Nov 7th - 13th

This week was a pretty light with the need ease myself back into training following last Saturday’s half marathon. The last thing I want to do is push too hard and sideline myself while I’m just getting started! I think the biggest hindrance to performance right now is my weight. I’m a good 10 lbs over my prime race weight of 150 lbs. I need to get more disciplined with my diet (layoff the snickers) to kick start shedding some pounds.

Monday
Bike: 1hr w/ 5 x 7min @ +-92% FTP Intervals: http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/3201
Run: 50 min w/ 8 x 30 sec strides: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/127538992

Tuesday
Run: 35 min recovery

Wednesday
Bike: 1 hr w/ 3 x 12 min intervals at 90-92% FTP: http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/3384
Run: 10k trail run on my trails

Thursday
Swim: 30 min
Run: 35 min recovery

Friday
Bike: 1hr progressive ride building to 125% FTP (358 watts)
Swim: 30 min
Run: 1hr 10 min w/ 2 mile TT: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/128168309 I was a few seconds faster than 2 weeks ago with a 5:52 first mile and 5:57 second mile for an 11:51 for a modest improvement. J-Flo had a great improvement from 2 weeks ago by dropping 10 seconds for a 12:20 (6:04, 6:16).

Saturday
Bike: CX ride in the countryside! Once again the Garmin failed me (my own fault) by running out of juice 1.5 miles before the end of the ride: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/128168319

Here are some pictures from the ride …



A sea of cotton. It’s time to pull it in; many of the fields have already been harvested.





One of the fastest stretches of dirt in Lexington County




Heading out



Sunday: Off! I could’ve ridden a hard 90 min trainer session (which was my plan) but I opted for a 90 min ride on the John Deere instead :)

So it was another low volume week with plenty of rest coming off a race, but still had some good quality sessions.

Swim: 1hr; Bike: 4 hrs; Run: 4 hrs; Total: 9hrs. Hopefully building back in some volume this week and keeping the intensity high.

Today (Monday) is our 13th wedding anniversary! Counting the 3 years of shacking up, that’s 16 years together! Wow, how we changed since those early days. Many adventures lay ahead to experience together with the love of my life! For her gift she got horse riding lessons at the stable across the road from the house (Poole Training Center: http://www.pooletrainingcenter.com/). The thing is that she has to keep it secret from our youngest, Hannah. She’s already jealous because her sister Abby takes lesson and if she finds out Mom is also riding, we might just have a full blown 5 yr old meltdown on our hands!

For our anniversary date night we ended up at Home Depot after dinner since Tractor Supply was closed. What have we become??

In other news Caleb was selected along with 3 other students to read a letter to veterans on Veteran’s Day at his school. When I read his letter it literally brought tears to my eyes. I’m having trouble uploading the YouTube video from my phone so I’ll have to settle for this picture. Can’t you sense the excitement??





The girls have gotten really good at flying their kites: