NICE Week of Training Last Week!

Last week felt GOOD. I didn't have any amazing numbers, but it was after 2 smaller weeks, so it was needed. Every workout (except for Friday's core workout) was a SOLID one!

That's 23.81 miles of running, 4 hrs and 47 mins in the saddle (3:24 on trainer + 0:58 riding outside), and 13 hrs and 24 mins of strength work.

• MON: long run and legs. My long run was my fastest since September, and then I had a good leg workout. GREAT start to the week.

• TUES: big swim, good upper body, and an easy ride in some nice weather. I have to post about my recent swims sometime soon, as I've had some good ones. This was my favorite "broken 3x400 and 3x200" with a handful of drills at the end. And then 8 sets for my upper body a few hours later.

• WED: easy run, good legs and core. Nothing fancy here.

• THURS: good upper body and long ride. I posted about the ride on Monday where I did efforts of 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 minute. And it was another good upper body day with 8 sets for everything!

• FRI: 12x400 at the track, decent legs and core. This was a good run, but then just OK strength work. Again, I posted about the track workout on Monday. Trying to not give away too much of my speed from last year.

• SAT: long ride and good upper body. My wife was gone all weekend, so I was (more easily) able to get in some longer workouts. I did ANOTHER 8 sets for my upper body to make it 24 sets for the week, and then I did an unusual ride for me - usually, on the bike, I do shorter intervals (5-10 min efforts are my "norm"). But I wasn't feeling that after a bigger week, so I did 2x30 min efforts. I don't know the last time I've done a 30 min effort on the trainer (probably before kids). Those efforts weren't TOO hard, but just a slightly longer push than normal.

• SUN: core. Sundays are my rest days, so I just walked a bit and did some core.


My "intensity minutes" were back up last week after 2 smaller weeks. Here's what the last 8 weeks looked like, with a smaller week for a trip to Mexico 6 weeks ago, and then the 2 weeks before last week being smaller due to 2500 miles in the car with my boys on a fencing road trip, and then a busy weekend 10 days ago that led to no big bike ride (and shorter time to lift weights):

4 good weeks (last week being on the right),
and 4 smaller weeks due to "life."

I also had more steps last week. It's hard to tell on this chart, but my 145,000 steps last week was the 5th highest over this past year:

That big week in Oct was hiking in Yellowstone.

This week is just turning out OK. I don't know what next week will hold (I hope it will be decent), but then I'm setting up the following week to be a BIG one. Let's see if that comes true!