So Pete likes to come up with these catchy little names for the "challenging" weeks. This week he's labeled "Psycho" week.
Looking ahead at the schedule, I felt at the beginning of the week that it was very doable but would certainly put me in the penalty box a bit. And I guess I still believe that but I can't say I'm overly impressed with myself so far.
Monday was a quality swim. I didn't feel good in the water and haven't since before going to Tucson but I worked hard and put a check on the list.
I also had an hour run that day with 8 x 1' accelerations going on a false flat down. This is a leg speed workout that Pete likes to do regularly but I've had troubles doing in the past because of injury. I'm feeling pretty good these days and the workout went quite well.
Yesterday was the Tuesday Night Bloodletting and I really pooched that one.
The ride was insane from the gate. Within 5' we were cresting 45 kph. I was riding near the front and I knew I would not be able to hold this pace for long at all. The lactate in my legs was pooling! I got it in my head that there was no way everyone was going to hold the pace so I thought I'd be better off moving to the back a bit and make sure I stayed with the chase pack as soon as it formed, rather than nut myself at the front and then have nothing to chase with. Adrienne told me later that we were doing over 50k an hour when I pulled out. I moved in to grab the last wheel but the train pulled out of the station without me on it. I couldn't believe it. I have never felt so fit going to a Tuesday Night Ride and have never been dropped so quickly.
I brought a camera with me with the intention of having a picture to post. What a laugh. There wasn't thirty seconds of relaxed riding where I could have snapped off a shot.
To my credit I did not go negative. I worked my tail off to complete the ride in the spirit of the plan. I just turned it into TT. I put my head down and raced. It was a long time before I caught anyone else. Simoni and Ed were at the side of the road working on some mechanical Simoni was experiencing but like I said, I was TTing so to hell with them. I was nice enough to give a wave as I worked on.
At Mt Doug park I caught Adrienne and Jamie. They'd just pulled into the park in front of me and the three of us just sat there laughing for a spell.
Later, at the traditional Fernwood Pub post ride gathering I gathered from the recap that riders starting popping within minutes of me going off and everyone did the same thing - worked like hell to regroup, but it just didn't happen.
After Mt Doug I spun the last 30' home for what ended up a good quality ride. Still I sure wish I hadn't been dropped so quickly. I did not care for that.
Today I buggered up again.
The plan called for a quality swim and then on to the treadmill for a near "run to failure" session.
The idea was to start the run at a VERY easy pace and increase both pace and incline every 5' for 40' and then jog easy for 5'. I got on the treadmill and quickly assessed that starting at 0% and increasing every 5' until the 35' mark would put the treadmill at 7%. I knew that I would fail long before the 40' if I started out too fast. The smallest increase in speed the machine could make seemed to be about 12" per mile and the slowest I could start without actually walking was an 11:30 pace. I didn't bother calculating what kind of pace I would end up at because it didn't matter. I couldn't go any slower. So off I went.
The workout was going awesome. The first two 5' section were dead easy but with each increase in incline it got a lot harder. I really was questioning my ability to make it through to the end of this one but Pete had written - "In the last five minutes you should barely be able to stay on the treadmill." I was predicting it would go exactly like that by the time I hit the third increase.
On it went. In a sick kind of way you look forward to the end of each 5'.
The next thing I knew I realized that I had been running 37'! I was in the last hard section. My HR was 15 beats at least from my max and while my legs were screaming, I knew I was going to make it. So to make it tougher I moved up the speed a few clicks so I was running sub 10' miles and moved the ramp up to 8%. Things got sketchy then. I clipped the retard safety pin onto my shorts and heaved my way on for the final 2'. I was done and drenched - and really looking forward to trying that again. Next time I'd start a fair bit faster!!
So get home to log in the workout and to my horror realized that being the genius that I am, I'd misread the workout!! I was suppose to go for 50' so I had one more incline to go!! I don't think I would have made it through the last one but that was clearly the point of the workout. Disappointing. So now I'm REALLY looking forward to doing it again.
Tomorrow I have a quality 90' on the trainer and 25' t-run with some tempo - but before I start I'm going to really read that plan carefully!
Safe training.
Clint
Looking ahead at the schedule, I felt at the beginning of the week that it was very doable but would certainly put me in the penalty box a bit. And I guess I still believe that but I can't say I'm overly impressed with myself so far.
Monday was a quality swim. I didn't feel good in the water and haven't since before going to Tucson but I worked hard and put a check on the list.
