Of Mice and Marathons

AM: ~120' on the trainer.

Dirty Mitten Racing League Winter is Coming V Race 5

I knew this race had a decent amount of climbing. It was two laps of one of the Scotland courses. I had a decent race. I got a better jump after the neutral start, but probably could have more aggressively gone out yet again. Worked on getting by all of the C riders for most of the race and worked with some of my teammates. One of them got away in the final minutes. I was decently pleased with my power output, which I was keeping an eye on and trying to see if I could start bumping up toward the 300 watt mark for the hour. I didn't quite get there, but I set power PRs for 30 minutes and 1 hour, which was decent and I was fairly happy with. 

30' @ 300; 1 hour @ 291 (both with a HR of 167)

~75' or just under. 285W. 165 BPM

AM: 90' on the trainer. 208W. HR 125.

AM: 90' on the trainer. 226W. HR 134.

Did some of the sprints to work on my top end power. 

PM: 8 miles in the dark and cold. Felt good though. Averaged 9:16. HR 131.

AM: 8 miles, averaged 8:56. HR 138. 

PM: 60' on the trainer. 229W. HR 142. 

Did some of the sprints and set a 30-second power PR. 

AM: 1 mile on the treadmill, averaged 10:35. HR 119. 

Charlie was vomiting at school, so I went to pick him up. I did some strength stuff while he rested on the couch. He ended up being fine. 

Did a re-introduction workout. I have been reading a lot about off-season weightlifting. I need to do more strength and mobility stuff, especially as I near 40. I imagine it will help tremendously with my running, which seems to be so up and down I don't know where it is going. 

Static split squats (10 x each side); body weight squat (x10); shoulder plank taps (x15ish); glute hamstring march (10 x each); glute bridges on the medicine ball (x10); weight bench leg raises; 

I did some light hip stretching between; 5 pullups and 15 pushups

AM: 120'+ on the trainer. 253W. HR 151.

1:45 Tempo @ ~262 watts. HR Mid-150s.

Got up earlyish though not as early as I have been. Got in a very solid longer tempo workout. I used the pacer groups for most of it and then gapped them and just kept my own pace toward the end as I was feeling good. 

I signed up for a half marathon in early March. I have gone back and forth with training and racing plans for running and figured I just needed something on the schedule. This give me about 12 weeks. I will be doing more traditional workouts that I used to do, I think. I will get a sense of my fitness and move into some faster stuff for May, spend the summer working on speed and theshold and try to do a proper buildup to Beach to Beacon in August, and then maybe take a crack at something respectable for a fall half. I am not sure I want to do a marathon, though I think the time for running a fast one is closing. It is just too much with my cycling and when I want to run a marathon it is usually the end of cycling season and the two do not go together well as far as recovery. As far as fitness complimentariness I am sure it doesn't get much better. I need to plan my training blocks and do so around seasonal racing rather than just fussing with trying to figure it out new each year. 

PM: 73' on the trainer. 211. HR 134. 

Reconned a bit of the course for tomorrow's Dirty Mitten Racing League finale. Going to be interesting as it is quite hilly.