Starting Base 2
Recovery week is over and it’s time to get back to business. I’m still feeling good about yesterday’s race – both physically and mentally. Like I went on about yesterday, I ran well and am very happy with my time. I went to bed early last night and slept really well. I was a little concerned about waking up sore or tired, but I got up nice and early and, except for a little tightness in my calves, I’m not feeling the race at all. It also gives me a nice psychological training boost; I haven’t been running anywhere close to the marathon training miles and my run strength is still improving – at the half-marathon distance at least, I know that I’m not in marathon shape right now. It’s really helping me feel confident about the base that I’ve built up and am still building. Last year at this time I was running a fair amount (though rarely more than 20 miles per week), but I was only swimming twice a week and not more than 1,800 per session and except for the odd 45 minutes on a spin bike, I wasn’t really riding at all. Obviously, I’m expecting that this will put me in a totally different place come race season. Speaking of race season, it now starts March 24, with the CityTri Prospect Park duathlon. I’ve never done a duathlon before and I think this will be fun. It will also be a good way to practice transitions and get in a short brick workout.
John sent me an email last night telling me that this week is a big cycling week. He actually set my goal at 200 miles. 200 miles isn’t impossible, but it’s pretty rough, especially since I’m keeping the intensity level fairly low. I’m scheduled for 13 hours this week. John doesn’t want me to go too far over the 13 hours, and frankly neither do I. As it is, I have six rides and only two short runs and one swim, so I don’t think that I’ll be able to get 200 miles in without substituting a ride for a run or my swim. I might skip tomorrow night’s scheduled run and do two rides tomorrow instead. I could also try adding a ride another night.
This morning I rode on the trainer for another 1:15. It was an easy ride, totally in zone 1 and felt good. The time went by relatively quickly, actually!
Bike – February 12
Time: 1:15
Average heart rate: 1:02
Indoor ride