Last Weeks Workouts and My First Outdoor Bike of the Season

This was my second week of training with power and that thing is unforgiving!  Great workouts and all very tough.  The big news is that this last Saturday I got to ride outside for the first time.  It was really something to see how the watts translated to speed and real world road conditions.  There were a couple things that really struck me.  First, how many watts you spend accelerating up to speed and up hills.  Second, how much easier it is to sit at higher wattage outdoors than in.

It was a lot of fun watching the power meter fluctuate and checking the reading on the tiny Chicago hills on the lakefront bike path.  We rode on the South side of the city where there is generally less traffic on the path and it's easier to maintain a steady pace.  The ride was a beginner bike session that I was helping lead with the Element Triathlon Club.  Our pace was an easy 13 - 14 MPH that allowed us to help coach and teach the hand signals and other nuances of riding in a group.  It amazed me to see how many watts were spent keeping that pace while climbing up these really small hills.  Without effort or knowing, I would spike up to 450 - 500 watts on these small climbs and started to make an effort to keep the watts down.  These aren't big hills and if Chicago wasn't so flat there would be no point in mentioning them other than the surprising amount of wattage it took to get over them.  This is good to know now.  The more wattage it takes to get over a hill, the more work that has to be done, the less energy that is available for the run later.  I'll have to watch how I power up hill and try to become more effective in my shifting and attacking hills.

After the beginner ride, I took about 20 - 25 minutes and just played around on the path to see what riding at FTP feels like and what riding at my previous pace registered on the power meter.  Interestingly enough, FTP felt like cake!  It was so easy!!  Riding at threshold was a nice 21 - 22 MPH pace and one that I could have kept up for a long time.  The pace gearing that I rode at last year put me at about 23 - 24 MPH and 10 - 15 watts higher than threshold.  This was an effort that I could hold through an Olympic distance race or most of a Half Ironman.  The interesting part was how hard I have to work to get over threshold when I ride in-doors on my bike trainer.  After consulting with my new team, Endurance Nation, the answer became apparent.  There is no momentum, inertia, or coasting on the bike trainer!  The wheel either turns from pedaling or it stops.  I guess this compliments the no BS attitude of the power meter and Endurance Nation workouts.

For those who aren't familiar with reading workout plans, the zones I'm supposed to work at are listed on the right hand side of the blog.  The 2 x 15min designation means that I'm supposed to do 2 intervals 15 minutes long at a certain intensity.  There is usually a 3 - 5 minute recovery between intervals.

Date	Sport		Training Plan	Actual
3/16	Swim	Warm UP		100yards 3 x 8 drills
		Main Set		4 x 100 Z1 + 100 Z4
		Warm Down		100yards
3/17	Bike	Warm Up	15min @ Z1	15min @ less than 151W
		Main Set	2 x 15min @ Z4 - Z5 4min recover between sets	2 x 15min @ 220 - 242W 4min recover between sets
		Warm Down	10min @ Z1	10min @ less than 151W
3/18	Run	Warm Up	15min @ Z1	15min @ Z1
		Main Set	4 x 1 mile @ Z4 4min recover @ Z1	3 x 1 mile @ 8:22 4min recover @ 10:22
		Warm Down	5min @ Z1	5min @ 10:22
	Swim	Warm Up	8 laps of drills.  Drill 25 yards and swim back 25 yards	8 laps of drills.  Drill 25 yards and swim back 25 yards
		Main Set	3 x 200 2 x 300 2 x 400	3 x 200 2 x 300 2 x 400
3/19	Bike	Warm Up	15min @ Z1	15min @ less than 151W
		Main Set	2 x 10min @ Z4 - Z5 4min recovery	2 x 15min @ 220 - 242W 4min recover between sets
		Warm Down	10min @ Z1	10 min @ less than 151W
3/20	brick	Warm Up	15min @ Z1	15min @ less than 151W
	Bike	Main Set	1 x 10min @ Z4 - Z5 5min @ Z1 2 x 12min @ Z3 3min recovery	1 x 10min @ 220 - 242W 5min @ less than 151W 2 x 12min @ 176 - 187W 3min recover between sets
		Warm Down	5min @ Z1	5min @ less than 151W
	Run	Main Set	15min @ Z2 15min @ Z3	15min @ about 8:45 15min @ about 8:30
		Warm Down	5min @ z1	5min walking
3/21	Run	Warm Up	15min @ Z1
		Main Set	3 x 200 @ z5 3 x 400 @ z5 3 x 200 @ z5 full recoveries between	Missed this workout
		Warm Down	5min @ z1

