End of the Month Wrap-Up

Practically speaking...it's the end of March and time to ramble on about it.

First thing - I canceled my Georgia Training Camp.  I hated to do it but I think it was the right thing to do. 

It keeps me and my training partners safe,
It may keep others safe.
It may put less strain on Georgia's health system.
It keeps me from breaking the law.
It enables to do some concentrated training without too much overload.
It enables me to participate in a remote research project.

What it doesn't do is let me play with my friends so I suppose it's a good trade-off.  I'm still not happy about it :(

Anywho, that's enough crying about it, I'll try not to do any more of it.

What's happened this month:

Swim
It started off well, I was feeling better in the water but it's been put on hold.

Bike
I've gotten my rest after the Arizona Camp.  Unlike last year when I got back into it too quickly, I basically a took a whole week off and then got back into it.  The second week back I held the volume down but added intensity, the third week I went back to 9 hours with the same intensity.  I'm going to give it one more harder week then back it down for some recovery whether I think I need it or not.

I think I'm improving on the bike again, I want to keep that going and will be roughly sticking to the 80/20 Olympic plan.  The only exception is that I will likely be riding longer and with less intensity on the weekend.

Run
Like on the bike I've gotten my rest after the Arizona Camp and eased back into training.  The last two weeks have been really solid training weeks and I've achieved my goals for intensity and volume.  I've done my short runs a little harder, completed my faster pace intervals on schedule and completed my longer runs at an easy pace to keep me ready for the next week.  I will also be sticking with the 80/20 Olympic plan with the run.  It's similar to the older EN plan I did back in 2009.

(By the way, if you haven't noticed you can find that plan in the Training Zone section on the right)

The Plan for the next month:

One more hard week then an easier week followed by three hard weeks.  I'm going to continue to train as if I am still racing in mid-May.  When swimming comes back I'll get back into the water, while I'm not the greatest swimmer, I am confident in the water and will pace myself according to my abilities.

If the USAT Cross Nationals are canceled then I'll be looking at Xterra Oak Mountain.  If Oak Mountain is canceled I'll start looking for another path.  It may be off road, short course road, long course or a combination of each.

About the Camp

We'd been planning it since last September.  We were supposed to go to Helen Georgia and ride the Gaps again.  I've done this every year since 2012.  Seven times with HFP and once with just my training partners.  This was going to be our second year on our own and planned 10 days instead of the usual 7.

In the past we did one epic ride after another.
Unicoi to Brasstown and back.
Helen 3 Gap
Helen 6 Gap
A long run to Ruby Falls
An easy day
100 mile ride around Devils branch and Clayton.

This year we were going to have a day off between most rides to recover.  On those days we were going to swim and run.  When the swimming got canceled we were concerned.  Our friends from Ohio canceled last week.  We waited until the last moment to cancel (14 days out) when we decided to pull out.  Our concerns were:

1.  We're pretty sure it's a misdemeanor to violate the Shelter at Home orders given by the Governor's of Michigan and Ohio.

2.  We didn't want to get ourselves or anyone else sick, which we all thought there was a very slim chance of doing because we were going to bring our own food and everyone had their own rooms.  We had no plans to go out and mingle with anyone.

3.  We thought that the Governor of Georgia (Kemp) was going to issue a Shelter at Home order which would have killed our training.

4.  We were concerned that if one of us got hurt we would have to access an "already strained" health system.

So, my next planned event was supposed to be USAT Cross Nationals in New Jersey.  While it hasn't been canceled, I think it will.  Second option was Xterra Oak Mountain (which was my original planned A race before Xterra canceled 70% of their USA races)  I'm going to continue to train as if the race is happening.  If it doesn't, I'll assess my situation then.

So that's where I stand now, hopefully this will blow over in the next 6 weeks and I can get back to the pool, velodrome and normal training.

I Canceled my Georgia Training Camp

It's a sad day :(

Week ending 3/22

The running went well but I was tired on the bike.

My goal for the week was to go a little faster on the shorter runs.  An effort with my HR just under 140 bpm or nearer 8:45 min/mile.  For the last year or so I adopted the run easy/run a lot approach and I don't think it's worked out for me.

I'm shifting back to a run as fast as I want as long as I can complete all my prescribed workouts approach and I'm going to keep my volume near 30 miles/week  This is what I did for many years and it appears to have worked for me.  I'm not going crazy on the easy runs;  I'm going to keep them with a HR of 135-140 and a little bit under 9 min/mile which is still on the easy side.

My second goal was to do all the intensity prescribed on the bike and hold the easy rides a little harder than I have (155 watts compared to the 135 I've been doing).

That didn't work as well as it did for the run so I'm going to go back to a slightly easier effort and put in a little bit more volume for the next two weeks.  I'd like to bring the time on the bike up to 7-9 hours with less intensity.

About the last post

As I reread the title (COVID-19 BS) it appeared to me that it's misleading.

I don't think the issue is BS, just that I have to deal with the problems it created for me.
Everyone should be taking precautions to slow the spread of this virus, I was just annoyed (wrongly) about how it's affected me.

COVID-19 BS

I've had to cut out all my swimming and velodrome workouts...I'm not happy about it.  Swimming was coming along well and I was really having fun at the Velodrome.

My plan was to go straight into Matt Fitzgerald's 80/20 Olympic plan to get ready for USAT Cross National, now I'm not sure that is going to happen but I'm still going to train like it will.

The race is 5/17/20, 10 weeks away.  I'm at week 11 of the 80/20 Olympic plan and it's going well.

Solid bike rides that aren't too long and runs with intervals and at the top of my aerobic zone.

Going to keep the 80/20 bike targets and add enough volume to the run to get me near 30 miles per week.  I don't know what I'll do about swimming yet.  I don't have any fears about racing so I'll see where it goes.

February Ramblings

My back
It feels much better.  I dropped the lifting and went to core workouts hoping to strengthen my back before I go back to strength exercises.

Swimming
Lots of swimming at Camp and consistent swimming before that.  It's going OK.

Bicycling 
I said in my last post that I wasn't sure where my skills were at on the bike but after Arizona camp my questions were answered.
Endurance-wise and threshold I'm probably the same as last year or better.  I was nearly the same speed on the 2.5 hour climb up Mt Lemmon and was 6 min faster on the 1.5 hour climb up Kitt Peak.  I never had a problem responding to accelerations in the group but am probably still near the same short climb power as last year, perhaps 10-15 watts stronger as I knew I could hold 260ish watts up short climbs.
I've had more time on the bike this winter but the run was much lower leading me to think that my overall fitness would be lower.  That really wasn't the case on the bike.  Because of that I'm not going to do anything drastic to get ready for Georgia Camp.  Just normal VO2/Threshold/Endurance training.

Running
It is going OK but I focused on the bike more than the run.  The last two weeks have seen 2 and 3 hours of running.  This week will be significantly less, but next week I should be back to 30ish miles.

The Plan until Georgia Camp 4/10 to 4/19
Swimming:  Be consistent in the pool with 3 to 4 swims a week.
Bike:  Do my best to get 8 to 10 hours a week on the bike
Run:  Get back to 30 miles per week.

I'm starting to plot out Matt Fitzgerald's 80/20 Olympic plan on Training Peaks to use as I guide for my volume and intensity.  I'll write more about that next time.