and I was going to need a few dry layers (new shirt, socks). Five minutes for T1! Oh well....
Bike: it's a fast bike course, but today was very windy on the front half of the loop we did twice. I was nearly blown off the bike by a heavy crosswind. Just kept my head down and went. My bike computer showed cadence but not speed, which was probably better for me anyway. Back half of the loop was very fast and protected from the wind, but that meant we didn't get the tailwind after fighting a headwind. A couple of s-turns had me practicing my handling skills that I had read up on but not practiced. Those went much better than expected on wet roads. But it still wasn't raining, so life is good. Finished the bike in 1:14, which I'm considering quite fast for me given the conditions. #19 of 45 olympic, so still right at that 40% mark overall.
T2: in and out. no real issues.
Run: Still no rain. Legs very tired out of the transition. I hadn't done any bricks since March, when I was on the bike trainer followed by a 3-mile run most mornings. I was paying for it, now, and the bike had taken alot out of me. There's a large hill right after the dam at mile .75 or so, but I attacked it as planned, although slower than expected. Then a nice cruise out to the turnaround on flat roads. At this point, I'm running hard but fairly slow for me, but I'm still having a good time, I guess. Halfway at 22:15 or so. Coming back I started to feel my feet that were previously frozen, and my hamstrings thawed out now, so I could stretch a bit and pick up the pace. Well... I picked up the effort but the pace remained the same. At mile 4, I passed a guy in my age group that had flown by me on the bike...turned out to be the pass to get me third in age group. Running 7:45/mile or so until mile 5.5 when I crashed into a 9minute mile to finish. A small hill on the final half mile hurt physically and mentally. Finished the run in 47:XX, #19 of 45 overall in the run.
I was happy with my overall effort and results, although they were nowhere close to my goal times, which got obliterated by the weather. I met my goals relative to everyone else, though. Most importantly, I liked the race and gave a great effort; I was most pleased with the bike portion because that's a good time for me in any weather compared to last year. I put alot of effort into improving the bike over the winter, and it appears to have paid off. This would be an AWESOME race on a nice sunny day with no wind; it's a beautiful area, the race is well-organized, friendly people everywhere, and very spectator/family friendly.
This Saturday is the Janet Clarkson Memorial Triathlon in Hebgen Lake near West Yellowstone, MT. This is an annual race for me, and I really like the small feel of it. It grew alot last year, and it might grow some more this year, but it still feels really small. Water temp is currently maxing at 54deg, and forecast is partly cloudy, mid-60's for a high, and 30% chance of storms. Hopefully it remains a triathlon with the swim, and it past years the water has warmed up alot in the week before the race, same as it is doing this year. Normally, this is Yellowstone fishing trip with a triathlon, but with the rivers in the park still raging from the melt, it might be a hiking weekend with a triathlon.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
Race season is here!
First race is an olympic this weekend in Hyrum, UT at the reservoir. I have mixed feelings about my preparedness. I was doing great until May hit, when I became much more inconsistent with my training because Paul wanted to be outside every day after work....and May was officially the coldest on record according to the paper this morning (data from NWS). And it rained alot. I swam alot and ran alot, but the bike suffered big time. The swim and run paid off because I pulled an 18:03 three mile run (at sea level) for my PFT this past weekend; very excited about that.
My swim has suffered in the past two weeks because of a sinus infection, which also took me off the bike because when I leaned down all the snot drained out...can't be having that, no matter how gross I can be. I could run though, so that's what I did, alot of it. No OWS practice yet, either, but hopefully I'll get in 1500m tomorrow morning.
We'll see how it goes. My goal is a 2:15 total, and I'll be happy with a 2:20. The swim is in a reservoir, so that should be no worry. The bike is a two-looper with a slight incline for miles 2-7 and slight decline for 7-11 or so. Mostly flat run with a 100 ft gain (if I remember right) at mile .5-1.5 or so and then 4.5-5.5 or so decline on the way back.
Looking forward to getting in the first race!
