Testing... testing

A quick update on training.

Prep phase of six weeks is complete - a really light prep phase seeing as it's been so long since I've done anything meaningful.

Finished with an FTP power test indoors on the bike with PoweTap, result 212W. Ugh.

Swimming test in a 50m pool 3x300m on 30s rest yielded a T Pace of 1:58 / 100m. Also Ugh. I could hardly move my arms in the third 300m rep.

Luckily there's a loooong way to go before IMDE next year.

Running still at zero - my ankle is almost 100% there, very rarely any pain, but I'm not in a rush, and don't want to risk starting back to early.

This week was the first Base, or proper, training week. After the test last Monday in the pool, I followed with two swim sessions of 3.3km and 2.9km respectively. I follow the workouts in the book "Workouts in a Binder: Swim Workouts for Triathletes". The book is a Godsend. Without it, swimming would be very, very dull.

Cycling saw one classic 2x20min FTP session, one VO2max intervals session, one 80min endurance (30min 70% 30min 80% 20min 90% FTP), One steady hour @ 75% FTP.

Next week is much the same at the start, but I fly back to the UK on Wednesday, so I'll be on the MBike until the 2nd Jan.

Spinervals Review - Dropping the Hammer

Dropping the hammer is category "Choose your cadence going at a hard to very hard effort". The workout lasts just over 60mins, including the warm up.

The workout is as follows:

a. 2.5min easy warm up

b. 3 x 30s on / 30s off, which is done as a further warm up, a sub TH effort.

c. 1 min easy pedalling

d. 3min of 10s on / 10s off. This is further warm up for the hard sets to follow. Normally the Spinervals DVD's get straight into the main sets after part 'b.' These are sub TH accelerations.

e. 3.5min easy spin.

f. The hardest set of the DVD - 3 x 6min @ 2min rest. These are meant to be over TH level - I did them at VO2Max 110%-120% Power. The choice of cadence is up to you, though. These were very hard - especially the third one.

g. 5min rest, during which you get off the bike and do 2 x 1min @ 30s rest of isometric squats. I stayed on the bike, pushing a hard gear and staying in Zone 2 @ 65 cadence.

h. 6 x 1min @ 1min rest - Going harder than the last set of 6min reps. I didn't find this so bad, as the rest period is long, althugh I was at 120% of FTP, should maybe have been a little higher.

i. 2.5min easy spin

j. 4 x 30s @ 1min rest where each 30s is 20s hard as you can seated / 10s standing sprint. This was a killer.

k. Cool down.

First thing to note is you do over 30min of VO2 max work in the hour - very hard workout.

From the production side, it's one of the better ones - the athletes look generally fit (some of the groups on the more recent DVD's are a disaster), the sound level is good, and doesn't vary, you can have with / without the cheesy music, and the workout is split into chapters, so you can start wherever you want from the menu (seems like a standard feature, but it's disappeared recently).

The sets are varied enough so that the time passes, and the coaching job is done pretty well. He keeps reminding about gearing, concentration, HR and power, to keep you distracted from looking at the clock.

All in all, a really good Workout, one of the better ones in my collection.

At the top of this post is the power file from the workout (My last FTP test was a lowly 212W)

Spinervals DVD's

Seeing as there aren't many reviews available on the web of Spinervals DVD's, I thought over the next few weeks, I'd add my thoughts, seeing as I have 16 of the competition series.

They are all interval workouts, that basically fall into three sub-categories

1. Choose your cadence going at a hard at very hard effort

2. Choose your effort at a specified cadence

3. Ride at specified candence and effort

Number 3 get's a bit crazy on some of them!!

The list that I intend to review is as follows (in no particular order):

Dropping the hammer

Hardcore 100

Have Mercy

Have Mercy 2

Tough Love

Extreme Threshold Training

Threshold Test & Suffer Fest

Totsally Time Trial

Time Saver 1

Endurance Booster

Muscular Endurance Plus

Aero Base Builder 1

Aero Base Builder 2

Aero Base Builder 3

Aero Base Builder 4

Aero Base Builder 6

If any anyone wants a particular review, let me know.

Prep weeks 1 - 3 Down...

... finally an update after a few weeks of preparation phase training.

Firstly the heel. Good news is that it has shown no reaction to the cycling or swimming. Walking is absolutely pain free - thanks to the Nike Free's + traumeel Gel (either genuine or placebo effect, I don't really care).

The only downside is that there is still a small sore spot when performing the "point toes and press" test.

But all in all, good improvement, an looking well when I start running the week before Christmas.

Regarding training, the first three of six preparation weeks are done, no running, just swim and bike.

