Incredible Weather for XC Skiing

Spent some time cross country skiing instead of biking and running today….well worth the effort!  We went no-kidding “cross country” for the first half, getting off the trail and heading up a ridgeline as if we were backcountry skiing. Our goal was to hook into our favorite trail for a quick trip home. Total of 2.5 hours skiing.  INCREDIBLE WEATHER! Warm but not too warm to make the snow stick. Sunny and no wind! Living the dream!

 

Feeling committed = SNOW!

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about feeling a bit more committed to my workouts than last year. Today, that rang very true. At 11:00am I ate a large bagel and three brownies that were laying around the office area. Mmmmm...damn they were good! The sun was shining brightly through the window as I wiped the chocolate off my cheek. Then at 11:45, as I was getting my gear ready to run, another storm blew in....and now it was 30deg, windy, and very wet snow falling very fast.  I still ran my regular 10k route....mostly because I just felt like I want to get back into a consistent mode after the last few days.

I always put this type of workout into the "double" group. I would have normally bailed but I went, and lots of other people probably bailed today, too, (or whenever their last bad weather day was). Anyway, I consider this kind of workout getting a double affect of just doing it. In fact, today was more like a triple because I was really tired, the weather and footing really sucked, and I didn't see anyone else out there.........and then I had three more of those damn brownies later in the day!

New level of committment?

On business trips out of town, I generally don’t do the grand workout sessions I plan. Instead, I rationalize away the big efforts, and they turn into some 30 minute cruise that is barely worth the effort.

Not so this week. I’m out of town on business, and I am doing the big workouts I dream up (at least the one today!), and I feel great. I’m not out at dinner eating a big steak followed by a huge chocolate cake. I’m going to be getting to bed early and getting up early to hit the big workouts while I have chance away from little Paul who sometimes likes to wake-up early.

I guess that means I’ve found a new level of commitment. At least, this has become a much more consistent lifestyle for me…this getting up early for a big workout. And I like it.

By the way, I love running on a cold, dark morning with no wind and no snow. It’s kind of weird, but I feel like I’m the only person awake at that time of the day (and nobody is around to be seen!). Just me trotting through the darkness. I like it. It’s not as great as being out on a great sunny day, but I like the cold, dark morning with no wind……as long as I’m dressed right.

Fun with data and charts….Oct–Jan

Have you ever wondered what to do with those data points you collect every day (if you don’t use software). These shows charts show some interesting points about my volume and how it compares to last year….I’m thinking that increased volume will help my times come down a bit, while maintaining relatively high intensity through the winter. Other points I’m thinking about taking in the future are average 500 and 100 yard times during 4x500 and 20x100 sets in the pool, continued 10k running times (see the last chart below!), and of course heart rate and times on the bike once I get back outside.

I normally don’t make charts, but I thought it would be interesting to see what they look like. Picture says a thousand words, right? By the way, these charts are easy to make and update in Excel….if you’re wondering and are so inclined.

Here’s a look at my overall weekly point total. The red data line that goes along the x-axis is last year’s numbers. The straight red line is the lineal trend, and the curved green line is the log trend. You can see that my volume started out similar to last year and has now become much higher than last year at this time of the year. The last number in blue is my expected total for this week (HUGE WEEK!).

Next up is the weekly points  totals. I’ve added my goal ranges to the right, beginning in mid-March. Red is bike. Green is run. Blue is swim. You can see how I started with running, added the bike, and then added the swim just a few weeks ago. See the run drop when I add the bike? See New Year’s Week when I did nothing? And the last two weeks you can see me getting into a consistent mode and building higher. I don’t expect to get much more volume than this week (usually a bit less probably!), but things should get consistent from here on out as I work all three sports.

Swim Volume. Just starting out. Last number is expected total for this week. I’m hoping to have consistent 8,000yd weeks March-Sept. Last year, 8,000yds was a very high week.

Bike: Volume in miles (y-axis) is definitely bigger than last year, but not as much bigger like I had thought. I’m really looking to get those blue lines close to 150 each week. I can feel the improvements, for sure.

Run: Started out great, and you can see how I’ve dropped running volume while adding the bike and swims. I’m now getting things figured out, and the running volume should again get consistent at 25-30 miles / week (100-125 points/week). One run point = 1/4 mile.

 

Proof that consistency works! Here’s a chart that shows the same course done consistently with the same effort level at the same time every day. Far left is Oct 1, and far right is end of December…there are some gaps. Each data point is an individual run on my standard 10k lunch course; and it was important to me to always try to run at the same moderate perceived effort level. The red line is the trend line. What isn’t shown in here is the addition of the bike volume in November (yet times continued to go down), and the change in weather to an early winter and snow coverage (mid-November). Nor does it show me gaining about 6-8 pounds when I quit dipping.  Even with all of those things that should have slowed be down, I got faster. That’s enough evidence for me to get the heck out of bed every morning and BE CONSISTENT in whatever I am doing.

 

Overall points averages are below. Top line is 2011 (beginning in Oct 2010). Bottom line is 2010 (entire year Oct 09 – Sept 10).

year      overall       swim        bike miles       run

                              100yd/pt     1 mile/pt    4pts/mile

Back at running after 10 days...and good news for race scheduling

I just found out that the Pocatello sprint triathlon is moved to July 23 this year. That means I'll be in town and able to do it. That's awesome. I normally don't get to do it because of the USMCR annual training trip in August. I'm very happy that I'll get to do the home-town race. It's a backwards race....run, bike, then swim.

And I kind of recommitted myself mentally to the Xterra Utah race in September. I really want to do that, but it will be tough to stay in shape throughout all of August and September. I want to do it simply because I think it's a cool race.

I took ten days off of running to get my left calf muscle back to 100%. It seems if I run in the snow, I end up tip-toeing kind of through the snow, and it puts a lot of pressure on my calf muscles. And then it gets strained. There's no pop or noise of any kind. It just gets really weak and hurts when I push off.

So I ran five miles yesterday and five today. Before my run today, my legs were no-kidding SORE. It has to be from the run on Monday because nothing else fits into a category that would make my legs sore like that. I did the regular bike workout Monday morning. In fact, I didn't do anything Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. I did the Spinnerval 28 video this morning, but soreness wouldn't have kicked in within only three hours.

Very strange that I got sore.