It's been a wild week (emotionally) but we are incredibly grateful for some sort of normalcy with our swim, bike, run training.
Karel made a quick 24-hour trip to Washington, DC on Sun and returned home on Monday. A month or so ago, Karel realized that his Czech passport was going to expire this year. To renew his Czech passport, he needs to go to the Czech embassy in DC to get an updated one. The embassy scheduled him for Jan 4th at 10am so it was a quick trip there and back. Thankfully, Karel enjoyed a safe and peaceful trip, as well as a run around the historic monuments.
It was weird to be alone for those 24-hours (well, just me and the 4 furry kids) as Karel and I spend pretty much all day, every day together. Thinking back, I think it's been several years since we have been apart for more than a day. In the late afternoon, I went on a 2-hour bike ride with mom. She really enjoys riding her bike on the country roads in our area and exploring new routes. She has really improved her skills and endurance over the past few years since she started riding (BTW - she just started riding around the age of 60 yrs!).
Every week we attend master swimming on Tues, Thurs and Friday. It's something that I really look forward to and has been a gift in terms of keeping my passion strong for swimming. Although the aquatic center isn't as convenient as Furman (where we used to swim - before the campus was closed to the public in March and remains closed to the public), it's a beautiful pool with lots of available lanes for lap swimming. If you are ever in the area, you can swim there with a day pass of $8. There is also a therapy pool (with lap lanes), a small gym and locker rooms.
Here's one of the workouts I did near the end of December:
Warm up:
300
1:00 [vertical kick]
6 x 50 1:05 stroke
1:00 [vertical kick]
3 x 100 1:30
Main set:
2x 2 x 25 :40 mod
1 x 50 1:00 strong
3 x 25 :40 build
1 x 75 1:30 strong
4 x 25 :40 desc 1-4
1 x 100 2:00 strong
[All swims choice]
Kick set:
1 x 400 9:00
Freestyle set:
4x
1 x 300 4:00 long & strong
1 x 150 2:15 neg split
1 x 75 1:15 strong
Warm down
4 x 50 1:00
On Wednesday, Karel set out for a gravel ride near Tuxedo, NC. He rode in Dupont state recreational forest for nearly 3 hours (and followed it up with a brick run). He is loving his Ventum gravel bike, which has been a great change for him. Since he has been riding bikes for almost all of his life, changing up his cycling routine (and bike choice) has been really good to keep the motivation to ride going, especially in the colder winter months.
I stuck to the trainer and did a specific bike workout that challenged me in all the right ways. So that I don't burn myself out from indoor riding, I am keeping with structured workouts on the trainer and anything unstructured, I take it outside for a happy, soul-fulfilling ride.
Here's the workout:
WU: 10 min EZ as you feel then ramp up the effort as:
3, 2.5, 2, 1 min ... go progressively harder so that the last 1 min is at sub threshold.
1.5 min EZ spin
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FPE (fast pedal efforts):
4 x 45 sec FPE w/ 45 sec EZ in between.
4 x 30 sec FPE w/ 30 sec EZ in between
4 x 15 sec FPE w/ 15 sec EZ in between.
Go harder on the effort as the interval get less. Cadence is very high on all!
There are no additional break between the 45, 30, 15 sec interval blocks!
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4 min EZ recovery spin
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MS:
2 x 4 min
2 x 3 min
2 x 2 min
2 x 1 min
2 x 2 min
2 x 3 min
2 x 4 min
Odds: Big gear work under 55 rpm and solid effort (Z3)- pure strength work.
Evens: Z2/Z3 and Fast RPM over 105 rpm.
All 1 min EZ choice spin in between.
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4 min EZ recovery spin
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Finish with:
10 min Z2 (aerobic effort) but faster RPM 90+
CD: EZ spin
The bike workout was 1 hour and 55 minutes and I followed it up with a 27 minute run on the treadmill (with some intervals).
I've been staying really dedicated to mobility and strength training with the EC Fit On Demand app. I am really benefiting from the movement-focused strength, which I feel has contributed to me staying injury free over the past year.
On Saturday, Karel drove around 80 minutes away to do his first gravel group ride. He hung on for dear life as the pace was strong for the entire ride. He finished feeling satisfied and enjoyed his a$$ kicking (per his words :) The ride was 67 miles and was just under 4 hours. Because of the rain and cold on Friday, the roads were a little unsafe to ride in the early morning. Our normal group ride (GVL WBL) which normally starts at 10am was pushed back to noon. I debated about doing it but I felt like all the signs were telling me to just do my own ride. So I ventured out on my own for a solid 2.5 hours on my Ventum road bike (I haven't ridden my tri bike outside since November but I do ride a tri bike on the trainer) and followed it up with a 30-minute brick run.
On Sunday Karel ran with our speedy athlete Yannick and they did a tough 17 mile run over Paris Mountain (the Paris Mountain 20K road race course). I did the 10K course which gave me a total of just under 11 miles and ~1400 feet (starting from our house, which is about 2 miles away from the race start). Karel's run gave him around 3800 feet elevation gain. I was thankful to have "only" completed the 10K course as it was super hilly!
Right now I am not training with races in mind. Swimming is structured (and around 4400 yards per swim) but I find it fun and social. Running is all about frequency and staying injury free. Most of my runs are between 20-45 minutes during the week. My training is supported by prioritizing strength training and mobility. Biking is mostly happy and soul-fulfilling with a little structure on the trainer. In all, my hope is that this approach will keep me healthy (in mind, body and soul) and as we inch closer to the race season, I can begin to specify my workouts in duration and intensity. But for now, I am really enjoying my training and the fitness it is giving me to do incredible things with my body.
During this time of uncertainty with races, I find it incredibly important to have an intention and purpose for each workout and to be willing to be flexible and try new things.