Been a while since I posted... Hope you all are doing well, getting some solid training in, and enjoying your summers (or winters in the southern hemisphere), wherever you may be.
I took the last ~5 weeks off work and crammed it full of several trips that made the training calendar messy, but were much-needed breaks for awesome time with friends and family, and just generally good for the soul. Overall training volume in July (~200-240k) will be just over half of what it was in both May and June (~400k), but it's been great to see that my fitness has generally held up despite the decrease in both volume and the # of higher-intensity sessions.
A few highlights from the last few weeks:
CTC 6k on July 10th:
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Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
20:21.8 6,000m 1:41.8 332 1441 28 171
3:23.2 1,000m 1:41.6 334 1448 28 154
3:23.8 2,000m 1:41.9 331 1438 28 163
3:25.3 3,000m 1:42.6 324 1413 28 170
3:25.1 4,000m 1:42.5 325 1416 28 176
3:25.0 5,000m 1:42.5 325 1418 28 181
3:19.3 6,000m 1:39.6 354 1517 31 185
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Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
16:48.4 5,000m 1:40.8 341 1474 28 170
3:21.7 1,000m 1:40.8 341 1474 28 156
3:22.0 2,000m 1:41.0 340 1469 28 164
3:22.3 3,000m 1:41.1 338 1463 28 173
3:22.3 4,000m 1:41.1 338 1463 29 179
3:20.2 5,000m 1:40.1 349 1500 30 181
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Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
11:58.5 4,000m 1:29.8 483 1962 35 164
1:29.9 500m 1:29.9 482 1957 34 154
1:29.9 500m 1:29.9 482 1957 34 160
1:29.8 500m 1:29.8 483 1963 35 163
1:29.8 500m 1:29.8 483 1963 34 165
1:29.9 500m 1:29.9 482 1957 35 167
1:29.8 500m 1:29.8 483 1963 35 169
1:29.7 500m 1:29.7 485 1968 37 170
1:29.7 500m 1:29.7 485 1968 38 170
Neither the 6k nor 5k were "mid-life" personal bests, but I was nonetheless quite pleased with how relatively close they were to my PBs from the spring considering the numerous breaks from training over the last few weeks and the minimal mental prep for each of them. Knowing that I wasn't going to challenge PB territory took some of the pressure off and helped me stay more relaxed before and during the pieces.
The biggest surprise training-wise this month was yesterday's 8x500m, a Pete Plan workout I'd done several times over the past winter and spring, failing to crack a sub-1:30 average on my last attempt in early April. Having done very little sprint/interval work lately I didn't have any particular plan other than to focus on each interval one at a time, with the goal of sneaking in
just under 1:30, and see how many intervals I could keep it up for. Once I had knocked out the sixth interval, as rough as things already felt at that point, I knew I had a shot to finish the workout. I had to dig deep on the 8th and final interval, probably more so than I have on any piece since my April 2k, but got the job done.
I'll return to more of a "normal" training schedule in early August once my kids are back in school and we're locked back into our normal routine and rhythm as a family. Sub7 has had a recent addition to the team who is
crushing my times (he did our June ITC of 4x2k/4:00r at a 6:30 average, and turned in a 16:28 5k this month), so I need to step my game up! Until then though, I'll enjoy a couple more lighter weeks (and lots of golf!).
. I hope it will be over soon as I wanted to give the upcoming rowlympics challenge a try.
. Lots of mental chatter before committing to the 3rd piece as the mental fortitude is not quite there.
