I'm sending a big thank you to my body for giving me another week of quality training. I never take a day of training for granted. It's been 3 years and 8 months since I've last been injured and 10 years since I've had a cold/sickness. Not a day goes by that I don't thank my body for letting me do so much with it.
The overall training volume hasn't changed a lot over the past few months but I've noticed a bit more intensity throughout the week lately. I've worked hard to build a strong foundation since starting my training back in late October so my body is responding well to the added training stress.
The overall training volume hasn't changed a lot over the past few months but I've noticed a bit more intensity throughout the week lately. I've worked hard to build a strong foundation since starting my training back in late October so my body is responding well to the added training stress.
On Wednesday morning I had a tough hill run workout. Although the intense intervals only totaled 8 minutes, it was a leg burner and cardio stressor.
For 20 minutes, I ran EZ on some of my favorite roads around where I live, which included no shortage of hills. After listening to a Facebook LIVE 75-minute educational chat with running expert Chris Johnson, PT, I used a lot of his running cues to keep me focused on my running mechanics during warm-up.
When I arrived close to the street where I was going to perform my main set, I first did a pre-set of 5 x 30 sec build to fast strides w/ a 30 sec walk in between.
For the run main set:
8 x 30 sec strong uphill effort w/ 1.5 min recovery (jog/walk/rest) in between
5 min EZ
8 x 30 sec strong uphill effort w/ 1.5 min recovery (jog/walk/rest) in between
Then jog home (about 15 minutes).
Then jog home (about 15 minutes).
It was a great workout and I felt super strong.
In the evening, I tested out my new Tacx Neo smart trainer with a good workout that Karel wrote for me. My legs were still a little tender from the morning run but it felt good to spin them out and test out the CycleOps Virtual Training app on my ipad. You can see from the picture that my iPad is standing up on a microphone stand that Karel ordered for me. It was a cheap way to hold the iPad, where I control my trainer.
Wednesday night bike workout:
WU: 20 min EZ
Pre set:
2 x 4 min
2 x 3 min
2 x 2 min
Odd Z2, fast rpm
Even Z2/Z3, slow rpm, 55-65
5 min EZ
MS:
1 x 4 min build effort to strong, choice cadence
4 min EZ
3 x 3 min Z3/4 slow cadence (slop/resistance mode)
3 min EZ between 3 x 2 min high power/high cadence 100+ rpm, 3 min EZ between (slop/resistance mode)
3 min EZ between
CD: EZ spin
In the evening, I tested out my new Tacx Neo smart trainer with a good workout that Karel wrote for me. My legs were still a little tender from the morning run but it felt good to spin them out and test out the CycleOps Virtual Training app on my ipad. You can see from the picture that my iPad is standing up on a microphone stand that Karel ordered for me. It was a cheap way to hold the iPad, where I control my trainer.
Wednesday night bike workout:
WU: 20 min EZ
Pre set:
2 x 4 min
2 x 3 min
2 x 2 min
Odd Z2, fast rpm
Even Z2/Z3, slow rpm, 55-65
5 min EZ
MS:
1 x 4 min build effort to strong, choice cadence
4 min EZ
3 x 3 min Z3/4 slow cadence (slop/resistance mode)
3 min EZ between 3 x 2 min high power/high cadence 100+ rpm, 3 min EZ between (slop/resistance mode)
3 min EZ between
CD: EZ spin
As for Thursday morning, I had about 1 hour and 45 minutes of fun on the trainer for my first real workout. The trainer is super quite and very smooth. There is no sticky pedaling, especially as I increase the slope or resistance.
WU: 20 min EZ
Pre set: 4 x 4 min (odd Z1/2 build rpm to fast, even Z1/2 build rpm to fast)
MS: 4 x 10 minutes as:
2xs (3 min Z2, rpm 100+, 2 min Z3, 45-50 rpm)
4 min EZ
Post set: 15 min Z2/3 - steady effort, gradually decreasing power and increasing rpm.
