Of Mice and Marathons

Off.

Megan and I got smacked by the boosters. Ouch.

PM: 90' on gravel bike. 149W. HR 135.

Cleared myself to ride. It was way too nice out. Tricep was achy and sore. Elbow fine. Descending dirt road hills at speed is scary again. 

Not exacly sure, but I think I might have crashed in excess of 30 MPH. Hard to tell from different data sets.

PM: 2 hours 50' gravel bike. 199W. HR 159.

Gave it a hard effort for the Oakland County section of the Polly Ann. Took 4th (not a lot of people have harder efforts on the whole section). 55:40. 17.9 MPH. 250W. HR 168. Kept it pretty moderate for the next two hours. Beautiful out. Downhills still very scary.

PT session #10.

Lunch: 3.2 miles, averaged 9:48. HR 149.

Mentally all over the place. Can't concentrate on running and enjoying it. Making an effort to rebuild and do less riding I think. Hard because riding is more fun.

Meeting with the surgeon. He thinks PT has been too conservative, but they have been waiting for me to get clearance from him. He jacked my arm and showed me what was possible. I really wanted to punch him.

PM: 2+ hours on the fat bike @ Orion Oaks. 138W. HR 141.

Put some power meter medals on my bike. I really don't need them, but I want them for winter as a backup for the trainer, which apparently autocalibrates and I don't fully trust it.

It was really nice to be out on my fat bike. I had a good tuneup, which it hasn't had since I bought it. Orion Oaks is quite lovely in the fall.

Off.

Mom, Katie, and Delia arrived in the morning. I was in the middle of class and had to drive to Southfield to teach. Nice to have family when you aren't feeling great and your elbow is crap.

PM: 60' on the trainer. 185W. HR 139.

Planned on longer, but the buffalo chicken pizza from the night before got me.

PT session #12. Sore and stiff from Wednesday. Cranked up the intensity and it is very uncomfortable. 

PM: 60' on the trainer. 173W. HR 134.

Wanted more time but I think my stomach was still a mess or the boys were getting up. We did the boys' birthday stuff with my family. Sad to see them go tomorrow.

AM/Lunch: 2 hours 31' on the fat bike. 157W. HR 137.

A little at Orion Oaks, but it was too busy so I went out onto the dirt roads.

PM: 1 hour 15' fat bike. 158W. HR 146.

A bit around Orion Oaks. This was the day the boys got locked in the bathroom while I was gone. All fine, just one of those scary situations.

Off.

Caught my nieces cold, so I didn't exercise as this has been a very had thing in the past few years. It was beautiful out, so I was tempted. Ended up going to bed around 8:30 as I was getting overhwhelmed and anxious. This happens sometimes after seeing family. I don't get work done and then the pressure increases. Didn't eat much dinner other than what the boys didn't eat. Need to lose a numch of weight anyway. Listen to a few minutes of IT before shutting it down.

Struggling mentally a bit. Very different than it sometimes hits. Just a lot with my dad who has the kind of dementia you can do nothing about. Apparently rare (frontal lobe area). I am sure it is more that is bothering me, but it definitely showed up when my mom and sister were here.

AM: 120' on the trainer. 205W. HR 159.

15 x 90" w/ 30" recoveries

Felt better, but still should have taken the day off. These were hard. The first two were around 330W, but I knew that was unsustainable. I backed off and it still felt hard, but I worked through it. Right around 300-308W for the rest of the intervals. I was holding I think 320 for 3 x 10' about 8-10 weeks ago. Oh well. 

PT session # 14 this morning. Got measure for a JAS splint, which allows me to flex the elbow and hold it. I imagine that will require a few shots of whisky to work through. 

Mentally much better today and physically. Charlie has been sick. Sawyer had a runny nose for about a day and that was pretty much it.

Lunch: 3.6 miles, averaged 9:46. HR 156.

The boys turned 2 today. It feels pretty weird. They had yet another birthday party (this was one of I think three or so). 

Lunch/PM: 90' on the trainer. 231W. HR 167.

PT session # 15. Ouch. 65' tempo on the trainer, also ouch. Should have gone with an easier workout or tried to adjust my FTP. I was barely hanging on at the end. Definitely higher than tempo HR.

AM: 2 hours 13' on the fat bike. 176W. HR 147. 

Not a good ride. Just mentally not able to relax and enjoy it. Very windy and not enough pressure in my tires made it sloggy. I think this was the day we went to campus for the fall fest events with the kids. Quite chilly and windy, but we had fun.

AM: 3.5 miles, averaged 10:05. HR 150.

PM: 60' on the trainer. 183W. HR 143.

PT session #16. Pretty discouraged with the elbow. This was the day I decided to drop out of Ice Man. I might regret it, but it is just too difficult with the boys unless Megan stays home with them. I have too much work to do to be driving 3 hours to Traverse City, stay over night, race, then drive 3 hours home.

Lunch: 60' on the trainer. 186W. HR 136.

In the upper 30s and raining, so I skipped doing a run. Not interested in running in that kind of weather at this point in my life.

AM: 120' on the trainer. 194W. HR 141.

