Weekly Brush-up (06/08/11-06/12/11)

SWIMMING:3hrs 29min [9000mts]

CYCLING: 2hrs 25 min [73 km all trainer]

RUNNNIG: 3hrs 52min [24 miles]

TOTALS: 9hrs 46min

NOTES: Good week overall, I feel good with the overall training hours. Swim workouts continue to be tough, well structured and over 3k mts overall. Cycling right now is a BIG priority, this week was once again short on cycling sessions, performing just 2 (intense ones) and lacking any LONG riding or extensive endurance stuff. Running just kept constant  week in and week out , hitting 24 miles and building towards 30.

Weekly Brush–up (05-30-11/06-05-11)

Swimming:4x (3hrs 35min  [9850mts])

Happy here, quality sessions all around and added an open water session that I enjoy to the fullest.

Cycling: 2x (2hrs [57km trainer])

Just 2 trainer sessions, one FTP and then a moderate 1 hour ride on a rainy day. Definetly need to build up to at least 4 hrs of riding a week. 2 hours a week is stupidly low even for those starting out or training for a super sprint race.

Running: 5x (3hrs 31min [36.2km])

Nothing new here, just keeping consistency as my main focus. I am building mileage towards august so just 22 miles for me. I had a couple of faster paced workouts in there to spice things up a bit in preparation of my 10k race coming June 26th.

Totals: 9hrs 07min

Overall a solid second week back to training. I am happy that I swam 4 times and ran 5 during this week. I really need to step up the bike since I have SLACKED off it a LOT since my build up for san juan 70.3

Benchmarks

So I took this first week back to training as a testing week to set some base times for the next build-up, targeting an Olympic race in August and a Half-Ironman race in September.

 

First up was a FTP test but wait, I don’t own a power meter. So talking to an aero and cycling analysis ‘ghetto” friend he suggested I use speed, while giving me a specific protocol to test on the trainer.

I averaged 38km/hr on that test , so just for me to have a gauge and estimate the work rate and effort I will use %’s of that speed and use it as my zones. The average I got is roughly 105% of FTP so:

• anything above 38k/hr is VO2 max work
• 36-37k/hr is where I will do my FTP intervals
• 32-34 k/hr is sweet spot/tempo work
• <30k/hr easy aerobic stuff

Remember again these “zones” are not power based as I don’t own a PM and even then power and speed are non lineal variables but having these approximates will just help me with my focus.

Now I also did a 20km bike TT on a closed 1.407mts circuit with some undulation. The test was perform after a 15min warm-up on my TT bike with aero wheel and helmet. Unfortunately I lost the data on my computer and don’t have things like splits, heart rate or cadence. My final time was 35min and 29secs for an average speed of 33.9k/hr or 21mph. I remember my heart rate been over 180bpm for the vast majority of the effort.

I am not happy with the time results as I believe I pushed too light of a gear and was spinning too much. In the “to work on list” for next time goes pedaling a bigger gear, attacking the little climb more, relaxing some on the descend and improve my staggers and tangents while cornering.

Next was testing my running and a 5k TT was the on the menu. This test was performed during a practice race at the local running club on a well measured, known course with an aid station in the middle. Warm up was about 15min easy running with a few strides and activation drills just before the start.  Final result was 23min and 48sec good for a 7.40x mile average pace. My splits per kilometer were 4.54/4.47/4.42/4.42/4.41. Heart rate was up the roof at a whooping 192bpms max and an average of 180bpms

As you would notice a pretty EVEN run race. I actually believe that I went out too slow but I was kind of scared since I had not run a stand alone road race in over a year. Overall I am ok with the results but believe going sub 23 is around the corner if I put the mileage up.

Using this data I plugged into a known pace calculator feature and got my running pace goals for upcoming workouts of all nature.

