Luckily we live in the world where we have access to technology that allows us to measure different body metrics. This is especially helpful for athletes who are looking to understand their bodies more. Of course, you should not solely rely on your watch or some sensor data and primarily go by the feel. I use sensor data to find correlations between the way I feel and perform. It also allows me to learn my body faster, rather than going blind, solely relying on my internal subjective data.
TrainingPeaks is a software platform I use to analyze the data collected and my training.
Performance decline I experience seem to be mostly noticeable in my cycling training.
My bike performance peaked around March 19′ and after that gradually went down. The screenshot above shows my 1 hour peak power for each months, starting from February 2019.
60 minute power March: 270 Watts Today: 189 Watts
Power Loss: ~80 Watts
March vs August
According to Training Peaks, my Power profile is at the world class level. This is definitely encouraging, but I definitely don’t feel like International Pro at the moment.
Around April, after few miserable workouts, my coach started to reduce my Training Load gradually, hoping that it will give my body the opportunity to recover. Since then my overall training load was cut more than in half. Did not help and we’ve got what we’ve got.
VO2 Max
This is another metric that worth paying attention to. The trend here is not as promising as I would like it to be either.
It is obvious now that I am doing worth than in early Spring. Slowly, over the span of 5 months my performance been into the free fall. Something needs to change.
A brick workout is any workout that combines swimming, biking and/or running into a single session. The most common example is the bike to run brick, where you go for a run immediately after finishing a bike ride.
What a beautiful day today in Canada 🇨🇦. Sun rays gently pet my face. The sound of birds singing give me so much joy. I breath fully into my lungs, I stand strong on my feet, I AM ALIVE! I am full of energy and my soul is singing. I am so happy to come out of my Pain Cave and shake up my legs on a little run.
IRONMAN 70.3 Marbella 2019 is around the corner and I feel that I reach my peak form. Training volume goes up and I begin to feel fit as f@ck! I feel the explosive power within my body.
Warm-up: 15 min easy
Main set: 3 hours @ 180-195 watts At mins 30 & 60 of each hour, ride x 7 mins @ 260-275 watts with 3.5 min easy riding after each interval.
Cool-down: 15 min easy
Using the sweat rate and fueling data I’ve collected over the past few weeks I develop the following strategy:
Hydration
Goal: Prevent loosing more than 3% of weight through the fluid loss. In my case 68 kg (150 lb) = 2.1 kg
How?
Sweat Rate: ~1400 mL/h Liquids Required: Exercise Duration x Sweat Rare = 3.5 * 1400 = 4900 mL 5% Solution: (255 g carbs / 4900 mL) x 100 Sodium Requirements: 0.5 x 4.2 = 2450 mg
What?
Electrolyte Solution:
Gatorade G2 (591 mL) x 8 bottles = 4728 mL Carbohydrates: 12 g x 8 = 96 g Sodium: 270 mg x 8 = 2160 mg Calories: 50 x 8 = 400
FUELING
Pre-Exercise: 30 min Before
Workout is done early at 5:30 AM. After the night fast.
Two bananas + cup of coffee + sugary drink (Aloe bullshit) + BCAA with Creatine Monohydrate
Felt good, not overly stacked. Just enough.
75 g of high GI Carbs = 300 calories
During Exercise
How?
Formula: 0.3 x 150 = 45 g/h x 3.5 hr = 158 grams of carbs
Pre-Weight: 67.5 kg Post-Weight: 68.2 kg (post bike) 67 kg (post run) Liquids Consumed: 4137 mL Weight Lost: 3437 ml (3.4 kg) Sweat Rate: 982 mL/hr (post bike) 1040 mL/hr (post run)
Weight Loss: 5 % body weight
5% is too much. Bad job here.
BIKE
Yesterday I’ve had a quite hard day with 3.5 km swim, followed by 16 km run. On top of it I had some work commitments to deal with. I also didn’t eat enough calories to cover the energy expended.
Considering the fact that I woke up at 4:30 am, I was concerned about how my body will handle 4 hours of consistent training…
To my HUGE surprise I felt really good and strong. In fact, holding 195 Watts for 3 hours was so easy, that I even thought there might be something wrong with the power meter. (No issues with equipment. Calibrated power meter before the ride). With so much power in my legs I began to wonder how long will it last for until fatigue begin to creep up? I was expecting my power go down and HR go up as I go farther. I was really surprised to see that 1, 2 hours into the ride my HR significantly dropped, but power stayed the same. It felt even easier to hold that power, so I put the higher gear – my speed and cadence increased. What is going on here? Why do I feel so strong? Past two days I’ve been pushing my body so hard, but I am feeling so good… Is it something related to nutrition? Sleep? Hydration? Why? I shouldn’t be performing so good … Is the power meter broken? No it’s not.
