I'm still here, I'm just not spending a lot of time online. Honestly, it's the last thing on my mind when I've got spectacular weather and great people to hang out with. If I'm not out training, I'm either sitting on the back deck reading or working. Weekends are spent out and about exploring. There is always something going on. It's funny how last year I thought that 2 months was going to be a long time. It's not. It's far too short when you've got places you want to see and people you want to visit.
It has been between 28-31 degrees celsius every day for the last two weeks and that is going to continue until this weekend. It's made for some excellent heat training that's for sure. I have had to pay extra attention to hydration. I learned that the hard way on a long run last week. I'm not really sure what I was thinking but I only brought one bottle with me on an hour and 10 minute long run. I went out at 9:30 am and ran along a part of the trail with NO shelter. And it was super windy. It was like running into a blast furnace. To say I caved was an understatement. Strava assigned me an extreme suffer score and my Garmin told me I'd need 3 days to recover. Needless to say I've learned my lesson.
I've done a LOT of volume in these last few weeks. More so than last year. But I came to Florida in much better cycling shape than last year as well. I certainly didn't think that when I did my first FTP test back in November, but things do come back quickly if you stay the course and do the work. My body is actually feeling ok. I've been doing mobility work several times a week, along with my physio work. I've been getting to the gym more often as well since it is so close. My cranky SI joint seems to be happier these days. I've been on my road bike most of the time but I took my TT bike out this past Saturday and I am very happy to report that my back managed to hold up ok. And it wasn't like I was just spinning my legs. These were hard efforts with climbing. I was a bit sore / tight after I got off the bike but once I started moving around, I was fine. I'm going to keep doing all that I'm doing and hope that things keep improving bit by bit.
I do have a few bits of exciting news to share. I will be leading a beginners running workshop at the Lole Yorkville store when I'm back in Toronto in April. WOOHOO! I will be hosting 4 workshops in total. The first two are geared towards beginners. I am working on topics of discussion and I will be giving people a plan they can follow that will get them up to running for 30 minutes straight by the time the group meets again at the beginning of July. I'm really looking forward to this!
The second bit of new is that I have finally gotten a PKPC kit in the works. I've gone with Louis Garneau and they've created an awesome design that I absolutely love. For now I've gotten tri and running stuff done but I may end up getting some cycling stuff made as well given how much time I spend on my road bike. We'll see. Next up - HATS! I want a technical trucker hat and a regular running hat so if anyone has any recos, let me know.
So that's been the update. Nothing crazy to report. I've started a few blog posts on some topics of interest but they will require a bit more research so stay tuned for that at some point in the next week or so.
On to the fun part - TRAINING! After my epic weekend at the Hunter Allen Camp, I took a couple of days off and then got sick, so I ended up taking another day off later in the week. Needless to say I was well rested coming into this past week. This is how last week unfolded.
Monday: 35km easy spin to Winter Garden for coffee with G.
Tuesday: Skipped swimming due to a late night watching the Olympics. 13km long run with 3x2km repeats that completely killed me. 30 minutes of Upper body & core work followed by a 30 minute mobility class.
Wednesday: 30 minute easy swim (1554m to be exact)
Thursday: 100km ride with "Centre Hill Gang". Nice easy 5km spin to meet the group, followed by roughly another 5-10km at a civilized pace and then the hammer got dropped and I hung on for dear life for the next 75km. It was nice to actually have to work hard. I haven't pushed myself too hard since I've gotten here and this ride was just what I needed. I stopped for a coffee and a smoothie on the way home so I'd have enough gas to take the long way home so I could get my first 100km ride of 2018 in the bank.
Friday: This was going to be a tempo run but given the previous days effort, I did a recovery run instead. I then hit the gym for a 40 minute full body session, followed by a 40 minute swim.
Saturday: Just under 60km TT Fun with the Swim Like a Pro Tri group. I took Tom Sawyer out for his first outdoor ride of 2018. I was surprised at how comfortable I was for most of the ride. I'm not in the most aero position but I definitely seem to be able to crank out the watts on this bike. I've been contemplating changing my fit to try to get a bit more aero but I may save that for the off season. I know there is a trade off. I may get more aero but loose more power. I'm not sure what's better. I'm also not sure if my back will be able to take a more aggressive position. I do know that my neck and shoulders were totally fine at the end of this ride, which is NOT normal for me. So something has changed in my mobility through my upper back and neck. The bike was followed by a short run but I didn't know they were running so I didn't bring my running shoes. After the run we did a short open water swim. I swam about 1000m I think. My Garmin said 817m but I went around the 400m course twice and did about another 100m out and back. So something is up.
Sunday: 90km with the Epic Cycles crew. This was a SPEEDY ride. I do find riding with this group to be a bit stressful as no one seems to want to take charge and organize HOW we ride so the pack is a little messy. I try to stay close to the front where it seems to be a bit more organized. I did have a 20 minute run off the bike scheduled but that didn't happen. I was tired and hungry so we made lunch and I did some work.
Totals for the week:
Swimming: 4,567m (I kid you not!)
Cycling: 284km
Running: 20km <----- NEEDS WORK
I keep saying I need to work on my running and I've been better this year than last year but the bike always seems to take precedence. My bike V02 max is now better than my run V02 max. Funny how things have changed.
Total Time: 14h 22 minutes. Total TSS for the week 801. Which is the highest it's been in a while. Which is also why I thought it would be a good idea to take today off, even though I felt ok. I know this week is probably going to be another big one in terms of cycling. I've got 4 longer rides on tap, one of them will probably be a really easy / fun ride but it's still time in the saddle. I'm doing a Poker Ride on Saturday in Winter Garden. It's my birthday and I figured that would be a fun way to get out and do something different. It also ends at the Crooked Can Brewing company so REALLY how could I say no? Beer + Bikes = awesome.
Happy Monday!
Has anyone ever done a poker run / poker ride? I've done a run but this will be the first ride. It's gonna be FUN!
No comments:
Post a Comment