Recovery Jogs	10.22	10.52
Easy Runs	9.22	9.52
Long Runs	9.22	10.22
steady state	8.22	8.34
Tempo	8.03	8.24
Tempo- Intervals	7.57	8.13
Cruise Intervals	400	1.58	2.00
	800	3.55	4.00
	1000	4.54	5.00
	16000	7.53	8.03
Speed Work	400mts	1.44	1.50
	800mts	3.38	3.48
	1000mts	4.39	4.50
	1600mts	7.37	7.53

Finally I performed a swimming 1000mts TT. Coming into it I was really excited as out of the three disciplines, it has been the swimming on which I’ve been the most consistent. Going back on my log to September 2010 a month before Ironman 70.3 Miami I did a 1k TT on the short 25mts pool setup for a 17.49. Now, I know a short pool could be faster than long course as you have more turn and stops, more gliding and LESS swimming, but I feel like I am a MUCH better swimmer now and expected a PB. I started out hard but not all out trying to save something for the last 500. Final result was 18min 10sec for a 1.49min x 100mts avg. Splits were 9.10 for the first 500 and 9.00 for the last one. Again pretty even pace and not sure if I went out too slow. On a positive note it is kind of pumping to me seeing that I am under 1.50’s for 100’s after so much work. Can I be called an average swimmer now?

With that I ended this week which I believe would be crucial to track my progress or lack of it in the next couple of months. I strongly recommend testing yourself once in a while, it can give you that mental boost knowing where you stand, how is training working and what you have to focus in the future. Off to training!!! HTFU

Weekly Brush-up (05/22/11-05/29/11)

Swimming: 2x (2hrs 18min [5700mts])

Cycling: 3x (3hrs [60km + trainer time])

Running: 4x (3hrs 20min [20 milles {33.5k})

Totals: 8hrs 39min (8 days)

Notes* First week back to training after a 1 week mid season rest just after my Joyuda race. This week was much likely just some testing and getting use to be working out once again. I have another post devoted to test results so this is at and look forward to that one. My next race is about 3 months away on August 21rst and it would be an Olympic race were my goals is to finish close to 2hrs 30min and win the age group. After that is all about Augusta 70.3 and setting a PB there if I ever go to go there, still not sure, but there’s some probability.

Weekly Brush up and Joyuda RR (05/09/11-05/15/11)

This was the end of short 6 week block building towards the Joyuda triathlon. This race features a 1.8k swim , a 65k hilly bike ride and a challenging semi hilly 16k run. I had several goals for this race even though I was on short prep coming to it. I wanted to improve my overall time, cycle under 2hrs 5min, test out my improved race nutrition plan and avoid walking as much as possible.

Getting to the race was a cool adventure getting there at 8pm on the night before the race and preparing for a 5.45 gun off. Race morning was uneventful with my usual P&J sandwich breakfast and away to transition area at 4.30. I set up my spot pretty quickly and I was ready to go with 5min before the start.

I’ve experience cramping early on in the swimming before on longer races from going out too fast and I wanted to improve on that. This time I didn’t swim SO easy as I did at SJ70.3 and decided to settle into a controllable but hard effort and try staying on some dudes feet for the majority of the swim. Around the first buoy I got gapped and decided to maintain my own pacing focusing on taking a good navigation line and not sighting too  much.  At the last turn buoy I was with 4 other guys and decided to just swim the remaining part with them. So with no cramps and with good company out of the water I was in about 10th position, So far so good.

T1 went smooth and I was on my bike before the other guys.

I always feel like the bike is my strongest discipline because I work hard at been as aero and efficient as possible. My plan going into the race was to be a little bit more aggressive than the half ironman and stay at mid zone 3 by hrt. Unfortunately my monitor got crossed or something and just didn’t work correctly giving me all sorts of readings from 50bpm to 225. So on RPE I was and not confident at all. I always feel like I don’t know my body and can’t gauge my efforts at all. If I was going too slow or too fast I just don’t know, all I know is that some 10 dudes got to me and passed me during that time. One thing I am REALLY happy with is my head position. I made it a statement to correct my posture while aero and apparently I did.  My other concern was my nutrition plan. After analyzing all kind of data from past long course races I knew I wasn’t consuming enough and not replenishing my electrolytes during the cycle which could help a little bit with the cramping. I make the changes and ended up with a good outcome and not much of GI issues. Bike was finished and my goal of sub 2.05 was not reached, ending up with a 2.09. (18.5mph avg)

T2 was a normal one with me just taking it a bit more easier giving myself time to settle in and reduce cramping by stressing too much.

