Today's Workouts: I Broke 160 Watts FT Today!

I woke up feeling SO tired today after that big lifting session yesterday. No surprise there. But in terms of soreness (DOMS), really just my upper body, especially those puny guns of mine, were feeling it. And I had to swim today. I knew I was tired because I ended up sleeping 9.5 hours. When I woke up, of course it was dark, and I figured it was 5:30, but NO, it was already 6:30, meaning I had better hop to to get some coffee, something small to eat and maybe a little stretching so I would get in the pool by 7:45.

I ARRIVED at the pool on time, but ran into a friend, and I wanted to catch up, so I dilly-dallied. It wouldn't kill me to start work a little late today (still working now, actually).

8:15AM Swim 2700 yards 1:00. The pool was warm, and my arms weren't working well at all. My triceps were sore, my upper back was sore, my legs, while not sore, didn't have much kicking power (do they ever???), so I set low expectations for myself. The actual movement through the water felt fine, though. By the time I got to the final 500 yards straight, I actually felt good, and was almost operating at a normal pace. What the hell, a workout is a workout. I have a time trial to do on Friday, and that should go well--no lifting the day before, actually a rare DAY OFF!

2:20PM Bike 1:15 the infamous FT test protocol of WU: 15' warmup, 3 x SpinUps. Then 3 x 2' (1') Zone 3 MS: FT repeats: 2x20' (2'). In aero bars, normal TT cadence. CD: 6' Easy.

MY FT IS 162 WATTS!!!! This is up 10 watts over just 5 weeks

OK this is not a big number to you guys, but for me this is a big deal. 162 puts me solidly in the "good" range of power to weight ratio. That is up from around 150 as of 10/1. That is tested the day after a monstrous lifting session (and a short 45' run) which was preceded by a 2:15 run on Sunday (with a lovely tempo finish) that capped off a 15-hour training week.

My coach was encouraging when I spoke to him yesterday, because he said there's "indoor" and "outdoor" watts. Theoretically, I may be able to bust out a bigger number outdoors. I sure can't wait to try!

What's funny about this is where my bike and trainer are, downstairs in the family room, there's a bar (mostly unused, sadly since I began endurance training) with 3 shelves filled with full bottles of beer (a collection of sorts) and 2 other shelves with assorted glassware (the bottom shelf has all the liquor bottles--nice collection).

I have music cranked down there, and it resonates the glass and I can hear clinking, and I am always wondering if something will break. So far it hasn't. I do check that none of the glasses or bottles are touching one another periodically. But at the end of my 2nd 20' interval today, I was putting out about 190 watts, and then the clinking increased a lot--I think something about the sound combined with the magnetic rotation and output caused more resonance? Physics geeks?

And lastly, an exercise physiologist explained to me (and I later read about it in my own exercise physiology book) that dry heaves at the end of a workout are usually caused by acidosis, which briefly is an accumulation of H* (hydrogen ions), and one way your body tries to clean up the mess is by vomiting/coughing, hence dry heaves, I LOVE THEM!

Unfortunately, I am going to have a little break in my biking for a week for Goofy Challenge, but the rest (relative) may be just what my biking legs need!

And I'm really excited--Shelley and I are scheming to put together a mega-cycling training happening in the spring.

This is all just great stuff. Once again, I attribute some of it to serious training, but I'm feeling like my mind is lining up with my body really well now. The FT intervals didn't hurt today--sure there was discomfort--but I really welcomed it.

BRING IT!!!!!