I'm changing focus now. With no room to increase fitness for this weekend and next weekend races, I'll just prep as best I can with gear and recovery. Then get at it for the Twin Falls tri on July 17 or so. Then I'll maintain fitness as best I can during August that is taken up with drill and a long exercise. Then hit it for three four weeks to do the best I can at the Utah Xterra end of September.
My swim has suffered in the past two weeks because of a sinus infection, which also took me off the bike because when I leaned down all the snot drained out...can't be having that, no matter how gross I can be. I could run though, so that's what I did, alot of it. No OWS practice yet, either, but hopefully I'll get in 1500m tomorrow morning.
We'll see how it goes. My goal is a 2:15 total, and I'll be happy with a 2:20. The swim is in a reservoir, so that should be no worry. The bike is a two-looper with a slight incline for miles 2-7 and slight decline for 7-11 or so. Mostly flat run with a 100 ft gain (if I remember right) at mile .5-1.5 or so and then 4.5-5.5 or so decline on the way back.
Looking forward to getting in the first race!
I'm changing focus now. With no room to increase fitness for this weekend and next weekend races, I'll just prep as best I can with gear and recovery. Then get at it for the Twin Falls tri on July 17 or so. Then I'll maintain fitness as best I can during August that is taken up with drill and a long exercise. Then hit it for three four weeks to do the best I can at the Utah Xterra end of September.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Racing with the local cycling club
One of my overall goals this year was to do the local bike club race series, mostly to learn something from the real bicyclists and also to challenge myself to something new. I wanted to do it last year, but I never put the races on the schedule so I alwasy forgot about them.
I have one flat TT and one hill climb done so far. I missed one flat TT and I'll miss next week's hill climb, both because of other comittements.
I'm learning already! Lesson 1: I have found a new pain threshold. That's a very important learning point.
The first flat TT went ok, but there was the usual wind at the location out on the plains. OK, so the wind was just average, but it was still kicking pretty good at about 30mph. The first race (the one I missed) was the week before that with winds of probably 40mph, and that race was rescheduled because the week before that there was a wind advisory (50mph+?) that postponed the race. Anyway, I did ok on the race for me personally, but I got crushed by everyone else (of course). The race went as planned....slower on the way out against the wind, cruising on the way back with the wind, and I hit my target mph's. BUT, my math had been wrong, so I was slower than I wanted. My goal on this 10k course is 15 minutes; last week my time was 16:40ish (haven't seen the final results). I made that goal without really knowing what I was doing other than saying I want to average 24mph, which if my math is right (and I'm bad at math!), puts me at 15 minutes. I put everything I had into that 16:40 time, and I didn't make it. I think I I'd get close to it if I didn't do any workouts a few days prior, but that doesn't support my overall training goals, so missing those workouts ain't gonna happen. I'll just keep going in tired and challenge myself 110% with what I have.
The hill climb was tonight. I don't know the stats other than it's about 5.25 miles. Google earth says it starts at 5,080ft and ends at 6,535ft for 1,465ft gain. It really kicked my butt. I was the only one on a TT bike....that's the only bike I have. The club folks are nice enough to let me join in. They really are a great bunch of folks. In any case, it was a BEAUTIFUL night to be out riding...very little wind, a bit of sun, and nice temps about 60deg.
I have one flat TT and one hill climb done so far. I missed one flat TT and I'll miss next week's hill climb, both because of other comittements.
I'm learning already! Lesson 1: I have found a new pain threshold. That's a very important learning point.
The first flat TT went ok, but there was the usual wind at the location out on the plains. OK, so the wind was just average, but it was still kicking pretty good at about 30mph. The first race (the one I missed) was the week before that with winds of probably 40mph, and that race was rescheduled because the week before that there was a wind advisory (50mph+?) that postponed the race. Anyway, I did ok on the race for me personally, but I got crushed by everyone else (of course). The race went as planned....slower on the way out against the wind, cruising on the way back with the wind, and I hit my target mph's. BUT, my math had been wrong, so I was slower than I wanted. My goal on this 10k course is 15 minutes; last week my time was 16:40ish (haven't seen the final results). I made that goal without really knowing what I was doing other than saying I want to average 24mph, which if my math is right (and I'm bad at math!), puts me at 15 minutes. I put everything I had into that 16:40 time, and I didn't make it. I think I I'd get close to it if I didn't do any workouts a few days prior, but that doesn't support my overall training goals, so missing those workouts ain't gonna happen. I'll just keep going in tired and challenge myself 110% with what I have.
