Training recap

Yes, oh, Yes. I've been training.

I took advantage of a quiet week at home to really dive in deep to my training plan. Normally, I tend to customize the heck out of the plans I find on the web to suit my taste. This go around, however, I've decided to try to stick pretty close to the plan and see how I do.

So far, so good.

Tuesday night I did a 60-ride / 30-run brick in the heat of the afternoon. I was extremely dehydrated at the end. I even had the chills - it was a little scary. The humidity was killer and I was sweating way more than normal. This actually turned out to be a pretty good exercise. I actually knew I was going to get dehydrated, but I pressed on anyway just to see if I could take note of how my body responds. I know now what to watch for and I think I even may now know some how it feels to go through several stages of dehydration and how it felt to rehydrate afterward. It takes more than just drinking.

Wednesday was an off day - which was good because I spent the whole day recovering. I also stopped off at RunTex and picked up a new fuel system for my longer workouts. I decided on the Ultimate Direction Access Plus. I was looking for 2 specific features and came away with that and a bonus. First, I need a BIG bottle. The Amphipod I have is great for shorter distances, but tends to come along for the long part of the ride on my long runs - meaning the bottles are completely consumed within the first 1/3 of the workout. Also, there is a terrible design flaw that makes me a little worried about relying too heavily on it. I need something that can keep up on 9 - 15 mile runs. Second, storage. I need room for a cell phone, gels / shot bloks, mp3 player, etc. This system had both, and an additional gel flask!

Thursday started off with a 90-minute run. I got up early to eat and drink. Then, loaded up the UDAP with all the necessities. I was back before 6:30 AM. It was humid and hot - but I did manage to run a nice RPE 3 pace and still have energy for a strong RPE 5 pace for the last 15 minutes. I was rewarded with a nice sunrise at the end.

Thursday afternoon I hit the pool for a recovery swim. I've been swimming in the afternoons at the LTF outdoor pool. It sure does beat the ball-numbing water temp at 4 AM in the indoor pool. I so needed a break from that nightmare. The change up is showing in my swimming, I've turned in 2-3 second faster splits on each workout. I like to see that. The other change up is that I'm closely following the swim workouts prescribed in the plan. I've never done that before, but it provides some interesting brain food while I'm swimming. I like it.

Tonight, I'm planning on another long swim at the outdoor LTF pool. Then, I start making preparations for what is shaping up to be a TdF weekend! Saturday morning I'm riding with a whole cast of characters for about 2 hours or more. Yes, Party Pat, is scheduled to appear! After the ride, I'm going to go on a quick 30-minute run to finish out the brick. Saturday night we're meeting up for a BBQ and (what I hope) turns into a TdF time trial viewing party. On Sunday, I'm planning to watch the finish on TV and round out my off day with a nice nap.

So, chances are we'll be out on Parmer again this weekend. Comment / E-mail me if you want to join in.

See ya out there...