2010 Base 1: Phase I, Phase II

The Base 1 Phase of my training is still continuing. For the first 12 weeks of a 16 week base one phase, I focused on running. The overall weekly schedule was simple:

Swim - 3x/wk 2500-4000/workout
Bike - 3x/wk 1hr; 1hr zone 4 intervals; 2-3.5 hr long ride
Run - 7x/wk 55-62 miles/wk

I am happy with the progress and general feelings of fitness, especially the improvement in running strength. My body is starting to tell me good things. Swimming feels similiarly which is a nice surprise compared to last year when I struggled with motivation. Others might be surprised to find that out, but I was calling it quits most times at 2k yards. This year my key workout 30x100 1:15/1:25 is fun to do and I'm averaging 3000k/workout. The nice thing about the pace is that 1:15 translates to about 53-55 IM swim and I'm handling 30 of them without much trouble. Undoubtably, the cruising of these 100s is deeping my zone 2 swimming and continuing to add another round of 5 every other week will get me to 40x100. The downside, if there is one, is that I may continue them for their novelty and hurt the quicker front end swimming needed to do well at American Triple T. But given that I'm passing on stand alone sprints and olympics this year, any worry is unnecessary. As for running, the overall pace came around nicely the last 4 weeks of high volume to settle in at 7:45. For the first four weeks, the running pace floated around 7:55 to 8:15.

The final 4 weeks of my base 1 phase (phase II) transitions me to bring my bike fitness on par to previous year's fitness level:

Swim - 3x/wk
Bike - 4x/wk 1hr rollers; 1.5hr zone 4 intervals; 1 hr; 3-4 hr
Run - 6x/wk 50-55 miles/wk with long run at 2.0 hr

But, in actuality I changed it because the weather was nicer than I thought. I got outside and did a lot more biking.

Swim - 3x/wk
Bike - 3-4x/wk 4:00 zone 1 (AeT-10 to 15 bpm); 3:30 with 1hr SS (AeT); 1.5 SS; 1.0 easy
Run - 5-6x/wk 40-55 miles/wk with long run at 2.0 hr

I finally got a new bike...a black PX. Yesterday I started putting it together and ran into a few hiccups. The first was the cable routing for the sram rear derailler. Apparently there is a unique cable guide allowing the cable to reach up to the screw down bolt. I missed that and for a short while couldn't figure out why the shifting was tough and horrible. The CNC ultralight brakes are very industrial looking. Since there is no opener lever I failed to figure out how to open the brakes up. I had to email the PX distributor and ask. Turns out you need to squeeze the brakes together and wiggle loose the brake cable housing. Not too complicated but certainly a different approach. It also came with a new seat which I'm going to try. Seats are funky and sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. The reason I'm giving this one a try is that it's really long and allows the nose to sit near the bottom bracket giving me a steep riding angle. Helpful, but the real reason is the 100mm stem that came with the bike. Previously, I had a 80mm stem and with the extra 20mm, I need the longer seat to have a comfortable cockpit and not over-reach for the aerobars. Time will only tell if it works. If not, I'll have to get a 80mm stem and like all things, it's a pricey gadget.



Last, I fell of the wagon this past week. Training was horrible. I managed to get in the bikes and swims, but running simply did not happen. A few scheduling conflicts and lack of interest simply put some zeroes in the running category. I thought about "catching up" by killing myself but ultimately decided against it. So this week, I am starting anew by doing Monday's workout on Monday. Wow, it feels good to write that. Additionally, I added a picture of my favorite athletic movie for motivation.



"I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure." -- Eric Liddell

2010 Working Hard & Productivity

I've been reflecting on the ingredients to a successful triathlon career. Certainly you get out of it what you put in. I find triathlon to be a fun hobby, the intensity and commitment can certainly be addictive. I have to chuckle, I recently commented to a friend that if you want to succeed, you have to be willing to train so much that you almost lose your job and unsettle your marriage. I haven't had to sacrifice that much partially because of a flexible job and a wife who's a fellow triathlete. Plus, and this is a big one, we don't have any kids. Throw that into the scheduling book and any sort of long-term aspirations of becoming a front-of-the-pack racer is gone. Be real, do you want to sacrifice family time to practice countless hours for some upcoming softball tournament, opps I mean an IM race. Doing well in triathlon is not much different than doing well in a local softball tournament. Keep perspective.

But just in case you're starting out and wanted to know what worked for me in the beginning, I jotted down some notes.

