Training, Stats & Post Training

I've hit it hard in May and especially in the last two weeks, stepping up mileage indicated in the chart below;

Date         Day                       Mileage   Time Minutes Daily / Hours Weekly

4/29/13

Mon

8

59

5/1/13	Wed	6.1	47
5/2/13	Thu	17.74	150
5/3/13	Fri	0	0
5/4/13	Sat	7.76	66
5/5/13	Sun	0	0

Total                                  39.6           5.37 hours

5/6/13	Mon	13.03	98
5/7/13	Tue	0.0	0
5/8/13	Wed	9.86	74
5/9/13	Thu	17.32	120
5/10/13	Fri	0	0
5/11/13	Sat	0	0
5/12/13	Sun	0	0

Total                                 40.2           4.87 hours

5/13/13	Mon	12.74	87
5/14/13	Tue	15.1	107
5/15/13	Wed	0	0
5/16/13	Thu	0	0
5/17/13	Fri	12.22
5/18/13	Sat	19.07	135
5/19/13	Sun	0	0

Total                                59.13          5.48 hours

5/20/13	Mon	22.72	171
5/21/13	Tue	0	0
5/22/13	Wed	0	0
5/23/13	Thu	0	0
5/24/13	Fri	13.15	98
5/25/13	Sat	19.11	147
5/26/13	Sun	10.18	83

Total                                65.16          8.32 hours

A training program is supposed to increase mileage, time and intensity by smaller increments, generally 10-15% is a rule of thumb and as you can see the chart indicates much higher jumps in all areas.  Had I not had a base to work from this would be a recipe for disaster.  Having ridden consistently for the last two and a half years has provided that base. But I also listened to my body, pushed myself for sure but coupled it with rest, days off and fairly decent nutrition.  While I seldom if ever diet in the traditional sense I do try to make more healthy choices when training and my habit is to prepare fresh whole foods and processed foods are scant (but not non-existent) in my daily menu.   Home cooked meals generally consist of a lean protein, starch and two side vegetables.  I do indulge in pizza, ice cream and such, but sporadically and if I'm training this hard I don't feel the least bit guilty for occasional treats.  The current week I am in is being titled "Recovery Week" by me and my mileage and time out on the bike is shaping up like this so far;

Date         Day                       Mileage   Time Minutes Daily / Hours Weekly

5/27/13	Mon	0	0
5/28/13	Tue	4.78	36
5/29/13	Wed	6.9	53
5/30/13	Thu	6.73	49
5/31/13	Fri
6/1/13	Sat
6/2/13	Sun

Total                                 18.31         2.30   

These shorter rides lack much of the intensity and I'm doing them on quite flat grades with no real hill work except for the natural inclines around town, most are pretty small.  I'm taking easy pedals at moderate speeds.  We are heading into a very hot week so far with temps in the 85-90 F range and stormy weather so my rides are in the later evening or early morning like today.  I come home without any feeling of fatigue and generally feeling like I could have gone twice as far or more, but this is how I am pacing myself.  I do expect to have one ride at least of 15-20 miles this week and if I'm guessing correctly I will be feeling pretty strong during and after that ride.  The pattern I've notices is that if I push really hard, back off for a bit I really build up my strength and endurance.  I've varied the rides with gravel roads with hills which are tough and high intensity and with flat paved rail trails so in some sense I am doing interval training, or at least my version of it!  Whatever you call this, it is working magic on my health, endurance and fitness level.  Following this somewhat haphazard program has resulted in a high level of feeling fit and my body composition is changing.

I've tracked my mileage since I started riding again in July of 2010 when I bought a bike, my excel sheets contain many notes, places I ride and how my body feels.  Sooooo, I'm kind of a nut for data, tracking and stats, what can I say?

Miles of smiles to all!

Training Does Pay Off

As a follow up to my last post this one continues with the theme and trend.  And I'm happy to report the trend is great!  My fitness is returning by leaps and bounds and the scale is moving in the right direction.  As much as I'd been bemoaning the loss of fitness and how I had lost so much hard gained ground, the tide has turned.  Quite simply, training works.  Take a sluggish body, lagging spirit and the feeling of general malaise and put all of that through the paces and magic happens. The body, the mind, the spirit and soul respond and rebound at an amazing pace.  The human body is nothing short of miraculous with its resilient capacity to transform. Short of adding new limbs or changing eye or hair color, you can pretty much remake your body in any fashion you want to if you're willing to put in the effort.  The beauty of all of this is that it's possible for anyone to do.

Getting started is the hard part.

Not quite half way through the month and the miles are piling up.  I'm well over a hundred miles for May, rides are getting longer in miles for less time spent on the bike.  Today was a hammerfest.  Having spent the last half dozen rides working hills I turned my attention today to doing a flat out fast (for me) ride.  I chose a local rail trail that was as flat as it gets around here and straight as an arrow.  Generally there is a slight rise as you go out and a slight downhill as you return.  The combo of flat and straight allowed for kicking up into harder gears and upping the MPH considerably.   I pushed far more miles into shorter time span.  It's a different way of training than the hill work I've been mostly working on and I have to believe that mixing it up like this is going to produce even better results.

I did a routine like this over a week ago and the combo and mix up proved to be a good increase in performance level.  Yay me!

Happy trails to all!