Of Mice and Marathons

PM: 120' on the trainer. 222W. HR 141. 

First CoachCat workout, which was just zone 2 for approximately 2 hours, which was fine. Warm up and cool down for 5' each and right toward the upper middle of zone 2. Trying to get some strength training scheduled.

PM/Evening: 120' on the trainer. 227W. HR 154.

3 x 20' Tempo

I dislike tempo intervals as I prefer to do them in a solid block of at least an hour, but this stacks with a sweet spot workout tomorrow, so it is plenty hard enough. HR was high from my cold, but manageable.

275W @ 165 BPM; 274W @ 168 BPM; 279W @ 169 BPM

Heart rate was approximately 5-10 beats higher than normal. Perceived effort felt right though.

AM/Lunch: 120' on the trainer. 239W. HR 152. 

4 x 12' Sweet Spot

Pretty decent workout. 306W @ 168 BPM; 308W @ 168 BPM; 306W @ 171; 313 @ 172. I felt pretty good on this one. Slightly tired, but the effort was good. 

+ strength session 

I went to the gym after to do an introductory session and it went something like: 

3 x 8 squats on the Smith Machine (bar, bar, 20# added)

2 x 15? leg press machine (no added weight)

2 x 15 Lat pulldown @ 40#

2 x 30" each planks and captain's chair

I have been wanting to do some leg work, something I never really did as a runner because I was afraid to, but apparently cyclists do it. The lat pulldowns were kind of weird in the mix, but supposed to hit some of the stability muscles for cycling, so I went with the planned workout. 

I am going to try to do 2-3 strength sessions a week, mostly after harder sessions time permitting to make sure easy days are easy.

Off. 

Per the training plan. I did not want to take it, but I will attempt to take days off when scheduled. 

AM: ~120' on the trainer.

Dirty Mitten Racing League Prologue 

I was sort of looking forward to this race and sort of not as I enjoy the racing, but want to stick to my training, but I had a lot of fun with it in November and December, so I figured I would do it in January, but probably not February but maybe March.

Three shorter racing for team drafting purposes. 

25' up/35' down.

22:56 @ 279W (291 normalized) HR 171

23:44 @ 253W (274 normalized) HR 169

13:44 @ 276W (293 normalized) HR 168

Second race had a very long neutral start and we futzed around even after that for some reason. Not great racing, but some decent efforts. HR was peaking into the mid- to upper-180s suggesting my cold is still in my system or I am out of shape or both. This will get us rolling. 

Went to the gym after.

Lunch: Weights and strength training 

3 x 12 squats on the Smith machine (added 10# to the first set and then 10# more for the second and third)

3 x 12 @ 45# lat pulldowns

5' on the Stairmaster waiting for the leg press machine

3 x 12 leg press machine (I added weight, but I don't recall what they were)

Captain's chair

AM/Lunch: 6.2 miles, averaged 11:26. HR 127.

Recovery. Decided I needed to get outside. Today was a recovery day for the bike, but I thought getting outside would be good. It was okay. Cold, windy, and a decent amount of snow on the pathways. 

Just kind of running when I can I guess. It isn't going anywhere anyway. Think I am done with trying to get back into running shape and running competitively. I don't know. 

Off.

Scheduled rest day. The boys have been very challenging since we got home. I have not been handling it well. 

AM: 90' on the trainer. 240W. HR 152.

2 x 15' Sweet Spot

304 watts (171 BPM) and 307 watts (174 BPM); Pretty solid session. Tested some Formula 369 carb mix. It tastes okay. Definitely not as good as FLOW.

AM: 60' on the trainer. 139W. HR 104.

AM: 90' on the trainer. 238W. HR 153.

4 x 12' Tempo Intervals

273, 274, 272, 277 (HR 159-168)

I think this was the day I did a gym session, but it has been so long since I have updated and things have been so crazy I don't recall. Trying to do Fridays and Sundays when I have harder sessions as I have more time in the morning.

PM: 60' on the trainer. 144W. HR 107.

AM: 2 hours on the trainer. 

Dirty Mitten Racing League Stage 2

73' @ 287 Watts, 174 BPM

Solid race. 4th for the Cs, so I felt decent about that. I chased, but the leaders were too far off. Decently happy with the effort. Probably could have pushed a little bit, but I am trying to push just to hit numbers and race.

Lunch: 60' on the trainer. 136W. HR 105. 

It was nice to get in a recovery ride after class.

Lunch: 60' on the trainer.

