Welcome to the Jungle: Tips on How (not) to Execute an FTP Test

Hello all you cool cats and kittens!  Checking in at the end of recovery week with what was intended to be a nice post on the importance of that whole balancing act....work hard, rest hard, blah blah blah.  All the neat stuff you read in those inspiring blogs and articles about ya know, how to be a great triathlete.

Who are we kidding?

Welcome to the Jungle Baby - we got fun and games!

Much like the Guns N Roses song, this week got worse day by day.  We had a six-figure work crisis, a call to 911, some good ole fashioned personal attacks against my character, and broken furnace.  (I should note everyone is technically okay after all this, but if there was ever a week to bust open the bottle of 4 Roses...and finish it.... this was it.  Sadly, I remained sober through all of it.  Score?).

Needless to say, I actually had some legit, life forced workout recovery this week!  Four easy swims, three easy runs (and some help setting a decent recovery pace, thanks to The Boy!) and two bikes (as of tomorrow).

This morning, I had the dreaded FTP test on tap.  Why?  I don't freaking know. As I am now the boss of me as my own coach, when I pulled out the ole Rae made training plan, I had no one to blame but myself.  I hate these tests.  I never execute them well.  They are never a great factor of what I can do.  But I figured since my last one was back in June 2021...in a rainstorm....while being forced to ride in aero....(I am not bitter about this, at all) that it would be good to establish a baseline.  Or some sort of bullshit like that.

In case you aren't aware of the joys of an FTP (functional threshold power) test, it's basically an indicator of what kind of power you can expect to hold for an hour at your highest sustained effort.  There are several ways to execute the test - a ramp test, where your power increases incrementally until you can no longer hold it, a 20-minute balls out effort you multiply by a factor of .95, or two 8-minute tests separated by a ten-minute recovery that you combine and multiply by a factor of .9.  Since I'm a little wussy expedient, I opted for the last option.  

With my fabulous attitude in place, I set out early this morning to execute said test.  And I feel it necessary to pass on a few helpful tips to those looking to get a (much better) result than I did.  So what's the best way to approach this beast?  Read on....

1. Be well rested.  Most athletes know when they are naturally at their peak for the day - some of us workout in the morning, some do better in the afternoon.  For optimal results, its best to attack the test after a good night's rest and at the time you know you perform the best.  Or, in my case, hit it up after a night punctuated by a broken furnace, lack of heat when its -3 out, and kids waking up at o dark thirty.  I suspect I had about 3 hours sleep, which is perfect rest for a best effort!

2.  Eat an easily digestible breakfast at least two hours before the test - you want to be fueled, but not have anything that's tough for your stomach to handle.  A bagel, granola bar and banana, or similar are great choices - or you could take my route and have the last slice of white pizza with a side of extra grease, eaten standing up at midnight the night before.  (A carbs a carb....uh, no its not).

3.  Hydrate.  This is a hard effort.  Coffee while doing your warm up is....um....a liquid.  (WTF is wrong with me).

4.  You might lose your cookies at some point during this ride.  Have a garbage can nearby.  Six feet is not.... nearby unless you're great at projectile vomiting.  I'm...not. This is totally hypothetical, of course.

5.  Have a realistic goal.  If it's your base test for the year, you probably are coming right into the season and it's wise to shoot for your current FTP or within 2% either way.  Or you can pick a completely unrealistic number, hit the gas too hard for the first 4 minutes of the first half, and slowly die into a puddle of nothingness for the rest of the test.  It's totally up to you and if you ask me which option, I picked.... I totally take the fifth.  (See what I did there?)

6.  Start out conservatively and get stronger as you go.  I use Trainer Road and it guides me to hit wattage that's equal to my current FTP.  Starting there and increasing your power through the segment is a great way to finish strong and hit your desired result.  (Do I even need to explain what I did?  Fine.  Or you can hit 110% of the workout power in a fit of ego and suffer the consequences.  Why do you people even read this crap??)

