Finally back on the dreadmill today, and [hopefully] back into running. I haven't run at all since Nov. 16, nearly 2 weeks ago. That is just not good. Felt good today, though, on my hill repeat workout. The only thing I dislike about the dreadmill is the sheer boredom... made worse today by the fact that I forgot my iPod. :(
Today's Workout:
Warm up: 30' @L1-L3
Main Set: 5 x 3'@L4 (1')
Cool Down: 5'@L2, 5' walking
Workout Stats:
Duration: 1 hour
Distance: 6.75 mi
Pace: 8:53/mi
My running has really fallen off, and I did absolutely nothing yesterday, despite the fact that I had a long run scheduled. I've been bad about the running for a couple of weeks now, so I'm dropping volume back down to try to re-build. Now... on to today's workouts:
I did an hour on the Computrainer this morning doing the following workout:
Warm up: 20' @ L1-L2 effort
Main Set: 6 x 4' @ L3 effort
Cool Down: 10' @ L2 effort
You can see the workout pretty clearly in the graph. The first 10 minutes were spent warming up the Computrainer at a very easy effort. Once I calibrated the CT, I ramped up the power to L2 for the next 10'. At 20' in, I started the interval work, 4' on, 1' off at between 200-235 watts, which is my L3 range. I tried to stay closer to the upper end of L3. At 50' in, the intervals were over, and I started the cool down, again at L2 effort (<>
Today I scheduled a long ride, and was intending to only ride about 2 hours, as I intended to do this ride on the trainer. However, it was such a nice day, and I got a hall pass from Laura, so I took it outside and rode the Cherry Creek Trail to the South Platte River Trail down to Littleton and back (round trip ~ 50 miles).
Workout:
WU: 30' easy (L1-L2)
MS: 2 x 35' (5') @ 85-90% of FTP (L3), 10' Easy, 4 x 6' (1') @ 105% (L4+)
CD: Remainder of time at 80-85% FTP
I only got 2 of the 4 x 6 minute intervals in, as the route I took was not particularly conducive to interval work in certain places. All in all, a great workout.
... from my brother, Dan and his lady friend, Lisa (both pictured at the left), this weekend. He's coming up to Denver from Austin for the first time since the spring to meet his brand new nephews. This ough to be a fun weekend. The old Perkins twins and the new Perkins twins together for the very first time! Plus... I finally get to meet Lisa in person! This should be a good time, I think. If Will and Alex will let us sleep enough so that Laura and I are not zombies all weekend.
Good run today. I as pretty tired from yesterday's hill repeats, but I felt pretty good after I got moving. As you can see from the graph, I kept a fairly steady heart rate. I started off very easy at about 8:30/mi. At about 15 minutes in, I upped the pace to about 8:15/mi, and then again to 8:00/mi about 20 minutes in. My heart rate gradually rose from L1 to upper L2 in the first 15 minutes. By 20 minutes in, I was starting to get into the very lower L3 range, and I wanted to bump it up to the mid-upper range. So, that's when I upped the pace to 8:00 miles. You can see a huge drop off at the 43 minute range. That's where I decided to start walking for my cool down.
Workout
WU: 10' -15' @ L1
MS: 30' @ L2-L3 effort
CD: 3-5' walking
Distance: 5.07 mi.
Time: 45 min
Avg Pace: 8:54
Workout:
WU - 25' build L1 to L3
MS: 5x3' hills (3.5-4%) (2' RI)
CD: 5' @ L3, 5' walking
This was a tough workout... Being rather poor at running, higher intensities really suck! This workout was originally structured to be an outdoor run, but my circumstances have relegated me to the treadmill for most of my weekday run training. Heart rate was pretty consistent for the first 25 minutes, building from L1 to L3 effort. The hills were tough. I kept the same pace (about 8:00/mi) but jacked up the treadmill incline to about 4% grade. Maintaining that pace up those grades for 3 minutes was tough. It felt good, though. I'm really enjoying the running right now!
Not a good week last week for training hours, and I'm off to a poor start this week, too. I didn't do either my long ride or long run last weekend. Time just got away from me. This week, I missed my Power Pulse Interval workout and 45 minute easy run yesterday.
