Ironman St. George - Mormon Waterloo?

So, after 3 weeks of tapering (yuk I hate tapering), a big trip through San Francisco, & Las Vegas we finally arrived in our mega SUV to our mega condo in St. George Wednesday before the race. Mood was high, we rested and hydrated well. Got kinda scared when we drove the race course and checked-in - got numbers painted on the arms.

I had good really sensations, and it appears that I finally got rid of the pains in the achilles & calves, so was anxious to get started on Saturday morning, though temperatures where rising towards 35 degrees in the blazing desert-sun!

The swim was in a big and beautiful water reservoir - water temp. 17 degrees, blue skies and 2000 athletes in the water. I actually like the water start and I must say that the Americans was amazing - some people even stopped to say "sorry" if they hit you during the swim. So quickly found a good rhythm just outside of the main front pack. Already after around 500m I started to feel a bit too exhausted, which was strange... my breath and stroke was controlled, though I was kinda cold. Shortly after the first cramps kicked in, but I discarded it, kept swimming. More exhaustion and much more cramps had me stop to stretch a few times - got a bit off track and felt very tired and unmotivated. Exited the water and got shocked realizing that I had spend a record 1h18m swimming, more than 15 minutes more than expected - got the mood a bit further down!

Good transition and nice start on the bike... for around 20km. Hurling down one of the first hills at around 80km/h I realize that my handlebar is loose!! But the support and organization around the race was amazing so quickyl found a allen-key and continued. Hydrated well in the extremely warm & dry conditions, but really felt no power coming from my legs. Kept around 35km/h for the first 50km and then more cramps entered before the first climbs. Had nausea all the way through the bike, with no appetite and couldn´t take any gels or bars, so stuck to bananas. Loads of people passing me on the hills of the scenic route - I couldn't even maintain the aero-position on the flat parts on the course. It was honestly a tough struggle to even get through the first 100km, where I met Anders & Monica(cheering), who let me know that Guillermo was as bad as myself. The last round was a joke - I had elderly, overweight women (sorry, no pun intended) overtaking me on even smaller climbs - almost throwing up when I hydrated or ate and cramped the most weird places (hips, lower arms). Tried to enjoy the show, but coming down the last hill I could see the runners and the thought of a marathon in 40 degrees and 700m climbs was unbearable. Anders told me that Guillermo had decided to drop out, which was somewhat a relief. Coming into T2 he greeted me with a smile and we brought the refs the bad news and picked up our bags.

Of course a huge disappointment, but one that I can live with. Today I am still as exhausted as after a full e.g. IM Lanzarote, so feel I did what I could. We trained well and rested and tapered, following the same recipes as any other IM. I can´t find one good explanation of the lack of power and really prefer to leave it behind as an experience and lesson learned! Could be the dry climate, the heat, maybe jetlag... who knows.

The race was won at a new male record 8h32m and my age group improved its Kona qualifying time by almost 30 minutes, which will probably be around 10h05m.

Now another week of vacation in Las Vegas & California road trip awaits, so the mood is all good! IM Zurich awaits the 10th of July. Take care and enjoy this weekend!

Training camp at Lanzarote

Not experienced – but still much more experienced than a month ago!

Since I am such a newbie, in this sport, I actually on a weekly basic take quantum leaps! Every ride outside gets me more confident with the bike, the shifters, biking with others and suddendly there is also room for actually enjoing the landscape. It is a true pleasure getting out on the country , riding through small villages, see large green fields instead of noise cars and concrete jungles! People were talking all winter during training about hitting the roads – now I know why. Its truely amazing rolling out in the sunshine in the early mornings!

Fitnessdk TRI training camp at Club La santa Sport

My training camp at Club Lasanta Sport / Lanzarote was great. A group of 30 people from Fitnessdk TRI went together to push some limits – train hard with a main focus on bike and swim. I was very excited since it was my first trip to the island and also my first experience with REAL mountains AND heavy wind. And we met both. Hard!

The stunning volcano landscape and sunny weather was fantastic company on the approximately +500 km we drove during the 6 days of biking. Learning to climb those mountains without burning out, cycling fast down the mountains without thinking too much of if ... I realised I would come off better, if I did’nt fear the downhill too much. In the beginning my hole body became stiff going downhill – and it sort of messed it all up. Over the days I became more relaxed, but certainly aware! Putting yourself in aeroposition on the bike and just drive out in the warm sun is addictive!

First open water swim!

Our focus on swimming was more specific on open water swimming. Again a new thing. And as all new things in my life, I want to start of good and well prepared – otherwise I loose my confidence. Unfortunately. That happend.

My first swim in the lagune at Lasanta was around 700m. I did it. Because I was told to do it. But I was not prepared. So getting back at the beach I realised what I just did – and suddenly I became very scared of it. Like reacting afterwards. Imagine. The water was more green than blue. I could NOT see my hands infront of me. Swim against the tide in the water, and not being able to navigate … It was so very salty that it almost made me throw up (but learning me to keep that mouth closed)!

I knew it would be one of the big challenges to do the open water swim … but not in this way with fear! After so many hours in the pool, I knew I could trust my swim skills … But oh no I freaked out! Broke into tears! What happend! So very dissapointed of not having a good beginning, I decided to use my best veapon. Stubbornness.

The day after I put the water checkmate, with help from the kindest people from the team. Could’nt have done it without you! Throwing myself out there again – eventhough the tears filled up my goggles J That damn water should’nt steal my dream!

During the week I had great swims – some milestones passed! Feeling ok with the water – just need to work on not doing the zig zag swimming ;-)

I also got through my first mini-triathlon (... making the real thing very real!)

Swim(400m): 00:07:35 / Bike(18k): 00:34 / Run(4,6k): 00:22:12

All the days in Spain were fantastic! I would do it all again if I was told to :-)

Always something new to learn - bike fit with Fit4bike

As you may know, I have been riding the E114 with more of less the same bike fit or riding position since November 2010. I cut a few spacers out and lowered the handlebar to a pretty aggressive position, which initially caused me some pain in my shoulders. All change takes some time to get used to, so I have been doing many kilometers, training for IM St. George in this position and now finally find that I am almost there. Sunday I was 2.5 hours in aero position in the ICAN Marbella race with no pain and feeling really good, but you can always learn more.

Inspired by Louise, I found out that the Danish branch of Fit4bike was an ex-colleague from my years studying as an Engineer, Kim Visby - former professional triathlete and now co-owner of Fit4bike.

By exchanging a few videos with Kim, I quickly learned that a few changes was required:

1. My left leg is longer than my right leg - compensate by putting spacers under right cycle shoe ... I am now riding with 6mm under that shoe. Also I made sure that the shoes are now as far apart as possible.
2. My elbows needs to be further out in front - Kim suggested 1-2 cm, but will try 3cm as this is the next option the Argon18 E114 bike gives me. This is is somewhat a small weakness on this bike, as it has no stem - frame, handlebar and fork is fully integrated.

So with only 4 weeks to go to Ironman St. George it is of course a calculated risk to play with these settings, but I have full confidence, that the advice will help me. Worst case, I can change it back before race day.

It is truly a pleasure to work with such a competent person as Kim. As we´re both engineers educated from the same institute, its easy to understand and adapt to the Fit4bike-way of seeing the body as a machine, which can work optimally, given the right conditions on the bike!

I can strongly recommend working with Fit4bike which has office in Denmark and Spain (Madrid and Canary Islands) - find all contact details on their web, right here: www.fit4bike.com

Check new comtemporary fit here:

Half Ironman ICAN Marbella - Not a Jedi yet

Finally time for first race in 2011 - important as preparation for Ironman St. George the 7th of May. The company could not be better & jolly, traveling with Monica & Guillermo, arriving to Marbella late Friday night.

