Training Thoughts:Last week I was going to write on “Gluconeogenesis (GNG)” which is in a nutshell a pretty cool function of what one’s body does in supplying the needed sugar from non-carbohydrate sources when required. But, in studying up on it I decided to do more research before writing on the subject.
So what was the good over the last two weeks – well the week before last I pretty much did as planned even though was tired and the weather was both warm and humid. That said and looking back that good week probably led to the Not-So-Good this week. Being that the week before last was the week after the Kentucky Gravel Championships (KGC) I should have probably been more focused on a week of rest. While I did cut back on riding miles I did have a few harder days and as far as running, as will be seen below, I did as planned but probably should have throttled back some.
Hind sight is, as they say, 20-20 and in my haste to do what I had planned I neglected to see what I had planned was not appropriate and should have been adjusted. While having a race in the midst of a training cycle is not wrong doing one with the effort require at the KGC required more rest than I took after it and on top of that the miles I had put in to get ready for KGC also required some down time. So I need to be better at adjusting my schedule and not let my OCD take over to follow a plan at all cost.
I say this as the cost was this past week I started feeling really tired and due to what seems like a mix of allergies and my sinus reacting to changing weather I had a stuffy nose and head ache. In these crazy times it seems a sniffle - to feelings of being off - makes one wonder if one has the dreaded you know what. That said I know my body and I just have a case of over doing it along with a touch of allergies and not enough sleep and needing to back off. Due to this after my usual morning tempo ride with the BMTR group Wednesday I decided to take the rest of the week off. This did two things: first I could sleep in some and as part of this started with three days of bad sleep I need to catch up on and second it gave me rest and reduced stress so my body could deal with the allergies.
As of writing this Sunday afternoon I am still a little tired but am for sure feeling better and will go for a run in the evening just to get some fresh air and see how I feel. The point of this thought is more to say a schedule is important but it must be tempered and weighed against other factors. To blindly follow a schedule, as I tend to do, is to ask for trouble and usually that trouble comes well after it could have been avoided.
I have over and over stressed the need for rest and I need to listen to myself as much as anyone. The trouble is my body seems to do great till it is not as I usually do not seem to get a lot of warning that things are going south so need to act sooner than later. When I am already seeing the affects of doing to much or resting too little it is too late. I, and would suggest you, need to be more aware of how I feel daily and adjust as needed. This is not about avoiding hard work when tired as that is part of training but discerning what is a good tired induced by hard work and the tired that is inflicted by overwork. Not always easy to see but if I , and again you, pay attention and do not get so tied to a plan I think the overwork side of things can be avoided for the most part.
I hope this thought helps you as it is an area I have had to work on and while getting better at it after 40+ years of riding and 47+ of running I still struggle with it. The hard part for me know is factoring in the aspect of growing older that creates a different aspect to deal with. Yes as we age we can usually do more than we think but seldom can we do more than we once did, especially if you were pretty active and competitive when younger. It is not that we cannot do more but that we need to do what is best for where we are at in life.
Overview of Weeks Runs and Rides:
Week of August 10 – 16, 2020
With regards to riding this week it was scheduled to be a down week mileage/time wise. While I had planned on about 140 miles riding I ended up with 162+ miles. At the end of the day the mileage and planned efforts were pretty much in line with my plan. The only sort of hard ride was the usual tempo ride I do on Wednesday on Zwift with the BMTR group and it was only harder due to the hills. Truth is almost got dropped, well did momentarily, when I was texting the group and looked up heading towards the last time up the hill. Fortunately while I had to push harder than I wanted to I got back on the group with a little time to rest up before the last hill and then got my PR on it. As for the other rides the Monday ride is with the DIRT group and is a good one as the pace is at 2.3 – 2.5 w/kg so encourages me to slow down but still have to be conscience of it as like most rides on Zwift usually someone or a group want to go faster. Then I have also added in a Thursday DIRT ride that is a little faster but still a good way to control my pace.
For running it was week two of Hill Repeats and Fartlek. This week I did the Hill workout on Wednesday afternoon which made for a harder day as in the morning I did the tempo ride on Zwift. I had put off the hills till Wednesday so as to get a little more rest after the KGC race the past Saturday so just went with a harder day after more rest. This week I did a harder hill and the length run was longer at about 0.22 miles up and pretty steep in places. Basic workout was to warmup 5+ miles then run 8 repeats by running up at a controlled pace then waling and running back to start. After all 8 I then ran about 2 mile cool down for a little over 11 miles. Then did not run Thursday and decided on running my Fartlek, as planned on Friday but did it in the morning. One thing with faster workouts in the AM is just getting moving and it was no difference on this workout. While it was cooler it was indeed very humid. Ran about 1 mile easy warmup, is a slow mile as it is up the hill I did repeats on, then ran the first section hardish for a half mile then alternated lengths once again finishing with 7 roughly 10 second strides over about 3.4 miles with a 1 mile cool down. Considering the start was up hill and easy and also took the downhill to finish easy the fact I finished at around8:08/mile is pretty good – well I thought it was.