Workout (FTP=260 on the CT)
WU: 20' @L1-L2 effort (~140-190 watts)
MS: 5 x 4-8' @ FTP+5% (1-2' RI)
CD: 10' @ L1-L2
I decided to reschedule Tuesday's PPI workout for this morning. Since Tue/Wed/Thu is usually a fairly intense block of workout days anyway, I figured that my recovery time wouldn't be severely affected if I do my mid-week hard run on the same day as a PPI session. I did cut the PPI session a bit short today because of time constraints. Also, that last interval felt really tough, and I figured it would be better not to be too fatigued for this afternoon's run. The session went very well. Each interval was fairly consistently at an average power between 270 and 274 watts. My heart rate stayed right about where I'd have expected it, and was about 4-5 beats higher on the last two intervals. All-in-all, I thought this workout went very well.
Workout Stats:(FTP=260 watts)
TSS: 65.1
IF: .883
Pnorm: 230 watts
VI: 1.09
Avg Heart Rate: 143 bpm
Distance: 17 miles
Avg Speed: 20.5 mph
Avg Cadence: 90 rpm
Next up today will be a 1 hour run with hill repeats.
Bad week this week. Work and the kids kept me from doing much at all. Here is the breakdown:
| Sport | Time | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Swim | 0 | 0 |
Bike | 0 | 0 |
| Run | 1:40 | 12 mi |
| Total | 1:40 | 12 mi |
I have got to do more than that if I want to maintain, much less build, any fitness over the offseason.
Today was a quick 40 minute run. My training plan called for about a 2 hour Computrainer ride followed by a brick run, but I just didn't have time for the ride. The twins are taking a LOT of time right now (as I knew they would), and the training just has to suffer for now. Hopefully, the little that I'm able to do will minimize the training losses. It was a great run. Weather was a little brisk, but I felt very good. My heart rate seems to be running high, and I can't figure out why. With my estimated lactate threshold heart rate (LTHR) at 172 bpm, this run had me training in upper L3, which is a little higher than I wanted to be training. Maybe it's time to do a LTHR test to see if my LTHR has improved.
Workout Stats:
Distance: 4.95 miles
Time: 40 min
Pace: 8:04/mi
Today is the first day I've run since last Friday. I hate missing runs, because I'm really enjoying it for once, and I need to get better at it. I was supposed to run easy for half an hour yesterday, but of course, work got in the way. Today's run was a "quality" session aimed at several different levels of effort over a "hilly" course. It was a dreadmill run, so of course, the hills were simulated. As with other, similar runs, you can see my HR gradually rise over the course of the run. The "peaks and valleys" in the graph correspond to the different grades of the "hills."
I felt really good today, despite not having run in several days. I have a feeling I may be in for some soreness in the morning.
Duration: 1 hour
Distance: 7 miles
Pace: 8:34/mile
Max HR: 172 bpm
Avg. HR: 160 bpm
I got the opportunity to ride long today, so I jumped on it. I rode easy down to the Cherry Creek Trail and then took that to the South Platte River trail down to Littleton and back (approximately 50 miles or so of fairly, but windy flat terrain). The ride incorporated two interval sets as well. Aside from riding easy to warm up and cool down, I added one set of 2 intervals where I tried to put forth an average of about 265 watts. Following that, I rested about 10 minutes at an easy wattage, and then did 3 intervals trynig to hold an average wattage at my funtional threshold power (about 275). The heart rate line (red) is easier to see the interval session. It as very hard to maintain a consistent power output, and so everything looks very random on the power graph (pink).
It was nice to be outside again. I hope the weekends stay relatively warm for a while. I did decide to bag the transition run, though. It was about feeding time for the twins when I got home, and I would rather spend time with them than training... especially running! :)
Distance: 50.76 miles
Time: 2 hrs 49 min.
Avg. HR: 135 bpm
Max HR: 158 bpm
Pavg: 227 watts
Pnorm: 245 watts
VI: 1.08
TSS (IF): 214.8 (.891)
Since I didn't get much running in this week, I jumped at the opportunity to run on Friday. I decided to make this a "hybrid" of the easy runs on Tue/Thu/Sat and the quality Wed run, because I expect to run long on Sun, and don't want to do too much prior to that run. Typical "hilly" run, as you can see from the heart rate graph at the left. Heart rate gradually rises to an average around 160 bpm with several peaks and valleys. By the end of the run, I was averaging about 164.
Another set of Power Pulse Intervals today. This time, I think I held the power levels much better on the intervals, but I shortened them from 8'-6'-6'-4'-4' to 6'-6'-4'-4'-1'. I was trying to do the last three at 4', but I was too wiped on the last one. I also had to bag the most of my cool down. I was late starting, and just couldn't squeeze in a full hour before work.
Once again, work prevented me from running today. This is getting to be a nasty habit. I need to find the time to get these runs in. That's the area in which I need the most help.
Missed another run workout. Work is really starting to get in the way of my fun! I guess that's jsut how it goes.
