I’ve spent some time in the last week or two reading up on
power meters, and how to effectively use them. A few weeks ago I started
training with a power meter for the first time, and I’ve been slowly getting
used to the numbers I am generating, how much power output I can hold for a
given amount of time, how hard I can do my intervals, and what my corresponding
heart rates are. I’m definitely going to write a more detailed post on training
with power, but that’ll be a good few weeks away.
For now, I’ve learned that unless I want my power meter to
be a glorified and very expensive speedometer, I need to do a benchmark power
test and then base most of my training around “zones” based on this benchmark.
This benchmark is also knows as FTP, or Functional Threshold Power: the maximum
consistent power output sustainable for one hour. As fitness improves, FTP
should also improve, and so the FTP test should be repeated periodically, as a
gauge of fitness and progress, as well as to be used as a guide for training
and recovering.
There are several tests for FTP which you can do yourself,
on your own bike, one of which I intend doing soon. I want to be fresh and
recovered for doing my FTP test so that my results aren’t skewed. I can then
use the FTP numbers to really accurately focus my training, quantify how tough
it has been, and crucially, ensure that I am getting enough recovery.
At the start of last week I did a tough, flat-out hour on
the turbo. This wasn’t unlike an FTP test, and for the final 10 minutes of
this, I was pushing well over 300 watts. Quite a high number. Having the power
meter numbers probably goaded me into pushing harder that I normally would for
my “flat-out hour” sessions. I guess in saying this, I’m acknowledging that
there are degrees of “flat out”, which shouldn’t strictly be true, but anyway. It
left me really tired, and I should probably have taken a good few easy days to
recover from the effort. It’s not unlike the hour record I wrote about last
week. Anyone who tries to break the hour record is unlikely to be able to do
much in the days that follow.
Instead, after my flat-out hour, I ploughed on with a full
week of tough training, and was noticeably more tired than usual. I know about
recovery and the importance of it, but I continue to learn, and having a better
knowledge of my power numbers and efforts means that there’s no way in future
that I’d do a flat-out hour on the turbo and not take a few days to properly
recover. With my FTP number, I could still do a tough hour on the turbo, but at
a certain percentage of threshold (or at a certain manageable “degree” of flat
out), which wouldn’t take as much out of me and would enable me still be
relatively fresh for the days to come.
This week was the second of a two-week training block. Based
on the above, and how tired I felt, I decided that there was no way I could do
a “normal” week of hard training, because I didn’t want to push myself over the
edge, and end up getting sick or injured. The training process needs to be
consistent and uninterrupted over time. I decided that this week would still be
a hard week of training, but as easy a hard week as possible. So, based on
previous training sessions with my power meter, and based on some things I have
read, I estimated my FTP to be something around 280-290 watts.
I’d read about a 2 x 20 minutes session at 85% of FTP that
delivers big gains without too high a cost. So after a proper warm-up I did 2 x
20 minutes at just over 240 watts, with a 4-minute recovery in between. It did
feel comparatively easy, with my heart rate at 140bpm. The full warm-up also
helped. Usually I stretch and spend 5 minutes spinning the pedals at low
resistance to warm up. This time, I stretched and put 15 minutes into my
warm-up on the bike, spinning easily but also opening the legs up and elevating
the heart rate with some higher-resistance spinning. And so the session felt
easier, and afterwards, I didn’t feel like a zombie.
The next evening I cut my fartlek run from 40 or 50 minutes
down to 30 minutes. When I was warming up, I heard an awful crack in my knee.
The fartlek run was really tentative after this, and I stopped doing my squats
for the rest of the week, in an attempt not to aggravate anything. Fingers
crossed, so far it seems to be OK, but the crack was really alarming. Hopefully
nothing serious.