Saturday meeting and greeting friends from Denmark, Barcelona and earlier races, some race-thoughts re-established themselves:

1. I have frankly never really given a shit about time. Being serious about the sports in which I have competed, be it: golf, football, climbing or even skateboarding - it has always been more a quality thing over a pressure to push time, race against the clock and the field. This is all new to me, but a crucial necessity to learn and master, if we wanna make it through to the 7 or 8 (i.e. finishing in 7th or 8th place in my age group) slots that will give us a ticket to Ironman Hawaii, Kona. Guillermo is WAY more competitive (with some 300 tri-races completed) than myself on this aspect and I still have a lot to learn.
   
   
2. Triathlon is a fantastic sport when it comes down to meet amazing people. There´s an almost-family-like feeling about the lunches and dinners or even to the "can-i-borrow-your-pump" on race morning. Great to meet Danish pros Jens & Aleksandar- admirable down-to earth attitude and making us proud on Sunday, finishing 5th & 7th respectively! Good work guys - keep it up!
   

Sun hasn´t even gotten up, so its still fairly twilight-ish when we (400 participants) jump onto the 1900m swim. Can´t see much yet, arms and legs everywhere - have to stop a few times, recover my goggles and cap that gets torn off at the 3rd buoy. Honestly feel pretty bad (panic may be the best word) in the water and I never find a good rhythm or fast pair of feet to draft behind, so I guess I can´t complain much about the 32 mins.

On the bike the heavy clouds are lurking over us and we reach a 4 lane highway with rolling hills after about 10km. with only one (1) day of tapering, I am sure I am still fairly tired, but my legs feel like on fire and I easily chase down a big bunch of people, both on the climbs and down-hill. It´s truly a great joy to be on top of the E-114 and just pounding past strong bikers. I fuel well and feel awesome, even after swallowing at least a gallon of seawater in the swim! It´s starts raining, but its all OK, just be more careful in the slippery round-abouts. Uncertain about the total climb, but probably around 800-900m. Off the bike after 2h35m - only 2.50m slower than Guille (aka Obi-Wan), who around this time was in 11th place - amazing, taking the pro-field (of some 25 pros) into consideration.

Pacing pretty hard on the run with a friendly German called Stephan - we make it to around the 12km mark at a pace around 4:10 km/km - faster than I would have imagined, after not running for 3-4 weeks (injury) and pounding so hard on the bike. My hope (of course) was to catch Guille, but with 9 km to go, he was still around 4 mins. in front of me - mission impossible. There´s always a bill to be paid and I dropped the pace to around 4:50 for the last 5km, finding the great excuse that it was "probably the best for my achilles" (which of course is bullshit). The tendon is a bit sore this morning, but I feel OK and I hope I am now fully recovered for last 2-3 weeks of training before tapering for St. George. Finishing in 4h48m!

All in all a great race and experience - and a few news lessons learned:

• Training open water swim before the race would have helped me in the water. Definitely swimming Barceloneta these next few weeks - anybody in?
  
• Pacing better on the run would have given me a slightly better position, but not as much fun (and fear on Guillermo´s face, when we met the first time :-)
• I have learned a lot on the bike - thanks to all the good people who have been bearing with me and waiting on every hill top for the last few years!
• ICAN Triathlon again proves to be amongst the best-in-class, when it comes down to organizing and executing races! Thanks!
  

See all results here:
Photos and videos to be posted soon...

Love - T

My first ride!

Saturday morning I went out for my first oudoor bikeride on my beautiful Argon18. We were around 12 who drove out to the place called "Tyren" up north. All from the Fitnessdk TRI team. Great group of newbies and experienced. So I felt safe :-)

I have been waiting for so long for this first trip - that my expectations were sky high - and my nerves too! It was around 8 degrees outside - but sunshine! Within less than 10 minutes my fingers were very cold - and gave me a little more challenge on the shifter, than I needed. With questions like: Which one is the front brake? Why change to the big chainring? Where should I put my extra bicycle tube? Uahhhhh how do I easiest get out of the click pedal? I knew it would be a day where I would get best off listening to the experienced bikeriders - and just do my best to follow their pace and advice! And actually. It went really well.

90 km with both flat roads and small hills - great company - just a little snow (!!!! wtf) and lots of fresh air, beautiful landscapes - I had a perfect first ride! Thanks to all of you who made it a good day :-)

Bikefitting

Sunday I had an appointment with Kim Visby from Fit4Bike. He is a professional bikefitter and former pro triathlete.

With my 4 hour drive the day before I knew where the body was sore ... Good start for the perfect fit! He helped me choose aerobars, he mounted them and made my bikefit both for sitting in the aeroposition and normal position. Great job. And good learnings.

The film below shows me before the fitting - and afterwards.

I am looking forward to some amazing rides out in the spring with a lot of kind, helpful, funny, loving people.

See you out there!

Louise

A few lines on a Friday evening - in nerd mode!

Motivation:

With less than 5 months to go - motivation is still huge! Still sooo much to learn! Training is getting more on schedule. I try to train smarter and optimize every session as training volume increases. Now around 10-12 hours a week.

For the last couple of months I have’nt been able to look further than August 14. But suddenly new challenges appears in my mind. ½ IM Lazarote? Marathon somewhere in Europe… time will show. Challenge Copenhagen is not THE mountain to pass any more … but something on my way J I think these new thoughts appear while triathlon training becomes more a lifestyle, than "just" training. Its a good feeling.

Gear:

I feel very geeky! Once a week a box arrives at work... With some nerd gear. This will be my new best friend I hope ...

Swim:

Status. Last TT test. 1000 m with finns: 0:14:22

Improvements sure – but still so much to learn.

Swim stronger, faster and smarter seems to hook me. Swim training increases with 100% for the next weeks. Program says 5 times a week. … Looking forward to some really dry skin …:-/

But since its my weakest disciplin right now I need to build up strength here. Coach Mark Saus expects me to improve my strenght in the core muscles, my mobility in shoulders and lower back. Some few exercises have found their way to my daily evening program...

And they are pretty simple – but since training gives me a strong sleeping heart, I need some reminders, before I take of at night … Rotations and kicking!

Bike:

It has been f****** snowing – AGAIN! Time for outdoor biking has been deferred … Still building up with the indoor classes about 5h a week. In 3 weeks I am leaving for Club La Santa – weheeee - and the training schedule shows a lot of km in the mountains – so I better get my self prepared!

Another preparation is handling a puncture! Oh man! Am I glad that I vent to the “How to change a bike tire … YES”. Fitnessdk TRI team was invited by AH Cykler to come watch and learn. And it was actually a lot of fun. And a big pleasure - in the end - to THROW THAT TIRE ON!! Don’t mess with me, your little impish fellow! What seemed to be SOOOOO easy, when the bike mechanics did it, was very difficult. But we did it!!! And of course. I ended up buying puncture free tires!!

Running:

Nike Marathon test 2 - 15km - with almost a steady pace of 5 min/km. It was my best finish of 15k so fare. Finish time: 1:19:45

The day before I biked for 3h followed by 1ok run - so I was happy and satisfied doing that pace with tired legs.

During the run i got another experience since my watch suddenly stopped! I could´nt see the pace holders so I decided just to listen to my body and run on the feeling. Great learning that I actually followed my pace, just on the feeling.

My sofa misses me - I better take care of it now.

Love, L

Great learnings

Over the past couple of weeks so many great things have happend – but I have had so little time left to write about it. But now the time is back.

