Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Training Overview #67 – Things are Coming Together- Week of Sept 28 thru Oct 11, 2020

Training Thoughts:

Even though this past two weeks were not planned out – as I had planned to do – things seem to be coming together.  Being the Integration phase of the Lydiard pyramid I should be probably doing some shorter stuff, and faster, to get ready for my 5k.  That said the Century this past week worked like a long run and I think was very beneficial and I did not seem to come out of it too tired.  Also, with the 20 miles pacing work this coming week that will be this weeks long workout but being sub-maximal in effort will be helpful.

As I will share below the harder run this past Monday, after my trip back from So. Cal for work, shows things are going well as it was at a good pace with little to no speed work having been done.  That said I do still need to work in more strides and some shorter hard efforts to just get the legs ready to go at a faster pace for the 5K in November.  While I will still do a long, or longish, run or ride each week I want to make sure they are done with sufficient rest and at an effort that still facilitates not over doing it. 

At least for me, the more I mix riding and running at various effort levels the more I find I am benefiting greatly.  While I still need to figure out how to integrate things like intervals and sprints across both disciplines so as to benefit both the overall benefit has been really good as so far no injuries.  I can tell the more I run I am pushing the limit on my ankle but right now seem to be at the best place for it which is about 30-35 miles a week.  Riding though, as has historically been the case for me, can usually be pretty high without an issue.  But as I have shared before I do need to work on making sure to see both disciplines as a whole as often I find myself thinking of miles/hours running and riding as separate things but the total is what is key.

I am really looking forward to next year and am hoping this craziness with subside so we can get back to normal – not a new normal – but back to normal.  To a season one can plan for and then work to execute that plan and aim for goals and objectives and have reasonable chance to see them come to fruition – or at least have the opportunity to see if the plan was a good one.

As with this report I think I am going to keep at posting bi-weekly for a while unless something comes up as seems best.

Overview of Last Two Weeks Runs and Rides:
Start of this weeks 7 miler
As my training this last two weeks included the time I traveled back to home in KY from work in So. Cal the travel week was a short one training wise.  As usual on my last week of work things were hectic and did not have time to ride but that worked out OK as it gives me a built in rest.  As far as running I was still able to get in some good runs even though the week got quite hot and the air quality got a little worse due to fire flareups.  While I was not able to get the desired quicker runs in it was good to still get in about 26 miles for the week.

As far as this last week it started off well on Monday.  In the morning I rode one of my usual Monday easy rides with the Monday Morning DIRT group.  This is a good ride as it is a lower W/kg ride and as the goal is to stay with the leader it help to control things, well at least for me as still many ride off into the sunset.  Truth is it was fun to get back on Zwift and get in a good ride.  That afternoon my plan was for a 5-7 mile run with no real plan of pace as was not sure how I would feel.  Well I guess I felt pretty good.  From my house I only have three directions to go and the route I went is the one that starts up a good mile climb and went up it pretty comfortably and under 10 minutes, even with a stop to snap a picture of the fall leaves.  As I was feeling good I was still not planning on a harder run but worked to stay comfortable and see how I felt.  The next mile was in 8:15 and was still basically uphill but not steep.  From there I decided to just work the pace up over the next miles and see how it felt.  Thus I ran miles 3-6 in: 7:34, 7:14, 6:55 and 6:44 which while my HR was for going up still felt good and still felt I was holding back some.  My last mile was in 6:15 but it is a downhill mile on the same hill I start up.  As the last mile is steep I could have gone even faster but did not want to pound the pavement that much.  Ended the run with an overall pace of 7:30 and that is with a close to 10 minute first mile and with having ridden 40 miles in the morning – so it was a good workout.  This workout in a way, if a little long, does fit into the integration phase of the Lydiard pyramid in that it was a good pacing run at a close, but not quite, race pace.  It has been a while since I tying together a few sub 7:00 miles.

I would add that for the Century this past week, 20th one of 2020, the plan was also not to necessarily restrict calories but to see how I did just eating as required.  I am pretty sure my crossover point is above 140 so if I am below that I usually need very few carbs. As you can see below in the diet section that was the case on this ride and I finished feeling really good.  My legs were a little tired and over the last section I thought there were more hills so did reserve some so may have been able to go a little harder but what I take form this is that this was very much a fat burning ride even at 19.5 mph.  This is good to know as it says things are pretty much where they need to be metabolically so as to use the fuel I need for a given effort.  These long rides, and runs for that matter, can pretty much be done on onboard fuels and only need to add in exogenous calories later in the ride – well not too late into the ride as then it is too late  I will probably write on this more for the next training overview.

As for the rest of the week I ran three more times but they were easy and relaxed runs.  Even ran early the day after the Monday hard run and it felt pretty good, even if a little cold at 39F. I also rode one more mid-week ride that included a 40+ mile warmup then the BMTR Mid-Week ride.  Had planned to just stick with the group as this ride is a little faster paced ride but was feeling good so when I saw a few dropped off the group I thought I would help out.  Might have been a good thought but they were a little far back and I learned the hard way how much the draft means in Zwift.  Once I was back to the person I was going to help we were about 1:00 minute behind the pack and I started to ride hard and was even at 4.0 W/kg for a while – keep in mind the basic pace of the group is to be around 3.0 or so, but while help them at 1:00 for a little while gradually just started losing time and then just gave up before I blew up on a ride that was not supposed to be that hard.  Thus caught a few more people dropped off the main pack and we rode the rest of the way – well most of the way – together for a good ride.

