Gary’s Fitness Blog

It’s fairly common in conversations about triathlon training today to discuss watts, normalized power, TSS, functional thresholds and intensity factors.  These terms are all the result of more cyclists using power meters to monitor training intensity and even race efforts.

I have been using WKO+ (formerly cycling peaks) for a little while now, primarily with my Garmin 305 (because I still haven’t justified the power meter expense) to monitor my run training.  The WKO+ software is really great and allows an athlete to get deeper into the training data more than any other training software and log program I’ve ever used.  Because I don’t have a power meter it does have limitations.

The biggest limitation for me is that because I don’t have a power meter, the software’s performance management analysis doesn’t give me an accurate picture for triathlon training.  Why?  Because I have no way of quantifying the work done (TSS, CTL and ATL) on the bike that allows the software to analyze the data.

As a triathlete we also have to consider swimming.  Can we monitor power in the water in a downloadable manner?  Not yet.

So as I look at the athlete’s that I’m trying to help prepare for the 2009 triathlon season (specifically, Ironman Louisville) I have several issues when trying to use a similar method for monitoring training stimulus over time:

1.  no one uses a power meter (and likely are not going to purchase one)
2.  few have a Garmin 305/405 to monitor their running workouts
3.  if they had all this equipment, it takes a lot of time to download and analyze, which they may or may not do.
4.  they have to use the power meter and/or Garmin device for EVERY workout, or they can just estimate the workouts and enter a best estimate TSS or rTSS for the individual workout (which gets us back to why use it anyway)

So, while I am very excited to see some of the data that comes from my Garmin (and yes, hopefully soon my power meter?) it is not a practical solution right now to help my athletes by using the WKO+ software and the Performance Management Charts.  (I have to say though, it is a lot of fun to spend time with the data I can get.  It’s amazing the kind of data we can get in the field better data than what we had in the exercise phys lab on the Monarch.)

How we are tracking long term / short term training stimulus:  (the post to my Ironman athletes)

In the past years I have used total hours of training as my main monitoring system. This was a good method because the majority of the exercise that I did was done at a very reasonable almost easy intensity.

For most of us, this is still going to be the biggest limiter (steady state ability and duration we can hold that intensity).

But with powermeters, heart rate monitors, gps’s, etc…. coaches and athletes are now getting pretty analytical in these monitoring methods. In my opinion, we are making a lot of things too difficult - especially for Ironman training when it matters more that we are consistent and gradually build duration. .. but ..

I realize that we all don’t have powermeters/gps’s so I’ve been thinking about how to add in an "Intensity Factor" to our monitoring.

Here is what I’ve decided to do:

A mixture of the Aerobic Points System (as seen on slowtwitch ) and Borg’s 10 Point RPE Scale (as discussed in the power training article by Dr. Coggan )

Here’s how the scoring it works:

10min swimming = 3 point
10min cycling = 1 point
10min running = 4 point

So as an example: 9.5 hours balanced week
1.5 hours (90 mins)of running: 36pts
6 hours (360 mins)of cycling: 36pts
2 hours (120 mins)of swimming: 36pts

That was just an example of how to add the total times, now to look at the RPE scale / intensity. We’ll be using the Borg 10 point scale , notice the Borg Scale is weighted so that the higher numbers are more spaced out. (Which is done for a number of physiological reasons that Dr. Coggan explains in the article also.)

Example of a workout calculation:

60 minute swim, effort at 3 RPE = 6*3 = 18pts * 0.3 = 5.4

45 minute run, effort at 2 RPE = 4.5*4 = 18pts * 0.2 = 3.6

60 minute cycle, effort at 5 RPE = 6*1 = 6pts * 0.5 = 3.0

Does this make sense? What I’d like you to do is calculate your total points at the end of each week, but you’ll need to write the "RPE" score in the comments as you log each workout.

The key to this system is that you are honest with your RPE scoring, otherwise we could just track hours. We will be tracking hours each week, etc… but I like how this system will account for the differences in intensity, plus we get to track it across all 3 sports, not just power on the bike or pace on the run.

One other data chart that we’ve been tracking:

I had an athlete that put together her own spreadsheet to track her RPE score, aerobic points and what we are calling intensity factor (which isn’t the same as IF for WKO+ which is NP/FTP).  One of the charts that she set up was to a plot of the intensity factor to workout duration.  By plotting that chart we can monitor the ratio on a week-to-week basis.