The hill climb was tonight. I don't know the stats other than it's about 5.25 miles. Google earth says it starts at 5,080ft and ends at 6,535ft for 1,465ft gain. It really kicked my butt. I was the only one on a TT bike....that's the only bike I have. The club folks are nice enough to let me join in. They really are a great bunch of folks. In any case, it was a BEAUTIFUL night to be out riding...very little wind, a bit of sun, and nice temps about 60deg.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
General training insights
So here are a few training insights I'm thinking about. I'm trying to get away from the boring "I did this workout today" and add in some thought-provoking stuff.
1. If you're at a plateua in your run training, try increasing your swim volume. It's been working for me the past two months. I went from avg weekly swim volume of 4500-5000yds to 7000-8000yds, and my six mile time is coming down fast. Dropped from 52 minutes in March to 46 minutes today. Some of the improvement can be attributed to steady running and some hill repeats, but I think most of it came from the swim increase. Something to do with oxygen levels, I think, but I'm no scientist.
2. The weather is not cooperating for my bike leg! The end of April and nearly all of May seems like it has been 75% cold/windy/wet/snow. I'm an admitted fair-weather-biker, so I'm still on the trainer. Not good. My first race is just south of Logan, UT, and I figure alot of Salt Lake folks will be there. They've probably been biking outside since March, and they're going to crush me on the bike.
3. Hill repeats are great for the run! I started doing hill repeats on a 45degree hill that is about 400 yds long, and takes 2:45minutes to 3:15 to finish going at a very hard pace (but actually is quite slow). I think these are equivalent to 800 yard runs, but I get more out of them in about the same time.
4. Mixing length and intensity is important. This is the first year I've mixed up the training between long/easy, medium/medium, and short/very hard. It seems to be working. All the times on my standard courses are coming down. And the variety makes it much more interesting.
5. I've found that I like triathlons because of the variety in training. There is never a week that I get in all the workouts, and I do specific workouts only once each week, except a few easy runs that I throw in when my schedule requires it (ie I can't do a scheduled workout). When I was training for the one and only marathon I've done in my life, I got so incredibly bored with running that I almost decided not to do it (but then I realized that that was the important part of being able to finish a marathon...running a very long time and dealing with it mentally). Each workout feels like a fresh beginning because it's been a week or more since I last did it.
6. Consistency is definitely the key. Just getting out there and doing something...anything...is better than nothing.
7. I think I'm getting close to figuring out what my body needs for improvement. There is so much information out there, much of it contradictory! You just have to take the time to figure out what's best for you, and that could take a couple of years. You end up trying a basic training philsophy for an entire year before you know if it's working. Of course, changes in mid-season are always warranted if something is definitely not working, but that is usually just a minor tweek of the overall philosphy for the year. I suppose that's why the most competitive age group for men is generally the 40-44 olds...they've had a few years to figure out what training works the best for them. So, I've got this year to figure it out before I get into that age-group.
8. I turned 39 on Sunday. But I feel like I'm 25 again! I'm positive it has to do with moving to Pocatello and getting into a more active lifestyle, specifically not stuck in a car during commutes to/from work, and being able to get outside and be active right from the garage instead of fighting traffic on the weekend to get somewhere (again, more time sitting in the car!). If anyone reading this is wondering if the small town life is truly better...YES IT IS!. Don't worry about missing all the big city stuff; it will be replaced with much more activity that simply makes you feel better. You'll add time to your day to do stuff you've always wanted to do because the commute is generally much shorter, and life is all about time to do the things you want to do and be with the people you love.
1. If you're at a plateua in your run training, try increasing your swim volume. It's been working for me the past two months. I went from avg weekly swim volume of 4500-5000yds to 7000-8000yds, and my six mile time is coming down fast. Dropped from 52 minutes in March to 46 minutes today. Some of the improvement can be attributed to steady running and some hill repeats, but I think most of it came from the swim increase. Something to do with oxygen levels, I think, but I'm no scientist.