WORK:
The work of a triathlete is no different than the work of a sole-practitioner. I should know, I do both. Often times, it's done in solitude. Sometimes I stumble across others, individuals like myself who are on the same journey. Maybe our paths cross for a brief moment at a stop sign when on a bike ride, or it's at the pool when you got into the lane next to me, or maybe it's at the track when you showed up to do intervals. While our interaction may be brief it's not because we're rude or mean, it's because we're wolves. Legs fed the wolf so our time together is short by our character. It's time to move on, to keep ourselves strong, to find another meal, to live another day. In this game we got lots of work of do.

The experience of "Hard" is a personal experience. Nobody knows how hard you or I am working. A lot of the time you need to workout at a semi-comfortable pace; at other times you need to work hard and I mean really, really hard. Those that succeed in triathlon are committed to maximizing their training hours. Each gesture, each stroke, each stride is calculated for its value. 80-90% might be zone 1-2, the remaining 10-20% is zone 3 and 4. Experience shows us the foolish things we did in the past. I recall doing 8 weeks of training to race my first half ironman. I also remember doing 4.5 hour bike rides in February for a September race. Our previous errors help us to refine our training process and race strategy.

How much work does it take to be good is a common question. The most important ingredient for triathlon success is innate talent. Either you got it or you don't; no way around it. Next is dedication. Consistency of training is directly tied to your dedication. Week in and week out we need to be training. The amount of training usually parallels the distance of our A race. For short-course triathletes, that's usually 8-12 hours a week. For those at the half-ironman and ironman that means 12-25 hours for the pointy end of the age-grouper field. As for the pros, they seem to float between 20 to 40 hours a week regardless of the distance.

TEAMWORK:
The accomplishment of goals is not a solo effort. It requires the support of a team. Support can come in many forms: money, gear, advice, recommendations, strategies, constructive criticism, and praise. In the world of triathlon, team means all the things listed above but also implies expectation. Without it, we have no one to answer to besides ourselves. While we may be able to muster up enough vital force to have a few conquests, the team environment makes the process easier, more enjoyable, and often times more successful. My first mentor in the sport was Paul Eckerle. His words of wisdom still resonate true for me today. Find somebody to help you along the way.

COMPETITION
We might ride the same bike, wear the same gear, or even be on the same team, but when the gun goes off the prizes are limited and I happen to want one of those shiny trinkets. The competitive spirit has always resided within me. While I might not push you off your bike, I may turn myself purple to pass you while riding mine. And if I don't say anything when passing you on the run, it's because the pain reaches a level where it's a spiritual event. You're going to want to find a way that makes pain/fatigue/high intensity an ally. A race is a situation for testing your training program. It's important to recognize this is the time to over-reach. That might mean coming out of the water with the lead pack, not allowing yourself to be dropped on the bike, or it may mean trying to lead the race start to finish. Going for it means... going for it. You should never feel embarassed by blowing up, especially in C or B level races. Hang your head high for trying to "go for it."


In summary, I would like to say all the training and winning is worth it regardless of some of the really low points. I have experienced a great deal of personal joy and happiness in my spare time by participating in triathlon. Equally true are the numerous friends I've come to make along the way. I continue to be impressed by the quality of the people in the sport. The same traits of competitiveness, integrity, and competency that they bring to the sport are often reflected in their professional careers and personal lives.

2010 Running Update

For Base 1 running I managed to average 60 miles a week plus I got around to measuring out my weekly running routes. It turns out I'm running faster than I thought. On average I'm sustaining 7:45-7:50 pace. The weekly easy long runs are slow, but no slower than 7:59 pace. As expected and disappointing the obvious is, one bad run or a run cut short kills the weekly run mileage. This past week, I hit all seven runs but after a killer bike interval workout, I was too toasted to run 60 minutes and survived only 30 minutes.

The shoe situation finally came around. I'm happy with the new Nike LunarTrainer replacement shoes. After seven days of running in them, they felt fine. I may consider using them for IM Wisconsin. The other option is the new Nike LunarRacer.

Bike and swim training continues at status quo: three swims and three bikes. I hit my swimming benchmark: 20x100 on 1:15 with 10 seconds rest with it feeling comfortable. I opt to mix is up with every other set of 5 using the pull buoy. For the time being, pulling that fast is easier than normal swimming.

The only other comment is that I've decided to forgo the recovery week for Phase 1 of training (Base 1-3). Since I view the work leading up to Triple T as essentially prep work, it makes sense. The volume isn't all that high, 15 hours per week, and the intensity is manageable. It breaks down to 13 workouts/wk; no days off; 7 runs/wk, 3 swims/wk, and 3 bikes/wk. The running has been steady with no tempo work, just trying to keep it at sub 8 min pace. Let me clarify this some more. What I mean by no tempo work is that I am not spending time at sub 7 minute pace. Yes, on my 60 minutes runs I usually run about 7:20-7:40 pace but for me that still is zone 2. The bike has one zone 4 workout (15-20 x 2:20/:40EZ), one 60 minute ride (zone 1), one long ride 2-3 hrs (zone 1-2). Swimming is so vanilla flavored that it is not worth discussing.