With a couple of weeks with really busy workdays, that requires heavy amounts of hours, I have had a challenge doing my trainings. But somehow it all worked out – since I dont mind getting up early for trainings. Training around 10 hours a week seems to give energy – even though they have to be squeezed into som hard workdays. Actually. I think it has become a drug to me.

Good nutritions

A few weeks ago I participated in a 3h indoorbike event with the TRI-team. 70 triathletes side by side working and sweating hard, in a hot smelly room kind of gives me the creeps thinking of it. But once I get onto that bike and gets the engine started I love every single second of it!! Its such a great feeling sitting there – getting stronger, working for the dream! Everybody in that room have a challenge infront of them. And we all somehow participate in eachothers dream. We are racing each other, compairing and racing harder! Thats how we get better! And with coach Rørbæk shouting one more millimeter, keep going and ” now the girls are sprinting” go get them – makes me go even faster!

My main focus that day was to keep an eye on my nutritions – feel the reactions on my body, when my energy was low – and how it felt when it was fully loaded. BIG changes.

In the beginning I thought Rørbæk was crazy – asking the crowd to put in energy every 2o minutes. But I followed. Learning. Believing.

During 3h I consumed:

2L high5 isotonic energy drink, 3L water, 1 redbull, 1 banana, 2 energy bars, 4 gels! It seems impossible to run with those amounts of liquid and food in the stomack – but no. I felt great after 3h hard training – eager to get out in the sun and see how the legs would feel.

We ran 12k afterwards – and if it was’nt so goddammit cold, I guess I would have continued for at least 5 more! I was very surprised. My nutritions must have been well disposed. Succes.

Simulating open water IM swim start

The weekend after we had a ”Ironman openwater swinstart event” in Kildeskovshallen. 45 people in wetsuits – 5 women and 40 REALLY BIG AND TALL MEN! Just a little bit terrifying … I felt REALLY small.

With swim coach Mark Von Vogel and Mark Aaron Saus in the control seat, we were trained like soldiers! Their focus were to get us all breathless, stressed, tired and THEN simulating the swim start. Imagine. Go as fast as you can for 50m, get out of the water, run along the pool side, jump in, and repeat! Repeeeeeat! For 10 minutes. My lungs howled for air. I felt a bit dizzy. But did it. Over and over again. Thinking. Hang in there honey … they must have a reason for this!

By the end of the 60min training session we were split in half. Everybody hanging in the edge of the pool … gasping for air … The coaches asked us to put our heads under water – hold our breath for 20 second!(f***) – and then come up over the water – and put off like if it was the swim start of and IM! People kicked, tore and pulled like crazy! It was wild. Big heavy men swam on top of me, and I could’nt do anything but try to keep myself above water! It was brutal! But, great. Suddenly I understood the former excises. Just go. Dont think. Swim! The day after I had bruises on my body – proving that I gave all I had! Succes. Great learnings. Great experience.

Learning from bad trainings

Last weekend we had another 3h indoorbike event. This time I prepared myself for a minitri. Starting with 1200m swim. Bad swim! Mental challenge, that day. My goggles were broken, and I got lots of water in them. I have never felt this before, but it made me very dizzy and somehow seasick. Dammit. I struggled with my dissapointment. (I had put my mind into swimming 2k), knew I had to go for 3h bike and 15k run.

Unfortunately I got an injury on the front of the thigh – on my way out of the swimming pool!! Doing some sort of stupid jump! So the biking was a little tough. But I could’nt quit! Needed to do it. Thinking of the lecture of the week with the TRI-team: Motivation. There will be bad days, and there will be good days. Learn from the bad days – that will make it easier to do great days and avoiding those things that tricks you mind, and telling you to quit! Always go a little further.

During the 3h I experienced the lack of energy. The first hour I felt tired, powerless … stressed about my leg. Coach Rørbæk told us over and over again to fill up with energy – we needed to get at least 1500 calories during the 3hour session! Thats a lot when one gel is 150 calories! – and those of us who had been swimming was already behind … that answered why I felt tired. I could’nt believe that little swim could eat up that much energy – but it could. Suddenly I understood the importance of a continuously intake of energy, when you are training hard.

New swim coach

The last new great thing in my training is, that my little swimteam have got a new coach, Mark Aaron Saus. Thanks to Mark Von Vogel for training us so fare J – we have learned a lot from you! – and we are happy that you introduced us to Mark Saus – so that we can continue getting better!

Mark Saus is from Australia, have 15 years of coaching and a lot of impressive references that made me think: Why do you want to coach me?!?! I am already a fan of you, and I believe in you philosophy: Swim smarter, stronger, faster!

Out for now – heading for new exciting experiences. Keep going!!!!

Just a heap of crap carbon

Photo from yesterday´s time trial training. 4 hours with two 20km pushes at full throttle.
Must admit I was pretty burned on the second interval - after 7 hours on the bike the day before.

8 beautiful Argon 18 bikes. Mostly E114 but also a few E112

My 8 steps to faster recovery:

As the trainings are getting longer and harder, the need for faster and more efficient recovery becomes more important. Here´s my take on better recovery, which I (more or less consciously) do after long trainings:

1. Stretch - My good Swedish friend Haakon Weibull once said "Warm-Up and Stretching is gay"... very precise with a good Swedish accent. Some say "nay" and some say "yay", but most people still recognize the benefits of stretching. I spend 15-20 minutes after long trainings, working with some pretty straight forward exercises. Girls digs boys who stretches ;)
   
   
2. Shower - may sound pretty obvious, but hit the cold water over the legs for 5-7 minutes, which has some (still unexplained) magic effect. It´s painful and it sucks - but it works.
   
   
3. Drink - I have learned that I drop 3-5 kg of liquid during long rides, even when hydrating well during the day. So drink well, isotonics, coca cola or whatever works for you. Until your pee goes transparent again!
   
   
4. Eat - as soon as possible, preferable within 20 minutes after the training 40% proteins (tuna, chicken and what not) and 60% carbs (pasta or rice works for me)
   
   
5. Supplement - I take Amino Acids (BCAA) and a mix of salts sold on the pharmacies here, sodium, magnesium, etc. It´s called "RecuperatION" (great name for a Spanish product, huh?) - works wonders.
   
   
6. Compex - this electronic muscle simulator works wonders on sore muscles. It´s fairly expensive and hurts a bit - but gets your legs back in shape in 25-60 minutes. Takes out the feeling of "heavy legs" which means a lot, especially if you do back-to-back quality (short and fast) trainings!
   
   
7. Massage - do it yourself or find a serious sports pro (like my homie Roberto Ortiz) - hands of magic on the legs every 8-12 days. Works deeper than the compex (THAT actually came out a bit gay) and can work on specific areas, which needs special attention!
   
   
8. Rest - even though my room mate still laugh at me when I pass out on the couch, this is the best moment of the day. Spanish people got it right with the "Siesta" - it´s next best thing after sliced bread! Hit Mythbusters or whatever on the old telly and sleep until some foolish soul wakes you up.

Hope it´ll work for ya too! Enjoy... I´m taking a nap. Besos - T

Accumulated Volumens

Below my accumulated volumens since October 2008, when we ran the Berlin Marathon

	Swim		Bike		Run
	km	Hours	km	Hours	km	Hours
IM France Totals	133	60	3949	178	1233	102
IM Lanzarote Totals	233	89	4893	203	1478	126
IM CopenhagenTotals	30	14	1900	67	466	34
IM St. George	97.8	37	5425	206	714	60
IM Zurich
Summarized Totals	493	200	16167	654	3891	322

Perception

This weekend I participated in a great event at Fitness dk. Pro triathlete Aleksandar Sørensen-Markovic and former pro triathlete Ole Stougaard came to share their great experiences on training programs. They started talking about motivation, setting realistic goals, preparing for heavy amounts of training – both physical and psychological. They ensured us that taking good care of the body and listen to it, plays a big role in accomplishing the big challenge – doing and IM. Actually. Listening to your body is the most important thing to do!

