Sweet Spot Base - Mid Volume Phase 1 - Week 4 + 80 Day Obsession Week 1
12/17/18 - M - OFF
12/18/18 - T - 80DO-D1-Total Body Core + Carson (60 min; 65 TSS)
12/19/18 - W - 80DO-D2-Booty + Pettit-1 (60 min; 27 TSS)
12/20/18 - R - 80DO-D3-Cardio Core + Antelope-4 (75 min; 80 TSS)
12/21/18 - F - 80DO-D4-
AAA
12/22/18 - Sa - Palisade (90 min; 113 TSS) + 80DO-D5-Legs
12/23/18 - Su - Eclipse (90 min; 105 TSS) + 80DO-D6-Cardio Flow
Total Biking Time - 6:15 hours
Total Biking TSS - 390 TSS
Total 80DO Time - 4:39 hours
Total 80DO TSS - 94 TSS
Total Training Time - 10:54 hours
Total TSS - 484 TSS
Better late than never I guess. As with most others, it's been a busy last few days.
Tuesday - And so it begins. Steph (restarted) and I started 80 Day Obsession. On Tues/Wed/Thurs we are to wake up at 4:30am to do the workout. So the alarm went off and down we went to the pain cave. The first workout was 60 min. I can't say I remember anything specific about any of the workouts at this point in time (guess that's what happens at 4:30am....). My HR provides a TSS (total stress score) that I get for running (HR) and biking (power) workouts. But I'm not sure the TSS is completely reflective of the "workout" in this case because you certainly can work muscle groups in strength exercises without raising HR (thus not reflected in a HR based TSS). Regardless, Day 1 of 80DO is down. The bike workout was 6 intervals around 88-94% FTP or varying lengths 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, and 7 min.
Wednesday - Day 2 of 80DO focused on the booty. Resistance bands were introduced in this workout. Working the rear end, quads, and hamstrings mostly. The afternoon bike ride was really really easy at only a TSS of 27. Much more like joy riding.
Thursday - Day 3 of 80DO focused on a mix of cardio and core work. A shorter workout at only 40 min, but the HR was up there more often. HR occasionally climbed into the marathon HR zone (low 150s) and end of 5k zone (high 160s). The evening workout was a true challenge. Similar to Tuesday (88-94% FTP) but much longer intervals (10 min each). Didn't need to take a break though and completed it as written.
I had gone nearly a week with the ankle feeling good again (from Saturday through Wednesday), but Thursday felt like another setback. I had gone back to a brand new pair of Kinvara 8s that had never been worn running. I figured if they can't be running shoes (because they may have been causing the issue), then at least I could get my money's worth out of them as daily shoes. And from Saturday through Thursday that had been mostly without issue. But during the day on Thursday at work, I made a quick "cut" in a different direction and felt the inner side of the ankle twinge. Hadn't felt a pain on the side since September. So it was a little frustrating. The Zealots seem to bother the outer side and the Kinvara the inner side. I was hopeful that maybe just switching the daily shoes out completely from either style may point me back in the right direction.
Friday - Steph worked late, so we decided to get the 80DO done at 4:30am instead to ensure we could get it in. This was the AAA workout (Abs, Arms, and A**). After work I picked up a new daily pair of shoes (Saucony Jazz). Tried to avoid another pair of Saucony, but at the end of the day it's the only pair of shoes at DSW that felt right. Hoping that the stylistic change to something that is meant as a daily pair and has little cushioning and a more rigid heel cup will help.
Saturday - Told Steph that I really would prefer to do biking first and then 80DO when they're both to occur in the morning. During the week, it's fine if 80DO occurs first because I've got the whole day to recover prior to the bike. But on the weekend, if we're aiming to do both in the morning, then biking needs to go first. The bike trainer (Kickr Core) forces me to maintain the workout. But if I'm a little tired on 80DO I can just drop the weight or number of reps or something. Not as easy to do on the trainer (nor something I want to do since the bike is still my primary exercise). So bike first. And it was another doozy. I'm coming to appreciate my purchase of the Kickr Core everyday. Because honestly, I'm pretty sure I'd bail mid-intervals way more often (either just barely dropping the power or cutting at interval just a little short). But the trainer pretty much prevents me from doing that. And so even though mentally I feel like toast, I've been able to keep going. So it's just evidence in the mental bank that these workout are achievable regardless of how incredibly tough they feel in the moment. Over/Unders are probably the workout I struggle with the most at this point. Going just below FTP (95%) and then above (105%) and then back down to 95% over and over seems to really challenge me. On this particular workout, the "Over" was extended. But I believe this was the first over/under I have gotten through without taking any mini-break after an interval was over. So a mighty success and more proof that I'm improving.
