Crap! I am stronger and faster on the bike and running

And you know what that means....I get to work HARDER. I want to give a big, heartfelt thank and f*** you to my coach (thanks are for results and the other is for making me work hard and he knows I mean that in the nicest way) for working with me on a crazy, frequently changing schedule of races and other events the past 3 months with the net result that I am stronger/faster biking and running than I was 3 months ago. Let's not talk about my swimming--I pretty much ignored it this past month, but plan to get back to it in a big way this winter.

Since IM Brazil, I've done (2) 200K rides (one with 15,000 ft. of climbing), 1 1/2 IM, 2 sprint tris and a lot of biking. I put up 835 miles of biking for August and 114 miles of running (run volume down somewhat, but very high quality running nonetheless).

I saw glimpses of strengh improvements about 2 months ago as I recovered from IM Brazil and my body was able to consolidate fitness gains from that training cycle, and I dropped down a bit in training volume (note: "bit" to me is like 30-45 min. per week) and upped the intensity via some shorter races, and then decided to not do another IM this year, but went ahead with my plan of putting in a lot of biking miles in August.

Today, the last day of August, the last day of meteorological summer, I was sort of scheduled to do a bike FT test. I didn't really have a full training schedule for this week, but figured I could wing it. My coach had sketched a few things out, and the bike test was on there.

Last weekend I rode 65 miles on Sat. at close to HIM pace, ran quite comfortably off the bike about 5 miles, and then rode 200K on Sunday at better than IM pace (which shocked the hell out of me as I didn't think I'd be able to go that pace being 4 weeks straight of heavy biking). Monday I took a rest day, and my legs felt pretty trashed. On Tuesday, I felt like lifting weights, so I did that (about an hour), and then went to run on the treadmill (to give my legs a break from road running) for 45'. I was going to do 10' of strides, but the run felt good and my HR was in the dumpster (it was 51 when I literally jumped onto the treadmill), so I blew off the strides and just increased my speed every 5'. Yesterday I figured I should run for an hour (still didn't feel like waking up at 5AM to go swim), and did that, and well the weather was just so beautiful that it ended up being a full 1 hour of tempo running. Now, my legs were a bit sore, but nothing to slow me down.

Today I thought, OK, I'll try the bike FT test. I had no idea if I could manage the effort. Since IM Brazil, the longest amount of time I have spent at FT (other than during the 2 sprint races I did) was 10' at a time. The test is 2x20' with 2' easy in between, and then get normalized power for the whole 42'. The most total time I've spent at FT since early July is 24' in a single workout. Wow. Back to the hard stuff, huh?

I got out on my bike and began the warmup. Legs still felt a little cooked from the prior week''s biking festival as well as from some good running the last 2 days. But I've learned that you have to give that warmup time; that's what it's for. So on I went, already preparing to negotiate with my legs if they decided not to cooperate today. I would just fire up the first FT interval and see how long I could go. I always do my weekday interval rides near home with the main set on a 3-mile loop which has one very short, steep rise, about 1 mile of steady rollers and the rest is mostly flat. Winds make it interesting, but it's the best I can do, and it works for me.

As soon as I get to the loop, my brain kicks into "It's time to work" mode. It almost doesn't matter how my legs feel--there is just this switch that is set to the ON position, and that is where it will stay until I am off the loop.

My SRM doesn't read me normalized power (the newer Ergomo does, though, but I am not converting until I get another bike, I still love the SRM), but I've learned to know about what it will be based on average power, which it does show. But I don't look at average power while I'm doing an interval--I just look at what are my watts NOW? And I know that I need to keep them at or above a certain level in order to achieve a certain average or normalized power. Based on the readings I had been seeing on my weekly interval ride (even though they were short intervals of 8-10'), I figured I should be able to maintain at least 180 watts. Or at least that would be enough. So, with the wind and terrain changes, I just zeroed in on at or over 180 watts. When I'd get the brief tailwind, I could easily go over 200, and so I did. When I was 10' into the first interval, my legs felt the effort, but I could tell they could keep going.

