2012 Season- Week 1 a Success!

Now that training has officially begun, I've noticed one thing... The weather is being quite cooperative. I have this sort of mental block against cold weather biking. I hate it. November tends to be risky, at best, to get out of the basement and on to the pavement. Running, not so much. I will run in the most adverse of conditions and get along quite happily. Stick my feet to the top of a pedal and certain criteria must be met, most of them temperature related.

I have promised myself that this year, 2012, I will put in my time and do my work, regardless of the weather. Just to remind you, here is what I have planned for a regular week of training.

Monday= Optional Run in the morning. Weights in the afternoon.
Tuesday= Medium distance run in the morning. Bike in the afternoon.
Wednesday= Hill run. Bike medium in the afternoon.
Thursday= Sleep-in in the morning. Long run in the afternoon.
Friday= Sleep-in in the morning. Weights in the afternoon. Optional Bike in the evening.
Saturday= Bike/ Run brick session
Sunday= Long ride with an optional (and short) transition run

If you are a regular reader, you'd know that I suck at planning. I have all of these hopes and dreams which seem to get crushed in the face of reality. Making a plan is really risky business for me as it rarely comes to fruition. But, the numbers don't lie. Here's what the data show:

That's right, I nailed it. In the first week of training, I hit all of my required workouts and one of my optional workouts. I logged about 29 miles of running. I rode for about 5 hours and 45 minutes. I am feeling quite proud of myself.

To further my surprise is some of the individual data. For example, on my Tuesday medium run, I wanted to average 7:30 per mile pace. I set out on a 6.5er. I ended up with this...

Not too bad. On Thursday, I wanted to control my pace and average 8:00 per mile for the long run. The actual data:

I guess the 2 days sort of balance each other out. Tuesday was 4 seconds over pace. Thursday was 4 seconds under pace.

So, how about my biking. This is a tough one as I am on the trainer for most of the time. Trainer riding is significantly different that outdoor riding. Plus, I keep the resistance on the trainer dialed in at a tension greater than the real world. The data I am going to show you is based on my Sunday long ride. I set out for a 2.5 hour ride with the hope of holding an average of 18 mph, giving me a distance of about 45 miles. Here's what really happened...

Well, you can't plan them all perfectly. Further, if it hadn't been for that killer hill/ headwind/ stoplight laden road/ pansy of a rider in that last 3 miles (see profile at the very far right), I would have been over 20.  In hindsight, I may have been a bit overzealous. That pace, 19.8 mph, is about the same as my Syracuse 70.3 race pace. I may need to tone it down a bit in the basements to come if I am to survive the winter.

Plus, as a warning to the BIL, I lost 1.5 pounds this week. Still want to wager?