Week in review January 11-17: A bit of redemption and a lot of solid training

I still don't really know what I'm training for — life? A solid base? Sanity? To jump into a race at a moment's notice once this stupid pandemic is over? — But last week was just about as good as it gets at this stage of life, except for the swimming.

I really meant to get over here and post at least once last week, especially since I still haven't taken a look at 2020 as a whole. But I kept myself pretty busy, as my training totals suggest. There was also the requisite errand-running and market-going, and NOT being too exhausted on Saturday to do anything. So, that was nice. I also managed to hop on a video chat with some friends (yay!), eat non-ordered-in food every night (even if I was just reheating leftovers), and finish watching Fargo with my husband. Last week was a nice mix of training and other wins.

My biggest training win was probably my successful FTP test on Saturday. I was feeling pretty good after a decent night's sleep and a peppy but not too fast run the evening before. I dug out my iPod for some upbeat music and pedaled my heart out for as long as I could. I lasted 20 minutes and ended up adding 7 watts to my FTP. I was thrilled to see this; riding more often during the week makes you stronger, who knew? I'm sure I'll be regretting it at my next regular ride but I was pretty proud of myself for putting in the hard work.

I'm still not getting in the pool but that's OK. I'm not comfortable swimming inside right now and it's not like there are any races happening in January in Michigan. I have plenty of stuff to keep me busy.

A great week for me volume-wise, even without the swimming.

Last week was:

Bike: Four times, all on the trainer for 77 lucky trainer "miles" in almost exactly 5 hours. Whew! This was a lot of pedaling. And, Santa did make his late delivery of a couple pairs of bike shorts, which has been making the four-times-per-week bike schedule a little easier to handle laundry-wise.

PT/Pre-hab: Six times, three running PT and three mobility sessions, for about 3:45. In the new year, I'm keeping closer track of how much time I'm spending doing PT. Since I'm well into my 40s now, I'm easily spending as much time doing PT as I am running, which, sigh, is probably the new normal.

Run: Three times, all on the road, for 21.5 miles in about 3:35. This was a long run of 10 miles on a 40-degree furlough day and two shorter, easy runs. Nothing special here, just a few miles in the legs to keep them guessing and to get out and enjoy the weather when it wasn't TOO bad.

Weights: Three times of a core, a barre app, and a heavy/body routine, for about 2:45. I'm still trying different mid-week core routines, and this week I tried a free barre app instead of my usual online class. It was OK, but randomly didn't include any arm exercises??? I don't know that I would do it again, but it was nice to try something new.

Yoga: Three times, all via the Down Dog app, for 45 minutes. I have been doing well with my goal of doing yoga on every day I run, and doing the app has definitely shaken it up a bit.

Total: 19 sessions, which is a LOT for me, in almost 16 hours, which is a LOT for me as well. Wow, what a great week!

This isn't really an exciting update. I stayed home and trained a lot. What else is there to do these days? I'm trying to run as long as the weather allows, ride the bike trainer a lot, and supplement with weights, PT, and yoga. Repeat. There just isn't anything else going on.

Here's to safe, healthy weeks filled with as much training as we want and both training and non-training wins.