Running Volume:
January wk 3 - 55 miles
January wk 4 - 60 miles
February wk 1 - 60 miles
February wk 2 - 60 miles
February wk 3 - 60 miles
February wk 4 - 60 miles
March wk 1 - 60 miles
March wk 2 - 60 miles
March wk 3 - 60 miles
March wk 4 - 56 miles
March wk 5 - 35 miles
April wk 1 - 60 miles
April wk 2 - 60 miles
April wk 3 - 60 miles

2010 Early Season Training

I wrapped up another seven days of working out. I ran about 63 miles this week. I am not certain if I ran more since I don't measure everything out. I pretty much plug along on my normal 60, 75, and 90 minute routes at a survivable pace. I had two really strong runs, likely sub 7:30 pace, but I did have one horrible one. Running a lot is difficult.

I also had shoe issues. My trainers (Adidas SuperNova) hit their limit and I had to dip into my large Nike LunarTrainer supply.



However, I had issues with them after 45 minutes of running--a hotspot on the left foot on the third metatarsal head. It prompted me to head out and get a new pair of shoes: Nike LunarTrainer (Nike Lunar LunarGlide actually).



Initially, they felt good, but I'm having doubts. I'm cautious about the future. I'll add this though, it seems like running shoe performance is effected by the temperature. Most of my running has been outside when the temperature is below 30 degrees. The one day that it was 31-32 degrees, the new shoe felt just fine; otherwise, when it's 20 degrees they're a little stiff and hard like cardboard.

Overall, this week I ran 7 times, biked 2 times, and swam 3 times. Because the running volume requires a lot of dedication, the game plan is 7 consecutive days of working out followed by one day of complete rest.

2010

Another year begins and already I'm looking forward to it. The focus so far has been increasing my running volume. This week is going to be nearly 60 miles, my biggest ever (It actually turned out to be 7.25 hrs of running equalling 55 miles at an average pace of 8:00/mile.). I did slip in a MAF-10bpm test for today's run. In years past, I did the customary test of four miles on a track done at MAF heart rate. But this year, I'm doing a 60 minute test on a treadmill with an incline of 1.0. I did it a month ago, but did not know that I needed to have the incline set to one. Today's test was a bit sluggish because of the heavy volume. I wasn't surprised to see 7:47 average pace at 145 bpm.

Next week I officially start Base 1 of 3 to get in shape for American Triple T. My partner in triathlon crime, Scott Bowe, is still tapering from foot surgery so I am not too worried about the gradual start this year. For the next few weeks, keeping the running volume steady is key. Biking and swimming will be light (2-3x/wk).

I still haven't got a new bike. For the mean time, I'm using the trusty old mountain bike that Adrienne got in college. It works well on the trainer giving me plenty of resistance; plus I can ride it outside when the weather tolerates. I haven't talked to Planet X USA (Brian) since early December, but it looks like the new PX time trial bike is coming out in the next few months. Hopefully, it's in the market by the end of March; otherwise, I might be forced to get the current model.

On the sponsorship front, my title sponsor will be Gear-Grinder (www.gear-grinder.com). Its been a wonderful relationship and I'm happy to be part of the team again. My other sponsor continues to be Planet X bikes (http://www.planet-x-usa.com). I have been very happy to see a number of PX bikes arrive in the Wisconsin market in the last two years.

+++++++++++++++++++

January wk 3 - 55 miles running
January wk 4 - 60 miles running

Metrics

SWIMMING METRICS
2013
12:22 1000yd Time Trail 1-14-2013

2012
12:46 1000yd Time Trial 1-22-2012
3:46/3:45/3:44 (3x300yd with 30 sec RI) 1-19-2012

RUNNING METRICS:

Personal Best:
MAF 6:35 (2010)
MAF-10bpm 7:06 (2010)

2010
7:06 147bpm ave; 13 miles (track) MAF-10bpm 8-14-2010 warm/85 degrees
6:50 155bpm ave; 8 miles (track) MAF 5-28-2010 warm/hot 77 degrees
6:35 157bpm ave; 9 miles (track) MAF 5-6-2010
7:35 142bpm ave: 5 miles (treadmill 1 incline) MAF-10bpm 5-07-2010
6:35 156bpm ave; 4 miles (track) MAF 4-28-2010
7:47 145bpm ave; 60 minutes (treadmill 1 incline)MAF-10bpm 01-22-2010

12:45 Swim 1000yd TT 12-05-10 (Adrienne did the same)

(AeT)
Bike 135bpm (May)