While I did cut back on riding miles my running miles were back up to where they were before last week. I was still a little tired from KGC and the miles leading up to it so this was a good week of getting in the needed workouts as well as some rest. Now to move on to week 3 of the hill phase as well as upping my riding miles this coming week
- Monday AM: Ride #1 Warmup 6.04 Miles & Ride #2 50.24 Miles – Ttl of 56.28
- Monday PM: Run 5.79 Miles
- Tuesday AM: Run 5.4 Miles
- Wednesday AM: - Ride #1 22.08 Miles - & Ride #2 32.08 Miles - Ttl of 54.16
- Wednesday PM Run – 5.47 Miles Warmup & 5.72 Miles Hill Repeats and Cool Down - 11.19 Ttl
- Thursday AM: Ride #1 2.01 Miles & Ride #2 50.29 Miles - 52.3 Ttl
- Friday: Run – 5.46 Miles Fartlek
- Saturday: Rest Day
- Sunday: Rest Day
Weekly Totals:
- Running Miles – 27.8 Miles
- Running Time – 4:08 Hours
- Riding Miles – 162.7 Miles
- Riding Time – 7:14 Hours
- Total Miles – 190.5 Miles
- Total Time – 11:22 Hours
Week of August 17 – 23, 2020
Well not a great week and not lots of riding and running this week. Monday I did an easy 55 miles on Zwift and felt tired but a little better after the ride. Then in the afternoon I did a hill workout on Monday in what was not all that hot at 85F but was a little humid such that it made the run harder. This his workout was the one I did two weeks ago where I focused on form using two different hills so the effort was not hard but, again, the heat made it harder. Then on Tuesday I rode another easy 45 keeping my HR at under 115 and mostly under that as well. Then in the afternoon I ran 6 miles and while not humid it again was warm out but run felt fine but did notice a little bit of a stuffy nose but as I have mentioned with the weather changes and the seasonal allergies seemed about par for the course. Wednesday I did the usual BMTR ride with a warmup then doing the ride at a tempo pace and while having some computer issues still got in a good ride but for sure as feeling tired as did not sleep well the last few nights.
As I spoke of above, after the Wednesday morning ride I decided to put off the afternoon run and see how I felt on Thursday. Then I woke up Thursday morning for a planned easy ride but was very tired and decided was best to not run and then this extended to not running that afternoon or Friday. I had a long ride planned, outside if the weather was good and on Zwift if not so good, for my birthday but when Saturday came I got up and just was not feeling it so went back to bed and slept for quite awhile so guess I needed it. I did feel much better on Sunday so went for a run in the afternoon and while my nose was still stuffy and had a slight sinus headache I did feel fine on an easy 5,5+ mile run. Not the week I wanted but as I often say “it was the week I got.”
So, now to regroup for the next week as will probably redo my schedule, see below and shorten my rides and make all my runs easy. I did have a TT planned for this coming Tuesday but just to make sure I get the rest I need will end up passing on it even though I would really like to do it and probably could, but it would not be the best for me at this time. I will also see how I feel with regards to Wednesday’s tempo ride and ride easy and shorter on Thursday. Then as I head off to CA for work for some time will get ready for that.
- Monday AM Ride: Ride #1 – 5.29 Miles & Ride #2 50.15 Miles - Ttl 55.44
- Monday PM Run: Warmup – 5.9 Miles & Hills and Cooldown 4.39 Miles - Ttl 10.29
- Tuesday AM Ride: 45.52 Miles
- Tuesday PM Run: 6.29 Miles
- Wednesday Ride: Ride #1 Warmup 30.05 & Ride #2 5.9 Miles & Ride #3 27.14 Miles - Ttl 63.09
- Thursday: Rest Day
- Friday: Rest Day
- Saturday: Rest Day
- Sunday: PM Run – 5.58 miles
Weekly Totals:
- Running Miles – 22.1 Miles
- Running Time – 3:11 Hours
- Riding Miles – 164 Miles
- Riding Time – 7:13 Hours
- Total Miles – 186.1 Miles
- Total Time – 10:24 Hours
Diet Notes:
See below for Weekly ride fueling
Weekly Fueling – August 10-16:
- Monday: AM Pre Ride – Cup of Coffee with Heavy Cream and 1 Scoop SFuels Life – During Ride – 2 -24oz of plain water - After ride had SFuels Revival
- Monday: PM Run – About 4 hours after lunch and no fueling on the run
- Tuesday: AM: Run – Cup of Coffee with Heavy Cream and 1 Scoop SFuels Life
- Wednesday: AM Pre Ride – Cup of Coffee with Heavy Cream W/ 1 Scoop SFuels Life During Ride - 24oz of Water - After ride had SFuels Revival
- Wednesday: PM Run - About 4 hours after lunch and no fueling on the run
- Thursday: AM Ride: Pre Ride – Cup of Coffee with Heavy Cream and 1 Scoop SFuels Life – During Ride - 48oz of Water - After ride had SFuels Revival
- Friday: AM Run – Ate lunch about 4 hours before run – nothing during run
- Monday: AM Pre Ride – Cup of Coffee with Heavy Cream and 1 Scoop SFuels Life – During Ride – 1 -24oz of plain water - After ride had SFuels Revival
- Monday: PM Run – About 4 hours after lunch and no fueling on the run
- Tuesday: AM Pre Ride – Cup of Coffee with Heavy Cream and 1 Scoop SFuels Life – During AM Ride – 1 -24oz of plain water - After ride had SFuels Revival
- Tuesday: PM Run – About 4 hours after lunch and no fueling on the run
- Wednesday: AM Pre Ride – Cup of Coffee with Heavy Cream W/ 1 Scoop SFuels Life During Ride - 24oz of Water and 24oz of water with SFuels Train - After ride had SFuels Revival
The Week Ahead:
See revised plan below for the coming week as other than maybe the TT on Tuesday I am cutting back for this week and all workouts will be at an easier pace.
Last Week's Overview #60
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