Wow, that was quite the improvement. Apparently not having to stop and walk the bike through snow multiple times during a time trial really improves the overall performance.
So my testing week bike time trial was yesterday, and although I'm still not certain the choice of routes I made was the best considering the general patchiness of the path and the 6 road intersections that create a variable with possible stops. However, I'm going to go with it because it's relatively convenient and I've now logged 2 times there already.
My course is a 7.3 mile route that goes between two small towns outside Cincinnati along the Little Miami Bike Trail (a nice rails to trails route that connects to most other major cities in Ohio). Last time I rode it as I alluded to earlier was four weeks ago when there were still patches of snow along the route (see previous blog entry). On that ride, I was able to cover the distance at just about 18.4mph due to multiple slows/stops and accelerations. My average HR for this ride was 154, which is high for me on the bike. I assumed it wouldn't be too hard to improve, I just wasn't expecting the jump that I made.
Yesterday, the weather was great, but there was noticeably more wind than my first run. The course was clear, except for the other people out enjoying the outdoors who never really got in the way. Also, by a stroke of some luck, I made it through almost all the intersections without having to slow substantially. Must have been good timing. However, the last intersection just about 1.3 miles before the finish I did hit substantial traffic and had to stop completely for about 10 seconds. I made up for this loss of time as well as I could with a solid sprint once I got going again. So, without further ado...
Here are my numbers:
Distance: 7.31 miles
Time: 21:05
Avg speed: 20.8mph
Time difference (from previous best): -3:55
Avg HR: 144bpm
A huge improvement. After the original ride, I thought breaking 20mph avg in my final test would be an accomplishment. I guess I set the bar high for the next test. Also, I felt generally more relaxed (see the avg HR drop of 10bpm at the higher speed).
Along with the time trial, I also covered 10.8 miles warming up and cooling down combined at around 16.5-17mph. Just basically spinning it out. I'm feeling very good about my bike progress to date, and I still have speed work coming yet.
Tommorrow morning is my swim test. This one may be ugly. I'll let you know how it goes.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Monday, April 7, 2008
First Race Report, Sort of...
Alright, so I did a 5k over the weekend, and really used it more as a training run than a race, but I've been eager about getting into some competition so I'm going to write a race report about it anyways.
The race took place at my former university (University of Dayton) and was a memorial 5k for a girl who passed away unexpectedly from a seizure in her sleep in January. She was my age and actually was in the same graduating class/program as my fiancee. Her parents were there and there was a speech given about her before the race. Other than that portion though, the race was more of a celebration in her honor and a way to raise money for research of epillepsy (the condition she suffered from), so the mood was pretty upbeat.
There were only about 50-60 competitors since a lot of her friends live outside Dayton now after graduating and couldn't make it in, as well as the fact it took place on a saturday morning on a college campus, which means the area was basically a ghost town as far as outdoor activities were concerned. The course wound through the majority of campus and the main student neighborhood and had 1 major hill that effected the pace throughout the majority of the middle section of the race. Since I had run around campus the past 4 years, I was familiar with the layout of the course as well as Stuart hill.
I started on the edge of the front line of competitors, eyeing up the rest of the people who looked like they might run a pretty decent pace. As I watched people warmup I thought I might have a shot to take the race, but thought better of going all out and ruining the training aspect of the run after taking a better look at the competition.
Off the line, I accelerated out in front of the majority of the pack just to get myself some space to move and then settled into my pace, allowing the leaders to escape right away so I'd avoid the temptation to push too hard in the first 1/2 mile. Initially I was settled in 4th with about 2sec spacing to both 3rd and 5th. I slowly let 3rd push his lead to about 5 sec as we hit the slight inclince of the 1st half mile. I felt a lot of adrenaline, but could also tell my HR was too high, and so I slowed slightly to relax myself. My HR didn't drop any, but I felt much better. Right around the 1st mile mark, I was passed by another runner I hadn't seen before the race who was moving pretty well. I almost wondered if he delayed off the start to make it more fun to pass people. Then, I turned the 180 degree turnaround at about 1.1 in and sized up the rest of the people following me. My stomach was a little uneasy and I decided that I'd try to hold 5th to the top of the upcoming climb, but would settle to still be top 10 going into the downhill where I knew I'd regain some lost time. To my suprise, I was 5th at the top of the hill and even though the 6th runner had gained on me I hadn't lost ground to 4th (who had also been passed by this mystery late-comer). I got a second wind and my stomach felt much better knowing that I had basically all downhill for the last mile to the finish. I leaned forward and let my legs catch up as I flew down the steepest part of the hill and then carried the gained momentum into the turn to the main section of campus where I passed a few confused students here and there (since the race was so small and we were decently spread out, people not involved were not sure what was going on). The next time I had a chance to look behind me I saw I had added to my advantage and I knew that I would hold onto 5th. Unfortunately, I also knew I wouldn't catch 4th with only a little left and most of it being downhill and fast. I accepted my fate and cruised into the finish, about 10 seconds off 4th.
