As i posted earlier, from time to time I'm swimming a straight 2500 yards TT--I've found that pace I hold for 2500 yards in a pool translates fairly well to my open water half-ironman swims (with a wetsuit). In practice I swim the pool TTs at a higher effort but the wetsuit and drafting seem to put my H-IM swim at just about the same pace as when I do these TTs.
On January 19th of this year I did this post about my first pool TT of 2011:
"Did my first TT in the pool this year. I've decided to focus on 2500 yards this year vs. 3000 yards last year--given my general shift towards shorter/faster stuff this year.
I did a relatively easy 43:58 for 2500 yards which works out to 1:46/100.
On this day last year I did the 2500 equivalent of a 40:35 which is about 1:37/100. I didn't get a lot faster after that and I basically did a 1:35/100 pace at Oceanside in late March (low 33s).
I'm not surprised by this as I started swiming in earnest a month earlier last year. In December of 2009 I did 40,000 yards and I did just 12,000 yards this past December. I'm really only into just my second serious swim week. So I'd say I'm about a month behind. My guess is that I'm sub 41 by the 20th of Feb--we'll see.....If I do I'll be good to go...."
Anyways, I jumped in the pool for TT#2 and turned a 40:26!!!! This works out to an average of 1:37/100 or just under 34 minutes for a half-IM swim. I did a low 33 at Oceanside last year. I hit 1250 yards in 19:59 so I slowed a bit over the last half of the TT--a reflection of the limited swimming volume I've done so far. This is none-the-less, very encouraging...to be within shouting distance of where I was last year and where I need to be competitively, after just 3 real weeks of swim training is very gratifying. My swim leg still seems to be improving and I see no reason now why I can't be thinking about a 39:30 TT by the end of February which would translate into a low 33 minute half-IM swim leg....
=========
for the month of January I did the following (2010 volume is within parentheses for comparison):
swim: 35,250 yards (44,000)
bike: 733 miles (882)
run: 164 miles (126)
time: 84 hours (94)
So you can see the effect of my change in training emphasis from 2010 to 2011. I'm doing slightly less volume on the swim (I missed a few days with all of the travel early in the month this year) but I seem to be making the progress that I'm targeting. My bike mileage is down but my intensity is up quite a bit with my FTP workouts. I have yet to see all of the progress in my FTP that I had hoped for as I'm stuck around 275-280 watts but I found during this month that I needed to sacrifice some of what I wanted to do on the bike to make sure I ran as much as my training plan called for. My run volume was right in line with what I'd hoped for. I started speed work a week earlier than planned. I've run for 37 consecutive days which has to be a bit of a post knee problem record for me. I'm very optimistic about my start to run training for 2011--I'll just need to stay consistent to keep making the progress I hope to achieve in 2011.
February wil bring a lot of the same (training wise) as January. However, there will be some shifts. My swim frequency will be in the 3-5 X/week range with a very heavy emphasis on 1500-2000 yards of interval work per session. 10,000 yards per week will remain the volume objective. Bike-wise, I don't expect to change my overall volume but with the addition of no-running days, I should be more consistent on my FTP workouts and I plan to get several 60+ mile rides in as well to begin to build some of my stamina. I want to keep my aggregate run volume up above 150 miles/month but plan to take 1-2 days off per week (starting tomorrow). In exchange, I'll be adding longer, long runs (10-13 miles) and at least 1 speed session per week. I also have a half-marathon scheduled for 2/13.
Exciting times--2011 is well underway and on plan!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Today's FTP workout and the week's totals
Did a fun little computrainer workout today:
70 minute easy spin focused on form...around 170 watts
10 min single leg drills: 1 min R/30 sec Both/1 min L/30 sec both--3 sets
10 min high cadence: 112 rpm average
2 min @ 320 watts/3 easy
4 min @ 300 watts/6 easy
8 min @ 280 watts/7 easy
16 min @ 250 watts/4 easy
10 min spin to warm down.
I then headed outside and cruised through a nice 8.5 mile run....
Totals for the week:
9000 yards swimming
182 miles on the bike
35.6 miles running
20:55 workout time
due to a two day business trip in NYC I had to substitute in a much shorter run than I wanted on Friday so ended up being about 6-7 miles short of my plan and an hour less workout time. Still a good week. I feel pretty good and believe that I've made an acceptable amount of fitness progress during January. I'm looking forward to February as I'll cut back a bit on frequency but have greater variety in terms of intensity and duration--February is focused on developing race-specific fitness as oppossed to january which was all about getting back in serious training mode after my break post Kona.
70 minute easy spin focused on form...around 170 watts
10 min single leg drills: 1 min R/30 sec Both/1 min L/30 sec both--3 sets
10 min high cadence: 112 rpm average
2 min @ 320 watts/3 easy
4 min @ 300 watts/6 easy
8 min @ 280 watts/7 easy
16 min @ 250 watts/4 easy
10 min spin to warm down.