PT session #17. Some progress in PT and also fitness.

Lunch: 35' on the trainer. 192W. HR 137.

Rainy and cold, so I skipped running and did a similar effort and time on the trainer before driving to Southfield.

Lunch: 120' on the trainer. 188W. HR 142. 

PT session #18.

AM/Lunch: 3.8 miles, averaged 9:14. HR 157 + 90' on the trainer. 223W. HR 166.

5 x 5' @ 105%

About 310 watts for the harder intervals.

After the run, I got some electrolytes and got the boys down for their naps and jumped on the trainer. Very hard interval session. Didn't have it for the planned 6. Recoveries were 3'. I messed up on the 4th interval and advanced the workout after only 80" and that pretty much buried me for the 4th and 5th. Started the 6th but gave up. Recoveries needed to be at a lower wattage as well or should have left them open.

PM: 60' on the trainer. 111W. HR 107.

Very easy active recovery ride.

PM: 2 hours on the fat bike. 200W. HR 153.

Bald Mountain South + Orion Oaks. Both were busy with the nice weather.

Elbow was not ready for the slightly rougher terrain at BMS. Did a hot lap at Orion Oaks. Took 8th overall. Felt good to get out. I was quite anxious. Glad I didn't wait for the car to be dropped back off as they did so about 45' before I got home. 

Lunch: 3.9 miles, averaged 9:00. HR 152.

Felt pretty crappy, but I ran into one of the riding guys on Greenshield. Leaves are still quite lovely.

AM: 100' on the trainer. 236W. HR 157.

90' Tempo 

PT session #20 (I think). I wasn't sure about this session as I haven't retested for my FTP, but it went very well. Felt strong and the effort felt about right. I will try to repeat this over the next few weeks. Or try to. I tend to want to switch up workouts, when a perfectly good session can be repeated to build aerobic strength. 

Kind of a stressful second half of the day. Nothing in particular, just trying to do all the things. 

PM: 3.7 miles, averaged 9:30. HR 145. 

Felt decent. Ran after teaching in Southfield. Sunny and colder than early this week and the end of last, but we knew that wasn't going to stick around. 

AM: 1 hour 46' on the fat bike. 262W?! HR 150.

PT session #21. Pretty sure the power meter was off even with the steady effort and 7+-mile time trial on one of the Polly Ann segments. 

Seymour Lake to the start of the Polly Ann in 23:38. 18.7 MPH with stops. HR 172. 

Probably around 19MPH moving time. I will give it some welly on the gravel bike one of these days. The KOM is 23+ MPH, so that one is probably out of reach, but it's a fun section. 

AM/Lunch: 3 hours 13' on the gravel bike. 211W. HR 146.

Chilly but the air was still and the sun was out after the fog lifted. Took a while to kind of settle down and into the ride, but it was really solid. Just under 17MPH, which is decent for me when not riding in a group. Kept the power pretty steady. Cut through Stony Creek and came back on the MOT and Clinton River Trail. I haven't been on the MOT in a few years.

Looks like an incredible stretch of weather coming through (well, it is already kind of here).

AM/Lunch: 35' easy, averaged 9:13. HR 149.

Quite warm. Felt quite good. Trying to get a loop going in the neighborhood across from the middle school so I can zone out and get into a rhythm. Worked nicely. Gave Megan a hand with finishing up the boys' lunch and got them down for a nap and jumped on the trainer for a harder session to follow the easy run.

Lunch/PM: 60' on the trainer. 210W. HR 148.

5 x 3' w/ 90' recoveries

Origionally put this as a threshold session, but it is really V02 max by power. Decently tough. Could have done a few more but was working a bit. Started at 310 watts and went to around 335. Slight increase in minutes on my 3 x runs this week, which is welcomed as just today I feel like running longer. Will likely try to keep the bike pattern of easy rides with a midweek session, longer ride on Saturday, and a short, higher intensity session follow the easy run on Sunday. 

PM: 120' on the trainer. 205W. HR 141.

Boarstone on Trainer Road. Activated my Trainer Road account for some variety. I do like the clandar feature and the ability to look at the history of a workout. HR dropped out the last 8-10', but it ended up just averaging it out from where I was at, so close enough.

Running this week is picking up slighly to 2 x 40' and 1 x 35'. I imagine it will be a few weeks before these are maxed out at 65', which will likely necessitate rearranging my week as on Tuesday and Thursday I am running after putting the boys down but before I travel to Southfield. Trying to figure out what the minimum amount of riding I will eventually want to give up in the interest of adding more running back in. Two rides, one quality session and one longer ride seems about right, but that leaves 5 days of running and likely not of those doubling as the schedule just doesn't allow it. Not sure how fit I can get of 5 days. We will see.

We had a fun time with our friends and their daughter walking around the neighborhood. Megan had the boys dressed as lobsters, her a chef, and me with a lobster bib. Kind of macbre when you literalize the relationship but the boys had a lot of fun. Charlie wanted his costume off as soon as we got back, while Sawyer sat in his and they both ate a bag of chips. A memorable afternoon/evening.