I'm not going to turn this into a training log and bore readers to tears with my miles and hours. I've never done a log and don't intend to start now, mainly because I've never bumped up against the physical limit of training. If you're going to push the envelope -- 15,20,++ hours per week -- you need to write it all down. I will come nowhere close to that. I'll post the occasional training update, but not all the detail.
But I thought I'd take this blog entry to review my past fitness and set some benchmarks.
Swim. I swam as a kid in the summers, up to age 16. I was ok...master of nothing, but decent at medley. Mainly...I know how to swim and that is a HUGE advantage as a masters triathlete since most masters guys/gals are novice swimmers. I get in shape fast, and I swim efficiently. Preparing for my first half IM (Oceanside 2002), I did masters swimming at the JCC in San Diego twice a week for 3 months. I beat half the male pros and all the women pros out of the water. Went 27-something.
I don't expect to do much different this time. I'll probably start masters at our local high school pool sometime in June. Will shoot for 3 days a week most weeks. I'm also going to attend a Total Immersion clinic in May or June. One can never be too efficient in the water.
Goal for Tahoe: Out of the water around 35 minutes, swimming smooth and easy.
Bike. Bike preparation strategy is simple. Do the miles. More miles, more fitness. How many miles can I do? That remains to be seen. But ultimately, it's about making an honest assessment just before race day: What is my race-day threshold power? By "threshold power" I mean specifically the power output I could hold for a rested, one-hour maximal effort. From experience, I have a good sense of making this honest assessment without actually having to do a maximal one-hour effort. A half hour push up part of Mt. Diablo should tell me what's what.
My fitness peaks in the past were at about 230 threshold watts (or "P60"=230w). Accordingly, my 2006 Oceanside 1/2IM race target was 192 watts, which I achieved on the number. That's 83% of P60. Some fast folks race at a higher % of P60; slower folks should target less. Since us slower folks are out on the bike course longer, we need to reduce our relative effort in order to have enough in the tank for a solid run.
For Tahoe, I will go on reduced expectations and target a more conservative 80% of P60. I *think* I can get to 200 watts P60. I'm 7 years older and will be starting from scratch, but I think that's a realistic goal. I think that 2-3 quality rides per week will get me there. I haven't yet analyzed the bike course up there, but 160 watts at Oceanside would have been about 10 minutes slower than my 2:40 on 192 watts.
Goal for Tahoe: Off the bike in 2:50. Subject to closer review of the course profile. Maybe as high as 3:00.
Run. The wild card. Will my feet hold up? I bought a pair of those crazy Hoka One One shoes on the advice of an ultra-running friend. Ran a half hour in them last night. Strange, but interesting. I'll report back.
A solid half IM run is done at "M" (or, marathon) pace using the Daniels Running Formula VDOT tables. These tables work. At my last fitness peak, my M pace was ~8 min/mile. I will get nowhere near that this time, but I'm optimistic I can get to 9 min/mile for a 2-hour run leg. An M pace of 9 means running an open 10k in 50-52 minutes, and means holding long easy runs (2hrs or more) at 10:15. That will be my goal for now -- doing long easy runs at 10:15 or better.
Running is not as simple as just "doing the miles" like cycling. You can ride your bike every day, and it won't break down. Even if it does, you fix it one evening and ride again the next day. Your running "chassis" can break down and take weeks to fix. I will have to be very careful.
Goal for Tahoe: Run 2 hours. This is a stretch, but I need to have a stretch goal in here somewhere.
More to come later on my specific preparations in each event. Equipment, training, diet, strategies, etc.
Cheers,
Rick
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