SickBoy's Training Log - All killer no filler.

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Re: SickBoy's Training Log

Postby SickBoy » 01 May 2012 13:11

Seems I only update this when ill, I guess that's because I am not out training :D

Well after a week off in the middle of Feb I picked up training again and logged a couple of good months, despite having the Easter holidays interrupting things.

March was a pretty solid month, and I managed to ride outdoors all but one weekend, I've also started to squeeze a little more time into my lunchtime swim sessions.
April was especially good setting 2 new PBs, a 50k on the bike during a training ride in 1:47 and a 10k of 41mins during the Leamington Regency Run 10k.
I entered this with a bunch of guys from work and came second in our group, our leader doing just under 40mins, he's quite a handy cyclist too - at least he can't swim.

First tri of this year coming up, Stratford Sprint on 13th May, comparing my training volume (hours logged) to this time last year, I'm definitely getting more done:

-- 2011 - 2012
Feb 8 - 13
Mar 11.5 - 18.2
Apr 4 - 16.5

Generally sessions are longer and more consistent, slowly trying to push up my cycling milage on the weekends and using week night turbo for more interval based stuff

So feeling pretty confident about Stratford, going to try and push hard on the bike to see if I can better last years times, especially the bike leg, see if I can't make my way up the rankings a little. My company is also fielding a team in the relay, they won last year so I'm going to have a go at getting close to their splits!

Resting HR seems to be down to around 44-45 bpm which I'm very pleased with!

Though after all I seem to have come down with yet another cold, so no training since Friday, Sunday was spent trying to sleep it off in bed, which only meant I was well enough to go to work on Monday, still at least I didn't have a race on this weekend.

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Re: SickBoy's Training Log

Postby SickBoy » 21 Jun 2012 13:08

So May has passed along with most of June.

I've raced my first 2 sprint races of the year and have been pretty pleased with the results. Bike is still generally lacking but I'm getting in much more time on the bike in general so starting to see some improvements. Though still at 2 bike sessions per week, both are currently outdoors, no turbo work since mid-may. I think this should be helping but maybe I should try and get some interval training done on the turbo.

Weekly training duration varies depending on how much bike time I get at weekends but usually looks something like:
Swim: 1hr (3 sessions, all about 20mins)
Bike: 2-4hrs (2 sessions, usually one 30k ride and one 60k ish)
Run: 1-1.5hrs (2 sessions, usually one 6k one 9k+)

Ideally I need to find time for extending my 'long' bike from 2hours to more like 3 as well as finding time for a longer swim session once a week.
Running, well I need to increase my 'long' run I think to be more like 1 hour+ instead of 45mins

The half-iron race at Challenge Henley is becoming more of a reality now - ok it's in September but it's now closer than it was.

First ride over 3 hours for a couple of years on Father's day - was feeling great until the last 30mins when I pretty much lost all my motivation - I think it was the edge of bonking. I'd been taking a gel every 30mins as recommended in the time crunched cyclist - at least I think I read it in there. Lost all energy in the last 30mins of the ride, maybe need to intersperse some solid food - was taking on about the right amount of water I think. I just wanted it to end though, I was so close to home but just couldn't get there.

Have noticed I appear to be a salty sweater - may experiment with something like Nuun on the longer rides.

Most likely though it's a case of needing to build muscular strength and endurance.

This long ride has both given me confidence and also the fear.
I know I can ride that far and if I don't fall apart at the end will be able to complete the course, but I know in reality I need to be doing more distance on the bike and run to get ready. I'm also not sure if I'll ever be able to find the time to train for IM, I just can't imagine being able to get out for 5-6 hour rides :( Maybe things will be easier in the future, especially if my parents move closer to us and we'll have a hand looking after the kids.


I have another sprint this wekeend and then I am doing the Marlow OD in July - this will be my second attempt at an OD and I'm hopefully much stronger now than last time and should have a better run - last time was no good and I was broken by the end. I am hoping to see a marked improvement on my last attempt at the distance.

Tri seems to have taken off in the office so now I have some competition which I find is a great driver. I am currently ahead of people with more time and money so that's good

Most of my tri budget recently has gone on keeping my bike functional rather than being able to upgrade, requring new front wheel, new rear mech, new bottom bracket.

