Of Mice and Marathons

AM: 6.4 miles, averaged 10:12. HR 136. 

Smoke from the Canadian forest fires is back by thankfully not too bad yet. Hoping it is just one day and not a whole week or so of it like last time. Hoping to get on the trainer for an easy hour to round out a total of 16 hours this week between running and cycling. Summer is getting short. Almost 50 miles last week, so that is decent. Need to run more days to get the mileage up I guess. 

PM: 60' on the trainer. 201W. HR 128.

Katie and I took the boys to Legoland. They were pretty excited about some of the exhibits/displays, which surprised me. 

AM: 6.7 miles, averaged 9:41. HR 134.

PM: 60' on the trainer. 214W. HR 128.

Heart rate seemed low today, but maybe that just means I am building fitness. 

AM/Lunch: 6.7 miles, averaged 9:47. HR 135.

The boys slept in their toddler beds for the first time last night. My sister finished assembling what I started weeks ago and never finished. I have run the last 7 days, which I haven't done since pre-2020 I am fairly certain.

PM: 60' on the trainer. 208W. HR 128.

AM: 10.6 miles, averaged 8:46. HR 158. 

20' (5') - 10' (5') - 2 x 5' (3')

Sawyer was stirring early so I put him in bed with me and slept for a bit and got Charlie up and went back to bed for a while and my sister nicely did breakfast with the boys.

It was starting to get a bit warm, so I tried to keep HR in check. Air was fairly dry and comfortable, the sun just felt very strong. Figured based on recent efforts the pace wouldn't be spectacular. They weren't but weren't terrible. I am just finally now advancing the workouts beyond the schedule that I have gotten off of since March or April for various reasons. Happy to be pressing forward and hopefully building fitness. I've been beating my head against the wall for what seems like forever now. 

20' up/down

20' @ 7:34 (167)

10' @ 7:22 (173)

5' @ 6:59 (176)

5' @ 7:05 (176)

Megan comes home tonight and I am taking my sister back to the airport. Sad to see her go. She's been tremendously helpful and we have had a good time. 

PM: 120' on the trainer. 147W. HR 108.

Recovery more or less. Ended up signing up for our local gravel race, which is in its second year. I am doing the 50 miler on my fat bike. It should be interesting, especially after a long run/workout tomorrow. 

AM: 13.8 miles, averaged 8:41. HR 158.

120' w/ 60' Steady

30' up/down. 7:54 pace @ 167 BPM. Decently humid, but it always is in the morning. Fairly favorable for July. Did this on my long run route I have been working on off and on this summer. Worked out fairly well. I lost 7.5 lbs of water weight. 

Wore compression socks after the run and during my nap and for the early afternoon for the first time since pre-2020. It felt good to stablize the muscles as my legs were tired/worked over. Not sore, just not used to steadier miles during 2 hours. You could do worse than a 2 hour long run with 60' at a quality aerobic effort (roughly marathon to aerobic theshold). Need to dig back through my entries to see what my 8-mile tempo HRs were back in the day.

AM: ~4.5 hours. 2:54 for the race. 213W. HR 169.

De Ronde van Grampian 50 Mile Gravel Race

This is our team's local race that is in its second year. Decided on a whim to sign up and ride the fifty on my fat bike. It is quite hilly and 99.99% gravel roads, almost all of which I have ridden on before except for a handful of miles. I was a lottle nervous after my last race disaster and the one before that was a broken elbow in August. I felt that no matter how I felt it was good to sign up and support the race. That was the right call.

Decided to ride there as it was only 10 miles, which is a bit long for a bike warmup, but no way I was driving. Cool morning to start and my HR was up a bit mostly from race nerves. Got there at a decent time and ran into a bunch of people I know, a few I haven't seen in a while. It was really nice to see people. The corral was pretty packed and the bike is not small, so I felt a little clausterphobic, but settle in okay with a slow start at the farm. A few people ate it in the sand. Neutral roll out through there and down Indian Lake as it was pretty rough, but it always is. That actually ended up not being super neutral, but I appreciated the safety concern. 

Formed a decent group eventually and I was able to work with a group for quite a long time and really enjoyed racing. My goal going in was under 3 hours, which I figured was doable because I can do a couple hours at 15+ MPH by myself on the fat bike. I really wanted 17 MPH and thought maybe a stretch was 18 MPH, but the course is a bit hillier than I usually do and the last 1.5 miles or so is on trails and even with the fat bike I knew would be slow. I think I was 17.8 through 38-40 miles at least and slowed toward the end, but was still 17+. 

Unsure how fast I would have been on my gravel bike. Some of the corners were tricky on some downhills and there was one sketchy section with a washout that was terrible but unexpected given that the rest of the course was in really good shape. I was the only person in that category so I got my first podium, which was pretty funny. Stayed for awards and had some food and then road home. Absolutely perfect weather day and I had a lot of fun racing and riding bikes. I will still do some bike racing as my running continues to pick up. I am unsure how much as it takes time, especially with travel for most events, but I'm not ready to give it up.