Of Mice and Marathons

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. 

PM: 180' on the trainer. 237W. HR 145. 

2 x 40' Sweet Spot + 1 x 15' Sweet Spot

275W (HR 155), 275W (HR 158), 275 (HR 160)

Wanted to get in about three hours with some quality per the schedule, so I just used the terrain to do some long sweet spot stuff. It worked well, but the course was a bit too hilly in one spot. Once you get to 10-12% grade or in there, it doesn't work well because you run out of gears to keep the power in the right zone. Under that and it helps to hold consistent power. I was pretty pleased with this. HR seems to have settled back out over the last several days from the previous weeks when it was up a bit. 

Took the boys to an Oakland basketball game, which went well until it didn't as they were acting up. They did well at my brother-in-law's game last night and it was nice to get out.

I didn't eat much other than a double protein shake after the ride. Started to get quite tired when we got home and fell alseep on the couch for a short time. Went to get food and then felt very sick. Went to bed, but around 11:30 the GI system on boths ends was acting up. Just a bug I guess. Boys have been sick recently but at different times and that was a bit ago.