The beat goes on--3 big weeks in a row and a record January

This past week was much like the two prior:

Swim: 12,000 yards

Bike: 405.9 miles

Run: 4.4 miles

Time: 29:05

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January is now complete and I set record months in the Swim and Bike.  Here are the totals:

Swim:  47,850 yards

Bike: 1,714 miles

Run: 19 miles

Time: 124:00 

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Here is how this compares to my top 5 months all time in each discipline:

As you can see, I just barely set a new monthly volume record for the Swim.  On the bike, I by-far had my biggest month ever.  Time-wise, it was my third biggest month.  I feel especially good about these totals as I lost 3 days driving Jen out to Kansas and returning, so these totals are effectively for 28 days.

This next chart shows how this January compares to my prior Januarys:

I show the past three years for comparison--my commitment to swimming at the outset this year is substantially more than the past 3 years and is kind of a throw back to ten years ago when I used to do big swim blocks in the winter. 

While this year was huge on the bike, it's similar to the last two years as I've been in "bike monster" mode on Zwift to kick things off in the new year.  I deemphasized my run again this year and probably won't start ramping it up until the spring.

It's interesting to compare this January to my 11-year averages....my relative commitment to the three disciplines has radically changed over the last couple of years!

I set aggressive goals for the swim and bike this January and basically met them and then some.  Onward and upward!

Twins!!! Two big, very similar weeks back-to-back. Plus Zwift Badge Hunting

 Two updates in this post.  Firstly, I was able to stay on a roll and continue to put down, what for me is, big swim/bike efforts.  Here is what I did this past week:

Swim: 11,200 yards

Bike:  404.5 miles  (first time ever back-to-back 400+ mile weeks)

Run: 7.7 miles

Weights/Yoga: 1 hour

Total Time: 29:45

Totals through the first 23 days:

Swim: 33,350 yards

Bike: 1254 miles

Run: 15 miles

Weights/Yoga: 4 hours

Total time: 90:23

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Second, a fair amount of my riding right now is on Zwift.  One of my objectives within the Zwift metaverse is to ride all of the designated (badge eligible) routes.  When I first decided this in November/December, I had done about 50 of the then 82 routes.  Since then, Zwift has added 22 new routes with the Makuri Island world.  At this point I have completed 84 of the 104 routes (81%).  However, the final 20 are the real tough ones so in terms of distance I'm 54% complete and in terms of climbing I'm at just 44%.  While, this really isn't a m major driver of my training plan, I would like to knock off the rest of them this year, and ideally by the end of April.

Here is a summary of my current progress:

2022: Off to a big start!

So, here we are, the 3rd Sunday of 2022!  I thought I'd give you a quick update on the first 16 days of training in 2022.  

As I mentioned in the previous post, I'm aiming for some big bike numbers ("Bike Monster") early in the season and I'd also like to put up 120,000 yards of swimming through the end of March (40,000/month).  My plan was also to do a bunch of weight/yoga sessions at a form of self-PT.  My plan was to deemphasize run/walk/climb/hike in the early part of the year.

I'm pretty much right on plan so far.  I just finished a really big week:

Time: 30:45

Swim: 11,000 yards

Bike: 444.4 miles

Run: 3.0 miles

Weights/Yoga: 63 minutes

Through the 1st 16 days of January, here is where we are at:

Time: 60:38 (3:45/day)

Swim: 22,150 (1,385 yards/day)

Bike: 848 miles (53/day)

Run: 7.3 miles (0.46 miles/day)

Weights/Yoga: 3 hours (11.3 minutes/day)

The January totals include three days where I drove to Kansas and back, so the above totals are really for effectively 13-14 days.  Any way you look at it, this is a lot of volume for me--especially in early January when my A race is in October.

Here is snapshot of Slowtwitch's Annual Aerobic "points" contest called the Big Kahuna--I won't stay here but I'm leading the way so far.  Last year I finished 10th (out of 248)....

2021 Year In Review

Over the next couple of weeks I plan to post a series of "Year-in-Review" updates as well as pivot towards my plan for 2022.  First up is a summary of my total training volume in 2021 as compared to the prior 10 years: 

Several points are probably worth highlighting:

1. 2021 was a year where I made a concerted effort to ramp up my swim volume.  I popped over 300,000 yards right before Christmas on a swim with Anders at his health club in Cali.  I'm taking this week off from swimming as my local pool is undergoing its annual maintenance, but I plan to hit the swim hard again in 2022--right from the get-go.  In early 2021, I wasn't able to swim much due to CoVid and so comparatively I would expect to have a much stronger first quarter in 2022.  My expectation would be to set a new annual swim volume record this year (359,000 is my current record) and perhaps get close to 400,000 yards.  I'd like to average over 40,000 yards/month for the first three months in 2022.

2. My run volume was off dramatically in 2021, which was a conscious choice.  My knee really needs to be replaced (hopefully after Kona in late 2022) and so I had decided to mostly focus on swim/bike with a plan to ramp up my run volume during the summer.  I had begun to do that when Kona was cancelled again in August and I stopped running and pivoted to mostly hiking/walking/climbing.   My plan is once again focus on swim/bike during the 1st quarter in 2022 as I think that's my best bet as far as getting ready for Kona, with my knee.

