CHALLENGE ROTH TRAINING - 2023

Week beginning Sunday, February 12, 2023

19 weeks out from race day.

WEEKLY GOAL

Ride the momentum that last week finished with.

SUMMARY

Total Time: 11.25 Hours

I feel like I was CONSISTENTLY COUGHING**

I feel good about getting every workout complete but there hasn't been much improvement with the nagging cough.

Apart from the bike commute to the pool in Colwood, all my riding was on the trainer this week; none using ERG-mode and I am starting to feel comfortable with where the landmarks are on the Challenge Roth "Radstrecke" (bike course).

By the end of the week, 11 hours of training felt closer to 13.

SUNDAY FEB 12 ☁️

Sleep 3 | Fatigue 3 | Stress 2 | Soreness 3
^{Rate on an scale 1-7   1=best 7=worst   +5 is a warning}

PLANNED WORKOUT

Dead bugs, Breathing, Glute Bridges.
1st: Run 30 minutes. EASY effort.
2nd: Ride 60 minutes easy. Any bike you like. Inside or outside. Just keep it easy.

Mobility 30 minutes

NOTES

Time: 100 Mins  Run: 6.5 km  Rouvy: 27 km

Laced up my shoes before the Super Bowl for a short run mostly on dirt. I went about 10 minutes longer as the effort was easy and I was feeling good.

Looking at the activity afterwards, my heart-rate measured, from the strap, is still maybe 10bpm higher than what I'd considered square with the effort. When is normal coming back?

Mobility work during the football game.

I was a bit disappointed that a referee felt the need to get involved in the final stage of the game; whatever, time to get on the trainer.

I discovered more of the Challenge Roth course from Zell, through Hilpostein/Solar, passed the swim/bike transition, finishing at the top of the big hill past Eckersmühlen. I pedalled easy as possible with The Beastie Boys playing in the background. 61 minutes on the trainer with a normalized power of 139W and an average heart-rate of 112bpm (seems right).

MONDAY FEB 13 🌦

Sleep 4 | Fatigue 4 | Stress 3 | Soreness 4
^{Rate on an scale 1-7   1=best 7=worst   +5 is a warning}

PLANNED WORKOUT

Swim 2300: 200 easy swim, 100 swim w/ buoy, 2x 50 steady kick. 8x 50 Descend 1-4, 5-8 1: Easy, 2: steady, 3:½IM effort, 4: 1500 effort. R :15 after each. 4 rounds (50 as 25 FAST/25 cruise, 50 Steady. R :15 after each) 3x 300 aerobic/steady/smooth w/ focus on relaxed breathing. R 1:00 after each. 4x 50 easy to cool down.

NOTES

Total Time: 110 Minutes   Swim: 2300m

Woke up to a coughing fit at 0412.

After work, I rode back out to Colwood. Good, focused swim and I had a lane all to myself. I plugged the workout into my watch incorrectly (50m pool).

Caught in a hail storm for the commute home; that absolutely sucked.

TUESDAY FEB 14 💕

Sleep 3 | Fatigue 3 | Stress 3 | Soreness 4
^{Rate on an scale 1-7   1=best 7=worst   +5 is a warning}

PLANNED WORKOUT

Run 60 minutes. Easy effort. Flat to rolling terrain. Keep the effort easy.

Mobility 18 minutes

NOTES

Total Time: 65 Minutes   Run: 10.5 km

Better sleep last night. QL is a little stiff.
Still dealing with this cough. 😡

Run was completed as written, easy effort, on dirt with a couple trips up The Berm. Nice to just turn the brain off for an hour and just go.

WEDNESDAY FEB 15 🌤

Sleep 3 | Fatigue 4 | Stress 4 | Soreness 4
^{Rate on an scale 1-7   1=best 7=worst   +5 is a warning}

PLANNED WORKOUT

Trainer 1:40: Remember to hydrate and fuel! 10 minutes easy spinning to warm up. 8x :30 moderate standing, getting out of the saddle to loosen up, :45 seated/normal riding. 5 minutes easy spinning. 6x 2:00 in a big gear/low cadence/high torque...170-210 watt range, 3:00 easy/normal spinning after each. 4x7 minutes @ what feels like 1 gear easier than a 60 minute effort (aka: Find 60 minute effort..then drop it a gear easier and tick away) 3 minutes easy after each rep. 5 minutes easy spinning to cool down.

NOTES

Time: 100 Mins   Normalized Power: 137W

Another good sleep. QL is less stiff but still dealing with this cough. 😡

It took way more experimentation then I wanted to invest but I was able to ride this workout without ERG-mode engaged on the trainer.

THE TRICK

Pair the Tacx app on my iPad (or iPhone) first, and start a "Slope Workout" with a "level gradient". Next, start the workout on the Garmin Edge with the interval times (minus any power targets). Voila, no ERG-mode.

