Monday, February 13, 2017

A good note

Well, things are going better.
- The shoulder is getting back into place. I was able to swim right from Monday.
- The calf (calves) are back in shape: I ran 3 times this week, somewhat moderatly.
So the injuries are done, for now at least.

The agenda was a bit complicated so I couldn´t ride twice to work. But I almost got to 12 hr, with some good quality. So I´m ok with it.
Running is back, need to do some abs though
 Healthy eating helps keeping the good trend: record low for the last 6 months, at least: 71,9kg.

Now, let´s talk about the quality.
First, in swimming. Interesting set, after 200 or 300 warm-up (at 6:00AM), we had:
- 5x100 max
- 15x100 moderate
- 10x100 best average.
All on 1´50.
Well, we (with Olivier) hit the spot.
I think though that he won the lactate award!
He nailed the 1st one in 1´06 or 1´07, but drifted to 1´15 or so in the first 5. Ouch!
On my hand, I was stuck in 1st gear, ranging 1´11 to 1´12. All out.
The moderate 15 were surprisingly quick, and not so easy: the lactate was still pumping... And the rest went way too fast!
Then came the last 10... See below the movie references. We were there, big time. I managed 1´12 to 1´13 average very steadily, even though the effort became greater and greater.
The cherry on the cake was in the last 100, in the last 25 Olivier managed to pass me. I couldn´t react.
I suspect heavy doping on the young one! :) 

 
Second, the bike.
Saturday ride was to be done solo, including a 100km in time trial position, at 80% of max heart rate. Basically ranging between 130bpm to 133bpm for me. I wanted to complete it in less than 3hr: more than 33,3km/h.
I started off feeling quite easy, spinning quite a bit. The first hour went like a charm, with may be a tail wind and/or more descent than climb: 37,7 km/h. Almost easy. Incredible.
The second hour had more climbs, steeper ones.I pushed the legs quite hard : steady on the climb, but strong in the descent and on the flats. The last 10km before the turn around, I had a headwind.
So I added a bit less the 36 km in the second hour.
I was now heading back, and the last portion should last 40 to 45mn according to my calculation.
Now the game was to keep the average up. In spite of the climbs (not so steep, I agree), in spite on the wind in some area.
That´s when the legs got the burn, the buttocks especially. Very tough. Pushing hard, thinking of the second lap of the Ironman (it will be 2 loops of 90 km). I have to bare through the pain if I want to finish the bike, ready to run...
In the end, 100km clocked in 2h42, at an excellent 36,9km/h average. I was very happy with that.
Until I check my heart rate data: only 126 bpm average. Now I´m thrilled.
The limiter is clearly the legs, still 15 weeks to prep them.

And the last note is that I start a 3 week traveling plan. That sucks big time for training. But I got the opportunity to run at 1500m altitude tonight. I did feel the difference, vs. the 900m of Curitiba.
Sleep and spare time for training will be rare... That´s life.

Monday, February 6, 2017

To be or not to be

J´espère que le blog ne va devenir une longue liste de blessures, car après le mollet, c´est apparemment l´épaule que j´ai en vrac.
Semaine sans course à pied + kiné à fond. Du coup, 4 x à la piscine. Et un gros bobo aujourd´hui.

I hope the blog won´t turn into a long list of injuries because after the calf last week, it´s the left shoulder that´s out today.
Still, almost 12hr, and a full day off. Not so bad without any run this week. I will resume tomorrow.

I think it will take an easy run week to get back into run rythm.
On wheels, this week started slow but ended surprisingly strong. I got to ride with the big boys the 3 x 20km (easy / medium / strong). And I´m quite happy with being able to keep up w/the big guns.
De sortie avec les grands garçons - crevaison
Presque 12hr d´entrainement cette semaine n´est pas si mal, sans course à pieds.
C´est en vélo que je me suis clairement surpris. Mais d´un autre coté, ce n´est pas si surprenant quand les jambes ne sont pas fatiguées par la course à pieds.
Enfin, c´est un très bon signe de rebondir autant, après quelques semaines bien fatigué.
The big boys - also training repairing flats (3 or 4 at the same time)
Sortie de 110km, à 34,3 de moyenne, en peleton, c´est correct,
Le 3 x 20km lent / moyen / vite est solide. 36,8 km/h puis 37,7 km/h, et 42, 6 km/h.
Voire, excellent avec les derniers 10km où je suis allé prendre plusieurs relais pour sortir les copains de la zone de confort (les gars savent pousser fort, bien régulier). Très motivant d´être dans le match même si je sais bien qu´au vent, je ne tiens pas 5mn!

Nice figures - Hear beats also good (140bpm @ 42 km/h)

Being able to keep up at more than 42km/h is great. But being in the front at times to push the pace in the last 10km was simply excellent.

Though I´m not naive, I don´t last 5mn without drafting at this point. But biking with run-tired legs surely helps!

Sans sprint à suivre, ce n´est pas désagréable de faire de l´hypoxie
In pool, things were also coming together. After another "Big blue" (hypoxia) session, times and send-off have been improving through out the week.
300´s on 4´30 (sucks I know) is a first in a long time. Reaching 1'19 average (sucks I know) is the best I´ve done in ages.
Plus I have my double dragsuits. So it´s not in a 50m pool, but it´s equivalent I think.
Kiwami speedsuit claim: -5,7 sec/100m
David dragsuits claim: + 3 sec/100m


4 passages en eau chlorée permet de revenir à un niveau acceptable (moins d´1´20 de moyenne/100m). Même réussi à faire des 300 départ 4´30. 
Rien d´exceptionnel, certes (surtout quand on voit tous les records abattus par Nicolas Granger en ce moment - on ne dit plus battu avec Nicolas!). Mais c´est le mieux depuis longtemps.

Et puis contrairement à ce qu´annonce la marque française Kiwami (la combinaison permettrait de gagner plus de 5 secondes par 100m!), j´ai toujours mes fidèles dragsuits (qui doivent bien me couter à 2 à 3 sec/100m). Ce n´est pas si mal.

The only concern is the shoulder which I must have pushed too much in the pull set: the left shoulder feels raw. Anti-inflamatory cream & ice. Let´s see tomorrow how bad it is.
Maintenant, de la glace et un peu de crème anti-inflammatoire. On verra demain si je vois remplacer le repos de course à pieds par du repos de natation...

I like the trend of the curve!

Thursday, February 2, 2017

Bof bof week

I pulled a reverse Steve Austin ($6M man)...
Early in the week (in Argentina), I felt like Steve Austin on the treadmill - spinning my legs tu tu tu tu tu tu....
But got injured, I have a pain/soreness in my right calf. So I need the same doctors to rebuild my legs!

https://youtu.be/HoLs0V8T5AA

Bottom line is that I´m very tired: I can´t train and lack sleep. That´s the lesson of the week.

In the end, it´s a sucky 9hr week. Too lazy.
Running is ok, but injured now. I´m going the get some therapy & a week off running.
Swimming improving, and bike behind schedule (didn´t go out on Saturday - indoor biking is simply not the same).

Talking about swimming, Friday training included a challenging combination: hypoxia work followed by lactate work.
Let me translate:
 - Hypoxia : limited or no breathing
 - Lactate : high intensity repeats without swim down to recover.
Hypoxia @ 6:00 AM feels like
Lactate/ high intensity: In my dreams...