Of Mice and Marathons

AM: 120' on the trainer. 225W. HR 135. 

3 x 12' Threshold

297 watts (154 BPM), 295 watts (157 BPM), 295 watts (158 BPM)

Slightly lower than the same workout a month about, about 3-5 watts but 8-9 lbs lighter, so I still think I am ahead. Going to be tough trying to push 315-320 for an FTP test next week I think. HR didn't get high, but breathing got up there a bit the last 90"-2'. Legs were decent. 

Lunch: 8 miles, averaged 8:33. HR 131. 

PM: 6.3 miles, averaged 8:48. HR 124. 

Two good, relaxed runs. Stride felt great and HR was excellent. 

PM: 120' on the trainer. 

Zwift Race: 35:22 @ 280 watts @ 161 BPM

I had an FTP test scheduled, but was nervous about it, so I figured a race around 25-30' might be better and I could go out hard for 20', die, and get my 20' test. I warmed up about 24' with a clearing effort and got into the race. I went out decently hard and found myself off the front and increasing my lead, so I stuck with it. I had a 10-15 second gap at one put but the guys behind me were pushing pretty hard to catch me and I got caught around the 12' mark. I hung on as well as I could and kept up with the chase pack, but my confidence was shot (even though I didn't expect to hold them off the whole race, I still kind of hoped I would). My power dropped throughout and the overall effort wasn't fantastic, but it was okay. 

Cooled down an hour mostly in zone 2. Felt good for that. I wasn't super happy with the effort, but I also haven't done many full gas efforts over 10-12' in about two months, so probably something to that along with the weight loss. 

24' up @ 209 watts @ 123 BPM; 61' down @ 200 watts @ 120 BPM

PM: 60' on the trainer. 139W. HR 92. 

Active recovery. I was going to get up early and run or ride, but I went back to sleep. It's been miserably cold and rainy, so I doubt I'll get outside today. Megan is going to Toledo to help her parents move on Saturday, so I am going to shuffle workouts around a bit. Tomorrow's weather looks good for TND but I am sure with all the rain the roads are going to be an absolute mess. Oh well. 

AM: 8 miles, averaged 7:56. HR 141. 

Felt great on my morning run and sub-8:00 to 7:30 pace feels easier than it has in years. No doubt the quality aerobic workouts over the last 8 weeks have made these feel much easier. 

PM: 90' on the trainer. 227W. HR 136. 

5 x 8' Threshold

A good session today. I didn't have much time between my run, but it is easier to ride closer to a run than it is to run close to a run. Warmed into the workout and got strong throughout, which was the point. Even got my HR out of the 160s!

300 watts (149 BPM), 299 watts (151 BPM), 306 watts (152 BPM), 311 watts (155 BPM), 310 watts (159 BPM)

Lunch/PM: 4 hours 35' (~80 miles @ 17.4 MPH). 208W. HR 124.

Really solid ride. About 50 new miles. More pavement than I expected, but I was looking for roads back east. Power and HR were very solid. Back over 200 watts, which is good. Not too much wind, not too cold and not too warm. Fueled pretty consistently and made a big difference. I did two heavy Maurten gels and 2 Precision gels. I didn maybe 40 oz of 90g carb drink mix. So maybe only 50g or so per hour. Those gels are about $5 a piece though. 

AM: 60' on the trainer. 140W. HR 92.

Early recovery ride. Megan is in Toledo for an undetermined amount of time today, but I will try to get a short recovery run in later as I haven't run as much as I would have liked this week, but I had to skip my long run yesterday to get my long ride in given the weather window we had.