I then headed outside and cruised through a nice 8.5 mile run....
Totals for the week:
9000 yards swimming
182 miles on the bike
35.6 miles running
20:55 workout time
due to a two day business trip in NYC I had to substitute in a much shorter run than I wanted on Friday so ended up being about 6-7 miles short of my plan and an hour less workout time. Still a good week. I feel pretty good and believe that I've made an acceptable amount of fitness progress during January. I'm looking forward to February as I'll cut back a bit on frequency but have greater variety in terms of intensity and duration--February is focused on developing race-specific fitness as oppossed to january which was all about getting back in serious training mode after my break post Kona.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
ahhhh--"speed" on the run!
So awoke this morning with another 14 inches on the ground--that's beyond the 6 that fell Wednesday morning--this me and my new snowblower subsequently and dutifully cleared. 14 inches is a whole nother thing than 6 inches (at least that's what she said). I spent 3+ hours from 5:45 am making the driveway safe for all things mobile christofferson. it didn't help that it was heavy snow, but my snowblower is definitely making the christofferson's the envy of the hood. Best thing I ever bought--cept maybe my toaster with the glass sidewalls--no more burnt toast....
Anyways, while not the same as 3 hours of shoveling, wrestling a 90 pound snowblower, cleaning off the cars, and all the shoveling on the perimeter was a pretty solid effort. No time to rest as i promptly got in a 1 hour easy spin on the bike and then my first speed workout run-wise of the year--on the tready. My Vdot (from my 5k) dictated that I set my 400 pace at 9 mph (6:40/mile) so i banged out 8X400@1:40. this proved to be easier than i would have expected and definitely easier than past early season efforts. makes me think (well--I'm convinced) that I'm faster than a 22:57 5k guy right now. The first 6 400s my HR would rise up to 162 and then tail off rapidly. Numbers 7 and 8 finally begain to stress my body as i felt it RPE wise and my HR rose to 165 and 167 respectively on the last two. Still--well below my ATHR of 172 so I know this was a relatively easy first speed session.
Which is perfect! I want to work up to 3+ miles of speed work and feel like only the last .5-.75 miles is really tough. Eventually, I hope to nail 12X400@90 sec and feel good. Today was a good first start in that direction. I've run now for something like 35 days in a row and I'm about to transistion into a 6/5/6/5 runs/week progression which will allow me to run longer and harder (as the case may be) in my workouts. My experiment with high frequency (running 40 days in a row) seems to be a success as even though my legs are always pretty sore, I still seem to get good quality runs in once I warm-up.
I finished off with a form-specific 1500 drill swim and then headed up to NYC for a bunch of meetings. Tomorrow will be a very easy day--probably just 1 hour. I'll hammer Sat/Sun and then enjoy a "recovery" week next week....
more on that soon
Anyways, while not the same as 3 hours of shoveling, wrestling a 90 pound snowblower, cleaning off the cars, and all the shoveling on the perimeter was a pretty solid effort. No time to rest as i promptly got in a 1 hour easy spin on the bike and then my first speed workout run-wise of the year--on the tready. My Vdot (from my 5k) dictated that I set my 400 pace at 9 mph (6:40/mile) so i banged out 8X400@1:40. this proved to be easier than i would have expected and definitely easier than past early season efforts. makes me think (well--I'm convinced) that I'm faster than a 22:57 5k guy right now. The first 6 400s my HR would rise up to 162 and then tail off rapidly. Numbers 7 and 8 finally begain to stress my body as i felt it RPE wise and my HR rose to 165 and 167 respectively on the last two. Still--well below my ATHR of 172 so I know this was a relatively easy first speed session.
Which is perfect! I want to work up to 3+ miles of speed work and feel like only the last .5-.75 miles is really tough. Eventually, I hope to nail 12X400@90 sec and feel good. Today was a good first start in that direction. I've run now for something like 35 days in a row and I'm about to transistion into a 6/5/6/5 runs/week progression which will allow me to run longer and harder (as the case may be) in my workouts. My experiment with high frequency (running 40 days in a row) seems to be a success as even though my legs are always pretty sore, I still seem to get good quality runs in once I warm-up.
I finished off with a form-specific 1500 drill swim and then headed up to NYC for a bunch of meetings. Tomorrow will be a very easy day--probably just 1 hour. I'll hammer Sat/Sun and then enjoy a "recovery" week next week....
more on that soon
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Putting the time in
6 inches of snow this morning with another 6-12 tonight.....Since it warmed all the way up to 38 yesterday, I decided to change up myschedule and went outside for a 65 miler. It was still quite cold as it was about 29 when I started and very damp--in fact it lightly snowed for the first half-hour or so....jeez. Today's snow was very wet and then it changed over to sleet/rain so I'll be confined to the great indoors for a while. Why again do I live in Delaware?
