Overall a solid training week, really starting to build fitness and feel better running, No real progress on weight loss... and swimming is a bit stagnant again. But I know it will all come together. I'm really enjoying running again and not feeling completely out of shape. Droping 4-5 lbs would go a LONG way there.
I signed up for an indoor triathlon next weekend. A good opportunity to get some exposure as a coach, meet some peeps, support a local event and get in a good workout.
My cousin isn't able to do a design for my custom kit. I understand. He own business comes first. No problem. I alos debated wearing the Team TBC kit. But I made a commitment. I will make a few alteration I think to the design. including logos and names only on the back. I want the focus to be on the "Lupus" logo and the TBC logos. I think I'll need to use Epix again and just update the design. All of my artwork files are on my old work computer... so I'm hoping Epix designer has them on file. Fingers crossed. My former employer had said we'd be able to get them. But that could take a while.
I've started the Tour of Sufferlandria. I'm riding it at 95%. We'll see how that goes. Stage 8 will have to be 90% so just ride it on "feel". It's not rideable otherwise. 2-1/2 hours of sprint repeats. That's insane!
By the Numbers:
Swim: 4h44m, 20,400y
Bike: 6h58m, 131mi
Run: 3h13m, 25.4mi
Strength: 3h25m (includes PT)
TOTAL: 18h20m
TSS: 1115
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Monday, January 26, 2015
Monday, January 19, 2015
Weekly Wrap-up 01/19/15
For starters, I'll just address the Elephant out of the room here on a personal level. My company where I worked as a facility engineer, had a very large layoff (almost 25% of the salary workforce) and I was among them. Overall I feel like this is a blessing in disguise and an opportunity to further pursue what I have a true passion for. I've made the decision to pursue coaching full time. I will be seeking a part-time position to help with the transition. Not great timing, but not terrible either. I'm actively working on building a sound business model and strategy to make it happen. I'm lucky to be surrounded by some amazing resources including a group of very experienced coaches. Even the Iowa Workforce system may be able to assist me. Amazing, the government helping people in a productive manner.... well I'm sure there will be some hoops and paperwork. But it makes sense. I'm trying to create a job and bring revenues from outside the county, and state, instead of fill an existing position. Enough on that.
Training this week went pretty well overall. My FTP test fell short, but I improved on my Swim TT and surprised myself on the running Tempo TT going 5:57 @ 160bpm. Pretty good with I think just over <100 miles under me the last 4 months and 8-10lbs overweight. I feel comfortable running again, The ITB feels better, not hurting on runs up to 6 miles. But I'm just taking my time with it.
I decided to do the Tour of Sufferlandria as a fun challenge. I'll end up doing most of them just on trainer road, but I'll probably buy at least 2 more videos. Otherwise solid week to end a less than ideal training block due to the flue around the holidays. Time to ratchet down in this last base period, drop some weight and focus on both training and my new business. When you have one set-back in life, just regroup a little and focus on what you can control. For a specific "Carrot" I'm chasing 4.4 w/kg mark. So that's 72kg and 320 Watts FTP. Maybe more than a little a bit ambitious, but I think attainable by mid summer before I really focus on longer workouts for my IM build.
I also ordered a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine (before I was laid off). It arrived with a cracked yoke (plastic part the roller and resistance unit mounts to. Arts Cyclery was awesome and is sending out a replacement resistance unit right away with just photo evidence of the damage. The cost to return the unit wasn't worth it...and they have seen this problem before. It should be here Thursday.
By the Numbers (recovery/testing week):
Swim: 2h17m, 9950y
Bike: 3h58m, 77mi
Run: 2h43m, 21.5mi
Strength: 4h10m (includes PT)
TOTAL: 13h08m
TSS: 683
Onward and upward!
Training this week went pretty well overall. My FTP test fell short, but I improved on my Swim TT and surprised myself on the running Tempo TT going 5:57 @ 160bpm. Pretty good with I think just over <100 miles under me the last 4 months and 8-10lbs overweight. I feel comfortable running again, The ITB feels better, not hurting on runs up to 6 miles. But I'm just taking my time with it.
I decided to do the Tour of Sufferlandria as a fun challenge. I'll end up doing most of them just on trainer road, but I'll probably buy at least 2 more videos. Otherwise solid week to end a less than ideal training block due to the flue around the holidays. Time to ratchet down in this last base period, drop some weight and focus on both training and my new business. When you have one set-back in life, just regroup a little and focus on what you can control. For a specific "Carrot" I'm chasing 4.4 w/kg mark. So that's 72kg and 320 Watts FTP. Maybe more than a little a bit ambitious, but I think attainable by mid summer before I really focus on longer workouts for my IM build.