2009 (MAF-10bpm)
7:24 145bpm ave; 60 minutes (treadmill 0 incline)MAF-10bpm 12-11-2009
7:30 145bpm ave; 2 miles (track) 7-2009

2008
6:49 155bpm ave; 4 miles (track) MAF 8-13-2008
6:56 155bpm ave; 4 miles (track) MAF 6-02-2008
7:00 155bpm ave; 3 miles (track) MAF 4-20-2008
7:44 156bpm ave; 4 miles (track) MAF 1-10-2008

2007
7:09 156bpm ave; 1 mile (track) MAF 4-07-2007

MAF Triathlon Run Racing Guidelines:
HIM = 15-20 seconds under MAF pace is good
IM = MAF-10bpm pace is what's possible for an IM run

2009 Additional Thoughts

At the request of a friend, I've been asked to analyze my racing schedule in relation to my desired outcome. If my desire is to PR the IM, then I might need to reconsider my current race schedule. If my desire is to win a bunch of local races most of which are short-course, then I might be setting myself up for a good IM but nothing stellar. This led me to look at what other successful Wisconsin athletes have done to peak for an IM.

The fastest non-pro in Wisconsin is Thomas Brunold. This is how his IM career has played out:

2004 - Marathon (2:35); IMWI (9:12); IMKONA (9:49)
2005 - Marathon (2:31); 20K (1:06)
2006 - Marathon (2:46); HIM (4:14); IMWI (9:38)
2007 - IMWI (9:14); IMKONA (9:12)
2008 - IMWI (9:20)
2009 - 20K (1:15); Syttenda Mai (2:01); IMWI 9:31

And that's it. The guy only shows up to race IM and usually one or two long distance running races. Interesting. Lets look at his protege Joe Kurian. I included only the relevant races:

2001 - IMLP (11:53 or 11:04)
2003 - IMWI (10:34)
2004 - IMKONA (12:02)
2005 - Marathon (2:33); IMWI (10:42)
2007 - Marathons (2:31; 2:39)
2008 - Marathon (2:39); 20KM (1:06); IMWI (9:39)
2009 - Marathon (2:39); 20KM (1:10); IMWI (9:10); IMKONA (10:02)

Another to look at is Terry Labinski, long-time fast guy in Wisconsin. His fastest year was 2003. Let's look at the number of races he did that year and the distances:

2003 - Odd distance tri; 3 HIMS; 1 Sprint tri; IMWI (9:23)

Next is Scott Bowe who did a lot of racing leading up to IMWI in September 2006, then over the next seven months until IMAZ in April 2007, did only four running races to have a breakthrough race and qualify for Kona:

2006 - IMWI (10:26)
2007 - 15K; 15K; 10K; 5K; then IMAZ (9:46)

Finally, lets look at up and comer Jeff Tarkowski from Green Bay. He seems to follow the Brunold Approach: only two races a year both of which are triathlons.

2007 - IMAZ (10:10); HIM (4:30)
2008 - IMAZ (9:54); HIM (4:18)
2009 - HIM (4:01); HIM (3:54); IMAZ (9:36)

On the other hand, I can think of a number of guys who continuely crumble at IM distance but rock the short-course stuff. There certainly seems to be a dividing line between HIM and IM.

Why are these athletes racing so little? I suspect its because they trade the short-lived glories of winning multiple short-course races for the long-term benefits of getting another high volume workout in. With Ironman dependent more upon stamina than quickness, it makes sense to prioritize the season that way. Add in the responsibilities of work and family, one finds it too difficult to get in the necessary long workouts during the week hence the weekend is too valuable for training to be wasted away by a short-course race.

This limited amount of evidence suggests that I need to reconsider my 2010 strategy. I didn't sign up again for IMWI to simply participate. The Brunold Approach of doing only one race, IMWI, is extreme. I would love to hear his rationale behind it. I suspect that his teaching & working schedule might be some of the reason. Another might be that with an Olympic background, he has a natural inclination for focusing on one big "A" each year as a matter of personal experience. Besides an IM is so long that the technicalities of fast transitions is irrelevant. You simply have to slug your way across 140.6 miles. Additionally, when reviewing the front of the pack IM racers at the international scene, especially the pros, one sees a complete dedication to the distance. The local races are seen as low-key opportunities for weekend warriors infected with the triathlon bug to participate in the sport; mere diversions from the task at hand for serious IM racers. Initially, I saw such non-participation at the local races as elitism by Wisconsin's fastest IM racers and it really turned me off. But now, I'm beginning to see things differently. I'm convinced that the unfortunate promixity of many highly enjoyable triathlon races here in Wisconsin are too close to IMWI for proper race execution. Expect to see me a lot less at the local racing scene this year.