2. The weather is not cooperating for my bike leg! The end of April and nearly all of May seems like it has been 75% cold/windy/wet/snow. I'm an admitted fair-weather-biker, so I'm still on the trainer. Not good. My first race is just south of Logan, UT, and I figure alot of Salt Lake folks will be there. They've probably been biking outside since March, and they're going to crush me on the bike.
3. Hill repeats are great for the run! I started doing hill repeats on a 45degree hill that is about 400 yds long, and takes 2:45minutes to 3:15 to finish going at a very hard pace (but actually is quite slow). I think these are equivalent to 800 yard runs, but I get more out of them in about the same time.
4. Mixing length and intensity is important. This is the first year I've mixed up the training between long/easy, medium/medium, and short/very hard. It seems to be working. All the times on my standard courses are coming down. And the variety makes it much more interesting.
5. I've found that I like triathlons because of the variety in training. There is never a week that I get in all the workouts, and I do specific workouts only once each week, except a few easy runs that I throw in when my schedule requires it (ie I can't do a scheduled workout). When I was training for the one and only marathon I've done in my life, I got so incredibly bored with running that I almost decided not to do it (but then I realized that that was the important part of being able to finish a marathon...running a very long time and dealing with it mentally). Each workout feels like a fresh beginning because it's been a week or more since I last did it.
6. Consistency is definitely the key. Just getting out there and doing something...anything...is better than nothing.
7. I think I'm getting close to figuring out what my body needs for improvement. There is so much information out there, much of it contradictory! You just have to take the time to figure out what's best for you, and that could take a couple of years. You end up trying a basic training philsophy for an entire year before you know if it's working. Of course, changes in mid-season are always warranted if something is definitely not working, but that is usually just a minor tweek of the overall philosphy for the year. I suppose that's why the most competitive age group for men is generally the 40-44 olds...they've had a few years to figure out what training works the best for them. So, I've got this year to figure it out before I get into that age-group.
8. I turned 39 on Sunday. But I feel like I'm 25 again! I'm positive it has to do with moving to Pocatello and getting into a more active lifestyle, specifically not stuck in a car during commutes to/from work, and being able to get outside and be active right from the garage instead of fighting traffic on the weekend to get somewhere (again, more time sitting in the car!). If anyone reading this is wondering if the small town life is truly better...YES IT IS!. Don't worry about missing all the big city stuff; it will be replaced with much more activity that simply makes you feel better. You'll add time to your day to do stuff you've always wanted to do because the commute is generally much shorter, and life is all about time to do the things you want to do and be with the people you love.
Monday, April 26, 2010
"Choose to win" and point system ratios for intensity
I've found myself a nice little mantra to provide that extra push to do a workout or to keep going hard if I start backing off the effort. I tell myself to "choose to win" today, and it works pretty well. Last week when it was cold, windy, and snowy/rainy, I "chose to win" simply by going out for the run. Then I ended up getting a PR on that timed run workout. Beautiful!
The point system I'm using now is providing some extra motivation, also. Instead of using hours to provide goals for volume, the point system is much better because it's a bit more objective...you either did the volume or you didn't...you can't cheat the volume by going slow and just putting in time. I haven't figured out how to create an intensity factor for the points yet, but I'm thinking about it. Something easy like using the base point system (100yds swim = 1, 1 mile bike =1, 1/4mile run =1) multiplied by a certain factor that includes intensity. So, a 6 mile hard effort run would be 6 x 1.2 = 7.2 points total instead of just 6. I'm not sure what to use for the intensity factor, though, and I would like it to be as close to "real" for my body. Honestly, a hard six miles is a bit harder on the body than an easy nine miles, so that hard run should be worth more than points.
