Moving from “how far?” to “how fast?”: Part 1

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On Thursday, I received a text from my friend Courtney, “Did another 6 on Monday in 52 minutes. How do u increase speed for longer runs?” I’ve been helping Courtney, along with friends Wendy, Kelly, and Joanna, train for the Atlantic City April Fool’s 11k Run, which will be held on April 3. Most of them had never run that far before (11k = 6.83 miles). Their big question: Will I be able to run this far? I knew they could, so I offered up some tips and tricks to guide their training and boost their confidence. I created a …

Power Meters: Nice to have or necessary?

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The CompuTrainer comes with a PIG (performance improvement guarantee) plan that suggests effort levels based on the results of the FT test, which I took last week. With results in hand, I set to the task of recalibrating my cycling efforts. I had a tempo ride scheduled for Wednesday, and to gauge my effort, I followed the PIG guidelines for a tempo ride, which recommend holding 85% of FT power for 45 minutes. For me, this translated into 187 watts for the main set of the workout. Okay, let’s do this, I thought. I did my warm-up and got into …

The Caped Cruise-aders Cruise the Cape to Gate Relay Race

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The Cape to Gate 44-mile Relay Race, held on Saturday, February 25, was my first “race” of the season. I use the term “race” very loosely, as our team– alternatively named Team Gimp, Team BQ or Caped Cruise-aders–did not plan on racing at all. Our team runners consisted of Tracy, my sister-in-law (you may remember her as my pacer for the VT50), Carole Donohue, our new running buddy, and myself. Our team also benefitted from having a head cheerleader, sherpa-in-charge Mrs. Regina Jenkins, my lovely mother-in-law, who chauffeured our stinking asses 44 miles from Cape May, NJ to Margate, NJ. …

Test anxiety: Finding my functional threshold power

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On Wednesday, I took my first ever “functional threshold power” test. The FTP is a 30-minute test, using my CompuTrainer, which is designed to measure the average wattage (or power) I can maintain while cycling for 30 minutes (CP30). The above image illustrates the results of this test. (Side note: I don’t have a polar heart rate strap yet, required for CompuTrainer HRM, so the HR data is below, imported from my Garmin HRM file.) Fitness tests are not new to me. I rowed crew in high school, and we had regular tests of our fitness on the ergometers (rowing …

Welcome to full scale geekdom

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It was Friday, and I awoke like a kid on Christmas morning – or like a triathlete about to receive her first CompuTrainer. You know, same thing… Having checked the UPS tracking information, I knew it “out for delivery,” which caused me to keep checking the front door to see if it had arrived. (Hmmm, obsess much?) Around 3 p.m., I heard a rustling on the front porch. It was Jolly Ol’ Saint UPS delivery driver. I walked to the door, and what to my wondering eyes did appear: the CompuTrainer. “It’s here! It’s here!” This exclamation was complimented by …

A return to the roads

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While I will run in almost any weather, I will not cycle in cold temperatures. It’s just too, well, cold! That means I have been cycling on my trainer 4 days a week since the beginning of November. Today, however, the thermometer read 45 degrees at 8:30 a.m. That is warm enough. I was excited and apprehensive to return to the road. Excited because I’ve been working my arse off on the trainer for over 3 months – hill simulation, interval rides, tempo rides, long rides, high cadence rides, rides I don’t even know what to call them rides. I …

The best day of the week, even if it hurts

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Sunday is my long run day. It’s the crown jewel of the training regimen. The piece de resistance, the bees knees, the cat’s meow, the best part of waking up, the main event. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I really enjoy the long run – even when it hurts. While I mess around with this triathlon gig, running is my thing. It brings me joy, peace, and just the right amount of pain. I feel most alive when I go on these long, almost-always solo jaunts, during which time I experience the gamut of human emotion …

I’m a desperate masochist

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The sounds of the Rocky theme filled the air. My phone was ringing. I took a quick glance at the number. Hmmm. I don’t recognize that one. Usually, when I don’t recognize a number, I let it go to voicemail. But, this time, for some reason, I hit the answer button. “Hello?” I asked, more than said. A cheery voice sang wonderful words to me: “Hi, Maria! This is Sherri from CompuTrainer.” CompuTrainer?! Did she say CompuTrainer? About two weeks ago, I had submitted an entry for a contest that CompuTrainer was running to find their 2011 “Desperate Athlete.” The …

Sticking to the plan…or not: When to call in sick from your training plan

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Once set, I stick to my training plan. If it says “60 minute bike, zone 2 heart rate” I bike for 60 minutes in my zone 2 heart rate. Not 59 minutes. Not zone 5. 60 minutes. Zone 2. It’s not that I never deviate – it just causes me considerable angst when I have to switch things up for some reason, such as illness, let’s say. On Wednesday morning, when I awoke for the third day in a row with an animal of a cold living inside of my chest, my training plan mocked me. “Brick: 60 minute bike …

Getting juiced up

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“Oooooohhhhhh, the new juicer is heeerrreeee,” I crooned as I came out of my ice bath into the kitchen to find a large box from Amazon. Within 15 minutes, the juicer was out of the packing, on the counter, and churning through some fresh produce. The first batch of juice we made was pretty standard in terms of ingredients: carrots, apples, pears, blueberries, strawberries and oranges. With the first sip, I was hooked on the earthy freshness of juice that is less than 5 minutes old. That first sip was almost a month ago. So, what have we learned after …