Sunday, April 30, 2017

Schedule week of May 1



Last week was a strange week. Started well, but didn't end so well. Hopefully this week will be smoother.

My Monday run and strength training went well. My Tuesday morning swim was marred by a stronger than usual tendency to turn left, enough to cause me to reach out for help from some swim coaches I known on the mainland. Both offered a video analysis; so far I have not connected with someone to shoot video and static shots just don't show enough. I made that a goal for this week.

Tuesday was a post-race massage for me a Pattie. Late, but soonest possible. I wanted Samantha to get deep into my left thigh. I knew this would set me back a bit, but I would be better for it. She did, and the pain lasted until Friday.

Due to the Haleiwa Metric Century Ride I moved my Saturday long run to Friday, which meant taking the day off from work. Not a bad thing, because I usually fail to take as much time off as I am supposed to and end up with a year-end crunch that wastes some of those hours.

New shoes! Gravity 6.

Jason had me down to do a ten mile long run at a 14:30 - 15:30 pace. I usually do it at a 17:30 pace, but my goal is to run faster, so staying at 17:30 would not help achieve that goal. Going from 17:30 to 15:30 is a big step and I knew it would be hard, but I was determined to try my best. My run went splendidly until mile 6, when I sort of hit the wall. The last four miles were more of a walk. I didn't even bother to log them, but I did complete the distance. I asked Jason how to approach this week's run.

Saturday morning was supposed to be an easy swim with Pattie and Linda, more recreation than workout. The sky was dark and threatening, the wind was howling, and there was a brown water alert due to heavy overnight rain. Linda canceled. Pattie and I went to Ala Moana, surveyed the situation, and decided that with the century ride coming the next day we did not need the aggravation, so we bailed, too, and went to breakfast.

The weather report called for heavy rain Sunday, and for once they called it right. The only time the rain stopped was when we arrived. Thinking that the worst was past and the temperature would soon rise from a frigid pre-dawn 60F I decided not to wear my nice, warm GORE-TEX jacket and instead use my lighter weight Pearl Izumi jacket. I used to wear the GORE-TEX jacket when I commuted, but always had to take it off by the time I got to Makiki because it was too warm.

Wrong. It started raining just before the start, and never stopped. I was soaked, and chilled to the bone. Halfway back from the first turn-around at Camp Erdman I decided to continue would be folly. Besides, Pattie had texted me that she and her friend Sharleen were not even going to start and were hunkered down in the back of our Outback. One more reason to call the day short. As it turned out a lot of other riders made the same call, and some of my best friends didn't even start. I wonder if anyone rode the full course? I, and a lot of others, did less that 20 miles. By the way, very cool that my Forerunner 520 displays incoming texts. I got Pattie;s message without taking out my phone!

My original plan for this week moved my Monday run to Tuesday to allow for some recovery, but since I did not ride much today I moved it back to Monday. I would like to add in another bike workout, but the weather report still calls for heavy rain so that might not be possible. I will have to play it by ear.

Last week's Ramp Report. Friday's run made a nice bump in my CTL, but it should have been a lot higher. The earlier bump was from my morning run combined with my afternoon warm-up run before strength training. I was running well that day!


Summary plan vs. actual, following the plan profile but a bit low in intensity.




Last week

ATP: 450 TSS
Planned: 721.1
Actual: 406.5

This Week

Week of 5/1 - Build 2 week 1
Focus: Increase bike intensity, swim distance, swim straight
ATP: 700 TSS
Planned: 855.3

Mon
AM Run, 3mi + strides
PM Strength with Dorian

Tue (might swap order)
AM Swim, OW 1800yds
PM Bike 

Wed
AM Run, 6mi, ramp to tempo
PM Bike, spin class

Thu
AM Strength with Dorian
PM Yoga

Fri
AM Run, 3mi + strides
PM Swim, OW 1800yds

Sat
AM Long run, 11mi. (details TBD)

Sun
Bike, Tantalus 2x (20mi)

Next race: 1 week to Honolulu Triathlon
7 weeks until CTTS.

