ZappoMan.com - Fitness Blog

Week 8 Report - Base 1 Done… time for a rest week!

February 26th, 2007

Week 8 Complete - Whew! I’m finally done with Base 1… This last week was really hard. First of all 16 hours of training. That’s not the most I’ve done in a week, but it felt like a lot with all the other things I’ve got going on. Second, speaking of things going on, this week started out with 3 days “vacation”… which was actually pretty stressful for me, as it meant adapting my training schedule around the vacation, and it put a cramp in getting work done which meant more pressure on the training schedule. I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it Thursday night, but it all worked out in the end. Like last week, I am being particularly aware of trying to keep in a nice low to mid effort base zone, so although there is a lot of volume of hours the work effort in each session has been low. That being said, I was pretty tired last night, and this weeks rest/recovery week couldn’t have come at a better time.

Thursday night, I was doubtful I was going to be able to make my required training for the week, so I had to sit down and make a weekend game plan. I had to complete 9 hours over the weekend. A couple long rides, a couple of runs, some swimming, and a strength session with my buddy Tyler made everything workout. The highlight was clearly the Chilly Hilly.

Here are the details for this week…

Strength Training - 50 min (2 sessions) - Pretty non-week for strength training. I did one 30 min session while on vacation in Victoria. I hit some legs with Squats and Leg Press, as well as a little chest and arms. Yeah, I know it was a random workout. The annoying things is that I could only muster about 60% of the weight that I had previously worked up to on squats, and my legs were really sore the next couple days. Saturday night Tyler came over to do some weights but I had a killer headache, so my session was short and not very productive. I called it 20 minutes of work.

Swimming - 2 hours 20 min (3 sessions) - Better week for swimming. Two of my sessions were in a 25 meter pool, so it was nice to be able to swim further than 10 strokes before having to turn around. I didn’t really focus on speed, just form. I still want to find some better coaching/group swimming opportunities, but in the mean time, I’m keeping with a goal of 3 sessions a week.

Flexibility - 1 hour 47 min (6 sessions) - Mostly stretched every day, except on Wednesday when I only swam. I had one longer session where I really focused on deep stretching, but otherwise this was just basic post-exercise stretching after runs and bike rides. This is still a problem area. I am not sure if I will improve if I lament my poor performance in this area. I probably should also just schedule some time with a massage therapist and get some soft tissue work done. Leave it to the pros!

Running - 2 hours 45 min (19.5 miles) - Two longish road sessions of 8.5 and 8 miles, and one short treadmill session of 3 miles. Two of my runs this week were “intentionally slow”, the treadmill I actually kept things very slow, but last night my intended “slow it down” run on the trail still ended up with an 8:25 average pace. My foot is not 100%. My heel feels fine, which certainly is good, but my left arch, toes, and mid foot feel sore. So next week, I will take it really easy, maybe only do one long run (to move my single run distance up by 10%) and one short run. I’ve heard lots of advice lately that longer slower work is just as important (if not more important) than tempo and speed work, so I am going to try to incorporate that into my routine.

Cycling - 8 hours 32 minutes (123 road miles, 15 spin miles) - This is the first week I’ve done any indoor cycling for the year. This is funny considering this is probably the first week most people did any outdoor cycling for the year. But I was on vacation and didn’t have my bike, so I was “forced” to use the old cardio bike. I will admit I am not a fan of these machines. They just aren’t nearly as fun as riding out in the open. I heard an interesting quote once about how sad it is that people drive their cars to go to the gym to exercise… when they could have/should have just gone for a bike ride or a run.

The highlight of the week was clearly Chilly Hilly, which was an all around good time, and a really really hard workout on my fixed-gear bike. I have to admit it was harder than I expected. It was almost hard enough to make me want to get back on my road bike…. almost.

I am still way ahead of my cycling miles from last year; at 765.33 vs. 642.17. Also at this rate I am almost up to a 100mile per week average, but I am right at the 96 miles per week average required to break 5,000 miles for the year. Over the next couple months I will surely break through that average as the days get longer and my time and speed on the road increases.

Weight - I actually dropped back down into my normal weight zone. Hitting 136lbs on Friday morning. The problem is, I didn’t really do anything to correct my weight or eating habits… which means I’ll probably get the attitude “that my body worked it out” and that “I can go ahead and keep eating without a plan”. These thoughts might work in the short run, but will probably come back to haunt me unless I get serious about thinking about what I eat. Ahh, maybe next week, during my recovery week, I’ll put some time into planning a menu…. hmmmm….. yeah right!

Total Exercise Hours (including Strength and Flexibility): 16.23
Total Swim/Bike/Run: 13.61 hours (note, again a new max for the year)

Charts? We don’t need no stinkin’ charts! Here you go….

Entry Filed under: Living Seattle, Fitness, Triathlon, Diet, Weightloss, Swimming, Ironman, Running, Cycling, Marathons, Yoga, Strength Training, Flexibility, Stretching, Sports Injuries, fixie, single-speed, fixed-gear, food, cooking, travel, training while traveling, exercise, gyms