24 hours & Heart Rate Variability

24 hours...of training...in a week...madness.  (well 24:44 if we want to be exact..and us triathletes are nothing if not exact with training data & numbers :p)

Stats for the week:

Swim: 13,730yds

Bike: 254 miles (408 km...damn I should post everything in km looks more impressive)

Run: 28 miles (45km)

(Strength training and foam rolling in there but not included in time)

Last year was insanity fitting in training with starting a freelance Personal Training business trying to get that up and running spending hours at a gym trying to convince people who didn't know they wanted a Personal trainer that they needed one, and more specifically me.  It was a challenge to say the least, if I didn't sell my services I didn't get paid and I had zero experience.  Somehow my background in Project Management didn't seem to apply to this new vocation :p  It ended up working better than I could have thought but that made training a little more challenging trying to balance work, being on my feet all day, and training.  Last year I spent between 13-17 hours a week training with the exception of 2 peak weeks that were closer to 20.

Well this year is a little different.  One I have a full triathlon season under my belt, and found out that I'm pretty durable, two I have a whole lot more time to train.  I'm not working at the moment, and would go insane if I had nothing to do so I'm training (well nothing to do and the fact that I absolutely love the training and am pretty obsessed with triathlon may play a small part) :p  Luckily I have my coach Lucho to keep me in line or else left alone with all of this time on my hands I'm pretty sure I would end up an overtrained mess pretty quickly.  Its funny he has a way of pushing me beyond intensities I would think I could hold, and holding me back from over doing it at the same time.

Now not every week is going to be 24 hours of training (and this wasn't a planned 24 hours), but I am hoping to do more than I have in the past.  Goal number one though is to be able to do it while staying healthy and not hitting that overtraining minefield.  I'm doing a couple things to make sure I stay healthy during this, one of which is Heart Rate Variability.  I first heard about this from Tawnee Prazak on Endurance Planet (Pretty much got most of what I know about triathlon/nutrition from that podcast). I use the SweatBeat app, which is pretty cool, its an app on your phone and it connects to a bluetooth Heart Rate monitor.  Luckily I already had the monitor from using the MaccaX app training sessions, I have the Viiva 4iiii.

Side note Endurance Planet has kick ass gear now!

To get started they recommend you calibrate it after a few rest days to get a baseline, it worked out well I decided to start playing with it near the end of my off season when I hadn't run in a month, so I was able to set a baseline really rested.  What the test entails is putting on the HR strap when you wake up, lying still and just relaxed breathing.  Pretty easy, and painless...in stark contrast to everything else we do in this sport (like foam rolling..ouch).

From SweetBeats HRV guide, why HRV is important to performance sports:

"In competitive sports, improved performance is often achieved by alternating periods of intensive 
training with periods of relative rest. This is because after the body has been exposed to a stressful 
situation, providing that adequate recovery has taken place, it will adapt and become stronger. The 
alternating periods of intensive training and rest help an athlete avoid physical fatigue caused by over 
training. 

To better understand this, consider the function of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS has 
two branches, the sympathetic and parasympathetic. The sympathetic branch increases heart rate, 
blood pressure, cardiac output and a diversion of blood flow to the muscles. The parasympathetic 
branch decreases heart rate, lowers blood pressure and generally creates an environment for the body 
to repair itself. Not surprising the parasympathetic branch is very active during restful sleep. 
Heart Rate Variability, or HRV, is in essence a view into the ANS. By measuring your HRV, you can detect 
when the sympathetic branch is in overdrive and inhibiting the recovery and repair capabilities of the 
parasympathetic branch. Overtraining can create a sustained imbalance between the two branches of 
the ANS and can lead to a multitude of unwanted side effects."

Basically when your HRV is high, you are ready to train and kick ass, when its low it may be time for a recovery day.

I was tracking my HRV pretty sporadically, I think there is definitely something to it, but am still hesitant to trust an app to tell me how I'm feeling.  I did start using it more as training has started to pick up and see how it relates to how I feel and am pretty impressed with how accurate it is.  If nothing else it's a great way to prove to my coach I'm feeling as awesome as I say I am...even after tough training sessions :p

Some of the numbers I've seen: There was a week before my last duathlon that was the only time I've felt tired so far this year and it showed HRV in the high 70's that week.  After last weeks 100 mile ride and brick run it went down to 84.  After the 24 hour week it went into the high 80's but 2 days later came back up to mid 90's.  I know recovery is my strength and I bounce back quickly, so its been interesting to see that reflected in the data.

My latest, and the trend.

