Bike, Run, Rest..........

Saturday was not an intense training day. But I did manage to get out on my bike (Felt B12) and get 25 miles in. It was a sunny but chilly day, with a high of 55F and breezy. I got a new frame for the B12 due to a cracked set post clamp. In replacing the frame the gears got jacked up and were not tuned well at all - which made for a challenging ride in the big ring for most of the ride. Interestingly enough my usual time of about 1:12 for this 25 mile ride was consistent with todays performance despite bike problems - however my heart rate averaged about 118-120BPM. So this means that my conditioning is working and perhaps my breathing style is improving - focusing on long deep pulls instead of short breaths of air.

I've been researching the benefits of training at altitude and the various devices that one can buy to simulate altitude and get the benefits related thereto. More to follow on this topic - there appears to be a lot of expensive devices available on the market.

Yesterday was the completion of another week of training. The highlight was a 10 mile run on Friday afternoon - that felt pretty good. Overall assessment 75 days out from Lanzarote ........... I've developed a solid base through consistent training with HR BPM being the lowest in the past 2.5 years of training while at or above the training times. The weakest part of my game - the swim - is steadily improving as well - as I work on core strengthening, lats and tris along with just getting into the water 3 times per week. The bike, although I've been spending 4-6 hours per week on the trainer seems to be lagging a bit. So the month of March is going to have an emphasis on the bike - as the weather warms up. The plan will be to get in 2 long rides every saturday and sunday, with the goal of getting in a minimum of 7 hours per week in on the bike - with a max of 10-12 hours. The run will still consist of a minimum of 30 hours and trending north of 40 hours per week. If I'm able to sustain this training volume I will be in a great position for IM Lanzarote with a solid base developed for Leadville 100.

There is still a lot of time to train - so need to stay healthy and focused on BALANCE.

Today I'm going to get in at least a 30 minute time trial in the pool this afternoon. Thinking about a 2 hour bike ride prior to the swim and a 12 mile run post swim. Gotta have a great training day as I was able to get in 10 hours of sleep last night and had a solid breakfast.

Later this afternoon - taking the family to go see Alice in Wonderland and trying to avoid catching Carla's nasty cold....

The beat goes on.....