I also had an hour run that day with 8 x 1' accelerations going on a false flat down. This is a leg speed workout that Pete likes to do regularly but I've had troubles doing in the past because of injury. I'm feeling pretty good these days and the workout went quite well.
Yesterday was the Tuesday Night Bloodletting and I really pooched that one.
The ride was insane from the gate. Within 5' we were cresting 45 kph. I was riding near the front and I knew I would not be able to hold this pace for long at all. The lactate in my legs was pooling! I got it in my head that there was no way everyone was going to hold the pace so I thought I'd be better off moving to the back a bit and make sure I stayed with the chase pack as soon as it formed, rather than nut myself at the front and then have nothing to chase with. Adrienne told me later that we were doing over 50k an hour when I pulled out. I moved in to grab the last wheel but the train pulled out of the station without me on it. I couldn't believe it. I have never felt so fit going to a Tuesday Night Ride and have never been dropped so quickly.
I brought a camera with me with the intention of having a picture to post. What a laugh. There wasn't thirty seconds of relaxed riding where I could have snapped off a shot.
To my credit I did not go negative. I worked my tail off to complete the ride in the spirit of the plan. I just turned it into TT. I put my head down and raced. It was a long time before I caught anyone else. Simoni and Ed were at the side of the road working on some mechanical Simoni was experiencing but like I said, I was TTing so to hell with them. I was nice enough to give a wave as I worked on.
At Mt Doug park I caught Adrienne and Jamie. They'd just pulled into the park in front of me and the three of us just sat there laughing for a spell.
Later, at the traditional Fernwood Pub post ride gathering I gathered from the recap that riders starting popping within minutes of me going off and everyone did the same thing - worked like hell to regroup, but it just didn't happen.
After Mt Doug I spun the last 30' home for what ended up a good quality ride. Still I sure wish I hadn't been dropped so quickly. I did not care for that.
Today I buggered up again.
The plan called for a quality swim and then on to the treadmill for a near "run to failure" session.
The idea was to start the run at a VERY easy pace and increase both pace and incline every 5' for 40' and then jog easy for 5'. I got on the treadmill and quickly assessed that starting at 0% and increasing every 5' until the 35' mark would put the treadmill at 7%. I knew that I would fail long before the 40' if I started out too fast. The smallest increase in speed the machine could make seemed to be about 12" per mile and the slowest I could start without actually walking was an 11:30 pace. I didn't bother calculating what kind of pace I would end up at because it didn't matter. I couldn't go any slower. So off I went.
The workout was going awesome. The first two 5' section were dead easy but with each increase in incline it got a lot harder. I really was questioning my ability to make it through to the end of this one but Pete had written - "In the last five minutes you should barely be able to stay on the treadmill." I was predicting it would go exactly like that by the time I hit the third increase.
On it went. In a sick kind of way you look forward to the end of each 5'.
The next thing I knew I realized that I had been running 37'! I was in the last hard section. My HR was 15 beats at least from my max and while my legs were screaming, I knew I was going to make it. So to make it tougher I moved up the speed a few clicks so I was running sub 10' miles and moved the ramp up to 8%. Things got sketchy then. I clipped the retard safety pin onto my shorts and heaved my way on for the final 2'. I was done and drenched - and really looking forward to trying that again. Next time I'd start a fair bit faster!!
So get home to log in the workout and to my horror realized that being the genius that I am, I'd misread the workout!! I was suppose to go for 50' so I had one more incline to go!! I don't think I would have made it through the last one but that was clearly the point of the workout. Disappointing. So now I'm REALLY looking forward to doing it again.
Tomorrow I have a quality 90' on the trainer and 25' t-run with some tempo - but before I start I'm going to really read that plan carefully!
Safe training.
Clint
3 comments:
Clint you are on a training mission these days. i might just read your blog and do your workouts one day later.
i went to the pool last night for the first time in 2 weeks - we did 4200yrds - seems like i should be going more often if i don't want to suffer through each workout!
when do you get here for Wildflower?
we are going to have a big crew with Macca, Terrenzo and TJ there as sponsored athletes and a bunch of other ppl we work with too... it'll be big fun!
I've seen you swim, Ian - you swimming 4200 yards is like me swimming 6k!!
Heather and Trevor Wurtele and I will be leaving here Saturday. We're going to be driving slowly down there so I expect to pull in on Tuesday. I'll definitely seek you out.
We're all looking forward to it! The last time Macca and I hung out I believe the authorities were involved!!
Ooops - correction. The above comment did not come off as intended. I meant to imply that Ian swam better than me (he does) so I should have wrote something like "2k" instead of 6k. I really am quite dim at the best of times.
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