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Schedule week of Apr 24



Three significant events last week. Admin and IT support for a two day conference that consumed all of Thursday and Friday, my Garmin Forerunner 935 came in at IT&B, and I committed to a more personalized run coaching arrangement. Too soon to see any results, but I am looking forward to exciting times.

The impact of that conference is obvious, as I barely got in half as much training as originally planned. No big deal, that happens to all of us. The most important thing is not to try and make it all up this week.

I did make it to yoga with Pattie Thursday night, where of course we did leg stuff. A whole series of lunges and stretches that focused on some of the key leg movements in Sun Salutations. I say "of course" because this was on top of the leg workout we did with Dorian on Monday in the gym. I actually packed a run kit on Thursday in case there was time at lunch for a few laps around Palm Circle, but a disgruntled computer nixed that. I had planned to do a short but intense bike workout Friday after work, but when Carl from IT&B called to say my 935 was in I decided to pick it up instead, followed by family dinner out at Kakaoko Kitchen.

The decision to do more with Jason Fitzgerald at Strength Running was the result of a long letter I wrote but never sent to one of my swim coaches, Suzanne Atkinson. I never met her in person but we did a lot of one-on-one via the Total Immersion Academy, and she is a co-author of a great swim workout book for TI swimmers called Fresh Freestyle. One of the other authors was the lead coach at the Total Immersion swim camp I attended last year in Kona. I was frustrated with my situation and decided to unload on poor Suzanne, but in the process it became clear to me that things were not bad at all. This is what happens when you compare yourself to people around you, and especially when you are imagining the other folks having a wonderful time. Writing it down was the perfect process for allowing me to see my mistakes. Then, having gained some clarity and insight, along came an offer from Jason.  Running is the one area in triathlon where I have had no personalized coaching. So I decided it was time, exactly what I was looking for without knowing it.

Speaking of yoga, I did a workshop recently with Kofi Busia at Elaine's studio. One of the points he made was that the purpose of doing yoga poses was to create space, in the body and the mind. Rather than struggle to get there, create the space and move into it. So maybe one of the outcomes for me was to create the space to improve my running.

One immediate outcome of signing up with Jason is the return of the long run. I thought I would cut back after Hapalua, but if I want to get good enough to return to Kona I will have to keep the ten mile run in my schedule. This week it conflicts with the Haleiwa Metric Century Ride, so I took Friday off and will run it that morning. Just for the heck of it I decided to take Monday off, too. I never take enough time off!

The downward trend in my TP fitness summary continues. Week before last it was the concert, this week it was the conference. Next week should see improvement.


That improvement is none too soon, as my current trajectory has me sagging well below my plan to get to CTTS.


Last week

ATP: 700 TSS
Planned: 711.2
Actual: 428.8

This Week

Week of 4/24 - Build 1 week 4
Focus: R&R, metric Century ride
ATP: 450 TSS
Planned: 721.1

Mon
AM Run, 3mi + strides
PM Strength with Dorian

Tue
AM Swim, OW 1200yds
PM massage

Wed
AM Run, 5mi, fast finish (get up early) (skip if massage warrants)
PM Bike, spin class

Thu
AM Strength with Dorian
PM Yoga

Fri (off at work)
AM Run, 10mi

Sat
AM Swim, OW

Sun
Bike, Haleiwa Metric Century Ride

Next race: 2 weeks to Honolulu Triathlon
8 weeks until CTTS.

Sunday, April 16, 2017

Schedule week of Apr 17


Last week and this week present the types of time conflict challenges that can threaten even the most detailed training plan. There is a saying amongst endurance athletes, stated in various ways but, basically, "When life gets in the way."

