Some New Toys

Weekly Training Summary
4 - 10 Feb

Phase of Training: Base 2 Week 3
Swim (3x): 6.3K, 2h17
Bike (3 x trainer, 1 spin): 63.8K, 3h19
Run (2 track, 1 outdoor): 26.7K. 2h08
Strength (3x): 2h27
Other (shoveling): 0h30
Total: 10h41

I began the week with sore hips tight IT bands, so I focused on recovery at the beginning of the week.  On Monday night I went to Hot Flow Yoga at White Pine, which was rough but my body needed it. I kept my other workouts relatively easy.  By Thursday I was feeling good so I decided to do a tempo workout on the track.  I ran 12 x 400 on 2:00, keeping my pace at 1:28-1:30/400.  I followed the run with a strength training session, and was able to lift the most weight for dead lifts and bench press this year.

I was feeling good in the pool this week so on Friday I decided to do a timed 800 m.  I haven't done a set that long since the 1K race in the deep river triathlon back in August (during which I ran out of gas after 750m because I hadn't really done any long sets that summer).  I kept a steady pace and had 400m splits of 7:08 and 7:12, for an overall time of 14:20 (1:48/100 pace).  This isn't fast by any means, but it's the most comfortable I've felt swimming in a long time/  I think swimming 2K in ~33 min (1:40/100 pace) by September is definitely possible if I stay healthy.

A few weeks ago I ordered the Garmin Speed/Cadence sensor, the Garmind Footpod, and the Quick Release Kit for the Garmin 310XT.  I found them on gpscity.ca for pretty cheap, but I guess they didn't have them in stock.  But after 2 weeks they finally shipped my order, and it arrived on Friday.  I won't provide an in-depth product review, since DC rainmaker has ridiculously thorough reviews of Garmin products.  Basically, the quick release kit allows you to easily move your Garmin GPS from your wrist to your bike, which is pretty handy during triathlons.  I've tried just doing races with it on my wrist, and it's a pain in the ass to see your wrist while in aero position on the bike.  I think it's going to be a handy accessory.

I already have a third party bike CPU that measures speed/distance, but the Garmin accessory sends all of the data directly to your watch.  This is extremely handy for indoor training so I can keep track of my workouts on Garmin connect.  Another extra is the cadence sensor functionality, which I used to have on my old Polar HR monitor and found pretty useful.  As well, the TrainerRoad software allows you to combine the CycleOps JetFluidPro Trainer + Garmin Speed/Cadence sensor + Heart Rate Monitor into a Virtual PowerMeter.  It's only $10/month so I signed up and gave it a test.

The first workout is a 8- or 20-minute interval test to determine your functional threshold power (FTP) and lactate threshold power (LTP).  Basically you fire up the program, load the workout, and it syncs with your garmin accessories.  Once you start pedaling the workout begins.  For the 8-minute test there is about 25 minutes of warm-up drills, then 2 x 8 min at steady max effort.  The total workout is 1 hour.  My legs were kinda tired from my long run the day before, so I found the test pretty challenging.  The default goal is about 230 watts, but I was only able to muster about 210-220.  This equated to a functional FTP of 185 watts.  I'll probably try it again when my legs are fresh and see what happens.

I haven't used the footpod yet, since I figure I will calibrate it on the indoor track sometime this week.  On Saturday I headed outdoors for a run.  It was about -9 with a -14 windchill.  This week I dressed appropriately, filled my fuel belt with hot water (so it wouldn't freeze) and put it under my jacket (rather than on the outside).  I kept to the main roads that were plowed since I find I can control my footwork better.  It ended up being a pretty solid run, doing 13.5K in 1:04. If you're interested, you can check out this run and other workouts on Garmin Connect.