The basic structure of my blocks are three weeks of building followed by a recovery week. At the end of each recovery week is a race to assess fitness gains. Three phases into my plan, I have been training for 12 weeks, have completed 3 running races (5k, 8k, 10k respectively) and am very much looking forward to some more exciting and taxing workouts. I'm sure I will be eating those words in no time at all as my zones creep beyond Z1.
I have never spent all my time training in specific heart rate zones and it was amazing to see the changes in my body throughout the first 12 weeks. At the start of training, I hauled my body, plump from a long hibernation, onto my Withings scale and was appalled to see the damage: 183.2 lbs, 12% of which were body fat. I started to drag myself through workouts, excited to properly build an aerobic base for perhaps the first time in my life. I was absolutely astounded to see that 8 weeks in my weight dropped to near race weight: about 173 lbs and 8% body fat. At one point, I recorded metrics of 170.4 lbs and 7.4% body fat. Never before have I been so sleek this early in the season; a fact that I am reminded of as I shivered my way through the winter and continued to do so in March.
Swim: 16:52:35 / 51350 yds 4280 yds/wk
Having a background in collegiate swimming, I am used to pounding through 13,000 meters/day (roughly 8 miles) over training trip in January. With respect to the training I know my body can handle, my swimming in base has been an absolute joke. With a total of 51,350 yards in 12 weeks, averaging 4280 yards/week, the pool and I have grown apart. 51,000 yards was a very manageable volume to swim weekly in college and 4000 yards used to be the point in a practice where my body finally started to loosen up and get ready for the hard sets. I understand that triathlon training and competitive swimming are a light-year apart, although I am very surprised with how smooth, balanced, and powerful I feel in the water despite my lack of time spent there. I most recently recorded a 4:21 400 yard TT where I negative split the swim, something I rarely do at max effort. This is a far cry from the 5:15 500s I used to repeat in sets, although this fitness has been achieved without intervals, speedwork, and obviously few hours logged in the pool. The swim is not something I am worried about at all in my races, I'm just glad to see it isn't completely vanishing despite my neglect of training in the water. Come August, I fully expect to see anything from 52-57 despite the condition I show up in. I'll let the rest take care of itself from here.
Bike: 83:54:32 / 1431.42 mi. 119.29 mi/wk
Indoor cycling has taken on a whole new meaning for me this winter. I used to think that 3 hours in a week, done as three one-hour sessions was adequate. Once in my life prior to this winter I had suffered through 3 hours on the trainer and decided never to do that again and froze outside. I made sure I had the correct equipment this Winter. Many people get hung up on equipment and I am certainly one of them although I truly believe that with the right indoor setup, trainer workouts can be very enjoyable. Of my 1400 miles completed in base, I have only been outside three times, totaling roughly 150 miles. That left roughly 1300 miles on the trainer in 2013. If I can go as far as to consider myself a trainer veteran, I have a few suggestions to make your time spent spinning more enjoyable.
First and foremost, a nice, smooth, solid trainer is a must. The Kurt Kinetic continues to earn my seal of approval each and every time I lock into it. This trainer is expensive when purchased at retail, thank you chainlove (throwback!), but it is completely worth it if you plan to spend any kind of time on the trainer. The base is so solid that it doesn't even think about moving while I am pumping 1000+ watts into it during intervals.The flywheel is smooth and unlike any other trainer I have had the displeasure of using.First and foremost, a nice, smooth, solid trainer is a must. The Kurt Kinetic continues to earn my seal of approval each and every time I lock into it. This trainer is expensive when purchased at retail, thank you chainlove (throwback!), but it is completely worth it if you plan to spend any kind of time on the trainer. The base is so solid that it doesn't even think about moving while I am pumping 1000+ watts into it during intervals.The flywheel is smooth and unlike any other trainer I have had the displeasure of using.
