One week a month without call duties…Oh I love these weeks. My sleep improves, training is easier, and the family gets “happy” vs “grumpy” Dad. So, Coach had a 15 hour training week planned. However, life got in the way as it is apt to do. I had a little uncooperative weather, busy work days, closed pool, trip to see the senior US women’s soccer team vs Scotland, and kid’s soccer tourney with which to contend.
Swim:
Missed the volume on the schedule this week. I did do a 8 X 300y set which felt strong. Was able to drop the split times down as I finished. That raised my confidence for Gulf Coast Tri in May. Frequently, my swims are jammed into my lunch hour. I’m lucky if it’s a full hour. It’s easier to swim these interval sets with little recovery when time-crunched. It is a quick recipe for burn-out though. Some lunch hours call for a mental break…such is the life of a primary care doctor today…dying breed. Those days, I looking for a room with no computer, phone, or nurse.
Bike:
I missed a couple of recovery bike sessions so the weekly mileage was down. I floundered through a 3 hr trainer ride wimping out against the 30 degrees outside. Sadly, I didn’t get much out of the ride as my power was in recovery for a majority of the time. Should have ridden outside. Mechanically, the Black Mamba got some improvements. The bike is spec’d with SRAM red components. This includes a front derailleur with yaw technology. This yaw allows the derailleur to “rotate to maintain a consistent angular relationship with the chain. Yaw technology eliminates the need for shifter trim.”(per SRAM). I upgraded to the new front R2C shifter with yaw. This enables shifting between big and small chainrings without going through all the trim positions. It’s an aesthetic change to me primarily. And I got it almost half off on Amazon. I also picked up a Speedfill A2 aero bottle to try between my aerobars. It is a cool little system. It has straw with bite valve and refillable top that can be screwed onto any typical water bottle. I like the idea of a refillable aero bottle and hate the old Profile design ones.
Thanks to Tririg.com for the pic and the excellent review as always.
I’m still testing it out. I’ll let you know my thoughts. If it’s a no go, then make me an offer.
Run:
Good runs this week. My legs felt fresh and the old man knee didn’t complain. On Monday, I ran 17 miles up and down and around B’tree Mtn. It’s not a tall mountain but the 3 roads that climb to the top are all steep. Steep as in…You’re running, or rather you think you’re running, but it’s more like a lively walk up 0.75 mile. And that’s the easy part. Going down is the real bitch. I mapped out a 8.5mile route and ran it twice. I ironically felt better on the second loop but it took me 3 days to walk down stairs without pain. This is what all the Boston Marathon experts say…run lots of hills, both up and down. I think I’ll do this route 2-3 more times before the race. Maybe every other week if my quads hold out. My mid-week run was at tempo/sub-aerobic threshold for 80 min. I forgot to wear my heart-rate monitor so I didn’t get to analyze the data. I ran by perceived effort 5-6/10. Will have to do this again next week. Got in another solid 18+ mile run Saturday. It was cold that morning so I wore my cw-x tights. I don’t know if it was the tights or my endurance is improved but my legs felt fresh through the entire run. Felt like I could have kept going.
Diet:
Good news. Managed to stay on my restrictions for entire week more or less. I’ll drop around 1-2 pounds per week if I maintain…No thanks to my wife for the chocolate on Valentine’s Day..Love You! Just have to constantly remind myself what we’re doing here. Week one saw a 4 pound drop but as I know that’s usually water. It will slow down. No Biggest Loser mega-water-loss here.
Thanks for reading,
Doc
Docsmultisportlife 