What I liked most about the race was that I was able to walk to my car, drink some water and put my HR monitor on and take off on an easy 4.5 mile run to complete my training for the day. My HR was a little high at the outset, but I just went out slow to ease it to a comfortable level and then was able to maintain a steady pace the rest of the way. All in all, it was a good day for training and I got some much needed competing in as well.
This week upcoming is a testing week with a bike TT tommorrow, a swim TT thursday morning, and a run TT friday afternoon. I'll update as I complete them.
The race took place at my former university (University of Dayton) and was a memorial 5k for a girl who passed away unexpectedly from a seizure in her sleep in January. She was my age and actually was in the same graduating class/program as my fiancee. Her parents were there and there was a speech given about her before the race. Other than that portion though, the race was more of a celebration in her honor and a way to raise money for research of epillepsy (the condition she suffered from), so the mood was pretty upbeat.
There were only about 50-60 competitors since a lot of her friends live outside Dayton now after graduating and couldn't make it in, as well as the fact it took place on a saturday morning on a college campus, which means the area was basically a ghost town as far as outdoor activities were concerned. The course wound through the majority of campus and the main student neighborhood and had 1 major hill that effected the pace throughout the majority of the middle section of the race. Since I had run around campus the past 4 years, I was familiar with the layout of the course as well as Stuart hill.
I started on the edge of the front line of competitors, eyeing up the rest of the people who looked like they might run a pretty decent pace. As I watched people warmup I thought I might have a shot to take the race, but thought better of going all out and ruining the training aspect of the run after taking a better look at the competition.
Off the line, I accelerated out in front of the majority of the pack just to get myself some space to move and then settled into my pace, allowing the leaders to escape right away so I'd avoid the temptation to push too hard in the first 1/2 mile. Initially I was settled in 4th with about 2sec spacing to both 3rd and 5th. I slowly let 3rd push his lead to about 5 sec as we hit the slight inclince of the 1st half mile. I felt a lot of adrenaline, but could also tell my HR was too high, and so I slowed slightly to relax myself. My HR didn't drop any, but I felt much better. Right around the 1st mile mark, I was passed by another runner I hadn't seen before the race who was moving pretty well. I almost wondered if he delayed off the start to make it more fun to pass people. Then, I turned the 180 degree turnaround at about 1.1 in and sized up the rest of the people following me. My stomach was a little uneasy and I decided that I'd try to hold 5th to the top of the upcoming climb, but would settle to still be top 10 going into the downhill where I knew I'd regain some lost time. To my suprise, I was 5th at the top of the hill and even though the 6th runner had gained on me I hadn't lost ground to 4th (who had also been passed by this mystery late-comer). I got a second wind and my stomach felt much better knowing that I had basically all downhill for the last mile to the finish. I leaned forward and let my legs catch up as I flew down the steepest part of the hill and then carried the gained momentum into the turn to the main section of campus where I passed a few confused students here and there (since the race was so small and we were decently spread out, people not involved were not sure what was going on). The next time I had a chance to look behind me I saw I had added to my advantage and I knew that I would hold onto 5th. Unfortunately, I also knew I wouldn't catch 4th with only a little left and most of it being downhill and fast. I accepted my fate and cruised into the finish, about 10 seconds off 4th.
What I liked most about the race was that I was able to walk to my car, drink some water and put my HR monitor on and take off on an easy 4.5 mile run to complete my training for the day. My HR was a little high at the outset, but I just went out slow to ease it to a comfortable level and then was able to maintain a steady pace the rest of the way. All in all, it was a good day for training and I got some much needed competing in as well.
