Tag: steady state

4×20 – Now I’ve seen everything

4 Comments

On Thursday and Friday of last week, I was seeing elevated heart rates, and I felt terrible during my steady state sessions.  On Saturday, I busted out a season best 6K.  On Sunday I had a nice rest day.

Then today, it was back to more steady state.  I sit down, and 190W watts feels easy, and I cruise through the first 20 minutes with very low perceived exertion and a nice low HR.  I struggled with getting a good sample for a lactate test.  My first prick didn’t yield, so I did a second, and with the xtra time and fumbling around, who knows if it was a good test or not.  But the reading was 2.5mmol/l.  Whaaat?

So, I did another 20 minutes at 190W and tested again.  Good sample this time and I read 2.4mmol/l.  Arghhh.  I still felt mighty fresh and my HR was still nice and low, so I did the next 2 pieces at 190W.   I have to say that I am mightily confused about why my lactates were so high today.

I will drop back to 185W tomorrow to see what happens.

2015-03-30_13-09-02 2015-03-30_13-06-18

4×20’/2′ rest – decreasing power to get lactates in line.

Leave a comment

Despite yesterday’s bad workout, I decided to stay the course and pretend it never happened. I did drop the power a simdge, down to 190W from 193W.  After 20 minutes, my HR was really high (151), but the lactate reading was an entirely reasonable 1.7.

So, I went into the second piece at the same power and then blew out the lactates at 3.4.  This was way too high, so, I decided to drop the power by 10 watts to 180W for the third 20′ piece, which yielded a drop down to 2.7.  Still, too high.  So, another drop in power to 170W for the fourth piece, and this one seemed to do the trick. HR was a bit better and lactates were down to 1.9 by the end. For the lazy, here it is in table form.

2015-03-27_13-48-44

Here’s the HR graph.

2015-03-27_13-49-17

So, what do I conclude?

1. I just opened pandora’s box by looking at lactates in the second through fourth pieces. I think that this will end up causing higher spending on strips and more holes in my finger. I’m not sure how much I like that.
2. I should probably aim at keeping it below 1.7 for the reading at 20 minutes.

Tomorrow:  Hard 6K threshold piece.

3×20′ – Awful workout.

Leave a comment

Elevated HR, Lactate reading too high.  Felt really tired.  Quit after 3 20′ intervals instead doing the full four.  Even dropping my training power by 10 watts in the third piece was not enough to bring my HR down into the UT1 zone.

2015-03-26_9-24-34

2015-03-26_9-24-21

The past 7 session before today, I was able to hold >190W and measured <2.0 in every session. Yesterday, at 193W, my HR was way high, like 10BPM higher than normal, but the lactates were OK (1.9). Today, holding 192W, HR was just as far off and my lactates were 2.3. I dropped down to 190W and measured 2.8 :shock: after another 20 minutes, and my HR was at least 5BPM above the top of my aerobic band.

So, here’s my recent history:

2015-03-26_9-13-30

I’m struggling to come up with theories for what is going on.
– A little bit of acute over-training. I did a pretty hard 6×750 session yesterday morning
– Early warning of coming down with something (I am otherwise symptom free
– Reading error (I doubt it, I felt like I was working a lot harder today)

I’m also trying to figure out if I should make any adjustments. I am scheduled for another 4×20 tomorrow morning. Things I am thinking about are:
– Pretend today never happened and do a normal session at 190W
– drop back 5W and build back up again
– start to use the BTLS (Boris Theory of Lactate Supression) and do the first 20′ slowing ramping up to 190W

Any opinions?

Friday: 1×20′ + 3×20/1’r

1 Comment

My routine was all messed up on Friday.  I had to give one omy kids a ride to a conference he was attending at BC, and then I had a Doctor’s appt at 11.  In between, I snuck in a 20 minute lactate test.

