Base Training Week IX...

Monday: I got up early and put in a fairly insignificant forty-five minutes on The Soloist. In the afternoon I got out on a easy seven miler. Tired quads from yesterday but overall a solid day to start the week. (1 hr. 30 min.)

Tuesday: Up early for the typical forty-five minutes on The Soloist. In the afternoon my IT band was wicked inflamed so I just ran three miles. When I got home I really focused on stretching and spent some time in the hot tub. I really focused the jets on the IT band and piraformis to attempt to get loose for the Wednesday workout. (1 hr. 5 min.)

Wednesday: When I woke up this morning I swore that I was still asleep. I know that is a huge oxymoron but I insist that it is true. Phase four sleep was still clutching my psyche as I fumbled my way out to the coffee pot. I snapped out of it as soon as the Krups was dripping and was back on track. I headed down to The Soloist early somehow and put in forty-five minutes. I kept things super easy with the looming workout this afternoon. I can't get enough Superunknown on the bike right now? In the afternoon I met up with Greg, Justin, Erik, James, Brad, Chris, and Boj at the KMS track. Three mile warm-up through the neighborhood followed by thee by 2000-meters. I was a little skeptical of this workout and thought of doing four by 1200 instead. After talking with Greg and Justin about pace I decided that the 2000s would fit the bill and provide the same amount of volume. The workout went super well and the three of us had a great rhythm. Greg led the first 1200 of each repeat with Justin locked on his shoulder. I hung out in the back until 1300-meters and then pulled at a faster pace the last 700-meters. Justin and I went a little earlier on the last repeat which felt really nice. I could not hang with Justin in the last 150 but I am confident that I could have done another repeat at the same pace.

2:35, 5:09, 6:24

2:34, 5:04, 6:17

2:34, 4:59, 6:10

Obviously I am pumped about his workout and feel that it is a good indication that my training is spot on right now. Obviously my volume is a huge advantage right now in workouts that are longer in duration. Today was a huge confidence booster that will hopefully bolster my training and lead to continued breakthroughs. The three mile cool-down was as always a highlight. (2 hr.)

Thursday: Up early and feeling surprisingly good which is a huge departure from my first track workout. Very optimistic right now about the direction of my training and the benefit is appears to be having on my running. I have been on the trainer so long now I can on The Soloist. I rode mostly between 135 and 140 bpm which was a little high for a recovery morning but I felt good. I stayed later at work today working on a presentation I have to make next Friday to the district paraprofessionals. Walked Eko through the woods and wound up lacking some serious daylight. I'm not going to sweat only getting three miles in because things are going so well right now. I really am not in a position to start chasing mileage right now! I also got a nice rejection letter this afternoon from The Main Street America Group about my sponsorship inquiry. Onward and upward and time to pester some new companies for money! (1 hr. 5 min.)

Friday: Woke up sleeping on my stomach for the first time since we got our new bed which was a weird feeling. I did a odd and seemingly choreographed push-up flip/spin out of bed to hit the alarm and get started. My streak of morning motivation is related more to disappointing Mary by waking her up at 4:30 for no apparent reason. If I don't get up I'm a huge ass which is true because she is a much lighter sleeper than I am. Anyways, Superunknown and forty-five minutes on The Soloist. I hammered out of the saddle for a while and the rocked a really hard gear and brought the HR up into the 160s for a while. I had wicked irritable bowel issues today and left work a little early to pick up some probiodic support. Given that I was so "drained" I only ran four miles with Mary. Popped by Turn it Up on my way home and picked up Badmotorfinger. Not quite sure where mine went and it's not on my phone so I need some Soundgarden reinforcements. (1 hr 15 min.)

Saturday: Diarrhea and headache. (0)

Sunday: Diarrhea, vomiting, and headache. (0)

Total: Seven Hours.

Summary: What a pisser this weekend turned into. I had big plans but obviously things did not pan out for me. Maybe a visit to the Dr. is in order.

Thanksgiving Week...

Monday: Got up early as per the norm for a ride on The Soloist. I was a couple of minutes behind from doing dishes so I had to cut the ride short at forty-one minutes to ensure that I had enough time to make it to work. I had an unfortunate and hectic end to my day so I was home about forty-five minutes later than usual. I had a great walk with Eko but I was facing a massive shortage of daylight. I stayed safe and just ran West Hill three pretty slow. I did not want to start the week with a low number given that there is sure to be interruptions later in the week for the holiday fun. I got back on The Soloist for another thirty-minutes to make up the time from the short run. I did not have any clean cycling shorts so I rode in half tights which was not pleasant. That centimeter or two difference really made a difference and I was uncomfortable the whole ride. How did I ride all last winter in BAA tights? (1 hr. 32 min.)

