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Small update from my side:
10k race in january went well, 41:18. Didn't go all out since I hadn't been racing in a while and considering I hardly ran at all since september, I was quite pleased with how little fitness I actually lost.
I also cleaned up my diet and aside from 2 days in the last 4 weeks, everything I ate was self cooked, no processed foods, no sugar, hardly any grain, tons of veggies, moderate amounts of meat/dairy/fish. I also skip breakfast nowadays so I'm fasting intermittently and without even trying I dropped all excess weight I gained during the holiday season. Also all the little niggles & background pain has gone away, skin cleaned up really well so without actually knowing I'd claim my inflammation levels are very low and I'm in prime position to start a really great training cycle.
So as a thank you for taking good care of myself, my body decided to react with another collapsed lung 
No exercise the last 2 weeks, this means it's another training cycle of frustration management, yay me! It's my 3rd time, so at least I'm not worried much. I'm slowly starting back up with some low impact stuff, some easy bodyweight exercises, running hast to wait a little more since a lung sloshing around in the chest cavity is a "bit" uncomfortable...
So sadly I haven't gotten around to testing my Stryd all that much but the few times I ran with it have delivered some very nice data.
For instance I did 2 identical laps of 5k, one with pace data from Stryd and one with just GPS:
https://www.strava.com/activities/3016542763
Much smoother pace graph with the Stryd an these very even pretty good conditions for GPS.
I also went to the track and did 5 laps at different paces (5:40/km vs 4:20/km) to see how it might get different results with varying strides but I got exactly 1,961m both times. That was because I deactivated its magical auto calibration, had I stuck with the 2% it got from 2 previous runs, it would have been dead on 2k.
Only 2 data points, but seems very promising!
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I have a 235km (4km of climbing) cycling race in 3 weeks I’m feeling wholly unprepared for. Wish me luck.
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On February 13 2020 14:29 RowdierBob wrote:
I have a 235km (4km of climbing) cycling race in 3 weeks I’m feeling wholly unprepared for. Wish me luck.
That is a BIG day on the bike! How many hours a week have you been riding?
Probably as long as you're on top of nutrition and smart about pacing, keeping everything very easy you'll survive. You'll be good and tired though 😃
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On February 14 2020 10:37 L_Master wrote:Show nested quote +On February 13 2020 14:29 RowdierBob wrote:
I have a 235km (4km of climbing) cycling race in 3 weeks I’m feeling wholly unprepared for. Wish me luck. That is a BIG day on the bike! How many hours a week have you been riding? Probably as long as you're on top of nutrition and smart about pacing, keeping everything very easy you'll survive. You'll be good and tired though 😃
I haven’t really done any long rides since my last race which was 170kms. Just been focussing on hill repeats on weekends (bout 2-3hr sessions) and riding about 30kms a day.
I feel fine just churning the legs on the flats at a comfy 30kms/h. But the hills will be tough. The race’s last climb in about 200kms in, is 17km long and the first 10km of that is about 9.5%. That has me most concerned.
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On February 14 2020 15:44 RowdierBob wrote:Show nested quote +On February 14 2020 10:37 L_Master wrote:On February 13 2020 14:29 RowdierBob wrote:
I have a 235km (4km of climbing) cycling race in 3 weeks I’m feeling wholly unprepared for. Wish me luck. That is a BIG day on the bike! How many hours a week have you been riding? Probably as long as you're on top of nutrition and smart about pacing, keeping everything very easy you'll survive. You'll be good and tired though 😃 I haven’t really done any long rides since my last race which was 170kms. Just been focussing on hill repeats on weekends (bout 2-3hr sessions) and riding about 30kms a day. I feel fine just churning the legs on the flats at a comfy 30kms/h. But the hills will be tough. The race’s last climb in about 200kms in, is 17km long and the first 10km of that is about 9.5%. That has me most concerned.
What's the gearing you have?
Sounds like you're riding 5-10 hours a week you should be reasonably okay to go.
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Well folks, training is going very well. I'm doing things a little different this time, taking a much slower build approach to my season. I haven't really started doing anything hard yet, just easy aerobic volume, and just starting to sprinkling in a little bit of stuff at AeT.
+ Show Spoiler [Training Details/Discussion] +I've spent about 95% of my training time at or below 65% of max HR. This is very, very chill. Good steady progression in terms of hours, starting from just a few in December and now getting pretty consistently in that +/- 15 hours a week range. The changes are dramatic, my HRs and speed/power right now is crazy good at low power. I'm about 25% faster in that 115-125bpm range than I've ever been.