7.  Have some damn good music to rev you up.  Right now I'm cranking out Pitbull, Skrxlla, or any type of hype you up music.  Not....Billy Ocean.  Five minutes into the test, my mix flipped and I was Suddenly NOT having a great time.  OMG.

8.  If you're not into music, I'm a huge fan of any type of motivational images or videos - personally I rock out to any Lionel Sanders (this video is hands down motivation station) or one of my local heroes (no matter how much I tease him, this guy got my butt in motion when I needed it most and I still look up to him for quite a bit). Alternatively, you could hit the wrong YouTube vid and end up looking at Life hacks saved courtesy of your six-year-old.  I'm super glad I now know how to color my hair with koolaid.  Possibly at this point in time I screamed up the stairs for Greg to man the pantry.  Well played, Biz.

9.  Make sure your Equipment is working (part 1).  I have a Tacx trainer that does me well most of the time.  As I went into the second set of testing, the erg mode froze, and I ended up spinning out and averaging 130 watts for the first 45 seconds of the 8-minute test.  Needless to say, when your goal is 237 watts, that's a big deal.  After cursing loudly at it, "smart trainer" got the message and kicked back in.  For cripes sake.

10.  Make sure your bike seat is...um...strapped in.  Apparently, I had a loose seat post clamp, which was news to me until the last 45 seconds of the test when it slipped and I ended up standing for the rest...it helped my power, sure, but that garbage can would have been nice to have nearby (kidding - I kept it in).

Oddly enough, when accounting for the first minute of test 2, with all that crap, I tested 5% higher than my current FTP.  I can't hate at that.  I'm a little bummed, as I always am with these tests, but even without factoring in any new data, it's a good old-fashioned ass kicking and a great baseline for your season.

Post-test, relax a bit and try to recover with some good nutrition and a rest.  Oh, who am I kidding - I'm a mom with two littles.  I grabbed coffee cup #2, a larabar, a quick shower, and threw on my swimsuit.  The kids wanted to go to the pool and we were off for Saturday fun. Swimming is good, uh, recovery, yes?  I'll just leave you with an image of the suit I wore.

And that's how we roll.  Square wheels and all.  You're in the jungle, baby!

Ironman Training Block #1: Freak on a Leash

Well, now that the cat (tail?) is out of the bag, it's time to fess up about what I've been up to in the past month surrounding prep for Ironman Iowa....otherwise known as IMCORN....or.... since it's technically Ironman Des Moines, Ironman, in all their wisdom, have dubbed it "IMDSM".  Who knows why, since the "S" isn't really an acronym in "Des Moines", but I rather like to believe it's to make my inner eighteen-year-old giggle as I can't, for the life of me, hear it without adding in a B after the first M.  Which, since its already in a cornfield, has made my anthem for the race Korn's "Freak on a Leash".  I crack myself up.

I need help.  We all know this.

Regardless of how I get my laugh of the day, I am, in fact, serious about this race.  All jokes of poor decision making aside and running a race amongst the windmills, Ken and I have serious goals for this race and I'm approaching the training as such.  I hope to blog about the training blocks as they happen to see how the execution of the race fares with my prep, and for anyone interested in my training plan, execution, and balancing a life around this beast (uh, DSM), follow along!

This race has a number of factors that make it different from any other Ironman I've done (this will be #4 - I did IMLP in 2010 and 2018, and what's now IMMD in 2011).  For one, I now know how to ride my bike.  Wait.  No, I meant that.  Um....what I really mean is, after the great 180 of my tri life in 2019, this will be the first full I've done.  I've tried valiantly to do 140.6 in 2020 and 2021, but with COVID, it was thwarted.  Since I flipped my training around in 2019, this will be my first full distance - and seeing how I bested my 70.3 by over an hour, I'm really interested to see how I'll do with a full.  My PR from 2011 is a 12:50, and right now one of the goals is to go under 12 hours.  I feel like this is highly doable, given the conditions of the day. It's also a much earlier race than I'm used to - early June, which will make some of the outside prep a little more challenging on the bike, but we will roll with it.  Sub 12 baby. I might have a loftier goal than that, but 3 weeks into my plan, that's what I'm comfortable starting with.  