This week upcoming is a testing week with a bike TT tommorrow, a swim TT thursday morning, and a run TT friday afternoon. I'll update as I complete them.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Post-Birthday Update
Well, my birthday was yesterday. I am now the ripe old age of 23, so hopefully in the next year or two I will be offered a nice retirement package from my employer and I can move to training fulltime while living off my pension.
I had a pretty awesome birthday evening I must say, although it wasn't very condusive to training. It led me to sleep in through my scheduled morning workouts, but hey it's my birthday and it only happens once a year. Anyways, back to my evening. My fiancee suprised me with registering us in a red wine tasting class that went for 2 hours. The topic was "Price Point: $10 reds vs $20 reds". Even though I've never tasted wines "properly" before, I am a pretty big fan of reds, and I was hoping this would be an opportunity to learn more about how they should be enjoyed.
The class was very interesting and the instructor never actually taught us proper tasting technique (we just kind of watched what he did and mimicked, acting like we knew what was going on), but I did learn loads of new information about the different types of red wines and the grapes that make them up. The class was way more fun than it even sounded. It was setup like a game where we'd get 2 wines made predominantly from the same grape, 1 was $10 and 1 was $20. Then we tasted them blind, with only general tasting notes from the producer that were not specified toward either glass. We then took notes and guessed which was the $20 bottle. We did this with 4 varietals of wines (so we tasted 8 wines total). At the end, the wines were revealed and we were shown whether we preferred 10 or 20 dollar wines. The class cost $20 per person, which i thought was a good deal for all the info you get, but on top of that they throw in a $12 gift card at the end so you can stock up on some wines afterward. I'd highly recommend it to anyone, it's money well spent for the experience. And the most amazing part was that my fiancee (an avid red wine hater) found that they aren't all evil. There were two of the 8 we both liked a lot, so we bought a bottle of each on the way out.
We left a little tipsy from the tasting and went to the Chart House, a local high end seafood establishment right on the river. Even though it was a rainy evening, the atmosphere was still great, and the fish! I haven't had good seafood in a while and I thought I was going to start drooling while reading the menu. I settled on the parmesan crusted snapper, which was topped with lump crab meat and was delicious. All in all, it was a great night, after a kind of dull day at work. I hadn't really been looking forward to my b-day, but it was great.
In other news, my training is going pretty well I'd say. I'm only in base 1, but my endurance is well above where it needs to be for the olympic race in august and I'm still building. I have another testing week next week, so updates on my speed progression (which will probably be small gains since I haven't done speed work persay) will be given. I'm not training the amount of hours I've scheduled but I think I overshot a little. I still feel like I will be faster than ever, mostly because I've started my tri-focused training so early. I used to not start training for tris fully until May, once the rowing season ended. Since my rowing career is over, tris have become my full-time commitment. I'm excited about the season.
One final note, I'm doing a 5k tommorrow morning and don't know if I'll go all out or not. I was thinking it'd be fun to throw down a good time, but it might also be fun to run at like 7:00/mile pace and just blow through the finish and keep going for another 35 minutes or so (slowing the pace) to make it an aerobic run. I'll let you know what how it goes down, though I'll probably go all out if I see that I can hang near the front of the race.
I had a pretty awesome birthday evening I must say, although it wasn't very condusive to training. It led me to sleep in through my scheduled morning workouts, but hey it's my birthday and it only happens once a year. Anyways, back to my evening. My fiancee suprised me with registering us in a red wine tasting class that went for 2 hours. The topic was "Price Point: $10 reds vs $20 reds". Even though I've never tasted wines "properly" before, I am a pretty big fan of reds, and I was hoping this would be an opportunity to learn more about how they should be enjoyed.
The class was very interesting and the instructor never actually taught us proper tasting technique (we just kind of watched what he did and mimicked, acting like we knew what was going on), but I did learn loads of new information about the different types of red wines and the grapes that make them up. The class was way more fun than it even sounded. It was setup like a game where we'd get 2 wines made predominantly from the same grape, 1 was $10 and 1 was $20. Then we tasted them blind, with only general tasting notes from the producer that were not specified toward either glass. We then took notes and guessed which was the $20 bottle. We did this with 4 varietals of wines (so we tasted 8 wines total). At the end, the wines were revealed and we were shown whether we preferred 10 or 20 dollar wines. The class cost $20 per person, which i thought was a good deal for all the info you get, but on top of that they throw in a $12 gift card at the end so you can stock up on some wines afterward. I'd highly recommend it to anyone, it's money well spent for the experience. And the most amazing part was that my fiancee (an avid red wine hater) found that they aren't all evil. There were two of the 8 we both liked a lot, so we bought a bottle of each on the way out.