3.  I had another big bike year and probably would have surpassed 2020 if Kona had stayed on.  As it was, I did 12,791 miles on the bike, which is an average of 35 miles every day in 2022.  I'm going to hammer the bike again ("bike monster") in Q1 with the majority of that in Delaware on my Zwift Kickr bike.  Given CoVid, I'm currently not planning any Q1 warm-weather camps at this time.

4.  I'd also point out that 2015 was low due to my back problems that year and the need for me to take the year off from training...

2021 Training phase review and initial thoughts about 2022 training plan

Find below weekly (trailing 4-week average) Training Hours, Swim Yardage, and Bike/Run Mile charts.  I also highlighted, what I would call different "phases" to my training as the year unfolded.  Here is that interpretation:

1.  Started the year with a major focus on the bike, as part of my "Bike Monster" strategy.  I ramped up to my highest volumes very early in the year as I had set the foundation for that in Nov/Dec 2020 out in Palm Springs.  I actually had my biggest bike mileage the week of 1/18 where I hit 375 miles (including a 164-mile day).  I wasn't able to get into the pool (due to Covid) until that same week and began a big swim surge then.  Due to my knee, I limited my "run" to an occasional hike.

2.  My bike volume began to dip a bit in February as I surged my swim and I had my biggest swim week the week of 2/22 (15,000 yards).

3.  Decided to do Eagleman with Anders as it seemed like Covid might recede a bit and we had our vaccinations and so beginning the week of 4/26 I actually began to run some and ramping that led to lesser volume on the bike/swim.

4.  Generally, from mid April through mid August I was in an Ironman build phase (first to get ready for Eagleman and then get ready for Kona).  My volume didn't really jump (20-25 hours/week of training) but I began to do longer bikes and swims (and rarely longer runs).

5.  In the middle of this build, I threw in a taper/recovery phase around Eagleman, which was a real success for Anders and I.

6.  On 8/19 Kona was cancelled for 2021 and I basically pulled the plug on serious training in 2021.  I still rode a fair bit (because I always do) but my swim began a pretty steady fall-off.  In contrast, I started hiking/walking more (my "run") as I no longer needed to save my legs for Bike Monster.

7.  I basically just exercised (and not that much) from mid-October to mid-November as we had Alex' wedding, Anders IM down at IMFL, and then a mini-vacation down in Florida.

8. Beginning mid-November I began ramping up the bike (especially) and lately the swim (while maintaining a fair amount of hiking).  This has led to a ramp in my total training effort and I actually had my 4th biggest week just this past week--I'm basically replicating the foundation work I did in Nov/Dec last year, but starting just a couple of weeks later.

Here's what all of this looks like in charts:

Looking ahead to 2022, I have decided to do a big Swim/Bike block (with limited run work) during the 1st quarter.  This will look similar to early 2021 but hopefully with more swim volume.  More on my plans later...

One possible blip is we were at a party this weekend and in close contact with someone who tested positive for Covid.  We are fully vaxed, and in pretty decent shape, so hopefully this won't become an issue.  In the mean-time we are laying a bit low and following CDC guidelines....

Onward and upward (I hope)!

 

OK, it's on. I'm going to give this one last time--it's all eyes on KONA 2022

 Sorry for being so radio silent for so long.  With this post, I promise that will change (not that it really matters!)

Quick background/bring up to speed:

--I really need to get a total knee replacement of my left knee.

--Anders and I qualified for Kona at IMAZ in 2019--plan was to do Kona in October '20 and then get the kneedone and move on to the next phase of life (trans-continental bike ride at the top of the list)

--COVID

-And this year COVID again....

--Meanwhile, my knee has really deteriorated.  I mean it has got to the point where I really can't sleep for more than say 30 minutes.  GRRRRR...

--Anyways, it is what it is.

--Kona is "on" for next October and so for the second year in a row, I'm postponing my total knee replacement (in part because my surgeon says no Kona if I get it done).

--Not looking for sympathy nor for you saying I should do something different because:

--I'm full send on Kona 2022!

--I'm now on that path...going to be tough but its not a sacrifice because its what I want to do with this one crazy life I have.....

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So, I though I'd bring you up to date on the whole training thing and you know me--that means data and graphs....

So, find below an analysis of this year versus 2019 (when I qualified--but also climbed some big mountains in Bolivia) and 2020, were I tried to get ready but got COVIDED...

So this first chart is my monthly training hours over the last 3 years.  Bottom line, is my knee is really beginning to limit me...

You can see this as well in the graph below.  Having said that, I'll be over 1,000 hours training this year again, and for a 64-year old, at the end of the day, that's still exceptional.

OK, let's look at the 3 disciplines.  First the swim:

Monthly swim volume varies a lot for a variety of different life things--so no worries if you you find this next chart confusing!