And yes, it's my plan.  That's a tough one to write.  For the past two and a half years I've had a coach that's helped me along with my journey - he's an awesome friend and has helped me become a better athlete in so many ways.  Due to a few lifestyle changes, I've decided to attack 2022 without a formal coach - I have some friends helping me out and reviewing my plan, but it will be finalized by me.  It's scary as shit, to be honest.  I'll miss having it all laid out for me, but I also have a few ideas of things that I would like to approach differently this year and a bit of a crazy schedule to juggle that seemed best to plan it out myself.  So far, I've done quite a bit of research into optimal Ironman prep for the goals I have in mind and have developed a blueprint for a 24-week plan.  It's got the major pieces mapped out and is broken into seven segments - five four-week blocks, a two-week peak phase, and a taper.  I plan to keep copious notes and tweak as necessary and have some friends stepping in to help out with the swim, bike and run specific workouts that have the speed to get me where I want to be.  I'm a pretty lucky girl.

Block 1:

Physical:
At this point in time, I came out of off season on December 27, and am now entering recovery week of block one.  I feel fantastic.  I've been pretty darn close to nailing the run speed I had before off season, and my long runs feel great.  I took longer off the specific bike work - but in the past week, my tempo sessions have been right back to where I left them in September.  The pool is a little slower to come back - I only swam once a week, if that, since mid-September, and for the past 3 weeks, I've been in the pool three times a week. My cruise pace is about 5 seconds slower per 100, and for the first block back, I'll take it!

My pro triathlete boyfriend.  Yum.

Mental:
I am so darn amped. Along with the physical training I've been doing a lot of reading about mental strength and also exclusively watching Ironman fodder on YouTube while on the trainer.  I've developed an unabashed crush on Lionel Sanders and have watched every video he's put out in the past year - multiple times.  His humility, drive, and realism keeps me coming back - he's so hungry for it, he wants it, but also knows where he needs to do the work and how to get it done.  He teams up with athletes that drive him on, and has admitted changing course several times to try different things to see if they work. Watching him inspires the shit out of me. Plus, the dude looks like a poet doing a flying dismount (possibly I watched his dismount at Ironman Chattanooga at least a dozen times) and looks damned fine in Lycra on a track.  (Hey, I like triathletes.  What can I say).  I'm gonna need to find some new content for training block #2 if anyone has any ideas!

                                             Pure determination and grit.  Amazing. 

Emotional:
This is a big area I've struggled with in the past and will honestly be the hardest part of going at this race without a coach - and - maybe the easiest, if I can channel it well.  I tend to get way too invested in what's "assigned" and beat myself up if I can't hit my goals.  One of the bonuses of being my own coach is I'm able to switch workouts around without any consult - if its -2 and I want to ride and save a run for the next day, I can.  If I start an 8-mile effort and feel flippin' fabulous, I can extend it to 12 and make it my long run for the week.  I have the power to flex my weeks as necessary, as long as I'm honest about the work and my body.  This has already been a factor in block one - I had intended to make this block 4 weeks of work and 1 of recovery, as week 1 was more easing in and I had more time this week than next to train...and make next weeks busier week a recovery week.  

But, yesterday, after a crazy weekend that included a two-hour roller-skating party that left me sore in unexpected places (damn getting old), I was so anti my long run that I put it off for stupid reasons.  I was grumpy about it all morning and in general a miserable person.  I went out finally, grumbling.  Usually, I can shake that off a mile or two in, but this time, no dice.  I made peace with 6 miles.  Then adjusted to 8.  Then bargained for 10.  And somehow, through sheer will, made the full 12 miles (oddly enough, in a decent time and on a harder route than normal) but I hated every step.  