We left a little tipsy from the tasting and went to the Chart House, a local high end seafood establishment right on the river. Even though it was a rainy evening, the atmosphere was still great, and the fish! I haven't had good seafood in a while and I thought I was going to start drooling while reading the menu. I settled on the parmesan crusted snapper, which was topped with lump crab meat and was delicious. All in all, it was a great night, after a kind of dull day at work. I hadn't really been looking forward to my b-day, but it was great.
In other news, my training is going pretty well I'd say. I'm only in base 1, but my endurance is well above where it needs to be for the olympic race in august and I'm still building. I have another testing week next week, so updates on my speed progression (which will probably be small gains since I haven't done speed work persay) will be given. I'm not training the amount of hours I've scheduled but I think I overshot a little. I still feel like I will be faster than ever, mostly because I've started my tri-focused training so early. I used to not start training for tris fully until May, once the rowing season ended. Since my rowing career is over, tris have become my full-time commitment. I'm excited about the season.
One final note, I'm doing a 5k tommorrow morning and don't know if I'll go all out or not. I was thinking it'd be fun to throw down a good time, but it might also be fun to run at like 7:00/mile pace and just blow through the finish and keep going for another 35 minutes or so (slowing the pace) to make it an aerobic run. I'll let you know what how it goes down, though I'll probably go all out if I see that I can hang near the front of the race.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Swim test, I am slow
So I finished up my last test of my first ever testing week. This morning I did a 900yd pool swim TT. My local pool is only 45yd per lap, strange I know. I just figured I'd work with what I got and I can play with the numbers just the same. The testing sessions were fun to break the monotony, but I'm ready to take the volume to the next level as I move into the Base 1 phase.
Now the swim summary...I woke up later than I had hoped, so I didn't get to the pool until 6AM and felt a little rushed. To make up for being a little late, I only did 90yd of warmup swimming plus some quick stretching. I definately had time for more, and could have used it too. The first 3-4 laps of the TT I was still pretty tight, especially in the upper body and had to loosen up.
I have been reading Total immersion and working on their drills as one of my goals this season to improve my swim efficiency. I have heard arguments for and against this method, but more seem to be positive and the idea of swimming efficiently instead of worrying about working so hard appeals to the triathlete in me. I think if I can swim just slightly faster or the same speed I do now, but keep my HR lower and muscles fresher, my times will improve more significantly than if I learn to kill the swim at the expense of my precious energy.
Since I have been focusing mostly on drilling in the past couple weeks, I haven't been doing all that much straight swimming. In fact, my longest straight swim since I got back in the pool was 450yd easy. Needless to say, I was expecting to fade down the stretch on this 900yd trial.
My main goal for the first test was just to get in a rhythm and get comfortable while trying to stay as consistent as possible. In this regard, I succeeded. I was able to complete the 900yd with no noticeable energy dropoff until the last 180 or so, where I broke form a little too. I noticed that the TI drills have improved my position in the water as I felt more balanced. However, I still lie mostly flat and don't have good body rotation yet, so my power output is low. Overall I was pleased b/c I was able to complete the test and get a time to improve on. Mostly I was excited that my breathing was so easy and I didn't really get out of breath. I've had issues in the past with getting headaches on longer swims and I could tell I wasn't going to be getting one, even if I continued.
My stats: 900yd time-20:22
90yd split-2:02.2
My goal split for my A race is 1:55/90yd in open water, so I definately have work to do. However, with basically no endurance swimming completed to this point I feel like I have a pretty good shot.
Overall, my training tests were successful I'd say. I definately have work to do, but I feel pretty good at this point. Monday marks the beginning of Base1 week.
Now the swim summary...I woke up later than I had hoped, so I didn't get to the pool until 6AM and felt a little rushed. To make up for being a little late, I only did 90yd of warmup swimming plus some quick stretching. I definately had time for more, and could have used it too. The first 3-4 laps of the TT I was still pretty tight, especially in the upper body and had to loosen up.
