SBR Utopia Season II - OPEN (Page 130)

I bought a pair of Desoto 400 mile shorts and some Stretchcordz.  They weren't really a Black Friday sale but the Desoto were $30 off and I did get free shipping.

Ooohhh, who's got Desoto's for $30 off?  

I picked up two pairs of Kiwami shorts this week as well -- they're probably the ugliest tri shorts ever (seriously, straight out of the 80's), but they are damn comfortable.

It's a Canadian site - triboutique.ca - looks like clearance on their 2013 stock.

For those who are more experienced runners than I am (so basically everyone in here), I have a question about HR vs RPE.

I did a run today where my HR was within Z1 (zones recalculated based on Thursday's race), but RPE felt much harder than that.  My pace was faster than I'd expected for the HR, probably a bit slower than I'd expected for the RPE....but was not monitoring it throughout the run, so it wasn't like I was chasing a particular pace.

So when your HR and RPE don't seem to match, which do you let dictate?  Should I have slowed down so my RPE felt more in line with a recovery run?  Or given that my HR was within Z1, would you consider it a recovery run?

FWIW, it was shortly after a reasonably hard group ride (high VI, lots of "match burning" efforts) and I'm probably not fully recovered after Thursday's race and yesterday's "long" run.  I'm not surprised that the run felt hard....I was surprised that my HR was low but RPE felt high.

Thanks Rusty, I guess I didn't need that $150 that I just sent to Emilio...

This morning I did one of the harder trainer workouts I've ever done.  30 mins @ 260w (96%), 20 mins @ 270w (100%), 10 mins @ 280w (103%) and then 5 mins @ 290w (107%) with 5 mins in between them.  I had my doubts going into it for sure!  It was the 20 mins @ 100% that I was most worried about for some reason.

Nicole, I don't wear an HR monitor so I don't have any experience with a situation like that but given the hard group ride, long run and recent race I'd be inclined to just go by RPE.

The run was short -- just over 20 minutes.  I'm running 5x a week and currently at just under 18 mpw, so they're all pretty short and easy.  My plan is to keep everything very easy (conversational, Z2-ish pace) and build my volume up to 25-30 mpw, and hold there for a while.  I don't have plans to add any quality sessions in -- just want a solid base and to stay injury-free.

I determined my zones using the LT field test....the last two miles of my 5k race had my HR holding steady at 172-173 bpm, so I used BT's calculator and put that in as LT and had the zones calculated that way.  I imagine that's probably not the most accurate way to determine zones, but I doubt it's so far off that it would be detrimental.

Good to know that you use RPE over HR and pace for easy runs.  I will give that a try as well.  Normally HR and RPE correlate nicely for me -- this was the first time I've had this issue, so hopefully once I've recovered a bit (tomorrow's a swim only day), it'll go back to being normal.  

I tend to go with the one that has me running easiest. It makes more sense when knowing I have a tendency to run a bit too hard for these if left on my own. When I'm better rested, HR can go well up into Z3 before feeling like I'm doing anything, even later into a run. When I'm tired going in, and RPE is going up faster than HR (and pace), I'll tend to default to RPE. HR has had a tendency to climb later in such a run more so than normal and I've learned that I'll be more fatigued than I should be the next day or two. So for easier runs, HR & pace are important as they'll act as limiters for me, and also help to confirm if I'm carrying more fatigue than I realized.

um...ouch?  That's a brute of a ride.  I love the 290watts for 5min at the end of all that - especially considering I just managed 300watts for a 5min test yesterday when I was fresh.

That sounds fun.

For you to do that workout Ben, all those numbers are +100w!

I went back and looked at last year's logs and I did a 20 min test on Dec 6th.2012 @ 268w.  I'll take that as a decent indicator of improvement.

You and I were very similar in terms of raw power going back a couple of years.  One of us has ticked upwards - the other one not so much.  Your hard work is paying off.

If it is a recovery run then I would not even look at my watch during the run, just use RPE.  The goal is for it to be EZ so heart rate or pace could dictate you run faster than you maybe should for the goal of the workout.

Also, the field test protocal really does not translate to a race situation.  I believe the article is making some assumptions based on it NOT being a race.  (I read it a long time ago and also subsequent thread).  You may be better off plugging your 5K time into Daniels or Macmillan and using pace and seeing how your HR translates over a period of time.

I have always just done a 15K, which roughly takes 1 hr and using that as LTHR.

Hmmm, very interesting.  I actually figured paying attention to HR rather than chasing a pace would be better. 

Based on my 5k pace, my easy pace should be 9:38 - 10:15 (according to Daniels), so my pace was a hair fast....though McMillan says my easy pace should be 8:43 - 9:43, and I know an 8:43 pace would not be easy for me.  Regardless, I basically ignore pace on all my runs....I run based on RPE typically and cross-check it with HR to make sure I'm where I expect to be. 

And oddly enough, my max HR for my 5k was slightly lower (like 1 bpm) than my max HR for a 20 minute power test (on the trainer).  People seem to say they can't get their HR up on the bike, but I don't seem to have that problem! 

I think many tend to find that. The McMillan & Daniels suggested easy paces tend to be a bit fast. Especially for a triathlete. More common would be around the slower end or a bit behind it.

Anything ever come of the weight loss challenge here?

Funny how today's weight felt great as I was heading down last year.  Now, heading up, it feels like utter failure.  14# up from the weight I left for IM Canada

Not being able to run complicates things a bit, but hopefully that is a week or two off.....

I'm still hovering around 160...about 8# more than I raced Honu and Kona.  The bad news is I ate a whole bunch of junk food in the past few weeks.  The good news is there isn't any junk food left in the house...for now. 

I'll set a simple goal to be under 160 by next Monday.  Totally doable...just need to take that first baby step in the right direction. 

Yes, it really does just come down to a series of choices

I'm floating around 168, down a couple from the cruise.  Still looking to drop 5 more.  My trouble is we've discovered some very tasty beer from a local micro brewery.

Wasn't in the challenge, but noted I am exactly the same weight today as right before Thanksgiving, so clearly did not enjoy that day enough.