Last weekend was the Hapalua Half Marathon, and even though I had it listed as a "B" race it required some taper and recovery, along with a focus on running workouts over the preceding weeks. From here going forward my primary focus is on the bike, with a strong secondary focus on long distance swimming. Well, long for me, at least. Even so, I want to retain as much as possible of the running form I developed, so I made the bulk of my recovery this last week short, low intensity runs. Naturally the Monday run was greeted with a great deal of complaint, but with each passing day the pain subsided.

According to my ATP this was supposed to be the start of the build phase working towards CTTS, but our spring gamelan concert fell on Saturday. As a work-around I took Friday off and planned to do a 40 mile ride. But along comes life again, this time the annual income tax deadline. I decided that morning that I really should make finishing the tax return a priority, and that along with rain nixed the long bike. I did manage a shorter ride Saturday. Had to be short to save energy for the concert, and besides, call was noon.

I woke up Sunday (today) very tired. For a solid thirty minutes I felt that any workout would be ill advised, an invitation to getting sick. Oh, and here comes life again, a party over in Kailua starting at noon. I think it is an Easter Lost Souls party. Anyway, Pattie and I really want to go, and I don't want to fall asleep after lunch, so I did my planned bike ride, plus a little more intense hill work, and skipped the planned run.

But wait, I am not back on track yet. This week my work involves a potentially disruptive series of events. There is one event Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by another event Thursday and Friday. I will not know until Monday the extent of my involvement with the first event. I know I will be involved with the second event, but the program has not been announced so I cannot plan my mornings and afternoons. This will have to be a make it up as you go along week. I have made a plan, I just can't count on sticking to it. Better still I should try to add to what I have planned, because I have is insufficient. Sunday's bike workout provides an opportunity to make up any shortfall.

On the equipment side I have decided to forego my old, standard 52/39 crankset for a compact setup, 50/34. This means replacing the entire crankset, as my Dura-Ace 7800 has the older, larger bolt pattern, too big for such small chainrings. (Gee, we're taking Lance Armstrong era, talk about vintage!) I ordered a Dura-Ace 9000, passed on new 9100 because it moves the chain line out a bit to accommodate short chainstays and disk brakes, and I don't want to hassle with second order effects caused by that.



Today's ramp rate chart shows the recovery:


Another simple chart I should add here is a CTS chart showing ATP plan vs. actual. You can see how I am falling behind. But you cannot just pile on more work to catch up. Doing so is a sure way to get injured.


Here is the real PMC in all its glory. Again, notice the dip going into this weekend. Really need to get something in mid-week. 


Last but not least, my Power-Duration chart from WKO4. This is bike only, past 90 days. Interesting how this week's efforts extended the curve at the right end (long duration) while lowering the curve at the 15 sec. point (where the vertical line is). That should smooth out in the coming weeks as hill climb intensity increases.








Last week

ATP: 450 TSS
Planned: 435.4
Actual: 312.3

This Week

Week of 4/17 - Build 1 week 2
Focus: Bike
ATP: 700 TSS
Planned: 648.6

Mon
AM Bike, extensive endurance
PM Strength with Dorian

Tue
AM hold
PM Swim, OW

Wed (box jellies)
AM hold
PM Bike, spin class

Thu
AM Strength with Dorian
PM Yoga

Fri
Bike, max aerobic intervals (do not run after)

Sat
AM Swim, OW, run, tempo 2 x 3/4 mi.
(If no gamelan could add something here)

Sun
Bike, intervals @ Ford Island.

Next race: 1 week, Haleiwa Metric Century, 3 weeks to Honolulu Triathlon
9 weeks until CTTS.

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Race plans and reports



Back in college I had a piano teacher who had this advice for memorizing music: Take your music to bed. If you are like most people you enjoy a bit of reading at bedtime. You probably see it as a way to relax. A psychologist might be more interested in how being engrossed in a story allows your mind to transition from wakefulness to drowsiness without tripping over replay after replay of the day's stressors. What my teacher had discovered was that this also aided in memorization. How? Does it matter? The point is, it works, almost as if by magic. The deeper a piece of music is memorized, the less stressful the performance. The music just seems to flow out. This is not to say the performance will be flawless. There will always be unexpected challenges. But, the better the preparation, the smoother the result.