The other thing I've discovered...shots of tequila in Austin, TX are bad for my HRV.  Shocking I know.  Now I only seem to drink around triathletes, and most of these posts are about triathletes so you may get the idea I drink a lot...but I really don't, and a real night out really hits me hard!  We were in Austin for a wedding, and it was the day before my birthday.  So after wedding festivities we let loose on 6th street and there were a few shots consumed...The next morning Lucho had a long run on my schedule, lets just say that was not happening, out of curiosity I checked my HRV...55!!  It took 4 days to get it back into the 90's and I could feel the lingering effects to say the least.  So tequila is bad for training, lesson learned. (I still maintain that beer is the ultimate recovery drink post race for no scientific reason).

I'm still going to use listening to my body as the first indicator though, technology is very cool but after the last year of learning to listen to my body I know its going to tell me what I need.  Now that I'm not a stubborn mileage obsessed athlete I used to be :p

The 24 hour week.  It actually wasn't going to be that long, but I ended up doing a coffee type cruise on the Sunday that was so much fun just to enjoy being on the bike, chatting with like minded people and stop at a popular coffee spot to ogle the different bikes.  The schedule had a hard brick on it, and I was feeling good that afternoon so I decided to do a shortened version of the hard brick to get some of the intensity in.  It was definitely a bike volume focussed week, getting very familiar with Stiletto (my Shvi) and the new bike position.

Anyways thats my rambling for the day, loving training right now.  Its been alternating snow days, and sunburn days here in Colorado so I'm already starting to get some nice burn tan lines from getting outside anytime I can and soaking up the sunshine.  Just doing what I love.

Carpe Diem

Bike Fit Fun & What to expect

Somethings just not quite right...well as right as it can be sitting your ass on an itty bitty saddle for 100's of miles propelled by your own legs, trying to scrunch yourself into an aerodynamic position, typically ending in the same spot you started...

1st bike fit at the top, 2nd bike fit position below - lean mean and aggressive!

And yet I love it.  No wonder people think we are insane.

I messed with it. I had a bike fit done when I first bought Stiletto, and the plan was to get the initial fit done and then there is the option to come back afterwards to make adjustments after riding for a while to dial it in.  At least there should be with a good fitter fitterist fitologist (that just makes me think mixologist, and then I want a margarita).  The first fit was great on the front end, but the seat was a lot farther back than I was used to, since last year I was riding a bike that was too big and had to slam the seat forward.  That resulted on my calves having to take up a lot of the work, and by the time I got to running off the bike they had nothing left.

Unfortunately my truck died, I know shocking that an '87 Toyota pick up, with a bench bolted in the bed, that I got for like $800 died, I mean it should have been the picture of reliability :p  So with the shop being 50 miles away in Boulder and winter outside couldn't get back up there.

So I fiddled.  I tweaked.  Move this thingymagiggy (technical term), and my knee aches, move this whatchamacalit and my quads feel like bricks, don't even get me started on what happened when I adjusted the angle of the doodad.

I got it to a place where it felt ok on the trainer, but when I finally got to venture outside it just didn't feel right and running off the bike felt blah.  So I finally decided it was time to go back to the fitologist and get dialed in.  I had great experience with a Retul fit in Scotland and found a shop in Boulder - Colorado Multisport being fit by Ryan Ignatz - that used the same system so I went back to them.  (not sponsored by them or anything just a great experience)

Here is the bizarre part about living here, you can't spit without hitting a professional athlete.  I found out on a ride the next day my bike fitter is a pretty bad ass Pro Xterra Triathlete.  No wonder he seemed to know a little about this sport.

So what to expect from a bike fit:

First is the questionnaire.  Why are you here, what's wrong, your goals and the latest triathlon gossip.

After the gossip they make you do some calisthenics, see if you can touch your toes (I can't), hip flexibility tests, and some strength tests like single leg squats (yay didn't fall over).

Following your calisthenics session, they will have you hop on the bike and start pedalling.  If pedalling has ever felt natural or comfortable, wait until you have someone watching each stroke.  Suddenly you wonder what you are doing, thinking should I be pedalling in a circle?  Or more like a box? Have I always wobbled my knees?

The fitologist will then stand looking very intensely at your bike, with a furrowed brow like they are figuring out the ultimate question to the answer of 42 (and if you got that you are a geek :p).

Once they have solved the questions of the universe they will proceed to move many whosits and whatsits by millimetres.  Occasionally asking you to jump back on and get into a comfortable position and pedal, hum and haw and then continue their adjustments.  If you find a fitologist that is great at multitasking the triathlon gossip and tips will continue through this process keeping you entertained.

