Sunday, Sunday

Earlier this week, I had my first attempt at determining my LTHR while running for an 80/20 triathlon training plan. Not only did I misunderstand the test structure (I ran for only 30 minutes, not 40), but I felt that I had quite a bit of effort left at the end of the test. You're supposed to finish it feeling totally spent, but the book also earns you not to start out too fast, saying that it's better to finish strong than to taper off. I stuck with a pace goal of 5:30-5:40/km and felt like I could have kept running at the end.

Friday was a day off, so I performed the Critical Velocity test for swimming (13:03 to swim 400 meters, then 6:55 to swim 200); this is obviously an area where there is a lot of room for improvement, but I expected that. I also did the test open water, with a fair bit of swimming against the current. Anyway, that left me with swimming speed zones of: 

3:39-4:05 (Zone 1)

3:22-3:39 (Zone 2)

3:12-3:22 (Zone X)

3:04-3:12 (Zone 3)

3:00-3:04 (Zone Y)

2:54-3:00 (Zone 4)

2:54 or faster (Zone 5)

These are all times per 100 meters. Since the two buoys I swim between are 200 meters apart, I'll need to find a way to compensate; perhaps counting the number of strokes between the two buoys (usually about 300, plus or minus ten percent depending on whether I'm swimming with or against the current). Anyway, I came home, went out to lunch with a friend (chorizo seitan tacos...meh, so-so), came home, and did my grocery shopping and laundry for the week. I then set up my new (to me) cycleops2 fluid trainer, and did the LTHR test for biking (126 BPM). That evening, there was a sort of impromptu barbecue, which was lovely.

So my heart rate zones for cycling are:

91-102 (Zone 1)

102-113 (Zone 2)

113-120 (Zone X)

120-126 (Zone 3)

126-129 (Zone Y)

129-132 (Zone 4)

>132 (Zone 5)

Saturday, after work, I re-performed the LTHR test for running. It resulted in me having a LTHR of 157 BPM and a pace of exactly 5 minutes/kilometer. So my heart zones and pace zones for running are:

113-127, 6:35-8:20 (Zone 1)

127-141, 5:45-6:35 (Zone 2)

141-149, 5:23-5:45 (Zone X)

149-157, 5:00-5:23 (Zone 3)

157-160, 4:54-5:00 (Zone Y)

160-165, 4:21-4:54 (Zone 4)

>165, 4:21 or faster (Zone 5)

Whew! Lots of numbers. I intend to make every third or fourth week a "recovery/rest" week that includes re-performing these tests. But anyway, tomorrow is when I start the level 1 ironman training program in the book. There are two workouts for day 1; cycling for 10 minutes in zone 1 and 35 in zone 2 (AKA cf6) then running 5 minutes in zone 1, 28 in zone 2, and 4 repetitions of 1 minutes in zone 4 and 2 in zone 2 (AKA rsp1).I'm very interested to see how much I will improve, given the massive reduction in volume this training plan has over what I've been doing, at least in terms of running.

Anyway, right now I'm filtering my elderflower-infused vodka. I intend to start the elderflower/orange vodka off and go for a walk. I made a large batch of simple syrup, and a test batch of honey syrup (half honey, half water, boiled and strained). Tomorrow, I can begin straining my lemon vodka for making limoncello. I also got the sundry things done that I try to do every Sunday; refilled the water tank, watered the orchids, cleaned the litter box, stirred the nukadoko, did the dishes, rolled laundry, etc. Some of these are daily chores, but Sunday mornings are when I seem to get the most done.