190W –> 2.0 mmol/l (excellent, right in range)

2015-03-21_17-35-53

Output
Workout Summary – Mar 20, 2015
–_|_Total_|_-Total-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg-_|_Avg-_|_-Avg-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg_|_-Avg
–_|_Dist-_|_-Time–_|_-Pace–_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_-HR–_|_-%HRR–_|_-DPS_|_-SPI
–_|_04898_|_20:00.0_|_02:02.5_|_190.4_|_19.1_|_132.2_|_ 62.6% _|_12.8_|_10.0
Workout Details
#-_|_SDist_|_-Split-_|_-SPace-_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_AvgHR_|_Avg%HRR_|_DPS-_|_-SPI

01_|_01217_|_05:00.0_|_02:03.2_|_187.1_|_19.0_|_121.2_|_ 54.8% _|_12.8_|_09.8
02_|_01232_|_05:00.0_|_02:01.8_|_193.8_|_19.6_|_133.8_|_ 63.7% _|_12.6_|_09.9
03_|_01225_|_05:00.0_|_02:02.5_|_190.5_|_19.0_|_135.7_|_ 65.0% _|_12.9_|_10.0
04_|_01224_|_05:00.0_|_02:02.5_|_190.2_|_18.8_|_138.3_|_ 66.9% _|_13.0_|_10.1

Then later in the day, maybe 4 hours later, I found enough time to do 3 more 20s at 190.  All uneventful.

2015-03-21_17-35-27

Output
Workout Summary – Mar 20, 2015
–_|_Total_|_-Total-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg-_|_Avg-_|_-Avg-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg_|_-Avg
–_|_Dist-_|_-Time–_|_-Pace–_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_-HR–_|_-%HRR–_|_-DPS_|_-SPI
–_|_15070_|_63:00.0_|_02:05.4_|_177.4_|_18.6_|_145.2_|_ 71.8% _|_12.8_|_09.5
Workout Details
#-_|_SDist_|_-Split-_|_-SPace-_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_AvgHR_|_Avg%HRR_|_DPS-_|_-SPI

01_|_04903_|_20:00.0_|_02:02.4_|_190.9_|_19.0_|_135.7_|_ 65.0% _|_12.9_|_10.0
02_|_00058_|_01:00.0_|_08:40.2_|_002.5_|_05.0_|_138.4_|_ 67.0% _|_11.5_|_00.5
03_|_04903_|_20:00.0_|_02:02.4_|_191.0_|_19.1_|_148.4_|_ 74.0% _|_12.8_|_10.0
04_|_00054_|_01:00.0_|_09:12.1_|_002.1_|_06.0_|_140.7_|_ 68.6% _|_09.1_|_00.3
05_|_05153_|_21:00.0_|_02:02.3_|_191.5_|_19.0_|_151.4_|_ 76.1% _|_12.9_|_10.1

3x5K / 2’r

Leave a comment

I spent the day in meetings in Phoenix and then had dinner with the customer.  I wolfed down a delicious bone in rib-eye, drained a couple of glasses of Guiness (it was St. Patrick’s Day after all) and then bolted for the airport to catch the red eye.

My red eye arrived in Boston around 5:45AM and after waiting for a shuttle bus to my car for nearly half an hour, I just decided to go home instead of heading straight to work to grab a nap.

A couple more hours of sleep was definitely a good thing, but I was still not in the mood to face a more intense interval session.  So, I substituted a steady state session to keep working on aerobic base.  I rowed this at home on a static erg.

Today’s session was 3x5K with about 2 minute rests between pieces.  Target power was 188W.  I tested lactate after the first 5K and got 1.7mmol/l, right in the sweet spot.

The next two pieces, I pushed up the power to 190W and was gratified to see my HR stay quite low with minimal drift over the 60 minutes.  I ended the session feeling better than when I started.

2015-03-18_15-57-25

1st 5K – 188W – Lactate = 1.7 at end

Output
Workout Summary – Mar 18, 2015
–_|_Total_|_-Total-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg-_|_Avg-_|_-Avg-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg_|_-Avg
–_|_Dist-_|_-Time–_|_-Pace–_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_-HR–_|_-%HRR–_|_-DPS_|_-SPI
–_|_05000_|_20:29.9_|_02:03.0_|_188.1_|_18.9_|_134.0_|_ 63.8% _|_12.9_|_10.0
Workout Details
#-_|_SDist_|_-Split-_|_-SPace-_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_AvgHR_|_Avg%HRR_|_DPS-_|_-SPI
01_|_01250_|_05:05.5_|_02:02.2_|_191.8_|_19.2_|_125.2_|_ 57.6% _|_12.8_|_10.0
02_|_01250_|_05:07.3_|_02:02.9_|_188.5_|_18.7_|_135.9_|_ 65.2% _|_13.0_|_10.1
03_|_01250_|_05:07.9_|_02:03.1_|_187.4_|_18.7_|_137.3_|_ 66.2% _|_13.0_|_10.0
04_|_01250_|_05:09.3_|_02:03.7_|_184.8_|_18.8_|_137.7_|_ 66.4% _|_12.9_|_09.8