20' FTP Test

It didn't go well. These are so hard. I Lost confidence and kind of lost my head this day. Things were already trending downhill. Just have to go with where I am at. I think my FTP from TrainerRoad is set way too high anyway. 311 Watts @ 177 BPM. About 320 watts for the first half and around 300 for the second half. I knew I couldn't hold the suggested 330-340, but I thought maybe I could do 320-325 as I had done an interval somewhat recently around 310-319 for 10' or so in the middle of an interval session. Not the case.

Evening: 90' on the trainer. 219W. HR 139.

3 x 8' Sweet Spot: 275 (155), 276 (157), 279 (160).  

These were a good deal easier with about a 10 % drop in FTP, but solid effort. Feels about right anyway.

Lunch: 60' on the trainer. 193W. HR 130.

Anxiety and mental health have been challenging the last 7-10 days. Struggling.

AM: 60' on the trainer. 181W. HR 138.

Dirty Mitten Racing League Climb Portal Stage 

Tried to get after it, but I didn't get a power-up or any drafting, so I was shy of trying to chase the 12:33 I set out to try to take down. Managed 329 watts for 13:11 @ 176 BPM.

Anxiety increasing today. Starting to get unmanageable. Tried to call to get a doctor's appointment, but I called too late. Oh well. I'll call Monday.

AM/Lunch: 3 hours 31' on the trainer. 232W. HR 157.

Did the Mega Pretzel in Watopia on Zwift. I had about a 4-hour ride planned, but with the TSS around 225-250, so I figured that wouldn't get quite at 4 hours given that I had some efforts. I ended up doing a long sweet spot effort and a shorter one, though I guess technically they are both long. The first one ended up being an hour because I was using a hill segment, but got confused as it didn't record or the route changed from what was planned. Anyway, ended up doing a full hour @ 275 watts (166 BPM) and another 32' @ 278 watts (168 BPM).

Mental health has been a bit rough the last few days, today in particular. Megan took the boys to see her parents to give me some time to myself, which was welcomed. The boys have just been spectacularly awful. Couple that with one of them throwing fits at the start of school and one who had to partially be put under to have some fillings done, it has been a bit of a week. 

I am trying to catch up on my blogging. Starting to fall behind again.

AM: ~2 hours on the trainer. 

Dirty Mitten Racing League Stage 3

After a longer effort yesterday with some quality, I didn't really want to have to get after it this morning. It was about a 60' crit race, so I knew that the effort would not be consistent, which I was fine with and I tried to be conservative, not lead, and just cover moves as necessary. It worked mostly well, until I missed the jump and went in 8th, off first by 3-4 seconds. 63' @ 258 watts @ 161 BPM.

20' up/40' down.

Boys were challenging, then Sawyer ended up getting sick around bedtime and was sick several times in the night. We have actually been very fortunate how little we have had this happen. Charlie and Megan are fine and I am.

PM: 60' on the trainer. 129W. HR 140.

PM: 90' on the trainer. 228W. HR 146.

4 x 8' Sweet Spot Bursts

Interesting workout in which you get out of the saddle hard for about 5 seconds every two minutes and settle back into the intervals. It is supposed to help you practice covering gaps in racing and then settling back into your race effort. Harder than I thought, but not terribly hard.

AM: 120' on the trainer. 214W. HR 140. 

4 x 10' Criss Cross Tempo/Sweet Spot

Another workout I haven't really done. 4 (4' tempo, 1' sweet spot x 2). Nice way to get in a session and some time. 

The boys didn't have school today due to weather, so it was an interesting week when we were all home.

AM: 2 hours 10' on the trainer. 198W. HR 125.

AM: 180' on the trainer. 204W. HR 130.

Got up to get on the trainer at 5:55AM on my birthday. Turned 40 today, which makes me officially a masters runner and probably time to use that as a new starting point for running to bring thing into perspective. 

I had a solid day and Megan and I got to go to dinner ourselves, which was great. She got me Jason Isbell tickets, which I actually kind of guessed. I have been wanting to go see him for about 5 or 6 years since I started listening to him. 

AM: ~2 hours on the trainer. 

DIRTy Mitten Racing League Omnium Races

This was a lot of fun, though somewhat chatoic logistically, changing bikes and the like. After the first two efforts I was really glad the third and fourth events were not eyeballs out. I was pretty smoked after the first two events.

23' up, 13:38 @ 295W (163 BPM) for the handicap race, which was pretty fun, though would have been better if you could actually see what other riders were on. 14:22 @ 300 W (171 BPM) for the hill climb. I was dying. I figured I would not survive if we continued the effort. The team pursuit thankfully was much easier as we worked to bring some of the slower riders across the line as fast as possible, so a decent effort but not 100%. 14:55 @ 265W (161). We then did a team time trial down Alpe d' Zwift, which was just super funny. Flying downhill, then smash watts for a few seconds, steady, then smash watts. 30' cool down. 

