Back on track, VO 2 the MAX and perspective

Back on track

VO2max test

This week really went well. There were very minimal signs of the hole I was in last week, although I did keep my appointment with Dr Mitch Anderson, and he ran some bloods just to make sure I have no obvious issues (more on his thoughts about my fatigue later). I also got to have a VO2 max test done as part of a study, which was pretty cool, but freaked me out a bit (also more later).

I ticked off all but one of my sessions relatively easily. The dodgy one was Thursday's run and I left it a bit late in the day. I've learned over the years that by Thursday, I need to get my run done by lunchtime otherwise my energy levels are pretty low. I had my long ride planned for Friday, so I started the run, but when I didn't feel much better by 10 mins in, I made the call to cut it to 30 min and save those chips for the next day. 

One way epic!

I'm so glad I did. I had a fabulous ride, done as a "one way epic". This is something I like to do once every Ironman prep. I got the train to Benalla (about 200 km north east of Melbourne) and rode 150 km one way to Wallan, where Pete had parked the car. He rode out to meet me and kept me company for the last 30 km. I think he was quite shocked when he joined me, as I was 100% in the zone and very focused on holding my target power (about 162 W average for the freeway section, which I was really happy with). 

Finishing my long run - with Hawaiian style plants behind me

The ride gave me a real confidence boost, and some great practice of focus and holding that Ironman effort for an extended period. Make no mistake though, I chose to ride in the direction that would give me tailwind, and obviously this could have given me an over-inflated opinion of the speed I was capable of holding. But I've done Hawaii twice, and I have extremely clear memories of that headwind on the Queen K! See perspective on my bike expectations.

A huge bonus to come from riding on Friday was that I could do a longer swim set on Saturday, and I banged out 5 x 1 km (plus change) relatively easily, and at a pretty decent pace. I followed that up with a 2.5 hr long hill run, which although not particularly fast, felt strong. The legs are definitely coming back.

VO2 max and Perspective 

First my conversation with Dr Mitch, who is an ex pro triathlete, and world 12 hr cycling record holder. When I discussed what had happened last week, he seemed to think I thoroughly cooked myself in the race in Cebu, although the effects of that didn't show up until later. A timely reminder to review my hydration strategy for Kona. I didn't pee for 13 hrs on race day in Cebu (so about 7 hours post race), which means I seriously under-did my hydration. It's easy to assume that after 9 Ironmans, 6 of which were in hot conditions, I would have dialed in my hydration strategy. But I think as our bodies change, so does the way we function in the heat. I am a lot heavier than in the past, and I probably needed more fluid in Cebu than I had realised. The whole situation has given me the opportunity to reassess my hydration plan, and to make sure I am on top of it for Hawaii.

The VO2 max test was interesting, frustrating and a little disappointing. I won't go into enormous detail, but it came out to be around 48, which I thought was pretty poor. Pete came to the rescue to give me some perspective (before I completely lost the plot) and found some charts that indicate it's not too bad. But (as is always the case on the bike for me), I felt like my legs failed way before my heart or lungs did - my max heart rate for the test was 153 bpm; incredibly low for most people. Another issue I had with the results was that I seemed to have a pretty low point at which I stopped burning fat, and switched to carbohydrate, despite having worked on my fat-burning capacity for years. Again, I won't go into an enormous amount of detail on this, but after reaching out to a few knowledgeable people in this field, this "crossover point" as it is known can be affected by a number of things on the day. What it did indicate to me was that my use of strategic carbohydrate on race day will be even more likely to help my performance, and I will look at my nutrition plan with that in mind.

I guess the other bit of perspective I gained was around my potential bike performance. I've always considered the bike my weak leg. But in IM New Zealand, I really had a breakthrough and my bike result was one of my strongest. But your VO2 max is really what determines what you are capable of. That results, and what I managed in my one way epic, although it was a good day, made me realise i'm not suddenly going to rock up to Kona and produce an uber-biker result. In 2011 I went under 6 hrs. But I've heard that year was one of the fastest for the bike results in the past decade. I am confident I can substantially improve on my 6.33 of 2015, however, and I guess anything faster than midway between those 2 times would be pretty good. So I guess that's goal number one - sub 6.15 for the bike.

The last bit of perspective I had was about distance and time. Early on in an Ironman build, the thought of a 5 hour ride seems crazy to me. On Friday, I was so in the zone, so focused on that ride, the time flew by. Then, hitting the pool for 5 x 1 km the next day, seemed like a breeze. I really love that in the past week or so, my brain has kicked into race prep mode properly, and my focus seems to have really come to the fore. I received the next 4 weeks program from my coach tonight. There are some massive weeks ahead, and I was so excited to see them!
The best session?
Friday September 29th: Swim 2 km of choice.
Why is that the best?
Because it will be in Kailua Bay in KONA!!!

The week's stats: 6 weeks to go