In the pool today I did one of my old favorite interval workouts which I have found correlates pretty well to my Olympic distance swim time. After my warm-up/drills (which was 1250 yards), I then do a broken 1500--500/400/300/200/100 set of intervals. The twist on this one is that I go on the equivalent of 2 minutes per hundred (so after swimming the 500 I start the 400 at 10:00, etc.). It's a lot of recovery time so it allows me to push all of the segments (although by the time you get to the 200 and 100 you can be pretty cooked if you do it right). Anyways, I keep track of my total time which today was 23:48. I have found that this correlates reasonably well to my 1500 meter (open water/tapered/wetsuit/drafting) time if I add 2:00-2:30 and it correlates to my half-ironman swim if I add 10:00-10:30. This would imply a 1500 meter time of 25:48-26:18 (1:34-1:36/100 yds). The half-ironman equivalent is 33:48-34:18 (1:37-1:38). Historically, I've been happy with my competitive swim times when my 1500 broken interval test comes in at 22:30--so some work to do (about 5 seconds/100)....
Lots of indoor time ahead of me so my swim will get it's fair share of attention....
Tomorrow, a speed session on the tready....and a trip to NYC--amtrak willing!
In the pool today I did one of my old favorite interval workouts which I have found correlates pretty well to my Olympic distance swim time. After my warm-up/drills (which was 1250 yards), I then do a broken 1500--500/400/300/200/100 set of intervals. The twist on this one is that I go on the equivalent of 2 minutes per hundred (so after swimming the 500 I start the 400 at 10:00, etc.). It's a lot of recovery time so it allows me to push all of the segments (although by the time you get to the 200 and 100 you can be pretty cooked if you do it right). Anyways, I keep track of my total time which today was 23:48. I have found that this correlates reasonably well to my 1500 meter (open water/tapered/wetsuit/drafting) time if I add 2:00-2:30 and it correlates to my half-ironman swim if I add 10:00-10:30. This would imply a 1500 meter time of 25:48-26:18 (1:34-1:36/100 yds). The half-ironman equivalent is 33:48-34:18 (1:37-1:38). Historically, I've been happy with my competitive swim times when my 1500 broken interval test comes in at 22:30--so some work to do (about 5 seconds/100)....
Lots of indoor time ahead of me so my swim will get it's fair share of attention....
Tomorrow, a speed session on the tready....and a trip to NYC--amtrak willing!
Monday, January 24, 2011
New Running Interval Targets
So with my race yesterday, I'm establishing my target zones for my running speed workouts. I'll keep these until I run in the Palm Springs Half-Marathon on 2/13...and hopefully adjust them to be a bit more challenging:
400s: 1:40
800s: 3:25
1000s: 4:25
1200s: 5:20
1600s: 7:15
My tempo runs will be 7:50-8:10/mile and my tempo intervals (like 10-15 minute intervals) will be at a 7:45-7:55/mile pace.
Right now my Vdot indicates that I'm capable of running a 1:46 half-marathon and a 3:44 full marathon.
Of-course these are open run times--my triathlon run splits would of-course be slower....
400s: 1:40
800s: 3:25
1000s: 4:25
1200s: 5:20
1600s: 7:15
My tempo runs will be 7:50-8:10/mile and my tempo intervals (like 10-15 minute intervals) will be at a 7:45-7:55/mile pace.
Right now my Vdot indicates that I'm capable of running a 1:46 half-marathon and a 3:44 full marathon.
Of-course these are open run times--my triathlon run splits would of-course be slower....
Training and Optimism
Was thinking about this as I pushed the last 50 of one of my 250s in the pool today--as my body was screaming at the discomfort it was feeling:
Racing is all about Ego. You set an aggressive goal--beat a time or beat your competitors and in the race it's all about striving to get the satisfaction of doing so. It's all about you. (I know you can race for other reasons--it's fun and a social experience for example--but I don't race triathlons execpt to hit my goals).
Training on the other had is such an optimistic thing. It's inherently optimistic. I'm going to do all of this work and the reason (or at least one of the main reasons) I'm doing it is because I expect/hope to do something great in the future....I think this is one of the reasons I feel so good when I'm training hard....
Racing is all about Ego. You set an aggressive goal--beat a time or beat your competitors and in the race it's all about striving to get the satisfaction of doing so. It's all about you. (I know you can race for other reasons--it's fun and a social experience for example--but I don't race triathlons execpt to hit my goals).
Training on the other had is such an optimistic thing. It's inherently optimistic. I'm going to do all of this work and the reason (or at least one of the main reasons) I'm doing it is because I expect/hope to do something great in the future....I think this is one of the reasons I feel so good when I'm training hard....
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)