Late February 2018 Musings

I don’t tend to adjust my training plans. It feels most natural to me to choose a plan and follow it as closely as possible. It’s what I tend to do in training - and in life.  Follow the plan to the end to see if it works. 

Lately I've made quite a few adjustments to "my plan."  Typical changes:

- Miss a workout

- Cut a workout

- Change a workout.

The adjustment came about for a variety of reasons:

- Desire/want

- Time available

- Need

- Fatigue
- Travel

So lots of reasons that were/are needed for the changes. 

Now several weeks/months into the work, I see both positive and negative impact of the changes.  More positive than negative because I'm more aware of my needs and my limits than I have been previously.  The changes made helped me understand my needs and determine my limits.  So both were/are really important.  In particular, I'm lately most aware of my limits.  At this point, I know I am not functional if I have a training load too high.  My body and mind just don't work at that level of stress.  And we know training at too high of a level isn't healthy....it risks injury and the long-term damage.

So here's a few pieces of learning I'm sharing now:

- Love your plans but be OK with monitoring and adjusting

- Don't do things that risk injury

- Live in the moment.

Nutrition update:

Now experimenting with pure maple syrup as fuel for long workouts. Zach are you listening?

Ironman Training Weekend - Miami, Update #1

It has been a successful warm weather training weekend in Miami so far with two runs, one bike, and one ocean swim.  SJCK and I also had a recreational ride out on the Venetian Causeway including checking out some exotic homes, lunch at Joe's Stone Crap (loved it) and dinner at Tequiza (LOVED it).  Eater.com has not

disappointed in Chicago, NYC or Miami in finding good places eat when traveling.  

Included here is a map of the Venetian Causeway ride and a bunch of food photos.  

Hope you are enjoying Presidents' Day weekend and getting in your exercise, deserved rest, and reflection as needed. 

Week 6 - Training Stress Score 701!

Here is what's important to share this week:
1. A high volume of training
2. Rosé all day

Training volume: I haven't kept track of my training stress score (TSS) as closely in the past.  This year is a different story, and the numbers are being tracked closely and are useful in telling part of the training story.  Take, for example, this week's training:
- Three swims - 7100 yards in 2 hours, 13 minutes
- Three bikes (should haven been four but I skipped the Friday ride) - 99.9 miles in 5 hours, 45 minutes
- Three runs - 19.4 miles in 2 hours, 57.5 minutes.
Those nine workouts were the highest volume for me in recent memory, and they produced a TSS of 701.  That's 173 points higher than any week in this training block so far.  Needless to say, I'm ready for a day off on Monday.  It will be interesting to see where the numbers go as we get to peak training.

Rosé - it is a bright and refreshing wine that is making a come back with a lot of people around town. And it's not just for after Memorial Day :-).  According to winepair.com, "Rosé has exploded on the US market over the past few years, especially during the warm months of the year. In France, it now eclipses the sale of white wine and, rumor has it, Sting slugs bottles of the stuff during his live performances."

 Sting slugs bottles of the stuff.  Did you read that????!  Sting!

In any case, I've found Rosé interesting lately too, so bought a few different varieties during a recent outing to Morgan and York (using a seven year old gift certificate from the MLK School days thank you).  I'll report out on my findings in this blog in the weeks to come.

First, let's talk about the pictured 2017 Beaujolais Nouveau Rosé.  It was great. You should check it out too.  Yep, the most simple of reviews here.

Duel In The D - M Wins!

Enjoyed seeing M hockey play at the LCA tonight and beating the Sparties following the Saturday workouts.

All of that is good but maybe we should probably go back to calling this game College Hockey Night instead of Duel In The D. What do you think?

In Between Workout Snack

Layered on the honeycomb. Loving that right now!

PF run to come!

Photo: second workout of the day

45 minutes of shoveling work out!

Killer Bike.

TrainerRoad is going to either get me a podium spot at some race this year or kill me. Definitely one or the other.

Comet and End of January 18 Update

Something happened....via text message.  See below.

In case you are new to the scene here, this text came from none other than Dave otherwise known as "The Comet" and it gives insight into answers to two important questions:

Q1: Is Dave alive?  

A1: Given this text message came from Dave's number (and I'm not aware that his phone was stolen),  have to conclude that Dave is indeed alive.

Q2: Is Dave running Boston 19?

A2: We don't know.  There isn't much doubt that a guy with a 2:26 marathon PR could run Boston 19, and it is a good sign that he is apparently training with the running elite of US master's running. But we still don't know anything for sure about Dave's intent about Partriot's Day 2019.  It may be that an upcoming text message from Dave tells us more. Stay tuned....

One thing is for sure...the guy holding the shovel below will be at Boston in 2019 to reclaim the family record now owned RCK since this past fall in Chicago.  Yep, I just said that.

Now for a training update...
In the past, January has been a month of fairly light workouts.  However, things changed in the last two years.  You will see the differences in the chart below showing the number of January workout hours from 2011-18 (first line) and then the swim, bike and run distances for the month (lines 2-4).

Training this month has been the top of training for the month when compared to other years:
- 34.25 hours of training
- The most number of bike miles ever for the month (317).
The swim and run mileage isn't bad either:
- Close to the top of swimming yardage (16325 this year v. 17000 in 2017)
- Relatively low run miles (68.1) especially when compared with years when I've trained for a spring marathon (2013, 2014, 2015).

January Monthly TSS (Training Stress Score) Analysis
- Jan 12 - 1415
- Jan 17 - 1478
- Jan 18 - 2116
Given Jan 12 and Jan 17 (two other pretty intense Januaries that I've got solid data for), this month is step up.  I definitely felt it.

Looking forward to seeing how February goes.  Thanks for reading.