Week 22: Review

It certainly was a good week this time around, as the recovery is coming along nicely and the weather has let me get out more on the bike than I'd planned. All of the residual pain is pretty much gone at this point, and I can freely run without any issues at this point. My heart rate is still running higher than normal, however, which is an indicator that the recovery is not entirely complete regardless of what I'm feeling ;) I'm sticking pretty much to the five week recovery plan in Pfitzinger's book, although it's certainly been difficult to keep a reign on my pace.

Weather-wise, the heat and wind have made a few of my cycling and running sessions challenging, but fortunately I made it through without any issues. It is certainly going to take some time to get the body used to the heat, as what we've been experiencing is nothing compared to what we will be getting in the coming months. With the body used to running in comfortable 10-15C weather, however, the humidity and 30+ temperatures do take their toll.

Thursday's ride was probably the most challenging, as I took an eastbound out-and-back route but the westerly winds were brutal so the ride back was pretty much a constant fight. With the wide open farmer's fields, the headwinds hit speeds near 50km/h which made me feel like I was dragging a dump truck behind me ;) Compounding this, I ended up running out of water with about 12km left, so the final part of the ride (which included some nasty hills) was even more of a challenge. I debated with myself a few times how awkward it would be to go through the drive thrus of the coffee shops along the way (can't really leave the bike unguarded outside, so going in wasn't an option), but figured that I was close enough to get home.

This weekend, however, has been beautiful for outdoor activities and I've taken advantage of it as best I could. It's been pretty warm as well, but not to the point of being hot enough to cause problems. As such, I tacked on another 12km on my long ride yesterday (making it 62km), and after my run this morning I couldn't resist taking the bike out for an easy 25km this afternoon. A 100km charity ride (Giro T.O.) was rolling through town this morning, and after running by clusters of cyclists for the duration I had lunch, grabbed the bike and went right back out ;)

In addition, I also took a couple of short and slow rides with my father who's trying to get into cycling as well. We're slowly building up his endurance, speed and grade tolerance in the subdivisions in the area, and hopefully we'll be able to do some proper rides before the summer is out. Hopefully the weather remains decent over the next little while, so we'll have some opportunities to work on that ;)

This Week:
Mon 51.7K Ride (29.9km/h) + 8.3K Easy Ride w/Dad (17.7km/h)
Tue 8.3K Recovery (footpod battery died, so had to play it by ear)
Wed 33.1K Ride (29.0km/h) + 8.1K Group Run (5:03/km)
Thurs 52.7K Ride (28.1km/h)
Fri 9.7K Recovery (5:16/km)
Sat 62.1K Ride (30.2km/h) + 10K Easy Ride w/Dad (19.4km/h)
Sun 11.3K Recovery (4:57/km) + 25.1K Ride (29.3km/h)

Weekly Totals:
Running: 37.4km (23.2mi)
Walking: 2.1km (1.3mi)
Cycling: 243.8km (151.5mi)
Total: 283.3km (176.0mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 957.8km (595.1mi)
Walking: 150.4km (93.5mi)
Cycling: 1,313.4km (816.1mi)
Total: 2,421.6km (1,504.7mi)

Due to scheduling issues our cycling group hasn't met up for the last three weeks (this week due to several people running races in Ottawa), but fortunately we should be back on track this coming Saturday with a few new people. We're talking about doing some longer rides at this point, which will be a good opportunity as it's difficult to push very far when riding on one's own. I just have to be more careful about not losing the group at times, as the further we get out the less familiar I am with the roads and how to get back on track ;) With that said, while I am a bit faster than most of the others, they generally have more experience with long range rides so hopefully things will even themselves out as we travel for longer periods.

Upcoming Week:
Mon 50K Ride
Tue 5mi (8K) Recovery
Wed 5mi (8K) Recovery
Thurs 50K Ride
Fri 7mi (11.3K) GA w/8x100m
Sat 50K Group Ride
Sun 9mi (14.5K) GA