This was the first week of my all-bike training, so 602TSS on 8hr of riding. Legs are sore like they haven't been in a while, and I spent today with a case of the hangrys (hungry + angry). Fuelling is working out well, I'm using just gel, and have been experimenting with replicating Skratch Lab's Hydrate formula, which is a minimal amount of carbs (about 80kcal), sodium, a bunch of other trace elements I don't care about, and the awesomeness of their flavouring. That's really the hard part to duplicate, right now I'm using lemon/lime KoolAid, but it's not acidic enough, and tastes sort of blah. Maybe some more actual fruit would help.
Anyways, the ride this morning was gorgeous, perfect weather and worked hard on the hills, as per instructions.
Had a good TT on Thursday, CP20 = 263, which puts my FTP around 250, which is up from 238 at the end of last year. I would like to get my FTP up to 260 for the end of the year, then next year 280.
Tour de Terra Cotta is next week, which will be hard(?), according to other people in WCC. May just have been a characteristic of the group they were in. I had a good ride this Tuesday where I wasn't stupid and managed to stay in on the end after two loops until the last four riders. Staying out of the red is the key, which is also a sign I need more training in the red.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Directions
I decided that I was going to focus on cycling for the rest of the season. I need to set some goals now... FTP gain => "good finish" in Tour de Terra Cotta. I think Centurion is going to be very hilly, so finishing strong will mean being smart on the climbs.
Bryan just added this week's workouts to trainingpeaks, looks like a good mix with the WCC Tuesday group ride and the ITT on Thursday, plus some power-based work and longer rides on the weekend.
Bryan just added this week's workouts to trainingpeaks, looks like a good mix with the WCC Tuesday group ride and the ITT on Thursday, plus some power-based work and longer rides on the weekend.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Week 37 review (Transition)
So just some easy base building stuff this week at the recommendation of Bryan, plus I was flying the child care plane solo for the last half of the week, leading to a massive 4.05 hours of training time.
I've decided to leave triathlon behind for the rest of the summer and focus on my bike, with the intention of a few races and building my bike fitness. I would like to raise my FTP to ~260 by the end of the season with the intention of getting to 4w/kg in next one/two years...
I've decided to leave triathlon behind for the rest of the summer and focus on my bike, with the intention of a few races and building my bike fitness. I would like to raise my FTP to ~260 by the end of the season with the intention of getting to 4w/kg in next one/two years...
Monday, July 9, 2012
Peterborough half RR
Swim (2000m): 36:12 => 1:49/100m
Bike (86km): 2:33:17 => 33.5km/h, Av 188 watts, NP 202 watts
Run (20.6km): 1:51:06 => 5:24min/km
The swim includes about a minute of running out of the water to the timing mat going into T1, so maybe 35:something. Not overjoyed about the time, but it's not bad. I went through a 10 minute phase about 500m in where things felt really bad, but then got better. Maybe I need a longer warmup. Also toe cramps suck. I had two gels 10 minutes before the swim. I need to figure out the logistics of warmup, while waiting until just before the race starts to eat.
The bike was my favourite part of this race, but some of the terrain was discouraging, there were only a couple spots where you could get into any sort of rhythm, otherwise it was up and down. I played cat and mouse with a couple other riders who were passing me on the uphills, then I would zoom past on the downhills. I was trying to keep my power between 190-200 watts, so I would slow right down going up, but 200 watts will get me 50+km/h on a reasonable descent. Psychologically, it felt harder to maintain watts at speed than going up a hill.
Nutrition on the bike went:
0-20 minutes => sip water
20' => gel + water
40' => gel + water
1hr => 1/2 peanut butter powerbar
1:20 => gel + water
1:40 => gel + water
2 hr => 1/2 peanut buttter powerbar
2:20 => gel + water
2:30 => gel + water
That gets me about 850kcal => 340kcal/h which is beyond what I have ever done in training, especially at that pace, so that was an error.
I was also drinking water mostly by feel, but trying to err on the side of drinking rather than not. This may have not been the best strategy (see run). I probably took in 3 bottles (went through 4, but a lot of that was poured on me to keep cool). I went into the race thinking that it was going to be really hot, but it turned out to be only 25C/78F.
