February 21, 2010
Weekly Training Summary (55.64 miles / 10:06:46)
The rest week was upon me. Its no coincidence that this lined up with Natalee’s visit. I knew there would be 2 days of skiing. Surely, that counts for some calorie burn and maybe a ting of cross-training but nothing I am going to bank on. So I got my longest long run in of the cycle done on Monday, then an easy day (plan had me off), then Green Mountain. For the next 3 days, I followed up skiing and another casual hike up Green with miles on the treadmill for good measure. Just tried to keep it in the easy zone and enjoy some casual miles on the mill while hanging out with the family. Frankly, it was kind of enjoyable! Having everyone in the same room while I got to run. Sort of sick if you think about it — but awesome at the same time. Everybody was together — yet, I got to get my run on. Was going to hit the mill again on Sunday but I respected the rest day as hard as it was. I really just wanted to chase miles but I told myself to cut that shit out.
Has my relationship with the treadmill changed? Yes. But what really put it over the top? My new toy! The Garmin Foot Pod! I ordered it a week ago after realizing all the shortcomings of the “manual activity” entry on Garmin Connect plus SportTracks. I like my data and this was the best way to make an indoor activity not be “data handicapped”. Otherwise, I had good excuses on why I should not run a given hard workout outside. Now, I can go to the mill and get equivalent data. The bonus that wasn’t obvious when I bought this was that this thing is the size of the Nike+ pod. So you can insert in that special slot in all my Nike+ shoes. That rocks! Another new dimension of data tracking came alive when I ran with this: cadence. I really don’t know what to do with this yet but I am observing it so far. I suppose it might tell me something about my stride at various paces. Not sure yet. This is an incentive to use the foot pod outside as well. Will track it for a while and gather some data and then analyze to see if there is anything interesting to come out of it.
Let’s continue with the Performance Management Graph for the weekly summary.
CTL = 75 / ATL = 98 / TSB = -23
So the CTL is about the same as the last week. That means that my overall fitness remains about the same with a little hump higher mid-week. ATL dropped which was expected with the rest. TSB rose which is what I was after with the rest. So I guess it was a successful rest week by these numbers. I do feel rested but probably a bit fat/full/bloated. I just seemed to feel sluggish if I don’t get that harder effort in each day.
What I didn’t like about this graph this week was the way the TRIMP was calculated for each of the rest days. I put in an hour on the treadmill one day in the low end of my easy zone and I got a 7. I know it was easy but it was an hour and it seemed like something…more than 7! As I looked into it just now, it seems that the factors are at play. There is a 0 factor when you are in zone 1 by default. The zones are pre-populated based on my theoretical HR max. All textbook stuff but I know that my HR zones haven’t followed that. So I think I need to do some tweaking. But not sure how yet. I can change the factors or tweak my zones. Feel like I need to put a bit of research into the numbers and then move on.
I have been toying with going in to Boulder Center for Sports Medicine to have my LT measured. Maybe VO2Max since you can add it on for a few more bucks. LT would be good data. VO2Max would just be interesting but it doesn’t seem to be a number you can apply to anything. But I am not sure if just the LT will tell me what I want to know. Might make a call this week and see if I can get in.
With the rest, I need to chase some miles this week to hit my goal for the month. I am a little behind right now with the shorter month and extra Green Mountain trips. Will see how it pans out. This new snowfall isn’t going to get me jazzed about long runs on snow covered paths. And I am not ready to run that far on the mill…just yet.