I have been reading Total immersion and working on their drills as one of my goals this season to improve my swim efficiency. I have heard arguments for and against this method, but more seem to be positive and the idea of swimming efficiently instead of worrying about working so hard appeals to the triathlete in me. I think if I can swim just slightly faster or the same speed I do now, but keep my HR lower and muscles fresher, my times will improve more significantly than if I learn to kill the swim at the expense of my precious energy.
Since I have been focusing mostly on drilling in the past couple weeks, I haven't been doing all that much straight swimming. In fact, my longest straight swim since I got back in the pool was 450yd easy. Needless to say, I was expecting to fade down the stretch on this 900yd trial.
My main goal for the first test was just to get in a rhythm and get comfortable while trying to stay as consistent as possible. In this regard, I succeeded. I was able to complete the 900yd with no noticeable energy dropoff until the last 180 or so, where I broke form a little too. I noticed that the TI drills have improved my position in the water as I felt more balanced. However, I still lie mostly flat and don't have good body rotation yet, so my power output is low. Overall I was pleased b/c I was able to complete the test and get a time to improve on. Mostly I was excited that my breathing was so easy and I didn't really get out of breath. I've had issues in the past with getting headaches on longer swims and I could tell I wasn't going to be getting one, even if I continued.
My stats: 900yd time-20:22
90yd split-2:02.2
My goal split for my A race is 1:55/90yd in open water, so I definately have work to do. However, with basically no endurance swimming completed to this point I feel like I have a pretty good shot.
Overall, my training tests were successful I'd say. I definately have work to do, but I feel pretty good at this point. Monday marks the beginning of Base1 week.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
First Bike Test, it could have been worse
So, I had my bike time trial today. It didn't go as swimmingly as the run did yesterday, but I think I still got a good workout and learned from it. That's all I can ask for.
I should have taken it as an omen when I dropped my bike loading it into the car, knocking the chain loose. I got to the trail parking lot and had to get my chain back on and get dressed to ride. Needless to say, I was already dirty and a little frustrated from the get go. Add to that the fact that I had never ridden on this trail before and I was setting myself up for disaster.
So I started from a dead stop just past an intersection, that made it easy to start at a specific location while also starting my watch at the correct time. I wasn't able to get into a rhythm immediately because I ran into successive intersections and had to at least slow to check traffic. After the first 2 miles, I was passed most of the intersections and got into a good flow for the next 2 miles, rolling comfortably at 22mph, it was the highlight of the ride. Around the 4 mile mark, my momentum came to an immediate end and the next 3.35 miles were frustrating to say the least.
For background, I live in Cincinnati where 20 inches of snow fell over the weekend. The weather took a springlike turn immediately after the blizzard and it began melting quickly. I figured the paths would be clean since roads and most concrete lots had not only melted, but dried. I was wrong, the last 3+ miles of the route still had substantial coverage in patches, so I had to slow and maneuver through. Finally, I cut my TT short ending at 7.35 miles because I hit the downtown of a small city outside Cincy and there was heavy traffic. I decided it would be better to end before I had to deal with the variable of traffic.
So, here are the numbers:
Distance: 7.35miles
Time: 24:00
Pace: 18.38mph
Avg HR:154
I thought my HR was high for the percieved effort, but if I took into account accelerations after slowdowns and frustration, it makes sense. My speed was slower than I hoped, but it leaves room for improvement. I am hoping to complete the path in between 20.5 to 21mph by my last TT before my A race after looking at the nature of the route.
Some positive takeaways: I felt great on my aerobars, my cooldown was comfortable and my spinning felt very smooth. Oh yeah, and I got outdoors again.
My swim test is tommorrow morning, report to follow.
I should have taken it as an omen when I dropped my bike loading it into the car, knocking the chain loose. I got to the trail parking lot and had to get my chain back on and get dressed to ride. Needless to say, I was already dirty and a little frustrated from the get go. Add to that the fact that I had never ridden on this trail before and I was setting myself up for disaster.
So I started from a dead stop just past an intersection, that made it easy to start at a specific location while also starting my watch at the correct time. I wasn't able to get into a rhythm immediately because I ran into successive intersections and had to at least slow to check traffic. After the first 2 miles, I was passed most of the intersections and got into a good flow for the next 2 miles, rolling comfortably at 22mph, it was the highlight of the ride. Around the 4 mile mark, my momentum came to an immediate end and the next 3.35 miles were frustrating to say the least.
