I got news today that my knee is good to go (had previously feared a torn meniscus). So, went for a two mile run to celebrate after a couple of months without running much. Felt good, and didn't really have any discomfort afterwards.

Sometimes "breakthrough" workouts for me are simply the ones where I break through personal barriers. I honestly feared for a while that I wasn't going to be able to run much anymore. But now, I am hopeful to get back into it STRONG...

Today, my test was finding out whether or not I can run again. I. Can.

I was all over this as well and caught the same crap as deepbluex. I'm about 5 weeks into base and really looking forward to the power weeks I have coming up. I'll post my breakthroughs when I can rightfully stand up again.

glad to know that I am not the only one recovering from knee energy... I definitely feel for you. Take it easy, and have a smooth recovery.

Began incorporating speedwork into the marathon plan last week and all went well. Was able to do a 2 miles in 11:58 and 3 days later did 7 miles in the am, then in the afternoon 2 miles to the track where I did a 6:22 mile and a 6:15 mile with my heart rate under 160. Sunday was an 18 mile long run with lots of hills. Snowed like crazy for about 30 minutes. Felt great and the first time I have felt consistently strong in months. The next day I felt fresh. I know I am on track when I feel good on Monday mornings. Now some warmer weather would be great.

Timely thread. Am now in my final 3 weeks of prep before the taper for a March 16th marathon.
Last weekend's run I was to go at marathon goal pace for 13 miles or until I couldn't go anymore, whichever came first. Since it wasn't on fresh legs and after a solid week of training I knew it would be tough and the coach said to not worry if I only made it 6 or 7 miles. Ended up running 13 miles in 1:30:08. About a 15 minute PB from last year.

Yesterday it was another tough workout. Ran 1/4 as fast as I could, then rested for 1/2 the time it took me to run the 1/4. Then did the same for 1/2 mile, 3/4 mile, 1 mile, 3/4 mile, 1/2 mile then 1/4 mile. All the while resting/jogging for 1/2 the time it took me to finish the prior distance. Ran the mile in about 5:40 and was on 5:30-5:40 pace for the last 3/4, 1/2 and 1/4.

Today it was 10 miles at zone 2 avg, did it on sore/tired legs from the previous day's effort and averaged a smooth 7:15/mile pace.

Every run the last week or so seems to be a breakthrough for me, which is pretty cool.

I guess the long steady miles I've put in the last few months are starting to payoff/show dividends.

Well, my A race is IMWI in Sept.
I've been working with EnduranceNation this off-season and will be using their training methodology for the upcoming season.
It is a different approach from the long slow base stuff that most people follow.
See the article here on Trifuel:
http://www.trifuel.com/training/triathlon-training/the-endurance-nation-...
On the EN site there is lots of info describing the approach
http://www.endurancenation.us/en_forums/showthread.php?t=1478

This wasn't a planned test workout because last week was supposed to be my highest hours to date. I had some knee pain early in the week so I ended up taking it easy and putting in 5.75 total hours. As a result my weekend races came after a lot of rest.

Anyway, this was my first weekend of collegiate cycling, with three races at Rutgers University.

Race 1 - Individual TT
My specialty, since it replicates everything I'm used to from triathlons. It was very short (just over 2.5 miles) so you had to drop the hammer from the start. I finished 2nd in the Men's D division which I was very pleased with.

Race 2 - Criterium
This was an entirely new experience for me, and I was very nervous going in. I have had little practice with riding in a pack, not to mention racing in one. Throw in some tight turns and furious paces and you have one scared rider. 10 minutes before the start I discovered I had a flat tire so I frantically set about changing it. I actually didn't need to rush because my race was 20 minutes later than I expected. I lined up in the back of the pack and rode there throughout the first lap. There was a 2 rider crash around the only sharp corner, and the pack broke up a lot after that point. I spent the rest of the race riding solo and trying to catch the group of 8-9 leaders. I moved up throughout the rest of the race, but couldn't catch the group on my own. Finished 16th/37

Race 3- Circuit race
Same idea as a crit, but with a longer lap and no free lap rule. The race was supposed to be 30 minutes, and I expected that to be 4 laps. Once again I started in the back, but there was enough room to maneuver to the front if needed. The group stayed together through 2 laps and I felt poised to strike and even thought about going on a breakaway just for kicks. In the middle of the third lap we began to break apart, and I didn't think I could maintain such a hot pace for another lap and a half. As we finished the lap everyone ahead of me was stopping, which was my first clue that we were only doing three laps. Apparently there was a sign held up after 2 laps which I never saw, but our finish time was about 20 minutes so we definitely should have done 4 total. Finished 15th/34 which was meaningless to me since I wasn't racing at the end.