2015-03-18_15-58-30

2nd 5K – 190W avg

Output
Workout Summary – Mar 18, 2015
–_|_Total_|_-Total-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg-_|_Avg-_|_-Avg-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg_|_-Avg
–_|_Dist-_|_-Time–_|_-Pace–_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_-HR–_|_-%HRR–_|_-DPS_|_-SPI
–_|_05000_|_20:24.8_|_02:02.5_|_190.5_|_19.2_|_137.4_|_ 66.2% _|_12.8_|_09.9
Workout Details
#-_|_SDist_|_-Split-_|_-SPace-_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_AvgHR_|_Avg%HRR_|_DPS-_|_-SPI

01_|_01250_|_05:05.5_|_02:02.2_|_191.9_|_19.8_|_131.7_|_ 62.2% _|_12.4_|_09.7
02_|_01250_|_05:06.6_|_02:02.6_|_189.8_|_18.8_|_138.3_|_ 66.9% _|_13.0_|_10.1
03_|_01250_|_05:06.7_|_02:02.7_|_189.6_|_19.0_|_139.7_|_ 67.9% _|_12.9_|_10.0
04_|_01250_|_05:06.1_|_02:02.4_|_190.7_|_19.0_|_140.0_|_ 68.1% _|_12.9_|_10.0

2015-03-18_15-59-21

3rd 5K – 190W avg

Output

Workout Summary – Mar 18, 2015
–_|_Total_|_-Total-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg-_|_Avg-_|_-Avg-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg_|_-Avg
–_|_Dist-_|_-Time–_|_-Pace–_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_-HR–_|_-%HRR–_|_-DPS_|_-SPI
–_|_05000_|_20:24.9_|_02:02.5_|_190.4_|_18.8_|_140.3_|_ 68.3% _|_13.1_|_10.2
Workout Details
#-_|_SDist_|_-Split-_|_-SPace-_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_AvgHR_|_Avg%HRR_|_DPS-_|_-SPI

01_|_01250_|_05:05.6_|_02:02.2_|_191.7_|_19.0_|_136.3_|_ 65.5% _|_12.9_|_10.1
02_|_01250_|_05:05.8_|_02:02.3_|_191.2_|_18.6_|_141.6_|_ 69.2% _|_13.2_|_10.3
03_|_01250_|_05:07.0_|_02:02.8_|_189.0_|_18.8_|_142.8_|_ 70.1% _|_13.0_|_10.1
04_|_01250_|_05:06.5_|_02:02.6_|_189.9_|_18.6_|_140.6_|_ 68.5% _|_13.2_|_10.2

Tomorrow:  Another attempt at the 5×1500 that I blew off today.  1:50 pace target.

Fun in the desert. 4×20’/1’r at Scorpion Crossfit

Leave a comment

In Phoenix.  There was a great Crossfit box less than half a mile from my hotel.  They let me use an erg and didn’t even charge me a guest fee.  They were also very nice, just like every other crossfit that I’ve visited.

I just wanted to munch some meters today.  I intended to row at 186W, but the atmosphere got to me and I ended up pushing harder and running a higher heart rate than I should have.  My HR monitor started acting stupid after 40 minutes, but even before that I was pushing up into the low 150s.  After 60 minutes, I had to make a decision to either slow it way down or have a little fun.  I decided on fun in the form of a 20 minute L4 with these powers

r18 – 180

r20 – 200

r22 -220

And I rowed 22/20/18/22/20/18/22/20/18/22 (2′ each).  It was good sweaty exercise.

2015-03-17 07.03.41

While I was rowing I saw them working on the WOD which was 8 rounds of 30 seconds on the rower shooting for max calories, then 30 seconds of box jumps with 30 second rests for 8 rounds.  I didn’t see what they were pulling, but I did one 30 second rep just to try it out.  I managed 19 calories in 30 seconds, which is about a 1:25 split.

Tomorrow:  I’m due for an interval session.  I’m thinking 5×1500 at a sedate 1:50 to keep things ticking over.  I may back off since I will be fresh off the red eye.