Asphalt Junkies Winter Edition - CLOSED (Page 18)

A little more on Zach and some of the things he's having me do to get ready right now.  
Swim workouts (2) for this week have had a couple of variables that are testing me on a a couple of fronts.  Wednesday's swim was pretty brutal.  The workout called for 5x(4x100 hard on 1:30; 100pb easy on 2:30) and at first glance I didn't think it would be miserable, and I guess it wasn't quite that bad but it was a test I suppose.  Due to the time the pool was opened I didn't have time to get all 5 of the sets in and knocked it off after 4 complete sets.  But that wasn't what had me straining so much, it was the fat that I told Zach I was only getting about 6-8 seconds rest for the final 4 intervals.  He said he'll adjust the workout so I am getting the proper amount of rest............3-6 seconds!!!!  What???  I may pass out!!  I was struggling to keep myself in the right time interval, maintain my form and keep from drowning myself or throwing up in the pool already and he wants to knock my intervals down to 1:25????

Then, the bike.....
he is giving me some flexibility on the bike to allow me to create my own workouts on TR but they must fall in line with his training parameters.  Sunday I was on my own since he was officially kicking me off on Monday.  Then Monday, since I had done some minor interval work the day before, he wanted me to do all zone 2 riding.  But since I am a glutton for punishment I designed the workout to hit the highest peaks of zone 2, something he said he might have designed similarly but he wouldn't have dialed up quite as high ( I was actually 6 watts higher than prescribed).  

Last nights ride?  I think I passed out 4 times and nearly aspirated on my own vomit.  Ok, seriously, it was brutal!  Again, I was allowed to design my workout and I kept the intensity as outlined but it really was a insane workout.  It was 15x1' in zone 6(2' recovery)  and I designed it as 15x1' @ 120-135% FTP w/2' rec.  Broken down it looked like this; 1@120%, 1@125%, 6@130% and 7@135%.  It was horrible!  With about 6 intervals left on the docket, Lis came in and wanted to talk.  She came in during a recovery but I was about to head into a interval.  I told her I was headed into hell and she said; " I guess I'll leave you to walk down that road alone" and she turned and left.

Here is my workout.............

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Hopefully all of the hassles with the bank can settle after all this time. I'm sure it feels good to have this put behind you and you can get back to your business without that distraction.

Tony,  I have seen some of those Sufferfest rides on TR and considered doing them but I have been either following a plan or now I'm under the direction of a coach.  Matt and Derek would seem to be the resident experts on some of those rides as I have seen they have ridden them multiple times in the Junkies TR team stats.

Jeff,  I'll check with him to see exactly what he's looking for, although I think I may be about right with most of my paces.  The first ones I swim are always (and have been) to fast.  It seems easy to do because I'm well rested and warmed up nicely but after a couple of those faster intervals things begin to slow into something more and I can seem to get dialed into where I can make the intervals stick more closely.  I suppose if I were to get a speed down from the beginning I would be more likely to be able to hold a given pace for longer with less rest, but I've never been able to start correctly.

More swimming from yesterday;

My MS was 9x500!  How about that for crazy long?  Okay, it really wasn't bad at all.  He had given me no time interval to hit, only rest intervals to use.  The rest interval was only 15" and that was where I thought I might crash but it really wasn't bad.  The paces were easy enough that I didn't seem to have a problem with holding a pretty tight time.  The first 6 intervals were all at 7:18 or faster (not much) and a couple I apparently began to daydream and relax a little more.  All 4500 yards complete in 1:08:30.  As I prepared for the workout the night before I was ready for a long 1:20 workout so I was pleasantly surprised when I finished so much ahead of where I thought I might have ended.  Truth be told I didn't even think about the general times I might have expected to hit my intervals and the short rests between.

So far I am really enjoying using a coach!  Having someone lay out some specific workouts targeting the best prospective workouts seems to be somewhat relaxing.  All I have to do is show up and workout.  

Hi Junkies, Just a quick check in here.

JoAnne, your sister is in my prayers.

Will, I know you wont see this until you are home, but be safe. You are in my prayers too.

I ran in the final Frosty Fun Run series race today and did 4.3 miles at better than 9 minute/mile pace. I didn't exactly race it but I went harder than a regular training run so I feel pretty good about that effort. Next week is the St Paddy's Day 5k fundraiser for my daughter's school. I'm in no shape to go for a PR in that one so I'm just going to go into it as a fun run and see what happens.

I picked up a new pair of Brooks Adrenaline 13's this week on sale at Dick's Sporting Goods online. Shipping was free and I saved about $40 from regular price local. I like to have at least 2 pairs in rotation so I always buy one online and then one from my local running shop. That supports the local guy and saves me some money too.

Happy training all!

Vero,  It sounds like the running is going pretty decent.  Are you having any issues with your shins at all right now?

Keeping racing fun should be the biggest part of all of our triathlon experience and supporting charities is a bonus.  

I used to be a part of Dick's points club but when they removed rifles from their stores as a political point I stopped going there at all.  Another place you can check for pricing on running shoes and apparel is the Running Warehouse.  They have had some really good prices in the past.  I think it's a good idea to rotate shoes, primarily if you run in back to back days but I rotate regardless.  I also try to balance using local and online stuff too.  I bounce between my team store and a local running store.  Both stores have buying programs that save me money, enough so that I can buy more stuff at them and still save over online purchase much of the time.

Joanne,  Italian food and German cake?  Sounds interesting. Enjoy the day with your daughter and the rest of the family.

Derek,  Enjoy Mexico!  And enjoy racing with Rinny and TO in July.  Remind me though which race your doing.

On the riding workout front; I put the insanity Zach had me doing on TR for the team/group to try.  I would like to see what a couple of you guys think about it.  The intensity factor is .88 so it's lower than some of the Sufferfest rides.  But in contrast, the TSS is comparable.