If the objective of the past 2 months of base-building was to toughen up my legs and to build durability, then I think I can be satisfied with the results. Reflecting on the last portion of my third "on" week of this training cycle pretty much sums things up. The fact that I got through it, and did so feeling relatively strong are good indicators. First I'll shed some light into what I mean by "building durability" by giving a breakdown of my last 72 hours, and then I'll follow up with some thoughts about it:
Thursday AM: Power lifting in the gym, purpose being both to build mass and to tire the legs a bit for the upcoming weekend's work
Thursday PM: 2:00 Z1 ride, purpose to increase my comfort riding on tired legs
Friday AM: 1:20 Z1 run, up and down a road [Geddes for you Ann Arborites] between 3-5% grade, purpose to build good leg strength and acclimate to running on hilly terrain
Saturday AM: 3:05 Z1 ride, 25 minute run. This longer workout was a good chance to practice fueling. I can now take down 250 calories/hour with ease on the bike*. And since I am pretty tired at this point of the training stretch, this long ride forced me to push through muscular discomfort (legs) to support the engine (cardiovascular system) that could have gone at a much higher exertion. Riding in low-end Z1 is actually quite hard [muscularly] after the prior accumulated work.
Sunday AM: Tabata-style Power intervals on the bike. If you don't know, you can look them up, but basically this 1:20 ride is 1:16 of very easy riding, with 4 minutes of absolute hell [max effort reps] in the middle. It's the later part that leads to big-time physiological adaptations.
Sunday PM: 1:31 Z1 run, for 12 miles at a reasonable pace. Nice way to the end the week. Splits that I wouldn't be thrilled about fresh, but a strong run given the work leading up to it.
As for the quick math, that is about 6.5 hours of biking, 3.25 hours of running, and 1 hour of weight training in a 72 hour stretch. Although there were only 4 minutes of intensity mixed in, that is still a lot of work on the legs [for me anyways]. Factor in sub-zero temperatures and pretty gusty winds on most of my runs, and I am happy with my performance. *I think a lot of this has to do with my fueling, especially during and after workouts, since what you eat during and immediately following a workout is often the most important thing dictating how you will recover from that workout and subsequently perform in the next. It becomes really critical to knock this area out of the park, especially against the backdrop of multiple workouts in a short time period. Chocolate milk is the key here for recovery, along with Lucky Charms for on the bike.
I am excited to let this hard work begin to soak in, and especially looking forward to the upcoming recovery week, which should jump-start the process nicely. I'm heading to Florida to visit family next weekend, which means I will be able to do my "fitness test" outside in warm weather!! Not expecting anything too fast given that I haven't done any speed work yet, but still, it's always fun and exciting to rev things into full gear.
My next block of training shifts focus from "base" training to "build" training, which means more intensity in the form of sport-specific strength training (e.g., hill running and big gear riding). I am confident that the aerobic base and some of the grit that I have built will provide a solid foundation for this work. I'm as healthy as I've been in the past two years, and looking forward to the focus involved with more prescribed workouts.
Until next time, train hard, and rest harder!
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Body as a Machine?
Since my last post, I've had a particular workout worth sharing. The workout itself wasn't anything special: just a 1:40 Z1 [endurance zone] trainer ride. Granted it did come in the afternoon following a power-lifting session earlier that morning, all in the spirit of building leg toughness and acclimating my body to being efficient on already heavily worked legs [since that is what Duathlon is all about]. So these Thursday rides are comparatively tougher than other Z1 rides given I'm starting on already worked legs, but they still normally are not that hard to get through. This particular ride, though, turned pretty ugly about 1 hour and 10 minutes in, when my legs turned to bricks. Ironically, my health care economics class focused on deadweight loss earlier that afternoon, and now, all I could think about was the deadweight loss that had become of my legs. I got through the ride, but it was pretty shitty, and my power output totally crapped out for those last 30 minutes.
Why did this happen? I can't be certain, but I have a sensible guess. My pre-ride meal was leftover trout from a great dinner the night before [I didn't want it to spoil, but fish is not a simple carbohydrate] and I ran out of energy gels, so my caloric intake while on the bike was about half of what it usually is. Before getting on the bike, I'm thinking it's only a 1:40 ride, so no big deal, right? An hour and 10 minutes later, I learned that I couldn't have been more wrong.
Now aside from those miserable 30 minutes, this was a really cool moment for me in that it let me get philosophical. Basically, Descartes got it right when it comes to athletic endurance training. Once an individual achieves a certain level of training, the body absolutely becomes a machine. Put the wrong type of fuel in a machine [e.g., protein instead of carbs] before revving it up, and the machine isn't going to work as it should.
