Road Trip with Dan to Carmichael Training Systems in Tucson....and more...

That Orange is Me!

Pat's Run

ASU Stadium Finish

Last friday was the most important day of this year (so far!) for me when it comes to Triathlon...Blood Lactate Threshold Testing (LT) at CTS in Tucson.   Dan Cadriel (aka Ponch, the Mayor of Triathlon in Phoenix...) is now coached by CTS, and luck would have it, he was needing some testing as well...road trip!  We met up in Ahwatukee can made the journey to Tucson chatting about all sorts of things---Dan is an amazing guy and a stud of an athlete, and I cherish his friendship.  He is gearing up for IM Coeur d'Alene on June 26th, and HE WILL be making the trip to Kona with me---positive thoughts!  It would be so cool to share my first trip to Kona with him, and I can already see Dan, Carlos Mendoza, and I working through the pain together out on the marathon course over there...no pressure Dan!

When it comes to testing, I am more nervous than on any race day morning---testing is scientific, and the numbers never lie.  Last LT was done in September...and we had to pretty much throw out the results because I was overtrained--I couldn't get my heart rate over 135!  Obviously the overtraining worked (right after that testing I rode 400 miles in 3 days from SF to Santa Barbara---OVER over trained!), but now there are no excuses as we are in pre season, Chris has a firm idea on where I am, and it is up to me to execute the workouts
correctly (which sometimes I obviously don't).  So if these results were not successful, I would be writing and entirely different entry here about how stupid I am and how I am just wasting time training harder not smarter (well, I hope I am training harder AND smarter!).  These races like Pat's Run were worrying me, because I throw them in without much thought, and when the workout for the day is really a 2 hour ride with a 90 minute run to follow, I am obviously shooting off course, not knowing what the fallout will be (but I had to do it...the girls at work entered and I really enjoyed seeing them on my second lap on the course!).

Raw Data

Okay, so on to the testing.  How this works is I ride a stationary bike (in this case called a Velotron--see pic on the left!).  After a 10 minute warmup, we increase the power/wattage 25W every 3 minutes (side note: Chris likes every 4, but I didn't want to rock the boat...but will next time!).  The goal of the test is to see how Lactate builds up in my blood as the wattage increases, and this is checked with a prick of my finger near the end of every 3 minute interval (no rest in between, the W simply goes up at a defined time)..they also record Heart Rate at this time to have a HR reference to the wattage.  There is too much data from this test to write here (think Krebs Cycle), but here are the basics: at what wattage & heart rate do I reach Lactate Threshold?  With this data, we can precisely set my heart rate zones (the 220 - your age thing DOES NOT apply!).   So, as you can tell from above, the testing went well (I even got a text from Chris "great numbers!").  Lactate Threshold is simply the point at which you start to accumulate Lactate as your body now cannot keep up with removing "the poison."  Looking at the graph, I can now push anything less than 275W and be in a somewhat "comfortable" effort---if you don't know, that's is PLENTY of power ;-)

So what does "great numbers" mean?  Here is the science behind it:

"Z2" 175-225w l 110-120HR//run 120-127HR  (previously: 180W was Z2; HR is lower)
"Z3" 225-260w l 120-130HR//run 127-135HR  (previously: 200W was Z3; HR is lower)
"Z4" 260-290w l 130-160HR//run 135+  (previously: 220W "ish")

Carmichael Zones

Data Graphed...

The basics of this mean that at the same heart rate, I am able to produce more power (stronger...) on the bike, and with the run zones coming down a bit, I am also more efficient.  What the numbers don't show: I can also work more efficiently at lower heart rates, so if I was running a 7 min/mi pace before at 135, I am now running a 7 min/mi at 127.  The "ah-ha" on that is, before I was running 7:00 in zone 3, and now I am in zone 2 at the same pace (zone 2 obviously being easier than zone 3).  Don't read into the CTS zones as I follow Chris's philosophy as I know it works for me and everyone else he coaches.

So what is next?  Looking at the graph, the goal is to get the Orange Line to move to the right (getting LT to occur at a higher wattage), and to get the portion of the curve that starts the upward trend before the Orange Line to flatten out a bit (we want a steeper curve, but a longer flat section before the line).  Essentially what that means is that I want to not build those small increases of Lactate up before I hit LT as that disturbs my ability to work below LT.

So there you have a very simplistic interpretation of what the LT Test is for---OVER simplified!  I could go into detail on what your body is doing before and after LT (think Krebs Cycle, ATP, Pyruvate, Lactic Acid AND Lactate (HUGE difference!)...)

Knowing now where my zones are, it's time to focus and nail the workouts!  Saturday was a 4 Hour Bike/75 minute Run Brick with intervals on the bike (3 x 30' in Zone 3)...all was great!  If I can just 1) stay healthy/injury free 2) avoid burnout 3) avoid over-trainng 4) keep home life great 5) keep work busy....I am good to go!  It sounds too easy!  Next stop, Rio Salado Olympic Tri on May 7th...

I will follow this entry with some photos and video from the testing itself in the next few days...stay tuned!!!