Sunday, March 6, 2011

February Totals.

Well, I have been LONG overdue to post on something training related. Many excuses why not, busy at work, mucho OT, busy with the kids, busy with travel for work and training, snowstorms, and more.

But, I took today off work (after no days off for two weeks) and did my Feb. totals for training, and figured I better post them up before I put it off (again). Here they are:

Feb 2011:

Swim: 5.95 miles (10,475 yds), 5 times in the pool (4 of those Masters swim). I did miss class #8, dang it. I went to Chicago with a buddy of mine for a Sunday afternoon Blackhawks game-we had row #14 seats for FREE, it was awesome but I got home late, I was beat and overslept that Monday AM.

Run: 7 runs (either outside or at the Pettit indoor track) for 40.25 miles. Man, I need some new running shoes! Mine are SHOT.

Bike: 6 times on the TT bike, 4.5 hrs in the saddle. These were trainer rides only/no outdoor rides, as it has been too cold and we've had too much snow. No road miles yet this year!

Today, I worked out with my race bud Bob at his place, Aurora Burlington. I was up by 6:20AM, but took it easy and had no reason to rush. After breakfast and coffee, I headed out at around 8AM.

My friend had done a lactate threshold (LT) test at a Tri clinic he recently attended; Lauren Jensen, a local Tri guru and super fitness instructor, ran his test. He was able to print out the data sheet from his test, and he wanted me to take the test. Basically, it is set up as 2-8 minute time trial efforts, at an "almost all out effort", or rate of perceived effort (RPE) of a "9", for 8 minutes. You recover 2-3 minutes and then go again. You get HR results every 2 minutes, and you get a baseline HR for each TT effort. You can calculate your LT HR and set your cycling HR zones. I don't use an RPE based scale, but I knew pretty much how hard to pace myself, knowing that the 2nd 8min TT was going to be wicked bad. Yeah, I was right.

So, I suited up in my Assos and got ready (but I had to use my running shoes, the gym has SPD clips, I use Look so I had no choice). I did a 10 minute warm up on a cheap older spin bike, but we got the OK to use one of the new spin bikes, complete with power meter and HR. Once on the new spin bike, I settled in and did the first 8 minute time trial, here are the results:

Time Trial #1:
HR @2min: 163bpm
HR @4min: 164
HR @6min: 166
HR @8min: 169
Baseline HR-TT #1: 165.5bpm

Recover: 2-3 minutes, HR down to 139bpm.

Time Trial #2:
HR @2min: 170bpm
HR @4min: 169
HR @6min: 168
HR @8min: 172
Baseline HR-TT #2: 169.75bpm

Bob calculated my average HR for the 2 TT efforts, and came up with 167.25bpm. To get the LT HR, you take 95% of this HR, which gave me 159.24bpm.

My LT HR cycling zones were established as follows:
Zone #1: 65-79%: 103-126bpm
Zone #2: 80-89%: 127-141.5
Zone #3: 90-92%: 143-148
Zone #4: 93-99%: 149-159
Zone #5: 100+%: 159.25+

According to Lauren, she told Bob the run based LT HR is about 9-10bpm higher than the cycling, but you can do a running LT HR test as well, to confirm it. I will take her work for it-the #s for my run would fit right in at the level she described.

This was a killer hard test. I was spinning at about 120-126rpm for the majority of both 8min TT efforts, and the power meter was going at around 180-190 watts or so. I couldn't talk, and was sweating buckets by the end of each test. We are talking of repeating the test in June or early July, before IM Racine, to see how much (if any) the LT HR #s have changed for us.

I followed this up with a 2 mile "easy" run, at about a 9min/mile pace on the indoor track. My legs are sore, it will take a few days to recover from the TT efforts. The #s, for the most part, are what I expected them to be just about at. I have trained HR based since 2006, and I can get a good feel of how my workout is going based on the HR zones I had established prior to this test. It is another training tool to be used this year, so it was worth the effort and sore legs.

Until next month....