Nudge

Its been a while since I updated my training. My weight and body fat have not changed too drastically. I am firmly under the Clydesdale line of 200 pounds, hovering around 195. I'm not even in the "one big meal away" category anymore. Thats very cool. Not as fast as I want but I will be at 185 or less by the peak of my race season in April/May.

Heart rate training has been great the last 90 days. When I started I was struggling to run a 10k at 11:30 per mile with a HR of 148 or less. The struggle came from keeping my HR that low as I was used to running with my HR in the 160's.

This week I ran 16 miles at an average HR of 140 bpm and my per mile pace was 10:12. That is quite a feat.

I have had similar success in my cycling. I now ride approximately 3 mph faster than I did before I started base training.

When I started base, I took a swim test to find my average pace per 100 yards called a T-Pace. I pushed myself as if it was an Ironman and it was 2:06. No great shakes but good enough to swim well under the Ironman cutoff. Recently I did a workout that had a warm up of 400 yards then the first set was 4x400. I swam each 400 at a very easy RPE and when I would finish the time was under my T-Pace by a considerable amount of time.

As the physical action improves, the nutrition is still my downfall. I am great during the day but between dinner and when I go to bed, its a minefield that far to often I can't survive. I continue to remind myself that food is for fuel not entertainment.

80 miles on the road bike this weekend in preparation for the El Tour de Tucson. My longest ride yet without aero bars. How will this Intrepid Age Groupers hands feel pushed into the horns for that long? Probably not very good and quite numb. Its a process.

Have fun.