Wish list currently includes something like a Garmin and either a spangly new bike, perhaps a TT or probably more realistically an upgrade to the existing bike.
Would really like some aerobars but when I had the bike fitted a while ago it appeared that the frame was a bit long for me and clip on aero bars would probably end up being fairly uncomfortable so I think that might need to wait for a new bike.

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Re: SickBoy's Training Log

Postby SickBoy » 24 Jul 2012 13:52

8 weeks to Henley HIM :shock:


Since my last update I've raced at Henley (Sprint) and Marlow (Almost an OD) and had pleasing results.

Training over the last month and a bit has been heavily weighted to the bike and averaging about 4.75 hours a week over the 3 disciplines.
2 rides a week, a one hour mid week 30km blast and a longer ride on a Sunday morning. Swimming is ticking over though I'm not getting as much pool time as I'd like

Runs have dropped off recently due to being unable to run at lunchtimes but I'll be addressing that over the coming weeks as I look to increase my long runs from 1 hour to 1.5, to 1.75. Running in my last few races has been much stronger off the bike - I'm not kidding myself that a half marathon will be easy though - especially given that I usually feel dead after 60k on the bike

I'm usually getting about 55km in on my weekend long ride, occasionally more. I have decided maybe I'm training all wrong by going out at too high a heart rate. I've not worked it out properly but I suspect my MHR is about 183 on the bike - It's the highest I've ever recorded, I doubt I could get it much higher. This would give me a Z2 range of 137 - 147 (75-80%). Although I usually try and take it a bit easier on long rides my avg. HR comes back a bit above this - probably closer to 150, though it doesn't feel like a particularly intense pace, probably more like 6-7 RPE.

I also seem to be running out of energy around towards the end of longer rides, anytime between 2 and 3 hours. Hydration is now Nuun, fuelling has been on gels (1x High5 every 30mins). I usually make sure I get breakfast before I go, there have been a few times when this hasn't happened and I've certainly noticed it. I'm about to introduce solid food (banana/power bar/soreen) and see if that helps over the next few rides.

My HR stays low but my legs just start to give up, I'm thinking this is basically lack of milage so now I'm planning to ride the next few long rides at a much lower intensity and make sure I sit in the Z2 range but not sure if that's the best thing to do, if I have enough time for it to improve my capacity before the race. I'm not sure weather to do that or just go and hit the biggest hills around - probably the best bet is just to get longer rides and runs in.

Should get a chance to reccee some of the Henley bike course in the next few weeks, as it's always nice to know the terrain before hand, make sure I know where the hills are etc.

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Re: SickBoy's Training Log

Postby SickBoy » 12 Apr 2013 09:23

Well I've not updated this in a while...

I was looking over some of my training history this morning and it was nice to be able to see a measurable improvement

Here're my TR sessions listed in Endomondo for fight club, avg speed up, avg HR down :)

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Re: SickBoy's Training Log

Postby SickBoy » 28 Jan 2014 19:11

 

2014.

 

So I'm in Canada and it's stupid cold and snowy and icy in the winter. When an ex collegue invited me to do the ToS on Facebook I accepted thinking I will have done lots of turbo work and this is a good motivator to do some cycling indoors and give myself a little test.

 

Preparation has not gone totally according to plan, I had a good little phase just after Xmas while still on holiday but the reality is 2 x 1 hour sessions each week is about as good as it gets and I have been pretty inconsistent since Jan, what didn't help was getting flu a couple of weeks ago, just as I was starting to pick training up again, had a week off all training and then another week where I just did some swimming. When the first day of the tour rolled around I'd not been on my bike for 2 weeks. Yes I know, it sounds like I'm getting my excuses in early but this is just the reality of it...

 

Stage 1 - Rubber Glove (20min FTP test)

It was with some trepidation I got down to stage 1. I had tested my FTP back at the end of December and it had dropped from 241 to 221 and the test didn't feel good, even the warm up was way too tough, probably due to operating at the level I had set back at the start of 2013. But this was mostly down to being a bit unconditioned and with a few 'fests done in Dec and Jan things were starting to come together.

 

Stage 1 was Sat afternoon, after I'd taken the kids to their swimming lessions. We have a pool around the corner and they have lessons one after the other, 5yo for 45 mins and 3yo for 30 mins. I was in the water with both of them and the pool was cold, even more so when you are mostly standing around. My little boy didn't enjoy that part of it but he perked up when they were playing at going over a floating mat and then jumping in. To his credit, even though he was asking me to get him out of the water a lot he did do what he was asked. My daughter also did really well in the lesson and I was really pleased with both of them in the end so when they asked to go to McDonalds after, how could I say no?

