Testing!

So I've just wrapped up Base 1, my first month of real training for 2009. Each four-week base period consists of 3 long weeks of increasing volume followed by a rest week. During the rest week, I significantly cut my volume and do three tests, one in each sport. The idea of the tests is to gauge my fitness after each period and track my progress month-over-month. The swim test is simply a time trial. But, for the bike and run, I do Joe Friel's threshold tests. These tests allow me to not only measure my speed/pace improvements but also track changes in my anaerobic threshold and determine my heart rate zones.

The run test:
- easy 15-minute warm-up
- 3 1-minute efforts comprised of 20-second sprint followed by 40-second recovery
- 30-minute time trial, all out, even pace but to the point of complete exhaustion at the end

The bike test:
- easy 15-minute warm-up
- 3 2-minute efforts of 1-minute high cadence, 1-minute recovery
- 3-minute effort, all out!
- 5-minute recovery
- 30-minute time trial, all out, even pace but to the point of complete exhaustion at the end

For both tests, I use my average heart rate from the final 20 minutes of the time trial to estimate my anaerobic threshold and profile my heart-rate exertion zones.

Anyway, enough of the nitty gritty. The tests were hard--very hard. Haven't done much speed work since last summer and I definitely felt it. By the final 5 minutes of the run time trial, I just focused on keeping my gait, all the time feeling like I was about to blow up. The bike was equally awful, this time the misery being caused by crazy headwinds.

The results:

Cycling
Zone 1 <177
Zone 2 117-131
Zone 3 132-137
Zone 4 138-146
Zone 5a 147-150
Zone 5b 151-155
Zone 5c >156

Running
Zone 1 <151
Zone 2 151-160
Zone 3 161-169
Zone 4 170-176
Zone 5a 177-180
Zone 5b 181-187
Zone 5c >188

All in all, the two tests went reasonably well. I think I had the run spot on; had trouble finding my pace on the bike due to the wind. I find it interesting that my run zones were so much higher. I don't know if that points to muscular endurance being my limiter on the bike or is just something to be expected. Have to consult my two bike gurus, Nick and Brad, for insight.

Will be exciting to see where I'm at in a month's time. Now on with Base 2!

Race Report #2: Bronx Half Marathon

Wrapped up my second race of 2009 this past Sunday. The Bronx Half--second of five NYRR half marathons--was a set of loops up and down the rolling hills of the Bronx. Unlike the Manhattan Half two weeks before, the weather on Sunday was beautiful and warm--so warm, in fact, that I ditched my long-sleeved jersey at mile 2 and had to wander back along the course to pick it up later.

All in all, a decent race. Finished in 1:37. I had been hoping for a 1:34 but was happy with the time considering my 5-hour bike ride and hill repeats the day before. In fact, my legs didn't begin to feel the previous day's workout until I hit some reasonably bad hills at Mile 10 and slowed up significantly... Guess this bodes well for my run off the bike this season.

Posie was awesome and came up to hang out and watch the early AM race. Looking forward to running the third half (Brooklyn) with her in May.

A few pictures of the finish from her camera:

Coming in to finish up.

Looking over my shoulder to see if I'm going to be caught in the last 10m.

Sponsorship!

So some pretty exciting news... I recently was selected by my team, SBR Multisports, to be a sponsored athlete for the 2009 race season. As an SBR Ambassador, I will lead a few team workouts a week and receive sponsorship benefits from SBR, Zoot, Blue Seventy, Rudy Project and Squadra! Now all I need to do is get some podiums and qualify for Kona and Clearwater....... More to come on this front.

Manhattan Half Pics

Just a few pics from the Manhattan Half.

Coming in for the finish with Nic from Trilife. He and I ran the last 5 miles together.

Ditto the first comment.

Crossing the line.

Chugging away around mile 8.

Starting to speed up for the last 3 miles.

Nic and me starting our kick for the last 200m.

Race Report #1: One down, four to go

This morning I finished the Manhattan Half Marathon, the first of the five halves making up the NYRR Grand Prix.

Woke up around 7, had a small snack of Cheerios and headed down to the start at 63rd and Central Park West. One word to describe the conditions: cold. Twelve degrees cold. Nonetheless, the 5000 racers took off promptly at 8 and completed just over two loops of Central Park.

The first half of my run was mediocre. I was cold, not all that happy to be awake early and a little sluggish. Paced myself with two guys from my team but let them go when they took off during series of rolling hills. Found my stride by mile 7 and caught a guy from a rival tri team, TriLife. He and I hung together for the rest of the race and talked about the upcoming Ironman season. Made the rest of the run pass by quickly.

Finished in 1:40 (7:37min/mi). Not that fast but a good start for the season and a nice shock to the system. Last year, injury had me wait until May for my first race. This time around, I'm (knock on wood) uninjured and four months ahead of last year's fitness. A good start to hopefully a great season.

Bring on the racing!

The Manhattan Half Marathon, tomorrow, marks my first race of the 2009 season. I'm still a little sluggish coming out of off-season, but am excited to lay down some miles tomorrow and gauge my fitness. For reference, this time last year I was laid up with a pretty bad case of ITBS that kept me from running for more than two months. In fact, my first race last year didn't come until the Brooklyn Half Marathon in May. So, if all goes somewhat according to plan, I should score a decent time tomorrow and be four months ahead of last year's schedule. Not a bad way to start the year, especially with Clearwater and Kona as big goals for the season.

Also, of interest, I've started to figure out the finer details of my training plan for the year. So far, I have Base 1 complete and Base 2 and Base 3 mapped out. For those who are interested: