This week wasn't great. A few external factors got in the way of training this week, but the main two were school and what felt like a twinge of overtraining. As many of my friends, and ex-coaches know, I am a chronic "overtrainer". At one point I was so overtrained I had to take three weeks of the bike and averaged about 13-14 hours of sleep per day. I am determined to start listing to my body and letting it rest when it needs it. I'm getting better about listening to my body but I still push through pain and fatigue to get the hours in, and sometimes this backfires. With that is mind, I decided to take every other day off and see how I felt. The week broke down like this:
Monday- off
Tuesday- 2.05 hours. Took the long way up Green and the Saddle Rock trail down. This run sucked. It was during this run that I knew something was up. I posted 1.15 hours for the long way up Green- an all time slow. Terrible to say the least.
Wednesday- off
Thursday- A 2.00 hour and $67 mountain bike ride with Taylor Horowitz and Drew Hogg. This ride wasn't epic but it was certainly interesting. Way up in Walker Ranch, almost at the same time, Taylor took a nice little fall and I blew my chain to bites. So I ended up working on my tucking skills and bombed down the Link Trail and Canyon Road to Boulder sans chain. I still managed to beat Taylor and Drew down the Canyon but I feel like they gave me that victory! We followed that up with a trip to the bike store to get a new chain and then cruised campus and holla'ed at all the fine honeys! Nothing more sexy then professional bike rides with shaved legs- the girls knew what was up!
Friday-Off
Saturday- Am 2.20 hours. PM 30 min. Ran Shadow Canyon to South Boulder then Bear Peak. Bombed down Fern canyon and cruised the Mesa trail home. This was a fun and pretty fast run. That afternoon I just cruised the south Boulder roads.
Sunday- 2.30 hour mountain bike ride. After a night of bull riding at shooters I wasn't really feeling like a long run. So with a perfectly timed text from Taylor we hit good ol' Walker Ranch...again. This time no falls or mechanicals. A solid day.
Run-4.55 hours
Bike-4.30
Total-9.25 hours
This week saw a little more biking then normal. I have found that the bike is so much easier on the body and is a good way to get some training in while feeling overtrained. The rest proved beneficial and I'm starting to feel better again. Sometimes you have to cut the losses and take a week easy. Its always better to have a low milage week rather then to push through it and have to take more time off. Looking to hit 14 or 15 hours next week.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Snow, Regrets, Indulgence. A week in Review March 27- April 3rd
After my one week hiatus, this week proved to be pretty solid. The knee is feeling good and is ready for another week of training. This week consisted of the following:
Monday- 20 min. This was a short run to feel out the head cold and knee injury. Started feeling good but not 100%. That night I saw Brent and had the Graston. The knee instantly felt better.
Tuesday- Am 3.25 hours. Pm 35 min. This was a solid day of training. Got two laps on Green and one on Flag. Knee felt solid and it was great to be back in the mountains. That afternoon was an easy shake out followed by my "Belgium" recovery (10 min in the hot tub, ice cold shower, 10 min in steam room. Repeat 3 times) This is a great recovery. The hot tub and steam room open the blood vessels while the ice water constricts them. This helped shock the inflammation out and circulate the blood.
Wednesday- 1.15 hours. Just cruised around the flatirons and tried to stay out of the mountains. I need to spend more time on the flats.
Thursday- 30 min. Lesson learned! After a late night run on Wednesday I hardly ate anything for dinner and pretty much skipped breakfast. I estimated something like 1500 calories consumed over the last 24 hours. Due to a lack of calories I was forced to stop running way early today. Big mistake with my eating and a valuable lesson learned.
Friday- 2.00 hours mountain biking. Pulled out the mountain bike and ripped the trails. Gotta love bike driving!
Saturday- 4 hours. A long loop up green and then a lap on Flag. This run took the "long way" up and pretty much consisted of running super flag then cutting into the mountains. With a combination of trails and road I hit the top of super flag then cut east to Ranger trail and up. Took this loop up and down (with a few small loops in between) then ran flag. The last 30 min hurt! I'm pretty sure I was highly dehydrated at that point.
Sunday- 1.30 hours. Hit the rollers in South Boulder in the snow! Pure Blizzard...it was amazing! It cleared out all the douche bag college kids (event though they don't know about these trails- this area is my secret stash) and was epic! Was the first person on my super secret trail. This trail is off the side of a side trail and it totally epic! I only know 2 people who know about it (one of whom I showed) and it is a great run. For now the location of this trail is going to be my little secret! Awesome run! I wanted to go another 30 min or an hour but was utterly spent from Saturday's effort.
All in all:
Run- 11.30 hours
Bike- 2.00 hours
Total- 13.30 hours
This week was utter indulgence! It was so great doing these long runs and being back in the mountains. I look forward to this summer when I can train around 18-20 hours per week. Ideally I would like to hit 17 or 18 hours running and 2-3 hours on the bike. I found that my ideal training for cycling was between 18-24 hours per week and I am excited about getting up towards those hours again.