The craziest part is I can compare it to 2017, when I was in my best shape ever. I came into 2017 off of a very good 2016, where I had many of my better performances. I trained hard, and consistently at a solid 15 hours a week through March, where I set some all time power records at 1', 5' and 15'. My sleep was very good, a consistent 7.5-8 hours each night. My diet was mediocre. Compare that to this year. I came into Dec 19' in mediocre shape, I'd done a decent training block before, but just 8 weeks and most of the rest of the year was "meh". I've done about the same hours here in 2020 that I did in 2017. I trained harder, had more intensity, and was sleeping better in 2017. Despite all that, I'm seeing power at these HRs I've never had before, noticeably better even than 2017. All of that when almost all I've done is tool around at 110-120bpm for hours.
I've never really understood why all the pros trained so easy except for the occasional interval session. Now I understand.
It's going to be fun to see how this translate to my higher end fitness and threshold when I start adding in the intensity, but the early signs are VERY promising. I did a race Wednesday, averaging 280w with a 315w NP. My best from 2017 was a 293w average, with 308 NP. Admittedly, the 2017 race was 1hr6min and the race this year was 42:00, so there is some difference...but that's in the same territory. This time though, it's with no hard training or fast riding in the mix so in theory there should be tons more room to grow.
Bottom line is I'm incredibly excited to see where this goes. 2020 has the potential to be a banner year if I can get through the next two months where school usually goes haywire without losing momentum.
The only bad news I have to report is that regrettably I'm still eating shitloads of junk food, and am still a lardass hanging out at 78kg (race weight low 60kg) and 23% BF. That obviously has to go if I'm going to post decent times on anything other than the ERG rower.
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The other thing I will add is that I've been doing about 60-70% of my training on the bike, but regularly including 1-3 hr gym machine sessions. Usually I rotate a circuit of uphill treadmill walking, running, stairmaster, and rowing.
This is partly to break up the monotony of doing endless easy Kms on the trainer, and partly to keep other parts of my game sharp, because my eventual goal is an incline assault later in the year and my friends have a few running races they want me to do.
Overall, I've found this to be a nice benefit. It clearly hasn't hurt my cycling, and anecdotally it's been a help. Stairmaster works the muscles very similar to cycling, but a little more strength based. Rowing is especially fantastic. It works the exact muscles that don't get used in cycling and in the opposite direction. You spend all your time in a bike bunched over with contracted abs and lengthened spinal erectors. So the front core gets tight and overly strong, while the back gets lose and weak. The erg does the exact opposite. It lengthens the abs and forces you to use and contract the muscles in the back. It's also an incredible machine for building power and strength.
I was having some consistent back and knee pain/discomfort on rides, but after a few weeks of erging that completely resolved. Moreover, my sprint and explosive power are quite good right now, which I also attribute to the erg. I'm definitely of the opinion that at least some ancillary work on the erg is beneficial to any aerobic athletes training.
It's also super satisfying. It's a different feeling from running or cycling. Rowing feels very....masculine and powerful. Like you push as hard as you can as just rip on that chain, even when you're going fairly easy. It's the only aerobic thing I've done where you feel both fit and strong.
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Wow, looks like your training is going great! Rowing seems pretty beneficial to cycling (and most sports/athletics). Cross-training in general is something I am a big fan of as it helps spread the load on the body better and is good for the mind/soul/whatever to keep things more fun and interesting. But I say that as someone who likes training and not everyone may be in that same camp.
I am thinking about starting up swimming to do a sprint triathlon in mid-may. I know how to swim but I haven't swum laps or anything like that before. The course is 444m swim (37m pool, 1.5x the normal 25m), 17.6k bike, 5k run. There are a few people in my club that swim and/or do tri's and swimming is something I would like to be not terrible at.
It's getting in to bike season here now as the all-day every day rain is subsiding a bit. I'm borrowing my roommate's bike for the past 2 weeks while mine is in the shop getting a tune-up and almost a full drivetrain replacement. Hopefully it will be ready this week and I can do some fun rides soon. The past 3 months has seen very minimal riding and the 4 in a row days last week did a number on my backside that isn't used to it (plus it's not my bike ie. seat). The new parts list is: Chainring (smaller gearing 34-48 I think, old one was 42-52), cassette (7-speed up from 6), chain, cranks, bottom bracket, brakes.
Running-wise I just did a 25k trail race with 1100m vertical on Saturday and finished 4th overall which I am very happy with (avg pace 6:25/km). The first half had a technical climb and technical ridge traverse with the second half being a lot more runnable and rolling hills with one moderately technical climb. I trained hard with a lot of trail specific runs and just a lot of miles and that endurance helped a lot in the back half of the race where I picked off two places. I practiced trails about once a week for the past 2-3 months with a focus on getting better at downhill running and I have definitely improved a lot since my last trail race in October.
