Thanks Endurance Corner for putting a name to what seems like most of my Bike workouts at this time of year. WHY-EVEN-BOTHER (WEB) Workouts!
14 month ago I did IM Western Oz and did a decent time. OK swim, good bike, and as good as I could hope for injured run. Back then my swim training had gone well (it never seems to translate to open water as I’m more Popov than Swallow – yeah get me and those comparisons!) and my bike FTP was in the stratosphere. I won’t say how high for fear of being accused of bullshitting. My running, well lets say I put a hell of lot of time into the stepper. So much that I could have got a job as a Sherpa on an Everest expedition no sweat (except for the boredom).
Now I'm 5 months out from one of my AAA races, my swimming is going very well and is not that far off previous PBs. My running, well I am running so that’s a bonus. 5x a week at around 3.5hrs a week average so if nothing goes too wrong (I wish I’d not said that) I must be looking at substantial gains, surely?
But what about the bike? This is where the WEB workouts come in. I feel like its not improving (on 5-7hrs aweek) and anything near FTP feels like hell after 15-20mins and my heart rate is still really low which indicates a complete lack of bike legs. Now I know you can’t chase multiple rabbit/hares, or whatever the analogy is, and running is my emphasis at the moment but it still hurts to be so far away from my peak and not be more than chipping pebbles away on my way towards it. They all seem to be WEB workouts.
That was until last night when I ventured in to my new ‘Turbo Dungeon’ to unpack moving boxes, and do a workout - pictures to come soon ‘Turbo’ - and turned over my White Board. I have one for workouts so I don’t lose track of sets/reps/times etc and yes I know it’s sad. The other side of my board had some old training weeks on it. Weeks 7, 8 and 9 from my old 20 week programme leading in to IM Western Oz to be exact and behold I am showing the same wattages now that I was then and I am still more that 20 weeks away from Roth.
So now I will persist with my WEB workouts and resist the almost overwhelming urge to hit the VO2 max and Tabata intervals, in the knowledge that if I did it back then, when I give my training programme more bike emphasis later in the Spring I can do it again but this time backed up with a better swim and run, and a more solid bike foundation to may be edge beyond it.
The moral of the story is to not let winter biking get to you. There is still plenty of time for the bike for a triathlete.
Today's trg: Bike - 2x 20min @ 95% FTP. RI 5min.
Kia Kaha
Neilly G
That's why training diaries are useful tools. I'm not sure I like the 'Why Even Bother' title as that suggests you shouldn't do them, when clearly they have a place at this time of year (and I would argue that they have a place all year round).
ReplyDeleteI have my fingers crossed for you, mate!
I'm not sure if you read it how I meant it to be read? It's not meant to be taken too seriously. 'W-E-B' is that exasperated cry when you're doing your early season sessions and they're not improving as you'd like them too. I'm sure you've said something similar at some point in one of the sports, everyone who is competitive has at some point. It's all going to plan. Just wish it was Macca's plan. :-) Thanks for the good vibes though.
ReplyDeleteI think I'd rename them to something like Trust The Process sessions (TTP) I know you lot love your TLAs :-)
ReplyDeleteMy prediction, you are going to fly at Roth provided you TTP and allow sufficient recovery and include the 'new person in your life' as a stressor factor when programming sessions!
Neill, you'll be flying come Roth, and seeing as it's a short, fast course you're sure of a big PB! ;-)
ReplyDeleteCheers for that Frank. Hopefully at least 30km short. Ha, ha.
ReplyDeleteKelda,
I like TTP after I've added the session to my diary having already shouted WTF and WEB. Lol.
Sorry, just re-read it. I get the moral at the end now. :-)
ReplyDeletePerhaps the Hashers should stop shouting 'On, on, on...' and start shouting 'WEB, WEB, WEB ...' :-)
I know I'll regret asking but 'Hashers'?
ReplyDeleteHashing - it's a sort of running club where someone lays a route and the others follow it chanting 'On, on, on ...'. All a bit daft if you ask me.
ReplyDelete