#120 - This was only a test, now back to our regularly scheduled WINTER, extended play

After today, I was SURE you owed me one....undoubtedly my complaining about the weather had FINALLY resulted in changes from upper management.....with no help from that over-grown hamster in Punxsutawney, PA. Two days of sunshine in a row.....yep, I was beginning to think someone important was reading this blog and maybe even taking a few of my suggestions to heart.....but then I looked at the weather forecast - Nope, foiled again - single digit lows for the next several days....looks like the folks out in Gobbler's Knob (still not sure what exactly that translates to) were right....and these couple of days of warmth were only a tease.

Oh well - I hope you lived it up while it was here.  I tried to.

This week:
Training this week, although still not clicking on all cylinders, was much closer to desired....

Monday - Treadmill + Bike trainer = terribly boring, but solid.
Tuesday - Pool + Bike trainer = getting there in the water, bike miles ratcheting upward
Wednesday - Pool + 0 = skills & drills....need to keep building
Thursday - Outdoor run = so nice to get outside.  Solid run too (which is nice).
Friday - Day off (#PTPubNight) = decent fish tacos & good conversation
Saturday - Long Bike + 10K hilly run = tired legs, but wasn't trashed....things looking up.
Sunday - Longer Bike + shorter run = run on tired legs, but able to push pace

It's so tempting at this point in the training season to either not be patient enough and ramp up too fast or go the complete opposite direction and procrastinate because things are still "so far away" (the big race is still nearly 5 mos off).  Of course, it's never as far away as it seems (racing season will be here before we know it), but I tend to do both: procrastinate and then try to make up for it with harder sessions.  

Don't get me wrong, pushing higher training intensity is not a bad thing, but it toes the "recover" line closely while trying to increase the total volume as well. So the thing I might be most happy with right now is that I'm bouncing back quickly from the harder sessions.  I still need to get my volume up higher, but right now I'm handling things and there's no significant pain to speak of....cool.    

Where from here?

Swim: This coming week I've got to start adding in longer swimming sets to begin to build endurance there.  My pace is improving, but I don't have the upper body muscular endurance that I'll need to maintain the pace. Of course, I still need to emphasize form & skill in the water, but I don't really expect that need to go away any time soon.

Bike: Volume, volume, volume.  It is hard to put the hours in on the trainer, but I can see the results each week.....so nothing special here - just keep turning the dial upward.

Run: I worked on frequency this week and got 3 runs in without any real static from my legs/feet......but I need to bring the per-session miles up.  Although starting to incorporate bricks in has me running on tired legs, which is much more realistic, I haven't had a true "long-run" in a while.....and I need to.  Of course, this brings me back to the weather - which includes snow and lows that are too damn cold (did I mention that?)....so my expectations that this will be my breakthrough week for the run is sort of low.

I'm sure there's a silver lining in here somewhere.....maybe we'll have a really short spring and click over to an insanely hot and humid summer right away?  Oh well.....no sense whining....again.

One foot in front of the other,

Mike E. 

#119 Too sore to soar....and other homophones

Blogging helps me to keep my head on straight, but the truth is, I usually look to have the blog done and posted before 6P EST so the evening is wrapped up and over.  However tonight, there was a little extra studying that needed to be done including NJ history and spelling words.  Growing up I hated history.....and without spellcheck and the red squiggly line, I'd be done-for....math & science: no problem; writing & projects: OK.....but history? Spelling?  Yikes.  And it was homophones.....which, for those out of fourth grade for a while, are words that sound the same but with different spellings/meanings:

Vane/Vain/Vein or Sore/Soar or Mist/Missed or Etc.

But we got through it - and I only had to live-up to my spelling weakness once (I couldn't explain the difference b/t "capitol" and "capital") - ahh the roots of growth.  Hopefully the kid does well.

My assignment was easier, I just had to write "Incessant snow is not totally screwing my routine" 100 times on the blackboard.....but it's not helping either. I don't really know if it's the physical fatigue of shoveling or the total lack of routine that has been sapping my motivation, but I definitely find it more difficult to train on the days when I'm logging serious shoveling hours.  It's a good workout I suppose, I know I'm drenched with sweat by the end, but it's a different kind of workout - so I'm not really sure it's benefitting me a ton.....but we'll see.

I haven't checked my training log this week - but the plan was to up the ante in the water and on the cycling work in both hours logged and intensity.  Overall, I was happy there - my swim today (after a long ride) was showing signs of life and the bike trainer, although boring does the trick.  The best news is that so far as my time and power continue to ratchet upward, my legs are tolerating the extra stress-load and my knees (and their perennially cranky quad tendons) aren't grumbling loudly.

The running miles continue to be down on the whole (or is it down a hole?), something I'll have to remedy at some point; I'm not real worried about it at this point. There's something to be said for having fresh legs when (if?) the whether turns.  The relatively short (<10 mi) runs I've been able to get in have been solid, even having to push the intensity some to make up for the lack of duration.

So where from here?  Well - since consistency is king, that's STILL my #1 objective: To have a week go as planned - but with snow in the forecast (noooooooo) I'm not sure we're there yet.

After that, it's continue to crank up the miles on the bike and the time in the water.....and, for at least another couple of weeks, adding running miles is a slightly less urgent, but no less important priority-2.

The good news is, beyond the typical, I'm not all that sore......the bad news is, it's awfully hard to soar when the runway is covered in snow and ice.

Although annoying, I'm sure this knot is not impossible.

Warm up the sun,

Mike E.

#118 - Mother Nature's punching bag

It's almost gotten to the point where I find myself wondering "what'd we ever do to you?".  I honestly can't remember this many accumulating snow storms all in one season (it's snowing as I type) - I mean, this is Northwestern NJ, where we have actual seasons most years.....but it's not exactly known for its powdery winters - it's just not wonderful for training purposes. But, maybe it makes us all a little tougher.  Maybe.

After putting the blog on hold last week so I could watch the Seahawks, um, dismantle the Broncos (ouch!), I decided I'd sit down to take a look at my training data and see where things stood.

Last week was my final "up" week of the 4-week training set, with this past week being my "down" week.  The stats were not where I wanted them to be, but not terrible.

• My swim distance is steadily climbing w/o any hint of cranky shoulders (although my pace still has a way to go).
• My cycling miles are creeping up and my steady-state power is up about 20% since my last test......and, maybe the best news, I feel like I finally might be settling into a few weeks that can help me boost those miles up where they need to be.
• On the run my pace is at or ahead of where it should be, but my legs are still not all the way "hardened" to the task.  Last weekend I did 2 hours on the bike trainer and followed that up with a steep 20K run and by the final mile my left knee and left foot were both barking some.

Overall I'm feeling decent about the progress so far. The last four weeks have been decent, but not as consistent as I'd love.  Of course, being able to run outdoors more consistently would sure help.....but I can't really say that's it - my focus this last block has been to bring the swimming meters up, which means letting the running miles drop some.

This next four weeks will be an important block as I need to keep increasing my body's resilience to the training stress (which means more volume), but also because this will be a test of whether or not I can get to that next level of consistency that I so badly need.  Hovering around the 10 hour per week mark is good - but I really need to be getting up to the 15 hour mark or more.....that starts tomorrow.

We're sorry mother nature...please call off the dogs.

Mike E.