A Good End to Week 23

Normally, it's hard to finish the training week strong because by the time it's over, I'm usually so exhausted that getting above average quality workouts in is more rare than the norm.

So, I'm very pleased with how training week 23 ended and I suspect it is due to my doing Saturday's ride on the trainer rather than outside. My 9-mile long run on Sunday (with 1.25 mile Z3 intervals) was very good and my 3000m swim afterward was reasonably effective. Additionally, my light Z2 run yesterday contained very decent pacing for such a low effort workout and my performance in power class last night was just awesome - indeed, the best in quite some time. We did 4 blocks of 5 1-1:15 intervals with increasing rest in between each interval. Prior to the penultimate block of 5, I bumped my wattage up to 250 (from 240) and for each of the last five intervals, bumped the wattage up by 10 so that I finished at 300.

Honestly, the only difference I felt in my legs was that the lactic acid built up quicker but it wasn't that much harder. Even my coach said I looked really strong.

Yay for weeks ending on an up-tick.

Rest Day!

Ah, c'est merrie.  After last nights devastating power class in which our workout profile suspiciously resembled the side view of a saw blade (and not the simple /\/\/\/\ saw blade either this was a sadistic looking one with vertical walls instead of peaks and valleys.  I'd draw a picture, but this thing doesn't support that feature.

My legs were so tired, I had to lower the LT wattage from 240 to 180 after the first main interval block.  I just had no power.  Add to that the nasty stomach bug I got suspiciously after eating lunch with my sister at Tokyo Joe's where I couldn't keep any food inside me (no, I wasn't throwing up...use your imagination) causing me to be what I can only assume to be SEVERELY dehydrated.

I'm all better now, which seems to reinforce the idea that something was in the beef bowl at Mr. Joe's.  Suffice it to say I will refrain from visiting their establishment for a while.

Today's Workout -Training Tired

Swim (...so...tired...)

22-mile ride (yes, on top of the long-ass one yesterday)

I know, I know, it's usually always the case when you're training twice a day, but there's something to be said for training tired.  Not in a "way to go" kind of way, but in a "I actually managed to workout" way.

Let's face it, motivation is usually low and it's VERY easy to find distractions - say, if the spouse gives you permission to purchase an Apple TV on your quest to set up a media server in the house (even if your ultimate goal is to have two, one for each HDTV).  I am proud to say, however, that I was able to resist the temptation of setting it up until after my swim, but before my ride.  I only swam and rode for 30-minutes each because next week is my recovery week and I still have power class tomorrow night and I need some legs for that class.

Today's Workout

6-mile Z2 run with Z4 intervals
3900m swim (various)

As usual, the run was fine - there's always a question of what will happen when I pass the sketchy section on the North section of the Platt River bike path from Confluence Park. If you're not familiar with this section, it's the stretch between the railroad bridge and 31st St. It's sketchy because the path runs next to a warehouse district one of who's buildings is a Salvation Army shelter. The shelter draws all manner of transients many of whom hang out on this stretch of the path.

To be fair, I've never had an incident and they've almost always been courteous in saying hello or moving out of my way when I run by. But there's still the feeling of uneasiness because it's very clear from how some of them dress that they have nothing left to lose.

The legs are still a little tired from Monday's power lab workout blasting through my sadistic coach's CompuTrainer power profile that looks like Bart Simpson's hair only the peaks are at 110% of LT.

Tonight's swim will most likely consist of slogging through Wolfgang's master's swim class and hoping I don't embarrass myself too much because I've not attended class in at least a month.