I finished the first interval with average watts of 181. I figured normalized would be higher, but if that's all I got today, hey, I'll take it. I wanted to know at least that I hadn't degraded my last FT measurement of 177 which was made on May 3. So it's good.

During my 2' of "rest," I soft-pedalled and drank a bunch of (yummy) mango Gatorade. I don't use my aerobottle on these short rides, so it's a nice break to sit up and yank the bottle from behind my saddle and take a big giant pull (FYI there will be big, giant pulls out of at least one beer bottle later today!).

Naturally, I wondered if I could keep up the same or better effort level for the next 20' interval. I fired it up, and thought about Ms. Ultratriathlete Leslie (a woman on a LISTSERV) and her thoughts that she sometimes has and I asked myself whether my legs hurt, and the answer was no, and I had those same questions rolling around in my head about why do I keep doing this and what's the point and why is this important to me and why don't I just give in to the discomfort and stop, and the only answer I had for them was KEEP PEDALLING, and so I did. I couldn't tell if the winds were different or had shifted for the second interval--I was just this rolling energy machine. I had to remind myself to look for cars and peds and such, as I was so focused that mostly I just wanted to look at the asphalt. Yes, there were many minutes of my tongue hanging out of my mouth like some half-crazed rabid dog. Whereas I had had a low HR on the treadmill 2 days ago, I had no trouble getting my HR up today, although it was still moderated due to the cool temperatures.

I finished the second interval, and average watts were 183. I figured my normalized would be higher, but I didn't get all happy just yet, however I had this giant grin for my "victory lap" and the entire way home.

I had remembered that on my half-finished training schedule it said I was supposed to run 30' off the bike, and now I had to decide whether I was going to or not. I didn't feel like I needed to; but then I remembered it was the last day of summer, so why not? But I decided that 25' would be enough, as I had already been gone long, and I have to leave work at 5 to go get a massage.

It had been, well, since May, that I had run off of one of these workouts. It is not a pretty sight! I ran, not my best pace, but I figured it was more due to not "practicing" running off of such a high intensity ride, and that it will come back (unfortunately--I will be doing this more often again this fall I am SURE). Besides, my run legs have been rather confused with all the biking I've been doing. Sure I can run, but some days the legs just aren't into it. Today was the slowest running I've done in several weeks! But I was happy to do it.

Oh, yeah--my running has improved the last 3 months, too. Not by leaps and bounds, but I am sustaining faster paces during my long runs and let's say anything 1 hour or longer. So my mid-range speed is picking up. I am just not a sprinter, so I really don't care how fast I am at 5K distance, but I have been doing lots of 5K intervals, and I guess they work! I may go run an open 1/2 mary in a few weeks just to see if I am right. But I have been very pleased to see my running improve AND my biking at the same time. It is like last winter when I had a huge run focus and I also worked hard on the bike, and voila, this spring I was better at both!

Well, after I got done with the brick, I had to shower and do a conference call for work, so I put off the ever-popular download of the SRM data to see what my normalized power would be. I downloaded, loaded the file into Cycling Peaks, and first looked at normalized watts for the 2 FT intervals--188 and 189. Yikes! OK, let's see what I get when I add in the 2' (actually I lost focus for a little bit there and went 2:30 for the rest period) rest: OMG 186!

So....what does all this mean? Well, that I get to reset my work ranges for both running and biking. I already run by time, so I have just been getting in more mileage in the same amount of time, so that's already underway. With the biking, I had been working towards the upper end of my prior ranges, but now I have new targets.

My FTP has gone up from 177 to 186 in 3 months. That's only a 5.1% increase, but hey, I'll take it (since a year ago my FTP is up by 18.5%). My power to weight ratio is now 3.65 (my weight has not changed in the last 3 months). I think I might even be OK with letting myself get a little out of shape this fall before I begin my ramp up for 2007 Goofy Challenge. Biking anyway--the funny thing is the faster I get at running, the more I like it. I suppose that's how it goes. And then I will be able to do some work on my lacksadaisical swimming. I just haven't been so motivated to work so hard in that area.