Whew, what a great workout, especially after the tough run on Wednesday. I've been super diligent with my nutrition before, during and after workouts to ensure that my body can stay consistent with training and to give me confidence that any fatigue that I feel is normal fatigue and not from underfueling or poor recovery. So far, I'm feeling very energized, strong and healthy and I hope that feeling continues to last as I am expecting a lot from my body in April and May.
I did a very short swim (1900 yard) swim workout at lunch time to knock out my 2nd workout of the day because I had nutrition consults the rest of the afternoon through early evening.
As for Friday morning, Karel was off to NC to the A2 wind tunnel with our athlete Joe so I had to swim solo. Karel has been swimming almost every swim workout with me so it was kinda lonely swimming by myself, especially for this endurance tracker main set.
500 warm-up
Pre set:
4 x 200's w/ snorkel and finsMS:
10 x 25s w/ paddles fast w/ 5 sec rest
35 x 100's on 1:30 at 85% effort
Total: 4900
I was feeling tired during warm-up and pre-set so I wasn't sure how the main set would go but after 6-8 x 100's, I started to find my rhythm and the set actually went by really fast!
Then I again, I was really excited to eat my homemade banana bread when I returned home from my swim.
Here are a few pics that Karel took of Joe in the wind tunnel. Joe is a 3-year Trimarni athlete and recently won the HITS Naples Half Ironman. When Joe started working with us, he was far from the athlete he is today. Joe is an engineer so his mindset is often to analyze everything but he has trusted us as his coaches since day one and he is not one for excuses. Joe and his wife Erica just had their first baby 9 months ago so it's been neat to see them both balance it all. This wind tunnel adventure was a fun experience for both Karel and Joe, just to test his position, along with other gear like his clothing, calf sleeves, helmet, wheels, bottle placements, etc. Karel and Joe learned a lot! The wind tunnel testers were impressed with Joe's attention to detail but also very impressed with his position on the bike (fit by Karel).
I wrapped up my day with a light strength session in the late afternoon, followed by a long Campy walk.
We received a nice package from our friends at Mg12 over the weekend, which came at the perfect time as we use this stuff regularly. I just love this line of products for recovery and the quality ingredients.
As for the weekend training, the fog and big chance of rain made it hard for us to get in the workouts that we wanted to get in outside but we dealt with what we were given and still had a quality weekend of training.
Joe, Karel and I headed out on our road bikes around 8:15am on Saturday morning hoping to get in a solid ride but as we headed on the trail out, the fog was rather thick so we decided it wasn't safe to ride (even with lights on our bike). Instead, we just spun on the trail and had more of a social ride for 90 minutes.
After an afternoon of working on the computer and making a beautiful looking Mexican-themed quinoa and black bean salad for our evening pizza part at Meredith's house (picture and recipe on tomorrow's blog), I finished up my long run with another hour on the treadmill. After not getting in our long ride on Saturday, I had planned to do two runs today instead of one long run to reduce the overall training stress with the previous training.
Sunday morning was a trainer ride with a main set that looked easier on paper than what it turned out to be. Nonetheless, a great trainer session for 2:20 followed be a 30 min EZ run on the treadmill.
Bike workout:
WU: 30 min EZ spin (build from Z1-Z2)
Pre set:
5 x 5 minutes Z2 (1 min at 70 rpm, 1 min at 80 rpm, 1 min at 90 rpm, 1 min at 100+ rpm, 1 min choice cadence)
MS:
6 x (2 minutes Z3/4 at 40-45 rpm w/ 1 min EZ choice rpm between)2 min EZ
6 x (1.5 minutes Z3/4 at 45-55 rpm w/ 1 min EZ choice rpm between)
2 min EZ
6 x 1 min Z3/Z4 at 55-65 rpm w/ 1 min EZ choice rpm between)
5 min EZ
Post set:
15 minutes Z3 steady effort, choice RPM
Cool Down
-------------------------
Hope you had a nice weekend and you are finding yourself building confidence in your training/exercising and nutrition to move closer to your health, fitness and performance goals.
Never compare yourself to other people. Discover what makes YOU happy and then direct all your energy on yourself so that you can focus on being the best version of YOU.