This past Saturday was the postponed from the spring Redbud Century, see ride below, in the London Kentucky area.  Up till about a week or so ago the weather was looking to be just right as high 50’s to start and at most low 70’s later in the day, then came a hurricane – I think Delta – that affected weather up as far as us.  I had been trying to get a good group to ride so we could get a good pace line going as was done last year but as the weather looked to be worse, understandably, those that were not yet registered decided not to come ride in the rain.  As I had registered and was out in London I figured I would just get wet and wet I got.  That said while it rained most all the day it was never all that hard a rain and the temps were in the 65F range so not bad.  The one thing I had planned to do was make sure to go downhill, as there are some speedy ones, easy to be safe but when I got to the first one I went a little slower than planned as being the fall there were wet leaves all over the place – not good on descents.  That all said I felt good and simply rode to keep my HR in the 130 or lower range and see how it went.  Other than a few climbs that are steep I accomplished my goal and averaged 19.5 mph for the ride and with a couple stops added in was at about 19mph and that was solo.  While last year was faster I was happier with this ride as was a better effort and shoed that training is going well.

After this past few weeks and looking back it seems training is going well and the one key I will need to be aware of is to make sure I get rested before my 5k the first part of November.  I still have a long run planned for this coming week and will still do another long ride before the race but that is all part of my plan.

Saturday’s Long Wet Ride:


Workouts Sept 28 – Oct 4
- Monday PM: Run – 9.05 Miles
- Tuesday: Rest Day
- Wednesday: Rest Day
- Thursday AM: Run -  5.46 Miles
- Thursday PM: Run– 6.30 Miles 
- Friday PM: Run – 5.04 Miles
- Saturday: Rest/Travel  
- Sunday: Rest/Travel 

September Totals:
- Running Miles – 116.5 Miles  
- Running Time – 16:23:09 Hours
- Riding Miles – 819.7 Miles
- Riding Time – 46:49:40 Hours
- Total Miles – 936.2 Miles
- Total Time – 63:12:49 Hours

Weekly Totals Sept 28 – Oct 4
- Running Miles – 25.9 Miles  
- Running Time – 3:39:41 Hours
- Riding Miles – 0 Miles
- Riding Time – 0 Hours
- Total Miles – 25.9 Miles
- Total Time – 3:39.41 Hours

Workouts Oct 5 – 11
- Monday AM: Ride #1  – 5.2 Miles  & Ride #2 - 35.14 Miles -  Ttl 40.34
- Monday PM: Run – 7.0 Miles
- Tuesday AM: Run – 6.43 Miles
- Wednesday AM: Ride #1 – 42.10 Miles  & Ride #2 – 30.18 Miles -  Ttl 72.28
- Wednesday PM: Run – 7.58 Miles
- Thursday AM: Run -  6.61 Miles
- Friday: Rest Day 
- Saturday AM: Ride – 100.43 Miles
- Sunday: Rest Day

Weekly Totals Oct 5 – Oct 11:
- Running Miles – 27.6 Miles  
- Running Time – 3:52:33 Hours
- Riding Miles – 212.9 Miles
- Riding Time – 10:00:53 Hours
- Total Miles – 240.5 Miles
- Total Time – 13:53:26 Hours

Diet Notes:
All my morning runs/Rides are done fasted except for a cup of coffee with some SFuels Life and Heavy Cream and afternoon workouts are done about 4+ hours after lunch.  See below for Saturdays ride fueling:

Saturday’s Ride Fueling
Pre-Ride Fueling:
- Coffee with Coconut Oil and Butter, Collagen, Heavy Cream, Chocolate Primal Fuel (1 Scoop) & 1 Scoop SFuels-Life
- 1/3 Cup of plain Oatmeal 
-1ea Vespa
-1ea Altred
- Also use  AMPHuman PR Lotion
- Total:  729.7Cals &  29.4gr Carbs

Ride Fueling;

- 72 oz Water Total 
- 3 Scoops of SFuels Train 
- 1 Packet of SFuels Race+ 
- 2ea Rapid Rehydr8 – 2 ea @ 3.5 Hours
- 1 Altred at 51 Miles
- 1 Vespa at 51 Miles
- Totals:  278 Calories  – 22 gr Carbs
- Totals for Pre and During Ride: 1007.7 Calories – 51.4  gr Carbs


The Week Ahead:
The main thing for the week ahead is the first race in the Zwift Racing League and pacing a friend in his first 100 miler at the No Business 100 on Saturday.  The race will be hard as in Zwift racing they go out much harder than in real racing and to be even competitive at all you need to follow along.  I will have to see how this goes as need to figure out the correct warmup for me as need a few miles in my legs to get them going so will do a bit 20 before hand with a. few sprints.

As far as the pacing at the 100 miler it will be on some pretty nice trails in the Daniel Boone National Forest.  I have not run the entire section I am pacing on but may have done part of it on the Yamacraw 50K but not sure.  I am thinking I am ready for this as training has been much like I did for the R2R2R at the Grand Canyon.  Just have to watch my foot placement but I have to say my ankle is about the best it has felt in many many months. 

The rest of the week will be easy rides and no hard runs but with the Zwift race on Tuesday and the Pacing Saturday will be a full week.


Last Week's Overview #66

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