My main learning from that specific topic can be put in one single word: Perception.Its a common word – but put in the IM context it suddenly appered as the key I have been looking for. Grounding the project. We are talking about preparing a body for a huge challenge. No book. No guru. No formula. No one else but myself can answer the question: How am I doing in my training! Perception is all about Body image – Understanding –Taking control. Listening to our body – an respond to it.

It is actually very simple. And that was exactly what made the event very useful! Sometimes all the planning and training can take over, and make me all dizzy of concern: Am I doing this the right way? Am I training hard enough? How do I get strong and fit? Do I need to get more geeky and count every calorie, put my sleep and rest in system. Adding time with friends as a spice to dinner? No. Accept the fact that there will be situations in your private life, work life that rquires you attention – don’t have bad conscience – as long as you do the best you can – when you can. Take full credit in every training session! If I follow the instructions I get – and use them as a guide – not at formula – then I am all good! Its not more difficult then that. You can feel if you do it the wrong way – body image will tell you that you are in pain and feel extremly tired. You understand by taking a day off. Taking control and care.

It is a long journey (exactly 6 months today!!!!) – it’s a lifestyle change. Make it fun. Have fun. Enjoy it. If you dont feel you are training – but just sit there waiting for the session to be over – why did you show up? Do it. Push it. Take control. Feel the changes and the satisfaction of hard work. Be curious J and reward the body after pushing it to the limit. Rest. Rest. Rest. Be in it. Actually it is just like in every other aspect in life.

Aleksandar and Ole also shared great knowledge regarding swim, bike and run. How we optimize our trainings, in terms of making great result. Results are the only way to have control over how good your doing with your training. It’s not a question on how many hours you put into you program – but how well your trainings are absorbed by your body. Slowly the amounts of hours will increase as the body prepares for building up.

We were also introduced to pose-running technique. What an eyeopener! We practiced some small exercises and headed for an outdoor run. Everybody felt awkward in the new running style – but we all agreed in the positive impact on our running economy! It will take a lot of time adjusting my running but I will certainly practice!

So sitting here with a feeling of roasted legs – I am taking an evening without training – and enjoing it J

Quality Training

So - as we´re getting closer to Ironman St. George race day on the 7th of May, it´s time to start getting more quality training in the legs. That means more hours running and biking close to, or over the lactate- or functional threshold (max pace or power you can maintain for 30 minutes). This hurts, but it´s also fun and definitely more my kind of training; Shorter & tougher, preferably until you feel the taste of blood or metal in the mouth.

This weekend the order from Master Lladó was Road bike Saturday and time trial test for Sunday. With two long trail runs (19km and 22km with around 500m+ altitude) on Tuesday & Thursday, my legs we´re already pretty much worn out, but here we go:

Saturday:
With a pretty large group (15-20) of experienced riders we headed straight over the mountains and towards the national park around the Montserrat mountain, which always means long and hefty climbs. There was a whole lot of battling going on between the strongest riders, who kept attacking and defending the whole day. It´s really stressful with tempo-changes and bikes moving all the time, but the training is excellent as you need to push hard all the time to keep up.

Big, big respect to at least two gentlemen in their mid-fifties (Javier & El Moracho) who both dropped me and several other young riders on every climb. I will never stop admiring people who keep themselves in this kind of shape through-out the whole life - a great inspiration!
Summarizing 110km with 1800m+ of climbing in 4h15m

Sunday - TT test:
After a good warm-up we hit the industrial area just before Martorell, a 6km flat stretch through smelly metal-factories which ends up in a 100m hill-climb, which was the scenery for today´s time-trial test. A lot of fun between the 6 A18-Mafia riders on their E-112 and E-114 - and straws we´re drawn to determine the order of the day. I went first with the disadvantage of having no reference in front of me (no complaints, as I am by far the slowest in this pack) and the remainders came after me with 90 seconds intervals.

My aim was to keep my HR steady on the flat (160 BPM) and also on the small, but tough climb (170 BPM). You can see the result on my HR and altitude below, so I stuck pretty well to the strategy, but lost around 2 mins to e.g. Guillermo - I still have much to learn on this kind of test.

This was very close to a Functional Threshold test and my HR was 165 over the 47.5 minutes, avg. speed was 34.7 km/h, which is OK with 200m climb over the 30km course. Total volume was 90km in around 3hours.



After the test I continued straight into a brick-run of 12km with a bit of climbing. I was surprised that I fairly easy maintained 4:20 min/km, which is much faster that the bricks I did before Challenge Copenhagen (around 5:00 min/km), so hey - maybe all this training and celibacy is actually working ;)

Cheers - Thomas

Badly Overworked - But that´´s OK!

So - as you´ve seen from my latest posts - we have really stepped it up since New Years. With 3 months to go to Ironman St. George we´re hitting a period of long and hard work, under the regime of Guillermo and his mighty team of tough and experienced bikers. Every Saturday and Sunday during January we have been going harder and harder - and longer and longer. Putting this on top of the long trainings we did in Lanzarote quickly left my body in a state of shock. Compare it to try to jump on a carousel in motion - head first. You just gotta hold on really hard, or you´ll be kicked off. Apart from a bit over normal leg soreness, I have experienced nauseousness, tunnel-vision (seriously), almost vomited and just the feel of being in the back of the pack ALL the fucking time is just another mental test. To the level where Guillermo said "Eres una niña" ... you´re a little girl - and he was right!!!

Mondays and Tuesdays I have been walking like an old man, eating like a maniac (totally carb overload) - to be honest, I have never been pushed so hard. People ask "but you must feel you are getting stronger" - yeah maybe, but that´s really hard to spot through the feeling of pain, just walking down a 3-step staircase.

So definitely a bit over-trained and that´s good. Yesterday was a great day - we had 18 degrees, blazing sun and was bound for 160 km through Catalan Wine country - and almost 1500m of climbing - only Guillermo, myself and our trusted steeds - the Argon18 E114s.

Check below today's training with the whole crew - a video made to demonstrate how training without drafting is just a bit tougher, both physically and mentally:

Happiness is a ressource

Its been a while since I last shared my experiences regarding my training for Challenge Copenhagen. Time flies when you are having fun and life treats you good!

Overall my trainings are still full of energy – I always look forward to them – even when the clock says 6 in the morning. Actually – those trainings are the best. Because once they are over – I feel fantastic, and have put ”hours in the bank” – so the rest of the remaining day have a hard time to convince me that it should’nt be a great day!! Body and mind all set for the workday challenges. Actually. That’s my point.

At the Friday morning bike class, the very good instructor said: All this training sometimes seem to be too much. But remember. Happiness is a ressource – do things, that makes you happy – and you will suddenly have a lot more profits to other things in your life.

For me the trainings are a drug now – its not difficult to put happiness into them. They move my body and mind.

The biggest move for me right now is my swimming. Since our little swim team teamed up with Mark Vogel, swimming suddenly moved from ”safe area – restitution” to big time challenges and kick ass trainings! Its great – and it was certainly time for me to expose the skills …

And those skills …. Hmm. I sure have gained a lot of bad habbits during my own trainings. But since I am such a newbie in swimming, I had prepared for some hardcore correction instructions – all focusing on making me stronger and expecially tecnical better.