Starting the run my hamstring started acting up quickly and I thought Ohh No! This is the end of the race for me, cramping again. I decided to take a quick walk and about 1min later I was feeling ok and running according to goal pace. Another negative aspect I had affecting me technically was that no matter how slower I tried running my Heart Rate was simply not going down. Goal was to stay under 166bpm and I never go under 1.70. Mile kept going through and I was ecstatic realizing that I was RUNNING not much walking any more . Four miles completed and I am in the low 9’s per mile pace. I took it easy on the aid stations and the 4-6 mile hilly stretch and kept the cramping under controlled. Again I was getting passed my some more mature runners but I was feeling ok and running as fast as I could and was prepared for. My longest run week in this block was 28 so I couldn’t ask for more. Approaching the last mile and running it on 9.36 was just the icing on the cake on a very GOOD day consider it all. In the end new personal best for me at this race 4hrs 22min, 6 minutes faster than 2009.

It’s obvious that I am making some good strides towards greater improvement and that amuses me. I  finally know what kind of training I have to do for my body to respond and how to pace myself in each event. To get to the next level I will have to increase weekly volume to at least 11-12hrs weekly including longer bike rides in the trainer going from 1.2hrs –>2hrs, hitting swim sessions greater than 3km and running 30-35 miles per week. After I make those changes then the competition can finally be crushed!!!

Swimming:[2hrs 22min (6650mts)]

Cycling: [3hrs 59min (65km + trainer time)]

Running: [3hrs 52min (39.3km0]

Totals: 10hrs 13min [includes triathlon]

Weekly Brush-up (5/2/11- 5/8/11)

Swimming: [3hrs 3min (8.300mts)]

Cycling: [3hrs 10min (trainer only)]

Running: [4hrs 20min (43.5km)]

Totals: 10hrs 33min

Notes: I will keep this short as this post is mainly just for my own record. YEAH NO READERS AT ALL!  Target for this week was to hit 11hrs of trainer overall, I was short on that mainly because I did not ride outside. As a matter of fact I’ve ridden outside only 3 times since the half ironman which is not pleasant to think about. On the swimming I was ok trying to keep every session over 3k even though I cut them a little short because of lack of motivation.  In terms of running goal was to hit 30miles this week with a long run of 10miles. I did finished that 10 miles but failed to hit 30 total miles for the week mainly because I slept in and other mother’s day activities. Finished with 27 miles. This was final week of preparation for Joyuda for which I am not even pumped up to the fullest but will try to have fun and beat as many people as I can.

Weekly Brush-up and Roselyn Sanchez triathlon for life race report 4/25/11-5/1/11)

Swimming: 4x [3hrs 42min (9500mts)]

Cycling: 3x (3hrs 47min (71km + trainer time)]

Running: 4x [3hrs 53min (31.6km)]

totals:10hrs 40min

Notes: Nothing spectacular as of for week’s numbers regarding volume, consistency or intensity. The real highlight was the run split of my first sprint race for the year. Regarding workouts I am fairly happy with my run track workout on Thursday in which I performed 3x mile repeats into a strong headwind and not slower than 7.40. Into this weekend’s race:

I had my sprint distance race yesterday, It went well! I swam ALL OUT and came out of the water with people which in the past have been known for being much faster swimmers than I. (last week I did 3 workout at 3k each in the pool + the 750mts swim in the race = almost 10k of swimming for the week ;). On the bike man, it was brutal rain and wind gusts, I count at least 5 crashes and know of about 10 others who did too. So I wanted to conserve my teeth and just did a little Sunday ride pace for the remainder of the bike which resulted on getting passed by some folks.
On to the run I thought I was shot but I made it a goal to run under 8min miles for this race as my training and interval workouts suggested me I should. So off I went a little nauseous and weak but running fast. My goal was to run 24.xx so at the first turnaround I took a split on my watch and BAM!!! 12.12 that got me pretty excited and focus on keeping my pace. Boy my HRT was never under 180bpm on that run and I fight with myself like NEVER before, I was thinking I was Javier Gomez during one of those ITU cups and it worked!!! To the finish line and BAM 24.30 on my watch, sprint run PB by almost 1 full minute. like a friend told me: even splits (12.12--12.18) = sign of perfect execution!!! Finally I won my WEAK FIELD age group so I am happy even though I believe I have a faster bike split on me. (I used my road bike with no aerobars and it was the first time on it since October 2010 + 2 hours or riding the day before the race = NOT BAD!) Next race is Joyuda in two weeks and that one will definitely hurt.