The last two weeks were four bike sessions and two swim sessions (one swim session was missed though in week 2). The bike is ok - fitness and power are a disasterous as one would expect after so much time off. The positive is the improvement. The 30min sessions in Prep phase involve 5-6 x 3min @ 1min rest descending gears, holding a certain wattage. The very first session, I struggled to hold 180Watts for all intervals, with over 170bpm after the second interval. Yesterday, held ca. 200W for all intervals an hit the 170bpm's only in the last interval, which is good progress in just three weeks. Last week also had a 45min session.

Pathetic time when you think that in April a "60 min / 240min / 60min" "Swim / Bike / Run" session will be the norm.... but building slowly is key to prevent injury, no matter how impatient one gets to smash out 3hr+ interval sessions on the bike.

Swimming is also a disaster from the fitness point of view. Sessions are intervals totalling just 1000m of crawl in 25mins or so.... virtually nothing :).

The next three weeks of prep build up the volume a little (10 - 15% each week), with the last two weeks being on our holiday in Egypt, where the advantage of sleep, rest and food mean the training can be upped a bit - 5 sessions of swim and bike each week.

Then, all being well, the ankle will be 100% better, and I can start running, and enter the first Base training period!

Ciao

Richard

Still Looking Ok..

Well, two days away from the start of training (swim and bike only, no running), and six weeks of Prep phase.

A combination of Kinesio Tape, Traumeel Cream (Gel now ordered as it is supposed to be better) , Ibuprofen and simple time has allowed my heel to be painless in all activity apart from big jumps one one foot.

There is still a sore spot on the heel when pressed with toes pointed down, but otherwise all is ok. The first big test comes in the next six weeks, where I will build up slowly from 30min sessions on the bike, Aerobic power only. No FTP test, no intervals.

At the rate of improvement the last three weeks have shown, I expect to be able to run the week after Christmas.

Talking of running... I bought a pair of Nike Free's - the 7.0 model. Ok, I don't run at the moment, but even for general wear they are very comfortable - there is almost nothing to them, no real uppers, no heel upper, and no real support. The result is a light slipper with a very flexible sole. I will start my running in these. No more heavy support shoes with rigid ankle areas for me!

Next post will hopefully be a description of Prep Phase week 1 on the journey to IronMan Frankfurt, 24.07.2011.

Richard

Optimism ...

Well, a week after my hopes rested in the magic formula of insoles and ibuprofen gel, things are still looking good.

I still have slight pain with the odd step now and again, but only slight. No pain standing up in the morning, and no pain walking. The ankle still isn't repaired, but I think the chances are higher now than they have ever been.

Problem is that the better it becomes, the more temped I am to do little jumping tests, which end in "ouch" :)

I'll start with swimming this week again, tomorrow morning. I've also built up my IM plan for next year (wild optimism), starting with 6 weeks Prep from the first week of November. No running in the first 5 weeks of the Prep - it starts with just 3x30min sessions on the bike and two short swims and builds slowly from there. That gives me seven weeks from now for full ankle recovery.... hopefully that's enough.

Ugh... Ankle

Well, a while since the last post, because my ankle started hurting again.

This is exasperating - it's been a year now since the fateful football match that caused the Bursitis. The problem is that it recovers 90% - just slight pain when pressing on the back of the ankle and toes pointing down, and now and then slight pain when walking up steep hills. Most of this pain is caused by shoes pressing on the sensitive area, and this is very difficult to avoid!!! I keep starting again with the bike, all is ok, and then all of a sudden after a few weeks, regular pain starts.

But! There is light at the end of the tunnel. Last weekend, I got hold of some expensive inlays for my shoes - inlays that claim to deal with this problem. And I must say, two days later, I have had no pain on the back of the ankle. For the first time. Nada. Under the arch of both feet, yes, but the inlays are designed to do this - keep the foot flat with no pronation at all costs, to minimise pressure on the achilles tendon.

This inlay, plus the discovery of Ibuprofen gel, has made me more optimistic about recovering than I have been since I found out from the physio that this would be a long haul.

So, all being well, Gentle cyvling resumes mid Novemeber. Running will wait until the end of December.

We'll see.

Back in the seat... sort of

Well, the stitches came out just over a week ago.

The week following the teeth removal ended up a write off - a lot of pain and I managed one session of Z2 intervals for 60min. Otherwise, the pain was too much.

But, things improved the week before the stitches were taken out - I limited sessions to max "sweet spot" effort intervals, and finally was able in the past week to do my first FTP session using the spinervals "Extreme Treshlod Training" DVD. NP 205W, TSS 96.4. Pleased with that!!

Unfortunately, due to family circumstances, I will be travelling back to the UK each weekend for the forseeable future, which means training is limted to Mon-Friday (Effectively Tuesday-Friday, Monday is bad after travelling back to Germany).

So, weekly training structure is as follows:

Tue: FTP & Above intervals
Wed: Aerobic Z2 intervals
Thu: Aerobic Z2 intervals
Fri: Sweet Spot interals

This is all done on the trainer, with Spinervals DVD's, and gives 4-6hr per week.

Running is still a no-no until my Achilles Bursitis is 100% better.

One more week next week, and then I'll do an FTP test and see if I can beat the last score!

Stitches

Grrrr.

I have stictches in my Gum, lower left side of my mouth.

This is due to waiting far to long to see the dentist about some aches and pains (and swellings) in that area.

When I did go last week, withing two days, one molar was removed, along with a wisdom tooth.

My wife told me it took the dentist over an hour to get the infected tooth out.... (I was in sedated, locally, but more than enough).

So, Only very light training allowed until the stiched come out next Friday.

Luckily, I did an FTP test lest week.

I do the FTP tests indoors (harder IMHO to get the watts up) using the protcol in the Spinervals Threshold test DVD.

I worked out my FTP to be a pathetic 218W. I was at 250W two years ago.



Yesterday I did ABB1 Spinvervals DVD for one hour, intervals in the Endurance Power Zone (122-164W).

Once the stitiches are out, I'll switch to a training program similar to the FIRST marathon training principle. Three key workouts per week. One FTP intervals, One Hard intervals, One hard endurance (ride split into thirds - Endurace, Tempo then FTP).

Starting Over

So... a second attempt at starting a blog detailing my pretty obsessive lifestyle of Ironman race training.

A quick history.

In late 2006 I started running, enjoyed it a lot, training without any real plan four-five times per week. I used a HRM, and bought a Garmin 305 to track my pace vs HR, and after a few weeks reached a level of 5min/km at around 160bpm.

In April 2007 I ran my first Half Marathon on a very hilly course, finishing in 1h36min, which I was very pleased with!

I then entered a Marathon in Kassel, which would be in June 2007, and started preparing. In the meantime, a friend introduced me to cycling towards the end of May 2007, and I bought a bike.

I could already swim ok, having played water polo during my teens, and one evening after hearing about my bike, my Father asked "so when is your first tri?".

Fatal question!

So, I entered some races... An Oly end of June in Roth, a sprint in July, a half Ironman in Wiesbaden in August and a Half Ironman in Cologne in Spetember, two weeks after Wiesbaden.

I ran 3h30 in Kassel (a two loop course which has some hills), finished Roth in 2h24 (with a 40min 10k), finished in top 20% in the sprint.

Wiesbaden was great fun, finished 5h23min on a very tough course, very happy.

After Wiesbaden, I called the people in Cologne, and changed the Half to a Full distance Ironman entry.

The ironman was a great experience, race report is here, finished in 11h18.

Then, I ran the Frankfurt marathon six weeks later in 3h13min. All was well!!

Unfortunately, I started to mess up a bit.

Race weight was 70-72kg during the summer of 2007. I had entered IMDE in July 2008, started training in Dec 2008. I tried following the Don Fink "Be Iron Fit" plan.

Come IMDE July 2008, and I was 75kg, lots of cycling under the belt, not much swimming and running.

The race was terrible. Started well with a 1h03min swim, I was sick on the bike after 90km or so, and hobbled the run feeling sorry for myself. 11h35min finish, only race of 2008.

Very annoyed!!!

So, I did nothing after that, until bumping into a coach at a party in October 2008. He was nice, had been to Hawaii (and runs sub 3hr Marathon in an IM!), and I signed up with him for a year, entered in IMCH for 2009.

Training went very well, apart from not enough swimming. Regular lactate tests, bought a powermeter, ran a 1h31 HM in Feb 2009.

I went into IMCH overweight (again) at 74kg. The swim I took easy, although I was still tired after as I hadn't done enough training (being able to hammer out 1h05-1h10min IM swim off the cuff due to swimming history is not always good - it makes one less motivated to train). I rode the bike very easily in 5h50min, 177Watts avg, power (FTP was ~250W), and ran the first loop of the run feeling great.

However, the wheels fell off, and going to the toilet and seeing uring the colour of black tea explained why. Postmortem counting revealed just over one bottle of water on the bike. Not enough!!! I was massively dehydrated, and limped home to a personal worst of 11h52min.

Ugh.

Then, in Sept 2009, I got married, and on Honeymoon played football, was tackled badly, and ended up with Achilled Bursitis, which is an awful injury that put me out of action until April 2010!

I started gentle running with it 90% better.... as soon as I started intervals in June 2010, it flared up again, so I rested it, and that's where I am now.

Cycling and swimming are ok, no problems with the ankle. The bursitis is 99% better - I feel no stiffness in the morning, just the odd twinge now and again, I know I could start running again. But, I'm leaving it until November, when the IM training starts for IMDE 2011!

In the meantime, swimming and cycling are the focus, I'll train as I like until November.

What I have done since April is control my weight. Down to 75kg in an untrained state, having cut out sugar in drinks (as well as a massive reduction in eating sweet things).

Enjoy the blog!!

Richard