The first challenge was getting rid of the pool buoy. I miss it! But I must agree – it was artificial respiration…. My challenges are huge, swimming without it. 100 m and my lungs are on fire! A bit hard for my confidence putting my skills back in line – but hey – then I remember how it all started. I hated pools, poolwater, and all that followed. Now I enjoy every stroke, every lane – because I get better everytime I do it. Over and over again.

Thanks to all the lovely people who helps me ... :-)

Btw -I am also proud of telling that I have got 2 sponsors for my Challenge Copenhagen. The ad agency Sunrise where I work, and Wib-byg also supports me heading for my big dream. Thank you! – I am very happy and grateful :-)

Love Louise

Hamburgerman, Season 1, Episode 2

Getting back to one of my favorite topics…Food. As I posted long time ago that “Hamburgerman” topic, I wanted to write a little update about my latest findings.

Looks like I’m bit stuck in 92kg (203 lbs) weight and getting it lower means moving to DEFCON3 with my diet. My original plan was to get to 88kg (194 lbs) by summer 2011 which I still think is possible to reach. Why 88kg, I don’t know but it sounds better than 87kg I guess but let set that as my optimal race weight for now.

Last week was pretty good with trainings, I was able to train every day and in weekend both days reached 4hours with bike on Saturday and almost 4h bike + run on Sunday feeling tiptop afterwards. Anyways, Sunday afternoon I started feeling very hungry and really felt like having pizza Diavola with extra chorizo in Al Passatore. After having that pizza I still felt hungry and having some tiramisu for dessert. Later got home and was still hungry so my flat mate Marco (good Italian) was making some pizza so I had few slices more.

Now when writing this I’m thinking that: have I really become some fitness freak and is it really such a big deal? I think it is actually not that big deal but on the other hand I can still feel that heavy Sunday dining two days after. It kind of confused my metabolism for while and for example yesterday I felt like eating again more than what was just enough during past four months. I will for sure have pizza once in the while in future but it is just curious to notice how your system gets used to process light and healthy food and once you get the munchies for while, you are screwed for few days.

I will try to push hard next two weeks again with very strict diet and laying low with beers on weekends, stay tuned.

Love,
Janne

Job interview.

Just a short note on a funny thing that happened to me today.
I was at a job interview today. We are two candidates left and I was preparing my self for the usual talk on how my profiling turned out and weather I would fit the job profile or not….
The HR partner was put on standby by the development manager as he would like to hear about my IM challenge….
How does the training and commitment towards an IM fit with me saying that “I’m a team player?” was his question.
Well I answered him, Even though the training towards such an event is mostly a very lonely game I still have my pears from who I seek inspiration and knowledge. When the goals are set there is nothing holding me back. I think this is exactly what all companies’ need. Get the man who gets inspirations and knowledge through his/hers network at the company. Set the goals and give him the means and you will work wonders!
Don’t know if he really got my point – but my point is that 35% of a very important interview was spent discussing my very last note on my CV. The line wrote “interests -Iron Man”.

Lance Returns to Tri

Check this if you haven´t already seen it:

Winter Blues and Sacrifices

This is not one of the regular “everything is going holly jolly fine and I’m getting stronger by the hour”-posts. I am getting stronger and training wise everything is more or less going okay – it is not always easy getting it done but I do it. I have to.

The theme of this post is my lack of love for the Danish winter - what that little bastard does to my mood and motivation, and the though challenges of sacrificing things I love for a greater cause.

Maybe I ought to just shut the cakehole, but I must honestly admit that I have a really hard time at the moment. First of all, I am allergic to the dark Danish winter – and that’s a fact. The power gets sucked right out of me. I am tired 24/7 and the only thing I really wanna do is get the hell outta here. The winter seems to last forever and its just getting started. Sigh!

This is not a new feeling for me. I have had it for years. The new thing this year is that I am still here. In Denmark. Up until now I have been quite okay with it. Settled to make it through - yup, we are talking “making it through” - but wow it is really sneaking in on me at the moment, and I am only beginning to learn how to cope with it. Even training is a hazzle. Not the training itself, but the process of getting there.

There is nothing in the world I would rather do than say “f*ck it”, pack my bag, and jump on the first, the best bus to the Alps and don’t look back. Like I use to. It is not gonna happen, though. There are just too many issues and factors working against it and too much at stake.

Sacrifices.

R.I.P.

I played a game of football – yes, it’s called football, not soccer you American imbeciles – the other day. Nothing serious. But my body can feel it still. The blisters I have on my feet are the size of Lake Geneva and I twisted my ankle a little bit. Nothing serious but enough to scare me off a bit and reminded me why I have not been playing for so long. Because of injuries and because of the risk of getting new injuries I turned it down years ago to be able to ski because my love for that is greater.

The past years I have been skiing more than most Danish people get to do in an entire lifetime. I love it. Really. Right now a lot of my friends are leaving for the Alps. Their Facebook-updates keep smashing it in my face; “Two days before we go to Val Thorens. Wuuuhuuuu” ,“See you in the snow”, “Dumping in Breck” ,“Whistler is awesome”…Damn you, Facebook!!

This year I might not get one single day on my skis. Not even one. Last year I had 9 weeks. One hell of a cold turkey. Maybe hard to understand for people not having the same passion, but it is extremely though at the moment. I could go. I want to go. Maybe I get one week but if so I will just do "safe runs", not too much of new challenging stuff, and definitely not anything that smells a bit like freestyle. It is simply too risky.

 So – years ago I bailed on football, which I love, to an even greater love, skis. Now I am turning down skis because of triathlon. That says a lot, actually.

Ohhh yeah, and also my inliners must stay in the locker when spring comes, even if I get to go to the playground above them all, Barcelona. Uhf!

Bottom line is that prioritizing triathlon training above everything else is necessary but sometimes a bit hard. Especially when everybody else keeps reminding me how much fun they are having doing those other things I hold so dear.

The parties. The drinks. The junk food. The Sundays on the couch. I can live with all of that – or without it. That is actually, when I think about it, just a bonus – to some extend. It is the scarifies of my other sport-loves that is the real challenge.

However, the goal in the distance helps convincing me to stick in there, and I am sure going to keep on fighting to reach it (…and just get through this bloody winter). In the end the sum of all of the outstanding experiences it will give me is all worth it, I am sure.

And now...I will shut the cakehole. Thank's for your patience :)

Macca's Mindset

Stumbled across this very private and honest little interview with Chris McCormack. It's a bit different than most sport-interviews. My dad would hate it: "Why don't they just show the matches instead of talking all that nonsense". I like it though. Especially like getting a tiny insight into this mans head. As he obviously does too, I find it quite fascinating to try to understand the psychological part of sports. Why some teams can win one day and loose big time the next. Why some athletes can set record after record in their trainings and then fail totally at competitions. What is it that makes that tiny little difference? What made Macca win that day on Hawaii? What is inside that ironman? What is he made of besides one hell of a fit body?
I know that one of my really strong sides in competitions is my psyche. Usually. How it will react on race-day is not for anyone to say by now. The only thing I can say for sure is that I am very aware of the important role of the psychological aspect in all of this. Both in trainings and on race-day. I try my best to improve my mind's strength and stuff like this inspires me to do it even more.

I like the relaxed form of the interview too and I do like his point in the end stating that you don't have to be fanatic about eg. food. You just have to be considered and sensible and I guess the statement "think before you drink(and eat)" is pretty apply able to all of this - and then don't go kill yourself after wards if you grabbed a beer or ate some chips at a party.


