Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Base Training Week VII...

Monday: Up early for forty-five minutes on The Vulture. I was short on time so I did not do the bike switch. Even on the trainer it is difficult to ride easy on the TT bike. The second I go into the aero position I feel the need to hammer. I need to work on that. After a long walk with Eko I was running short on day light so I only managed five miles. I think this is the only thing I miss about living in Keene. It's just not safe running on the roads out here in the dark. A year removed from getting run over I'm not in the mood for a repeat. After dinner I met up with Andy down at KSC for my first swim in over a month. I did a series of alternating 200s consisting of regular swimming, pull buoy, and flippers. I was really putting a lot of thought into my pull phase and really paid the price with some sore shoulders. Glad to be in the pool! This was my first day of this base phase with all three disciplines. I was very surprised how tired I was when I got home after the swim. (1 hr. 48 min.)

Tuesday: I was still very tired when I woke up this morning so I pushed my ride back until after my run. I left a stressful day of work a little early and had time to run in full daylight. I ran an out and back up Thatcher Hill and Meeting House road at a pretty easy pace. Post-run I headed right into the basement for forty-five minutes on The Vulture. I had an initial burst the first twenty minutes when I felt fantastic. My hectic day reared its head in the form of poor fueling and I started a heady little bonk. I jumped right off the bike and grabbed a Coke for the remainder of the ride. Swapped the bikes around post-ride so I will be back on The Soloist tomorrow morning. (1 hr. 30 min.)

Wednesday: Up early again for thirty minutes on The Soloist. I was not all that prepared for my day today so I needed an extra fifteen minutes to prepare for work. Given that I was planning an afternoon track workout I knew I would still get in a good day without forty-five minutes on the bike. In the afternoon I met up with Brad, James, Chris, Bill, Josh, Pete, Justin, and Greg for a track workout. We did a pretty monotonous warm-up loop through the Pako area before hitting the new KMS track. The workout was pretty straight forward but I had a certain amount of trepidation given my lack of workouts since August. The guys were tuning up for Slattery's Sunday so I just went along for the ride. 4 x 200, 200, 400 full rest.

33, 32, 67
32, 32, 64
31, 30, 64
30, 30, 61

I actually felt pretty good although I knew that I was in way over my head at this pace. In all honesty I should have been running 35, 35, 70 for the duration but I felt that the amount of slow base work that I have been doing would be there to back me up. My left calf continues to give me problems late in workouts. I would have loved to have really gotten after it on the last repeat with the guys but my legs just aren't ready for that right now. Our cool-down was great and I mostly avoided a post workout bonk. I did an excellent job of fueling throughout the day which really helped me endure the workout. I really want to make an honest attempt to go to Wednesday workouts each week. (1 hr. 40 min.)

Thursday: Yesterday really tired me out and left my legs stiff and heavy at 4:41 am. I had some serious doubts about my ride but as is becoming tradition as crappy as I have felt I still manage to make it onto the bike. I kept things super easy this morning with my HR between 117 and 135. I listened to Superunknown again this morning but I started at 4th of July because I have been neglecting the last three songs of the album. My legs stayed pretty stiff throughout the day so I only ran a very slow three miles in the afternoon. My haste in running such a fast pace yesterday hopefully turns out to be a risk that pays off. Did a boat load of core after a soak in the hot tub. This week seems to be shaping up pretty great heading into the weekend. (1 hr. 8 min.)

Friday: Off. That calf twinge is making me a little nervous so I just went for a four mile walk with Mary and Eko. I just feel like I need to be careful with this. Maybe a massage?

Saturday: Wrapped up my left calf with a compression sock for the day and got back to work. I ran a very easy six miler with Mary and Erik in West Keene to kick off the day. Did an bunch of projects around the house including setting up an awesome dart board. At three o'clock I geared up for a hard effort on The Soloist. I warmed up for fifteen minutes then did an "uphill" workout for thirty minutes at lactate threshold. The last fifteen minutes I really toed the redline and eventually crossed over into nearly all out effort. After getting set on level ground again I hammered hard on the drops for five minutes before cooling down the last ten minutes of the ride. I headed out the door right away and launched into six mile progression run up West Hill and Thatcher Hill. Today things really felt like they clicked for the first time. (2 hr. 20 min.)

Sunday: Had a busy day and only fit in a long hilly thirteen miler by myself. Najem was hanging out this morning gearing up for Slattery's so my morning ride did not happen as I had planned. Mary and I then headed out to EMS and I picked up a set of Atlas racing snowshoes for the upcoming season. When we got home I did a few hours of yard work that really got things looking great before the snow comes. Hopefully this will be the last time I need to bust out the leaf-blower and rake in tandem. I was pretty fatigued but it was so beautiful out that I had to get out for an awesome run. I ran a couple of West Hill reps and did a long out and back on Stone Pond Road. Ended up running an hour and thirty-four minutes to round off yesterday. I will call it thirteen because my first run yesterday was a little short. Great run, sore quads. (1 hr. 34 min.)

Total: Ten hours

Summary: Despite the day off this week I am pretty excited about the way things turned out. A lot of solid riding, a great track workout, and back in the pool. Obviously Friday was a bit of a bummer but I had not discovered that my compression socks could alleviate my calf pain. Had I figured this out earlier in the week I would have without a doubt run Slattery's. More than anything I have thought a lot about hours this week. I have been doubting my fitness because I have only been running fifty miles per week. What I have failed to recognize is that ten to twelve hours of training is a significant amount of time on par with a eighty-five to ninety mile week. Things may be a little curtailed this week because of the holiday but I will still do my best to keep my hours up in the ten to twelve range.

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