For someone that adores all training, and running the most, this was a big red flag.  This morning, I had plenty of time and was going to do a 3-hour ride.  When I woke up, I knew that was a dumb idea.  After my morning coffee, I sat down and reworked the whole week and made it the recovery week that I needed.  And that's listening to your body.  While part of me feels off for not optimizing my time, I know that if I don't listen to my body, it will tell me when we are resting - most likely at an inopportune time.  So I'm dialed in, and will take the week my body needs, so I can come back stronger than ever for block #2!

How will this one pan out?  We shall see.  Right now the goal of block one was to start base building and get my yardage up in the pool and on the bike.  Those are my weaknesses - mostly in the pool.  Block #2 goals will be extending the long ride to 3.5 hours (right now I am at 2.5) and getting my swim up to 4x a week.  Ironman is a long road, but I am excited for the journey!

White Rabbit

The time has come my friends...to talk of other things! Of shoes and ships....oh wait.  That's not where we were going with this.  But much like Alice, the time has come to start talking about what this whole idea of a Wonderland is for 2022.  And, just like Alice, my 2022 has started with me following my own rabbit.

Back in 2019, at the beginning of my journey to realize that I might, in fact, be an athlete, I started out with the whole mantra of doing scary shit. This began with the whole idea of getting outside my comfort zone with things - step one was to become a faster runner.  In my fifteen years of sport, I had never trained with anyone, mainly because I was terrified to.  I was scared of not being good enough - of slowing them down.  Enter my buddy Ken, who I had known since 2010 from a training camp I was adopted into for Ironman Lake Placid.  Ken is fast as shit - he swims like a fish and is a speedster on the run, but also is a pretty cool, laid back and fun guy with no sense of ego.  He's been trying to get me to do Ironman Wisconsin for the last ten years without any success, but bless him for trying.

Anyways - I asked Ken to do a buddy run with me.  He one upped me by making it an Around the Bay run, then over the course of the 3 months, drafted me into running with people I had no business running with - and PRing every damned training run.  He helped me shave 10 minutes off my half marathon PR, 14 off my marathon, and was the best damned rabbit I could have ask for.

The K Factor - The escort and my rabbit!

Enter 2021, and after qualifying for Worlds 70.3, and a fantastic road trip with Ken and Marcus - which did NOT have the same good fast speed as those bay runs but was ridiculously epic anyways.  We had such a blast and I was so thankful to have Ken in my life again - Ken, who was a great training buddy, totally into everything swim bike run, and ridiculously fun to hang out with.  Who else can make a trip across the middle of nowhere fun and leave jokes in his wake about the Windmills and Corn in Iowa??  Well, Ken can.  (And so did Marcus, my Eagleman buddy - who started this whole mess of World's - these guys are the best!)

Post World's, I looked at my 2022 calendar carefully.  I wanted a new challenge, and one that I could PR at.  I wanted another damned Ironman.  I was planning on doing Ironman Mont Tremblant - holdover from 2020.  But i was seriously on the fence about this race for many reasons, most of them having to do with Ironman's ambiguity of the race happening and the question of border crossing during today's world.

When there were still no answers to our questions in November, the appearance of a new Ironman on the circuit was released -Ironman Des Moines - in....of course, Iowa.  Ken and I joked about this race for weeks - would the medal be a windmill?  Would there be corn chowder post race?  Could I find a farmer to be my sherpa?  So. Many. Jokes.  And if we spent 6 hours staring at Windmills being fascinating cross country, couldn't we do it on a bike?  

It was a fun joke.  Until that bastard actually signed up for the race.  And, much like IMOO (Ironman Wisconsin) he wanted me to do it with him.

Ridiculous.  I had an Ironman planned in beautiful Mont Tremblant.  Majestic.  Gorgeous scenery.  Epic vacation area.  And clearly a great place to accomplish that elusive 140.6 I've been eyeing for 2 years.  Who the hell would give that up to go chase a Rabbit in a cornfield?