I could go on and on, but enough with the nonsense - just watch the interview instead.

Four words about a T-shirt..

God forbid it, I bought a ”just do it” t-shirt today!! Definitely not because I thought it was cool or anything, simply because i needed something for spinning class…. But now, sitting in my semi-new IKEA couch, I get the feeling it was meant to be (the t-shirt and I, not the couch!!). ”Why the hell not” is the new ”just do it”, and the answer I give everyone who questions my new found interest. Picture this: Feeling all good about yourself after 3 hours in the gym, the last thing you want to hear from people is ”that can’t be healthy!!!” (with that really weird ”you're insane, but I secretly wish it was me” -tone in their voice). ”Why not” I tell them whit a polite smile on my lips, while screaming in my mind ”Shut the f… up and stop draggin me down”. I’m not a complete moron, no one wants injuries, but I know I'm capable of much more, so why not jump on that train (bike, road, pool.. you get it) and see where it takes me.
Cuz’ why not, why the hell not!

Newb S

Maybe a 2012 Project - anyone?

This is Norse Man - by far the hardest Iron-Distance Race ... ever!

Pedaling Techniques

Hmmmmm.
I thought everyone could ride a bike....
The other day I talked to a friend of mine and he told me that I need to pull my leg backwards when the leg is in its "resting" position in order to become more efficient.

I got a little scared because I have never done that and the mere thought of activating the back of my leg when pushing down on the other side would feel really strange.

Last night I started to investigate and quickly became aware of new ground braking biking technical terms like – Scraping of the mud…..

Don´t know if this is of any relevance to any of you at all but the avi gave me some new things to train when hitting the roads very soon…

Wonder how this affects the FTP J

HRM part II and a tough day at the office...

So - following up on our HRM discussion, here's a practical example from last Sunday's 140km ride through Catalan Wine Country, Penedes:




As you can see, we encountered a few hills, especially Ordal is pretty tough. Logging 900m of climbs in total:



And hence, you can see my HR during the 3h15m of key training (total ride was close to 4 hours):



So I am clocking 144 BPM on average, which I guess is OK for now. Must say I maxed out on some climbs, and also during the last flat home to BCN, where Guillermo pushed close to 52-53 km/h and I had tunnel vision. For a comparison, Guillermo posted 128 BPM for the same training - that's scary ;)

Map and Elevation using: www.mapmyride.com
HRM is my Garmin FR405.

Cheers - T

See you Marc - hello Mark!

With this post I am sharing my great expectations to real swim training with coach Mark Vogel is getting closer (sorry Marc Evans - it has been great until now :-) Actually very close. Tomorrow morning at 07.15 at Kildeskovshallen I will meet with my little team - Kirsten, Peder and Christina from Fitnessdk TRI,shaping the swim skills a hole lot! A bit terrified, though.

I feel my swim is going ok, but I am preparing myself for a feeling of starting all over. Since I havn't worked with my legs in swimming at all - I am afraid Mark will take away my pool buoy right away! Like taking the pacifier from a baby!

But - I am prepared! This weekend I recieved my wetsuite! Oh man it looks pro :-) And wearing it gives me a feeling of power woman!!

But if the legs are fooling me tomorrow, and the Power Woman feeling seeps out of me, I will think of the advantages of swimming with the wetsuite soon :-) So come on!!!

I never thought swimming would be my thing. But I actually like the feeling of great technique giving you smoothness in the wather. Feeling like a light little fish :-) Hopefully tomorrows training will keep giving me those feelings - and not like a duck with a heavy but ;-)

Love, Louise

What a Perfect Sunday

...best one this year.

Let me just set the scene for you:

Denmark in the middle of January. It’s grey. 5 degrees, quite windy, and raining cats and dogs (not really, but I just love the expression). On top of that there is still some ice on the roads and ohh, talking about those roads – they are filled with holes and cracks from the frosty, snowy weather.

Sounds great, right?!! Not really. Actually rather depressing, but then add some action in the presence of this years first outside bike-ride. And then…Wooop, there you got it. Best day this year!

Yep, today was the day the spinning class was finally exchanged with the Great Outside for the first time since I was riding with the guys in Barcelona over a month ago. What a relief not inhaling 30 other people’s sweat – literally. No one yelling “ONE MORE MILLIMETER”! No crappy music. Just me, the road, the nature, my bike, and nothing else. The route was straight, flat and windy. Exactly the way I don't like it. Usually. Today. Different. All of a sudden I had absolutely nothing to complain about. Just the feeling of the wind in my face and the experience of converting my muscle power into motion made my day. Maybe it is because of the huge contrast to the fitness-center or maybe simply because I just love riding my beloved bike. Which, by the way, put its wheels on danish ground for the very first time ever. I smiled a lot.

All this being said, I am definitely still not a fan of the Danish weather. Don’t get me wrong on that one. My dream of living under distant warmer skies is still alive and kicking – and I have a feeling that this year…. Dreams will come true. I'll make 'em.

Until then - Enjoying every chance I have to get as many kilometers behind me as possible - on days like today. Trying to appreciate them - days like today. Looking forward to many more of the alike - days like today. Remembering what it is that drives me, also when everything gets a bit though and the training feels like a duty rather than a pleasure - Remembering days like today.

Ohh yeah...and see you at the spinning class tomorrow. Cheers!

Stay healthy, doing weights and this week´s trainings - Thomas

Started out still a bit sick after recovering from the many hours of training in Lanzarote. Remember that every training of 2+ hours leaves your immune system 50% weaker for a period of up to 48 hours. That basically means our defenses are constantly under pressure and we´re so much more in risk of catching illness. Be extra careful with bacteria and virus, wash your hands a few extra times a day, which has shown to be one of the best way to avoid spreading virus or bacteria. Also never drink from co-athletes sweaty drinking bottle, etc.

It´s strange how the mind also starts adapting to many hours of training. Before, a 4 hour bike ride was like "oh-man-that-sooo-long-and-tough" and now it feels short compared to the 6-7 hour rides we did in Lanzarote. Consider how to train your mind to better digest these long days on the bike - it all starts in your head.

Barcelona weather is at its best for January - we´re experiencing 20-22 degrees since New Years and hence taking advantage to get some hours done on the bike.

Monday: 1h run - 14km, 45min weights
Tuesday: 2h bike, 2.8km swim
Wednesday: 1h40m trail run - 20km, 30 mins compex
Thursday: 2h20m bike, 30 mins compex
Friday: 1h run, 3km swim
Saturday: 4h bike, 30 mins compex
Sunday: 4h bike (TT specific) and 60 mins compex

Summarizing some 21 hours.

I have changed my strategy on weights sessions. Before I did fewer reps (8-12) with more weight, resulting in a fast bulk-up. Last January I gained 3-4 kg of muscle mass in one month, which were looking great, but not really helping me to be light for IM Lanzarote. Good news is that I lost these kilograms during the long trainings during spring-time. And I guess it had a good impact on the improvements I experienced on the bike last year.

Since December I have been doing 2-3 weight sessions a week with 8-10 exercises, both legs (leg press and calves), swim-related weights (triceps, shoulders and back) and core-strength (lower back, abs and hips) - now with 15-20 reps. Hence, I expected no or low bulk-up. I guess I was wrong, as I am now back to around 75 kg (3 kg above racing weight) and my fat% is definitely at an all-time low (after quitting wine and beers - gotta admit, that works).

To be frank, I am again a bit clue-less on what to do - to avoid this bulk-up or just leave it be, hope for the best. I know my fast-twitch muscle fibers would make me a great body-builder or 100m runner, but that´s not really what I am after right now. Any comments or advice is most appreciated - thanks and enjoy your Sunday!