And then THE question comes up.  How aggressive can we go.  I let him know what my goals were and since I'm looking to use my bike to get me on podiums we decided to play around and see how low can I go (no not doing the limbo...although that would be fun if the shop busted out with coconut bras, steel drums and a limbo bar) and still run well off the bike.  Last fit I had some homework to do on hip flexibility and strengthen my gluteus med so that this position could be achieved.  Ended up moving the front end down an inch (or 2.5cm) and moving my bars/pads/seat forward.

Bike fitters have a tough job of making you aggressive but comfortable enough that you will be able to put in the miles, and as A type people most of us triathletes just say go lower, go lower.  They have to evaluate what we will actually be able to ride based on body type, flexibility, experience, history.  I've had some push back in the past because, yea, I've owned a bike less than 2 years and don't have much experience, but the bike has ended up being my strength and I'm pretty sure the years riding a super sport motorcycle should count for experience :p  Luckily Ryan took it all in and evaluated strength/flexibility and said, yea we can go aggressive.

Ok adjustments made, got a good workout in jumping on and off the bike and spent some quality time drooling over equipment in the shop I want.  Time to hop on to do the last test to see how the position feels.

Now I don't want to be dramatic or anything but when I started pedalling and settled into the new position it felt like magic, like I could go out and give Rinny a run for her money ;) (Its possible...if I didn't have to swim or run...and had a big head start on the bike).

Next up the pedalling analysis.  "You're doing it wrong" Ok he didn't really say that in so many words but he had some ways to improve my running off the bike and suggested some of the issues I was having wasn't the bike.  Now you think how many ways can you adjust moving your foot around in a circle when its fixed to the pedal??  A lot apparently, I have a tendency to point my toe down and give up the power house that is my gluteus (never thought of my ass as a power house), putting more stress on smaller muscles that fatigue quicker.  So homework after this visit, use my gluteus.  I also got a laundry list of things to think about on the bike and pay attention to, and what requires another visit if it feels off.

New position I've never ridden in and it feels more comfortable than the position I've been riding for months, I think this visit was a success.  BUT the real test comes when I get outside and put some power to the pedals and then see how the legs feel off the bike.

What better way to test than a long ride and hard brick, stay tuned for the results!

Carpe Diem

Afraid of my Bicycle

This is inspired by an awesome someone in my online tri club.

Just like riding a bicycle...you hear that a lot.  Supposed to mean its easy, you never forget how to do it.  I disagree.  Riding a bicycle can be terrifying, and getting on one for the first time in over 10 years does not feel familiar and easy!  Especially when you mix an uncoordinated wanna be triathlete with clip in pedals and tri bars.

In triathlon, especially non-drafting the bike is where you are going to be spending most of your time  - well for most people...unless you have an injury or completely blow up on the run.

So you better be pretty comfy on that saddle (which can be a whole other blog post on saddle comfort).  Easier said than done, the last year my bike has become a strength of mine, I posted the fastest female bike split in my last 70.3, but its pretty crazy to think about where I started 15 months ago.

*Queue cheezy back in time music*

Ok I want to be a triathlete, and as much fun as the recumbant bike is at the gym I cant quite race on it.  So time to bike shop, bikes are like 200-300 bucks right?  (Insert incredulous look from husband who used to race mountain bikes) "Umm they are a bit more than that".

Start looking at used ones on ebay YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME?!?!  These things with no horse power cost nearly as much as the motorcycle I was racing!! For what?  Some metal and cables, little bit of rubber?

Luckily Blair knew a lot more about bikes than I did (paint up rubber down was about the extent of my knowledge).  One thing that worked out well was Blair always wanted a Specialized bike when he was racing, so he started looking at them for triathlon bikes for me, I'm so happy he did because now that I know more about bikes and fit Specialized was the right brand and bike for me.

First question, road bike or tri bike?  There is a lot of debate over this. Go with the road bike you can ride in groups, stability, and if you dont like triathlon you can still use it in social settings, if you do you can add tri bars.  Tri bike - more unstable, better aero dynamics, better hip angle for running off the bike, pretty sport specific and you will rarely find bike groups that will let a tri bike tag along.

At the end of the day, I wanted to race triathlon, not bikes.  In my usual fashion leaped all in and went with a tri bike.

So after an exhaustive ebay search (too cheap to buy new) found a deal on a Specialized Transition Elite, an aluminum job done up in my favorite colour.  Entry level tri bike, that was a bit too big but hell I wont be fast enough for the bike to matter that much I'm just getting started.