Of course, doing arguably the hardest workout of the week and then following that up with 80DO Leg day (45 min) just sounds like a "great idea". Yea, it wasn't. But I did get through it. But the legs were already feeling it. Same late stage racing fatigue working the muscles I guess.
We hosted our first Christmas party on Saturday night.
Sunday - Got up and did the bike workout first again. It was 3 x 20 min at 88-92% FTP. So unlike the prior day, it was slightly less FTP but the duration at 20 min was quite the monster of maintained power. The first interval was done at normal cadence (about 90). The second interval was suppose to be a hill climb simulator (about 75). The third interval was suppose to be whichever interval felt harder. I found the 75 cadence to be easier (muscular endurance). So I went with the higher/normal cadence. It was absolutely a challenge. I'm glad the last interval was 20 min and not 20:10 because I'm not sure I would have made it. Even the post workout instructions called it a truly challenging workout, one in which you should feel like you have nothing left.
Perfect! Nothing left! Let's do 80DO-D6 Cardio Flow not too long after feeling like I've got nothing left. Note to self, I do have something left. I managed the workout. It was an interesting progressional ladder of exercises. So you do two moves four times each, then you do moves 1+2 and then a third, then you do moves 1+2+3 and then a fourth. By the end, you're doing 10 total moves with 4 reps of each. You do that final 10 moves three times total at the end of the workout. I did survive!
Afterwards, we prepped for our second Christmas party being hosted by us. So no sitting around post-workout on Saturday or Sunday because it was necessary to get things done for the parties.
So that marks the most exercise I've ever done in a single week measured by duration (10:54 hours). The previous high was 10:08 back in 9/5-9/11 of 2016 when I did 71.1 miles of running. That was prior to HR data so I can't say for sure if that week accounts for a higher TSS though. I would estimate based on the workouts in that week that the running TSS was 617 compared to the 484 TSS I just did (knowing full well the 80DO TSS may or may not be capturing the full workout picture). So close to the highest training load I've ever done in a week, but not the most.
I've also been attempting to sketch out a
rough plan between now and Disney 2020. I'm hoping that Disney 2020 will serve as my next marathon. The plan will be to continue biking 5 days per week through the end of the Sweet Spot Base. Then moving into a 4 bike + 3 running with Short Power Build Mid Level (but dropping the Wednesday workout and replacing with a run instead). Building the running from 30 min per day to 40 to 50 and to 60 but all easy running throughout. I initially chose the Short Power Build, because my Spring goal is to introduce 5k/10k training. So I felt this TrainerRoad training plan best fit that model from a bike standpoint with the hope that'll translate over when 5k/10k run training begins.
Last week was a TSS daily average of 71. Based on the method as to which TSS is calculated, it would appear that you want the daily average of TSS to increase by about 3 per week (21 total TSS). Doing this keeps the pacing of Fitness and Fatigue (in the training load calculation) in the "optimal zone". Occasionally, the training load will drop to have rest weeks. But the training picks back up again in a manner in which you'll catch back up into the "optimal" training load zone again. I have First Call HM marked if
@jennamfeo is still looking for a 2 hour pacer. Additionally, Gigi has mentioned on several occasions that she wants to run a race together so we're aiming for the Kid's run at Parkinson's which is just down the street. The one place that may get too aggressive is 3/25-4/1 so we shall see what happens there (as the TSS daily average would get over 100 relatively quickly).
Next, I'd plan to move into the Century Specialty phase. I dropped down to low and three days per week on the bike so that the running can take primary focus. Still looking at probably 3 days bike and 3 days run. But we'll see once the time comes. I just entered a few previous runs to get a general idea where the Run TSS would be on the 5k/10k training. The training load mostly stabilizes during this period of time, but since the focus of training is switching from bike to run, I felt like that would help ease the transition by having a flatter load. Brat fest 5k and Hot2Trot HM are the primary race goals in this block. I may or may not run these for time based on how training has progressed.
Then comes a decision of following a Half Tri plan or a Full Tri plan leading into the Disney 2020 marathon. I'd probably only do the bike portion of the plan through TrainerRoad and do the run portion based on my own philosophy. The Half Tri plan maxes out at a 120 min bike ride. The Full Tri maxes out at 300 min and seems way more than I need to be doing. So we'll see I guess when that time comes around.
VS
I've also got 80DO penciled in for one week breaks after the conclusion of the plan. We'll see how well I tolerate 4:30am wake-up calls and the extra training load before I commit to following through with that as well. As I said, this is all written in pencil at the moment. Time will tell when running resumes and how much training is truly necessary to reach my goals without blowing myself up.
