One thing I love about coaching multisport athletes is the simple fact that each athlete is unique. Each athlete brings a different genetic makeup, goals/expectations, physical ability, strengths/weaknesses, etc. That being said, I find it essential to meet each athlete I am privileged to work with at where they are currently.
This brings me to my current scenario. I have 5 weeks to play with until I toe the line on the cold sandy beach in Panama City (including a two week taper).
One of the primary workouts that I plan on using will be a specific CompuTrainer (CT) ride that will peak at 3 hrs in duration followed by a 1 hr run. The focal point for the bike will be to target my goal watts and Lactate Balance Point (LBP) I have validated in my testing/training.
Currently, I hope to target a wattage range of 245 to 260 watts and an LBP upper limit of 160 bpm. Please take note of the word 'hope' in the last sentence. I will be zeroing in on these numbers pretty inently in the next 5 weeks (via LBP testing and potentially one last CP20) to determine their legitemacy.
It appears that my knee surgery was a tremendous success and I am ready to take on an IM without 3 tears to the meniscus (IML 2009 - no joke). Today proved to be very promosing as I mounted my 'battle wagon' (my Trek) and held the low end of the wattage range above and rolled at 15 bpm below my LBP.
Even happier to report that I was able to play in my Nikes at a respectable average pace of 6:38/mile for almost 9 miles. The knee is as close to 100% as I think it could be.
Here is the fun kicker for those who are still hanging w/ me. I am huge proponent of stride rate/frequency. Most lean toward the 90 strides per leg per minute. Others are now supporting 95 strides per leg per minute. So get this. By the end of this run I averaged 88 strides per minute. I am in process...like we all are. Hang with me.
I threw my Vibram Five Fingers on and lodged the Garmin Foot Pod into these 'slippers' (on the top of the foot). Bam! For the just over 1 mile run I rolled with a 92 stride rate (6:52 pace). The logic hear was to try these guys on for a very short period of time under somewhat fatigued conditions. I don't recommend this for all athletes, but per my heightened focus on corrective/dynamic strength this season I am game.
I was all smiles to see these numbers (peaked at a 97 stride rate...say what!?) and to force my body to increase stride rate when it had just finished a solid sub hour run.
Side note...I love the looks/responses you get when you are running in a 2XU race suit w/ Vibrams on. The neighborhood folk wouldn't even make eye contact let alone wave to this weirdo ;)
Lets keep the body guessing friends...lets do this!
Coach L
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