There is a valuable lesson here for endurance athletes. A lot can happen in the course of a long event. It goes without saying that the longer the event, the more unpredictable it will be. We tend to think of preparation in terms of the workouts we have done to prepare for the event. Triathletes love to throw down the word "specificity" to show that they understand the importance of adjusting their training to match the physical challenges a particular event poses. A well executed build and peak are essential to a successful race, but a comprehensive race plan is equally essential in achieving a successful outcome. You can wing it when it comes to a one hour bike ride, but that kind of casual approach to endurance racing is a recipe for disaster. In fact, a long, strenuous workout will benefit from careful planning just as much as a race. It is no fun heading into a third hour on a bike ride having packed a two hour supply of fluids and no source of water in sight.

An effective race plan is more than a few notes scribbled down the day before the race. The plan will begin to come into focus as the training progresses through the build period. Workouts in this period will be increasingly like the efforts required in the race. If the bike course is hilly, bike workouts must include similar climbs. If the run will spend significant time on grass, as does the Ironman 70.3 Hawaii, the athlete must practice running on grass, in the mid-day heat. It is at this time that realistic performance numbers will appear.

At around one week out from race day the act of writing a race plan should feel more like documenting what has been taking place the last few weeks. The simple act of writing it down works the same kind of magic as reading at bedtime by organizing what feels like a swarming cloud of disjunct thoughts and fears. Details come into focus. Contingencies are considered -- what if the day is rainy, what if I flat a second time, what if my heart rate is higher than expected, what if ... The more you plan for, the less stressful the situation will be should it happen to you, and, more important, the less you will worry about it.

Writing out a race plan goes a long way towards reducing stress on race day. Reviewing and tweaking the plan will do even more. Use the process to visualize the event, beginning with your plan for how to get you and all your stuff to the start line. A good plan will include pacing along with expected values for heart rate and power. Tricky turns, places where wind can be an issue, location of aid stations. The details depend on the nature of the course. Reviewing and improving your plan will allow you to internalize the details so that during the race it will flow like the lyrics of a favorite song.

Equally important to a good plan is a thoughtful race report. It is here that you document what went well and what did not. The successes and failures, large and small, will become input to your next race plan.

Here are a couple examples, my race plan and report for this year's Hapalua Half Marathon, and for Ironman 70.3 Hawaii last year. I am not saying they are perfect, but they can serve as a starting point for your own plans and reports.

My 2017 Hapalua Half Marathon race plan

My 2017 Hapalua Half Marathon race report

My 2016 Honu race plan

My 2016 Honu race report

Monday, April 10, 2017

Hapalua race report and schedule for week of Apr 10



Let's hear it for the slow runners. At yesterday's Hapalua Half Marathon I finished 6,124th out of 6,526 finishers, 138th out of 143 in my age group. The heat was a challenge. No wind to speak of. 79F at the start, 82F from mile 6 to 9, peaking at 93F up on Diamond Head. The leaders did not feel it as bad, as they were long since finished by the time I got up to KCC. I took a Hammer Endurolyte at almost every aid station, drank more than the usual amount of water and walked a little longer to let it settle. I felt as good as could be expected, with a bit of dizziness after finishing. Pattie was not so lucky, forced to abandon at KCC with dehydration and an unhappy stomach, puking the water she was taking in. Most likely due to insufficient salt intake. I saw quite a few people in similar condition, and worse. Fortunately we were both well enough later to enjoy dinner at Nico's Fish Market with a friend from California.

