Monday, February 20, 2017

GAR and week of Feb 20




Last week emphasised the bike. I did manage to squeeze in a few extra miles. I did the sweet spot interval ride on Tantalus. Worked perfectly except my detailed workout plan got the intensity too low. Not sure what I was supposed to do but I ended up averaging 149 watts on both intervals, target range was 148-160 so I squeaked in there. Treated myself to a relaxed breakfast at Honolulu Coffee Company on my way home. Oh, that's my new Garmin Edge 520 there. That will be a much better match with the WKO4 software I use. My Edge 800 was just too old.

My goal for the Great Aloha Run was to run at a more aggressive pace. My long runs are by design slow, as are my recovery runs, and my quality runs are by design short duration. I decided to use GAR as an opportunity to feel a sustained faster pace, with HR in the high zone 3 and even low zone 4. My stretch goal was to finish under two hours, which would be a new PR, but with the way I have been running I knew I would need a special day to pull that off.

I was right. My legs would not sustain that kind of pace throughout the race, so I ended up with a 2:10:52 (my time, not official). But I did run rather well for much of the flat part. I was sustaining an HR of 150, which is too high, my lower zone 5. For the race I averaged 144, the bottom of zone 4.

Over the next six weeks I want to do a lot more hill work, as that combined with the weekly long slow run is what works best for getting me faster and increasing muscular endurance.

ATP: 620 TSS
Planned: 295.5
Actual: 412.1

This Week

Week of 2/20 - Base 2 Week 4
GAR on Monday

Focus: R&R

ATP: 450
Planned: 737.2
The excess is due to the race is on Monday, not the usual way to begin an R&R week. Without the race it would be 491.5.

Mon
AM Race, Great Aloha Run

Tue
AM Rest
PM Bike, recovery

Wed
AM Swim, pool
PM Bike, spin class

Thu
AM Strength with Dorian
PM Yoga with Elaine

Fri
AM Swim, pool
PM Bike, hills OR swim, OW

Sat
AM Run, 9 mi (2:30)

Sun
AM Bike, 2:00 Sweet Spot intervals 3x15 @ 148-160

Next race: 6 weeks, Hapalua
18 weeks until CTTS.

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Schedule week of Feb 12

 Turn around point for Sunday's 12 mile run, half mile past 76 station.


Overall this was a good week. The hill intervals I ran on Tuesday were a bit long for this period in terms of Hapalua, but good for GAR even though I am not training specifically for that. Better to do hard part for 1-2 minutes, not 4-5.

Heavy rain on Saturday caused me to swap Saturday long run with Sunday's bike, and did the sweet spot workout on the trainer at EWC, same place we do spin class. This was an exploratory ride at sweet spot effort, 1 x 15 minutes. Was able to hold well but power still fluctuates a lot. Maybe I should configure Edge 800 to display NP, if it will, but that will only work if the number is for the current interval, not the overall ride. Will check. This week calls for 2 x 20.

Cut the easy ending part of the bike short to save legs for Sunday. Plan was 1:30, I stopped at 1:00. That included the planned warm up and 15 min work. Even so the twelve mile run felt really hard. The good news is that HR stayed down where it should be. Average was 131, smack in the middle of zone 2, but during most of the run I saw a range of 1.9-2.2 which is what I wanted. It always goes up on the return as I climb up from Wailupe to Kahala. Felt extremely tire at finish. A lot of recovery liquids and a teriyaki chicken plate lunch from Diamond Head Grill made me feel a little better.

Last week emphasised running.

ATP: 530 TSS
Planned: 497.5
Actual: 528

This Week

Week of 2/12 - Base 2 Week 2
Small taper for GAR

Focus: Bike

Note that the emphasis is based on the three week cycle, Run, Bike, R&R. It just so happens that next Monday is GAR. For that I am taking Sunday off.

New for this week is a massage session on Tuesday evening, in place of our traditional OW swim. For me this will be best scheduled on R&R weeks, which is how I did it with Sonya. We'll see how it goes.

ATP: 620
Planned: 353.4
Some of that shortfall is taper and some because the race is on Monday, so this week doesn't get the TSS points.

Mon
AM Off
PM Strength with Dorian

Tue
AM Run, base, 3 mi.
PM Massage

Wed
AM Swim, pool
PM Bike, spin class

Thu
AM Strength with Dorian
PM Yoga with Elaine

Fri
AM Swim, pool
PM Bike, easy 20 mi Hawaii Kai loop

Sat
AM Bike, 1:30 Sweet Spot intervals 2x20 @ 148-160

Sun
Day Off

Mon
Race, GAR

Next race: Great Aloha Run in 1 week. Minimal taper.
18 weeks until CTTS.

Sunday, February 5, 2017

Schedule week of Feb 6



This was an R&R week anyway, but it got a little extra R from the chilly weather. No swimming at all this week. On balance it was a hard week in the gym. As it turns out my TSS points for the week were spot on.

I decided to do the long bike on the windward side for a change of scenery. I chose a route that began at Waihee Road, near the Hygienic Store, and went a little past Kualoa Ranch to Kaaawa.  I thought it would make a good TT course, but it doesn't. Too many traffic issues to really let go and ride a steady fast pace for fortyfive minutes straight. That is why my average fell short of goal. Especially on the outbound leg, when I had a strong tailwind. It is OK to do this a little over/under, but I was too much under and not enough over. I think it would have gone better at Ford Island.

I thought about comparing this week's long bike ride with last week's but the rides were so different that comparison would not be useful. What might be useful is to examine power and heart rate. Last week I reported a high HR for fast cruise power. If we only look at the single interval that was supposed to be in power zone 3 we see something similar:

Avg Power 120 watts, upper zone 2 (94 - 128)

Avg HR 129 BPS, lower zone 3 (127-132)

Not sure how significant this is.


Last week was R&R

ATP: 450 TSS
Planned: 446.9
Actual: 450.9

This Week

Week of 2/6 - Base 2 Week 1
Slight move away from aerobic endurance to include more strength

Focus: Run

ATP: 530
Planned: 528

Mon
AM Off
PM Strength with Dorian

Tue
AM Run, hill cruise intervals
PM Swim OW

Wed
AM Swim, pool
PM Bike, spin class

Thu
AM Strength with Dorian
PM Yoga with Elaine

Fri
AM Swim, pool
PM Off

Sat
AM Run, base, 12 mi.

Sun
AM Bike, 1:30 Sweet Spot intervals 1x15 @ 148-160

Next race: Great Aloha Run in 2 weeks. Minimal taper.
19 weeks until CTTS.