Base Preparation

My apt, decorated for Christmas

Today was the last day of the base preparation phase of our cycling camp. Each week has been different:

1. Focus on technique and cadence
2. Focus on high cadence a little more—Hello, fast-twitch muscles!
3. Compete in a team time trial—Go team red!
4. Ride Ironman Australia's course
5. Do 1-leg drills and work on aerobic capacity

We had done some 1-leg drills last week, but we nearly doubled last week's drills by doing multiple sets of 45 seconds preceded and followed by 30-second sets. When that was over, we did a few aerobic-level and high-ish–cadence efforts. For 25 minutes, we rode 4 minutes between 100 and 105 RPM, 1 minute between 95 and 100 RPM, repeat for 5 total sets. I spent most of the time in the TT bars and was happy I had them; although you're on your own bike, riding on the trainer is a much different feeling than riding out on the road.

Christmas presents from Parri!

I swam again after work, 500, in 8:10 (1:38 average). August 25: 10:04, 10:37, and 10:33. August 21: 10 minutes. June 26: 8:41, 8:53, 9:00, 9:16, 9:25, 9:23, and 9:12. May 22: 9:38(+50), 8:51, 8:46, 8:52, 8:57, 8:52. May 19: 8:26. April 21: 8:55. March 24: 8:34, 8:32, 8:38, 8:51, 8:52. March 5: 7:58(–50), 8:59, 9:12, 9:10, 9:04. February 17: 10:01(+50), 8:32(–50), 9:53, 7:33(–100), 9:26. I told Will it was at a perceived exertion rate of about 60%. I didn't know what my previous times were and didn't really have anything to go on. Now that I look at them, I see that I've definitely gotten faster; I probably swam most of the other ones around 65–75% PER.

I did only breathing: 3 deep breaths, exhale, hold, inhale, hold, repeat 3 times or until numbers are consistent, 50 deep breaths (focusing on filling up stomach), 3 deep breaths, exhale, hold, inhale, hold, repeat 3 times until numbers are consistent. My times were pretty high tonight—up to 35 and 80 seconds!