End of Week 4 - 24 weeks to go

Major accomplishment this week was performing an FTP (Functional Threshold Power) test on the bike.  New this year to me is training and racing with Power Meter on my bike.  The PM measures the force you apply to the peddles.  When you know your FTP (the power you can put out for an hour), then you can use that power metric to determine power zones to train in, and ultimately race in.  The goal, knowing the Power range that I will race in that will give me the maximum output and bike time that will give me my best marathon.  This is so much better than using HR or using perceived effort Power is just that, Power....no matter the terrain, the conditions, etc.  HR and perceived effort has so many factors.  If say I determine that my power in the Ironman is 215, then whether I'm on a flat road, going up a hill, or into the wind, if I maintain power at 215, then I'm good

The FTP test is warming up for around 45 mins, then going all out for 30 minutes.  The average power number is my FTP.  And now I have my power zones 1 - 5 that I'll do different workouts in.  This week's volume was still pretty light, and I missed a run due to hardwoods being installed and had to miss a run to get everything back into place after they were done. This next week will be a slight recovery week (every 4 weeks), then the volume will start to increase.  This week's numbers:

Mon = AM Swim 2734 yards,  PM Run 2 miles, 45 mins of legs/lats/abs lifting
Tue =  AM Bike Trainer, PM Run 5 miles
Wed = AM Swim 2242 yards
Thur = PM Bike FTP Test, 1:21 hours
Fri = AM Swim 2953 yards, PM 1 mile warmup run, 1 hour legs/lats/abs lifting
Sat = AM Run 6.5 miles
Sun = AM Bike Trainer 2 hours

SWIM = 7929 yards
BIKE = 4:06 hours (no outside miles, cold)
RUN = 14.5 miles (missed a run)