Here is how it went for all 4 tries:
Average power, cadence, HR
Jan 3
257, 87, 173
243, 85, 173
232, 84, 168
228, 86, 165 I started shutting it down here.
220, 86, 162 This was a complete melt down.
243, 85, 173
232, 84, 168
228, 86, 165 I started shutting it down here.
220, 86, 162 This was a complete melt down.
Dec 18
261, 85, 170
I had the instructions to stay at 260 for the first one
270, 86, 176
271, 87, 178
269, 87, 179
269, 86, 178
Dec 12 (epic fail)
252, 84, 165
246, 83, 167
240, 83, 168
236, 84, 169
231, 84, 167
Dec 6 (had only 4x5’)
261, 85, 164
257, 84, 166
261, 92, 172
260, 85, 173
So clearly another epic fail today. It was even worse than 3 weeks ago...
Here is what I think is going on. I went to gym on Dec 10 and was still sore and not recovered when I did the workout on Dec 12. I did 15x30sec bursts at ~260 yesterday and it must have trashed me.
I do not know whether everybody has the same problem or it is just me not being in good enough bike shape. It is probably just me, I guess that I do not have enough aerobic fitness to be able to do harder workouts day in and out.
I do not have anything else to say about it. I am done with these workouts for some time but will do them again in a few weeks so then we will have a larger "sample" to investigate the patterns.
How has having another bad workout affected me? Well, I have had more bad workouts in the last 3 months than I have had in the last 3 years. And I was able to come up with a reasonable explanation for all of them. I do not know whether those are really explanations or just excuses, but I am going with explanations. Actually, it is just one explanation: I am in a bad biking shape, thus have horrible run workouts and horrible bike workouts. Anyway, I thought for a few minutes that I am really the most arrogant person ever saying that I want to qualify to Vegas while not being able to have decent bike workouts. But then I started thinking that I do not even know what it takes to qualify to Vegas and maybe my workouts are ok and that I should still hope in qualifying. Ok, I do realize that my logic is slightly flawed. I do not know what it takes to qualify but I still want to qualify and I am using that ignorance to my advantage convincing myself that maybe I am fast enough to qualify. I really need to try to find out "what it takes" (whatever than means) because I would rather be prepared for a failure in advance than being surprised by an unpleasant awakening on a qualifying race day that I do not have "what it takes". If someone know "what it takes" let me know! So basically I am not affected by it at all because I am able to talk myself into believing that my pathetic workouts are either still good enough (because they are bad by my standards but not by general standards) or if they are not good enough then it is still not a problem because those pathetic workouts were just a bad day/tired legs or I will just get better with practice.
And therefore my life is all roses and sunshine because I am pretty much always able to talk myself into seeing the bright side and look into better future. Lucky me, right?
I know what it takes, and you have it. You are too hard on yourself. Many very talented athletes are lucky to hot 200W onsets like those!
ReplyDeleteI revamped your week a bit so you'll be fresher for your 3K/mile on Saturday. :)
Problem is that there are no standards to go by in triathlon so I create my own. In most other sports you know what you have to hit to qualify for something. Triathlon is very unpredictable and obscure. Of course you can go by some standards. For example CH has stand-alone 1500m swim, 40k bike TT and 10k run standards that he thinks he needs to be able to do if he is even going to attempt to get to Rio. But he has experience from racing World and European ITU cups, so he has at least some idea what it takes. I do not have enough experience, thus no idea. Especially for Vegas because I have never done a 70.3. Thus I imagine the standards to get to Vegas very high (not so high that I cannot do it eventually with right training though). I will still “keep” these standards but I am going to believe Michelle because she has experience and knows what’s required.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how much you weigh, but those are some HIGH numbers for 5 min intervals (what is your CP?) ... It's hard to not be hard on yourself when you want to achieve high standards, but everyone has bad workouts and it's how you come back from those that make champions ;) ... is Buffalo springs the race where you will try to qualify for Vegas?
DeleteI weight around 145 pounds, so not exactly a twig:) I dont know what CP is thus cannot reply to that.
DeleteYes, i will try to qualify at Buffalo Springs but if it does not work out and i think that i have a shot i will try again at Steelhead or Racine in mid-summer. Or i will realize that i hate 70.3 and dont want to have anything to do with it. Who knows what will happen when i try to put my body through 70.3:)
I am Slovak btw.