For background, I live in Cincinnati where 20 inches of snow fell over the weekend. The weather took a springlike turn immediately after the blizzard and it began melting quickly. I figured the paths would be clean since roads and most concrete lots had not only melted, but dried. I was wrong, the last 3+ miles of the route still had substantial coverage in patches, so I had to slow and maneuver through. Finally, I cut my TT short ending at 7.35 miles because I hit the downtown of a small city outside Cincy and there was heavy traffic. I decided it would be better to end before I had to deal with the variable of traffic.
So, here are the numbers:
Distance: 7.35miles
Time: 24:00
Pace: 18.38mph
Avg HR:154
I thought my HR was high for the percieved effort, but if I took into account accelerations after slowdowns and frustration, it makes sense. My speed was slower than I hoped, but it leaves room for improvement. I am hoping to complete the path in between 20.5 to 21mph by my last TT before my A race after looking at the nature of the route.
Some positive takeaways: I felt great on my aerobars, my cooldown was comfortable and my spinning felt very smooth. Oh yeah, and I got outdoors again.
My swim test is tommorrow morning, report to follow.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
First Run Test of season
Alright, I just completed my first running time trial this evening. It was on a paved bike/hike trail around a local lake/park. I had never run the route before, nor had I even been to the park other than driving by. Probably poor planning on my part, but it worked out.
The route I took was 2.6miles. I originally thought the route was around 4.2 miles when I was looking at it online, but it turns out I was looking at a park with the same name in a different part of the state. However, 2.6 miles is plenty for a repeatable test and I enjoyed the route.
My fiancee planned to meet me at the park so she could run at the same time, so we met up parked our cars across the street from the park. I was going to carry my car key and she was going to lock her keys in my car. Unfortunately, I grabbed the wrong key and ended up locking both our keys in my car...oops!
After waiting an hour to get AAA to unlock it for us (Actually it was the Rescue Rangers than unlocked it, lol) she no longer had time to run and headed for home. I was on my own from there. So now onto the run itself.
I felt rushed after wasting so much time, so I didn't warm up as much as I was planning, still I think it was sufficient. I took off a little fast and could tell I was pushing too hard in the first 4 minutes. My HR was already in the 180s! I was able to slow myself down some and calm my HR and got into my rhythm. My pace wasn't terribly consistent since the path around the lake had more rolling hills than I expected. There was also some melting snow on the path I had to navigate through. As I headed to the finish, I was definately feeling fatigue, moreso in my cardio system than my muscles, which is good since my body just isn't used to that intensity while running because I've only been doing long and low work in the prep phase.
Overall I finished the 2.6 miles in 18:35, which comes out to 7:07/mile pace. I was pretty pleased as a whole because I haven't run at high intensity at all yet, and because it leaves plenty of room for improvement. At this point I'm shooting for being able to run the route at 6:20/mile pace by the last test before my A race in October. If all goes well, I'll have no problem getting there.
Tommorrow is my bike 10mi TT, so I will follow up with a recap afterward.
The route I took was 2.6miles. I originally thought the route was around 4.2 miles when I was looking at it online, but it turns out I was looking at a park with the same name in a different part of the state. However, 2.6 miles is plenty for a repeatable test and I enjoyed the route.
My fiancee planned to meet me at the park so she could run at the same time, so we met up parked our cars across the street from the park. I was going to carry my car key and she was going to lock her keys in my car. Unfortunately, I grabbed the wrong key and ended up locking both our keys in my car...oops!
After waiting an hour to get AAA to unlock it for us (Actually it was the Rescue Rangers than unlocked it, lol) she no longer had time to run and headed for home. I was on my own from there. So now onto the run itself.
I felt rushed after wasting so much time, so I didn't warm up as much as I was planning, still I think it was sufficient. I took off a little fast and could tell I was pushing too hard in the first 4 minutes. My HR was already in the 180s! I was able to slow myself down some and calm my HR and got into my rhythm. My pace wasn't terribly consistent since the path around the lake had more rolling hills than I expected. There was also some melting snow on the path I had to navigate through. As I headed to the finish, I was definately feeling fatigue, moreso in my cardio system than my muscles, which is good since my body just isn't used to that intensity while running because I've only been doing long and low work in the prep phase.
