Weekly Training Log: Week of May 9th and 16th, 2016: Weeks #24, 25, 26 - Playing catch up again

It's been a while and I want to get this up to date with my past weeks numbers.  This was at the start of my summer break from school.  I'm going to get caught up with my biggest training period after today (July 3rd).  I've been putting in some solid training hours and LOTS more time in the pool.  I'll try and get up the mid June - early July numbers tomorrow.

Weekly Totals - By the Numbers - Week of May 23rd

Swim: 4,550 yds 

Bike: 181 miles

Run: 28.3 miles

Total TSS: 850.2

Hours: 11:53

Days Off: 0

Weekly Totals - By the Numbers - Week of May 30th

Swim: 6,812 yds 

Bike: 174 miles

Run: 29.4 miles

Total TSS: 777.7

Hours: 14:44 - Includes the walk time doing BolderBoulder with my 5yo son

Days Off: 0

Weekly Totals - By the Numbers - Week of June 6th

Swim: 10,585 yds 

Bike: 218 miles

Run: 31.5 miles

Total TSS: 984.3

Hours: 15:16

Days Off: 0

BolderBoulder 2016 - My favorite day of the year.  I ran the race, then went back and did it with my sister, niece, and son.  Here is Aiden and myself finishing.

Weekly Training Log: Week of May 9th and 16th, 2016: Weeks #22 - 22 - Catching up and the start of Summer Break 2016

In Training:  I am finishing up my work at Longs Peak Middle School for the year and just trying to survive the last few workouts where I get up at 4:01am.
I did a sprint triathlon on the 21st.  I was fourth place overall and fine with that.  I trained hard the days leading in, then hard the days after.  I swam and rode fine, but did not run as fast as I should have.  My 5k mile splits started out at half marathon pace (6:14), sped to 5:55 for the second, then finally settled to a 5:39 pace for the last mile.  I have never run a 5k like that before and did not intend to.  I haven't done much speedwork, and almost all runs I have done have been off the bike, so I am thinking it just took me a while to get down to a good 5k pace.


In Life:  The first weekend (14th-15th) was rainy/cold again, then the following one was awesome.  We went over to my parents house and spent the night on the 14th with my sisters family.  It's always good to stay up at the house where I grew up.
The second weekend, I did the sprint triathlon out in Longmont (Summer Open), then we had a "last week of work" BBQ at our place after that.

Weekly Totals - By the Numbers - Week of May 9th

Swim: 2,400 yds 

Bike: 206.5 miles

Run: 27.3 miles

Total TSS: 892.8

Hours: 12:22

Days Off: 0

Weekly Totals - By the Numbers - Week of May 16th

Swim: 4,500 yds 

Bike: 182.3 miles

Run: 30.2 miles

Total TSS: 867.5

Hours: 12:03

Days Off: 0

Registered for the Bolder Boulder.  This race is the reason I am an endurance athlete.

Aiden at his "house" in the back yard

Aiden's school had an art show.  Here he is with his map. Everything is colored and he labeled all 50 by name.  I'm really proud of this.

SHOTS!  BBQ season is here.

No shot for my sister - She is being smart/driving

My niece Autumn with Aiden - She stayed the night on Saturday, then Beth took them for a super fun day on Sunday.

These two are awesome together.

Weekly Training Log: Week of May 2nd, 2016: Week #20 - Mothers Day 2016

In Training:  I have healed from that shin/post tib injury and I am back to full training feeling normal.  That's about it.  Getting in a consistent two hours of training per day.  Doing what I can.

I am still doing lots of high intensity bike sessions 1 -1.5 hours with 6 - 7 runs per week ranging from 4 - 8 miles in length.  Training at 4:30am indoors is getting OLD.


In Life:  It was the week of Mothers day.  We had a great brunch up at my sisters place in Ft. Collins.   See below for pictures.

Weekly Totals - By the Numbers - Week of May 2nd

Swim: 4,950 yds 

Bike: 198.5 miles

Run: 47.8 miles

Total TSS: 939.5

Hours: 13:08

Days Off: 0

Still haven't left the basement.  Training indoors is getting old.  Time to be done with work and head outside at normal hours.

Snapshot of where I have been

Written by an 8th grader at my school.  Wow.  Snapshot of some of the writing skills.

Some of the most important ladies/mothers in my life

Brunch followed by kid pileups 

I've been stretched thin.

It's early May and I am stretched WAY too thin.  I am doing too much and not getting enough rest (quality sleep) and recovery.  I need to take a step back and I am confident that I can save this season of racing if I do some smart things in the coming weeks.

Here is whats going on:

My workouts are suffering.  They have been for two (or so) months.  My cycling power numbers are stagnant, my run is hit or miss, and my swim is where it's been - maintenance mode until I can get more time to train.  Oh, and my weight is well over where it should be.  I'm tired, worn down, and in a rut.  Not a good place to be in early May.  So - how the hell did I get here?  It's simple - too much with too little recovery.  I recently got bloodwork done and it was good.  I'm sure some hormones are off, but at that time (Jan), things were good.

I also had a bad race in Oceanside and injured myself.  I have since healed, and feel as though I dodged a bullet with that one.  I do think that my body was giving me a warning sign.

Anyways, here's what I plan to do to make 2016 successful:

- A few smaller, local races:  This is to get into a positive groove with some low key racing to start the season right.  I'll do these, then start back with bigger racing at the Boulder 70.3 in one month.

- Skip Ironman Texas:  I have had some on/off feelings about this race over the past few months.  We didn't know if the bike portion would be intact on race day.  These thoughts, along with being worn down make it easy to see I need to sit this one out.

- Go into Boulder 70.3 fresh and ready to get back into the pro side of racing.  Focus on the swim until then and make sure that I am swimming to my potential at this point in the year.

- Finish the school year:  Finish working the school year and focus on what I will do for the next 365 days.  I am going to take the upcoming year to focus on the sport.  I will focus on racing, as well as coaching and other opportunities that I can find within triathlon.  I will still work in the schools, but I will be making some changes on the work front.


That's the early/pre-season update.  I'm hoping that this is the best year yet and would love to take this season well into November.  Cheers to all racing down in Texas tomorrow.

The injury I sustained in Oceanside was visible.  This was two weeks after the race - Left shin/ankle was still very swollen.  I never stopped running on it, but played it safe and was able to fully heal and run at speed within four weeks.