Ten days in

I “officially” started my 2010 season on January 1st.  What a creative choice of a day to start!  I am trying to “ease into things” a little but I can be a bit excitable … so there have been days of totally overdoing it intermixed with days of remarkable sanity.  Here is what I’ve been up to:

Fri 1 Jan: ez hour on the trainer; some light core & strength

Sat 2 Jan: 3hr bike ride with Recycled Cycles team; 70-minute brick run with Andrew at Redmond Watershed. This felt like a bit much.  About 40 minutes into the run I really ran out of gas.  Afterwards I ate a burrito and tried to take a nap … I slept for 15 hours!

Sun 3 Jan: 14-mile run with Shelby’s group at Redmond Watershed; 10,000-yard swim with Stephanie at UW.  The “10k” swim is a bit silly, especially when I’d only been in the pool *once* in the last 7 weeks… but this “10k” workout is one of my new ideas for 2010 and I figured as long as I go easy I should be okay.  I started out a bit too strong and slowed down quite a bit … but I survived!

Mon 4 Jan: ez 5–mile recovery run with Andrew in Bridle Trails

Tue 5 Jan: AM shakeout ride on trainer: 15x1min targeting 290-300W on the trainer w/ 1min rest; brick run with Andrew in Bridle Trails – about 7.5 miles.

Wed 6 Jan: nothing. My Wednesday schedule will eventually include a long AM swim w/ Dave and a hard PM run on the track … but I felt like I might be starting to fight off a bit of a cold … and I knew that the weekend was a bit much … so I took ‘er easy today.

Thu 7 Jan: early meetings at work … so after work I did an hour pf ez biking on the trainer and an hour of easy running alone in Bridle Trails

Fri 8 Jan: rest day. I would have liked to get a swim in over lunch or after work … but work was rather busy and by the time I wrapped up there I was rather tired.  Is this the type of game-time decision that I should be making?  I could be convinced that I’m better off skipping workouts when tired than just pushing through like I’ve always done in the past.  Hrmmm…

Sat 9 Jan: another RCR team ride – 4 hours this time.  I felt strong for 3 hours then faded a *lot* after Snohomish.  I ate a decent amount early on, then ate a lot more in Snohomish but my legs just started saying “no” as we climbed up Broadway.  Y’arrrr…  I took maybe 60-90 minutes between workouts – snack, clean-up, errands … then went to the gym to run on the ‘mill and watch football.  I wanted to run an hour but got into the game and ran like 12.5 miles at an EZ pace – about an hour & forty minutes.  A bit much?

Sun 10 Jan: 14-miles run with Shelby’s group at the Watershed, then another “10k” swim workout, this time solo at the Pro Club.  The first 2000 yards were pretty tough.  My body was shot from the run, and from yesterday’s work. But I just tried to stay smooth and relaxed and eventually I found a bit of a groove.

In total:

• Swim: 2 sessions, 20200 yards, 5.5 hours. Avg 10-day period in 2007/2008/2009 was 5.1/5.8/3.9 hours.
• Bike: 5 sessions, 180 miles, 10.25 hours. Avg 10-day period in 2007/2008/2009 was 9.0/10.0/11.2 hours.
• Run: 7 sessions, 69 miles, 8.5 hours. Avg 10-day period in 2007/2008/2009 was 4.4/4.8/3.5 hours.

So my swim and bike volume are reasonable but I should try to get in the pool a bit more often.  I am running a lot more than I typically have for long stretches of time … but those yearly averages are a bit misleading as they include tapers and rest periods.

So I had two Saturdays and two Sundays where I went NUTS, then two rather mature “unplanned rest” days during the week.  As I get into the meaty part of the season I will move to more of a focus on intensity and less of a focus on volume … but as I break out of my offseason, I figure volume is a good thing … at least it would be if I could do it within reason.  Reason is not yet my strong point this year, but the body is holding up pretty well so far.

Next Thursday I head to Austin to set up for the Ranch.  Sweet!!!