Tuesday: Up early for forty-five minutes on The Soloist. Felt good. In the afternoon I needed to button up some yard work before the expected snow so I passed on an afternoon run. (45 min.)

Wednesday: Another weird holiday week day that only saw one workout. Loaded onto The Soloist mid-morning and rode pretty hard for an hour and a half. Felt good but my quads were a little fatigued by the end of the ride. In the afternoon I headed down to Shelburne Falls to kick off the holiday. (1 hr. 30 min.)

Thursday: I had a difficult launch to my run but once I was out the door I felt fantastic and the weather was amazing. The plan when I left was for a gentle five miler squeezed in before dinner but it turned into an apatite inducing hilly thirteen miler. (1 hr. 35 min.)

Friday: Yet another hectic day complete with lunch at the legendary Beiderman's Deli. In the afternoon I headed out back in Ashland for my first run on the new snowshoes. I got soaked in the wet melting snow but I slogged around every trail at Mary's parents house. I was really working hard but as is the case with the snowshoes I was going nowhere fast. Got in over an hour of work which was nice. (1 hr. 5 min.)

Saturday: Trap day! Lazy... Well not really I did a lot of other activity but I did not train. Not bad only having one day off during Thanksgiving week. (0)

Sunday: I headed out for my run just after eight o'clock and seemingly ran up every significant hill in the town of Ashland. It was warm and I was sweating but I was freezing by the end of the run. One of the rawest days that I have ever felt. I was wringing out my hat but shivering? I was going to run on the snowshoes again but I ran out of daylight. Hunting season in Ashland is scary. (1 hr. 38 min.)

Total: Eight hours and five minutes.

Summary: Given that it was a holiday week I am pretty pleased with the way things went. I got in a bunch of ninety minute efforts which is a huge plus at this time of the year. On my Sunday run I did not feel good until I was an hour into the run. Is that a sure sign of base training?

Mark

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.

Base Training Week VI...

Monday: Coming of a horrible night of sleep with a miserable cough and head cold I still managed to get up. More impressively after moving to the guest bedroom and setting my alarm for 4:41 pm I still woke up a mere five minutes late. I felt like my head weighed about thirty pounds which is never a pleasant sensation so I only rode for thirty minutes. On my way to work I took a detour to CVS to load up on meds for the day in an attempt to finally lick this cold. After work and a walk with Eko I dragged myself out the door for a run. I was really dreading feeling terrible but much to my surprise I felt great. Mother nature is a strange and cruel mistress. Ran a hybrid Thatcher Hill seven miler complete with an amazing moonrise slash sunset. The symmetry always manages to give me chills. I ran the whole run between 6:20 and 6:00 pace which was incredibly unexpected and pleasant. (1 hr. 15 min.)

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.

Opps...

All apologies for my absence over the past two weeks. Following my great sixteen mile run with Matt and Pete I managed to get a pretty inflamed left patella and patella tendon. Looking back I think it was the ride that I did right before I left for Greg and Jen's wedding. I was hammering all out for the duration of the ride and essentially stopped, showered, and got in the car. My quads were extremely tight all day and my IT band got involved the following day on the run. Hopefully this can serve as a lesson and I will be better about taking care of myself following hard efforts. I have been back on the bike this week feeling good and my runs have also been pain free. I almost think this was my bodies way of talking me out of running the Manchester City Marathon. I was seriously contemplating showing up and running 2:34-2:36 just to see if I could run that pace and recover in a day or two. I had a future Ironman in the back of my head and was thinking about race paces. Oh well maybe next year.

I was sorting though some boxes last week and found the race towel from The Black Fly Triathlon. I got really nostalgic and excited for next season. When I think back about that brilliant July morning I get chills. Finishing the Saturday international race totally spent, mildly overheated, and excited beyond belief is such a poignant memory. When one of the chute workers thrust that cold, wet towel into my hands I was in paradise. From a sensory standpoint I'm pretty sure that will never be topped. Lets hope EV is right and memories really are like fingerprints.

I've got a nice little weekend of training planned and I will start with regular training updates on Monday. I am also going into full sponsorship mode for next year. I have created an advertising portfolio to send to local business seeking support for next season. If anyone has any ideas feel free to comment below.

Mark