Afternoon Run - L2 Effort.... NOT!

Had to bag my afternoon run workout due to work constraints. Grrr! I usually hate running, but I've been really enjoying it lately. I hate to lose out on that motivation.

Morning L4 Bike - Power Pulse Intervals

Well... fresh off my consultation with Rich regarding exactly how to do the PPI workout, I've discovered that as "difficult" as I thought this workout was before, it is even more difficult when done properly. Previously, I'd misunderstood the workout to require that during the intervals, you try to maintain an average power of about FTP + 5% until your heart rate reaches LTHR + 3-5 bpm. In a forum post, Rich indicated that this LTHR + 3-5 bpm is not the "finish line" for the interval work, but is intended to be a guideline. In my previous workout, my work intervals after the first were relatively short (not much more at most than about 2 minutes). That just didn't seem right. After adjusting my FTP down about 15 watts due to the fact that I was on a trainer and not outside, I think I've hit the nail on the proverbial head. From the graph, you can see that I held my intervals much longer (1st @ 8:00, 2-3 @ 6:00, and 4-5 @ 4:00). However, my power levels were a little low. I was closer to FTP than to FTP+5%. I think that's due to a little residual fatigue from my long run on Sunday. Legs are still a bit sore. I'll do this workout again on Thursday. Maybe then I'll have it down pat.

Next up is a 40 minute easy run this afternoon.

L2 Long Run

Good long run today... I haven't done a run longer than an hour in quite some time, but I felt really good on this one today. Today's run was a 1 hour and 20 minute easy run. I started out pretty strong and finished strong. I don't think I fell off the pace much, if at all. I didn't have my Garmin on, so I'm not sure exactly how far I went in that time period, but I did jump on Google Earth and plot the distance. It came out to almost 10 miles (8:04/mi). That's pretty darn good for me, considering my heart rate never really got that high, which indicates that my effort wasn't that hard.

L3 Brick

I haven't done a brick in a while... forgot how heavy your legs feel after riding. Whew! I'm a little tired!

Started the workout with a 1.5 hour bike ride on the trainer. Rich Strauss' Offseason Ironman Plan calls for a 2.5 hour ride today... but I just can't do much more than an hour on the trainer. I just don't don't have the stamina to deal with the boredom. I did talk to Rich, and I think the problem with my PPI workouts so far have been that my FTP is lower when I ride on the trainer than it is when I ride outside. This makes sense, as it's much harder to get motivated to ride on the trainer. I dropped my FTP to 260 watts for this workout, and I think I may have it pretty close. This workout consisted of an easy warmup followed by 2 x 20' at L3 effort (w/ 3' RI) and then a 14' cool down.

Immediately after the bike workout, I laced up the running shoes for a 30' run. I was supposed to run at steady L2 effort, but my HR immediately shot up to about 160-165 (upper L3 - lower L4) effort. I felt great, so I didn't worry about slowing down. HR was probably a little artificially high because of the bike effort.

Tomorrow is a long run, about 1:20.

Morning Bike Ride - L4 "Power Pulse Intervals"

Another set of Rich Strauss' Power Pulse Intervals today. This workout is a lot more difficult than it may seem. This was a fairly typical PPI workout. Warmed up for about 30 minutes at a low gear and low heart rate, and then launched into the intervals at function threshold (FT) + 5% until my HR reached lactate threshold (LT) + 3-5 beats per minute. Once again, the initial interval took several minutes (~5) to reach the required HR, and the reamaining intervals were relatively short (~ 1 min). Good workout... and tough.

EDIT

I replaced the picture with a Blogger-hosted version. Looks much nicer. Also, it would seem that I misinterpreted Rich's PPI workout. Apparently, I need to be holding my work intervals longer, as the LTHR+ 3-5 bpm is not the "finish line" for an interval. Also, because my FT seems to be a little lower when I'm on the trainer as opposed to outdoor, I need to move my work interval target power down about 15 -20 watts.

Afternoon 7 mile Run - L3 Average Effort

File this workout under Decent Tests of Mental Toughness. This was a fun one. One hour on a "hilly" dreadmill course without socks. I got to the gym at about 4 pm today, pulled out my gym clothes and started getting dressed only to realize I had forgotten to pack my running socks. I could have blown off the workout, but I figured that I really need to be doing my running workouts. Running is my biggest limiter, and I really want to improve my marathon time at Ironman Wisconsin this next year. I now have a few raw spots on my feet, though. Probably should have cut this one short.

As you can see from the graph, this was not an extremely difficult workout. Rich's Off Season Ironman Plan, which I'm follwoing until I begin my marathon-focused training calls for a 1 hour hilly run in which you spend time in several effort zones. I think this one would typically call for a little bit of really tough running (HR Zone 5), but I did not reach that kind of effort. The highest I went was into about mid-Zone 4, which corresponds roughly to a lower L4 effort on the scale I use. The graph is rather "wavy" indicating that I was constantly changing my effort up or down depending on whether I was "hill climbing" or not.