The cumulative chart below illustrates better what has been going on in my swim life.  2019, the year I qualified for Kona was a pretty typical swim year for me...lots of swim volume concentrated in the back half of the year.  2020 brought us COVID and I had a hard time finding a "safe" place to swim.  I tried to build my swim in 2020 once I was able to access open water swimming in June but Kona 2020 was cancelled and I never really saw the point in building my swim volume in 2020.

In Dec 2020 I cranked it up and I was full-on to intent on doing 400,000+ yards for 2021 in prep for KONA and then on Aug 19th, that dream was crushed again.  Note, the slowing in the green line after June.  further, I basically stopped swimming mid-September...(I'm back in now--see below)

My bike strategy for 2021 was a continuation of "BIKE MONSTER"--let's face it, I ride a lot of miles on my bikes.  I tried, vis-a-vis 2020, to do more quality work so I biked a bit less through mid-year, but I was well on my way to having the bike fitness I needed to execute Kona when it was shut down again in August.

Still, once again, I will do over 12,000 miles in 2021 and (see below) I'm already on it for 2022...

The big thing for me is the run (walk/climb)--so painful now.  I've gone from it being a competitive disadvantage I could work around to something I hope I can skate by at Kona next year.  It sucks (and its very painful, but there you go...)

So, I've just got back up on The Ironman horse and I'm committed to making it work one last time (Kona 2022).  I'm back in the pool this week.  I'm up above 20 hours training time.  I have a full-on PT attack and injections/draining on my knee (plus a new high-tech brace).  Perhaps, my weekly bike volume illustrates this best:

OK, it may not be very smart, but I'M ALL-IN.  ONCE AGAIN. FOR THE LAST TIME.

onward and upward!!!!

check back in the next couple of days and I'll finally update my (very surprising) 2021 racing results...

rc

Training volume Update--30 weeks in

Here is an update on my training volume over the first 30 weeks of 2021....

First to put things in perspective, here is a summary of my training volume and average speed going back 10 years or so:

A couple of observations:

1. There is no 2015 data as I had my major back issues that year and generally took the year off to recover/rebuild.

2. Note how my swim volume fell off post 2015, with this year on track to pre-2015 levels.

3. My recent bike emphasis (bike monster) is quite evident.

4. The dramatic reduction in run volume this year really stands out.

5. Principally due to the later, my total training time is down quite a bit vs. 2019/2020.

6. Speed-wise, my swim has been pretty consistent since 2016.  I do appear to generally have swum faster prior to my back problems.

7. Even with the increase in bike volume, my average speed has increased over the last three years.  While I don't have the same top-end speed I had 10 years ago, there is no question that my time investment into biking is keeping my bike pretty competitive.

8. The run numbers are really impacted by the amount of hiking/climbing that is rolled into them (I count both under "RUN" since I've done a lot of both, especially after 2012.  The slow down that is evident beginning in 2013 is principally due to this run/climb mix change as I trained for the seven summit climbs.  The 2021 number however is largely run only (not climbing this year) and you can see how I've lost nearly 4 and a half minutes per mile over the last 10 years--yuck!

9. The 2021 volume numbers are annualized and I suspect my actuals will be quite a bit lower as my season effectively ends in mid October after KONA and then I am planning to have my knee replaced.

I'm also tracking how my weekly training volume (displayed as trailing 4-week averages) compares to 2012 and 2014 (two of my three Kona years--I don't have the data in as much depth for 2010):

First, in terms of Total Training Time, note how my weekly volume has generally run higher than 2012/2014 but has fallen behind over the last 5 or so weeks.  This is in-part driven by a number of work and personal factors but has become a bit of a concern to me.  I would like to raise my average as I get later into August and then early September back up to near 25-hours/week.

This recent fall-off is especially evident in my swim.  Some of this was due to Eagleman and my taper/recovery for it, a driving trip to/from Kansas, and the most recent dip is a function of my bike crash in the Lenape race (more on that in a subsequent post).

With my "bike monster" orientation, I've been generally ahead of 2012/14 with a bit of recent softness.  I intend to re-up my effort in the weeks ahead...

And finally the run.  Th big blip up in 2014 is principally a lot of trekking/climbing.  Absent that, in 2012/14 I generally was able to sustain about 20-40 miles/week of running and you can see that I have trouble sustaining even 10 miles/week this year.  So not only do I not do much running, I do it very slow and this of course is why I basically suck at running!

Lastly, I think it's useful to look at my cumulative volumes over time:

First, total training hours.  In spite of my concern about my recent training volume, I do in-fact invest more time training now then I did back in 2012/14 and this should be reassuring.  Of course, what really matters is the training in the last 12-14 week build period win front of the IM so I do what to look more closely at that and make sure I'm doing an appropriate amount of work to get ready for Kona.

My swim efforts, after my traditional slow start at the beginning of the year have been relatively strong.  You can see the impact of my bike crash in the recent week but I expect that to turn around this current week and going forward.

My "bike monster" approach is evident below.  I think I work harder than just about anybody else my age (that I know).  I know, I get a bit nervous when my weekly volume drops below 250-300 miles during the summer and at this moment, I feel the need to ride more despite what this graph says.

This run chart needs no explanation....