For running training, I have been doing track sessions weekly for quite a while now, going on two years with mostly easy-paced running otherwise and have been pretty good about weekly long runs, although some weeks were full of moderate length runs without a long run (in the 12-18km range). Our run club participated in the January Battle with the individual runner's goal of reaching 400km for the month. I am happy to say that I reached this goal and had my highest mileage month and highest weekly total (100km!) so far. The next race for me is Chuckanut 50k as my first ever ultra so I tried hard to make the 400km to push myself to train more for this race and judging from this past weekend's race it has greatly improved my fitness. I tapered a bit last week and will rest a bit for the first half of this week and then resume higher mileage training with an aim of at least 80 km/week pushing up to 100 again before tapering for the 50k in late March.
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On February 25 2020 12:16 tagliatelle wrote:
The past 3 months has seen very minimal riding and the 4 in a row days last week did a number on my backside that isn't used to it (plus it's not my bike ie. seat). The new parts list is: Chainring (smaller gearing 34-48 I think, old one was 42-52), cassette (7-speed up from 6), chain, cranks, bottom bracket, brakes.
Huh? I don't even know what this stuff is. Literally gotta be a decade or more old no?
Nothing wrong with a classic bike!
Does it have a vintage appeal? Slightly confused why you would dump what sounds like significant upgrade money to upgrade from 14 year old tech to 12 year old tech...as opposed to just getting a decent new bike in the 1.5k-2.5k (or down to maybe 800 if you go the used market route) range?
On February 25 2020 12:16 tagliatelle wrote:
Running-wise I just did a 25k trail race with 1100m vertical on Saturday and finished 4th overall which I am very happy with (avg pace 6:25/km). The first half had a technical climb and technical ridge traverse with the second half being a lot more runnable and rolling hills with one moderately technical climb where I picked off two places. I practiced trails about once a week for the past 2-3 months with a focus on getting better at downhill running and I have definitley improved a lot since my last trail race in October.
Nice work! That's some serious climbing over that distance! Sounds like you executed really well, although I don't have much experience with trail running other than knowing I seem to run downhills pretty damn fast compared to people around my level.
On February 25 2020 12:16 tagliatelle wrote:For running training, I have been doing track sessions weekly for quite a while now, going on two years with mostly easy-paced running otherwise and have been pretty good about weekly long runs, although some weeks were full of moderate length runs without a long run (in the 12-18km range). Our run club participated in the January Battle with the individual runner's goal of reaching 400km for the month. I am happy to say that I reached this goal and had my highest mileage month and highest weekly total (100km!) so far. The next race for me is Chuckanut 50k as my first ever ultra so I tried hard to make the 400km to push myself to train more for this race and judging from this past weekend's race it has greatly improved my fitness. I tapered a bit last week and will rest a bit for the first half of this week and then resume higher mileage training with an aim of at least 80 km/week pushing up to 100 again before tapering for the 50k in late March.
That mileage should payoff, I'm not sure how much a jump that is, but there are significant fitness gains to be had for anyone as they increase towards 10hrs/wk, and moderate ones to be had going from 10 hr/wk -> 15 hr/wk. After that it gets pretty marginal.
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On February 28 2020 10:37 L_Master wrote:
Huh? I don't even know what this stuff is. Literally gotta be a decade or more old no?
Nothing wrong with a classic bike!
Does it have a vintage appeal? Slightly confused why you would dump what sounds like significant upgrade money to upgrade from 14 year old tech to 12 year old tech...as opposed to just getting a decent new bike in the 1.5k-2.5k (or down to maybe 800 if you go the used market route) range?
Yeah it's a 70's/80's steel road bike from Italy, which made getting new parts really difficult. The one part it's waiting on is finally coming on Monday so it should be ready this week. I paid $500 for it in great condition and these new replacement parts plus the tune up is gonna be around $400.
Since it basically needed a new drivetrain anyways, if I couldn't get anything fixed cheaply or easily I was just going to get a newer (used) road bike in the < $1000 range but I took this option instead. Basically it will have a much easier gearing than was set up on it previously. It's really fun to ride.
On February 28 2020 10:37 L_Master wrote:That mileage should payoff, I'm not sure how much a jump that is, but there are significant fitness gains to be had for anyone as they increase towards 10hrs/wk, and moderate ones to be had going from 10 hr/wk -> 15 hr/wk. After that it gets pretty marginal.