As you can see, the overall trend of the graph is toward a higher heart rate at the end of the run. Part of that is heart rate drift, which typically causes the HR to rise slightly as duration increases. But I think that another indication is that my run endurance is a little low right now (not surprising). The longer the duration, the higher my effort needs to be to maintain the pace set by the treadmill. If this had been an outdoor run, I likely would have run a shorter distance and slowed down over the duration instead of showing a much higher effort.

Morning Bike Ride - L4 "Power Pulse Intervals"

More "Power Plus Intervals" today. Once again, the lengths of my interval efforts were somewhat disappointing. I would have expected about 2-2.5 minute intervals, but they were only about 1:45 per interval (after the first interval). On the plus side, it seems that I managed my power output fairly well... averaging about 290 watts for each interval, which is about +2 watts more than the goal effort. So, I got that going for me... which is nice. Cadence was a little lower than I'd like (about 88 rpms) during the intervals. That seems to be a factor of the cassette I have on the Leader tri-bike. The gearing is not well spaced on a 53/42 with a 12-25 cassette. When I put on the compat cranks and add an 11-21 cassette, I expect the gear ratios to be better, and I can select a gear that feels more comfortable at about 92-95 rpms.

Easy Evening Run - 30 Minute L1/L2 Effort

This was a very easy L1-L2 run at about 8:45/mi pace. The goal for this workout was simply to get myself running again after a 2-1/2 week layoff. I haven't done much since the twins were born on October 7th, so I'm trying to get back into my frequency of running.

Afternoon Ride - L3 Effort

This was sort of a "make-up" workout I was supposed to do on Saturday. It was supposed to be a 2.5 hour effort, but it's hard to get motivated to stay on the trainer that long. Besides, I used the CompuTrainer in ergo mode, and I think the trainer was reading my watts too high. At 240 watts on the CT, my power meter was reading about 215. So, I don't think my effort wasn't as high as it should have been. I'll have to skip the ergo mode from now on, and stick to slightly inclined courses and my gearing for the proper power output.

The workout was supposed to be 30 min warmup followed by 2x20 min at 80-85% of functional threshold power (FTP), followed by 10 min easy spinning easing into 3 x 10 min at FTP and then another 30 min coolign down. After the 2 x 20 min (about 1:15), I was pretty much done with sitting on the trainer. As you can see from the graph, my power was rather low. 80% of FTP for me is about 220 Watts. My average over those two 20 min intervals was significantly lower than that. I'm a little disappointed with that and my desire to get off the bike at just over an hour, but I guess I need to work up to those long rides. Besides, I think my position on the bike is a little off. I need to do some adjustments and see if I can make it feel more comfortable.

Tomorrow is likely an "off" day. I'd like to swim, but I don't think Laura's ready for me to leave her alone with the babies to go off and swim in the morning. I'll push it to Wed., when my mom is in town and can help out in the morning. I may run easy for 30 minutes tomorrow instead.

AM Bicycle Trainer Ride - L4 Power Pulse Intervals

I finally got back on the bike this morning following a pretty restful night. I did wake up with the twins at 2:00 am feeding time, but Laura and her mom took care of the feeding, and I got to drift back into dreamland. Did I mention that having a grandmother in the house immediately following the birth of your kids is a godsend?

Today's workout was a set of Power Pulse Intervals, as prescribed by triathlon coach Rich Strauss' pre-packaged Advanced Off-season Iron Distance training plan. As before, the workout is an hour long session consisting of an easy warm up followed by 5 x Work Interval ("WI"), where the WI involves riding at about funtional threshold power (FTP) + 5% until your heart rate reaches lactate threshold (LTHR) + 3-5 bpm and then recover. For me, FTP = 275 watts and LTHR = 168 bpm. So I'm targeting about 290 watts until my HR reaches about 171-173 bpm. Rest intervals between WI's should be about one quarter of the time spent in the WI.

As you can see from the graph, my WI's weren't particularly long. Recall two weeks or so ago when I did my first set of PPIs, it took quite a while for me to reach LTHR, particularly on my first interval. This time, I got there very quickly, particularly on the last four intervals. I didn;t keep my rest intervals at the proper length, either. They should have been much shorter than they were. Ah well... I knew I'd lose fitness, as I haven't been on the bike in about 2 weeks. Hopefully, I can get into a routine and rebuild my lost fitness fairly quickly.

Afternoon Run - Mix of Efforts

This was my first run in almost 3 weeks. Work and the birth of my twins conspired to keep me off the dreadmill (pun intended) and the streets. This was supposed to be a very hard effort spanning an hour and over a mix of hill grades and heart rate efforts. However, I was not feeling strong, and I really didn't want to push myself too hard. I'd already missed my Tuesday run because of work, and I just didn't think the first workout back should be too hard. So, I cut it back to 30 minutes and did not push too hard into the L3-L4 zones.

