Week 11

The fatigue of the VO2max bike block is starting to set in. I hit some good bike workouts during the week (Tuesday/Thursday trainer sessions) but it caught up to me on the long Saturday ride. I was also able to get in my first outdoor ride of the year on Friday by commuting the 20 miles one-way to and from work - so nice to get some fresh air!

On the run side, I did my first race of the year on Sunday (Shamrock Shuffle 8K - see race report in previous blog entry) and established my new baseline (Jack Daniels' Vdot score) to base all of my future run training sessions off of. I'm a runner again!!!

I also did a 1,000m time trial on Friday so I now know where my swim fitness now stands.

So, here are the week's workouts:

Monday: Rest day after a solid weekend of workouts. Did core work in the morning and then took it easy all day.

Tuesday: 5:30am trainer ride as 5x2.5' at 356 avg watts then 20' at 254 watts (.851 IF). Overall ride IF of .87 & 77 TSS. 85% work is starting to feel EZ...FTP bump? It was a nice day so got in an easy 30' run at lunch followed by 60' of yoga.

Wednesday: Great lunchtime run - 4.5 miles with 2 miles at 6:45ish pace.

Thursday: 5:30am trainer ride - same workout as Tuesday but with weaker results. VO2max fatigue is starting to accumulate! Legs just felt tired but I got it done. 5 x 2.5' at 351 avg watts then 20' @ .844 IF. Total ride IF=.856 and 74 TSS. Did another lunchtime run since it was so nice outside - just an easy 25' to get some fresh air.

Friday: 1,000m swim time trial done...15:21. Slower than expected but not too far off (45 seconds or so) from my best time last year. Good weather allowed for an easy spin to and from work - first outdoor ride of the year!!!

Saturday: Trainer struggle this morning. VO2max work+lack of rest=power outage! Still managed to get in the 2 hours of riding with 140TSS at .83IF. I wasn't too worried about not hitting all the intervals since I have the 8K run race tomorrow. These Saturday bike workouts just keep getting tougher.

Sunday: Shamrock Shuffle 8K in downtown Chicago (see previous blog post for race report). Great race where I exceeded my expectations! New Vdot of 53.4 is set. Need some rest!

And here's the data for week 11:

Time spent training: 8:59

Time spent at or above FTP on bike: 45' (29' spent @ 110%+ FTP)

Avg bike Intensity Factor (% of FTP) = .743 (Friday's easy spin to/from work brought this down compared to other weeks)

Mileage: 128.4

Training Stress Score (TSS): 653

Chronic Training Load (CTL): 67.8 TSS/d

Training Stress Balance (TSB): -32.5

Weight: 171.0 lbs

Functional Threshold Power (FTP): 299 watts

Vdot: 53.4

Performance Management Chart (PMC) through week 11: