Laser158689

PMC

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:51:33 -0500

Above is the famous Performance Management Chart.

ATL=Acute Training Load (Fatigue)
CTL=Chronic Training Load (Fitness)
TSB=Training Stress Balance
Delta=my lame attempt to measure the change in ATL

It reflects my vacations and illnesses remarkably well. The spike at the end is a combination of my recent activity and the planned exertion for the start of the build mesocycle.

Tough Sledding

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:15:56 -0500

It’s been tough sledding lately. Well, except for the day pictured above. That was a wonderful snow day and I went sledding with my fiancee, her sister, and our friend’s son.

I just had an MRI on my right shoulder, and have my first real health event - a cold or something. The shoulder has been bothering me since August. Thought I rehabbed it, but there’s been some pain that hasn’t gone away. Get the results next week.

I’ve been busy at work, and it’s been difficult to maintain my training schedule. I kind of plateaued in terms of the exertion scores and chronic training load (fitness) and acute training load (fatigue). I’m in the last week of my base training mesocycle, and looking at the first week of the build period next week.

Thought I was starting to rise above the plateau. I got a great new cycling training DVD - Race Day with Robbie Ventura. Awesome fun! Busted out a good workout on the trainer with it. Then this past weekend, it was gorgeous. A little XC skiing in northern PA on Saturday, then a good outdoor ride on the bike on Sunday.

Time to back off until I get over this cold/whatever. Kim had it the last 10 days or so. Maybe rising above the plateau weakened my immune system and allowed me to pick it up. Maybe it was just a matter of time. Maybe... Won’t get me back on the road to better fitness.

Decoupling

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:31:12 -0500

This has nothing to do with my relationship with Kim! (Cleopatra above. Although I think Cleopatra poisons Marc Antony, Halloween is well-passed, and I’m still alive.)

I was analyzing my workout from Monday, 18 January 2010 today, and I was excited by the result!

I was doing a straightforward aerobic endurance session on the treadmill, what Friel refers to as an “E2A” in his book Total Heart Rate Training. This is a session with a fixed output (for running that means pace), and input (heart rate) in a zone (zone 2) which is supposed to contain the aerobic threshold (the body starts using more oxygen in producing energy).

Friel describes a simple measure of cardiac drift (over time, HR increases for a given output; lower drift=better aerobic ability) as the percent difference in HR from the first half of the work session to the second half, ie once in the zone (after warm-up), the HR should be fairly constant for a set pace and incline.

Back in November, I measured a session and had a “decoupling” of 4.3%. On Monday, it was 1.9%!

Now not everything was the same between sessions. The grade might’ve been even higher for Monday, the warm-up was different, etc. In fact, I was really tight in my calves on Monday, and had to slow back down and walk for a few more minutes to loosen things up. Enough was the same for me to conclude that I’ve finally made a measurable gain in my aerobic ability, though. Finally!

Sick and Tired

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 13:09:01 -0500

As you might know from reading this blog over the past year, I have a history of respiratory/sinus/ear infections. This was diagnosed last spring as my childhood allergies having returned. I’ve faced my latest “cold” starting in December, and thanks to the wonders of zyrtec and cold medicines and advil and kefir, plus a lot of sleep, I think might just get through it (a month later???) without needing an antibiotic.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed, just in case!

Houston Clinic

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 13:07:34 -0500

I spent a long weekend in the Houston, TX area, 11-14 December. The plan was to play golf with Coach Ryan on Friday and Monday, and participate in a clinic by WorldChampionCoaching on Saturday and Sunday.

I flew in, and heard the low fumble of the 1970 Impala convertible rumbling up to Arrivals before I saw it. We managed to get in 18 holes at a course near the airport, in some mid-60’s and overcast weather. Apparently, the “cold” was wreaking havoc with the electric golf carts. We went through three of them, eventually leaving the last one in the fairway and walking the final two holes. My golf game is worse than my sailing most days. Let’s just leave it at that.

We went back to the airport to pick up guest coach Brendan - straight off the plane from Australia!!!

A stop at Coach Ryan’s digs for equipment (and an appearance at the complex happy hour), and dinner at Chuy’s, and we made it down to the water, where Big Matt (Bullet Lasagna Racing) was putting us up.

Lakewood YC in Seabrook, TX was hosting the clinic. Mostly junior/college sailors, plus myself and two other masters. The chalk-talk sections were fantastic. The drills were great.

Day 1 focused on tacks and gybes. The weather was chilly and foggy, with very little wind. We spent a good deal of time practicing “rodeo gybes”. We thought the wind was filling and towed to the actual bay, only to find the same wind and more fog, so we towed back in.

Day 2 focused more on kinetics and putting together tacks and gybes into circles. Not my finest hour. Even less wind, but greater visibility!

We got to ask all sorts of questions of Coach Brendan and special guest lecturer Dave Ullman!!

Many thanks to Coaches Ryan and Brendan, Lakewood Sailing Director Mattia D’Errico, and Big Matt!!

Who needs Quads???!?!?!

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 13:00:28 -0500

Just a crazy notion I’ve got... The last day of Worlds, I went out and kept focusing on squeezing my quads to hike harder. This did NOT work. The last beat, I was focused on another boat, and from what I recall, it was not my quads that were engaged, but maybe my glutes/hamstrings.

During the bike fitting, the guy told me that the process of setting the seat height was to get the optimal angle for the glutes/hamstrings to fire, as they glutes are the biggest muscles in the body.

Did I miss this in the “common Laser wisdom” of punishing your quads to train for Laser sailing?

Coach Ryan shared an anecdote about a young sailor who appeared to lack ab strength to hike effectively. The kid went to the gym and really worked on his back! The front was strong enough, but his back wasn’t able to “pull” the frontside straight.

Curious to go out in hiking conditions and focus on squeezing my “backside” muscles rather than my “frontside”!

Run, FAT BOY, RUN!

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 12:42:16 -0500

In case you can’t tell from the previous posts, I’ve been spending some time working on my aerobic conditioning. I’ve been doing a little cycling, some time on the elliptical, but mainly, running. I don’t like running outside, so this is almost exclusively on the treadmill. I am now in awe of those folks who can run and not have their heartrates skyrocket.

I’ve been noticing some “adaptations” while running. Things that are changing, if ever so slightly, about my body.

First, the back of my calves had to adapt. They get sore, whether from pounding or just the motion.

Then there’s my right hip. Always tight, it now will get sore, but also feels like the range of motion is increasing.

My shoulders seem to be the key to efficient running. If they stay back and down, my HR stays down. I think this is improving my posture the rest of the day, too.

At times, it feels like my lungs are “deeper” when I inhale. Coach Bryan suggested that this is my diaphragm expanding.

And now for the odd one. Someplace just an inch or two down from my navel, something is “uncoiling”. No better description than that. This translates to my posture, to a general stress release, to all sorts of things. Sorta feel like the Tin Man getting the oil in just the right place, and suddenly things start moving.

New (running) Shoes

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 12:37:58 -0500

Kim and I went down to Jack Rabbit Sports in Union Square (that’s in NYC, for folks who think it’s in SanFran). She runs and has had a series of knee/ankle/calf pains. Her shoes were shot, mine were over a year old - it was time for new shoes.

I’ve tried to understand the whole neutral/under-pronator/over-pronator stuff in picking running shoes, and it was always confusing. Jack Rabbit Sports has a straightforward way to deal with this. Come in, they put you in a pair of neutral shoes and get you on a treadmill. They have cameras behind you, and they do a little video capture. They show you the video, and point out the angle betwen the foot and the leg, and voila! You’re ankle is rolling around (one of the pronation issues) or it’s generally flat (neautral).

Kim is a pretty strong overpronator (which explains the issues), and needs a more “stable” shoe with some “motion control” features. This sounds like it’s stiffer on the inside to me.

I’m a pretty neutral runner, and any old neutral shoe with some cushioning (as I’m not a lean piece of endurance machinery) should do me fine.

Oh, wait, my right foot is kinda “tall” and doesn’t fit well in most shoes. Turns out the best-fitting shoe they have is an Asics in size 11EEEE. Yup. I’m a quad-E!

Tour de Greenwich

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 12:29:35 -0500

I bought a bike in the summer of 2008. It sounded like all the top US sailors were spending a lot of time on theirs. Hadn’t ridden a bike since college. It’s a blast.

I signed up to do a charity ride in September 2008 under the auspices of work. Unfortunately, I overtrained before the ride, and spent the next two months with a variety of respiratory infections. No fun.

This year, I didn’t spend much time on the bike. I did a large “event” ride called the “Bloomin’ Metric” in May. After about 45 miles, my right knee was useless. This meant that I didn’t have the bike set up correctly (“fit”). It was a couple of months before I saved the money for this and actually got it done by a professional. It helped a lot, but with Worlds and the personal life stuff, I still didn’t spend much time on the bike.

So, I get this email on a Thursday from the local running store (I did a 5K run they organized last year, to “spend time” with my fiancee - in December, in the snow). They’re running a “Tour de Greenwich”, a timed race against the clock with different divisions depending on how slow you are. They block off the streets so there’s no stopsigns, no stoplights. Sounds like just the thing to do after more than a month not touching the bike and a wopping 4 times on it since the “fitting”.

I’d been riding about 12mph the couple of times before that (sad, I know, but it’s a hilly area, and I’m no climber!), so figured my time should be about 1:40 at that pace. A neighbor of mine had done it in 1:30 the previous year - so that became my goal.

It started OK, but I thought I had something on my tire that kept hitting the chain. (Later, found that it was one of the two broken spokes from riding on the dirt road in Halifax. Thanks to The Bicycle Exchange for re-lacing that wheel!) I rode the brake for a while and the noise went away. I rode along behind a couple of guys in the slow division with me. They weren’t in any hurry and were chatting. I got bored, and once past them, saw the next target, and the next, and so on.

I was having a blast!! Lots of other cyclists to pass, cops closing off the intersections as you approached. There was a real nasty climb in the middle of the course. I’d heard about it, but never ridden it - Burying Hill Road. Seriously! I figured that would be about halfway based on the map, and that it would be about the peak of the climbing, and we’d descend back to the starting area.

I was right. Kinda. The hill was ugly, no doubt about that. It was also quite short, thankfully. It took a little while to recover once over the top, but I felt better than the guy I passed looked, so I got a little inspiration. There were, however, a couple more modest little rollers, which were painful after the big monster.

It did become more of a descent, though, and I loved it! I flew by lots of people and kept on trucking. Eventually, I had passed all the folks I was going to pass, and got in a great rhythm in a big gear. I was deep in the red zone cardio-wise, and thinking the end must be near. I stayed in the red for over 10 minutes - right up until the finish.

I not only came in under the “stretch” target of 1:30, I demolished it - 1:15! Average was a tick over 15mph, so about a 25% increase in pace over my training rides. Amazing what you can do with a little competitive fire, eh?

OK, I’m done patting myself on the back, now.

Base Training and Periodization

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 12:27:41 -0500

One of my many weaknesses is my aerobic conditioning. I’ve been using a heart rate monitor for a couple of years now, but not using as well as I could’ve been.

I got a book by a guy name Joe Field called Total Heart Rate Training. He’s a cycling and triathlon coach and has written two massive books on training for those sports. I’ve been using the methodology in it, which is similar (the same?) as many other training plans, and is based on periodization.

The plan starts with a “Prep” period, which follows your previous “Peak” and involves cross-training and an emphasis on recovery.

Following that is a “Base” period. This has an emphasis on building aerobic conditioning. Yes, it’s mainly geared toward endurance athletes - cyclists, runners, swimmers, and those folks that combine two or three of those into a single event. The Base period builds duration and intensity of aerobic work over several weeks and has some sub-periods.

Eventually, there’s a “Build” period where the duration goes down and the intensity goes up. After that is a “Peak” period with more sport-specific activity and race-like training and a decrease in duration and very limited bouts of high intensity.

I’m in a LONG Base period. My aerobic conditioning was pathetic. Too many years of being sedentary. I’m still no runner, but at least I can now trot on the treadmill for a respectable period of time, albeit at a stupid slow pace.

As I’ve been progressing through the training, I’ve found that Evan Lewis’s articles in The Laser Sailor have been great summaries of where I’m at. Great timing and great writing. Thanks, Evan!