I happened to see a documentary about Paula Radcliffe on the
TV during the week. When I ran my first marathon in 2003 at 18 years old, she
was smashing marathon world records. I’d go so far as to say she’s one of the
greatest sportspersons of all time. To run 2:15:25 for a marathon, almost
literally miles faster than anyone else has ever run, is amazing. I remember
watching it and yes, it was inspiring. Certain sporting achievements are just
so amazing that they are genuinely historic, and her run at the London marathon
in 2003 was one of those things. No-one has come close to a time like that in
12 years since. Paula has had her ups and downs over the years, but remains a
phenomenal sporting figure. I look forward to going to see her in the flesh at her
swansong in the London marathon in a few weeks. Iconic photos follow:
2002 London marathon winner
Starting the 2003 London marathon
Running the 2003 London marathon
Smashing the world record at the 2003 London marathon
On Thursday evening I didn’t do maximal intervals on the
turbo, but I did some fast-cadence intervals instead, with the efforts at
110rpm. Again, I didn’t feel destroyed afterwards. On
Friday I put more time into my chartered engineering qualification in the
afternoon, then hit the pool. Some little kid had just puked in it, and so the
whole pool had been evacuated. Well done kid. After a frustrating wait, we were
finally allowed back in. I’d have happily taken my chances in the puke, having already
swum with jellyfish, silt, salt water, fish, and blue-green algae… The swim was
followed by single-leg turbo drills, and again I focused on a higher cadence at
slightly lower power, again because I didn’t want to take too much out of
myself, knowing that the weekend was ahead and that weekend training is tough.
This was followed by an easy run. If I can run 7:40 per mile
for the Ironman marathon, I’ll run a 3:20 marathon, and I think this will be
good enough to qualify for Kona, assuming the bike and swim go as they should.
But it’s so difficult to run this slowly in training. I think I’m in shape to
run sub-33 for a 10k. That’s faster than 5:30 per mile. I was running 7:10 per
mile for my short run after 2:20 on the turbo on Saturday and even 7:10 felt
easy. From now on my Saturday runs will be all about forcing myself to run at
7:40 pace and no faster. 7:40 per mile may start off feeling easy, but in the Ironman
marathon there are 26 of these miles to do, and I know from experience how damn
hard it gets.
On Sunday in the pool I had another lesson in poor pacing. I
did two sets of 10 x 100m intervals off 1:45, thinking my 100s would be in
about 1:30 and my recoveries would be 15 seconds. For the first set of 10 x
100m I averaged 1:27 for each 100. Following an easy 500m recovery swim, my
second set of 10 x 100m averaged 1:33 per 100m. I really, really need to work
on pacing… Much better to start off slightly slower and then gain time in the
second half of a swim, a bike or a run, than to start too quick and then have
the time fall away. And the time falls away quickly, I know that for sure!
After a bite to eat and a bit of a rest, I did some
stretching and I forced myself out to do 14 hill sprints. The last session of the
fortnight, and a tough one, especially on such tired legs. Everything was
hurting – legs, arms, lungs, back. 14 hill sprints, each in around 70 seconds,
with a 2-minute jog back down to recover. With an eye on the 10k race in
Aberdeen in a couple of weeks, I knew this session had to be done. And it was
done. After a big effort, I was happy to be finished and to be jogging back to
the house. Following a shower, I parked myself on the sofa and didn’t/couldn’t
move for the rest of the day. I watched a bit of the Paris-Nice cycling
prologue. I did my ironing. I replenished my body’s iron reserves by taking on
a pint of medicinal Guinness. Then I nearly fell asleep. After a decent dinner,
I went to bed. Another week down…
Ironstuff...
Training done this week was as follows:
Mon 2 March: Rest
Tues 3 March: 1 hour turbo (2x20mins hard)
Wed 4 March: 30 minute fartlek run
Thu 5 March: 1:10 turbo (15x2mins fast cadence, 2 mins slow)
Fri 6 March: Swim 2.6km (paddle drills), 1:10 turbo (20 x 1min R/L/B fast)
Sat 7 March: 2:20 turbo (2 hours at 212 watts, 140bpm), 25 minute run
Sun 8 March: Swim 3km (2 x 10 x 100m off 1:45, average 1:27/1:33),
14 hill reps: 70, 69, 70, 71, 71, 70, 69, 72 71, 72, 72, 72, 70, 70
Tues 3 March: 1 hour turbo (2x20mins hard)
Wed 4 March: 30 minute fartlek run
Thu 5 March: 1:10 turbo (15x2mins fast cadence, 2 mins slow)
Fri 6 March: Swim 2.6km (paddle drills), 1:10 turbo (20 x 1min R/L/B fast)
Sat 7 March: 2:20 turbo (2 hours at 212 watts, 140bpm), 25 minute run
Sun 8 March: Swim 3km (2 x 10 x 100m off 1:45, average 1:27/1:33),
14 hill reps: 70, 69, 70, 71, 71, 70, 69, 72 71, 72, 72, 72, 70, 70
Totals: Swim 5.6km, Bike 125 miles, Run 16 miles
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