Fun With Power Meters and TRX Time!

So after an all too brief 48 hour stop at home I'm now back on the road.  This time in West Palm Beach.  Those 48 hours went by quickly....

Monday I spent the entire day fighting my way through airports to get home from LA.  I finally landed in bed around 1am tuesday morning.

Tuesday I finally got back in the pool with mixed results...

Wedneday I got Cannon all put back together with my new power meter and got to work putting in a spin workout.  The plan was ten minutes of easy spin, 20 minutes of a mild to moderate effort, and then 10x1 min @ 200+watts, followed by 1 minute of rest.  All this was done on the trainer parked indoors as its still damn cold out and the roads are still covered in salt.  I can definitely say I'm thrilled with my purchase of a power meter.  What a difference!  No it doesn't make you go faster or feel any more motivated to train.  But it does give you a way to compare yourself to other rides and other riders with an even playing field that leaves out every other factor.  Realizing just how hard it is to do intervals at over 200 watts after not being on the bike for a long time makes me truly appreciate the effort a pro traithlete puts in averaging 250 watts + in a 112 mile Ironman ride.  Incredible!  But the really important thing about that workout is that I was more tired from that workout than any other indoor bike workout I've ever done.  Just look at the heartrate data and you can see how hard I was working.  So I'm looking forward to more time with it as I think its going to push my cycling to a whole new level.  At least thats my hope.  Here's the graph from my first session with the power meter.

So after an hour spin on the bike I rushed about to get packed to head to my next business trip.  I spent the evening rushing about trying to get a few last minute workout gadget things dealt with and then spent the rest of the evening with the girl.  Our original plan was to getup at 5am and swim this morning before I had to take off to the airport.  But I decided I hated the thought that we'd only gotten to spend two evenings together after me being away constantly and said I'd rather we spend the morning sharing coffee and breakfast together instead of sharing a pool lane.  And I'm glad I made that choice as it was nice to have that time together....

The rest of the day then became rather chaotic.  Two plane rides later I landed in West Palm beach to a text message saying that the event setup that was supposed to be tomorrow was not going to be today.  So I went straight from the airport the venue and had to rush through 5 or so hours of setup before we were done with everything that apparently had to be done before tomorrow morning.

From there it was off to the crappy hotel the client is putting us up in with a 10' long pool and a fitness center that includes a treadmill from 1972, a recumbent bike, and a few free weights.  Not so great for training!

So whats a guy to do?  Well...   this actually happens quite often for me.  So I decided to be proactive about this situation and try and come up with a workout I can do anywhere.  So I ordered up a TRX Suspension trainer after a recommendation from some friends along with their "door anchor" that you can use to attach the device to any sturdy door.  So today I did my first TRX strength training workout.  I have to say I'm really impressed with it.  Definitely a great workout.  I have some form issues to workout to get the most out of it but for my first crack at it I think its going to be a great super portable solution.  Below is an image of the door anchor which is a strap you essentially just close the door on with a big blocky thing on the other end that cant pull through the door frame.  Simple, but works quite well.

And heres the TRX hanging from the hotel room door.  Since I'm stil new to the TRX I ripped the DVD workout it came with to my computer and then stuck it on my ipad so wherever I go I can do the workout on the DVD until I learn enough about it do setup my own routines.

So after the TRX workout is all done its time for my phsyical therapy excercises and then I need to start hunting for a pool somewhere out here.  Tomorrow I'm also going to check out the beach near the venue and probably bring my wetsuit with me too and see if I can get some open water time in out here.  I'll be by myself so I'll stay close to shore and be carefull.  But if conditions look ok I'm definitely going to go for it.  So with any luck I'll get a bunch of training in while I'm out here.  At least I hope so.

Ok...   time to get all that done and then collapse into bed.  I'm beat!