Rebuilding

Today was one of those days when I woke up tired, stayed tired all day, and will probably sleep tired.

And it all happened last night.

No, it wasn’t her. It was a him. Julian, our spinning instructor.

He’s decided that winter is over, and we’re moving from base-building zone 3 rides to character-building zone 4 (and above) rides. My legs begged to differ.

If this was a road ride, I would have spent the first long interval tagging along, the second one barely hanging on, and the third seeing them ride off in the distance. Thankfully, it wasn’t. So, I was able to sit up for a couple of minutes, and then get back in the flow.

I never got into the high zone 4 that we were supposed to ride in in the 3rd interval. Barely got to 4.2 before the legs gave out. I’m far from the days when the heart used to be punching through the top end of zone 4 :(
At least I averaged 230+ watt for the non-recovery intervals.

Anyway, I ended up knackered. Completely.

Here’s to hoping that it’ll only get better from here.


Rebuilding

The easy week

Breaching the 78kg mark
Breaching the 78kg mark

After a couple of months increasing the frequency and intensity of workouts, the body was starting to show wear. So, decided to make last week the easy week.

May have made it too easy :)

The usual easy run on Monday got cancelled, and due to a mix-up, the Monday evening swim got reduced from 50 lengths to just 30 easy ones.
Tuesday’s spin class was brutal as ever.
Wednesday was completely idle.
Thursday saw an easy 5K, instead of a tempo run or a mid length bike ride.
Friday, just as easy as Wednesday – nada.
Saturday had just a tempo 5 miles with Chewie on the mount, and
Sunday had just a painful ride on the rollers after a long, gluttonous lunch at Bill’s.

So, instead of usual mileage of 25-30K runs, 60-100K road rides, 1200m+ swims, I did just 13K of running, no riding on the road, and 750m swimming. Missed working out on most days, but did come out of the week less tired than before. So, that’s a success.

Highlights of the week:

  1. Finally, after 3 weeks in 78s, broke the 78.0kg barrier and ended the week at 77.5kg. Workout like a dog for weeks, no change. Sit idle for a week, lose 1.1kg!
    Anyway, just 1.5kg to go to end of year target :)
  2. Rode one handed on the rollers1! From barely being able to stay upright, to being able to ride one-handed – it’s probably the biggest improvement in all my sporting abilities :)

Continue reading “The easy week”

The easy week