Drinks = 0
Workouts = 100%

The non-drinking binge definitely helps getting up early in the morning. Now the goal is to have a life while training.

My mileage for the week:

• Swim: 8.2 km (about 5 miles)
• Run: 14 miles
• Bike: 30 miles
• Weights: 2 MT workouts

I followed up on last weeks functional threshold heart rate (FTHR) test for running with a cycling test today. A 30 minute warm up for a good 8 miles brought my heart rate 165 BPM. Following was a 30 minute ride at the highest maintainable heart rate. The average heart rate of the last 20 minutes of the ride is the FTHR, used to determine my target training zones.

Here are the results:

• Time: 20 min
• Distance: 5.48 mi
• Avg. Speed: 19.4 mp/h
• Avg HR: 175

175 is 10 beats lowers then the FTHR is tested for my run a week ago.

Here are my bike training zones per today’s test:

• Zone 1 (Active Recovery): <144
• Zone 2 (Extensive Endurance): 145 – 156
• Zone 3 (Intensive Endurance): 157 – 163
• Zone 4 (Threshold Training): 164 – 174
• Zone 5A (Threshold Training): 175 – 178
• Zone 5B (VO2 max intervals): 178 – 184
• Zone 5C (Anaerobic Repetitions): 185+

After 200 warm up and 4×400 with 10 second recoveries, I swam a 500m time trial – here are the times for my five 100m stints:

1 – 1:39  min
2 – 1:43  min
3 – 1:47 min
4 – 1:55 min
5 – 1:37 min

Average Time (= T-time for future workouts): 1.44 min

Base training so far has been fun overall. My two biggest issues have been pacing (keeping my heart rate in zones 1&2) and time management. I only completed about 80% of the scheduled 9-10 weekly workouts. Time to step up the game, and keep the social activities in check. The main deterrent for early morning workouts has been the extra glass of wine the night before. I’m declaring March zero alcohol month to get closer to a 100% completion of planned workouts and will keep you updated who this is turning out.

The last test in the bike test series: the Ramp test. The purposes of the Ramp are to quickly check aerobic progress, determine if extreme fatigue or overtraining is happening, measure recuperation from overtraining, and to warm up before intense workouts.

A ramp test consists of progressively more difficult stages lasting from 3-4 minutes. It is usually performed on a CompuTrainer, which can function as an ergometer, allowing to increase the resistance in a controlled and quantifiable manner. After some reasearch, I found an article on the CompuTrainer web site suggestions that “If you do not have a trainer with this capability, you can attempt to simulate the same effect by starting in an easy gear and shifting into a progressively more difficult gear during each stage.”

So here is my modified test that works with a stationary bike trainer and my Garmin 305 with the Cadence/rear wheel speed sensor:

1. Determine gear to start the exercise in. You may need to experiment to find the starting gear that will keep you at least 10 beats per minute below your anaerobic threshold pulse at the highest testing stage.
2. Select a gear similar to what you warm up in.
3. Maintain a speed of 16mph  for three minutes. Without stopping, record your stage 1 heart rate at three minutes and shift up 1 gear.
4. Repeat the procedure through all four stages.
5. Stop pedaling for one minute to measure your recovery pulse. At the end of the recovery minute, record your pulse. The test is complete.
6. You will now have five heart rates recorded. Add them to find your current Ramp Total.

Here is what my result came out to:

• Stage 1, Gear: 11, Time: 3:00, HR: 134
• Stage 2, Gear: 12, Time: 3:00, HR: 149
• Stage 3, Gear: 13, Time: 3:00, HR: 159
• Stage 4, Gear: 14, Time: 3:00, HR: 186
• Stage 5: Cooldown, Time: 1:00, HR: 115
• TOTAL: 743

Here are the details:

• Distance: 8mi
• Time: 24:51
• Avg HR: 172
• Avg Cadence: 86
• Avg Speed: 19.5mph

This time trial was supposed to be done on a CompuTrainer, but I was able to make it work thanks to my Garmin 305 and the Cadence Sensor (which also picks up the rotation speed of the rear wheel while on the bike trainer).

The goal was to ride a 8 mile time trial 9-11 bpm under my FTHR, which meant I had to keep my heart rate between 174 and 176 bpm. After shooting over it and falling below it significantly in the beginning, I was able to hone in right around 175 pretty well for the majority of the test.

Today’s benchmark is 30:49, with the following workout details:

• Distance: 8mi
• Time: 30:49
• Avg HR: 172
• Avg Cadence: 83
• Avg Speed: 15.6mph

I did my first functional threshold heart rate (FTHR) test today with suprising results. I performed the running test per Joe Friel – doing a 30 minute warm up, followed by a 30 minute run at the highest maintainable heart rate. The average heart rate of the last 20 minutes of the run is the FTHR, used to determine my target training zones.

Here are the results:

• Distance: 2.14 mi
• Time: 20 min
• Avg. Pace: 9:18 mi/mile
• Avg HR: 185

185 was a surprisingly high heart rate. I will do another test over the course of next week (a repeated test is not recommended within 48 hours), and am looking for answers in the meanwhile whether a high FTHR is a plus, a minus or a neutral for my ironman training.

Here are my training zones per today’s test:

• Zone 1 (Active Recovery): <158
• Zone 2 (Extensive Endurance): 158 – 168
• Zone 3 (Intensive Endurance): 169 – 177
• Zone 4 (Threshold Training): 178 – 184
• Zone 5A (Threshold Training): 185 – 188
• Zone 5B (VO2 max intervals): 189 – 196
• Zone 5C (Anaerobic Repetitions): 197+

Regardless, I haven’t been in the pool for quite some time and it showed. My technique definitely needs a refresher which I am hoping to get from some technique classes at TriFit. Anyhow, here’s what I did today.

1000 yards total

• 6*100 yards
• 2*200 yards

That doesn’t mean I was unproductive, however.

I signed the lease of a new apartment, and then got a membership for an awesome gym that’s within walking distance from where I’ll live very soon. Check out TriFit. They’ve got a pool and everything.