The first 5k of the run seemed to go ok, I was going at an "easy" pace, right around 5min/km. I had about a cup of water, that got me out of the park and onto the long out and back portion, which is much hotter, and much more lumpy. I started to have some stomach problems, feeling full and sloshy. I slowed my pace to try and get things settled, and stopped taking anything in for the first 7km or so. It seemed to get better, so I tried a mouthful of cola, that went okay for another couple km, but then started to feel poorly again (burping, cramps). This pattern repeated a couple times more, once with a gel, once with just water in an attempt to get something in. I started walking up hills, hoping that would help. I spent a lot of that time wavering back and forth between feeling like I was going to puke, and then feeling a little better, so I'd up the pace a little, then right back to feeling sick. With 4k left, I just decided to give up on getting any more nutrition or water in me and just get to the finish (hoping I could still go under 5 hours). Looking at my GPS files, it doesn't really look like I went any faster (though there were more hills in that last bit), but my RPE was up, I think I was just feeling the effects of battling stomach and heat at that point.
So the TL;DR is: Went 5:02 on a mediocre swim, "good" bike (except the eating part), and a miserable run -- I had hoped to go under 5 -- but the course was shorter than I expected, so it wouldn't really have been what I was hoping to do anyway.
Lessons learned: Don't get stuck in a plan if the underlying assumptions of that plan are no longer valid -- I had thought I would be out on the bike for 2:40, but the course was shorter, and the day was cooler, so I over-ate and drank for the conditions. Not sure if I could have saved the run in any way, shape or form...
[edit] I was comparing my results in terms of where I placed in my AG from when I raced this in 2010 (primarily to make myself feel better:), and though my swim was worse (adjusting for field size), my bike and run were both significantly improved. In addition, I had hoped to place top 10 in my AG this year, and despite my crappy run dropping me 8 minutes outside 10th, I out-swam and out-biked 10th place.
Bike (86km): 2:33:17 => 33.5km/h, Av 188 watts, NP 202 watts
Run (20.6km): 1:51:06 => 5:24min/km
The swim includes about a minute of running out of the water to the timing mat going into T1, so maybe 35:something. Not overjoyed about the time, but it's not bad. I went through a 10 minute phase about 500m in where things felt really bad, but then got better. Maybe I need a longer warmup. Also toe cramps suck. I had two gels 10 minutes before the swim. I need to figure out the logistics of warmup, while waiting until just before the race starts to eat.
The bike was my favourite part of this race, but some of the terrain was discouraging, there were only a couple spots where you could get into any sort of rhythm, otherwise it was up and down. I played cat and mouse with a couple other riders who were passing me on the uphills, then I would zoom past on the downhills. I was trying to keep my power between 190-200 watts, so I would slow right down going up, but 200 watts will get me 50+km/h on a reasonable descent. Psychologically, it felt harder to maintain watts at speed than going up a hill.
Nutrition on the bike went:
0-20 minutes => sip water
20' => gel + water
40' => gel + water
1hr => 1/2 peanut butter powerbar
1:20 => gel + water
1:40 => gel + water
2 hr => 1/2 peanut buttter powerbar
2:20 => gel + water
2:30 => gel + water
That gets me about 850kcal => 340kcal/h which is beyond what I have ever done in training, especially at that pace, so that was an error.
I was also drinking water mostly by feel, but trying to err on the side of drinking rather than not. This may have not been the best strategy (see run). I probably took in 3 bottles (went through 4, but a lot of that was poured on me to keep cool). I went into the race thinking that it was going to be really hot, but it turned out to be only 25C/78F.
So the TL;DR is: Went 5:02 on a mediocre swim, "good" bike (except the eating part), and a miserable run -- I had hoped to go under 5 -- but the course was shorter than I expected, so it wouldn't really have been what I was hoping to do anyway.
[edit] I was comparing my results in terms of where I placed in my AG from when I raced this in 2010 (primarily to make myself feel better:), and though my swim was worse (adjusting for field size), my bike and run were both significantly improved. In addition, I had hoped to place top 10 in my AG this year, and despite my crappy run dropping me 8 minutes outside 10th, I out-swam and out-biked 10th place.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Week 35 Summary
Recovering from my crash last weekend, most of the swelling and bruising is fading, just some lovely road rash is remaining. Thanks to Chris Kraemer at Dearborn Health for giving my knee the once-over and some suggestions for maximizing recovery speed.
This week was pretty light with a combination of taking two complete rest days, plus my wife going for a much-deserved girls-road-trip to Vermont. They make a lot of chocolate there, judging by what she brought back.
The plan is now to get a couple more days of work in before the race without taking away from my energy for the race (keep fitness loss to a minimum while maximizing form -- it's an art form, glad I have a coach taking a look at this).
This week was pretty light with a combination of taking two complete rest days, plus my wife going for a much-deserved girls-road-trip to Vermont. They make a lot of chocolate there, judging by what she brought back.
The plan is now to get a couple more days of work in before the race without taking away from my energy for the race (keep fitness loss to a minimum while maximizing form -- it's an art form, glad I have a coach taking a look at this).
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