Feedback?

I would love to hear what others have to say about this concept.  We’ve just started using it several weeks ago, so until we get more data I’m not going to make any conclusions.  I am sure that those triathletes and/or runners that are used to monitoring their hard data from high tech devices with balk at the idea of using RPE.  But I’m not worried about that, I’ve come to peace with using a subjective data point like RPE.  In fact, I think that it can incorporate variables that impact training that a power meter can’t - such as psychological variables (fatigue) and health implications (early stages of sickness and stress).

It is now a week after the Flying Pig Marathon and two weeks after the Country Music Marathon (podcast here) and I thought I would sit down and write some lessons I learned by taking on this challenge and how they could be used in future marathon running programs.

The Back Story:

To keep it as short as possible; Nikki didn’t get signed up for the Derby Festival Half Marathon before it closed. She decided to go to do the Country Music Half Marathon, I chose to go with her and also decided that trying to do the full marathon was a good idea. It seemed like a fun idea because we had a friend running the full marathon and I thought it would be enjoyable to run it with her.

Even before I started the Country Music Marathon, I thought about the idea of possibly doing the Flying Pig Marathon the following week. Why? I am not completely sure, but I have known local runners that have done it before and it intrigued me.

So here’s the reality: I was under-trained for a single marathon (i.e. no traditional marathon training, just regular, daily run or bike), let alone being prepared to run two.

My mindset leading into the runs:

The one thing that I was absolutely confident I had to do to survive this experiment was have a solid and healthy strategy even before I ran the marathons. These strategies included some of the following ideas -

a. Run with Nikki and Jill at Country Music and have fun - But, make sure that effort remained as low as possible and if I started to develop too many aches / pains (i.e. notice my hip and hamstring problem come back) back off completely and finish run by myself.

b. Walk! Walk every aid station at both marathons.

c. Be aware of heart rates. The normal average heart rate I see for a marathon is around 178bpm to 180bpm. Because I had done zero speed work or even tempo runs, I knew that if I ever saw heart rates that high, I might be entering a dangerous zone. You can read the Flying Pig Stats to see the specifics, but I had planned on keeping it around 160bpm during the first half and allow the natural cardiac drift to occur during the second half of that run.

d. Recovery. Making the turnaround to run another race in 8 days I knew that I would have to do all I could to help myself recover. This meant as perfect nutrition as possible, extra sleep, stretching and massage if I could get it scheduled.

What happened after the Country Music Marathon:

You can read the race report to see what happened during the marathon, but what happened after the marathon was where I see some of those important lessons occurring.

1. Nutrition sucked! All week long after the marathon I felt myself craving sugar. One of the big hurdles that I have been trying to clear this year has been getting away from my soda habit. It has actually been going really well, which I have attributed to training less hours a week and not putting the pressure on myself to always be at a fitness peak. By taking some stress away from my physical training, it has allowed me to emotionally and energetically clear that soda habit of late (I even dropped 5 pounds in a couple weeks prior to the marathon).

That all went downhill after the CMM. I felt tired quite a bit, which lead to me seeking caffeine and sugar.. i.e. Mountain Dew. The ice cream cravings were pretty big too.

2. Yoga helped. Nikki and I went to our regular yoga class the day after the marathon, which helped my hips. Ironically, I felt more soreness after the yoga than the marathon. But I didn’t develop the normal post marathon shuffles that happen the few days post marathon.

What happened after the Flying Pig Marathon:

1. You can take the nutrition lesson that I learned after the Country Music Marathon and multiply it by 10. Yikes. I seemed to be in a fatigue pit that no amount of Mountain Dew, coffee or ice cream could solve. The scary part for me is that I gained 4 of the 5 pounds back, which shows the really poor cycle that can be created when a runner or triathlete gets into an overtraining - to - crash cycle. (Yes, this experiment put me into an overtrained state).

2. I couldn’t get enough sleep or rest. Lisa wrote a post about sleep that came at the right moment. The issue for me is that my 6am appointments are not so much concerned about me sleeping in (although if they can, they will change at times). And I have to admit, this week was very difficult. I tried to take a nap during the week, but that is difficult because my body normally doesn’t like to nap. I did crash for 1.5 hours on Monday!

3. My workouts after the Country Music Marathon were terrible! In fact, I had a zero quality workouts during the week. I was able to ride my bike a few times, but mainly I was out there spinning the pedals.