I also ordered a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine (before I was laid off). It arrived with a cracked yoke (plastic part the roller and resistance unit mounts to. Arts Cyclery was awesome and is sending out a replacement resistance unit right away with just photo evidence of the damage. The cost to return the unit wasn't worth it...and they have seen this problem before. It should be here Thursday.
By the Numbers (recovery/testing week):
Swim: 2h17m, 9950y
Bike: 3h58m, 77mi
Run: 2h43m, 21.5mi
Strength: 4h10m (includes PT)
TOTAL: 13h08m
TSS: 683
Onward and upward!
Monday, January 12, 2015
Weekly Wrap-up 01/12/15
Finally a solid training week. Been a long time. Not sick, finally able to run consistently and had several solid swims.
The Numbers:
Swim: 5h07m, 22,150y
Bike: 6h57m, 148mi
Run: 2h12m, 16.9mi
Strength: 5h (I'm including 20' 2x/day for ITB rehab)
TOTAL:19h16m
TSS: 1189
2 major highlights:
1) I ran 5 days this week including a 5mile "long run". No knee pain. Just a little tightness, but nothing like I'd been having back in September. I might finally be over the "hump"... and progressing towards full recovery. I anticipate it will be another 3-4 months for full recovery. I think there's some similarities to when I rolled my foot really bad 3 years ago. There was still tightness for 6-9 months afterwards. But I'm encouraged and will finally start a plan to very slowly increase my weekly mileage. My goal is to just get to 35-40mpw and hold by late spring. If I'm still 100% this summer, I'll ramp up to 50 mpw in each of my last 2 builds before Kona.
2) After 2 weeks getting over the flu, I hit the pool hard and battled through some swims and was rewarded at the end of the week when I "found my stroke" again. Just like before, I suddenly dropped 5s/100y and felt great.
I had a solid bike week. The hours are a little low because I substituted a tempo ride for a long ride.... as I'll do all winter long. No way I'm riding zone 2 steady for 4 hours indoors. Shoot me now! I'm mentally tough... in a race. But not that tough on a Sunday after a long week of training.
I have finally ordered a new trainer. My cheap Performance Bike magnetic trainer has been getting a little long-in-the-tooth. Most accurately, its' difficult to use for sprint intervals and has very low inertia. On longer rides I really start to feel the less smooth motion as those smaller supporting muscles fatigue that help you "push over" the top and bottom dead sport. My spin down is probably 7-8 seconds at most. That's probably similar to hill with a 15-20%. I chose a Kurt Kinetic. It has a heavier flywheel than the Cyclops Fluid 2, great reviews, has a predictable power curve if I want to use it with my road bike for virtual power on Trainerroad and otherwise was $20 cheaper. But the higher inertia was the biggest sell. Plus I liked how the prevent leaks using a magnetic coupling. I remember my old cycleops 1st generation fluid trainer and the constant leaks it had.
This coming week is a recovery and testing week. Then onto my 3rd and final base period. It will be interesting to see where my FTP is. I feel like I've put in some good work on the bike the last few weeks despite the flu derailing me for a bit.
The Numbers:
Swim: 5h07m, 22,150y
Bike: 6h57m, 148mi
Run: 2h12m, 16.9mi
Strength: 5h (I'm including 20' 2x/day for ITB rehab)
TOTAL:19h16m
TSS: 1189
2 major highlights:
1) I ran 5 days this week including a 5mile "long run". No knee pain. Just a little tightness, but nothing like I'd been having back in September. I might finally be over the "hump"... and progressing towards full recovery. I anticipate it will be another 3-4 months for full recovery. I think there's some similarities to when I rolled my foot really bad 3 years ago. There was still tightness for 6-9 months afterwards. But I'm encouraged and will finally start a plan to very slowly increase my weekly mileage. My goal is to just get to 35-40mpw and hold by late spring. If I'm still 100% this summer, I'll ramp up to 50 mpw in each of my last 2 builds before Kona.
2) After 2 weeks getting over the flu, I hit the pool hard and battled through some swims and was rewarded at the end of the week when I "found my stroke" again. Just like before, I suddenly dropped 5s/100y and felt great.
I had a solid bike week. The hours are a little low because I substituted a tempo ride for a long ride.... as I'll do all winter long. No way I'm riding zone 2 steady for 4 hours indoors. Shoot me now! I'm mentally tough... in a race. But not that tough on a Sunday after a long week of training.
