Time To Get Fit - 2024

[Holeshot]

Mike, have you watched Nyad on Netflix?

 

[Mike95060]

Mike, have you watched Nyad on Netflix?

I haven't! But on your recommendation I just checked out the trailers and it looks good. Swimming from Cuba to Florida is wild.

 

[Abacinator]

30 miles and 17hrs in the water! Holy crap. Some humans are capable of some nutty ridiculous feats.

With no wetsuit!

 

[Holeshot]

I haven't! But on your recommendation I just checked out the trailers and it looks good. Swimming from Cuba to Florida is wild.

It gets truly gnarly. So worth watching. She's a savage.

 

[stangmx13]

I did another FTP Test this past weekend. I tapered a bit the week before, found a longer hill than last time, did a good warm-up, and blasted a 30min all-out effort. 30min all-outs are the worst. For me, the first 10min is just hard - your HR ramps up and you find a rhythm for the legs. The second 10min is death - you worry that you went out too fast and your rhythm goes out the window. And the final 10min isn't so bad - you realize that you can actually do this and you get a small 2nd wind. Then you push like mad for the final 90 seconds and try not to fall over after hitting the lap button to stop the time. Then 20min later you start to think you could have gone a little harder

During the test I set my 2nd best ever 20min power at 260w (2w short of best ever) and my best ever 30min power at 258w. The similarity in those numbers shows I paced it well, even though the effort definitely didn't feel that consistent. According to my coach and some fancy software he has, my new FTP is 253w. I'm 65kg so that puts me at 3.9 w/kg. I was hoping to pass that arbitrary line of 4 w/kg. But I shouldn't worry about single digit watts too much. Also, this is a 4% improvement in 30min power since the beginning of February. Trained riders would kill for 4% in 3.5 months, so I should be happy about it all - especially since my training in that time really wasn't focused on this kind of power.

Here's the before/after. Top is Feb 4th, Bottom is May 18th.

Now my training shifts focus a bit to VO2Max, power, and MTBing. The next two big races are MTB races so I need to put some miles on the new bike. And in order to train better, I've signed up for some local MTB races (with coach approval ). My first Quick N Dirty Summer Series race is today! I've signed up for the 2nd highest class, will do 4 laps of ~20min each, and will probably get DFL (dead fucking last). Seriously, I recon'd the course Tuesday during a threshold workout, and my lap time is 1-2min off the slowest guy and 3-4min behind the winners. These MTB racers are fucking fast over an hour. The next class down is only 3 laps and I gotta get my money's worth, and more training. This short short race is going to be interesting and hopefully fun.

Also, I think I owe everyone a new bike pic.

 

[Mike95060]

FUCK YEA LETS SEE IT!!!!

Nice work Robert. Its fucking rad to see the trend lines going the way you want.

Garmin says my Cycling FTP is a 2.76 W/kg. 229 W at 183 lbs. It's never moved I have no idea how it figures that out without me using a power meter.

To make things more confusing Garmin says my Running Lactate Threshold is 4.37 W/kg 363w. That is an 8:47/mile pace. That number should be based in reality because I use a chest strap.

I guess maybe there is just no correlation between the two values.

I'm 2 weeks out from the event I really care about and I'm 10-12 lbs heavier than I want to be. I quit taking creatine over a month ago to see if it would help me shed some weight but it really hasn't made much of a difference. I was trying to cut gradually for Alcatraz but quit counting calories out of laziness mostly. Seems like I can eat how I want and train hard OR restrict my diet and feel too tired to train at a volume I need to improve. I'm sure i'm doing a lot of things wrong. This shit is really hard to do well. My respect for top level age groupers, semi pro's or anyone who has ever been a pro is off the charts right now.

 

[stangmx13]

@Mike
Agreed, running & cycling FTP definitely aren't related. The discrepancy in my values is even higher than yours - my running is 60% higher than cycling - and I have a cycling power meter. Back in the day, my Garmin FTP estimate was close enough. But it's not a useful metric unless you have a powermeter to train with. I wouldn't worry about cycling FTP until you get a powermeter and are doing FTP-type workouts. And I have no idea how useful running FTP could be.

When I want to cut some weight, I fuel rides properly, up the protein off the bike, and skip getting second (or third) servings for normal meals. The fueled efforts keeps me feeling good on the bike. The protein keeps me comfortable when eating less and probably makes sure recovery isn't negatively affected. And skipping seconds absolutely cuts my calorie intake. If you want to actually use fat for energy while exercising, the efforts need to be slow, like <65% of maxHR slow.

I didn't realize Alcatraz was so soon. And i didn't realize that the bike and run are really not flat! Silly SF. Less weight would be nice, but not at the expense of feeling good. No matter what, eat lots and lots of rice the day before and definitely consider having rice for breakfast. Rice has less fiber and no gluten compared to other carbs. Gluten makes you retain water and fiber makes you poop, both of which are less than ideal for long efforts.

 

[stangmx13]

I did not get last in my MTB race arty

MTB races are FUN! The start was very hairy. I locked arms with one guy and bobbled, thankfully not going down. That put me at the very back of my wave with 3 other riders. We watched the front group get away, but I knew there was no chance I was staying with them. I sat in for the first singletrack bits, attacked at the first doubetrack climb, and never saw those 3 again. Some time later, two faster riders from another wave towed me up to the next person in my class. The 4 of us worked together for half a lap until the rider in my class dropped his chain. And that's about it - it was a lonely race other than that. But still good times.

Normalized power for the 4 laps were 254w, 237w, 236w, and 231w. I had a huge bowl of rice for lunch before driving up there, drank 300Cal before the race, and another 200Cal during the race. I felt comfortable pushing for the entire race, which is a huge departure from my normal races .