 

Incidently the public pools here are free, we're paying for the lessons, I think it was $90 CAD each for about 10 sessions IIRC. The lessons are also all in French as we live in Rosemont, a predominately French neighbourhood but I am having lessons at the office paid for by work (3 hours each Monday evening at the moment) they're brining back a lot of the French I learnt at school, the upshot is I can understand the majority of what's being said in the lessons and it's easy enough to follow along.

 

At McDs I had some triple burger with cheese, bacon and mayo, the Ghalleger Trio (as in with fries and a coke), he is some player for the Canadiens (Montreal's hockey team I believe), Ice hockey is a big thing here in case you didn't know, maybe I'll give it a go one day but still learning to skate at the moment.

 

So back home from McDs and swimming I had about 90mins for my food to go down before starting stage 1. I wanted to get it done before dinner and bathtime so I could relax in the evening and also attempt to maximise my recovery before stage 2.

 

Rubber glove actually went a lot better than expected, a lot less difficulty in the warmup section compared to last time, my HR over 10 BPM lower at the end of the warm up and going into the 20 min section. it helps that the target levels were lower by about 20W but I was actually putting out roughly the same amount as the previous test during the warmup.

 

I managed to stay pretty consistent during the 20 min block, it felt fine for the first 5 mins and got progressively tougher, the last few minutes I was really breathing hard. The temptation was there just to lay off a little, make things easier but I kept on, probably because it was going better than I had feared. I set a new FTP record of 245 (my previous high in early 2013 being 241) putting me back just under 3.5W/kg which I'm pretty happy with - I don't feel as strong as I did this time last year but I think I maybe nailed the test better - the 20 min block was very consistent, a 5W higher on average in the first five minutes but the new 15 and 20 min bests were 259W and 258W, the first 15 mins of the test, and the full test duration. Held a nice high cadence too (96 RPM), I wonder if I would be able to set a higher FTP by grinding out a lower gear, my suspicion is ves but I like to do the test like I race.

 

 

Stage 2 - ISLAGIATT

I did this early-ish on Sunday morning so I could take the kids out somewhere later in the day, there was a free kids space themed exhibition at a museum downtown, including some crafting workshops which my daughter loves so best to get the ride done and out of the way.

 

I threw down a nutella sandwich, normally I would have a banana but we were out of stock. Everything setup downstairs, most of the ride is below threshold so I decided to leave the seting at 100%, after all should be doable right? Perhaps I had filled myself with a bit too much confidence. I could feel the fatigue in my legs right at the start, HR climbing a little higher than expected in the warm up section. The first 2 climbs went ok, I was able to stay with the attacks, hit all the targets but HR was getting high, rising on the attacks and not really recovering to the crusing level but coming down ok in the recovery. I remember it was hard work, I was focusing on the 5 min recovery block at halfway, just focussing on getting there, having a gel and then carrying on, the second half didn't look so tough.

 

Took on a gel at the hour point, perahaps I should have prepared better nutrition-wise but I think really I learnt the lesson a long time ago in my first standard dist tri that I can't expect myself to keep going for two hours if I've been training max one hour at a time.

 

Instantly Mt Sufferlandria was hard, it's at 93% of FTP roughly and I'm struggling to hold that, the first attack comes, I try to go with it and then legs just give up. I can't go out on stage 2 I am thinking to myself. This is rubbish. I'm worried that pausing like this will mean my ride will be DQ'd, I start pedalling and 30 seconds later legs are stopping, a bit more rest, I let my HR drop back down. I look and see how long is left, "I can't do this" I say to myself. There's another 15 mins on Mt Sufferlandria alone. I push on again, make it a few minutes to the next attack which I cannot hit the 357W power target for and again legs stop, I got up to about 300W for a second or two. And so it goes on, wait 10, 20 seconds for HR to drop to 140, pedal a bit further up the mountain. This is crushing, I can't do it, I can't do it. I've got to do it. I don't want the last hour to be for nothing, I want to stay in the tour. I don't have time to rest, I've got to take the kids out later, 50 mins of riding ahead and it's going to take me over an hour at this rate. I stop another 10 times going up Mt Sufferlandria...