Cheers - T

Some bright stuff on Stroke Rate while swimming

Check out this great article and some calculators to analyse your stroke in the water.

I clocked my own stroke rate yesterday and found:

Swimming at pace: 1:50 min/100m, I do 48 strokes per minute and 44 strokes per 50m pool length!

Using the calculator, it gives me a time on 1h12m for 3.8km, which is not far off, considering the wet suit gives me an speed improvement corresponding to the 7-8 minutes I got in Challenge Copenhagen (T1 in 1h05m)

How is your stroke rate?? please comment!

T

Cheers - T

Heart Rate Monitoring for Ironman Training & Racing

You can find 1000s of articles on HRM, so I won´t bother you with the wonders of the ability to listen to your heart. Just a few words on my experiences and some pros and cons.

No doubt, a HRM gives you an overview of the effort at which you body is delivering in a training or a race. After all, the reason the heart is beating, is to pump blood and then oxygen and fuel to your muscle cells to perform. The more fuel and O2 needed - the higher your pulse. There´s a nice close-to-linear relationship between effort delivered and your pulse. However, it´s not (as many think) perfect, but for the novice athlete its a great tool to measure and plan your effort in trainings. Below some pros and cons from my side - let me hear some of your experiences as comments here, thanks:

Pros:

• Gives you the ability to express your effort as a % of a max pulse. As mentioned, testing Max pulse is not too healthy - instead use Functional Threshold pulse (explained in "Going Long" and here on the blog)
• Works as an early indicator "life saver" in case you are having (1 out of 50000 rookies in marathons do have) a heart attack during training or racing. Stop if your pulse suddenly max out with no obvious reason.
• Gives you a good indication of when you are working out and when you are training. Stop working out - start training.
  

Cons:

• HRM can be deceiving, since it IS not very precise. E.g. I can do a 40mins 10K run at 81% of max HR one day. And a week later do the same test, only to find that my HR was 89%. Nobody can (still) explain this deviation - but certainly it has to do with sleep, food, stress and we all know that substances like cigarettes and coffee put the heart under an extra stress. Don´t make HRM an exact science - it´s NOT!
  
• "Optimal Fat Burning Rate" is a myth invented by producers of Treadmills - forget it, it´s too low to be a good training anyway.
  

Get a good HRM:
Nowadays the producers of HRM are struggling to win this huge market, introducing Oh-so-great features in many colors and facets. A HRM can be a cheap tool, that (by the end of the day) must only support the ability to measure:

1. your HR here and now
   
2. express it as a % of your max pulse (or Functional Threshold Pulse)
3. average pulse over the course of a training
   

Good brands are Suunto (e.g T3 or T6), Polar and also Garmin, who make the FR405 and FR305 which has a GPS to precisely add distance to your trainings.

It can be nice to have a water proof HRM and timing for swimming - Garmin is NOT!

Personally, I don´t use HRM. I dropped it after various conversations with my coach Marcel Zamora (5 times winner of IM France), who is very explicit on the downsides of HRM. Also I push myself a bit harder if I can, without looking at my wrist every now and then. And finally time seems to fly by faster in my trainings.

Please comment - let me know what you think about HRM - Cheers T

Good memories

Well… planning is I guess my strong force when it comes to training. Not only do I need to take my family into consideration but my work also calls for quite some travel activities.
I’m following Thomas’s Nice Iron Man program as precise as possible. This has allowed me to actually put all my training activities into my outlook calendar.
Not only am I aware of the coming activities but synchronizing with Tanja´s calendar lets her having a feeling of where I´m at during the week and she often joins me!
I´m currently very focused on getting the right intensity into my training. Trying to figure out my Threshold and max pulse are very interesting and adds that little “science” to training I like.

The amount of hrs. the Nice program calls for now is only aprox. 10 hrs. a week. Whats nice about following a straight program is making sure you are following the step model. 10, 12, 14 and the 12, 14, 16 and so on.
I feel stronger every week and have a feeling that my FTP has increased from say 160w to somewhere around 200w over a 4 months period.
It is great to actually see that one is getting into a better shape and I would recommend everyone to start measuring them self.

Swimming:

Well… I´m training with a coach every Monday and she are telling me that my technique is improving a lot.
I find my energy consumption in my legs way to high. If I let them drag I actually feel more comfortable and faster in the water… Trying to get the 2 + 3 rhythm (2 kicks when taking a breath and 3 when not breathing) instead of the normal continually kicking they teach you when learning crawl.
Was at “DGI Byen” last Saturday. They have a round pool giving you the feeling of endless long swimming if you need that….

Bike:

I have a standing reservation at 24seven.com where “my” bike is frequently used. I´m not doing any “spinning” or similar. It’s only me, the bike and a lot of good music to keep me going.
This is a lonely game but I feel that it is preparing me well. The feeling of competing against your self is character building. It reminds me that on race day I´m so alone and the only one who can help me is myself and my knowledge of how my body reacts. Being able to push hard when alone on the bike is dammed difficult but rewarding at the end.

Running:

Running is quite good. My knees have gotten used to +1 hrs. I feel that there is room for improvement in speed. Most training is committed to IM speed = 10,8 k/h. The cardio training is easier on the bike if you ask me…
I have 1 long run every week with Tanja (Marathon program). This run is between 18 – 20 k. Tempo is slow but good for making the body endurable.

Take care out there!

So - are you on a schedule?

So - based on a bit of anxious feed-back from basically all team members, I think you are all now getting in the mode of "Fuck - it´s only this or that many days/months away". Time flies and what before was "oooh - some time next year" is now right in your face.

Fear not - of course there´s a cure... that´s the good news! The bad news is that the cure is called "Hard work, pain, cold weather, sore butt and many hours in the gym and the saddle - but also joyful trainings with your buddies and the feeling of endorphin butterflies in every cell of your body"

Another way to get around this anxiety is of course planning well - building a strong training schedule or program on a weekly basis to support your trainings. Some like a fixed program or plan - and some don´t. I´d say, the less experience you have - the more you need a plan.

On a rule-of-thumb-basis, a beginner´s Ironman program should:

1. Be ambitious enough to enable your goals and make it to the line on race day, but also realistic enough with respect to the the other parts (which?) of life, family, work, etc.

2. Have a time distribution in swim, bike, run close to 15%, 55%, 30% respectively

3. Hold 11-14 hours of trainings per week at this time of year, moving into 16-20 hours in peak period (1-2 months before race day), distributed on 10-12 sessions per week.

From here it all gets a bit more complicated on periodization, specific weeks and much, much more - I recommend reading "Going Long" on this. For now, I suggest you all feed-back a bit (as comments here) on where you are on programming and mapping your trainings? Cheers T

Functional Threshold Power

So addressing Peter´s request on Max HR test, which I´d initially advice not to do. Instead (as per "Going Long" - find your Functional Threshold Heart Rate and calculate your levels from here. It is not exactly rocket science, but big books has been written on this subject. Read below article on a primer on Threshold HR and advice on training - this is pretty advanced, but really useful to get a hold on:

Now we're in to the big scary world of smoke and mirrors! Whether you know it or not, Functional Threshold Power (FTP) is one of the key factors of your cycling armoury. But don't worry if you don't know what it is or why it should be important to you, you're not alone.

Functional Threshold Power is a phrase that has as many perceived meanings as there are gears on a bike. In this article we'll try to explain, what it is, why you should be interested in it and how you can go about understanding, measuring and improving it, to enable you to be a fitter, faster, stronger cyclist.

