A note about Spinergy Rev-X wheels from a Slowtwitch post a long time ago

To the person(s) or bot that keeps hitting my blog from the Spinergy post from Slowtwitch a billion years ago.  I don't condone the use of the Spinergy Rev-X wheel.  The youngest wheel is probably 20 years old and well past it's prime (if there really was one).

I made a comment on them based on my use of a set and of some friends.  The set I was using at the time was only a few years old and in good shape.  I was about 150 lbs then and I could sway the 650C rear wheel enough to hit my brake pads while climbing but they were fast when riding in a straight line.

Please don't use my experience from 17-18 years ago while deciding to use those wheels or not.  Just don't use them at all.

Week ending 5/31/2020

Second week back into training and I did pretty well this week.

With the addition of a longer bike ride on Monday I didn't plan to push the run volume and originally kept to the 25.5 miles of the run plan but I really felt good today.

Swim:
2 easy swims in Trout Lake.  It's been a while since I've been in the pool so I took it easy and kept the volume down to about 1500 per swim.  Next week I'll try 3 times and up to around 2000 yds.

Bike:
5 rides for 203 miles in 10:50
Since I had the day off I rode 3 hours on Monday.
Tuesday and Wednesday were a little more than an hour each of easy riding.
Thursday I had 4X7(3) at threshold in the 90 min ride.
Saturday was 59 miles in a little over 3 hours.  It included 10X1(2) in Zone 5.  Started about 230 watts and worked up to 300 watts.

Run
4 Runs for 29.5 miles in 4:11
Tuesday for about an hour including 6X2.5(5) at threshold
Thursday for about 40 min including 6X1(2) in Zone 5.  Started intervals in the high 6 min/mile and dropped them down to mid 6 min/mile by the 5th interval.
Friday half hour easy.
Sunday 2 hours easy to moderate.  I felt really good so I pushed the 90 min run to 2 hours and run the last 3.5 strong.

Another good week with about 16 hours of training.  Since I added a 3 hour run in on Monday I had to keep the rides easy on Tuesday and Wednesday to complete all the other workouts as scheduled.  Next week is supposed to be lower volume.  I will probably add a few easy runs to keep myself busy.

Week ending 5/24/20

I wanted to get ready for something so I chose the Xterra Pan American Championships in September because I think it has the greatest chance of taking place. 

I picked the 80/20 HIM plan because the race will take a little less than 4 hours, much longer than an Olympic distance race but about an hour less than a good HIM for me.  In 2017 I was 30 min on the swim, 2:07 on the bike and 1 hour on the run.  Since the bike time is similar to a HIM bike (about 20 min lower) I choose that plan.  I'll make sure I mix mountain biking and trail running into the plan, maybe in July or August I can make a trip to Utah or somewhere that has similar terrain to practice race execution.

Swimming - 0

Bike:
4 rides in 7:35
Tuesday easy 1 hour ride around the flooded parts of Hines drive.
Wednesday easy 1:45 down to DG's house via I275 trail.
Thursday 2:30 ride including 5X6(3) Zone 4 (was supposed to be 4X6(3) Zone 3 but I felt really strong that day.
Saturday I rode all four loops around DTE (with Erik) for the third time in as many weeks.  I remembered to pay attention to my training partner this time.

Run:
5 runs in 4:36 and 31.1 miles
Tuesday nearly 8 miles including 4X8(3) zone 3.  I felt good.
Thursday easy 4.2 mile run around work.
Friday easy 6.7 miles run around work.
Saturday easy 1.15 mile trail run after riding.
Sunday easy to moderate 11.2 mile run on Hines drive.  I started out easy, built up and ran strong but I was tired.  I gave myself an option to run 13 miles but didn't take it.

A pretty good week of training at 12 hours.  I ran strong and easy when I needed to, same on the bike.
I have some friends doing open water swimming at Island lake, I'm going to try and get out there this week.  They claim the water temp is in the low 60's right now (16°C) so I should be able to do that.

Week ending 5/17/20

This should have been race week, the weather in New Jersey looked OK but it wasn't meant to be.

Instead I rested early in the week and then rode pretty hard on Friday and Saturday.

Swim...

Bike:
3 rides
Tuesday 2 laps of Island Lake on the mountain bike in near record times.  Both laps in 58:35 and 57:45, so pretty quick.
Friday 56 miles on the road bike, rode the 275 trail to Willow Metropark and back.  The trail had some water covered spots between Eureka and Sibley roads but other than that it was pretty good.  The last 10 miles was in light rain but it was warm.
Saturday I road all loops of DTE again with friends.  I rode well but need to pay attention to my riding partners and make sure they are OK on mountain bike rides.  I didn't realize I let a friend bonk when I should have stayed with him.  He's an experienced rider but that's no excuse for me letting him down.