As many of you damn well better know today was the Ronde Van Vlaanderen! Today and next Sunday will always be two days of great joy and great sorrow in my life. Although today's run was amazing, it was overshadowed with sorrow. All my training on the bike, I mean all my training, was geared towards winning the Ronde and next week's Roubiax. All the way back to high school, on days I didn't want to train I did it because I wanted to win Roubaix. I didn't give a damn about any local races, I did them to turn pro and win these two races. These two days a year I usually get depressed and wonder what if. What if I hadn't chosen grad school and decided to continue to race bikes (I probably should have stayed on the bike). My biggest regret in life is not winning these two races. It's something I have to live with daily and I will be eternally sorrowful. Its hard to understand but those races are my life. Nothing, not even winning Mont-Blanc can compare to them. Is this healthy? Probably not. C'est la via.
I would like to take the time to congratulate my old friend Steven Van Vooren for his performance in the Ronde today! Way to go Steven, I will always cheer for you!
All regrets aside, I am still enjoying running and am excited to see how far I can push it. I can't say this is healthy but it's what I do. I would like to take the time to introduce you all to my old training method of "puke-er-vauls" Back in the day, I used to do 3x hill repeats until I either dry heaved or threw up. Not sane in the least but it showed me how hard and long I could endure. If you don't over tighten the screw you will never know how tight it can go.
The Ronde and Roubaix:
The two most beautiful things in the world. Period.
Monday- 20 min. This was a short run to feel out the head cold and knee injury. Started feeling good but not 100%. That night I saw Brent and had the Graston. The knee instantly felt better.
Tuesday- Am 3.25 hours. Pm 35 min. This was a solid day of training. Got two laps on Green and one on Flag. Knee felt solid and it was great to be back in the mountains. That afternoon was an easy shake out followed by my "Belgium" recovery (10 min in the hot tub, ice cold shower, 10 min in steam room. Repeat 3 times) This is a great recovery. The hot tub and steam room open the blood vessels while the ice water constricts them. This helped shock the inflammation out and circulate the blood.
Wednesday- 1.15 hours. Just cruised around the flatirons and tried to stay out of the mountains. I need to spend more time on the flats.
Thursday- 30 min. Lesson learned! After a late night run on Wednesday I hardly ate anything for dinner and pretty much skipped breakfast. I estimated something like 1500 calories consumed over the last 24 hours. Due to a lack of calories I was forced to stop running way early today. Big mistake with my eating and a valuable lesson learned.
Friday- 2.00 hours mountain biking. Pulled out the mountain bike and ripped the trails. Gotta love bike driving!
Saturday- 4 hours. A long loop up green and then a lap on Flag. This run took the "long way" up and pretty much consisted of running super flag then cutting into the mountains. With a combination of trails and road I hit the top of super flag then cut east to Ranger trail and up. Took this loop up and down (with a few small loops in between) then ran flag. The last 30 min hurt! I'm pretty sure I was highly dehydrated at that point.
Sunday- 1.30 hours. Hit the rollers in South Boulder in the snow! Pure Blizzard...it was amazing! It cleared out all the douche bag college kids (event though they don't know about these trails- this area is my secret stash) and was epic! Was the first person on my super secret trail. This trail is off the side of a side trail and it totally epic! I only know 2 people who know about it (one of whom I showed) and it is a great run. For now the location of this trail is going to be my little secret! Awesome run! I wanted to go another 30 min or an hour but was utterly spent from Saturday's effort.
All in all:
Run- 11.30 hours
Bike- 2.00 hours
Total- 13.30 hours
This week was utter indulgence! It was so great doing these long runs and being back in the mountains. I look forward to this summer when I can train around 18-20 hours per week. Ideally I would like to hit 17 or 18 hours running and 2-3 hours on the bike. I found that my ideal training for cycling was between 18-24 hours per week and I am excited about getting up towards those hours again.
As many of you damn well better know today was the Ronde Van Vlaanderen! Today and next Sunday will always be two days of great joy and great sorrow in my life. Although today's run was amazing, it was overshadowed with sorrow. All my training on the bike, I mean all my training, was geared towards winning the Ronde and next week's Roubiax. All the way back to high school, on days I didn't want to train I did it because I wanted to win Roubaix. I didn't give a damn about any local races, I did them to turn pro and win these two races. These two days a year I usually get depressed and wonder what if. What if I hadn't chosen grad school and decided to continue to race bikes (I probably should have stayed on the bike). My biggest regret in life is not winning these two races. It's something I have to live with daily and I will be eternally sorrowful. Its hard to understand but those races are my life. Nothing, not even winning Mont-Blanc can compare to them. Is this healthy? Probably not. C'est la via.
I would like to take the time to congratulate my old friend Steven Van Vooren for his performance in the Ronde today! Way to go Steven, I will always cheer for you!
All regrets aside, I am still enjoying running and am excited to see how far I can push it. I can't say this is healthy but it's what I do. I would like to take the time to introduce you all to my old training method of "puke-er-vauls" Back in the day, I used to do 3x hill repeats until I either dry heaved or threw up. Not sane in the least but it showed me how hard and long I could endure. If you don't over tighten the screw you will never know how tight it can go.
The Ronde and Roubaix:
The two most beautiful things in the world. Period.
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