Before we start, a reality check. Whole books have been written on this subject, so we're not going to cover every nuance, or better still overcomplicate things, in a simple, one page article. I'll try to make this factsheet deep enough to portray a meaningful representation of the subject but not that deep as we end up drowning in science and psycho-babble. So here goes...

The General Consensus
It's generally agreed that your Functional Threshold Power is the maximal power output you can sustain for the duration of one hour. It's NOT your "average" power. As average has a different meaning in a power context to "sustained".

There are many ways to compute, extrapolate or test for Functional Threshold Power and Dr Andrew Coggan seems to be the man with a plan when it comes to this area of cycling science. So who am I to contradict. Most of this article will be a reflection of the work of himself and others, with punditry and anecdotal insight from myself!

Your Starter for Ten...
Calculating your FTP is quite straightforward. If you've got power meter analysis software (WKO+ see sidebar on the right) you can use your race and training data to accurately estimate your FTP through the Normalised Power function at the 60 minutes axis point. If you're unsure just email me and I'll send you a link.

You could do a Ramp Test, a profile of which is seen here, and extrapolate the figures you need from its results. The final 60 seconds of sustained power are computed and approximately 75% of that gives you your FTP.

An alternative is to carry out a six minute wVO2max Test and extrapolate your figures, from that. There is also a 20 minute test for slightly more accurate results or you could go the whole hog and do a one hour test (a 25 mile/40k TT) and get pretty much 100% accurate results from that.

You can also compute your FTP from your lactate threshold as the two are very closely related. They're not the same but they are near neighbours in the world of FTP figures.

So loads of ways to calculate it so there's no excuses for not having a ball park figure! You can even do it with heart rate alone, you don't need a power meter, although strictly speaking you obviously won't actually have your functional threshold power figures!

If you're anything like me (an accomplished slacker) you'll find it very difficult to concentrate for a full 60 minutes, especially when it starts hurting and there's no one to talk to. So a 20 minute test (shown above) is a good a way as any of getting some scores on the doors.

Crack out a full on 20 minute ride (a 10 mile TT), grab your normalised power figure, and you've got 105% of your functional threshold. It's not as accurate as a full hour test, but it's less stressful, easier to fit in to a busy schedule, and as close as we need to be for the level of racing and training we undertake. Remember, this site is written for people who live in the real world!

Realising your potential
Okay, now we've got a figure for our functional threshold what do we do with it? Functional threshold development is all about making our athletic engine more efficient.

As a competitive cyclist, raising FTP should be your primary objective. We need to become more efficient at making use of our overall effectiveness. Here I'll explain why.

Two riders can have exactly the same relative VO2max, but it will be the one with a higher Functional Threshold Power that prevails come judgement day; or the Island Championships as they're known in Jersey.

Two club riders may turn out exactly the same power over the course of an hour. They're physical attributes, heart volume and lung capacity, may differ so their heart rates could be miles apart. The power outputs and the lines on the wattage graph may be the same but their physiological response, sensations and emotions most definitely won't!

There's more to this game than just high power figures.

Not big and not clever
Power meter users often try to hit the big maximal power numbers to reflect the measure of their prowess on the bike. Mines bigger than yours type of thing.

I'm sorry to have to disappoint our macho men, but it's the biggest FTP that's going to do the damage when it matters not maximal power output. You may have a 1000 watt sprint but if you've only got a 200 watt FTP then you ain't going to be around at the end of the race to show everyone what a sprint god you are.

I've tested some phenomenally strong riders in the lab that would be dropped before they got to the first hill in the 25 mph "race to the base". As with all things at our level, moderation in everything is the key to success. It's the lactic threshold, aerobic/anaerobic boundary that determines who'll be around for the sprint. It isn't necessarily the strongest sprinter in the race that takes home the medals.

You're more likely to be "in for a win" with a 900 watt sprint and a 300 watt FTP. Just redirect your focus to the less glamorous side of the training spectrum and reap the rewards.

Functional threshold power gives you a baseline from which which you can design your future training levels. Once you have enough power data to draw a conclusion, changing your FTP is pretty straightforward, it's hardly easy to do but is easy to target; if you get my meaning.

First you need to establish your FTP baseline. Re-read the General Consensus text above and decide how you are going to evaluate your current fitness level and determine your functional threshold power.

Once you have an accurate baseline figure we can now go to town on improving it and transforming your season, your results and quite possibly your sexual prowess. The final conclusion is from highly anecdotal evidence that has little chance of being peer reviewed; but at least I've now got your interest!

In the table above we've taken a rider with a a Functional Threshold Power of 300 watts. If you can knock out a 25 mile TT in or around an hour you're in this region.

The table describes Coggan's Power Levels that have become the benchmark for many power meter users over recent years. Don't be misled in to thinking the levels are compartmentalised in to "black and white" discrete bins of power and physiological response. There is a sliding line continuum that blends from one level to the next. It just fits our mindset better if we put it in to pretty coloured boxes.

For instance you don't go from below 74% of FTP being wholly Endurance pace and 76% of FTP being wholly Tempo pace. There is no physiological switch from one level to the next, just a sliding scale of effort that eases across the identified training responses. However the levels do give us a framework for understanding, developing and structuring, sustained improvement.

To summarize
So there it is. Get tested, by doing it yourself or in a lab; get your Functional Power Threshold numbers, do some really easy maths, train at the right level twice a week for three weeks. Take a recovery week, measure yourself again and recalculate the figures for your next batch of three weeks' sessions.

It really is that simple and that quick. And it's a 100% sure fire hit of increasing your threshold, your performance and your enjoyment on the bike. Other than a race win, there is little more satisfying experience on a bike than knowing the training your doing is bringing results. It's such a gratifying feeling, as an athlete and a coach, to see immediate, sustained, measurable progression.

If the rewards aren't enough to accept the lack of variety, then don't feel there isn't an alternative. These intervals don't have to be carried out as an exclusive session. Why not do a one hour turbo session in the week based on this work out. Then include the other 20 minute sessions as part of a road ride. I try to get my big distance sportive riders and Iron Man athletes to include a 20 minute controlled burn up in every hour of their long weekend rides as part of their Pre-Competition build up. The results they bring, as you can see, are spectacular.

The Message
Hopefully this factsheet has provided the information to help you take your threshold power to the next level. You don't advance your power output by riding around for three hours on a club run at whatever speed the leaders choose; or knocking out 1000 watt intervals for 5 seconds at a time. There is a sweet spot or, as you'll find when banging it out on the turbo, a sweat spot, that brings returns that far exceed the perceived effort. And I'll vote for that any day.

These intervals should not be a bare all, gritted teeth, hang on for grim death, type effort. They should be a controlled effort on the edge of aerobicity (my new word from last month!). You are not Einstein, you can't redefine the laws of physics. The maths, the workout and the results are simple;

▼ 85% of FTP for 20 mins = continuous improvement

So stay at that intensity and reap the rewards. If you want to make the interval harder, cut the rest interval by one minute per week. Then after your recovery week, increase the effort and reinstate the 4 minute recovery period. DON'T increase the wattage because you think you can. Of course you can pedal as hard as you want you just won't get the results you were expecting. Reign it in and wait for the gains to arrive; show restraint and save your pent up energy for the race.

Functional Threshold Power can be described to a layman as "how fast you can cruise." Cruising plays a major part in endurance sports such as cycling and being efficient at high cruising speeds is our ultimate aim. The fresher you are when you get to the finish the better position you'll be in physically and mentally for the finale of the end game and the race winning sprint. Enjoy the rewards of your 85% efforts because they bring 100% results.

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