But is that really all endurance sports is about? At first this kind of troubled me, but after a bit of thinking [on, at this point, jello legs] I arrived at a different conclusion. Yes, smart training does hinge on a highly calculated mechanical-like approach. But on race day, it's the soul of an athlete that matters most, and the soul's integral connection with the body. In addition to races, even during a few critical workouts each year, the machine approach can go to hell. During these particular workouts (heard them called "seeing god," or "going to the well" and races, peak performance comes down to an individual's belief in him/herself, ability to suffer, and their psychological fortitude to rise above what they thought were [mainly physiological] limits. I still wouldn't recommend trout right before a key-race of over an hour, but even the most perfectly formulated carbohydrate only gets you so far so fast.
To summarize my thoughts: much of effective training is about zoning out, giving the machine what it needs, and letting it run. But racing [and those few workouts that we all hate to love] encompasses far more than that, and actually has much more to do with soul and mind-body connection. Descartes's machine-like approach is a necessary pre-requisite for peak performance, but it only gets you so far. At a certain point, it's the human elements that make or break your day. How will you react when you are stripped down to your core? That's when the true growth occurs, and I think why so many people love endurance sports.
As for my training more generally, things are progressing nicely, and without much excitement. Base building is definitely in the Descartes zone; fuel the machine, run the machine in a calculated way [heart-rate] and rest the machine. More training details to be posted at the end of this current cycle in about two weeks.
Why did this happen? I can't be certain, but I have a sensible guess. My pre-ride meal was leftover trout from a great dinner the night before [I didn't want it to spoil, but fish is not a simple carbohydrate] and I ran out of energy gels, so my caloric intake while on the bike was about half of what it usually is. Before getting on the bike, I'm thinking it's only a 1:40 ride, so no big deal, right? An hour and 10 minutes later, I learned that I couldn't have been more wrong.
Now aside from those miserable 30 minutes, this was a really cool moment for me in that it let me get philosophical. Basically, Descartes got it right when it comes to athletic endurance training. Once an individual achieves a certain level of training, the body absolutely becomes a machine. Put the wrong type of fuel in a machine [e.g., protein instead of carbs] before revving it up, and the machine isn't going to work as it should.
But is that really all endurance sports is about? At first this kind of troubled me, but after a bit of thinking [on, at this point, jello legs] I arrived at a different conclusion. Yes, smart training does hinge on a highly calculated mechanical-like approach. But on race day, it's the soul of an athlete that matters most, and the soul's integral connection with the body. In addition to races, even during a few critical workouts each year, the machine approach can go to hell. During these particular workouts (heard them called "seeing god," or "going to the well" and races, peak performance comes down to an individual's belief in him/herself, ability to suffer, and their psychological fortitude to rise above what they thought were [mainly physiological] limits. I still wouldn't recommend trout right before a key-race of over an hour, but even the most perfectly formulated carbohydrate only gets you so far so fast.
To summarize my thoughts: much of effective training is about zoning out, giving the machine what it needs, and letting it run. But racing [and those few workouts that we all hate to love] encompasses far more than that, and actually has much more to do with soul and mind-body connection. Descartes's machine-like approach is a necessary pre-requisite for peak performance, but it only gets you so far. At a certain point, it's the human elements that make or break your day. How will you react when you are stripped down to your core? That's when the true growth occurs, and I think why so many people love endurance sports.
As for my training more generally, things are progressing nicely, and without much excitement. Base building is definitely in the Descartes zone; fuel the machine, run the machine in a calculated way [heart-rate] and rest the machine. More training details to be posted at the end of this current cycle in about two weeks.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
NYE 5K: Good Test of Fitness, Better Data
Yesterday, Caitlin [my girlfriend] and I drove down to Detroit for a 5K race around Belle Isle. The timing was great for a few reasons. First off, as I mentioned in my last post, my training is built around 4-week blocks, and at the end of each recovery week [so monthly], I do a "fitness test," which amounts to a race-pace effort. These "fitness tests" help gauge where I am at, and more importantly, are used to identify areas to focus on in training moving forward. While I can always simulate a race, lining up in an actual race is 10x better; it's more exciting, I'm pushed by other runners, and it's downright more enjoyable. Second, the weather was absurdly perfect. On December 31st, in Michigan, I raced a 5K in shorts and a singlet, and finished dripping with sweat. The conditions were ideal for any time of year, minus a little wind on the Isle. Fox News can trumpet this as a "victory for global warming." Third, it gave Caitlin and I something fun to do as a part of our NYE celebration. Our friends are all over the country [but not so many in Michigan], so we had no big-bang [ala 4pm start-time] parties to attend. And even if there would have been, this type of active/outdoor activity is pretty much right up our alley, so the race was a perfect way to kick off a fun night together. Good timing indeed!