I have finally ordered a new trainer. My cheap Performance Bike magnetic trainer has been getting a little long-in-the-tooth. Most accurately, its' difficult to use for sprint intervals and has very low inertia. On longer rides I really start to feel the less smooth motion as those smaller supporting muscles fatigue that help you "push over" the top and bottom dead sport. My spin down is probably 7-8 seconds at most. That's probably similar to hill with a 15-20%. I chose a Kurt Kinetic. It has a heavier flywheel than the Cyclops Fluid 2, great reviews, has a predictable power curve if I want to use it with my road bike for virtual power on Trainerroad and otherwise was $20 cheaper. But the higher inertia was the biggest sell. Plus I liked how the prevent leaks using a magnetic coupling. I remember my old cycleops 1st generation fluid trainer and the constant leaks it had.
This coming week is a recovery and testing week. Then onto my 3rd and final base period. It will be interesting to see where my FTP is. I feel like I've put in some good work on the bike the last few weeks despite the flu derailing me for a bit.
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Weekly Wrap-up 01/06/15
Slowly coming out of this flu. Lungs are maybe 95%... so back to mostly normal training. I think i have 4 more days of the cough and sinus crap.
Winter finally arrived. It's Jan! -1F overnight, getting up to a balmy 2F by afternoon than -8F Wed. night. Time to fully embrace the trainer, treadmill and break out the really heavy tights and run gear. On the flip side, the pool gets really nice this time of year. Water and air are a little cooler and indoor humidity drops. Perfect! I found my stroke again yesterday, but didn't have the arms to really make use of it. But I felt pretty fluid overall. It's definitely just a small shift in body position and my catch. I think it's mostly a matter of getting my streamlined, rather than delivering propulsion more effectively. It's very, very subtle, but it yields 3-5s per 100y... a pretty big bump.
My goal of 1,000,000y swimming in 2015 is pretty ambitious. Not sure if I'll make it, but it will be a nice challenge trying so long as I don't completely despise the pool by August.
I've strung together 5 days of running in a row... 6 out of 7. That's HUGE! A real milestone. No pain, but I was smart about not pushing my limits. Longest run was 3.2 miles with just 2 brief periods of walking. I'll take it. As of this moment, I think I could run at least the first 8 miles in Kona. that's a 4h57m. Hey, not the end of the world. That's could still be a sub 11 and finishing before sunset.
That might sound like defeat. But it's actually a bit empowering. It's a carrot to stay focused on my PT efforts, to keep driving that time down. My real goal is a run split PR...despite the heat. So a 3:20. That's ambitious, but that never stopped me before. My stretch goal is toe the line and race my "arch rival" Scott Iott almost side by side all day long. An opportunity that was so close all 3 races in 2014, but never materialized.
By numbers:
Swim: 3h30m, 15,050y
Bike: 7h52m, 151mi
Run: 1h57m, 14.6mi
Strength: 30m
Total: 13h49m
TSS: 901
Fun fact... despite being a "off week" due to illness and holidays, that as much training overall that I did in my "big" weeks in 2012. A little perspective is always nice.
Winter finally arrived. It's Jan! -1F overnight, getting up to a balmy 2F by afternoon than -8F Wed. night. Time to fully embrace the trainer, treadmill and break out the really heavy tights and run gear. On the flip side, the pool gets really nice this time of year. Water and air are a little cooler and indoor humidity drops. Perfect! I found my stroke again yesterday, but didn't have the arms to really make use of it. But I felt pretty fluid overall. It's definitely just a small shift in body position and my catch. I think it's mostly a matter of getting my streamlined, rather than delivering propulsion more effectively. It's very, very subtle, but it yields 3-5s per 100y... a pretty big bump.
My goal of 1,000,000y swimming in 2015 is pretty ambitious. Not sure if I'll make it, but it will be a nice challenge trying so long as I don't completely despise the pool by August.
I've strung together 5 days of running in a row... 6 out of 7. That's HUGE! A real milestone. No pain, but I was smart about not pushing my limits. Longest run was 3.2 miles with just 2 brief periods of walking. I'll take it. As of this moment, I think I could run at least the first 8 miles in Kona. that's a 4h57m. Hey, not the end of the world. That's could still be a sub 11 and finishing before sunset.
That might sound like defeat. But it's actually a bit empowering. It's a carrot to stay focused on my PT efforts, to keep driving that time down. My real goal is a run split PR...despite the heat. So a 3:20. That's ambitious, but that never stopped me before. My stretch goal is toe the line and race my "arch rival" Scott Iott almost side by side all day long. An opportunity that was so close all 3 races in 2014, but never materialized.
By numbers:
Swim: 3h30m, 15,050y
Bike: 7h52m, 151mi
Run: 1h57m, 14.6mi
Strength: 30m
Total: 13h49m
TSS: 901
Fun fact... despite being a "off week" due to illness and holidays, that as much training overall that I did in my "big" weeks in 2012. A little perspective is always nice.
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