 

Even the recovery block between here and the final climb it hard, I can't even maintain 162W. Every time I sob that "I can't do it, I just can't do it" now I hear my kids shouting from upstairs, "You can do it daddy!" I don't know if this makes me feel better or not. I struggle on like this to get to the end, I can feel my legs coming apart. TR keeps telling me that I'm riding the intervals with 0 precision and below that target. I don't even have the headphones on anymore, I look at the screen on the laptop occasionally but mostly I cry into my aerobars.

 

It just reminds me of a time I bonked at the end of a solo ride about 8 miles from home and it was just an eternitiy to get back. I just wanted it to be over, I was so disappointed that my legs weren't responding to what I was asking them to do. I crawl to the end of stage 2, broken, disheartened. Teriffied of the Angels/Hunted double header on Friday and worried that even if I am going to continue that I've just mashed my legs up so badly I won't be able to.

 

 

Stage 3 - Revolver.

Monday nights, I get home about 9pm as I have my French class straight after work at the office. It's a long day, bed time is usually 10pm, we're up around 6:30am or before if the kids are not sleeping. At least revolver is 45 mins I was thinking. I can turn it down a bit. Suprisingly though, after the horror that was ISLAGIATT my legs don't feel too bad, when I look at reducing the % back to where I was before my amazingly great FTP test at the start of the tour the targets are not that much different, only 30W so I decide to leave it on 100% and see how I get on.

 

It goes great, I hurt sitting down on the bike to begin with and notice some pain in my aductors but I am maintaining good form, I am pretty close to the targets, a few W below but in the green on TR. The first few intervals go by quite easy but that's how revolver works, progressively it gets harder and harder, the first 10 seconds of each interval go quick last 5 to 10 seconds last an eternity, I watch the counter on the screen and it appears to be stuck time moves so slowly then. Comparitively the recovery minutes go so quick, before I know it I've 20 seconds to go to the next push, I take on some water, get settled. The 3rd quarter of the workout is the toughest but then when the CX section comes around and I can see I only have a few intervals left I feel good, pedalling well, able to reach the power targets. It goes by so fast compared to ISLAGIATT, I'm actually liking revolver and I'm riding it the best I ever had. It's a great boost to complete the stage more decisively today.

 

After I sit up in a puddle of sweat for a while looking over my performance, no time for dinner, just drink some milk and get ready for bed but sleep doesn't come easy. Sure I can do 45 mins but I don't want to think about the longer stages coming up.

 


 

 

 




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Re: SickBoy's Training Log

Postby Jack Hughes » 30 Jan 2014 15:48

Great stuff!
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Re: SickBoy's Training Log

Postby Bopomofo » 03 Feb 2014 17:24

Love it. Think I'll do a race report, too. :D
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Re: SickBoy's Training Log

Postby SickBoy » 03 Feb 2014 21:12

I'll add the rest soon before it all gets too blurry!

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Re: SickBoy's Training Log

Postby SickBoy » 05 Feb 2014 19:04

Stage 4 - Hell Hath No Fury

 

Tues evening, it hurts to just sit on the bike now, first time on this video and at least I know that I'll have a little time to relax after as I am home from work at normal time.

 

The profile for this doesn't look too bad, it's effectively two 20 min blocks, and then a 3:30 TT section. I am still going at 100%.

 

This stage goes by pretty easily, the first 20 min builds steadily but the second has a lot of small adjustments to output which I found annoying trying to find the right combination of gear and cadence. I'm riding the second block right on the rivet (is this right? I'm right forward on the saddle, so far I'm nearly slipping off the front at times) The last few mins of the second block I started to struggle a bit as HR came up to 170+ a little slow to respond but pretty much on target still and able to complete the final push at the end of that block.

 

Roughly 4 mins rest before the TTT section at the end. I'm feeling tired so I know this is going to be hard work, my HR has come back down during the recovery but is back north of 170 within a minute, the target is 270W and I generate a very wavy line as I try to find a steady cadence. It's very hard, I can't get my legs turning over fast enough and I start to drop off but manage to pull it back together for the final pull and exceed the power target, although it's not smooth or measured, just desperate pushing the pedals round.