Because my three key workouts for each discipline are hard/short, medium/medium, easy/long, I guess the medium/medium is the baseline point system. What ratio for the others, though? 1.2 for hard, and .8 for easy? That would put the six mile hard run at 7.2, and the nine mile easy run at 7.2, but the hard run takes more out of me and is definitely harder to recover from. Hence, my dilemma. Maybe just go with 1.3 for the hard and .8 for the easy. In any case, I'll need to figure out an easy way to update all my workouts in the spreadsheet to see where I'm at. I can see improvements, so I don't want to mess with my workout schedule right now...I'd do the updated points ratio just to see where everything comes out.
Waiting for the lake to fill so I can get the OWS in.
Waiting on good, steady weather for good biking.
Running is coming along very well, even with inconsistent weather. I hate running the track workout, but I really like the 6 mile TT run and the 9.7 mile easy run. Now I want to throw in some easy to moderate three-milers in the mornings.
I also want to start swimming in the morning to get used to that for the morning OWSs in May. So far, I'm completely out of the morning routine that I did all winter. Every spring, I get into a rut where I want to sleep in every day. I need to stop that, obviously. I do manage to get up for the nine mile run, though, mostly because I know it won't hurt like getting up to do a swim or bike workout will. It's simply difficult to get my heart rate and intensity up early in the morning.
The point system I'm using now is providing some extra motivation, also. Instead of using hours to provide goals for volume, the point system is much better because it's a bit more objective...you either did the volume or you didn't...you can't cheat the volume by going slow and just putting in time. I haven't figured out how to create an intensity factor for the points yet, but I'm thinking about it. Something easy like using the base point system (100yds swim = 1, 1 mile bike =1, 1/4mile run =1) multiplied by a certain factor that includes intensity. So, a 6 mile hard effort run would be 6 x 1.2 = 7.2 points total instead of just 6. I'm not sure what to use for the intensity factor, though, and I would like it to be as close to "real" for my body. Honestly, a hard six miles is a bit harder on the body than an easy nine miles, so that hard run should be worth more than points.
Because my three key workouts for each discipline are hard/short, medium/medium, easy/long, I guess the medium/medium is the baseline point system. What ratio for the others, though? 1.2 for hard, and .8 for easy? That would put the six mile hard run at 7.2, and the nine mile easy run at 7.2, but the hard run takes more out of me and is definitely harder to recover from. Hence, my dilemma. Maybe just go with 1.3 for the hard and .8 for the easy. In any case, I'll need to figure out an easy way to update all my workouts in the spreadsheet to see where I'm at. I can see improvements, so I don't want to mess with my workout schedule right now...I'd do the updated points ratio just to see where everything comes out.
Waiting for the lake to fill so I can get the OWS in.
Waiting on good, steady weather for good biking.
Running is coming along very well, even with inconsistent weather. I hate running the track workout, but I really like the 6 mile TT run and the 9.7 mile easy run. Now I want to throw in some easy to moderate three-milers in the mornings.
I also want to start swimming in the morning to get used to that for the morning OWSs in May. So far, I'm completely out of the morning routine that I did all winter. Every spring, I get into a rut where I want to sleep in every day. I need to stop that, obviously. I do manage to get up for the nine mile run, though, mostly because I know it won't hurt like getting up to do a swim or bike workout will. It's simply difficult to get my heart rate and intensity up early in the morning.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Slowtwitch points system = better scheduling and motivation
Well, just like last year, I started losing motivation a couple weeks after spring break. I really wanted to avoid that this year because I put in some hard training during the winter and made some good progress. But last week, I felt the motivation waning a bit. What better way to get some motivation than create some charts so that if do the work, I can see a nice chart?!
So I put together all the data in my excel spreadsheet and got some good charts using the Slowtwitch points system, This is a way of calculating volume and makes goal setting a bit easier, if not just something different to look at. 100 yards swimming is worth 1 point. One mile on the bike is worth one point. Each quarter mile running is one point. The idea is to be able to accurately equate swim, bike, and run workouts to provide a good relationship for setting volume breakouts each week. For example, if I wanted to focus on the bike, my bike points would be 60-70% of the overal points. If I wanted an even breakout, about 33% volume for each, then I my points would be equal at the end of the week. It works really well, and it's much better than just volume.