Well, I would.  Obviously.  Ironman Iowa.  June 12.  It's now a thing and I'm so in for this ridiculously silly, yet fitting idea.  TIME TO RACE!

Got My Mind Set On You

 Happy (late) New Year!  If you've been reading for any length of time, you know that I rarely post on January 1 - while the rest of the world is gearing up for some sort of huge resolution push, I'm sitting back and taking the year in on a less stressful platform - thinking about what my goals are, what I want the year to mean, and how to approach it.  I actually started this blog out ten years ago on January 2 - on purpose.  Usually I get into the swing of things around then and feel like some of the pressure is off of the big New Year's Day - and apparently, this year, I'm taking that to the extreme.  The first week of the year packed its usual gut punch with a few extra knock you down surprises because hey, its 2022.  It's been a hell of a week and intro to the new year, but at least I know two things:

1.  I survived and;

2.  This year will not defeat me (see #1)

(Who said the two are mutually exclusive?)

With that being said, there are a few things going extremely well nine days into the year, which brings me to the point of this post, and, of course, what we all have on our minds at the beginning of January - goals.  

Like everyone else, I have some pretty legit goals for the year, and I've decided to look at them through the lens of the "before" and "after" (again, pretty standard).  As I sit here, in my "mid life crisis point", I have to decide what I want to take into the next forty years (I turn 40 in October, or, according to the triathlon world, January 1).  I can't complain about the first forty - there have been some pretty high highs, and some pretty low lows of course, but there's one major theme through all of it, and thats mindset.  So this year, my whole mantra is - FOCUS.

As in, what are my main goals - what is helping me get there and what is not?  What do I need to focus on?  What do I need to let go of?  What is/is not serving the purpose of my overall goal?

I have a few clear cut goals, that are easy to define and I can see the proverbial "finish line" (It's always easiest to explain this in terms of a race, but, given the name of the blog, would you expect anything else?)  These goals are fantastic, because they are somewhat easy to quantify.  The big one this year is a long term goal, and I'm in the midst of a blueprint to get me there.  As in previous years, I'm taking the bull by the horns with this goal and throwing everything I've got at it.  I'm also trying to change it up from the past few years - taking the pieces of what worked in 2019, 2020 and 2021, and letting go of the pieces that did not serve me well.  This last part is....tough.  It's never easy to let go of shit.  Even if its somewhat destructive and does not serve your goal - you form an attachment to what's comfortable and what you know.  But...if you go with what you've always done, are you really getting anywhere?

This sits right above my bike in the basement as I toil away in the pain cave...and it's accurate.  I know not everyone is a fan of "big scary goals" but for me, it works.  Get outside your comfort zone and make it happen.

Goal #2 is an extension of goal #1 but with the shift on the things that are NOT serving me well.  What do I need to let go of?  What do I need to walk away from?  Again, its a comfort thing.  While you tend to go with what you know, you get stuck in a zone not only of following a routine that keeps you where you are - but also can be sidetracked by things and people that don't serve to help you grow as a person.  

This one is so much tougher for me.  While I pride myself on being completely open to new people and experiences, I often don't walk away when I should.  Not everything and everyone is perfect all the time, and this year, many situations and relationships are built on the fact that everyone is going through a really tough time.  Noted.  But, one of my faults is that I sit with something and make excuses for it far after I should have amicably parted ways, and I suffer for it.  I'm done with that.  2022 is set to be as drama free as it can possibly be (because, life!).

So, the real question is - when am I going to stop posting ambiguous shit and talk about these goals?  All in good time - for a few reasons!  First of all, I'm hopeful that some of these ideas are bigger than me - and that we all can start to work toward where we want to be and what makes us happy.

Second - I'm still working on those goals.  Some are easier than others to process share - but I promise to keep it real with you all as I go along. Let's get through 2022 together -  Happy New Year!