Second Tests

This, the third week of training, calls for the tests in all three sports to gauge progress. Results are thus:

	Week 1	Week 3
	6-Nov	20-Nov
Weight	147	143.6
Resting BP	108/72	108/71
Resting HR	68	61
Test Run	10:25	10:28
Run Pace	6:58	7:01
Test Bike	16:21	18:13
Bike Pace	18.4	16.5
Test Swim	22:08	22:04
Swim Pace	2:12	2:12

Yeah. Weight down 3.4 pounds. He doesn't need to lose weight. He's 5'10" and has 6% bodyfat, fer god's sake. He needs to eat more if he's going to work out this much. That doesn't mean he can eat any junk that comes along, of course. It'll still be the whole, natural stuff he eats now. Just more of it.

Resting BP. The same. Already low, so that's ok. Resting HR down. I like to see that. I hope that's really a downward trend and not just a difference due to a normal daily variation. Next few tests will prove this.

The run. Slower by 3 seconds. I attribute that to a headwind on test day that wasn't there for the first test. Also, the course could have some variation in it. I start him, then ride the bike down the bike trail until my Forerunner says 1.5 miles, then set up a finish line for him. I may have gone a yard or two farther. Who knows? I think it's safe to say that he's not any faster yet. He felt nauseous several times during the run, so he needs to increase his fitness to see a faster time.

Then there's the bike. This bike test says, 'warm-up 20 minutes, then ride 5 miles on a flat course as fast as possible.' Simple enough, right? What he actually did was ride fast from the get go to the bike path. Then, once he made it to the bike path he rode up it, fast, for four miles. Then he turned back and started the 5-mile test, into the wind. So he blew out his legs riding fast for a good 10 miles with no warmup, then did the test into the wind whereas the initial test was with the wind. Useless, in other words. Honey, honey, honey. What were you thinking? I need to figure out how to get the concept of SLOW, EASY WARMUP into his head.

I'd like him to repeat this bike test but he's got other training to do. I know he's riding faster. We'll see just how much at the next test, maybe.

At last, we have the swim. His time is only a touch faster, but he said he felt a world of difference in his comfort level. That's what Total Immersion does for you. You may not get a bit faster, actually, but the experience is so much more effortless that you have plenty of energy left for the bike and the run. Your overall event time should be faster. Basta is now bilateral-breathing like a champ. His body is straight, not angled. He breathes by rolling his head gently to the side, no more straining to breathe. This is a fantastic improvement in such a short time.

He can still improve quite a bit, though. He rolls well onto his left side but his right remains too flat. He crosses his arms in front of his face rather than reaching forward and pulling. He kicks too much. I keep telling him he's kicking and he says he's not kicking. But he is. In fact, every fifth stroke or so he throws in this little bent-knee whippy-kick with one leg. I videoed him with my phone as he swam last time so he can see this. "Huh," he said. "I guess I do kick."

Also, in this swim test, he slowed down every few laps. His first lap was done in 51 secs. The next few were just over a minute. By the time he got to the end, 20 laps, he was doing 1:11 laps. So he just needs more fitness there, too. Good thing. It's early and he will increase that every day.

This week marked the end of his "Prep" phase, too. His weekly hours start to go up from here. This week he needs to do 12 hours of workouts. Two hours more than last week. Longer distances, somewhat higher intensity.