A little behind in posting training updates, as I was on vacation for nearly two weeks down in Florida. My training volume was off a bit as a result, although I was able to do a lot of open water swimming down in Florida, which was nice. Back in the groove this week:
Week Time Swim Bike Run
1/29 18:40 1500 212 18.0
2/4 18:35 8100 198 16.0
2/11 23:14 5500 275 12.5
I did a comparison between open water (with my wetsuit) and pool swimming by doing one of each for 2,500 yards one week apart. the first was down in the Gulf on a nice day with 65 degree water. I swam a comfortable pace (a bit below the effort I generally put into an Ironman swim) and swam 42:45, which is about 1:43/100 yards. This is the equivalent of a 71:49 Ironman swim so even with the modest amount of swimming, my swim fitness is just fine. I've thought a 70 minute swim down in IM Florida in November would be just fine, but part of me is now thinking that maybe I work just a bit harder and see if I can't knock off my IM PR, which is 66 minutes.
In any event, I swam 46:21 in the pool. This is about 8 seconds/100 yards slower or about 7.8% slower. My guess is I'm about 10% faster with my wetsuit and I probably get a modest offset to that in the pool with the mini rest and push-off at the end of each lap.
Another good piece of news is I did the Zwift Fondo again today--I last did it a month ago. This is a tough ride of a little over 45 miles with about 4,500 feet of climbing. A month ago I did it in 3:03 and averaged 149 watts and a HR of 141 bpm. Today, I was 12 minutes faster on the same course coming in at 2:51. I averaged 174 watts (about 17% more) and my HR was lower at 136 bpm. My normalized power was 184 watts. Although this is only 3 hours of cycling, it is encouraging to be up in the 170/180s in power at this point as tentatively, that is where I've been thinking I need to ride at IMFL. To do so at just 136 bpm is a very good sign. I think I can ride at an average HR of somewhere between 145 and 150 bpm in the race. These are good numbers for the middle of February and the jump in power output over just one month is very rewarding!
My run still sucks however.....
Onward and upward!
Week Time Swim Bike Run
1/29 18:40 1500 212 18.0
2/4 18:35 8100 198 16.0
2/11 23:14 5500 275 12.5
I did a comparison between open water (with my wetsuit) and pool swimming by doing one of each for 2,500 yards one week apart. the first was down in the Gulf on a nice day with 65 degree water. I swam a comfortable pace (a bit below the effort I generally put into an Ironman swim) and swam 42:45, which is about 1:43/100 yards. This is the equivalent of a 71:49 Ironman swim so even with the modest amount of swimming, my swim fitness is just fine. I've thought a 70 minute swim down in IM Florida in November would be just fine, but part of me is now thinking that maybe I work just a bit harder and see if I can't knock off my IM PR, which is 66 minutes.
In any event, I swam 46:21 in the pool. This is about 8 seconds/100 yards slower or about 7.8% slower. My guess is I'm about 10% faster with my wetsuit and I probably get a modest offset to that in the pool with the mini rest and push-off at the end of each lap.
Another good piece of news is I did the Zwift Fondo again today--I last did it a month ago. This is a tough ride of a little over 45 miles with about 4,500 feet of climbing. A month ago I did it in 3:03 and averaged 149 watts and a HR of 141 bpm. Today, I was 12 minutes faster on the same course coming in at 2:51. I averaged 174 watts (about 17% more) and my HR was lower at 136 bpm. My normalized power was 184 watts. Although this is only 3 hours of cycling, it is encouraging to be up in the 170/180s in power at this point as tentatively, that is where I've been thinking I need to ride at IMFL. To do so at just 136 bpm is a very good sign. I think I can ride at an average HR of somewhere between 145 and 150 bpm in the race. These are good numbers for the middle of February and the jump in power output over just one month is very rewarding!
My run still sucks however.....
Onward and upward!
