Of Mice and Marathons

AM: 10.3 miles, averaged 8:46. HR 132. 

Week 2, Day 7 of the Rebuild. 90' long run, all easy. Perfect morning for it. Felt good. 

AM: 7.4 miles, averaged 8:49. HR 132.

PM: 60' on the trainer. 206W. HR 125. 

Openers for Zwift race tomorrow. 2 x 3' threshold and 2 x 30" full gas with plenty of recovery. Felt quite strong.

Week 3, Day 1 of the Rebuild: almost halfway through "true" base period. I think I will try to run all very easy and ramp up mileage and then move to phase II after 6 weeks and incoporporate strides and hill blasts, and then move forward to phase three, which I think will incorporate some top end speed but with long recovery. Or perhaps by then it might be aerobic capacity as it will be very late fall or early winter and I might be on the treadmill. 

AM: 75'ish on the trainer. 

Zwift Race

Ended up with the win in a C race with about 30 or so people, which was cool. Solid way to rip the band-aid off for a higher effort, even if the effort wasn't crazy high. Solid effort and good, smart, but aggressive racing.

PM: 4.1 miles, averaged 9:52. HR 120.

Sluggish and low energy, so I didn't stay out long. It was getting dark and late anyway. 

AM: 7.3 miles, averaged 9:02. HR 129.

PM: 90' on the trainer. 

Zwift Race Same as yesterday, but not with as good a result. Tried to hang back and just cover moves, which worked okay. I felt like there were more attacks, so I thought speed and power would be higher, but it wasn't. Took 6 or 7th in a small field of 14-18. 35' @ 263 watts @ 163 BPM.

AM: 7.5 miles, averaged 8:43. HR 130. 

PM: off. 

AM: 10 miles, averaged 8:44. HR 134.

5-Mile MAF Test

Decided to do my MAF test today rather than Monday because, well, why not? Warmed up 3, did the test, cooled down 2 for a total of 10.

Averaged 8:21 @ 140.2 BPM, so right on the money. I did the last MAF test in November and I think I was around 8:32 or so in colder conditions for the same HR, though admittedly I haven't committed myself wholeheartedly to MAF training for more than a few days. It has been almost three weeks. It has brought a good focus to patient base building and I just run, which is nice. 

9 second slow down or ~2% according to ChatGPT.

PM: 90' on the trainer. 218W. HR 137.

3 x 10' Over/Unders (Threshold/Sweet Spot)

I was slightly nervous as trainer workouts of higher intensity have gone poorly lately, but I managed to get through just fine. Challenging enough, but doable. 2 minutes threshold, 3 minutes sweet spot x 2 in three sets. 

274 @ 158 BPM, 278 @ 160 BPM, 280 @ 160 BPM

PM: 3 hours 8' + 9' from watch. 60.4 miles @ 19.3 MPH. 228W. HR 145.

Gravel Simulation ~2 Hours @ Sweet Spot

After a few hour yesterday I wasn't sure I was going to do a workout, but I knew I wanted 3-4 hours. It was supposed to thunderstorm, so I was going to be on the trainer, but the forecast looked much better, so I headed out. Decided to do a long sweet spot gravel simulation if I felt like the effort was right and my body would handle it, otherwise I would break it into longer intervals of around 30'. I felt great throughout, took in carbs, and just relaxed and tried to keep the effort as consistent as I could. I worked on maintaining power through the corners and my cornering. I figured I was around 250-255 watts, but hoped to be around 260-265. I was at 254, so my internal barometer on the bike is almost as well-tuned as my running internals. 

The tempo loop was in really good shape. Fast and smooth, with only some light loose stuff in the usual spots, which was great for working on cornering. 

I was going to do up to 2 hours at that effort and could have kept going, but my perceived power and actual power were disconnecting a bit, so I just called it at 1:50, which was fine. I think I was 240 watts overall at 2.5 hours. 254 watts @ 154 BPM. I think the last time I did a longer gravel simulation, my legs were completely fried and achy and painful after, which didn't happen this time, thankfully as it made it hard to pedal home last time.