Added to that is that I've finally made a "workout menu" with prioritized, key workouts for swim, bike, and run. This is really helping with scheduling, especially now that I'm outside and the weather plays a part. I can look at the workout menu and easily plug-in the key workouts for good weather forecasts (or not in bad weather forecasts) or in accordance with family and work schedules. I found that it is really helping me hit the key workouts.
What are the key workouts? Swim, bike, and run all have three essentials: short and powerful sets, a race-length TT, and a long endurance (swim doesn't have a long endurance because of time, I'm making up for that by total weekly volume). Starting with the bike: one 40k TT, one hill repeats workout (usually a lunch workout) and a 40-miler for endurance. I also have a 15-mile recovery ride. For the swim: a 20x100, variable sets of 1x800, 1x400, 3x200, 5x100; a 3x800, and a 1x2000 (all short course yards cuz that's the pool I swim in). The run has track work (2x800 + 2x400 for starters, working to 4x800 + 4x400) or hill repeats, a 6.6mile TT route, and a 9 miler easy run. Run workouts also include easy three-milers to fill in the schedule when I need to take Paul with me.
My overall points goal each week is 240 now that summer has hit. In the winter, I was averaging about 150 with no swim. The charts make it really easy to see if I am doing what I want to be doing. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to put a chart from Excel into this blog (but I will figure it out!).
For an example of how this helps with scheduling....last night I looked at the weather forecast - supposed to be nice and sunny today and tomorrow, then rain and snow(!) later in the week with obviously cooler/cold temperatures. So I front loaded two of my bike workouts that I want to do outside and two of my run workouts I want to do outside. I won't have good recovery time, but I'll get the key workouts in. Prior to this method, I would have just figured out what I want to do the day prior for the most part, and probably change it when the time came (and then waste time getting my gear together!). It really does work well!
Pool today was 87degrees! Ouch. I did the 20x100 workout, leaving at 1:40 in that heat, and it nearly killed me. It definitely hurt. I finally dug through some of that pain and continued on, telling that voice in my head to "just go away, you're wrong, and you're stupid!" when it told me to just get out of the water cuz it's too hot. I think that little mental victory will go a long way in future workouts. Once you give in the first time, the second, third, and so-on are that much easier to give into.
So I put together all the data in my excel spreadsheet and got some good charts using the Slowtwitch points system, This is a way of calculating volume and makes goal setting a bit easier, if not just something different to look at. 100 yards swimming is worth 1 point. One mile on the bike is worth one point. Each quarter mile running is one point. The idea is to be able to accurately equate swim, bike, and run workouts to provide a good relationship for setting volume breakouts each week. For example, if I wanted to focus on the bike, my bike points would be 60-70% of the overal points. If I wanted an even breakout, about 33% volume for each, then I my points would be equal at the end of the week. It works really well, and it's much better than just volume.
Added to that is that I've finally made a "workout menu" with prioritized, key workouts for swim, bike, and run. This is really helping with scheduling, especially now that I'm outside and the weather plays a part. I can look at the workout menu and easily plug-in the key workouts for good weather forecasts (or not in bad weather forecasts) or in accordance with family and work schedules. I found that it is really helping me hit the key workouts.
What are the key workouts? Swim, bike, and run all have three essentials: short and powerful sets, a race-length TT, and a long endurance (swim doesn't have a long endurance because of time, I'm making up for that by total weekly volume). Starting with the bike: one 40k TT, one hill repeats workout (usually a lunch workout) and a 40-miler for endurance. I also have a 15-mile recovery ride. For the swim: a 20x100, variable sets of 1x800, 1x400, 3x200, 5x100; a 3x800, and a 1x2000 (all short course yards cuz that's the pool I swim in). The run has track work (2x800 + 2x400 for starters, working to 4x800 + 4x400) or hill repeats, a 6.6mile TT route, and a 9 miler easy run. Run workouts also include easy three-milers to fill in the schedule when I need to take Paul with me.
My overall points goal each week is 240 now that summer has hit. In the winter, I was averaging about 150 with no swim. The charts make it really easy to see if I am doing what I want to be doing. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to put a chart from Excel into this blog (but I will figure it out!).