A big box shows up on the doorstep, a flury of screws and allan wrenches and a box of bits turns into a sharp looking triathlon bike...without pedals...what do you mean it doesn't come with pedals?!? From my limited bike experience pedals are kind of essential!  Then I learn about clip in pedals (that are called clipless...I swear this is just to mess with newbies).

Ok we have pedals now we are in business, bike is ready to ride.

A week later...yup bike is all ready...just sitting there...its too windy to ride...those clipless pedals are scary...(insert more excuses)...

Another week passes...it sure looks good in the living room...I cant get the hang of unclipping standing still how am I going to do it on the road?  I'm totally going to fall on my ass.

It took just over 2 weeks for me to take my bike outside, I had terrifying images of me trying desperately to get my feet out of those pedals while doing a slow motion fall (which happened eventually anyways), being blown off the road with the wind, and generally looking like an idiot.  Not a great start to my triathlon ambitions I was too much of a scaredy cat to get on the road.

(First ride notice lack of bike shorts...jersey...or bike shoes)

I did get some progress in the triathlon ambitions during that time though, I went to the pool once and felt like I was going to drown doing one length of 25 meters.  I've never had swim lessons and had no idea what I was doing.  I spent 10 minutes getting the nerve to swim the 25 meters back, was nearly hyperventilating and got out of the pool.  Yea this is going well.

Ok, I need to get outside on this damned bike.  First ride was terrifying, I was wobbling all over the parking lot, I don't remember riding a bike being this hard?!  Panicking as I tried to unclip my clipless (WTF) pedals.  Don't even get me started on turning around.  But I was determined.

It took another ride just in the parking lot trying to stay upright before I ventured on the road.  Now if it had been here in Scotland with itty bitty roads it may never have happened, but I was in Texas with huge roads and big shoulders so I finally got out there.

I was wobbly, but starting to get the hang of it after a few rides...then I tried the aero bars...as soon as I dropped down my bike took on a life of its own swerving side to side.  Adrenaline and heart pumping went back up, ok that didn't go well.  Thinking how the hell will I be able to race this thing when I feel like its going to throw me off when I go down into aero position.

I can handle a motorcycle with a 600cc engine on a race track knee dragging on the ground in the corners like its the most natural thing in the world...and a bicycle is getting the better of me.

Well it just took practise.  Lots of time just doing 10-20 minute rides trying to stay calm and in control of the bike, and even more time in parking lots working on bike handling.  I started to get more comfortable, relaxed, started to focus on what my legs were doing instead of a panicked death grip on the handle bars.  Dealing with the insane cross and head winds in Texas forced me to get used to tough conditions and stay relaxed.

Once I felt good on the road, my bike became my favourite toy and a strength.  That fear didn't completely go away, for the first 5 or so months I was in Scotland I didn't get off my trainer because I was scared again of the little roads here with no shoulder.  Once again just had to get out there, now I feel good on them (but still cautious).

I forgot how difficult the bike felt in the beginning, how scared I was, 15 months seems like a lifetime ago.  Now the bike feels like the most natural thing in the world.  I love the way my legs feel applying power to the pedals, slipping through the wind in aero position.

I've been looking back on old workouts and races to motivate me for Ironman, and I looked at the power output on the sprint Duathlons I did earlier in the year.  Well the power I put out in those short races feeling like I was going hard is the same power I plan on putting out for Ironman over 8x further than the sprint.  Its been a year of getting to know my bicycle very intimately, and I cant wait to see what I can do at Ironman - 6 days.

Carpe Diem

Feeling Bullet Proof

I have a two month period with no races, so I've been looking back at past ones.  Below is a race report from my first (and only so far) sprint triathlon.

As for things currently, I am looking forward to racing the Scottish Duathlon Championships in a few weeks.  I've been feeling so good in training, which I know I keep saying but I just seem to absorb the work and keep on going.  I had a run on Sunday that I wasn't sure how it would go, 1:45 of warm up and then intervals of 1-2 min sub 7 with equal rest just slowing down slightly.  I was shocked at how great it felt, I didn't have to push for most of it, until the 1 min intervals when I knew I was going to make it to the end so started to pick it up.  It was unreal, I still cant get used to seeing the paces I am after doing a solid base period.  With the weight training and base period I just feel like my body has become bullet proof, something like this would have had me shuffling by the end just hanging on, and now my form felt strong the whole way through.  When it got hard, I just tightened up form and relaxed into the discomfort, felt like I was practically being pulled forward.  I'm paying such close attention to how my body feels because making it to Ironman injury free is goal number one, but there wasnt an ache or sign of breakdown.