Last Weeks Workouts - Now With POWER!

As a birthday gift to myself I purchased a Power Tap power meter.  These devices have been around for a while and can really transform the way workouts are structured and their effectiveness.  Heart rate training is pretty subjective and is easily influenced by outside factors such as stress, caffeine, rest, or alcohol.  Power meters measure the wattage you generate while pedaling and a watt is a watt no matter what.  The power meter doesn't care if you had a double espresso or if you got a full nights sleep.  It only cares how hard you are working during your intervals.

For those who aren't familiar with reading workout plans, the zones I'm supposed to work at are listed on the right hand side of the blog.  The 2 x 15min designation means that I'm supposed to do 2 intervals 15 minutes long at a certain intensity.  There is usually a 3 - 5 minute recovery between intervals.

Date	Sport	Training Plan		Actual
3/10	Bike	Warm UP	15min @ Z1	15min @ less that 151W
		Main Set	2 x 15min @ Z4 - Z5 4min recover between sets	2 x 15min @ 220 - 242W 4min recover between sets
		Warm Down	10min @ Z1	10 min @ less that 151W
	Run	Main Set	40min @ Z1	Missed the workout
3/11	Run	Warm Up	15min @ Z1	15min @ Z1
		Main Set	4 x 1 mile @ Z4 4min recover @ Z1	3 x 1 mile @ 8:22 4min recover @ 10:22
		Warm Down	5min @ Z1	5min @ 10:22
	Swim	Warm Up	8 laps of drills.  Drill 25 yards and swim back 25 yards	8 laps of drills.  Drill 25 yards and swim back 25 yards
		Main Set	Don't remember	Don't remember
3/12	Bike	Warm Up	15min @ Z1	15min @ less than 151W
		Main Set	2 x 10min @ Z4 - Z5 4min recovery	2 x 15min @ 220 - 242W 4min recover between sets
		Warm Down	10min @ Z1	10 min @ less than 151W
3/14	brick	Warm Up	15min @ Z1	15min @ less than 151W
	Bike	Main Set	1 x 10min @ Z4 - Z5 5min @ Z1 2 x 12min @ Z3 3min recovery	1 x 10min @ 220 - 242W 5min @ less than 151W 2 x 12min @ 176 - 187W 3min recover between sets
		Warm Down	5min @ Z1	5min @ less than 151W
	Run	Main Set	15min @ Z2 15min @ Z3	15min @ about 8:45 15min @ about 8:30
		Warm Down	5min @ z1	5min walking
3/15	Run	Warm Up	15min @ Z1
		Main Set	3 x 200 @ z5 3 x 400 @ z5 3 x 200 @ z5 full recoveries between	3 x 1.5 mile @ 8:22 4min recover @ 10:22
		Warm Down	5min @ z1	5min walking

Tuesday Workout

I'm traveling for work this week and am out in LA. Not a bad palace to be when it's 30 and snowing back home in Chicago but getting in the workouts on the road can be challenging. Fortunately the hotel gym isn't the standard hotel gym consisting of a 30 year old treadmill and a smith machine in the space of a large closet. My company is putting me up in a pretty classy Hyatt that has teamed up with Equinox for their gym. It's $20 a day but the company covers that. Today's planned workout:

Warm Up	15min @ Z1 w/ 2 x 1min one leg drills
Work Set	2 x 12' (4') @ Z4-5 w/ 4min recovery
Cool Down	15min @ Z1

Today's modified "on the road" workout:

Spin Class
15min Run @ Z1

I'm not a fan of spin classes as a way to train for the bike leg of a triathlon. All but one instructor that I've come across wouldn't know what to do or how to train for any sort of bike race. In short, they're good aerobics classes that happen to use a spin bike. The times that I'm stuck in a spin class I usually try to feel out the instructor before class to get an idea of what I'm in for. When I asked this guy what sort of class he teaches he was taken off guard and answered "Well the music is really good". Right then I knew I was in trouble.

