A Strange Training Week

Well week 5 of training for the Hagerstown race is in the books, and it has been quite a strange experience.

Week 3 was a GREAT week of training, I managed to survive two very tough Sufferfest training videos (Blender and Hell Hath No Fury), get in a brick workout, ride in the rain and feel good while doing it.  The highlight of the week was watching the ladies of OnPoint Fitness conquer the IronGirl triathlon in Columbia, Maryland. I have ridden and run parts of that course while doing the Columbia triathlon and I can tell you it is not easy!  Through training and sheer strength of will they all came through with flying colors.  Way to go ladies! It was very inspiring to watch all of you cross the finish line.

It must of been the emotional let down that hindered my training in week 4.  I started the week off by missing my strength routine, my legs were feeling heavy, so I decided rest was a better option.  Wednesday rolled around and I just couldn't pull it together enough to get off the couch ( I was tired and stressed from work) so I skipped my planned run.  Thursday and Friday were tough Sufferfest videos (The Wretched and Local Hero) which I managed to survive, but somehow I managed to miss my Saturday workout (still haven't figured that one out....).  So finally Sunday rolled around and since I was light on running I went out for a long run.  This was probably the highlight of my week as I managed to hold an 8 minute and 20 second pace for the first 4 miles and ran 7:32 (with some effort) for the last mile.  It was nice to see my running was finally starting to get a bit faster.

This week brought a mix of ups and downs.  I missed my Monday strength training again (no excuses this time) and my Tuesday brick was uninspired.  So Wednesday rolled around and I procrastinated and procrastinated and proc.... you get the picture.  Next thing I knew it was 10 PM and I hadn't worked out!  Rather than try to do the long workout I had planned I opted to do a 30 minutes lactate threshold test to see if I have made any improvements over the first 5 weeks.  The week before I started my training I did a test which put my power numbers slightly below where I ended last year.  I was hoping for a 5% improvement.  After a good warm up and bit of reluctance I started the test.  I used the Sufferfest training video (The Long Scream)  as motivation.  You get to time trial against the best riders in the world.  Very humbling.....  Anyway after 15 minutes I was slightly ahead of my output from 5 weeks prior and decided to turn up the power.  15 agonizing minutes later I walked  crawled away from the trainer with a nice 6% improvement. I was happy, but shattered, I need to do these tests before 10 PM rolls around.  To make things worse I was now WIDE AWAKE!  I ended up not being able to fall asleep until after 2 AM.  This did not improve my daily 8 AM conference call any I can assure you.  It also left me tired for most of Thursday so no workout again.  Today ended up being my long run day since I wanted to ride the next few days.  Needless to say that did not go well.  I put in 7 miles or so, but it was ugly.  The heat did little to help and the steep hills, well I have never liked steep hills so all around it's been a rough training week.

I am bloody but unbowed!  Tomorrow is long easy ride day.... I can't wait!  Sunday will be negative split brick day (I can certainly wait for that) and Monday will be a strength session (I'm gonna do this one I promise!)

So goes the very topsy turvy world of training, still when all is said and done, I can see the improvements, even with the hiccups.

Hope to see you on the track or the road.

Peace... and keep training.

Robert