Happy Tuesday (Again)

I did my usual Tuesday (at least it's become usual for the last several weeks) workout today: 1:30 on the bike as:

WU: 15' Easy, include 3-4 x 30" spinups. MS: 8 x 30/30's, then 3 x 8' (2') @ best effort (benchmark previous sessions), 5' Easy, then go into 85-90% for all but the last 5-10' of the ride. CD: 5' Easy

followed by a :30 brick run, Easy out, Steady back (or however I can run!).

Last week I had the turbo charger going on the bike, and hit some wattages I had never seen on the "best effort" intervals. Frankly, I didn't expect to see the same wattages today, as I am still in somewhat recovery mode from Saturday's 9-hour riding festival.

My coach had scheduled this workout for tomorrow, but since I feel more recovered from Saturday than I expected (especially since I did less mileage than I thought I would), I figured I'd try it today and see how it would go, and then decide which workouts to do which day for the rest of the week based on today's trial. Recovery can be a dicey proposition--you can think you are good to go, and maybe you can even do one more workout at a good performance--but then you might just be digging yourself a hole.

I've been feeling pretty strong lately, and although that statement might sound a bit smug, ultimately I have to be the judge of how I'm doing. Plus, I do have some play in my schedule right now, since I'm not *really* training for anything. Sure, sure, I have an A race in early November, but I am not worried about it one iota. My priority right now is to do a lot of biking. 'Tis the season! Daylight hours are shortening noticeably, the weather is cooling off, and before you know it (gotta put a big OH FUCK here), I will be back on the trainer. So I am trying to milk the remaining weather for what it's worth.

Well, I took off on my bike around 1:30, and right away I could tell I was a bit stiff/sore. Whether it was from Saturday or from lifting weights yesterday, it really didn't matter. I didn't feel badly enough to bag the workout--just not too "peppy." But I've learned, hey, that's what warmups are for, and this is another place where a power meter really comes in handy. If I am able to generate respectable watts for a warmup, I am generally good to go. So things felt like the workout was a go, and I headed to my interval loop, which I measured today, and it's almost dead-on 3 miles around. Which is good, since when I do my Soloman 1/2 Ironman on 9/9, to make it even more mind-numblingly challenging, I am going to do the 56 miles around this loop! I haven't yet decided whether the run will be on the same course or whether I will do my hilly out and back from home. Decisions, decisions...

The weather was beautiful today--mid-80's, a perfectly clear sky, and little to no wind. Which meant I was 100% on my own power to be motivated to hit the numbers without any particular resistance.

The 30/30's felt fine, but my quads weren't burning, so I instinctively knew that I was just a tad low on power today, probably from the Saturday ride, but it was no big deal. I just hoped that I could still put out respectable watts--not as much as last week's picture-perfect ride, but still something that would show me that my FTP is up.

I didn't really look at the watts I was putting out, I just did the workout and let myself feel the effort. I worked hard, and I smiled while doing it most of the time, except when cars would get too close or fail to use turn signals (I always yell at people who "forget"). I could feel the effort in my legs, and as I neared the end of the ride, I considered how I might be able to run today. Oh--the watts I hit today on the 3 best effort intervals were 201, 187 and 187. Last week's numbers were 198, 205 and 197, so this week about 5% lower, no big deal. My guess is my FTP when I next do a test will be somewhere around 183-185, so all of these numbers are good.

The run went just fine--I was about 10"/mile slower than when I did the same workout last week, but still a solid effort, and I felt like I am probably recovered enough to proceed with the rest of my week as if Saturday never happened. That means tomorrow will be a long-ass swim and a hard-ass run (5K intervals again!), but I'm looking forward to it, because it's weeks like this that make me feel tough and strong, and if that's all I get out of all of this training, then that is enough for me! Races are just bonus. Hell I am practically racing several days out of every week in training anyway. If by racing I mean trying to improve on my last execution, then yes, I am racing.

I was a little tired after today's workout, and I made sure to do some more stretching this evening so that I am good to go early tomorrow for a big swim (3800 yards).

I am still getting a good chuckle daily that I am not training for an Ironman right now. If I could drop in on, say, Ironman Wisconsin, I'm pretty sure I'd be good to go. Anybody know anyone who can pull strings? Nah, the recovery from that would be too long, and I am on a different mission right now. Get ready for 2007!