At the finish I was pleased that I had finished at all, given the problem my left leg had given me in the preceding weeks. It turned out to not be a problem at all. There was not much time to celebrate because I had to figure out how to reconnect with Pattie, being held prisoner at a medical tent. Eventually she escaped and walked over to our car, parked at KCC. How handy was that? It was not until later that afternoon that I took a look at my data and saw I had done rather well in meeting my plan.

For the Great Aloha Run last February I decided to try an experiment to see if I was holding back too much, by letting myself go and run at whatever pace felt good without worrying about heart rate. The experience proved that I need to hold back and monitor my pace and heart rate closely at the start to have any chance of finishing strong. That result along with some recent long training runs gave me less lofty looking goals. As much as we would like to run as fast as we want, we cannot resort to wishful thinking. Having goals is good, but struggling to try to achieve an unrealistic goal will only lead to a sense of failure.

Back in January when I was developing my schedule I made this plan for the Hapalua. Call this my crazy plan.

Pace
    Start to Monsarrat: 13:45
    Up Monsarrat 15:30
    Overall: 14:00

Time: 3:03:31

Last week when I wrote my race plan I came up with some more realistic numbers.

Pace
    Start to first aid station (2 mi) :17:30
    First aid station to Monsarrat:17:00
    Overall: 17:00
Time: 3:42:51

Here are my actual results (using NGP instead of average pace to smooth out some anomalies).
    Start to first aid station (2 mi): 17:06
    First aid station to Monsarrat: 16:36
    Overall:17:10
Time: 3:54:03 (official, my Garmin time was 3:53:54)

The reason my plan paces are slower but my time estimate is faster is that I planned on less walking. I knew I would walk the aid stations, but the need to drink more water meant a little longer walk each time to settle my stomach. I thought I could run up Monsarrat, at least until the grade kicks up near the top. I did run well past Campbell, but my heart rate had been at threshold long enough that I was afraid I might never start running again if I kept going. Still, running that far up the hill in those conditions was a good effort.

Speaking of threshold, my race plan had me focus more on heart rate than pace, with a goal of staying between 130 and 140 BPS and in zone 2 as much as possible. Early on I decided that staying in zone 2 would mean walking, so I got to where I felt really comfortable and that turned out to be 144. Higher than I had hoped for, but still below threshold. For most of the race I only monitored HR, and the only time I allowed it to creep up past 145 was running up Monsarrat. That is why I was running all the way down Kalakaua to the finish. I even pushed a little at the end, just for fun.

For some reason I did not drink as much of my Perpetuem as planned. Maybe because I was more focused on taking in water, and did not want to over-fill my stomach. I did have a gel around mile 6, and I never felt bonky, so that seemed to work out well. Salt tablets were a critical factor.

You can see more here on Trainingpeaks.Normally I would end a race report here, but I feel like looking a bit deeper. If you are not a data freak you may want to stop here.

One of my goals these past couple years has been to use a faster cadence. I find two positions on this subject. One is, get above at least 80, and preferably 90. (160 and 180 if you count both feet.) The other is to find your natural rhythm and do not struggle to run above that cadence. I follow the second group. I strive to be light on my feet, up and out of my hips, and move my feet as fast as comfortable.

Below is my cadence distribution for the race. That tall bar is 70-75. My average pace was 72 with a maximum of 77, so I never even got to 80. Good consistency, but I might do better with quicker feet. Something to work on, but not to obsess over.


I have already written about pace. Here are some charts, starting with pace distribution. The highest bar is 17:27 - 16:57, roughly that 17:30 - 17:00 pace that kept coming up. The bar just to the right is 16:57 - 16:28, so I did manage to spend some time well above plan.


Trainingpeaks likes zones, so here are my pace zones. I don't actually use them for planning, but it may come in useful some day. Zone 1 is 0 - 17:25, and zone 2, 17:25 - 15:24. I spent 37% of my time in zone 1 and 53% in zone 2.


Last but not least, the time based graph. The slight loss in elevation is due to barometric changes. I avoid using altitude correction because the errors are significant going around Diamond Head Road. The left side is virtually flat until you get to Monsarrat, where you climb up to the stratosphere. There are a few crazy spikes in pace (green line). No, I was not sprinting to the aid stations. Those are caused by the GPS signal bouncing off tall buildings.


Now for the usual schedule stuff. Right off the bat I am happy to report that my recent bike work has not gone unnoticed. WKO4 has increased my modeled FTP from 169 to 178 watts. I will wait a couple weeks to see if it holds before changing my threshold setting. This is what I want to see more of on the way to CTTS.

My weekly ramp rate charts show clearly the taper for Hapalua and ending in the race itself. I was not supposed to cut back that much but I had to rest my sore leg.




A close-up of the PMC reveals more detail. The falling purple line indicates a reduction in activity, the rising yellow line shows the resulting increase in restfulness (decrease in fatigue), and the blue line shows fitness.


Now we pull back and view the PMC with more h9istory and predicting results out to CTTS.


Another useful chart is the Power-Duration (PD) chart from WKO4. This track is for cycling only, to show what needs work for CTTS. The short duration power over on the left could use some work, but the main goal is raising the middle portion and extending the sustained duration off to the right past where it now drops off around the two hour mark. I will be coming back to the PD chart a lot in coming weeks.


Last week

ATP: 450 TSS
Planned:415.5
Actual:383.1 (most of this was the race)

This Week

Week of 4/10 - Transition/Build 1 week 1
Focus: Recovery, bike
ATP:450
Planned:435.4
Mon
AM Rest
PM Strength with Dorian

Tue
AM Run, recovery
PM Swim, OW

Wed
AM Run, recovery
PM Bike, spin class

Thu
AM Strength with Dorian
PM Yoga

Fri - (day off work) 
Bike, 40 mi Kahala - Kailua

Sat
Rest - concert

Sun
Brick, bike + run

Next race: 2 weeks,Haleiwa Metric Century, 4 weeks to Honolulu Triathlon
10 weeks until CTTS.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Hapalua race plan 2017



This is the first time I can recall planning a race while concerned about my ability to finish due to an injury. I did have doubts about my first triathlon -- let's be honest and call it shear terror at having to swim 750 yards without stopping. That was 2014, when my swim pace was 5:38/100y. For Honu last year I had gotten faster, but only just fast enough to get to T1 before the cutoff time. I was fully prepared to have my race end on the beach. I did that swim at a 2:41 pace that left me two minutes to spare! But there was no injury dragging me down. Last fall while training for the Honolulu Marathon I pulled a little tendon in my left ankle that forced me to cut back on my long run mileage, but by race day the pain was long gone. My only concern then was endurance.

The problem this time is my old nemesis, my left thigh. This has been an issue for years, probably caused by scar tissue left behind when I broke my femur. The quads do not articulate correctly, the IT band gets tight, the rectus femoris muscle gets angry at the knee end. I end up walking as if I had a peg leg. And it hurts. If I am lucky the leg will loosen up as I run and stay loose until the end. After that I won't care if it locks up solid and I need crutches to get home. The big unknown is how long I will be able to run on Sunday.

That being said, here is my plan. For the GAR last February I decided to experiment with going out less conservatively. After the first ten minutes and for the next twenty I ran at a 15:02 pace with an average HR of 149. I felt fine at the time, but looking at those numbers I can see why I had to walk through the stadium parking lot. HR 149 is way up in my high zone 3, over my cycling LTHR of 142 and right at my running LTHR of 148. And that was only a nine mile race! Since this is a half marathon I should try to run as much as possible in zone 2 (126-135). I will let my HR climb up higher going up Monsarrat knowing that there is some recovery ahead, but if I can't run much faster than I can walk it, I'll walk it. My target HR range is 130-140 and my target pace is 17:25-15:24. I should strive to stay at the lower end of those ranges, HR 132 and pace 17:00. That gives a time of 3:42:51. My PR is 3:05:56 set in 2014; I was so much younger then!* I will start with a 17:30 pace and hold that for two miles, then see how I feel. By the time we turn around and are back on Ala Moana I should know how my legs are working.