 

Stage 5 - Extra Shot + The Wretched

The first double of the tour, I've never done two videos together but at least the extra shot is only 20 mins and the Wretched is less than an hour and not particularly tough as I remember it... Awkward way around though, extra shot first, I'm able to just dial in and hold a fairly steady effort (allthough there is a fair bit of up and down on the power targets). It's mostly below FTP so I reason it shouldn't be too hard (still at 100%!). I don't have the video for this so just stick my iPod on. The last couple of minutes are where I start to really feel like I'm working making me slightly less confident about the Wretched.

 

A very quick pause while I swap videos, have a gel and drink some water and then straight back onto the bike. I mentioned it's painful to sit down, I don't notice it once I'm riding, unless I change position. A little bit of shuffling around to get comfy and then settle in. I didn't find the Wretched too taxing when I did it before. After the start this video is mainly climbing as I remember it, a steadyily increasing grind, more focused on low cadence sections so I am riding 75-80 RPM. Although my HR is not blowing up I just can't quite hit the top power target at the end and the final 2 blocks, I think it's the low cadence that I find it hard to attack from. Perhaps it's gear selection as much as anything - on a short interval you may not have time to find the right gear to hit it correctly - it's easier when it's a repeating pattern like revolver as you know exactly what's coming.

 

Looking forwad to a shorter stage tomorrow

 

 

Stage 6 - A Very Dark Place

 

This is 5 x 4:00 and at only 50 odd minutes doesn't look too bad. One of my favourite videos is Fight Club and this has a similar looking profile - only it looks easier.

 

I don't know if this is getting easier or harder. Pretty much on target for this one, still running at 100%. 4 min intervals are not too bad to get through and with only a few it's not long until you're halfway or have just 2 left. Currently I'm working by just focusing on the next section, so the hardest bit was probably the flat 4 minutes, it goes by quicker when there's a change every 30 seconds. No power records today but I guess that's more down to the ride profile and maybe the fact that I'm riding a little more conservatively. No idea what to do about tomorrow - it's the 2 hour block of Angels and The Hunted, going by ISLAGIATT and my Stage 2 performance I think I'm going to have to turn it down but it seems a shame as I've come so far, so far.

 

Stage 7 - Angels + The Hunted.

 

The stage I've been dreading, more so after exploding after 1 hour something on stage 2. Friday night, no choice other than to do these back to back, getting started at 20:00. Angels is a video I've done a lot, being my first Sufferfest (and the only one I owned for a while) I know it well. 10 mins under/overs and then 3 climbs of 8:00. I decide to leave things at 100% and see how I'm going at the switch over. I find this goes by very comfortably, I'm not pushing too hard and am within a couple of watts of the target, my little wavy yellow line matching the green fairly well. I'm certainly not dying on the final climb and am able to push out over 400W in the final sprint (go me!)

 

The only bit I find annoying is the section in the final climb where you are asked to switch between 80 (sitting) and 100 (standing?!) RPM but keep power output the same - this is a right pain to deal with so I give up on it aftar a while and just sit at a steady cadence. I do like hitting the high cadence sections though as I find it does help flush out legs in the middle of harder sections, like when you get small recovery in one of the stages I can't remember at like 100+ I think it actually helps to hit super high cadence v. low gear  instead of just take it easy.

 

So Angels done, no major drama - on to the Hunted - this video I found really tough, especially the final section with some really hard intervals where the intervals get longer and the recovery gets shorter. I think I'm going to have another go at this after the tour to gauge any improvement I've made. I take a 2 minute break to have some water and a gel and I decide to leave things at 100%, I just don't want to break my streak so far, ok so there've been some points I've struggled (notably stage 2) but I'd rather go 100% and have that then coast through slightly easier. All goes well in the early part of the hunted but it's as I hit the 90 min mark with about a 3rd of the main 20 min block to go that I hit problems, asked to push over threshold I can't hit the target and my legs give up. I feel bad for stopping but don't have long to get to my recovery so I push through the end of the block, 2 more brief pauses and I get to the recovery block and pull myself togther for the final block, it's at a lower intensity but that's only because the horrific intervals are coming up at the end. HR isn't too bad, it's just legs that aren't used to cycling this long I guess. once I hit the drecreasing intervals I push to the targets but coming out of them I drop right down and need to take a little extra breather after most of them.

 

2 more stages to go...

 

 




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Re: SickBoy's Training Log

Postby Jack Hughes » 07 Feb 2014 07:35

Well done. You must be getting some fitness back!

Have you worked out what races you are going to do? And when the season starts?
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