Power test - FAILED - NO PR

I took the day off on Monday. My legs were tired and the Sunday Run was harder than expected – I had not taken a day off since the last half marathon. Granted, all of the workouts were not “breakthrough” but my legs were tired none the less.


We had our work holiday on Tuesday so I only got a short bike ride on the trainer. I did a quick 15 minute warm up and then tried to do a 6 minute all out POWER test on the trainer. I have my numbers from the previous run and I try to best it each and every time. This time I met with disappointment. I thought with the previous day completely off I would be able to put together a good run. It did not happen. You would think that 6 minutes all out would not be that tough. But when you know the numbers you want to produce and it is a really hard effort to maintain them – it is painful. The last time I did this run was just before Thanksgiving. I remember that I was grunting and groaning on the trainer and when I got off my legs were burning so bad. I just sat down in an office chair and hurt for a few seconds. Surprisingly, the recovery is really quick and everything was just fine in a couple of minutes.

This time I was just not able to bring the numbers. I brought the power up to just over what I needed to hold and after only 2 ½ minutes I was done. I did another 15 minutes on the trainer – and feeling good I made one more attempt at the 6 minute MAX POWER run. I had the same results.

Today, Wednesday should be STADIUMS but I might have to skip them to get in a “breakthrough” run. I have not decided on that breakthrough – it will either be a hard tempo or mile repeats. Hard stuff none the less.

Trace intervals -

A little stir crazy and not prepared for my New Year's Day race (Steam Whistle 12K Run/Walk)I decided to do some intervals. I ran a few on the 1/8 mile inside track at the gym the week before Christmas break with Vic but not really any speed work since then. Where I live out on the trace there are only mile markers, nothing smaller than that. Little orange cones in hand I set out for the trace. My plan was to do a slow warm up jog for about 8 minutes - about a mile. Drop a cone and continue for another 2 minutes and call it a quarter. I was wanting to do 10 1/4 mile repeats with 90 seconds recovery. While jogging on the trace (battery in the heart rate monitor replaced - FYI) I saw that there was a stenciled mark on the pavement that read 1 1/2 mile. I dropped my first cone. I jogged for longer than 2 minutes but no new marks. I finally came upon a 2 mile stenciled mark. I dropped the second cone and my water bottle. My 1/4 mile intervals turned into 1/2 mile intervals. I thought I might do six. There is a very slight gradual slop in this area of the trace. It would be interesting if my times would vary much.

The first interval would be up the slight slope. I completed it in 2:54 - a good sub 6 minute mile pace. To make an uneventful story shorter I ended up doing 8 1/2 mile repeats and each one got slower. The last couple were at a 6:30 - 6:40 minute pace. There was no correlation between the runs up hill or down hill. They just got slower. My times seem so slow compared to last summer. I guess that is why they call this the off season. However, I was pleased at how well my heart rate dropped after each interval.

A slow jog home put the cap on the running session at about an hour. Tired but not exhausted I decided to put a few miles on the bike. I have trouble keeping the rides slow - my heart rate was up and I was reeling in the few bikers out on the trace. I did pass and slow to talk with Mike V. - a local triathlete that lives in my neighborhood. He did Ironman Switzerland last year. I noticed that he was on a new bike. He said that the BMC fit him much better than Cervelo. I slowed down and rode with him to Sumrall. Mike is a fast runner and biker. The only reason that I had to slow down to ride with him is that his new bike (the BMC - not sure which time machine) also had a new power meter. Mike was trying to keep his power in zone 1-2. He is new to training with power and it will be interesting to see the progress he makes this year.