January 25, 2010
Week 2, and we are holding steady. Volume numbers trended down this week due to a mini-recovery cycle after the 25K TT (avg time was 21 hrs in 7 days). The stateside dSquad rode shorter CT workouts (60-90 minutes) but brought MS efforts more in line with CP30 values. We're basically knocking on the door of race-specific training. Speaking of which, we again rode IM-Cali 70.3 over the weekend since many members of the dSquad will be racing there in March. We hit it with higher P values, looking for pre-seasonal bests. I used the pacer to get me moving along from the start, and I intentionally set him at 280W just so it would be extremely difficult (for me!) to hang on through the hills. Well, we hung together through the "easy" section, but even then, I knew I was at the upper end of my "steady" zone. By the time we hit the first descent on Basilone, the virtual SOB was gone and I was left to pull my own weight so to speak. It was a personal slug fest from then on in, but nevertheless, I managed to salvage a reasonable split. It was pretty close to my real course PB, so at least I have an idea what I need to be doing to be back there again.
Run volume and run quality suffered this week. Most of the crew, like myself, are nursing some minor running injuries, and the TT knocked the wind out of our sails until Wednesday. By Thursday, however, we were back up to speed (relatively!) with our normal build workouts. Low intensity steady efforts with some hill work were the objective. No RP efforts this week.
Swim volume was almost exactly like the previous week. 4-5K total meters per workout, but we did throw in a 2K TT MS on Wednesday and a mean double pyramid on Friday. That hurt! We continue to work on extending the time to threshold effort; 200 repeats are the gold standard when it comes to this, and we did several sets of them.
A camp report from DS down under blew my mind; most attendees at his particular camp were prepping for either Taupo or Port Macquarie, so their fitness was already sky high. Total time for 5 and 6 day camps settled in the 60-70 hr range. At the infamous "major" camp on NZ, totals ranged in the 100s. Yes, that is 100 hrs for 13 days of full-on training, with races thrown in for good measure. I can attest that this camp in particular is a surreal, intense, and soul searching endeavor. A complete paradigm shift....
I'll talk more about these camps in the future. But for now, I need to focus on taking the crew up another level with what we have available in our immediate surroundings.
JFT...
Louis
February 1st, 2010
How are we all feeling? Well, I know I've reached a plateau in performance. There were no BTWs to speak of, so I view that as a sign to ease back off the pedal. On top of this, I'm going to the Caribbean on the 7th for a run camp with my wife. In preparation for the camp, I am anticipating a very light training week from now until departure. As for the crew who attended a tri-camp in January, it appears that the post-camp depression has hit hard. The guys down under don't even want to look at their bikes, much less swim and run. The routine of going from 9-12 hour training days to the recovery/absorption phase does it every time. The sharp departure from high end, high volume work messes up the adrenals until they can settle down and return to balance. This takes a few weeks. With hormones ebbing and flowing, and not a lot of activity to compensate, depression usually sets in (think post IM depression X10), but it usually resolves itself when the adrenals recover. It is a necessary evil of the camp, but on the flip side, 4-6 weeks down the road, these guys will be blowing doors off their competition.
Here are the numbers: In the pool the stateside crew completed 5K+ meters per workout. Only three swims this past week, but all were big meters; over 10 miles of drill, steady state, speed, kick and band. I think I got a swim-bump from all the meters, but at the expense of B/R. Total swim time averaged 6 hours.
Tuesday's bike work wasn't especially ego-boosting since the selected course for that particular day was difficult, and made more so with the dreaded pacer. The committee selected the Windbach 48K CT course to be completed with pacer set at threshold. Well, you know what that means. The pacer cranks up to CP from the gun, and you find yourself in oxygen debt fairly quick, just trying to hang on. I was immediately in trouble struggling to stay with him and thus by midpoint, I took all I could take and had to drop off. From that position to the end, it wasn't pretty. Other dSquad athletes had similar experiences so the bottom line is that we (me) are just not ready for extended threshold efforts. More work needs to be done here, so the next threshold workout will be modified in order to bridge back up to extended threshold efforts. Fortunately, Thursday's work was more in line with current ability; 40 miles at 85%CP30. We all felt better than Tuesday's debacle and some finished the CT course with seasonal best times. Not me though. I sat squarely in the center of the average times recorded for 5 runs on the course...another sign that a back off would be well received by the legs. Nonetheless, for Saturday's brick, we broke up the B/R with a 70.3 effort at CP90, followed by a 30min run, followed by a 5 mile TT hard (CP5), followed by a 30 min run, accomplished at a slightly faster pace than the previous run. It was kick ass fun, and although it wasn't "knock me over" difficult, it was an effective transition workout. Total bike time average for the week was about 13 hours.
Nothing exciting to report for the run week. Steady state runs were the standard effort, but when the crew got on the TM, they mixed it up a bit with a few hill repeats. The 10 mile TT went off as planned, but a sore back (the result of horseplay with my kids!) affected my result. I was way off due to the compensation but CV fitness felt awesome. For some of the other guys who did a TT, they reported solid efforts. It looks like I have my work cut out for me. Total run time average for the dSquad was 5 hours.
And there you have it; Total training time in S/B/R (not including strength, yoga and stretching) came out to 24 hours for the crew. I'll report back when I return from the islands.
JFT
Louis
February 15, 2010
Back home, and back in the frigid hell we call St. Louis. Man, I really hate this weather, the Midwest, and winter in general, so then the question becomes "why do I make my family live here?" I ask myself this every waking day. Sadly, the only answer I find is that I got a pension coming, full bennies, and a lot of vacation time to spend getting the hell out of here. Of course, I use it at every available opportunity and go somewhere warm, and easy on the eyes. Islands? So-Cal? All good.
The dSquad got back in the groove and posted some impressive numbers for the run emphasis week. Total run time averaged 14 hours with and average of 82 miles. My miles were a mix of road and trail, so I racked up as much as I could at the slower pace (and in island heat!), but the members on the coast did all trail, and still managed totals in the eighties and nineties. There was no biking on my part, but I did six open water swims totaling about 6 hours. I have a sense that other members biked (non-recorded) and swam around 10K for the week, but to the extent and intensity of these efforts, I am unaware of any real numbers. Maybe I don't want to know. DS headed to the SI of NZ for additional bike work and admits openly that he is completely over trained. Yet, he goes anyway. Go figure. After all, IM-NZ is only 3 weeks away! Why not put that final nail in the coffin?
JC, and SM are still mulling over the idea of doing NZ and yet haven't fully committed. To me, that is crazy, but it works for them, and with the times they post in IMs, (a couple of overall wins between them), who am I to question.
Well, that is about it. About 20 solid hours of swim/run for the crew and we're not dead yet. This week we will throw the bike back into the mix and see how our bodies respond.
JFT...
Louis