Training Thoughts: Last week I started talking about moving to the Hill Phase of my plan for a good 5K the first part of November and spoke of this past week as the beginning of my taper and move to the new phase. Well, it more turned out to be that things were about the same until the end of the week as I ran and rode the same amount for the beginning of the week- thru Friday. Thus, this week while being my official last week of base training before moving to the Hill Phase will also be a transition week with a few less miles riding, running will probably remain as is – depending on how I feel. I had planned to have my Hill Phase all planned out already but that is how things go as life happens and did not get it laid out yet but will this week so as to be ready for next week. Next week I will for sure be sharing my 4 week Hill Phase plan.
That said; this week will be more of a Taper/Transition time as I not only get ready to move into hill/strength work but also cut back on riding to give my legs a rest for the Kentucky Gravel Championships on August 8th. What I have noticed is that since my running miles have been higher than in the past when I cut back mileage I will be at what I once saw as high mileage but that is all part of progress. The plan, and this will probably be repeated below, is to work to get some rest in my legs since with KGC I have to work harder on the less technical and road sections to make up for my lack of off-road skill so want to be well rested for this approximately 63 mile gravel race.
Not only will I be cutting back miles I also want to make sure intensity is notched back as well. As you will see below I had a few days of what my be seen as harder rides and while I came through fine it is not a great way to get rested. Also, with running and riding on the same days, and with the heat and humidity we are having here in Kentucky, it also adds to the stress level on the body and part of tapering is to reduce the stress. This is important as often we just see a taper as reduced mileage but it is just as much, maybe even more, important to be aware of the effort being put out when tapering or in an active rest. I know I have done long rides and runs that have left me less sore than shorter but harder efforts. So this week the goal for riding is to watch my efforts with Wednesday BMTR ride being my only harder effort and the rest being lower Hear Rate rides. As far as running it is supposed to be another hot and humid week so figure most my runs will be as this week slow slogs where I try and conserve energy as much as I can.
This week I will also be working on lowering my carb intake, for a week, from what it has been lately. I do this not to lose weight but to be more of a reset. Over the last 5 -6 weeks of higher mileage I had upped my carbs a fair amount, not sure the exact amount but it is indeed more, and rightly so as I had been working out more hours and thus my caloric, and carb, needs were higher and thus for me consuming more crabs was needed. I know some have a much lower carb intake than I at higher mileage but for me I feel best with a little more. My usual intake when I was at lower miles was about 150- 250 a day and while, again, not sure how much higher it is now I just know it is. Not high enough to cause a weight issue but where it feels good for hard training. Now the carbs I have been having were still quality ones (fruit, potatoes and such and basically no processed food) in general so not necessarily bad. I have found, by checking my blood sugar regularly, I am not insulin resistant so carbs in that sense are not really an issue either. However, that said I know I have to be careful not to overdo it as carbs can be addicting and it is not hard to find oneself just stuffing my face with them. Also, on top of that I find that doing a reset once in a while helps with cutting inflammation and thus helping with recovery. So, with a race coming up in two weeks I want to reset this week and then next week will be able to make sure my carb stores are where they need to be.
Another good part about cutting back my miles riding, since most are done early in the AM on the trainer on Zwift, I end up with more sleep. Sleep is the one area I need to work on as often even if I go to bed early I do not get to sleep as quickly as I would like and thus do not get the rest I need. Thus, an added benefit of this taper/transition week.
Overview of Weeks Runs and Rides:
While last week I sort of called this the start of a taper in truth that did not happen till Friday since my miles till then were basically the same as the previous weeks totals. Thus my rides were about the same if not slightly shorter but in many ways faster/harder. On Monday I rode the Stage 5 of the vTdF which included the Ven-Top – well part of it as found that it was a ways short of the top a fair bit and as time was short simply descended back down and will have to do it again another day. On Tuesday I did the 6th stage of the vTdF which I rode as a category down so as to not ride too hard to simply road at a good tempo pace. In the afternoon on Wednesday I had an 8 mile TT where I got a PR by 1 second and 3rd overall and first in the Merckx Category. I still need to work on some things to get under 20 minutes but am close and with all the miles I have been doing it bodes well for maybe a good time next month. Then on Wednesday I rode a quick BMTR Wednesday ride on the Fuego Flats on Zwift and finished up riding on Thursday with a quick ride, got mixed in with a group for half of it, so got in a few extra miles. Riding wise I checked and found that for the last 30 days, as of this past Friday, I had ridden 1515 miles which is by far the most I have done in a long time and while am feeling a little tired all in all am doing well.
This week I basically did the same amount to running as last week but due to a dental appointment did not do all the runs on the same day as a ride like last week. It was pretty hot and humid this week again which made the runs quite often a slog and goal was just to get through them as best I could. Was happy though that I got in the runs I wanted with no foot issues again. Ran a good paced short run on Friday to finish out the week and got 110 for the last 30 days.
- Monday AM: Ride #1 - 31.15 Miles & Ride #2 - 30.01 Miles - Ttl 61.16
- Monday PM: Run – 5.58 Miles
- Tuesday AM: Ride #1 - 17.52 Miles & Ride #2 - 27.07 Miles - Ttl 44.59
- Tuesday PM: TT Warmup 19.98 Miles & TT Race 7.96 Miles & 2.24 Miles - 30.18 Ttl
- Wednesday AM: - Ride #1 - 27.26 Miles & Ride #2 - 35.33 Miles - Ttl of 62.59 Miles
- Wednesday PM: Run – 10.26 Miles
- Thursday AM: Ride – 68.57 Miles
- Thursday PM: Run – 7.28 Miles
- Friday: Run – 3.21 Miles
- Saturday: Rest Day
- Sunday: Rest Day
Weekly Totals:
- Running Miles – 26.3 Miles
- Running Time – 3:50 Hours
- Riding Miles –267.1 Miles
- Riding Time – 12:31 Hours
- Total Miles – 293.4 Miles
- Total Time – 13:21 Hours
Diet Notes:
See below for Weekly ride fueling
Weekly Fueling:
- Monday: Pre Ride – Cup of Coffee with Heavy Cream and 1 Scoop SFuels Life – During Ride – 2 X 24oz of plain water
- Monday PM Run – Had Lunch about 4 hours before run and nothing on run
- Tuesday AM: Ride – Cup of Coffee with Heavy Cream and 1 Scoop SFuels Life – During Ride – 2 X 24oz of plain water
- Tuesday PM Ride: 1 bottle of SFuels Race during warmup and finished off during cooldown and did take one Maurten Gel before TT
- Wednesday: Pre Ride – Cup of Coffee with Heavy Cream W/ 1 Scoop SFuels Life During Ride - 24oz of Water with SFuels Train & 1 24oz plain water
- Wednesday PM Run - Had Lunch about 4 hours before run and nothing on run
- Thursday AM: Pre Ride – Cup of Coffee with Heavy Cream and 1 Scoop SFuels Life – During Ride 48oz of Water
- Friday AM Run: Pre-Run Cup of Coffee with Heavy Cream and 1 Scoop SFuels Life
The Week Ahead:
This week truly starts a taper and transition to the hill phase of my training. With the Kentucky Gravel Championships on August 8th I will cut back my riding this week to about 200 – 250 miles or so but will work to keep my running at about 25 miles. Might try and get in a little gravel riding on Saturday but will have to see how weather and schedules work out. I will for sure be cutting down even more the week following, the week of the race, as it will be a tough one and will need all the energy I have to do well considering I have to ride extra hard to make up for my less than good gravel bike handling on the tough course that is out there for the 8th.
Last Week's Overview #57
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