So a decent week of riding, probably a little harder than I should have but still OK.

Run:
3 runs of 3+ miles each.
Tuesday 3.3 miles at work
Thursday 3.5 miles at work
Sunday 3 miles on Hines drive, cut down from 7 miles cuz I was tired.

So next week I'm going to start another plan to get ready for Xterra Utah.  I don't know if that's going to happen but it's something to keep me going.
I'll be doing the 80/20 HIM Plan that I'll introduce Mountain Biking and Trail Running into.

Week ending 5/10/20

An easier week for me (as planned)  9:35 total time.
Overall, I feel better with Thursday and Friday off.  Because of those days off I ran really well today (Sunday).

I'm probably going to go 1 more week easy, I was planning to race next weekend and would have rested anyway.  After this week I'm going to get back into regular training for an event happening on 9/19/20.  As of now, I'm not sure what I'll do if that race doesn't happen.

This will end my 20 week training cycle.  With the 2 weeks easy I'll get the rest I need to be ready for the next cycle.

Swim - 0

Bike
4 rides all on the Mountain Bike Total 80.6 miles 6:54
Monday - Easy at DTE Energy Trail.  Green and Blue loops clockwise.
Tuesday - I rode the Poto by myself hoping to ride well and set a PR.  I rode moderately in the beginning and faster after I got past the sand pit.  I think it was my second fastest loop I've done 1:33:09 (1:35:01 ride time, I had to straighten my bars after I bumped something :( )
Wednesday - I rode 2 loops by myself with my 4th and 1st fastest times (33:09, 32:35) then 1 more loop with a friend.
Saturday - I rode all 4 loops of the DTE Energy Trail counter-clockwise.  I've said in the past that the trail was boring and predictable but now that I've ridden the Winn and Sugar loops I like it a lot better.

Run 18.5 2:42
Tuesday I ran for 2.2 miles after riding the Poto.
Wednesday I ran 3 miles after riding the first 2 loops at Maybury
Sunday I ran 13.2 miles, started easy and then built up to 8:25's for the second half.
I blew off the short run on Thursday cuz I didn't feel like running and it was windy and snowing.

Brick
I decided not to do the brick this week, I moved Thursday's long run to Sunday cuz it was cold on Thursday (and I blew off the short run on Thursday anyway).

Week ending 5/3/20

Another good week 14.5 hours of Bike/Run

Last of 3 harder weeks.  I was supposed to do USAT Cross Nationals in two weeks and I trained as if I was racing but it was moved to September 13th, now I'm not sure of what I'm going to do for racing.

In the next few weeks I'll probably know if later season races are going to happen and I'll make a decision then.  For now, I'm approaching 20 weeks of training and I need to plan a break.  From what I wrote back on January 3rd I'm near my limit on absorbing training and will need 2 weeks of easy/unstructured training and will then get back to a regular schedule.  That schedule will either be a HIM or another Olympic plan with Mountain biking built into it.

Swim

Nothing again and probably won't until the end of May.

Bike

4 rides plus the multi segment brick again.  157 miles for 10 hours 20 minutes.

Tuesday Mountain bike at Maybury 3 loops, 2 moderate and 1 easy.

Wednesday short zone 3 intervals on Hines drive

Friday easy ride on Hines drive

Saturday Mountain bike Island Lake 3 loops 2 quick and 1 easy.

Sunday Zone 3 riding on Hines drive as a multi segment brick.

Run

5 days of running plus the multi segment brick. 30 miles for 4 hours 13 minutes.

Monday 30' easy

Tuesday 50' easy

Wednesday 40' easy

Thursday 1:35 easy

Sunday Zone 3 running on Hines drive as a multi segment brick.

Brick

Nearly the same as last week, just a little longer cool down.

Bike 30 minute warm up

4X

     Run 7 min Zone 3 / 3 min Zone 1

     Bike 10 min Zone 3 / 3 min Zone 1

Bike 20 min cool down

Observations:

I rode on Hines drive, starting at Nankin Mills and turning around at Middlebelt Rd instead of on Zwift.  The sections were slightly longer than 13 min.

I kept the bike warm up at 30 min.

I rode a bit harder this week, I targeted just below 200 watts (3.1 W/Kg) which is the very top of Zone 3

I ran from Nankin Mills east 5 min out and 5 min back.  I ran hard for the first mile then backed it down.

I ran a little quicker than last week, something I wasn't sure would go well.

Overall I'm pretty happy since I rode and ran faster than last week.

Losing the extra weight has really helped my run, I'm under 143 lbs now