How does all of this apply to a typical marathon program:

Lesson #1: Don’t overreach with the long run. I realize at first thought the long run doesn’t equal the marathon, but for some - a 20 mile run in the training program could take a long time. I personally believe that being aware of the time on your feet is more important than the distance you run during the long run. (My marathon times were 3:47 and 3:20. Durations that I have seen people used to accomplish their 20 mile workouts.)

Why? Because if a person overreaches for the long run, it can often leave the runner in an overtrained state that they have to recover from all week long. Leaving the weekly workouts nearly ineffective - especially if you want to include regular tempo or interval runs, that would normally be associated with an experienced or advanced program.

I talk a lot about marathon programs addressing this issue in my podcast: Double Long Strategy

Lesson #2: When you are training, pay attention to your emotional responses to your nutrition and food choices. If you find yourself craving foods that you don’t normally crave, it could be one of the first signs that you are becoming over-trained. Some of the foods that might be included here are: sodas, bagels, breads, snack foods, ice cream, etc. - basically, foods that are high in sugars or low quality carbohydrates.

I rarely found myself wanting vegetables and even some fruits didn’t meet the needs I was feeling. The emotional response to these foods was surprising also. Not only did I find myself craving them, but after I would eat them I would feel a little more happy and energetic. That lasted an hour max and I would be fatigued and moody again. (Likely an glucose and insulin cycle of peaking and crashing?)

Lesson #3: When you decide to take on high(er) amounts of training, make sure you also build in the necessary recovery aids also:

3a - Massage. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a massage during the week between the CMM and the Flying Pig. But I was able to get in the week after the Flying Pig. It works miracles sometimes on my hips. This is a practice that I used all of 2007. A regular massage as a way to assist my training and recovery. I have become a huge believer in the benefits because when I stop going (as in the beginning of 2008), something creeps up on me.

3b - Yoga. I can say the same thing for yoga that I just said for massage. Combining the two practices makes all the difference in my continued injury prevention when the training ramps up.

3c - Rest and Sleep. As I mentioned, Lisa wrote a post about this recently. I think that as endurance athletes, we are typically self-motivated people. Often this comes with a side of compulsiveness. These personality traits are also the type of individuals that can often see rest as laziness. Sleep is wasted time that we can be productive.

Recently I was reading the Runner’s World article that highlighted the women running the Olympic Trials. They seemed to do it all: work, be a mom, household management and run everyday to train for the Olympic Trials. It was impressive and I wondered how they did it. When did they sleep.

I also read those articles asking myself if I could do it? Interestingly enough, if you read the article interviewing Deena Kastor, she says this:

“RW: Besides doing the mileage, what’s most important to your preparation?

DK: Recovery, definitely. Sleep is huge for me: I take a one-to two-hour nap daily and get eight to 10 hours nightly. When I’m awake and training, I expect so much from my body, so I really need to let it rest as deeply as it works.”

This isn’t the only example I have found discussing how high level athletes are also high level sleepers. It deserves an entire article itself.

Lesson #4: Race Strategy means everything on Race Day. This is the one lesson that I really wanted to point out. Up to race day, your training plan, recovery, rest, nutrition is what you should be primarily concerned about - But come race day none-of-that-matters if you are not willing to follow a sensible race strategy.

I’ve seen it done many times, athletes train hard and appropriately, but get to the start line on race day and throw out all the common sense lessons they learned during their training. I have done it numerous times in my own racing career. But after 9 years of training for endurance events, I feel like I’m finally getting a handle on how to manage the physical side of racing along with the emotional, mental and spiritual side of racing.

In marathons it can be incredibly hard. You’ve trained for 20 weeks (or what the program dictated) and get to race day in hopefully the best shape of your life. Combine this scenario: Best shape of life, nerves about the race, motivation to do your best and 1000’s of others around you facing the same adrenal unleashing. Without a thought out race strategy to manage those variables, race day can become a much longer day than necessary.

If I was honest with myself, I think that testing race strategies for a marathon was one reason that I wanted to do this 2 marathons in 2 weekend challenge. Because I knew I was coming into races under-trained, there would be no room for error on race day.

Here are a couple posts discussing race day strategy implementation: Flying Pig Marathon Race Report (pay attention to walk/run topic), Ironman Wisconsin Race Report (pay attention to my bike analysis), and Einstein, Relativity and Triathlon Training - which discusses basing your race strategy on reality and not hopes or dreams.

