Recap Week 7

Monday: Ride with Sub Threshold Efforts

After a long 5 hour drive home I was not up for this workout. Additionally, as soon as I stepped out of my car the wind made me want to cry a bit. Regardless, I'm gad I did it. I pushed myself and had a good ride.

Ride in Z2 and once you're fully warmed up do:
2 x (12 min efforts in upper Z3 to low Z4 + 3 min recovery in Z2). Finish with a short warm down in Z2.

Monday: Run off the bike

Run felt really good. Definitely easier than the ride felt. I held a 9/min pace which is not bad.

15 min run off the bike

Tuesday: Ascent of Power (ride)

Not an easy ride after the late ride and travel yesterday. Sweat a ton and it was overall a good ride. Lost a screw in my cleat so that was annoying. Otherwise pushed this hard.

Warm Up:
5 mins in Z1-2,
5 x (30 secs in Z2, 10 secs in Z4, 20 secs Z2),
5 mins in Z2.

Main Set:
1 x (2 mins in mid Z3 + 1 min in upper Z4),
2 mins rec in Z1-2,
1 x (3 mins in mid Z3 + 2 mins in upper Z4),
2 mins rec in Z1-2,
1 x (4 mins in mid Z3 + 3 mins in upper Z4),
2 mins rec in Z1-2,
1 x (5 mins in mid Z3 + 4 mins in upper Z4),
2 mins rec in Z1-2.

Warm Down:
5 mins in Z1-2.

Tuesday: Strength & Conditioning

Definitely good to do the ride right before. I sweat like crazy. Definitely struggling with planks. I need to suck it up and do them, though.

Legs and Core Strength:
1. Squat: 3 x 10 (Exercise 1)
2. Squat Jump: 4 x 10 (Exercise 2)
3. High Knee: 4 x 8 (Exercise 9)
4. Calf Raise: 4 x 10 (Exercise 8)
5. Box Jump: 3 x 10 (Exercise 10)
6. Bicycle Crunch: 4 x 10 (Exercise 26)
7. Plank: 1 x 3 (Exercise 21)
8. Mountain Climber: 3 x 10 (Exercise 24)
9. Side Plank: 1 x 3 (Exercise 23)

Flexibility: 5-10 minutes

Wednesday: Aerobic Endurance (swim)

Warm Up:
1 x (100 FS in Z2 + 100 Drill in Z2 + 10 secs rest),
1 x (200 Pull in Z2 + 10 secs rest).

Main Set:
2 x (200 Pull in Z2 + 15 secs rest) @ 3:20,
6 x (100 FS in Z3 + 15 sec rests) @ 1:35,
6 x (100 Pull in Z2 + 20 sec rests) @ 1:40,
4 x (100 FS in Z3 + 20 sec rests) @ 1:40.

Warm Down:
1 x (50 Back in Z2 + 50 Breast in Z2) + 15 secs rest,
1 x (50 Choice in Z2 + 50 FS in Z2).

Thursday: Red-faced Pyramid (run)

Felt strong in the run today. I might need a longer warm up but sticking with the plan as written so I'm not hurting myself. Regardless, felt really strong overall. Hit my TSS goal as well. Usually I'm over the number on the runs so I think my body is finally adjust to the workload.

Warm Up:
5 mins in Z1-2,
1 min in Z4,
2 mins in Z1-2.

Main Set:
2 mins in upper Z4 + 2 min recovery in Z1,
4 mins in upper Z4 + 2 min recovery in Z1,
6 mins in upper Z4 + 3 min recovery in Z1,
4 mins in upper Z4 + 2 min recovery in Z1,
2 mins in upper Z4 + 2 min recovery in Z1.

Warm Down:
3 mins in Z1-2.

Thursday: Strength & Conditioning

In the future, I'll be upping the intensity, lowering the amount of rest, and increasing the reps to get the TSS score up. I think I'm doing fine and I'm protecting against injury. Thinking ahead to the 70.3, I'll need to pick up some more strength. Endurance is easy, strength is key.