Someone on Slowtwitch.com forum made the "brilliant" statement that getting better is more about training volume than anything else. It was a gross generalization, but I do believe it's true. Combine that with consistency, a little speed work every now and then, a little focus on one sport for a period of time, and it's amazing what you can accomplish. Now, I am still not fast by a long shot, but I am still improving, and that is the coolest thing I will be thinking about when I turn the big 5-0 in 2 months.

I have really enjoyed my past 3 months where, although I haven't been training for an IM, I have kept up a pretty consistent weekly volume of almost 17 hours per week, had fun doing it, did not have the IM thing hanging over my head, and bonus, I got fitter! But I am looking forward now to reduced training volume and enjoying the fall a bit before the weather relegates me to the treadmill and trainer.

I still love this stuff!

For the curious amongst you, my last 4 weeks of training hours went like this:
7/31: 19.95
8/7: 17.29
8/14: 17.65
8/21: 18.80

This week I should drop down to about 13, and stay at probably 13-14 for the next 2 months. It's been a helluva post-IM ride, and I'm enjoying it. Hell, I may even go swim tomorrow!

Idling

I finally came up with the word to describe my state of mind the past few days. "Idling." I am taking it easy after 4 weeks in a row of heavy duty cycling (when I feel like it I'll actually post on it), and just letting my mind wander and my body rest.

My pool was closed last week, and in my laziness, I only swam once. It is closed this week, too, and I got my stuff all ready to drive somewhere else to swim this morning, but I just didn't feel like getting out of bed. I might swim tomorrow, I might not.

I did run and lift yesterday, and am about to go run today. Whenever it turns to fall, as is rapidly happening now, I find myself needing to make some changes with the seasons. I am undecided whether I will do my solo 1/2 Ironman next week. I probably will, but I am sure enjoying some major rest right now.

It is interesting to me to watch all the hype as Ironman races go on throughout the summer and I am not training for one. It is nice to see people all excited about finally bearing the fruits of their labors at IMCDA, IMLP, IMC and the upcoming IMWI and IMFL. But I am finding for myself that this mental break from Ironman is something I really needed. It is uncomfortable in spots, as I was so used to the hubbub of twice daily workouts and focusing everything on a goal far away, but that discomfort is something I know that I need for my mental and spiritual growth at least once a year.

So for the time being, I am idling. It is sort of like a taper, but I have none of the psychosis that is common to a taper. I am OK with exercising and eating less, and OK that there is not some big, huge production about to happen. Maybe I will regain a bit of excitement when I'm at IMWI next week, maybe not. It will be nice to see my coach in person and get some quality time with him. I think he already knew I was headed for an idle period when he said to me, "You are doing an awful lot of training for someone who is not training for anything." But hey, it's mission accomplished--time to settle down for a few months and recharge the mental and physical batteries. There should be some major fitness settling in here for a few weeks, and all I need to do is maintain it for a few months, and then I will shift gears again and go into marathon training mode.

Every time I do it, whether an actual taper or just a transitional period, I find that idling helps me to consolidate things. You know how when a car idles too fast it means there is a problem with the engine? I think that sometimes I want to idle at higher and higher speeds, but then my self-diagnostics kick in and I realize that that idle needs to be at a consistent level for my own peace of mind.

And boy, have I learned how to idle! I am sleeping a lot, and I am not committing myself to anything I don't need to do. It is uncomfortable mentally, but glorious physically and the mental side will come along in a few days, I am sure! It reminds me that there are many more things I can enjoy besides triathlon. In a way, idle mode is just being in the moment--you are prepared to either rev it up or shut it down completely, but you need to be OK with the idle speed.

I will check in when the RPM's increase. I did have to laugh yesterday when I finally got to the gym and onto the treadmill (albeit with a little bit of hurry in my step), my heart rate read a bounding 51, after literally running to the treadmill. It didn't go up very much even though I ran fairly hard. How nice!

Enjoy your week, whether you are idling or revving your engine!