I am going to try a new fuel strategy. I usually carry enough to be self-sufficient between aid stations. Last year I had one small Fuelbelt bottle (about 7oz) of concentrated Perpetuem (four scoops) and one bottle of water to be refilled as necessary at the aid stations. I ran the GAR without anything, just taking water at the aid stations. On my long runs I usually carry two bottles of Perpetuem at a lower concentrate, and just drink water at locations along the route. Two weeks ago I did a 14 mile run and added a Hammer gel at the halfway point. My finish felt stronger. Could be the placebo effect, but hey, if it works I'll take it. I always carry Hammer Endurolytes on long runs. Putting it all together, for this race I will carry the same as I used on that last long run, two bottles of Perpetuem concentrate, two scoops each, with a gel and eight Endurolytes, all taken with water at the aid stations. Aid station pacing varies a bit, roughly one every mile or two, which is about what I am accustomed to.

This will be one of the few times that Pattie and I are doing the same race. I am slightly faster than she is and I know she gets uncomfortable running with me, so we will start together and immediately drift apart. She has had more than her share of physical challenges lately, but she did have a great 10k a few weeks ago and may just ace this race. Or, we might meet up at the nine mile marker and call it a day.

* - I went back and checked. Sure enough I was running five days a week back then. These days I am lucky to get in three. It shows.

Monday, April 3, 2017

Schedule week of Apr 3, Hapalua Looms



This week culminates in the Hapalua half marathon. The Hapalua is only a "B" race for me so I am not supposed to do a full taper, yet I am such a speed challenged runner that I have to pull back a lot in order to have any chance of finishing.  Result: pretty much a full taper. Emotionally this is hard because I see CTTS coming fast, only eleven weeks out, and until now my bike training has had to share energy with my run. Not to mention that my run pretty much sucks and I really need to run more.

Early in the week I started laying out my timeline for the end of the year. I was curious when I should start training for Honu next year, which backed up into when I should start training for this year's Honolulu Marathon. The way it looks now marathon training begins Sep 25, the week after the Century Ride, and Honu training begins in late December.

This got me to thinking about my goals and how realistic they are. I did the Hapalua in 2016 as a prep race for Honu, and that seems like a good idea. My Joe Friel Half Ironman training plan even calls for some running races around that time. But is it wise to do a marathon the preceding December, given my age and fairly dismal running ability?

I did a first draft of a periodization plan that followed traditional practice of building to a twenty mile long run a few weeks before the race. I have heard people say that spending too much time out on the road -- especially running -- is counter-productive. I do not expect any dramatic breakthroughs in my training pace between now and November, and at my current pace that would have me out running for nearly six hours! (Perhaps that is what led to my ankle injury last year.) 

On Wednesday we had a Strength Running on-line meeting and I asked Jason about my marathon training. Jason recommended a cap of three and a half to four hours for a long run. So I plugged that onto my plan and ended up with a lot of weeks of twelve mile runs.

Which leads straight to the question, how do I improve? The answer is simple. Lots and lots of speed work from now and through summer. Especially hills. But wait. Right after Hapalua this week my focus shifts to the bike, for CTTS in June and DEMRR in August. Every training hour spent running takes one away from cycling. While there is some potential overlap, it involves aerobic and cardio development, improvements that happen in the base period. Long, steady, distance training. The greater the intensity the more event specific the work needs to be, which is the nature of the build period. Next week begins the build period for CTTS.

