I guess my recovery week is over ...

Another tough week at work and a recovery week on the schedule. Had a great swim on Thursday: did a solid intensity set: 25, 25, 50, 10, 200, 300, 200, 100

Today was a biggie: I swam at 8:00 with a new group of people organized by Koert Winkel. Koert is a great guy that I met while I was training for IM Wisconsin in 2005.

After the swim, I headed home, had a nice big mug of spiced tea and headed to the bike. 60 minutes at 215W, no fan. I was sweating like a pig, but wanted to feel the heat that I would feel in Arizona.

The run was a tough one, 2 hours and 20 minutes. I did it ... with a few breaks ...

Today I tried ... unsuccessfully to take in a little bit less on the calories. Not a good idea. Perhaps at a different point in the training cycle, but right now my body is used to the constant influx of carbs. Gotta love that sugar.

All in all a good week. Got most of my workouts done. I am really happy about the 215W ride today. It was hard but not to the point of me wanting it to end NOW.

Sunny Sunday

After yesterday's horrible workout I was determined to do better today. My workout was only a 90 minute low zone one run; completed; non-stop! Playing with the speed and elevation gave me something to concentrate on. A good breakfast and a gel helped fuel me along the way.

Afterwards, some curried veggies and some lentils ... mmmmmm :-)

Then what? Kawal, Frans and I skated the canal down to Dow's Lake. The ice was not bad, except for the section between Bank Street and Bronson; along there it was TERRIBLE!

Reward for all this? Coffee and chocolate cake at Starbuck's

3.5 hours ... 5.5 hours

What a crappy workout today. Supposed to do 3.5 hours high/low zone 1 ... I just could not focus. It seemed like every 20 or 30 minutes there was something much more important in the universe to attend to ... like checking my email ... like changing loads of laundry ... anyway ... it I finished it ... eventually ... 5.5 hours later. Not sure what the benefit of doing that workout was ... other than just doing it and burning calories ... but it is done.

Hard work pays off

The past couple of months I have been working hard at getting out of my comfort zone ... that is to say ... to feel comfortable working harder.

Kevin at Peak has been giving me workouts like I've not seen before: multiple/short Zone 5 intervals on the bike and run ... longer Zone 3 intervals ... working at Low Zone 1 ... working at High Zone 1.

All this sweat has had positive results.

At a zone check this week my top Zone 1 on the bike has increased from 190-195W to 215-220W. A huge increase.

Now all I need to do is get the 15 pounds of bubbler off my frame and my power to weight ratio will make me "unstoppable"

Stay tuned.