 

[two wheel tramp]

may’s numbers will not be amazing, distance wise.

i decided today to join planet fitness. they’re not super far from my oregon place and there’s one in sf (or nearby). i’d like to use some machines and have access to a treadmill. it’s also a reason to leave my hermit shack here twice a week.

 

[Climber]

Just keep up the fitness efforts, TWT, you're doing great!

When I'm not coaching, I do 4 days riding the bike and 3 days in the gym including a Sci Fit hand crank machine for cardio (and toning of many muscles). It's me time now and I plan on getting to my lowest weight in years along with my lowest resting heart rate. I'm just one week past end of track season and I had a 16.7 mph average which included 5 traffic light stops which cost my MPH average for each stop.

 

[Sharxfan]

Haven't been to the gym in a bit due to time constraints and bein gout of town for work stuff. But have been hitting the golf course on the weekends and getting a little exercise that way. noticed my swing speed is going up with the more time I spend on the course.

 

[Holeshot]

Just keep up the fitness efforts, TWT, you're doing great!

When I'm not coaching, I do 4 days riding the bike and 3 days in the gym including a Sci Fit hand crank machine for cardio (and toning of many muscles). It's me time now and I plan on getting to my lowest weight in years along with my lowest resting heart rate. I'm just one week past end of track season and I had a 16.7 mph average which included 5 traffic light stops which cost my MPH average for each stop.

We seem to always be on the same type of workouts and machines. There's some decent rowers that are gonna go cheap off www.westauctions.com in a few days. Betyou can get one super cheap, B....

 

[Climber]

We seem to always be on the same type of workouts and machines. There's some decent rowers that are gonna go cheap off www.westauctions.com in a few days. Betyou can get one super cheap, B....

I prefer to do sets of 2 minute high punch count drills on the heavy back. If I ever have to defend myself against several people I'll be ready to drop as many as I need to.
It really gets your heart rate up and keeps my hand speed and striking power up.

 

[Mike95060]

I want a cheap Concept 2!

 

[scratchpad]

When yall taper, do you think youre not doing enough? Its making me think im not doing enough for the actual race.

 

[Climber]

Tapering in track is a strategic process of allowing your tissues to catch up with recovery while not losing your any of your fitness level.
You have to stay active enough to maintain fitness, basically staying at the top end of your homeostasis (body comfort zone) while not breaking down too many cells.

Many people taper just a bit too much, which is ok for 3 days but sometimes go too easy for more which reduces their fitness level. Another thing that is useful when approaching competition is to do an ice bath after a hard workout which promotes recovery.

 

[stangmx13]

When yall taper, do you think youre not doing enough? Its making me think im not doing enough for the actual race.

What sport?

I’ve done cycling and swimming tapers. They are both pretty short, ~1 week. Volume and intensity are both reduced. Then you do an opener the day before, a few short high intensity efforts, to remind your body what efforts feel like. Fitness lost in 1 week is minimal.

I’ve heard that ultra running tapers can be far longer to repair any accumulated damage, up to 3 weeks. Losing fitness over that time period is def a concern. But that’s better than a DNF.

 

[Mike95060]

When yall taper, do you think youre not doing enough? Its making me think im not doing enough for the actual race.

Yes. I absolutely feel like I'm not doing enough and going backwards for a taper. My event is 10 days out. This week I have had NOTHING in the tank mentally or physically. I was having some persistent low grade pain I'm my knee and yesterday I decided to "listen to my body" and go extra easy this week. It's definitely fucking with me though. I'm trying to tell myself that its a good thing to see "Recovery" in my garmin but, it never really sits right and I struggle to be ok with it in my head. My 4 week HRV is the best its been all year. My sleep is better than my average over that time too. All signs should be pointing to getting a little rest, starting to pick it up just a little next week and then having all cylinders firing for race dy. That's what I tell myself anyway and yeah, its a hard sell

 

[Climber]

Yes. I absolutely feel like I'm not doing enough and going backwards for a taper. My event is 10 days out. This week I have had NOTHING in the tank mentally or physically. I was having some persistent low grade pain I'm my knee and yesterday I decided to "listen to my body" and go extra easy this week. It's definitely fucking with me though. I'm trying to tell myself that its a good thing to see "Recovery" in my garmin but, it never really sits right and I struggle to be ok with it in my head. My 4 week HRV is the best its been all year. My sleep is better than my average over that time too. All signs should be pointing to getting a little rest, starting to pick it up just a little next week and then having all cylinders firing for race dy. That's what I tell myself anyway and yeah, its a hard sell

That are you doing for recovery?

Ice baths (or cryo does work. 2 15 minute sessions a day.
Epsom salt soaking does help with soft tissue recovery. Alternated with icing, as hot as you can stand it for magnesium absorption
Protein supplements does help with muscle tissue recovery.
Collagen for connective tissue recovery
You need sufficient sleep for recovery.

Stack the odds in your favor.

 

[Mike95060]

That are you doing for recovery?

Ice baths (or cryo does work. 2 15 minute sessions a day.
Epsom salt soaking does help with soft tissue recovery. Alternated with icing, as hot as you can stand it for magnesium absorption
Protein supplements does help with muscle tissue recovery.
Collagen for connective tissue recovery
You need sufficient sleep for recovery.

Stack the odds in your favor.

That sounds so much better than my usual of snacking on the couch feeling awful about myself and watching goggins tell me to stay hard I would love an ice bath set up. The Epsom salts and protein supplements are doable. Thanks Brett.