Funked Up Triathletes (Sprint, Olympic Focus) Group - Closed Until Next Season (Page 13)

I just went through the same need vs. want internal discussion on bikes and ended up getting a Cervelo P2 (2012 model).  Turns out that Cervelo is getting ready to release a new version and has authorized their dealers to discount 10% (they had the 2012 for a 15% discount, and I liked the black vs. white better!).  My wife had made noises that maybe Santa would be good to me this year in the bike category, and the 10% discount vs. a likely price increase made Christmas come early. 

Did I need the Tribike?  Of course not!  Did I want it?  Yup.  Did it make me faster?  Yup.  I raced the Pacific Grove Oly last year on my road bike with clip on aero bars and averaged 18.6mph.  This year I raced the same course, but averaged 20.5 mph and had only ridden the tribike for a total of about 100 miles at that point.  I have worked on the engine over the last year, but don't think I can claim to have squeezed 2 mph out of it, so some of the credit goes to the bike.  I did notice a marked difference on the run as the legs definitely felt fresher and my pace improved by 40 sec/mile.  I'm not qualified to comment on the models of bikes that you listed, but definitely feel that a Tribike is going to be faster than a road bike that has been modified and that it is beneficial to the run.  Finally, I found it to be much more comfortable in the aero position than the roadie with clip-ons and was able to maintain the aero position the entire race without ever thinking I needed to take a break.

So I got started with Trainerroad not too long ago and just finished the Intermediate Base I plan.  At the beginning of it I did the FTP test and it pegged me at 211w.  Today was the second test to see where I stand now.  To make it a bit more interesting, I bought the Sufferfest video that works for the test - called Rubber Glove because it is just about as comfortable as what happens when the Doctor puts on that ol' rubber glove.

So, fired up the training session, turned the fans up to high along with the volume.  Did Rubber Glove and my legs are still shaking.  Wow.  Based on my previous FTP of 211 the suggestion was to go to 232 as a target wattage for the 20 minute test ride.  I felt I could do better, but not sure how to figure out how much better to shoot for.  Got into the 20 minute test and played around a bit, finally deciding I'd target what I felt was an aggressive 250w.  5 minutes in and I was still feeling like it was a good choice.  10 minutes in I was questioning my wisdom, but holding it.  15 minutes in I was digging deep.  At 16 minutes the video said to give it more so I upped my target to 260w and saw my HR was at zone 6, but kept going.  Found it hard to keep focus and saw some power swings during the last 4 minutes.  Coming into the home stretch I was giving it all I could and thought this last minute was taking FOREVER, and it was because the timing clock had FROZEN.  I kept going for what I felt was a sufficient time to get in the 20 minutes, figuring I could calculate the average power from the data and just when I slowed down, the clock started going again!  CRAP, picked up the pace again and put in another minute at between 260w and 270w, marveling at how a 10 second break allowed the legs to recover (note to self: thing of this when on a steep downhill).  At the end of the day, averaged 251w, so very happy.  FTP went from 211 to 238, so an increase of about 13%.  I'm happy with that, and with the way I felt at the end.  Ride link: http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/409954.  This Trainerroad stuff seems to work.

So I've had a bit of a layoff from classic SBR.  The week before my last race I came down with shingles, so out of the pool until that healed up sufficiently that I would neither be communicable nor accused of carrying the plague to the masses.  At the race I stepped down onto what I thought was a sandy beach only to have my heel land squarely on a rock.  Thought I'd cut it open but no blood - but it turned out to be a seriously bruised heel, so no running for at least a couple more weeks.  As such, the elliptical is my new best friend and I'd forgotten how much one sweats on the stationary devices without fans.  I can literally wring sweat out of my shirt when I'm done.  To top it off, I took a fall at the bike dismount resulting in a dislocated (and later found to be fractured) finger, so had to have it splinted and told to stay off the bike until the splint came off.  So for biking, the trainer and I became real close (a good friendship, really).

Getting past these things now and was able to do my first ride outside yesterday and it was a glorious feeling.  Didn't kill myself or watch HR, just went with RPE and posted the highest average speed for that training course I've seen.  Ahhh, the value of enthusiasm!  That got all dashed to pieces today when I got back in the pool for the first time.  It has only been a few weeks but it felt like I haven't swum for months.  It didn't help that I've decided I'm going to focus on my weak side breathing to even out my stroke, but ugh, it was a slogfest.  Ended up only doing about 1000, rationalizing that I didn't want to overdo it.  I seem to remember I felt the same way after my last layoff and it took a while to feel strong in the pool again, so the journey starts again.

So I've always been a left-side breather which results in my having better rotation to the left side and incomplete rotation on my right.  I can see this in the OWS when I tend to veer off to the left if I go too long before sighting.  I had a session with a coach a few months ago where she had me do some weak side breathing and said that I actually have better form when doing so.  I was surprised today when my times were coming in at 1:30/100 for weak side 100's when my times for strong side have been typically 1:35-1:40 for the same conditions.  I guess the coach is right, but it is hard.  I found myself swallowing a lot of water and not getting enough air.  The 100's felt like sprints in terms of exertion once I was at the wall.  Have any of you gone through a similar issue where you've had to work on weak side breathing?  I'd appreciate any guidance based on your experience, and any thoughts on how long of a learning curve this really is.

I'm with you John, on the out of breath, dead at the end of the interval, etc.  Think I might try swimming 25's and 50's allowing rest in between as today I found the first 25 was not hard to accomplish, the 2nd started to get more challenging, the third took lots of focus, and the 4th was survival.  Maybe shorter intervals trying to ingrain what seems to work best, the extending the intervals over time.  We'll see.  I do want to have the ability should I get in a situation where it is beneficial or necessary.

Switching gears, literally, I wanted to do a 2-hour ride today but had to take my wife to the doctor and there was no way to get the ride done in time.  So instead I decided to jump on the trainer and just do single leg drills and 10-2 and 4-8 o'clock drills.  I've done these as part of the trainerroad workouts, but didn't feel there was enough drillwork to have me get good at it.  Wow, after 45 minutes of these drills I was doing the single leg drills a whole lot better, switching off with 50 strokes on each side until I couldn't hold form, then did a few minutes of high cadence to relax things, then back to single leg work.  With the 10-2/4-8 drills I got some good feelings of a whole stroke that didn't have definite individual components.  When I started I thought these would be low effort so didn't bother turning on the fans.  Wrong.  Every bit as taxing as some of the other workouts, though shorter.  I think I'm going to look for opportunities to do these more often, when I can squeeze in a 30-45 minute set (but with fans!).  You might want to give this a try if you are time-crunched one day.