Of Mice and Marathons

Lunch: 120' on the trainer. 213W. HR 140.

PM: 70' on the trainer. 162W. HR 118.

Boys have been sick and we started to get sick, so it looks like I won't be running much or at least doing workouts. Just cannot build any consistency. Plenty of aerobic volume, but just cannot put 4-6 weeks of consistent workouts in.

Did not feel like getting up and just want to sleep but Megan was feeling pretty sick, so I told her to rest and I would take the boys for a while.

PM: 90' on the trainer. 186W. HR 126.

Off.

Figured I was sick enough and it was a good idea to rest. Last day of the regular semester at Lawrence Tech. Trying to get to bed early and get in a good nap to knock out this cold.

PM: 60' on the trainer. 170W. HR 115.

Feeling a little bit better. I was planning on taking days off until Wednesday, but I just cannot do that at this point in the semester. Kept it easy.

I've been watching 6 Feet Under. Really solid.

Found out that I will not have a class at Lawrence Tech this spring, but there is a possibility of a fifth class at Oakland, which we really need. Lawrence Tech isn't that much money, and I will just make budget cuts accordingly. 

AM: 60' on the trainer. 181W. HR 119.

Feeling slightly better. Better energy. Hopped on the trainer before a Zoom meeting. Tried to get up early to get in 120' but I fell back asleep. Megan was getting up with the boys anyway and she was in the guest bedroom as she has been coughing, so I was pretty well passed out.

Worked for a bit, went grocery shopping, took an almost two-hour nap. Body is definitely tired. I will try running maybe Friday or tomorrow depending on when I feel like it won't make my system worse.

PM: 60' on the trainer (White -5). 203W. HR 129.

Lunch: 60' on the trainer. 214W. HR 139.

Still sick. Making it hard to be motivated for pretty much everything including work. HR doesn't seem too elevated either at night or during exercise, which is weird.

Off.

Felt awful. Took the day off. Sickness and depression both flared up. 

Off. 

Given the illness a bit more time. Frustrated. Depressed.

PM: 70' on the trainer. 139W. HR 117.

First sign of elevated HR during exercise. Felt pretty awful. Mentally a mess. Feels different than the usal end of semester anxiety. 

Off.

Felt terrible. Just very cloudy and no energy. Feeling pretty miserable all around.

Lunch: 90' on the trainer. 194W. HR 137.

Energy much better and I was ready to exercise, so I got this in while the boys napped. Probably could have gone to 2 hours, but I was coughing and gagging. Decided that was enough. 

+ light core work and pullups 

Lunch/PM: 120' on the trainer. 211W. HR 146.

Rode while the boys were napping as Megan had an on-campus meeting. I wasn't sure they would sleep too long, but they did and I kept pedaling. I was going to try a short run, but realized it was getting late in the day and I wasn't going to have enough time before dark. I will likely try tomorrow. 

Mentally had a turnaround yesterday. Energy much better as well. Cold is up and down, but manageable. Need to get back running as I haven't run in two weeks almost. I just get really off track these days with different things. It made sense not to push it with whatever I have in my system as it was a similar crud that left me with a cough for 3-4 months in 2019 and early 2020. 

+ pull-ups, which I have been doing a lot of lately

Lunch/PM: 3 hours 24 minutes outside. 185W. HR 147.

Got a bit of work done in the morning and decided to ride outside as the conditions were quite nice with sun and temps in the 40s. I wont have too many more outside rides this year, so I figured I would get it in.

PM: 60' on the trainer. 204W. HR 146.

Still sick. Not really sure if this is ever going away. Two weeks of no running. Need to get rolling soon. Just easier to ride.

AM/Lunch; 68' on the trainer. 212W. HR 138.

PM: 6.2 miles, averaged 10:35. HR 131.

First run in a bit over 2 weeks. Felt good to get out. Breathing was just okay. Jumped on the trainer after.

PM2: 90' on the trainer. 211W. HR 141.

PM: 60' on the trainer (Bays). 220W. HR 146.

Spent a good deal of the day working and going back and forth with students over email. Got in 60' before picking up the boys. I was up until 2:00AM getting grades in. Not as good as my last few semesters. Oh well. Got it done before the 10:00 AM deadline.

Lunch: ~72' on the trainer. 

Zwift Race # 1 of 2023/2024 Season

Marking this as an arbitrary starting point. I do them here and there and was decently consistent early last winter. This was about a 30' race. Wanted to push harder at the beginning bit bike racing is very different than running races. I will likely try to repeat this race throughout the first few weeks of the next semester while the boys are napping as I did today.

20' up/20' down and 31:08 @ 275 wattts/168 BPM

Race was a pretty decent field with 122ish people. 

I was going to try to run when Megan got home, but I was pretty wiped out. Got my Lawrence Tech grades submitted and that felt good.

Lunch: 7 miles, averaged 9:17. HR 145.

Pretty nice out. Some slick spots, but mangeable. I was going to do the fat bike segment for the winter fat bike series, but just didn't feel like it even though it is only a few minutes away. Don't think I will get to it before we leave for Maine.

Felt generally decent on the run. Illness is finally gone I think. We are leaving for Maine on Friday. The boys are going to be in school one more day we decided, which I think is needed.

PM: 60' on the trainer. 211W. HR 145.

AM: 7.1 miles, averaged 9:09. HR 151.

PM: 60' on the trainer. 211W. HR 151.

Did 5' hard @ 327 watts. Packed for Maine, stayed up too late trying to get things done. Leaving for Maine around 4:00 AM.

Off.

Travel to Maine. I slept quite a bit. Boys did great. We got in around 8:45 I think. 

PM: 7.5 miles, averaged 8:40. HR 153.

Ran from my mom's house. Pretty good run. Slightly chilly but it felt good to get some air. 

PM: 10.2 miles, averaged 9:00. HR 146.

First few with Megan, which was nice. I do not recall if we have run together at my mom's house since the boys were born. It was been a while anyway. Did a loop around town, stopping at the cemetery to look for Dad's headstone, but I couldn't remember exactly where it is, so I just figured I would go with Mom. Lots of hills. Feels good to log some miles. I will try to get this route in tomorrow and Tuesday and hopefully Wednesday. I think we are leaving on Thursday. 

Off.

The boys had a good Christmas. They were definitely more into this year. I should have run in the afternoon but didn't and thus began my pattern of not running in Maine. Did well to get in two days and it was nice to run a few miles with Megan. 

Off.

Megan ran, I napped. Should have just done a short run with her.

Off.

Last day in Maine.

Off.

Travel to Utica, New York where we often seem to stop off on the way back. The boys did fantastic both to and from Maine. We could not have been happier. 

Off.

Travel back to Michigan. 

PM: 60' on the trainer. 188W. HR 141.

PM: 180' on the trainer. 211W. HR 153.

Pretty good cap to the year. I ended up going to bed around 11:00. I had a few drinks and figured I would probably have more if I stayed up, so I decided I wanted sleep more than that. A solid choice.