As for the results: I went 18:44, or at a 6:03 pace. This is OK; not great, but not awful. Given where I am at in my training [e.g., coming back from 3-weeks totally off, I have done absolutely no speed work, I'm spending time in the weight room, etc...] I'm content with the results. What's more interesting and informative are my splits: I went 5:46, 6:02, 6:15 [mile splits]. I felt really good running sub 5:50 pace until about 9 minutes into the race, when things progressed [in almost perfect 2-minute increments] from "comfortable" to "uncomfortable" to "extremely uncomfortable," to "shit, hold on for dear life." Basically, over the next 4 months in the lead up to my first priority event, I need to be able to put together a complete race, in all likelihood, going through the same progression of feelings as mentioned above, but sticking at a sub 5:50 pace. I know this is doable, so that is encouraging. Also worth noting, my success at the Duathlon National Championships will undoubtedly hinge on being able to put together a complete race, but purely based on the course format (5Krun/35Kbike/5Krun) the place to "make the most time" is on the bike, so while 5K run fitness is important, the 30 to 50 seconds one can gain on the run are rather trivial in comparison to the 4-7 minutes that can be gained on the bike. So, in summary, a pretty good early season race for me that was quite telling.
As a quick aside to my race report: Caitlin doesn't run or bike. She racewalks, and let me tell you, this is no joke. She finished fourth place overall [amongst the 125+ competitive walkers] by coming in at 34:16, or a pace of 11:03 per mile. It's an extremely hard-to-explain stride that allows one to "walk" that fast, but she has put it together quite well, and continues to get faster! After I finished, I went back on the course to get her, and there was a point when I was jogging next to her "walking" at about a 10:30 pace. It's nuts. Much like my race, this was really informative for Caitlin, since now she knows what type of pace she is capable of in a shorter-course all-out effort, and this can better inform her training too [that, during the winter, happens at the local Mall, which apparently opens its doors 2 hours prior to stores opening for the "walking community," and by the likes of Caitlin's stories, they seem even more cultish than the "running community"] . Between the two of us -- Duathlon and Racewalking -- she likes to say that "we excel in niche sports."
So there you have it. My first cycle of training is complete. I'm looking forward to this next phase, which will still be focused on lower intensity aerobic training and building strength/toughness in the legs [got to love the weight room], but will also start to introduce some workouts that involve short blasts of intensity on the bike. Look for another post about a month from now when that next cycle ends, or maybe one in-between on something training related. Happy New Years!
As for the results: I went 18:44, or at a 6:03 pace. This is OK; not great, but not awful. Given where I am at in my training [e.g., coming back from 3-weeks totally off, I have done absolutely no speed work, I'm spending time in the weight room, etc...] I'm content with the results. What's more interesting and informative are my splits: I went 5:46, 6:02, 6:15 [mile splits]. I felt really good running sub 5:50 pace until about 9 minutes into the race, when things progressed [in almost perfect 2-minute increments] from "comfortable" to "uncomfortable" to "extremely uncomfortable," to "shit, hold on for dear life." Basically, over the next 4 months in the lead up to my first priority event, I need to be able to put together a complete race, in all likelihood, going through the same progression of feelings as mentioned above, but sticking at a sub 5:50 pace. I know this is doable, so that is encouraging. Also worth noting, my success at the Duathlon National Championships will undoubtedly hinge on being able to put together a complete race, but purely based on the course format (5Krun/35Kbike/5Krun) the place to "make the most time" is on the bike, so while 5K run fitness is important, the 30 to 50 seconds one can gain on the run are rather trivial in comparison to the 4-7 minutes that can be gained on the bike. So, in summary, a pretty good early season race for me that was quite telling.
As a quick aside to my race report: Caitlin doesn't run or bike. She racewalks, and let me tell you, this is no joke. She finished fourth place overall [amongst the 125+ competitive walkers] by coming in at 34:16, or a pace of 11:03 per mile. It's an extremely hard-to-explain stride that allows one to "walk" that fast, but she has put it together quite well, and continues to get faster! After I finished, I went back on the course to get her, and there was a point when I was jogging next to her "walking" at about a 10:30 pace. It's nuts. Much like my race, this was really informative for Caitlin, since now she knows what type of pace she is capable of in a shorter-course all-out effort, and this can better inform her training too [that, during the winter, happens at the local Mall, which apparently opens its doors 2 hours prior to stores opening for the "walking community," and by the likes of Caitlin's stories, they seem even more cultish than the "running community"] . Between the two of us -- Duathlon and Racewalking -- she likes to say that "we excel in niche sports."
So there you have it. My first cycle of training is complete. I'm looking forward to this next phase, which will still be focused on lower intensity aerobic training and building strength/toughness in the legs [got to love the weight room], but will also start to introduce some workouts that involve short blasts of intensity on the bike. Look for another post about a month from now when that next cycle ends, or maybe one in-between on something training related. Happy New Years!
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