AM: ~2.5 hours on the trainer. 

Dirty Mitten Racing League Finale 

I wasn't sure how my legs would feel after the series of shorter, intense races yesterday, but they were mostly pretty good. I wanted to put out between 285-290 watts for approximately an hour. Normalized power was there, but regular power was not. Covered some gaps when I needed to and tried to press here and there to create my own gaps. Didn't get any, but that was fine. Missed a late break and battled with a few other folks trying to break into the top 10 of the C/D group, but got passed at the line, which ticked me off a bit, but oh well.

59:13 @ 278 Watts @ 165 BPM

This concludes the second tour. I am unsure if I will do the February tour. I will likely skip it for my own stuff and see about the one in March, but maybe bandit a few races or something. I have enjoyed these, but it makes it hard to get longer stuff in. I just don't feel like doing much over an hour after the race to make up total volume/time. 

AM2: gym session. Lifted a good deal heavier than I have been for both the leg press and Smith machine. A woman about 70 lbs lighter than me was definitely squatting more. She wouldn't beat me in a bike race though.

Lunch: 7.5 miles, averaged 10:45. HR 128.

First run as a masters runner. Only my second run this month. Needed some air and sun and it felt good. Pathways were decent. Snow covered in places, with only a few annoying sections. Good recovery. I was pretty sore in the hamstrings and glutes from yesterday's lifting session. I don't think I overdid it. I think it was just right. I have been trying to be cautious and introducing lifting in a way that doesn't give me an insurmountable injury. 

Felt pretty mentally sound today and the last few days, but today in particular. Boys were back in school and I was back teaching after the series of cancellations last week, so I think that helped. Some of the issues of the previous week with going to school are much improved, so I feel like I can deal with other life stuff adequately. 

Thinking I might try to get in what running I can and try some shorter races this spring and summer and try to rebuild speed off of low mileage with high volume cycling. I have no idea if this will work or how well, but I need to take almost all pressure off my running as my cycling is the primary focus. The idea is if I just don't stress about it, then I might surprise myself. 

I enjoyed the run today, so this ticked a lot of boxes. 

AM: 90' on the trainer. 221W. HR 135. 

4 x 10' Sweet Spot

272 (150), 274 (151), 272 (150), 280 (152). My HR never got above 159, which was good. With my FTP drop these were very manageable, but I got some work in.

Evening: 7 miles on the treadmill, averaged 9:52. HR 139.

5' progressions from 5.0-7.2 MPH. Legs are pretty smashed from lifting on Sunday on top of the races and moving into the week's workouts and running. Oof. Had a decent day with the boys and then just lost it right before Megan got home as the boys were trying to get me worked up. I held off for a while, then it got to me. Trying. Struggling. I wasn't sure I would be able to focus and run, but I was able to thankfully.

AM: 120' on the trainer. 206W. HR 134. 

Up around 5AM or so. Did a handful of sprints. My legs are quite smashed up still.

AM: 90' on the trainer. 224W. HR 135.

3 x 15' Criss Cross Tempo/Sweet Spot

3 Sets of 3(4' tempo + 1' sweet spot).

PM: 4.5 miles, averaged 10:51. HR 134. 

Went to check on some construction at the intersection north of us and to look around at some of the pathways. Still some slippery spots, but mostly good.

PM: 10.4 miles on the treadmill, averaged 8:41. HR 155.

3 x 10' Strong Aerobic Pace + 5' Hard

I went to Oakland in the morning to get out of the house and the pleasantness of my children. Managed to efficiently get some work done. Strange. I need to make this a practice on Fridays. 

Decided I wanted to get a workout done even though it was supposed to be a recovery or off day. I did manage to sleep around 10 hours or so, which was excellent. 

Progressive warmup starting at 5.0 MPH and working to 7.5 MPH before getting into the 10' intervals at 8.0. Ended up being the correct effort. Interval 1 = HR 167 Interval 2 = HR 169 Interval 3 = HR 170. I did the 5' interval at 9.1 and that was very hard. I could have lasted maybe one to two more minutes, but I was tapped out. HR hit a max of 187, which I haven't seen for a little bit. Interval 4 = HR 178.

I felt pretty good about this one as I haven't done a running workout since December? November? I don't recall. I kept this one fairly simple and just added the 5' interval because I felt like it. I'l try to progress this workout over the next several weeks. I'll probably add another 10' interval, progress them slightly, and then move the 5' interval down ever so slightly.