Frank wanted me to do an 8 mile run today and here are his instructions:
“8 mile run holding tempo no doubt you will be working in the 170 range, hold HR steady”
Looking to mix things up a bit, from the “pounding the pavement routine”, I decided to take on the power lines trail again. Since that run is about 5 miles, I would have to find an additional 3 somewhere along the way. After helping get the fam off to church, I set off. It was a bit later than I wanted, but no big deal. During the beginning of my run, I felt a bit labored and sluggish. Once I got to the trailhead, I stopped to go the bathroom and snap a quick pic. Everything was pretty much following the same storyline as most of my previous runs until I got to around mile 6.75 or 7. I realized that I wouldn’t get the necessary 8 if I just continued to where I started. Maybe it was the heat, who knows, but I made the executive decision to serpentine through a parking lot (interesting path on the map!) to get some additional distance. When I was done, I saw that I came in within my typical pace parameters, but had a lower HR (163) by about 14 bpm. I attributed that to the bathroom/pic stop and having to stop and open a cattle gate.
My notes to Frank:
“Felt slow/sluggish for a solid 3 miles. Probably fatigue from yesterday's 126 mile ride. Felt OK between miles 4 and 5. Felt better (found groove) around miles 6 or 7 where I felt "faster".
Link to workout:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/48857622
Start of the power line trail:
Cattle gate:
Monday, September 13th
Frank scheduled me for a recovery day!
Tuesday, September 14th
I had a follow up appointment with the original cardiologist that conducted that stress test I took pics of. He reiterated that everything came back normal and nobody could find anything wrong. After a bit of discussion, I told him that, while my HR is elevated compared to others, it really only effects me on the run. He indicated that, since I’m flat when swimming, and have a flat torso while in the aero bars, it may be an issue of the blood getting to my heart efficiently while running upright. He asked if I had compression socks or if I could borrow any. After I told him that I didn’t, he said that I may need more sodium in my diet. He actually prescribed salt tablets for me to take! He said I should take one pill 3 times a day. That would equal 3 additional grams of sodium per day! He said that I needed to monitor my blood pressure to make sure that it didn’t rise along with the increase in sodium. Well, I wasn’t so keen on all of that, so I told him I’d think about it (because I know more than the cardiologist!)
3000 yard swim:
Warm Up
300 swim easy
Main Set
3 x 200 swim/ kick w/20RI
Kick the first 100/swim the second 100
4 x 100 swim @ 2:10
8 x 50 @ 1:05
3 x 100 swim @ 2:05
6 x 50 swim 1:05
300 swim easy
12 x 25 sprint @ 45
Warm Down
100 easy
Here are my notes to Frank:
“Felt strong and efficient. Held 1:10 for the first 100 set. Held 30 - 32 for the first 50 set. Held 1:05 - 1:10 for the second 100 set. Held 29 - 32 for the second 50 set. Held 10 - 12 for the 25's.”
Wednesday, September 15th
I had a 2 ½ - 3 hour ride scheduled for the AM and a 9 mile run scheduled for the PM. I decided to go 2 ½. Here were Frank’s instructions:
“2.5-3.0 hr ride holding cadence, looking to see your HR avg. during the entire ride”
I was able to get in just over 47 miles with an impressive (for me!) average HR (148). I noticed that there were some “blips” with the final data. About 1 – 2 minutes in, I was showing a 200+ HR while the 2:21 – 2:24 (43 – 45 miles) showed the same thing. Truly bizarre.
My notes to Frank:
“Felt strong and fluid. Probably could have had another gel or two. HR was where I wanted it to be, even on the climbs. There were two sets of HR anomalies....one at 1 - 2 minutes into the ride and another around the 2hr 20min mark. I was actually stopped at a stop sign and saw '203' on my Garmin. No way, no how was I in that range, let alone the 226 max that is shown in the data on the left. Solid ride.”
Link to workout:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/49124107
The last time I had a run after my morning “moderate” ride was on 09/01 and it was downright miserable. This run was no different. Well, at least it ENDED miserably. I started out with a great pace (for me) and held it within my usual pace for about 5 miles. Around this point, I was wearing cement shoes, my quads were burning, my feet were hurting, and my previously injured shoulder became a source of irritation. My shoulder, became very uncomfortable and bothersome. It was to the point where I actually had to run with my arm hanging down by my side for relief. I actually looked like I just got up off the couch and ran to answer the door with an arm that was asleep. My pace plummeted and it was a grind to just get home. On a number of occasions I really wanted to walk, but I kept telling myself to push through it. Ultimately, I finished, but was extremely disappointed with the results.
Here are Frank’s instructions:
“Easy sustained run holding tempo for a long run. HR keep it in the low end of Zone III need to make sure you have power bar or some kind of nutrition with you please and H2O. Great opportunity to work the nutrition on this longer runs, see how the GI systems reacts to different endurance products”
My notes to Frank:
“Your original duration of 1:10:00 is too unrealistic for me. That equates to about a 7:46 pace. Honestly, I could only keep that for MAYBE 3 miles. I started out great and felt fine for about 4 miles before I labored a bit. I was able to regroup for about a mile, but then the wheels fell off for the rest of the run. Legs and back were hurting and I couldn't pick up the pace. Even with my pace in the 10+ min/mile, my HR didn't come down at all. The only thing I feel good about was that I didn't stop running. I ran the entire time and muscled through it all. Overall, a bad run. Used two PowerBar gels and about 14 oz of EFS. Should have had more, but my stomach was cramping a bit.”