THE CAVEAT(S)

I typically build cues for the workout intervals for the Garmin Edge. I missed them tonight and I needed a reminder that 8x30sec was standing. The first four of the 2 minute efforts, I were ridden with the correct wattage but I self-selected 99 RPM. I remembered the low RPM requirement for the 5th and 6th repeats.

Also with a "0% grade", I am out of gears.
  → 52x11 @ 65RPM = ~200W

Maybe next time, I'll set up the slope in the Tacx app to 1%; pfaffing with my iPad while in the middle of a workout feels like a terrible idea.

I had 70g of a lemonade/maltodextrin mix in my bottle and it went down well.

INTERVAL POWER

One thing that my mistake with the 2 minute efforts revealed was the delta in heartrate vs cadence and what it feels like to transfer effort from my heart and lungs into my legs.

Rep	RPM	Avg HR	W/KG	Avg KPH
3	99	125	2.54	34.7
4	99	127	2.59	34.6
5	64	118	2.60	34.9
6	62	117	2.49	34.4

I would not rate this workout as my favourite; my interface with the saddle was aggravated tonight. It could have been the late start too.

THURSDAY FEB 16 ☁️

Sleep 3 | Fatigue 3 | Stress 3 | Soreness 3
^{Rate on an scale 1-7   1=best 7=worst   +5 is a warning}

PLANNED WORKOUT

Dead bugs, Breathing, Glute Bridges.
Swim 2500: 2 rounds (100 easy swim, 100 w/ buoy, 50 steady kick. Rest as needed) 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400 all aerobic w/ a strong final 25 on each rep. Making sure you were staying aerobic and comfortable for the first part of each rep. R :45 after each. 4x 50 super easy to cool down.

Run 30 minutes EASY

NOTES

Time: 100 Mins  Swim: 2500m  Run: 7.5 km

Restful sleep; still dealing with the cough.

I took the bus out to Colwood as Crystal Pool is still out of commission.

The whole swim was on point but with a 400m rep on the schedule...

New 400m SCM PR by 13 seconds. Previous time was set last June while swimming a 600m set. I must have been going good back then.

---

I jogged home expecting to be a bit fatigued but I found an easy rhythm early and let it carry me back to Tillicum and Burnside.

FRIDAY FEB 17 ☁️

Sleep 4 | Fatigue 3 | Stress 4 | Soreness 4
^{Rate on an scale 1-7   1=best 7=worst   +5 is a warning}

PLANNED WORKOUT

Dead bugs, Breathing, Glute Bridges.
Ride 75 minutes. Easy spinning. Inside or outside. Any bike you like. But saving the legs for the weekend. This is just an easy spin.

NOTES

Total Time: 83 Mins   Normalized Power: 132W

Cough, cough, and up way too early for a conference call. Left hip flexor is the niggle of the day; maybe a 3/10.

I took a late-afternoon nap.

Later in the evening, I loaded up the Roth Bike Course on Rouvy then pedaled the trainer from T1 to the base of the BIG HILL in Greding.

10% grades at roughly 13km and 17km then a long shallow descent (not unlike Okanagan Falls to Osoyoos) sums up the first part of the course.

SATURDAY FEB 18 🌧

Sleep 5 | Fatigue 4 | Stress 3 | Soreness 4
^{Rate on an scale 1-7   1=best 7=worst   +5 is a warning}

PLANNED WORKOUT

Ride 90 minutes. Ideally this is outside and fun. Effort should be easy to steady. Big day on Sunday. No need to make yourself exhausted from this ride.

Run 30 minutes EASY. Ideally this is off the bike but anytime will work.

Mobility 20 minutes

NOTES

Time: 117 Mins  Rouvy: 147W  Run: 5.9km

Not a good sleep last night and a headache as well. Addressed with extra water and a bigger breakfast; no Advil taken.

Time was not on my side for an outdoor ride (that's tomorrow). Jumped back on Rouvy to pedal the BIG HILL at Greding through to the base of Solar Hill in Hilpoltstein.

That hill is the largest single feature on the race course. The first part of the hill starts around 10% and eases to a consistant 6.5%. It reaches a bench where the race has placed an Aid Station.

So in theory, if I pedal at an effort appropriate for me, I should reach the Aid Station in about 7:30.

From there, the hill continues up with various pitches of 4% to 5% over the next 14 minutes.

In all, a little over 21 minutes in total for me before starting the sometimes twisty descent into Obermässing. For reference, Richter Pass was a 36 minute hill and the steeper part of Yellow Lake Pass was 200m in ~20 minutes. This hill in Greding is around 170m of gain.

From there I continued on through the simulated German countryside. To make things even more realistic, I stopped at the Bike Service Area in Offenbau and looked after a biological need.

I stopped just shy of Solar Hill  (80 mins ride time).

If I was listening to my body, I would gone down for another nap this afternoon. Instead, I laced up my Lone Peaks for a trip out to Panama Flats

That kept my workout consistency streak for the week intact.

Effort was easy, everthing in order.