I feel like I'm starting to sound like a broken record saying how good I feel when everything I read is talking about how people are beat down, hurt and exhausted from training.  All of these articles about trying to get motivation to go out and do the next workout, and I'm still craving each one, and cant wait to get out there and have fun training.  I think its a combination of a solid plan, building up to be able to hold the work, the strength training to have the foundation, and the mindset of just having fun that has me seeing such gains in my running and biking and still feeling fantastic and full of energy.

I'm not the only one seeing it, I had a massage today after a few weeks without one and it was the easiest massage I've had in a while. My muscles just melted, everything loosened up right away. So I'll keep on cruising along, preparing for Ironman Kalmar.

Anyways after all my blabbering on what was just supposed to be a post about my first sprint, heres the race report from last year:

First Sprint Triathlon RR! Would have been faster…but had a coughing fit in transition :s

7/31/2012 9:40 AM CDT

Yay I survived my first sprint triathlon, and second one ever. I was worried about this one, after doing Ironman 70.3 last month my legs just did not want to go fast :s They were in endurance mode, and with a 500m swim, 22k bike and 5k run I needed to pour on the speed!! 

 

Now this was a local race, and I’ve been trying to break into the triathlon scene around here, so I wanted to bring it with a good performance. My legs had started picking up speed the last week before I was to taper a bit (just 5 days) to absorb all of the training and I was feeling sooo pumped just to get out there and push! 

 

I know there has been a lot of talk about 5k’s how some people say its “only” a 5k, or they “graduated” from that distance to longer, and the sprint tri is the equivalent. Well I don’t know that I have ever entered the pain cave like I do in 5k’s in any other distance I’ve done so far, the pain of going fast is so different than the endurance work, and I love it! So this was the 5k equivalent (even ending with a 5k run) and I have a reputation of winning 1^st female in 5k’s, or at least AG (not as impressive as it sounds, small running community) so I had a little to prove out there :p

 

Unfortunately things don’t always go to plan…day before the race wake up with a sore throat and swollen glands :’( With running, and triathlon, so much of it is mental, I knew I could still race with how I was feeling but I was feeling deflated and upset that all the hard work I put in wouldn’t be reflected because my body decided to rebel…even though I had been tapering and not beating it up like usual! This is the last tri I had on the schedule, and I really wanted to try this distance, so I decided if I wasn’t feeling incredibly worse the next morning I would race, if for nothing else but the experience.

 

RACE MORNING:

 

Ugh…my body was definitely still fighting this bug, usually my HR when I wake up on a race morning is around 43-55…it was at 90!!!  I pumped up my tires and it shot up to 160, and I was breathing heavy…this is going to be a tough race…

 

Showed up to the race, the great thing about a local race is the swim was in the pool I train in, and the run on a course that my run club meets at. It’s so nice to have a familiar course J Got my transition set up, and it was nice to see a few members of my running club out there, there are just two triathlons within 5 hours of here and they are on the same weekend, so the runners start tri training, it was so nice to see familiar faces….even though I got some comments on how I should probably just go back to bed :s

 

Swim start, my goal for the swim was just not to get passed by a bunch of people, it was so nice that this was a wave start with people starting every 30 seconds according to estimated finishing time. Sooo much more of a fan of starting by myself than the terrifying traumatizing experience of starting with hundreds of other swimmers in open water and being dunked and swam over…I think I need more time to forget the experience before I try another Ironman event (but a full WILL be happening next year). Finished the swim only being passed by one person, and just happy to be out of the pool, onto the bike!

 

1^st transition went pretty well, got out on the bike, and again started seeing HR and it was 30 bpm higher than its ever been on the bike…even though my legs weren’t feeling too taxed. Other than that bike went well, never really felt the burn in my legs like I had in training, my HR was just too high even though I wasn’t putting out much effort. Transition 2 was pretty slow for a spring at 1:50…a coughing fit while trying to tie my shoes slowed me down…which doesn’t seem like much but would have moved me up 3 spots! The 5k was the same as the bike never reached the burn that I usually feel in the 5k run, HR was high and lungs burned from the coughing, which reduced me to half marathon pace…

 

Overall though finished in 1:14:19, which I am ecstatic about considering how I felt!!! It was enough to win my 1^st in AG and 3^rd female overall. I really like this distance, and cant wait to do another one. However now my focus is running for a while as I prepare for my first marathon. Last time I tried this I got a pelvic stress fracture, so name of the game is stay injury free!!

Runners who tri!!  Running club cleaned up in the local tri...I'm the one in the middle :)