Link to workout:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/49236627
Thursday, September 16th
One hour speed ride in Anthem. Here are my notes to Frank:
“Felt super strong and led out the crew every time. Was always in the mix for a top 3 finish. Something is going on with my HRM. It shows an HR between 197 - 204 for my WARM-UP laps. By contrast, last weeks HR results (for the exact same loop, at the exact same pace, for the exact same number of loops) was between 129 - 160. I had an hour of solid speed with about 30 min of warm-up / warm down...hence the 1:35 duration.”
Link to workout:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/49355985
Friday, September 17th
I was thinking about what the cardiologist said before he prescribed those salt tablets. He asked if I had compression socks. Instead of pumping myself full of salt and subsequently having to monitor my HR, I figured that I’d give the socks a try. I headed down to the local tri shop and picked their brain before I walked out with a pair of Zoot compression calf sleeves. I’ll give ‘em a whirl this Sunday (10.5 mile run) and report my findings next week. Today was also the time I needed to step up and buy a wetsuit. Up until around July, I was intent on borrowing the suit I used in the March tri or try to find a used one. It wasn’t until I happened upon a small distributor shop near my brother-in-laws gun shop that I decided to buy new. Scott, of Sailfish wetsuits, told me that he would give my 40% off and had about 5 different models to choose from. We were hit and miss for a few weeks until I finally hit him up again last week. After I tried on their “One” model, I decided to buy it. When I got the receipt, however, I saw that he gave me 50% off. AWESOME!
Before all of this happened, however, I had to take care of a 6 mile run.
Here are Frank’s instructions:
“6 mile run tempo run pace @ 75% of 10k race pace. Monitor avg HR and time completed”
Well, I’ve pretty much figured out that I only have two running paces; slow and slower. That being said, 75% of my 10K pace would be, what, um, well, super slow? He did give me a 1 hour time limit, so I zeroed in on that and attempted to keep it there.
My notes to Frank:
“Honestly, my 10K pace is probably 8:30 to 9:00, so to go 75% of that is fairly slow. You indicated that the duration was to be 1:00:00, so I tried to keep it as close to a 10:00 min/mile pace as possible. While I did have some fatigue from the previous days workouts, it was very manageable. If, however, you asked me to pick up the pace to even a 9 min/mile, I don't know if I could have done it for entire time. Some random HR "spikes" again. See 3.5 - 4 miles in. I didn't do anything different, held a steady pace, and felt nowhere near 199 or 204. This has been an HRM "issue" for the last 3 or 4 workouts .”
Link to workout:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/49355991
The afternoon saw this swim workout:
WARM UP
2x (100 swim, 100 kick, 100 pull)
8 x50 swim, 25easy /25 fast (:10 rest)
MAIN SET
Cycle through 6 Times
150 swim , rest :10
50 fast @ 90% right into a 50 easy
rest :20 start next set
WARM DOWN
2 x 50 easy
My notes to Frank:
“Didn't really feel strong, but didn't feel weak. "Sloppy" would probably describe it the best.”
Stock pic of my wetsuit:
Saturday, September 18th
4 ½ hour ride or 100+ miles. Got up at 3:15 AM, had some breakfast, and got the bike ready to roll. As I was riding to James’ house, I realized that I couldn’t shift gears on my rear derailleur. I came back to the garage to try and figure out what was going on. I noticed that the cable was loose and that was causing the problem. I texted James and then started to ride over to his house to get an extra set of eyes. As I was approaching his back gate, he was rolling out. I asked him to shine his light on my bike and that’s when I figured it out. I took my rear wheel off the day before to clean the gears and put a new tube in. When I did, I somehow removed the cable from its stop. I simply stretched it back to where it needed to go and we were on our way. The ride was pretty uneventful until about mile 50. At this point, we knew that if we continued our loop home, we wouldn’t get anywhere near 100 miles. We didn’t want to backtrack either. At this point, it became the dreaded “exploratory ride.” These types of rides are fine for tooling around on shorter, less intense, distances, but are no good for longer ones. If we are going to be in the saddle 5+ hours, we need a scheduled route and stick to it. Now, we weren’t sure if we were going to run into a dead end (we did), or where we would end up. James tried to pull up maps on his phone, but couldn’t get coverage! Ultimately, we ended up getting back on track and headed home. Around mile 75, my rear tube (the one I just put in the night before) was going flat. After changing that, we noticed we needed refills on our energy. There was a convenience store a few miles away and I had my heart set on a Payday and a Coke. When we got there, however, I discovered that the $3 I had stashed was gone. It probably got lost during the tube change since I keep the money in a pouch with the actual tube and gear to change said tube. Oh well, I refilled with water and had half of James’s candy bar. At this point, all of our momentum was gone. Stopping at dead ends, backtracking, flats, and a store stop all added to extra time out in record heat. We eventually had to put in about 8 garbage miles to get to 100.
Frank’s instructions:
“100 plus ride holding 18 mph looking to see your avg HR for ride”
My notes to Frank:
“4:30 on the bike is faster than 18 mph for a hundy! Ended up getting the 100, but it was closer to 5:20. Felt fairly strong, but was feeling the previous days workouts around mile 75. Some more random HR spikes around mile 80. I happened to witness my Garmin spike up to 216 for no reason.”
Link to workout:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/49808054
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