Tuesday: The second Tuesday of every month I have a very late meeting at work so I knew going into the day that there was a 95% chance that I would not be able to run in the afternoon. I still got up early and had a productive forty-five minute ride on The Soloist. (45 min.)
Wednesday: I am still fighting a nasty cold and have been sleeping in the guest bedroom all week. Managed to pull myself out of bed despite a terrible night of sleep for forty-five minutes on The Soloist. In the afternoon I gout out the door for a daring seven miler. I did not leave all that late but the sun dropped like a rock today and I was in danger of being blacked out in the woods. Given that it was the start of hunting season and I was in the dark I did a ton of hooting and clapping the last mile and a half through the woods. When I was relaxing in the hot tub after I had a close encounter with a coyote! He must have only been twenty feet away in the woods! (1 hr. 30 min.)
Thursday: I got up again after another night of coughing and hit the trainer for forty-five minutes. I had some great mental games going and managed to not look at the clock until I was forty minutes into the ride. In the afternoon Najem came out for a hill workout on Forrest Drive. Five mile warm-up followed by eight x hill in 1:29, 1:31, 1:27, 1:24, 1:21, 1:24, 1:26, 1:22. We went a little to fast in the middle of the workout and payed late. Somehow the 1:22 at the end felt a million times harder than the 1:21 earlier. What a great hill for workouts! I can't wait to share this little gem with some friends this winter. The best part is that the stopping point is my driveway! Pete and I headed back out for a a three mile cool-down in a downpour and then chilled and stretched in the hot tub for twenty minutes. (2 hr. 15 min.)
Friday: My quads were a little sore this morning so on the ride I kept things pretty tame. Focused on keeping my hr under 140 bpm and not putting in a whole lot of effort. I wanted to run or ride again but I put a roof on a cabin with my father in law instead. My quads, and groin muscles were destroyed by the end of the day so given that I was on a recovery day I did not want to force anything. I will put in a solid weekend again similar to last weekend but with added volume. (45 min.)
Saturday: I still got up relatively early this morning because I had a pretty busy day planned. I really took my time getting to the bike this morning because I am so used to being rushed through the week. I fueled up with some coffee and chocolate chip banana bread before the ride. Today was my first ride on The Vulture since Give Peace a Tri back in September. With the loads of base work that I have been doing on the bike I figured for the most part that I would feel great on the TT rig. The plan was for two intervals between 90% and 105% percent of lactate threshold. The length of the intervals were thirty minutes, ten minutes rest, wrapping up with ten minutes. I felt a little bizarre on The Vulture the first few minutes but quickly settled into a pretty hot pace. I was churning out the rhythm to Soundgarden Superunknown this morning so it was very easy to keep the tempo high. The last five minutes of the first interval I crossed over LT and did the remained of the interval at 172 bbm. The ten minute recovery seemed more that adequate but it was difficult getting things under control. I think this is a really important skill for an athlete to master because once you go past LT in a race it can be like a dam breaking! The final ten minute interval was great. I mostly just hammered the hell out of the pedals while trying to stay as relaxed and smooth as possible. Five minute cool-down then I did a transition dismount off the trainer and ran laps of the basement for a few minutes. I changed up pretty quickly and headed right out on a seven miler by myself. I did not feel any ill effects of the ride other than some general fatigue and a bit of a strain my my left hamstring. I worked a bit harder on the way back really focusing on posture and rhythm. I did a really crappy recovery at home then headed straight out the door to go down to Northfield, Ma to hang our with my old college roommate while he coached his XC team at the district meet. After our visit I did an out and back five miler on the Northfield Mountain run course. I decided that Northfield Mountain is one of my all time favorite places to run. I would love to get a group together for a long run someday. Anyways I fell just short of two and a half hours on the day which is really great for right now. It was pretty exciting being on the TT bike today! (2 hr. 23 min.)
Sunday: I was much more tire today than I expected following the workout yesterday. Maybe heading into yesterday I was still a little fatigued from Thursdays hill workout with Pete. I started out this morning with a solo hilly nine miler that took an hour on the nose. I planned a easy ride later in the day but I bought a leaf blower and had my first ever epic day of homeowner yard work. Mary and I got so much done but we payed the price in the energy department. I ended up bagging the ride given that I had ridden so many days in a row. . (1 hr.)
Total: Nine hours fifty-three minutes
Summary / Random musings : I've gotta admit that despite the two days off from running that I am pretty happy with this week of training. I am really going to make a solid effort to get into the pool a few days this week so I can really start ramping up the hours. I really want to start making the hill workout a weekly routine like the beginning of the summer when things were going so great. Hopefully I can convince a bunch of friends to join me! I have been thinking about racing a lot this week. I am really craving those instinctive killer instinct feelings that I get late in a race.
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