For an example of how this helps with scheduling....last night I looked at the weather forecast - supposed to be nice and sunny today and tomorrow, then rain and snow(!) later in the week with obviously cooler/cold temperatures. So I front loaded two of my bike workouts that I want to do outside and two of my run workouts I want to do outside. I won't have good recovery time, but I'll get the key workouts in. Prior to this method, I would have just figured out what I want to do the day prior for the most part, and probably change it when the time came (and then waste time getting my gear together!). It really does work well!
Pool today was 87degrees! Ouch. I did the 20x100 workout, leaving at 1:40 in that heat, and it nearly killed me. It definitely hurt. I finally dug through some of that pain and continued on, telling that voice in my head to "just go away, you're wrong, and you're stupid!" when it told me to just get out of the water cuz it's too hot. I think that little mental victory will go a long way in future workouts. Once you give in the first time, the second, third, and so-on are that much easier to give into.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Strange week for sure
What a strange week! Monday morning, I got up nice and early only to realize that my body is still quite tired from being sick the few days prior....back to bed! I got my lunch swim in, 20x100 that is always quite difficult but I feel GREAT when it's done. Then I did my bike workout at night, not such a big deal other than when I bike at night I can't get to sleep.
So, I ended up with no morning workouts and all my bike workouts in the evening after 7:30pm when Paul goes to bed. Of course, in the evening I can dial up the intensity a bit more because I'm not groggy from just waking up. All my bike workouts were really great. And all my swim workouts were great this week.
Did I forget to mention running? No, because I didn't run AT ALL this week.
But I got in my weekly goals for swim and bike, 8,000 yards and 100 miles respectively. And I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have got in that volume had I added any runs. So now I'm at a point that I hit my increased swim and bike volumes but don't run at all. If I can just get my butt out of bed in the morning, I can get those runs in, and then at some point I have to add some intensity to the runs.
And then there was snow on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Great for spring skiing...not so much for wanting to get outside for biking or running. And I didn't even go skiing cuz of the darn wind (I really don't like wind over 30mph).
I got some Bontrager Race Lite tires on Friday. I wanted the Michelin Pro Race 2's, but they didn't have them in stock at the local store. I wanted to buy from them because they gave us a great deal on XC skis last week. I hope they do pretty well at fending off punctures.
I'm geared up at this point. I finally bought some bungee cord straps for my swedish goggles that I use in the pool. The plastic straps that come in the bag when you buy them only last a year, but the goggles themselves seem to last forever.
Looking for a good week this week. Maybe an OWS in Del Mar boat basin, doing the full 1,500m that I have mapped out if all goes well. Oh yeah, I guess I should do some running, too.
So, I ended up with no morning workouts and all my bike workouts in the evening after 7:30pm when Paul goes to bed. Of course, in the evening I can dial up the intensity a bit more because I'm not groggy from just waking up. All my bike workouts were really great. And all my swim workouts were great this week.
Did I forget to mention running? No, because I didn't run AT ALL this week.
But I got in my weekly goals for swim and bike, 8,000 yards and 100 miles respectively. And I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have got in that volume had I added any runs. So now I'm at a point that I hit my increased swim and bike volumes but don't run at all. If I can just get my butt out of bed in the morning, I can get those runs in, and then at some point I have to add some intensity to the runs.
And then there was snow on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Great for spring skiing...not so much for wanting to get outside for biking or running. And I didn't even go skiing cuz of the darn wind (I really don't like wind over 30mph).
I got some Bontrager Race Lite tires on Friday. I wanted the Michelin Pro Race 2's, but they didn't have them in stock at the local store. I wanted to buy from them because they gave us a great deal on XC skis last week. I hope they do pretty well at fending off punctures.
I'm geared up at this point. I finally bought some bungee cord straps for my swedish goggles that I use in the pool. The plastic straps that come in the bag when you buy them only last a year, but the goggles themselves seem to last forever.
Looking for a good week this week. Maybe an OWS in Del Mar boat basin, doing the full 1,500m that I have mapped out if all goes well. Oh yeah, I guess I should do some running, too.
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