Was this guy serious? The first impulse that he has about the class that he teaches was good music??!? It was a 45 minute reminder of all the things that I don't like about spinning. Complete with jumps, running on the bike, and push ups. I will give this guy credit though, he did keep reminding the class to relax their shoulders, use their core to stabilize, and keep their hands light on the handle bar.

Ultimately I was able to construct a pretty good workout by cranking up the resistance every time they stood up and recovering when they sat down.

I'm not looking forward to Thursdays spin.

Weekend Workouts

The workouts this last weekend (2/28 - 3/1) weren't bad but a little confusing for me. Saturday was a brick workout and Sunday was another running test. For those who don't know, brick workouts are workouts involving two sports, with little or no rest between, stacked on top of each other like bricks. For example, this last Saturday was the most common type; a bike/run brick. Here was Saturdays workout:

Spin class with Team In Training
20 min run (10 min @ Z3 / 10 min @ Z4)

I felt really good coming off the bike but was really frustrated in the spin class. The computrainer classes have spoiled me and I now find it challenging to get comfortable on a spin bike and get a good workout in class. The computrainer classes are on my bike and are based on wattage not perceived effort. There's no faking wattage.

Sunday's workout was another run test. The original plan was to run in the Wacky 5K in River West (Chicago neighborhood just South of me) but between the wind, snow, and 20 degree temperature I decided to tough out another test on a treadmill. I admit to being a chicken with cold weather. The workout was tough but I have a problem with pacing on the treadmill and am not sure about the results of the test. According to my coaches: Don't sweat it...keep the same vDOT as before and keep training...test again when outside!

Date	Weight	Distance	Time	Pace	LTHR	vDot
03/01/09	180	3.1 miles	25:13	8:08	154	38
02/01/09	180	3.2 miles	25:19	7:55	159	39

Warmer weather can't come soon enough!

Thrusday Night Bike Workout

Last night, Thursday 2/26, I jumped on the bike trainer and pounded out a quick (45min) workout.  I don't have my power meter yet so used the heart rate zones instead of wattage.  With the way my legs have been feeling, that wasn't a bad thing.  Heart rate can be subjective but wattage (work) is wattage (work).  There's no faking wattage.  During the day I did pretty well eating.  Not necessarily all that healthy but enough calories.  Here is the workout:

Warm Up	15min @ Z1 w/ 2 X 1min one legged drills
Work Set	2 x 10min @ Z4 w/ 4min recovery
Cool Down	15min @ Z1

After I got down for 20 minutes of core work and took a quick shower before friends came over for some euchre.  Yes, we won the night and are up 2 to 1 with euchre.

New FTP

Last Saturday I went to Element for a Functional Power Test (FTP).  This is a measurement of your average wattage over a 30 minute, all out, bike Time Trial.  Like the 5K run, this test helps determine the bike pacing and lactate threshold heart rate (LTHR). The power and pacing zones for the bike and run help determine the fastest, most efficient speed I can go.  They also allow me to train in a way that gets me faster without burning out or over training.

The test was brutal but resulted in a 16 watt increase from my old FTP.  I'm not sure what that means, other than I now get to work at a higher level.  Here are the results:

Date	Weight (lbs)	Distance (mi)	Time	Speed (mph)	LTHR (bpm)	FTP (Watts)	W/kg
02/21/09	180	10.48	30.00	21	156	220	2.7

    

I'm not really sure how this translates to the road yet.  It's just too cold to ride outside, but I'm really looking forward to it.