The training was a decent jump for me. I had been doing ~60 km/week since around summer with a few dips for tapering/recovering from races in the fall but had a few weeks in the 70km range (& ~100km/week cycling). I was a bit nervous jumping up to the 90km range and sustaining for a full month, but my body took it better than I was anticipating. February training has been closer to 80km/week average, including my first back to back long run which totaled 55km split on trail then road. The race was a check-in for my 50k race coming up in 3 weeks and I'm training through it but might need to rest up a bit more than I was anticipating to be at my best for that race. Hopefully re-introducing cycling will help balance my efforts better.
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Well, that was fun. Showed up to the CSU Crew (Rowing) team practice to meet some people that also row and learn a little more. Turns out I was clearly the strongest guy there outside of some 6'4" monster that was a bit quicker.
Unfortunately, I just don't have the technique/strength. My HR will be easy and low at a good clip at first, but fatigue sets in fast in my arms/back and I just can't go any faster even though aerobically I'm very comfortable. I think I'm going to need to do quite a bit of harder rowing and longer, moderate steady pieces if I want that to get better (probably will happen in fall).
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So I made it with 45 mins to spare. Finished in 12hours45mins. Recovery was very poor on my behalf and I’m currently in hospital recovering with bad dehydration. Seems to be settling thankfully but was in a bad state for a bit. Had to get driven here by a cop. First time in a cop car, Lol. Pray for me :D
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On March 08 2020 21:25 RowdierBob wrote:
So I made it with 45 mins to spare. Finished in 12hours45mins. Recovery was very poor on my behalf and I’m currently in hospital recovering with bad dehydration. Seems to be settling thankfully but was in a bad state for a bit. Had to get driven here by a cop. First time in a cop car, Lol. Pray for me :D
Damn! Glad you finished! That's a monster event.
Sounds like you learned a good lesson about paying closer attention to nutrition. That gets critically important as events get longer than 1hr!
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I was just dumb. Should’ve eaten something as soon as I finished but decided to drive back to accomm first (40mins away). Lesson learnt but I’m mostly ok now :D
Here’s a Strava link if anyone is interested: https://strava.app.link/PaUFy59uJ4
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United Kingdom10443 Posts
Half Marathon got cancelled obviously,
Went out and did a 1:26:30 on my own which was a new PB by like 10 minutes.
Good base building season, just a shame there's nothing to look forward to.
I'll probably focus on 5k and try and set a PB in about 2-3 months.
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Had no idea this thread existed, I just joined the strava club! 20 year SC fan and casual player. Triathlete for the past 2-3 years
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On April 17 2020 12:48 vyzion wrote:
Had no idea this thread existed, I just joined the strava club! 20 year SC fan and casual player. Triathlete for the past 2-3 years
Great stuff! What discipline of triathlon?
Also, hows everyone else holding up in quarantine? Going okay for me, had a solid spring build...haven't lost it like the past three or four years, but haven't quite settled into another building rhythm yet.
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Well after my collapsed lung in january I had to take it easy for a while and didn't really get back into running all that much. With all races cancelled my motivation for running wasn't very high and I barely did any running this spring. I just checked Strava and my 4 week rolling average with 15k/week is actually more than I expected. Lately I started doing a little more, particularly hill sprints for strengthening purposes but also adding easy mileage.
I did stay fit however! My nutrition's been on point the whole year (no processed foods, no sugar, mostly organic stuff from the farmers market, spending a lot of time cooking) and I've done a lot of bodyweight fitness stuff, especially practicing strength skills like handstand pushups. I look more shredded than ever without feeling hungry all the time so that's great!
All in all I'm in a good place to slowly start building mileage again.
I've formulated a long term plan or rather more of a challenge for myself which I dubbed "20/40/80 challenge": by the time I'm 40 I wanna look like a 20 year old (well body anyways) and be able to run a half marathon in sub 80 
I have about 2 years left for that and it should be doable with enough consistency!
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On April 23 2020 03:03 L_Master wrote:Show nested quote +On April 17 2020 12:48 vyzion wrote:
Had no idea this thread existed, I just joined the strava club! 20 year SC fan and casual player. Triathlete for the past 2-3 years Great stuff! What discipline of triathlon? Also, hows everyone else holding up in quarantine? Going okay for me, had a solid spring build...haven't lost it like the past three or four years, but haven't quite settled into another building rhythm yet.
My strength is running, biking is a natural second...swimming I am very slow and kind of still figuring out how to do it properly haha!
My personality thrives in this quarantine lifestyle. I was already working 4 days from home and now it's 5...don't mind the relaxed schedule. For endurance I'm just running around my neighborhood and doing strength training at home
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