Overall I finished the 2.6 miles in 18:35, which comes out to 7:07/mile pace. I was pretty pleased as a whole because I haven't run at high intensity at all yet, and because it leaves plenty of room for improvement. At this point I'm shooting for being able to run the route at 6:20/mile pace by the last test before my A race in October. If all goes well, I'll have no problem getting there.
Tommorrow is my bike 10mi TT, so I will follow up with a recap afterward.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Upcoming Testing Week
Alright, my motivation had been waning of late. I would get fired up about training during peak work hours when I couldn't go out and do anything, then end up worn out or not motivated by the time I got home. I blame 3 things: adjusting to a work/train schedule since I was unemployed 6 weeks ago, PS3 particularly Call of Duty 4 which is just far too good of a game to be healthy, and the weather.
I thought I would have no difficulty adding in some 5am workouts considering just over 9 months ago I was waking up at 4:30am 5 days a week for rowing practice, now I was only planning on 2-3 days of morning workouts. I was wrong...turns out when the threat of someone banging your door down to get you to workout is gone, it's much easier to roll over and go back to bed when the alarm goes off. Who knew
However, this past weekends break in the cold and dreary, along with daylight savings on the horizon and the end of my prep period at the end of next week has rejuvenated me. I'm having a great week of training this week, and some of its even been outside.
Since next sunday is the last day of my prep phase before moving to Base1, I am going to be doing my first testing of the season (and ever for that matter) and I am excited. I asked some people for advice on this, and took what they had to say into account before deciding how it will go. So, here's what I came up with:
Swim TT: 900yd pool swim (45yd/lap at my local pool)--I will be looking purely at time and split/90yd (which I'll probably convert to 100yd or m) since my HR monitor doesn't read well while swimming
Bike TT: 10 mile out route (will use back 10mi for recovery)--looking at time and HR mainly to get pace, etc... I had originally wanted to do a longer test ride, but as long as I have a consistent benchmark to test against, that's fine with me.
Run TT: 4.2mile paved route thru local park--looking at HR and time
I know I should probably do the run on a track or treadmill and a shorter bike if I really want lactic threshold data, etc. However, I think I would like it to more simulate the environment of a race (real roads, closer to actual distances) so I can see my fitness improvements through time drops while also working on pacing, at least in the swim and run.
All tests will be done in the last week of every training phase (prep, base1, base2, build1, etc) and will be run on the same courses in hopefully as similar as conditions as I am able to replicate. They will all be done on separate days in the same week and will be the only high intensity work of the day. I will post results as they come.
YAY for a second wind of motivation to pull me through the remaining winter (hopefully)
I thought I would have no difficulty adding in some 5am workouts considering just over 9 months ago I was waking up at 4:30am 5 days a week for rowing practice, now I was only planning on 2-3 days of morning workouts. I was wrong...turns out when the threat of someone banging your door down to get you to workout is gone, it's much easier to roll over and go back to bed when the alarm goes off. Who knew
However, this past weekends break in the cold and dreary, along with daylight savings on the horizon and the end of my prep period at the end of next week has rejuvenated me. I'm having a great week of training this week, and some of its even been outside.
Since next sunday is the last day of my prep phase before moving to Base1, I am going to be doing my first testing of the season (and ever for that matter) and I am excited. I asked some people for advice on this, and took what they had to say into account before deciding how it will go. So, here's what I came up with:
Swim TT: 900yd pool swim (45yd/lap at my local pool)--I will be looking purely at time and split/90yd (which I'll probably convert to 100yd or m) since my HR monitor doesn't read well while swimming
Bike TT: 10 mile out route (will use back 10mi for recovery)--looking at time and HR mainly to get pace, etc... I had originally wanted to do a longer test ride, but as long as I have a consistent benchmark to test against, that's fine with me.
Run TT: 4.2mile paved route thru local park--looking at HR and time
I know I should probably do the run on a track or treadmill and a shorter bike if I really want lactic threshold data, etc. However, I think I would like it to more simulate the environment of a race (real roads, closer to actual distances) so I can see my fitness improvements through time drops while also working on pacing, at least in the swim and run.
All tests will be done in the last week of every training phase (prep, base1, base2, build1, etc) and will be run on the same courses in hopefully as similar as conditions as I am able to replicate. They will all be done on separate days in the same week and will be the only high intensity work of the day. I will post results as they come.
YAY for a second wind of motivation to pull me through the remaining winter (hopefully)
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