Well the week started as a bummer as on Monday I got an email that I did not get into the Dirty Kanza 200 via the lottery. I knew that was a distinct possibility but still was bummed as it was to be one of my big races of my year. About the time I quite being bummed, well truthfully less bummed, about it I got a great message from Mike Carrol of Grit Cycling in Louisville, actually where I got my gravel bike, wondering if I still wanted into the DK200 – I could not answer YES fast enough. I guess Mike had two entries to give out and I got one of them – can’t thank Mike enough for thinking of me – so after getting some registration things sorted out I got my registration in and now have a date to be in Emporia KS on May 30th.
With the DK200 firmed up I have the first part of the years race/ride schedule sorted out. First up will be The Solvang Century in Solvang CA. This is one I last did probably 25 years ago, maybe more. It is a great course and what will be fun is the last time I rode this I did so on my late 80's Medici and this time I will be doing it on the same bike after refurbishing it. Looking forward to getting in a good 100 miler as work not only for the DK200 but also for Boston.
Next up after Solvang will be Boston on April 20th. This will be yet another race/run I will have had to rely heavily on riding to prepare for as will not be doing as many long runs as I usually like to do. It worked for last years Derby Marathon where I qualified for Boston and for my R2R2R this past October so hope will work again. The goals for Boston are three fold in this order: Have a better race than last time where I just ran terrible, Second, break 3:28 which is pretty much my old guy PR and thirdly if I have a good day, and weather permits, run under 3:20.
2 Weeks after Boston is the ‘45’ gravel race just outside of London KY. Hopefully weather and work will let me ride the course before I leave for California the end of February and at least once when I get back before Boston. If not the ‘45’ will be much like the Kentucky Gravel Championships (KGC) last year where I rode with little to no gravel preparation, but will be fun none the less. My understanding is the course is easier than the KGC so hope all will go well. Never-the-less the ‘45” will get me some gravel practice in for DK200.
After the ‘45’ comes the DK200 three weeks later so will have a a little time to get in some extra riding and hopefully some gravel. While I want to race the DK200 I need to take seriously the advice of others to be careful and for the first year seek to ride steady and finish as a first priority. That may be the plan but I know how my mind works and when the race starts it will be hard to not want to mix it up but need to be smart about it. Work and life probably will not let me do the mileage I might want to do but with getting in what I can and having years of mileage in my legs I am hoping that will count for something on race day.
The week after DK200, which I will take as a rest week, I head back to CA for work and will start training for the second half of the year. So far the second half includes the following: Freeman Lake Trail Challenge in Elizabethtown, KY (10K & 5K – doing both) on July 11, Kentucky Gravel Championships (63 miles) August 8 and Steamboat Springs Gravel Race (140 Miles) August 16 then more to add and hope to add more running race as I would like to do a 50K but depends on my foot. Some good stuff to come but at the same time challenging.
That is what is ahead so far and more to come
Week’s Training Overview:
With regards to running, the week went pretty much as planned as I wanted around 25 miles and ended up with 27. In doing this I did stretch my longest run to 9 miles and while my foot was sore it was a little better and soreness did not last as long as usual. I have gone back to using my HRM just to make sure my Perceived Exertion (PE) is what I think it is and pretty much seems to be. All of this week’s runs were a little slower than last week but that was the plan as this was to be sort of a rest week as cut my riding miles down. Legs were a little heavy but to be expected with all the miles I had done for the month.
For riding this week I decided to only ride two days and pass on the usual Saturday long ride and give the legs some rest. This week ended a big month, for me, of riding with 700+ miles - not sure the last time I did that. Included in that mileage were two 100 milers and two 75 milers so got in some good endurance riding in. Yep it was all indoors and would rather have ridden outdoors but you have to do what you can. Also, in those miles were harder rides in the Tour de Zwift for 5 stages where I did push it more than I usually do but realize the work I need to do to get my watts up to be where they need to be. Overall this was not only a good mileage month but also a good quality mileage month
Overview of Weeks Runs and Rides:
- Monday: Ride - TdZ Warmup 25.11 Miles & TdZ Stage 4 W/Cooldown 21.3 Miles (46.41Total Miles)
- Tuesday: Run – 9.18 Miles
- Wednesday: Run – 7.05 Miles
- Thursday Morning: Ride - TdZ Warmup 22.12 Miles & TdZ Stage 5 W/Cooldown 25.27 Miles ( 47.39 Total Miles)
- Thursday Afternoon: Run - 5.39 Miles
- Friday: Run – 5.47 Miles
- Saturday: Rest Day
- Sunday: Rest Day
Weeks Totals:
- Running Miles: 27.1 Miles
- Running Time: 3:54 Hrs
- Riding Miles: 93.8 Miles
- Riding Time: 4:31 Hrs
- Total Miles: 120.9 Miles
- Total Time: 8:25 Hours
January 2020 Totals
- Running Miles: 116.8 Miles
- Running Time: 17:42 Hrs
- Riding Miles: 703 Miles
- Riding Time: 33:47 Hrs
- Total Miles: 819.8 Miles
- Total Time: 51:29 Hrs
Weekly Diet Notes;
Regarding diet I continue to fine tune what to consume for hard rides where there are a number of intense efforts. All my runs done in the AM are done fasted so that works well but for the rides during the Tour de Zwift I use the SFuels Race+ formula as need a little more in carbs with the efforts I have to put out in a race. More work to be done here but am getting there.
As far as my daily diet working to get my carbs into a good place and is going in the right direction but not there yet. Still find that at times I take in too many carbs in forms that do not agree with me and thus need to reduce those. The lesson here is things always need to be tweaked it seems and situation and circumstances change and often that requires modifying my diet
Conclusions and the Week Ahead:
After a good week an excellent month with a little rest it is time to get back at it. One thing to keep an eye on is making sure to get some sort of rest by dialing back miles every 3-4 weeks. The goal is to get to Boston healthy and in shape and raring to go so need to tailor things to accomplish that.
For this week the goal is to run 25-30 miles with my longest run at around 11 miles. As far as riding I have the last two stages of the Tour de Zwift so for Monday and Thursday, TdZ days, I will get in 50 miles then Saturday will work to get in a 100 miles. Due to the weather the long ride will probably be indoors but we shall see.
Last Week's Overview #32
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