Overall, I learned a lot from my first cycling races, and I look forward to improving on my performances from this weekend. Unfortunately that was the first and last Individual TT of the season so I don't get to try my strengths any more. I'm looking forward to trying some Team TT's and road races, and hopefully I will eventually have the guts to give a real effort in the crits and circuit races.

I'm still on a trainer but am taking an amazing cycling course designed for Little 500 training at Indiana University. The instructor is a triathlete. In our second assessment session in the 14 week course I substantially increased my max watts. Power has always been a weakness. So I'm feeling good knowing I can face the B'town hills in a couple of weeks. And this on less than fresh legs from an early spring marathon.

I've been seeing a lot of improvement in my swimming the last couple months, too. I'm up to almost 30,000m/wk, which is the most I've done since the old days of USS (which were sometimes 60k, so still not back there yet!). Anyway, this week I've been putting down my best times since high school. Yesterday I was doing LC 100s on 1:25, holding 1:13, which made me pretty happy. (That converts to doing roughly a 1:03 with 12 sec rest for short course repeats). I felt good enough to still do a 500m LT and another set of 100s after, too. Still waiting for a biking breakthrough, though....

Yeah, I've been doing 3000y per session, 3-4 times per week which is a fairly large volume increase for me. And as always, Gator puts everyone to shame! But seriously, nice workouts man...its always a great feeling to improve, especially when you're at such a high level to begin with. Since you used up all your bad luck last season, this year will hopefully be a great time to go out and win big. Keep working on getting the fitness to make it happen.

Gator, when do you study?

books on tape piped into the underwater speakers ;)

Swim test #2. Same warm up
1000y TT in 13:45 (1:22.5/100y).

I'm very happy with this performance! Cut 35 seconds off of my time 2 months ago, which was somewhat expected because my swim training has been going very well. I still started way too fast, and felt like I was going to throw up with 2 laps to go, but I'm happy with the outcome!

Splits:
100- 1:14
250- 3:13 (1:17)
500- 6:43 (1:21)
1000- 13:45 (1:22.5)

Yesterday I had a 35 mi bike ride in an enjoyable pace. I had 40 min rest, and then I went out for a run. I did 5 mi and avg 7:40min/mi, which is the best I have done so far this year, I really suck at running.
How do I get better at running? Is it just keep running, sometimes long and sometimes shorter and fast?

I'm running 3-4-5 times a week, between 5 and 8 miles typically each time. However, the past couple of weeks I keep getting pain (from other stuff) - and I have quite some difficulties getting out on the run by myself. And then the time is a strict limiter, as I want to swim and I love biking (and I hate running compared to the other two)

Run test- determining LT

15 min run warmup, some pick ups on the track and plyos + stretching

Test: continuous run on the track, recording time and HR every 200m. Started slowly, and increase effort after each 200 so each rep is 3-5 seconds faster than the previous one. When labored breathing is first noticed, it is marked as VT to signify the ventilatory threshold.

Results:

Split Time HR
1 .. 65 .. 144
2 .. 56 .. 156
3 .. 54 .. 160
4 .. 53 .. 167
5 .. 44 .. 171
6 .. 43 .. 175
7 .. 40 .. 179 *VT
8 .. 34 .. 183
9 .. 33 .. 185

Based on perceived exertion, I was hitting LT somewhere between split 6 and 7. Since the VT corresponds with this point, and it falls within the last 5 splits I determined 178 bpm to be my lactate threshold.

This is important because I was previously assuming LT to be around 171 or 172, and my training zones were not even correct based off of that assumption. A single test will never be completely accurate, but with future testing I can fine tune this data to zero in on LT.

Yeah, it did seem too fast and short. I got the workout from Friel's testing section, but I believe I started too fast and increased too quickly. I definitely don't think the pace reflects my LT pace, so maybe the HR isn't accurate either.

To be honest I've just been a bit scared of the effort required for a 10k TT or the standard 30 minute run taking the HR in the last 30 minutes. The graded track intervals seemed much quicker and easier, but I will probably do a longer effort soon to get better data. Thanks for the advice!