Training Week January 1 - 7

I've been sporadic about writing down training summaries, especially during ski season. I seem to be including all the right ingredients for a decent training program, or most of them, but it's always a good idea to keep writing these down for future reference. So why not here?

I had grandiose plans of a 10 hour week, which would have been the highest since last winter, but the cold weather put a dimmer on that. There can be a fine line between dedication and stupidity, wimpiness and being wise. So I'm stupid and wimpy! But I'll be hungry to get back on the snow once things warm up a bit.

Monday - Ski 1:15, skating. Wow, at -12 too cold for skating! Miserably slow.

Tuesday - Snowshoe run 1:05

Wednesday - Felt great. Back to classic skiing. 35 min warmup, 1 X 9:00, 8:00, 6:00, at 10k race effort, with 3:00 recovery. Skied another 15-20 min cool down, for 1:20 total.

Thursday - 1:40 easy effort classic technique. I felt pretty sluggish. Snow was very slow. -12.

Friday - Nothing. I drove up to Birch Hill and it was -22, so I decided to hold off, hoping that it might warmup later in the day or over the weekend. First day off in about 2 or 3 weeks, so no biggie.

Saturday - Plan was for a 7k time trial, but at -24 I just stayed inside and cycled for 55 minutes, including some V02 max effort surges, 8:00 and 4:00. Hoped for a warmup later in the day but that didn't happen.

Sunday - 1:15 cycle AM, working a few 3-4 minute "hills" for posterity, and finishing with 20 minutes at threshold effort. Ran 45 min PM, when it was about -23. I actually felt pretty decent. Toes got a little cold and an icicle shot up my nose. Other than that, a decent run.

8:15 for the week with enough quality to keep it interesting and to keep the engine going. Didn't lose anything this week, but didn't gain either. Hoping the cold weather will break soon.