This is a graph of the run heart rate data. Not particularly interesting. The treadmill course was set to "Random" because the workout called for hitting several heart rates over a variety of hill grades. The general "wavy-ness" of the graph shows you the variety of grades. Where the slope of the line goes negative, I was on a flat to very low grade. Where the slope goes positive, my HR was climbing because I was doing more work going uphill.

Tomorrow is my first bike ride in a while... assuming the twins are kind enough to let me sleep most of the night. I'm anticipating a noticeable loss of fitness during that ride.

A Happy Time

Laura took this picture of me when I got home from work today. After nearly two weeks, I'm really enjoying being a dad. I always heard from people that there's no experience like becoming a parent... that you can't even begin to imagine how much you're going to love that little bundle of joy. Well... it's really true. I'm already constantly worrying about them and gazing at them in wonder. A part of me still can't believe they're mine. They are so different from each other (no surprise since they're not identical), but strangely the same in many ways.

I'm also learning an awful lot about babies. For example, if you're going to have your newborn on your bed... make sure there's a water-resistant sheet or something under him. Our nice comforter and duvet cover are now at the dry cleaners following a diaper mishap. Maybe we should just accept that with both dogs and babies in the house, we just can't have nice things anymore. :)

Back in the Water - AM L1-L2 Swim

Well... It was back to work today after a week off following the births of my twin sons, Will and Alex. I figured I'd get started right by swimming this morning. It did not go very well.

I felt like I've been out of the water for about 3 months. Couldn't get into a rhythm, so I just did a bunch of drills and easy swimming. Only stayed in the water about 30 minutes and 1200 meters. I'll get back into it, but today was just an easy transition.

No Posts for a While...

I know I haven't posted anything on here for a while... but there's a good reason. I haven't done anything. My life has been consumed by this.

It's Almost Daddy Time!!!

I figured today's first post (assuming there will be a second) would be a bit of a departure from the Ironman training stuff, and be a little more about my personal life. I can't believe it, but In just a couple of days, I'll be a father of two boys!

The time this week has absolutely crawled by. Having a date certain when the birth process will begin is almost cruel! This is 200 times worse than the anticipation of Christmas as a kid. I just can't wait to welcome the boys into the world and to hold them for the first time!

Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrgh!!!! Is it Friday yet?

Morning Bike Ride - L4 "Power Pulse Intervals"

This workout is one that I read about from a well-respected online triathlon coach who uses power meters in his bike workouts. It is supposed to be a 1 hour workout, but I cut it short to 45 minutes, because I got up a little late, and I need to be at work early today. The workout involves an easy warm up followed by 5 x Work Interval, where the work interval involves riding at about funtional threshold power (FTP) + 5% until your heart rate reaches lactate threshold (LTHR) + 3-5 bpm and then recover. For me, FTP = 275 watts and LTHR = 168 bpm.

The graph makes it pretty clear that these intervals are not uniform. It took several minutes for my HR to get to LTHR+3 in the first interval. However, by the last one, it was only a minute or two. Following the intervals, I finished off the session with some spin ups shake out my legs a bit. Those PPIs really start to hurt! I'll be very busy at work today, but hopefully, I can get in a L4 run. I haven't run since Saturday, and I really need to keep these legs moving!

Morning Swim - L2 Effort

Short post this morning. I swam a short set today, as I had to get into work early this morning. The workout was basically a 500 meter easy swim warm up followed by 1 x 500 pull and then 5 x 100 descending and an easy 150 cool down. Total of 1650 meters.

Hopefully, if I have time, I'll get an easy 4 mile run in later today.

Long L2-L3 Ride - How NOT to Do a Long Ride

Rule #1 of any ride over 2 hours --> always bring enough nutrition. I re-learned this one the hard way today. I didn't expect to be out there for much over 2-2.5 hours, as we were only doing 48 miles. Boy was I under-prepared! Much of the ride was climbing in the foothills, which is not only slow going, but a LOT of power output. Add into the mix the fact that I went off course by 6 miles, and you're looking at a round trip of 60 miles instead of 48, and nearly 4 hours in the saddle as opposed to 2.5. Doh!

Looking at the graph, you can see my power levels drop off right around the 3 hour mark... or you could see it if the the green cadence data wasn't in the way. Sorry about that. Anyway, that's a "bonk." I ended up having to stop at a convenience store and pick up a candy bar and a Coke for some quick energy. I was descending Lookout Mountain Road, and could feel my legs shaking with fatigue. On the last couple of climbs, I was in the lowest possible gear, and barely churning out 50 rpms on my cadence. It was miserable. Needless to say, I was cooked.

My training stress score (TSS) for the ride was just over 300 with an intensity factor (IF) of 0.95. That probably means nothing to most of you, but that's a pretty tough workout according to my Cycling Peaks Software. I'm considering taking tomorrow off entirely. Might do an easy run if I feel up to it, and if work permits.