When I laid out my Hapalua training plan I had my last really long run two weeks out at fourteen miles, then a nine mile run one week out. That fourteen mile run went really well -- slow and steady -- but for some reason after that my old stiff and sore left leg thing came back. I had a massage with Samantha Wong that Sunday night. Extremely painful, but even so she was unable to get a release on that leg. I continued working on it with a roll stick and foam roller during the week. On Saturday morning I decided to shorten the run to seven miles, and at Kawaikui Park, 2.5 miles out, I decided it hurt enough to turn around there instead of the church. No point beating on that leg one week out from the race.

Sunday's planned long bike got converted to a group ride with Dorian and his Honu training group. I was already planning to do Pineapple Hill, and when I found out that was where they were going I decided to give it a try. I did consider doing the Tantalus Time Trial, also on Sunday, but I checked the 2015 results and the slowest rides were about twice as good as my best up the same route. I decided there was no point in me paying all that money to ride up a hill I can do any day I feel like it only to prove I am the slowest one there. As it turned out I did pretty much the same thing up on the North Shore.

My original plan:

WU ride 20 min
3 x 10 min @ 160-177 watts (FTP), 8 min recovery (shorter if descending)
30 min @ 94 - 128 watts (zone 2 - endurance)
16 min @ 10 - 94 watts (zone 1 - recovery)
Total 2 hours, 110.7 TSS @ 0.74 IF

OPTIONAL

2 hrs base, flat road, Haleiwa east one hour out and back. Do this after hill work. Can shorten.

Dorian's plan:

WU Waialua Park to Mokuilea end of road and back, about one hour
Two rep full climb up Kam Hwy (Pineapple Hill), on to Wilikina Dr, loop around on Kaukonahua Rd and down Kam Hwy. then back to park. About 50 - 60 miles.

My modified plan:
Do the steeper sections at SS (148-160 watts), flatter sections at Tempo (128 - 148 watts)

What I did:

Dorian's warm-up and climb to Dole Pineapple Station, turned around there and rode to round-about, ended logging there to wait for group, never saw them again. Did not log ride back to park. Followed my power plan which had me get dropped right away. Some combination of them being a lot stronger than me, or going up way too hard.

Dist: 30 mi.
Time: 2:47, 143.3 TSS @ 0.72 IF

Dorian describes the climb as having five steep sections, so I went back and looked for them in the data and found these results. Goal was 148 - 160 watts. Obviously some fatigue setting in, but those last two may also be the result of the increasing pain in my left quad.

Section - Avg Pwr
1 - 167
2 - 161
3 - 160
4 - 145
5 - 139

So it turned out my ride was about what I had planned in terms of effort. I was considering a second rep until my leg began to hurt. Given its history this week I was not surprised, and decided to call it a day. It was a hard effort, but not a killer effort. I rode (in the car) back along the coast to Kaneohe to check out the MCR route -- too much road damage to ride to Swanzy -- with a stop at Ted's for coffee and cornbread, then off to a Burmese concert and dinner party. I did finally pass out waiting for the ten o'clock news.

This week's ramp rate chart is one day off because I am writing this on Monday. That last peak is Sunday.





Here is a snippet from my PMC that shows the rise in form I can expect providing I rest this week as much as I should. As the purple CTS lines goes down, the yellow TSB line goes up. This is called shedding fatigue.




One last thing. Last week Garmin announced their new triathlon watch, the Forerunner 935. I stopped by IT&B and put down a deposit. Was going to get a Fenix 5, but this seems more like me.

Last week
ATP: 700 TSS
Planned:664.1
Actual:530.7

This Week

Week of 4/3 - Base 3 Week4/Race

Focus: R&R, race

ATP:450
Planned:455.5

Mon
AM Rest
PM Strength with Dorian

Tue
AM Run, taper repeats
PM Massage

Wed
AM Bike, extensive endurance
PM Bike, spin class

Thu
AM Strength with Dorian
PM Off

Fri - rest day

Sat
AM Run, taper repeats

Sun
Run, Race, Hapalus

Next race: 3 weeks,Haleiwa Metric Century
11 weeks until CTTS.