It felt I could ride like this for days. Is this some sort of breakthrough? I am confused but happy…
I want to feel this way every day. How can I maintain this energy levels consistently?
I am really happy with bike performance and the way I felt. Great job Sasha!
RUN
First 10 minutes were and easy run @RPE 3. Didn’t feel very strong.
Next 5 minutes were at RPE 4, so I picked up the pace. I got surprised by how much stronger I felt compared to running at the slower pace just a moment ago. What’s going on? I got the feeling that I could run much faster so I speeded up even more.
Feeling strong! I’m so confused…
Distance Covered: 150 KM: 145 on bike + 5 by feet. Time Elapsed: 3 hours 50 minutes. Energy Expanded: 2787 Calories
Lessons Learned
Start eating right from the beginning and stay consistent.
Pre-meal doesn’t have to be huge, as long as you’ve got enough during-fuel.
Proper bike position changes RPE and power output. Seat position is REALLY painful 😖. The cover I put on helped, but not much. I need a new seat.
Higher cadence (80-90 rpm) makes it easier to hold bigger power.
Sweat Rate of 1400 mL/hour is on the high side. At this intensities I could go away with approximately 1200 mL/hour.
A brick workout is any workout that combines swimming, biking and/or running into a single session. The most common example is the bike to run brick, where you go for a run immediately after finishing a bike ride.
Warm-up: 10 min easy
Main set: 2.5 hours @ 170-180 watts At the top of hour 1 and hour 2, ride x 10 mins @ 215-230 watts. Spin easy x 5 min after each interval.
Cool-down: 5 min easy
Using the data I’ve collected over the past few weeks I go into the 3 hour ride with following fueling and hydration strategy:
Hydration
Goal: Prevent loosing more than 3% of weight through the fluid loss. In my case 68 kg (150 lb) = 2.1 kg
How?
Sweat Rate: ~1400 mL/h Liquids Required: Exercise Duration x Sweat Rare = 3 * 1400 = 4200 mL 6% Solution: (255 g carbs / 4200 mL) x 100 Sodium Requirements: 0.5 x 4.2 = 2100 mg
What?
Electrolyte Solution:
Gatorade G2 (591 mL) x 7 bottles Carbohydrates: 12 g x 7 = 84 g Sodium: 270 mg x 7 = 1890 mg Calories: 50 x 7 = 350
FUELING
Pre-Exercise: 30 min Before
It worth mentioning that the workout is done early in the morning, after the night fast.
Had two bananas + Clod brewed coffee + sugary drink = 57 high GI Carbs, 235 calories.
Felt good, not overly stacked. Just enough.
During Exercise
How?
Formula: 0.3 x 150 = 45 g/h x 3 hr = 135 grams of carbs
What?
Carbohydrates: 144 grams
Calories per hour: 1100 / 3hr = 367 cal/hr (towards the higher end of absorption rate)
Didn’t eat the cliff bar as I was pretty full.
RESULTS
Pre-Weight: 69 kg Post-Weight: 69.5 kg Liquids Consumed: 4137 mL Sweat Rate: 1212 ml/hr
Loss: 3637 mL 2% body weight
Good job Sasha! Happy with the fluid loss. Right on point!
BIKE
Felt really strong. On the beginning my HR seemed to be a bit high, but after the first interval it dropped from 140 bpm to about 136 bpm, holding the same power of 180 Watts. Feeling strong, increased the power to 190 Watts and surprisingly HR stayed the same ~136 bpm. Continued with 190 W for the rest of the workout. Had to stop for the restroom twice, in the middle and almost at the end. The seat is really uncomfortable, made me change my position every 5 minutes.
Overall I am really happy with bike performance and the way I felt. Great job Sasha!
RUN
Nothing special on the run. Legs are heavy, RPE is peaking. Towards the end, had the urge to use a restroom. Next time would be smart to use the restroom before heading out.
Lessons Learned
Start eating right from the beginning of the workout. Don’t wait until it’s too late.
Pre-meal doesn’t have to be huge, as long as you’ve got enough during-fuel and stay consistent with it.
Seat position changes RPE and power output.
There are ups and downs, keep your head up. One bad workout doesn’t mean the next one will be also bad.
Higher cadence (80-90 rpm) makes it easier to hold bigger power.
1400 mL/hour is on the high side. At this intensities I could go away with approximately 1200 mL/hour.
One bite of banana + one bite of chocolate protein bar = HEAVEN.
What will I do Differently?
Experiment with liquid sources of carbohydrates.
Adjust the seat, where I feel comfortable. If not, buy the new seat.
