First Threshold Test on the Bike

So I had been waiting for it for a while and my coach finally put it on my calendar. My first FTP test. I really had no idea how hard I could go, how to pace myself etc. I got everything set up, fans going on high, towel on the handlebars, ready for a hard workout.

My coach does it as a 15 minute warm up, 30 minute hard effort and 15 minute cool down. After my warm up I jumped up my power and off I went. It went well, but then my bike kept popping in and out of gear. So in the middle of the test I am looking for a gear that the bike will stay in, combined with a resistance setting for the trainer to give me my desired power. Frustrating.

I completed the test, but I still had energy in the tank. I didn't go hard enough. But I was happy with the result. I was the highest 30 minute continuous power that I have done, but I know I could do more. I learned a lot and can apply that next time.

Christmas Letter

Every year for as long as I can remember we have written a letter to send out to family and friends that talks about all the things we did and places we went over the past year. My wife usually writes this and when I saw the first draft, it included a paragraph about my bike and me training for triathlons.

Honestly, I haven't told anyone about this. Nobody knows I am training for triathlons and I was really unsure that I wanted to just announce it to the world via the christmas letter. Nobody even knows about this blog. The reasons for this are purely selfish, and the main one is that I have no idea if I am going to even be successful. I hurt myself the first time I ran, it is 3 sports I have never really done, or done well at put together.

I thought I could just wait until I finished a couple of triathlons and then start talking about it next summer. My wife didn't think it was a big deal and after talking through it, I decided to keep the paragraph in the Christmas letter.

Dismissed from PT

So over the past few weeks I have been adding some short jogs to my walks to test my hamstring. Nothing longer than 30 seconds of running at a time and so far things seem to be going ok. So at my physical therapy appointment today, Ann deemed me fit enough that I didn't need to see her anymore. So with that news, I am done with PT!!

When I was last at the doctor, he offered one of his staff to do a gait analysis when I was able to do some running, so I have a call in to them to make an appointment. Whatever I can do to keep from getting injured again would be good.

Swim Meet

Well the Masters swim season is upon us. Had a couple of good taper swims this week in training. The first meet of the season is a short course meters meet at the University of Minnesota pool. Two years ago this was the site of my first ever masters swim meet. I swam the 50 free along with the 50 and 100 back. I couldn't swim much further than that.

Today I only swam freestyle events and also included the 400m free which I really wanted to do well with. I am still relatively new with flip turns and I don't do them in practice all the time partially because I am usually sharing lanes with people who don't and I don't have much control over my direction yet. But I completed the 400m free with all flip turns today! Thats the most ever in competition.

My final results were:

50m Free 39.86
100m Free 1:27.37
200m Free 3:02.23
400m Free 7:18.89

My daughter came along today to be a junior Nortlander and cheer me on!

First "Run"

After discussing with my physical therapist she suggested that I give running a try. So since I missed a walk earlier in the week I decided to add one in tonight. It was a bit chilly but a nice night out on the lakewalk.

So during my 45 minute walk, I also ran 3 short segments between miles 1.5-2. Total running length less than 200 yards probably.

My leg was pretty tight, some pain, but I dont think anything is injured. I will continue to explore this over next couple of weeks.