Upper Body and Core Strength:
1. Squat: 3 x 10 (Exercise 1)
2. Lat & Front Raise Combo: 3 x 5 (Exercise11)
3. Bent Over Row: 3 x 8 (Exercise 12)
4. Tricep Dip: 3 x 12 (Exercise 17)
5. Renegade Row: 3 x 4 (Exercise 22)
6: Glute Bridge: 3 x 14 (Exercise 18)
7. Spider Climber: 3 x 10 (Exercise 25)
8. Sit-Up: 3 x 12 (Exercise 27)
9. Reverse Crunch: 3 x 16 (Exercise 28)

Flexibility: 5-10 minutes

Friday: Swim Threshold Efforts

Phew. Another early morning swim. Feeling a bit sluggish at first and then as the workout progresses I feel tired but stronger. I think I'll need to consider a good warmup at the race. Maybe do a little ride, then a jog, and finally a swim. I just need to get the motor running.

In this workout I tried to push my pace on the 4th 100 down to as close to 1:20 as I could. I think the best I got was 1:23. I'll get there, I just need to keep working.

Warm Up:
1 x (100 FS in Z2 + 50 FS in Z4 + 20 secs rest),
1 x (50 FS in Z2 + 100 FS in Z4 + 20 secs rest),
1 x (100 FS in Z4 + 30 secs rest).

Main Set: Repeat 4 sets of 500 as below:
1 x (100 FS in Z2 + 10 secs rest) @ 1:45,
1 x (100 FS in Z3 + 10 secs rest) @ 1:40,
1 x (100 FS in Z4 + 10 secs rest) @ 1:35,
1 x (100 FS in Z5 + 10 secs rest) @ 1:30,
1 x (100 Pull in Z2 + 10 secs rest) @ 1:45.

Warm Down:
1 x (50 Back in Z2 + 50 Breast in Z2 + 10 secs rest),
1 x (100 Choice in Z2).

Friday: Torque Session (bike)

Warm Up:
10 mins in Z2, at your normal cadence.

Main Set:
12 mins in a big gear @ 60 rpm in Z3 + 60 secs easy spin recovery in Z1,
10 mins in a big gear @ 70 rpm in Z3 + 60 secs easy spin recovery in Z1,
8 mins @ 80 rpm in in Z3.

Warm Down:
10 mins in Z2, normal cadence.

Saturday: Sub-Threshold (ride)

This was a good one. I need to be better about staying in my zones but I don't think I did too bad. Looking at the chart I was in Z3 about 29% of the ride, Z4 about 5%, 48% in Z2, and 17% in Z1. I need to get out of Z1. Overall I felt good and strong. Average power for the ride was 182 watts. I definitely want to see this number slide up more. I'm able to hold higher outputs on the Peloton; which is probably a calibration thing. I don't think I totally trust Peloton's mass produced products for accuracy. It's entirely possible it's fine but, I think it's better to be cautious when putting emphasis on these data points. The trend is really what matters to me.

Warm Up
20 min @ 151-202 W
Zone 2

Hard
30 min @ 226-261 W
Zone 3-Zone 4

Warm Down
10 min @ 151-202 W
Zone 2

Saturday: Run off the bike - fast at first

Felt strong off the bike. I think I saw a 7:00/mile pace on my watch at one point which is silly. It's only silly because it' shocking to me. I'm progressing faster than I thought I would. I still really need to keep this in check but it definitely didn't feel like I was pushing that pace.

Hard
5 min @ 09:39-10:03 min/mi
Zone 3-Zone 4

Active
5 min @ 10:44-11:56 min/mi
Zone 1-Zone 2

Sunday: Endurance Run

The first 30 mins of this was great. I felt strong and kept my pace around 9:30/mile for the first 3 miles but then I felt like I crashed a bit. I think part of the fatigue is the load of workouts and another part might have been a lack of food. I wonder if I could use a gel or something every 30 minutes to help supplement. Either way, something to consider.

40 min in Z2