18 Weeks to go + HIM Base Mid Volume Cycling + (LIIFT 4 + McMillan Core/Legs)
6/29/20 - M - OFF
6/30/20 - T - Ramp Test + McMillan Legs
7/1/20 - W - 45 min @ Easy Run w/ 6x30s reps
7/2/20 - R - Pioneer (60 min; 62 TSS) + 20 min Brick Easy Run
7/3/20 - F - Ericsson (65 min; 67 TSS) + McMillan Legs
7/4/20 - Sa - Antelope (90 min; 95 TSS) + 30 min Evening Easy Run
7/5/20 - Su - 50 min @ LR w/ FF + (LIIFT4-Back/Biceps +McMillan Core)
Total Run Miles - 15.3 miles
Total Run Time - 2:29 hours
Total Run TSS - x TSS
Total Biking Time - 4:10 hours
Total Biking TSS - 264 TSS
Total Strength Time - 1:25 hours
Total Strength TSS - x TSS
Total Training Time - 8:05 hours
Total TSS - x TSS
Been awhile since I've had a weekly update. So it's time to get back into a swing of things now that training has re-resumed. The last month has been spent rehabbing the pain in my upper left leg/lower back, and reducing the training overall to a (comparatively to myself) low level. June 2020 was the lowest training month for me at 36 hours since June 2019. But the time away has been good and I feel mostly recovered from the injury that was hampering me in the tail end of mile training. As I laid out earlier, this training plan has three parts:
1) Rehab -
Complete
2) Cycling focus - HIM Base Mid Volume on TrainerRoad + lose weight
3) Running focus for 11 weeks + maintain weight
Tuesday
So since I was starting cycling up in earnest again, I had another Ramp Test to gauge where my fitness was. I felt like within the last week or so my cycling legs were starting to come back to me and my RPM was increasing from the mid 80s to mid 90s. So even though I hadn't done any structured cycling training in 6 months, I felt like I may have maintained my fitness level.
View attachment 506796
The goal is to hit the 20 min mark without stopping. So around 17-18 minutes is when the intensity really starts to ramp up in the test. I was really really fighting the desire to quit at that point and wasn't sure I could muscle on. But if I could make it to 20 min, then I'd at least equal my last attempt. I was able to make it to 20:09 before throwing in the towel. So the FTP has remained roughly the same since February, but the watts/kg has gone down because of the weight gain. Overall, I'm happy with this.
My legs were super sore from the Ramp Test, so I wasn't sure I wanted to do the McMillan Legs routine (which per instructions is to occur immediately after the hard workouts of the week). But after the cool-down, I felt like at least giving it a try. Everything ended up being fine. I can tell I'm getting stronger with the McMillan Leg routine because I'm able to continue to hold the moves or do the moves with more stability. So I'm getting that desired instant feedback that I'm getting better at these particular exercises. I've slowed down the progression of the workouts on a weekly basis (page 1 is to last two weeks and I'm doing four weeks instead), and I think it's been the right choice for me.
Wednesday
This was the first run since May with any resemblance of pace being included. Just a simple 6 x 30s at the end of the workout. I tried to ease into these with comfortable pacing, and then on the last two really let it rip. I ranged from a 6:16 down to a 4:41. During the last rep my pace was recorded at a 4:24 for an instant, which is the 5th fastest instant I've recorded since 2014. So, happy to see that. The leg felt ok, but I could tell I'm not fully healed yet. But nothing like it was before.
The heat as been downright brutal recently. And it's been getting progressively worse since I returned to running on 6/14, so I haven't been able to acclimate yet. So I've been really trying to go super super slow, and keep the effort way down. Because pushing it won't get me anywhere at this point. So the pre-6x30 sec splits ended up being a 10:15 min/mile with HR of 134 at a T+D of 151. Based on the mile time I ran in late May, my easy pace should be around 8:45 under good conditions. With the T+D of 151, around a 9:09. Yet, I'm running around 65+ seconds slower than even that and still have a HR higher than what I'd like to see. But I'm not gonna sweat it. I'll just continue to try and run slower if the effort dictates it so, but I definitely don't want to be overreaching at this temp when I'm still not acclimated.
Thursday
Second brick of the training schedule (and of the year). Not really anything special to report. A nice 60 min at Half Ironman pace, and then 20 min easy pace off the bike. A 9:57 min/mile at 131 HR with 154 T+D.
Friday
A leg speed workout on the bike followed by McMillan Legs again.
Fireworks were let off by the fire department not far from our house. So we watched them from the yard. We took a walk around the neighborhood, and it was kind of funny how a total of 7 different people said some variation of, "Oh hey, you're not running right now. Not sure I've seen you walk before." Or something to that extent. It was like some form of Twilight Zone or running into NPCs in a video game with the same line of text. I get it, that's about all they know about me. So it's fine, just funny to me that it was practically the same line of text from all of them.
Saturday
Weigh-in was Saturday morning. Down to 179.5 pounds. So that's 4.5 pounds lost in 2 weeks. That's way too much and too fast. I had dropped 1.5 pounds the first week, and tried to adjust. But I ended up losing 3 pounds the second week. If I don't slow the weight loss progression down, then my body is going to switch on me and rebound hard. So trying to be cognizant of this with 7 weeks remaining in the weight loss phase. Overall that puts me about 9.5 pounds up from the November 2019 race.
Antelope was a Sweet Spot cycling workout. It was also the series finale of "Dark" on Netflix. Highly recommend the show to anyone who likes a mind bender. It's in a foreign language, so it makes it slightly harder to follow. But I won't say anything for those who haven't seen it before.
That evening was 30 min at Easy at 9:50 pace with HR of 137 and T+D of 149.
Sunday
A 50 min LR w/ Fast Finish. The run ended up being at 8:50 pace because that felt right. The HR ended up at 142 and the T+D at 149. So the adjusted LR pace would have been a 8:27. Only about 30 seconds off from the adjusted goal LR pace for my mile time trial. So in the ballpark, but not worried about it for the time being. I only did one lap of fast finish in 3:19 (7:49 pace) and that felt right.
The LIIFT4 and McMillan Core routine felt good in the evening.
A good nice and easy start to the training. Overall the TSS data is right about where I want it to be. So everything continues to go as planned on that end.