In order to avoid scratching your eyeballs out and banging your head against your aerobars, entertainment is a must! I turned my basement into a multimedia command station that I can control via a bluetooth mouse without coming close to leaving the trainer. I can access Spotify, Netflix, movies on my computer, TrainerRoad, the television, bumping speakers, blacklights, and for a short while, Google+ Hangouts but more on that in a moment. It's amazing how a change in stimulus can help a rough hour or two in a four-hour ride pass.
One of the major keys in staying focused on my workout and not my misery was setting up a whiteboard with my goals and protocols for each workout. On my whitebaord, I include heart rate goals, low cadence efforts, 30-second pickups in all workouts over 1:00 and sometimes quotes. A 2:10 ride, which has happened more weekdays than I want to know, feels like 45 minutes when you're focused on keeping yourself in check, following the Sabres game, and setting up songs for intermission.
My most important trainer tip is to find company whether virtually or in real life. For a while, the Buffalo Triathlon Club had a number of members who logged onto Google+ Hangouts Thursday nights at 7pm so we could chat as we worked through our workouts. It was kind of a silly setup but it was really nice to know that other people were out there putting work in with you. The outfits, virtual props, and encouragement through tough intervals were also very much appreciated. While those sessions eventually faded out for whatever reason, they allowed me to become consistent and learn how to enjoy myself on the trainer. It also helps that two of my friends have their trainers and bikes set up in my basement and they like to jump on my on a regular basis.
Before I knew it, I was completing four-hour sessions, calling 2 hour weekday sessions "quick rides", and finding myself excited to jump on the trainer to hang out with some tunes and training partners. I was a little shocked to see that on a consistent basis, I was putting in 8-10 trainer hours per week. These hours are hours I will never get back in my life but I am sure that they will be very much appreciated once the racing season is upon us and I'm laying down some sexy numbers on the bike. The addition of a new member in my fleet of bikes will play a major role in my racing this year. She has been flawless so far and spoke her name during her first ride outside, GrAce!
Run: 46:10:55 / 334.14 mi. 27.85 mi/wk
The running volume has somewhat snuck up on me. Last season I was consistently running 35-45 miles per week from December through May. Those miles took a tole on my body and left my injured through October. My workouts are based on time this year and I'm rarely paying attention to how far I am running. A few weeks into my training, I realized that I was running 30+ miles per week and it felt like nothing. A focus on time, HR and most importantly running mechanics, has left me feeling happier, fitter, and much more healthy than previous seasons. My RunSmart analysis allowed me to focus on a few areas of my running to improve speed and resilience to injury. Running still feels the same (striking pavement, muscle stress, etc) however I can now tell how I am carrying the load of my body and I know what to look for to make sure I am not tearing down my joints. The new running form I have been practicing allows my calves to take the brute of the force instead of my knees and ankles. Obviously, this lead to more muscle soreness through the calves while adapting. By design, it also allowed my knees and Achilles tendon to heal and remain stress free.
The volume is sure to increase during my build phase but I am most pleased with how well my body is adjusting now that I have a proper aerobic base. During a typical training run of about 10 miles my heart rate used to hover around the 150 mark and I'd run roughly 8:00 miles. Now that I have rebuilt my base, I can run sub 8 minute miles over the course of a 90 minute run without my heart rate ever exceeding 146. When my heart rate climbs to 156, the pace looks more like 7:15-7:30. I have a long way to go to reach the level of some of my teammates who can run 6:50 miles in zone 1 but I also understand that my zones are a bit lower than theirs so I may never achieve those speeds in zone 1 but I will be able to match it at the same HR at some point.
The race schedule has been finalized and can be found on this blog. It was a tough decision but I decided to bite the bullet and race Rev3 Williamsburg, VA on June 23rd. I have heard great things about the Rev3 races and look forward to testing my fitness against a strong field. It is a little disappointing that the bike course is longer than your typical Intermediate race at 28 miles. I would have liked to look for a PR at the distance but I will have to compared results based on pace. I expect to be at an entirely different level of fitness by this race and shouldn't have a problem laying down a good race even considering I will not have more than a few days rest heading into it.
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