Of Mice and Marathons

PM: 2 hours 3' on the fat bike (34.2 miles @ 16.6 MPH). 215. HR 130.

Felt kind of blah when I got up from my nap. I think I was bummed I didn't leave myself room for a proper long ride. It was cool, almost cold and it took me most of the ride to warm up. Did well to ride close to 17MPH on the big bike, which was somethign to be happy about though I spent much of the ride unable to releax and fully enjoy it. Felt better at the end.

Lunch/PM: 11.2 miles on the treadmill, averaged 8:30. HR 140.

Minutes progression: 10' @ 6.2, 15' each @ 6.5, 6.7, 7.0, 7.5 and 20' @ 8.0 then 5' @ 6.7. Got this in while the boys napped. The nap was calling my name, but I didn't give in.

PM: 60' on the trainer. 224. HR 129.

AM: 13 miles, averaged 7:39. HR 158.

8-mile Aerobic Builder

7:01 (162), 6:56 (166), 6:54 (169), 6:54 (170), 6:53 (171), 6:51 (172), 6:51 (174), 6:42 (176)

6:52 pace @ 170 BPM. This was my first run outside in about two weeks. Weather has been much better, but I just got into a treadmill groove (or is it a rut?). Decided to go off of prescription and do this classic workout to test some comparative data. This was no doubt faster than what I would have done on the treadmill (planned to start around 8.3 or what I think is 7:15 and finish up at 9.1, which is around 6:35 or 6:38 pace). So faster through the early part and about on target for the end. 

3 up/2 down

I was pretty tired at the end. I haven't done a sustained workout at this effort for some time. I probably could have gone a touch easier, but the effort was on par with what I have done for this workout in the past, going on a decade or so now.

I looked over a few blog entries from this time in 2015 looking for magic formulae. I do look back at entries from time to time. I do feel like I am not moving forward fast enough and I am running out of faster running years, so I am doing what seems to have worked in the past until I need to change my approach I think.

PM: 

PM: 2 hours 18' on the fat bike (34.9 @ 15.2 MPH). 192W. HR 135.

I was feeling unmotivated to run, unlike yesterday. Felt kind of blah and I had too much pressure in my tires. Still waiting to get my gravel bike back. I went to Friendship Park and did the small loop trails there and had fun.

AM/Lunch: 2 hours 7' on the fat bike. 181W. HR 137.

Rode to Addison Oaks after whetting my appetite for trails yesterday. Did almost the full loop and didn't have enough time for another. I tried to do the loop on my gravel bike in 2020, but my shifter battery died and Megan came to pick me up. Tried in 2022 some time I think, but it had just rained and was greasy. Not sure why it has taken me this long to make it back as it isn't that far away and it is mostly urban trail and dirt roads to get there. 

PM: 120' on the trainer. 248W. HR 148.

75' Sweet Spot Tempo @ Ideal 3-Hour Power

Did 4 hard laps of the Volcano Flat course in Watopia: Lap 1 = 283 Watts @ 153 BPM; Lap 2 = 281 Watts @ 161 BPM; Lap 3 = 284 Watts @ 164 BPM; Lap 4 = 287 Watts @ 168 BPM

Watched a video on gravel racing and how workouts and racing are different than other kinds of racing (aside from the obvious) and it brought up some metrics that made sense to me, similar to the way that in running we have a 2-hour pace or aerobic threshold. 3 hour pace is marathon pace for relatively fit people and 4 hour pace is about 50k pace for relatively fit people, so for longer events it make sense to to think in and work with these metrics.

I had planned a longer ride, but was tired and took a very long nap. I was going to do a wave tempo that I have done a few times in the past few months, but decided to keep pressing if I felt good and my HR stayed down to keep it steady rather than floating the recovery laps at tempo. It worked quite well and I set my second best power for 1 hour @ 283 watts. I have only gone higher in Zwift race. I was pleased with the effort. I might have been able to do on emore 18' lap, but not sure. Definitely not 2. I will use a different course when I do this again I think. 

AM/Lunch: 17 miles on the treamill, averaged 8:03. HR 149.

60' Steady

15' @ 8.0, 15' @ 8.2, 15' @ 8.4, 15' @ 8.6

Did an hour of progressive warmup and did an hour steady, trying to taregt 155-163 BPM heart rate. I drifted beyond that a bit, but that was okay. 2 hours and 17' of total time. Longest run in some time and longest treadmill run in a few years.