More Inconsistent Training

This past month has been busy. Stacey and I went to Saratoga Springs for a wedding a few weekends ago, then I had one weekend of mediocre training, then the past two weekends have been occupied with moving out of our apartment and into a house. That's mostly good stuff, but it tends to really reduce my training load. I'm a big proponent of at least one long day a week during an IM build, yet the most volume I've done on a day is 5 hours, and I haven't done one of those days in a few weeks.

Still, my metrics aren't bad. I set a new PR in a 200m free while in New York. I put an 11-23 or -25 cassette on my new bike, which allowed me to push 265-270 W during my favorite big gear trainer ride (lots of 5 minute intervals at 60 rpm and 150-155 bpm). My long run is up to 1:40, and yesterday my run included three miles at ~6:40/mile at right around IM effort.

Weight is an important number for IM racing, too. Right now I'm around 160 lbs, so that's all well and good. Still, starting tomorrow (not to sound like a quitting smoker...) I am going to adopt a "diet" inspired from a post on Slowtwitch that greatly limits or eliminates eating after 7:30 per night. Running is especially weight sensitive, and given my recent injury I need all the running help I can get. 155 lbs at CdA?

Finally, I should post some recent ride photos. First up, here's my new ride, a Ridley Dean RS, right near I-70 between Golden and Morrison:


Here are some pictures of a climb from Boulder to Peak-to-Peak. The old lookin' town is Gold Hill, which is a 150 or so year old yet still occupied mining town circa 8,000 feet. Evidence of last summer's Gold Hill Fire is also visible in many of the pictures. There were loads of houses burnt to the ground with only their chimneys remaining. (I tried to capture one such chimney with minimal luck in the last photo.) Around 8,500 feet, it became really, really windy and began snowing. I struggled up under-dressed to 9,500 feet over some very rough roads afraid I was going to get lost or stranded. Overall, a great ride.







Finally, this week's song: a metal and flamenco influenced acoustic duo from Mexico City whose recent album topped the charts in Ireland.

Looking up this video, I noticed these two are playing in Boulder in two days. Hmmm...Anyhow, it's good stuff to listen to while running fast.