Training Log Archive: W

Yes, my feet may have been sore as hell, but I felt like I wanted to go out and give the legs a try the day after the race. They felt great! Happily trucked out the nice longer loop in a mid-4:30 pace. It was nicely packed down so I don't really feel like I lost any traction or propulsion due to the snow. Rocked out to some tunes, saw someone I work with on a daily basis who didn't recognize me at all, and wondered how some people can just be so unobservant.

C • People look different in sp... 1

Drayton Valley loppet in, *shock and awe*, Drayton Valley. 3 laps of approximately 11k. I was expecting it to be hillier than I thought, but it actually wasn't, so the recurring theme was one skate, a whole crapton of one skate. Alas, the actual race ended in approximately 20 meters, so I tried to focus on just keeping the foot on the gas throughout the entire race. With no one around to push me harder, I tried really hard to push myself.

When I look at my heart rate, on one hand, I did my 1st k with a heart rate of 160, and did my 34th k with a heart rate of 160, so I'm glad I didn't really slack off at any point of the race. Sure, it was generally a little higher than that, but on the other hand I might have liked to see that spike a bit more over the last 5-6 k, so I think there's still more effort to be pushed there. I imagine if one of the other guys were around to push me up that last hill, things would have been different.

Still, despite the total absence of competition I was glad to get out and get in a nice hard effort. Strava has the race at about 34.9 in 1:41, but we'll see what the results claim.

Very nice trails too! Pretty wide, a little soft, but a nice chance to use my Fischer S-Tracks. Never get to use those things.

Also, feet = ruined again. Ouch.

Well, part of my experiment from an experiment. My results from the cycling study in December showed my best TT result came at the end of a 7 day intensity period (which, I might add, defies all logic). So, I'm thinking that maybe I just respond well to intensive stimulation right before the race.

I remember once I had a chance to talk to the Norwegian ski team sprint coach, and ask about what sort of stuff they do the days before a big race, and he said that often his athletes would take it easy the before if they felt good, but if they didn't, they'd do something intense to jolt their body back awake again. So, that's what I think when I'm doing this. Perhaps I just need an intensive wake-up period to get myself going.

So, tonight I did 4 x 4 minutes w/ 90 seconds rest on the bike. Probably not as high wattage as in the study, but a good effort nonetheless. We'll see how we feel tomorrow.

Unfortunately, I just didn't have time for a long enough run, but did try to put in a little bit of tempo in the run. So, an 8 minute warm-up, followed by 35 minute of brisk-esque (just over 8k), and then an 8 minute cool down. Its almost like I've been training with my sister!

A pretty quick ski with Paul at Goldbar. Did the full loop twice at a fairly easy pace, but not dawdling either. Nice evening to be out. That's.... pretty much it.

A nice run with Nevin around the river valley in the non-dark. It started out quite warm, though I knew the temperature was supposed to tank at some point. Eventually it certainly did, right around kinsmen. That's where I started losing the vast majority of the feeling in my knuckles. So, the last 10 minutes home were pretty darn fast. Pretty fast indeed.

Lovely night to be out, though. Even more lovely by the fact that no one else was out.