Training Camp: Heat, Wind, Hills: It's All Here

Penticton Weather

Monday: 32 deg C, windy
Tuesday: 33 deg C, windy
Wednesday: 34 deg C, windy
Thursday forecast: 38 deg C, probably windy
Friday forecast: 39 deg C, probably windy

Monday was a recovery day for me, after racing the Desert Half Ironman. I did an easy spin around town, laid on the beach for two hours, then did a 15 minute swim in Okanagan Lake to cool off.

Tuesday morning, we did a 90-minute open-water swim session in Okanagan Lake, practicing turns, sighting and drafting. Fatigue always manifests itself first in swim workouts, and my arms felt dead for the last 1000m interval session. We followed the swim session with a buffet breakfast and fuelling strategy session, where 20 hungry triathletes hoovered up every crumb of food on the table.

Immediately following the breakfast and seminar, we changed to running gear and went to the track at Penticton High School for video run analysis, followed by an interval session on the Kettle Valley Railway path above town.

The rest of the group had a two-hour break, but I rode over to the Impact Performance Centre for my lactate threshold test. My test was a day later than the rest of the group, giving me more time to recover from Sunday's race. The test is done on a Computrainer, an indoor bike training system that can be used to simulate load. Heart rate and blood lactate information are collected while increasing the resistance to the rear wheel, which is equivalent to the rider increasing effort and therefore power output. The test requires increasing to maximum effort, to determine the point at which the body stops processing lactic acid effectively, which leads to "the bonk".

Three important numbers result from a lactate threshold test: maximum power output, maximum heart rate, and of course lactate or anaerobic threshold. If you know your lactate threshold, you can pace yourself properly to avoid exceeding it (by monitoring your heart rate and/or power) during an Ironman.

The last time I had a lactate threshold test done, was when I started the sport five years ago, so I knew my numbers would have changed dramatically. Coincidentally, my tester was Critical Speed's Cal Zaryski, who was my coach at the time. He still had my numbers from that test, so we could do a side-by-side comparison. I will post the numbers later, but to sum the test up, my power output has increased 28%, my lactate threshold has increased by 11 beats/minute, (meaning I can race harder without risk of detonating) and my power output for a given heart rate has improved dramatically. Mine is an extreme case of improvement due to the amount of training and racing during the past five years, but it proves the point I've made here before: Fitness can be improved, despite the aging process.

Following the test, I rejoined the rest of the group for a 90-minute ride up Green Mountain Road and back.

Today was a high-volume cycling day: We road the 180km Ironman bike course, then followed it with a 20-minute transition run. The transition run is a short (no longer than 1 hour) run done following a long ride, the goal being to get the body used to the transition from cycling to running. The legs have to go from spinning for several hours to supporting the body upright and turning over for a few more hours, so the athlete needs to get used to the feeling of the running muscles engaging. The first couple of miles can feel quite brutal, and this is the time that you question your sanity, and maybe even consider running in front of a truck. So it's good to torture yourself in this manner after a long ride to realize that the world will not end, and eventually you settle into a state just south of misery.

Sounds like fun, yes? In reality, it does get easier. Otherwise, nobody would ever sign up for a second Ironman!