Final Thoughts:

I hope that this challenge that I put myself through and by being my own lab rat will help you in your own marathon journey. These lessons were a great learning tool for myself and as I mentioned at the end of the Flying Pig Report, I learned a lot about why I love to take on this journey of endurance again.

Last Sunday (7/15/07) was my first race simulation ride (in 2007) as I prepare for Ironman Wisconsin. The ride was a workout that I took from Gordo’s bike workouts within his “Coaching Ironman Athlete’s” document. The specific’s of my workout were:

Lap 1 - 36.2 miles, 2:10:18, 125bpm ave, 159bpm max
Lap 2 - 36.2 miles, 2:03:58, 134bpm ave, 165bpm max
Lap 3 - 36.2 miles, 2:01:47, 135bpm ave, 169bpm max

Lap 1 description: made sure to ride what I thought felt “easy”, used my hr monitor to keep it in check too, tried to not let hr spike on climbs/hills. Nutrition: 3 egel’s, 1 bottle of xtra strength gatorade (1 bottle = 200kcals), 2 salt tabs, 2 bottles of h2o.

Lap 2 description: rode a little harder but never felt like I was pushing it, as the Gordo workout says, I tried to ride at Ironman effort/pace, let myself ride a little bit harder on the hills. Nutrition: 4 egel’s, 1 bottle of xtra strength gatorade, 2 salt tabs (I use salt stick), 2 bottles of h2o.

In transition: ate a honey bun.

Lap 3 description: rode the loop backwards, primarily to see Nikki and check on her and b/c Jeff couldn’t ride entire loop again. Tried to push and “work” the hills. It didn’t feel easy, but as you can tell from my results, my body didn’t seem to react much differently… (more later on this, see: fatigue below). It was very difficult to eat any calories! I felt like burping or vomiting for about 20 miles of the 36. (I think a really good perspective on this was written by Jeff Shilt, MD titled, “Tips to help prevent Gastrointestinal Breakdown“)

What I Learned about Nutrition last year:

So I don’t repeat too many things, I’ll share two posts I wrote last August in my attempt to straighten out nutritional plans for the Runovia Triathlon:

1. Figuring out a racing nutritional plan #1 - 8/6/2006

2. Racing nutritional plan #2 - 8/15/2006

Here were the highlights of those lessons:

- eat more than you might think you need (in most cases)
- monitor fluid intake; h2o and sports drink
- drink early in ride
- eat early in ride
- comfort food is good when used wisely (re: Ale 8 and oatmeal cream pies)
- move back and forth between sports drink and food by the hour

My current thoughts based upon this past workout; I forgot about the concept of moving from gel’s one hour to sports drink the next. I will definately try that option again b/c eating seven egel’s in 4 hours was easy to do, but left me feeling like I was unable to eat more. The other issue I feel I had was using the extra strength (not too much extra) gatorade. I’ll just use the regular strength gatorade.

A major lesson for me on this ride was that the extra spikes in intensity / heart rate changed my ability to digest the calories I was taking in. - (really go read the post by Jeff Shilt, MD)

A couple changes that I have made are changing from oatmeal cream pies to honey buns. The pies seemed too sweat and actually became hard to eat, while the honey buns go down really quick and are packed with calories… (the jumbo’s are over 500kcals and they take about 20 seconds to get down!). The second change is using gel flasks. It seems a whole lot easier to manage than using so many packets.

Fatigue.

So this race simulation ride came at the end of my biggest (duration wise, not counting Brevets) week of training this year. I could definately feel it in my legs and noticed it in my heart rates. The highest my heart rate climbed to was 169bpm on the third lap. This was while I was pushing as hard as I felt possible at a couple points, once during a climb and once at the end trying to fly home and go under 2 hours.

In a normal rested state, my heart rates will easily reach the upper 180’s and stay in the 160’s for several hours. (Running they’ll stay in the 170’s for hours.) An example of this was during our 300km Brevet from Atlanta back in May, when we hit a climb in Alabama my heart rate got up to 186bpm and stayed above 180bpm for a good 20 minutes. All of this shows me that there is probably a level of fatigue setting in. (Other signs show this too.)

So yesterday (7/17/07) and today I’m taking it easy, trying to put down a little of that fatigue and come back to have a big training cycle Wednesday through Sunday. While the extra day (today) of less training was unexpected, I hope the rebound will be quicker and I won’t end up overtrained.