January in review

Well I certainly put the blogging on the back burner in January. To be honest, I think that's how it will stay from here on out. I just don't have the mojo. I enjoy being able to look back on the training log and see how I was feeling during certain parts of the training, but there are just too many things going on to keep up with it. My new blog goal is just 1-2 times per month. I'll kick this one off with bullet points.

• January was a light training month, but I got into a better routine than I had been in. I am confident my body will be able to handle the 12-15 hours/week that February and March are calling for. 

• I tried a juice cleanse that lasted all of about 12 hours. The biggest problem is that I don't have a juicer - I was just using my blender for everything. Maddy and I both tried it. We couldn't choke down the 3rd juice of the day. The goal was to get my weight down a little. It has come down, but I'm heavier than I have been in previous years. I (also optimistically) think I'll be down to a good training weight once things get going.

• I've gotten some good trainer rides in - 3 of 2+ hours. I have a group of buddies here all training for IM, so we line them up in a basement and slug through. It really does make the time go faster.

• I got a cardio-pulminary test on Jan. 31 to see how the ol' ticker is doing. Some interesting take-aways were: 
• My VO2 max is a bit lower than I expected. 57.7 is all I could muster. I thought I would be in the mid 60s. It just shows what I have always known, though, I have a weak top end.
• The doc diagnosed me with exercise induced asthma. After the VO2 my lungs couldn't exhale nearly as much as before. I was prescribed an advair inhaler, and I'll go back next month to see if it helps.
• My aerobic threshold HR was 177 pushing 280 watts and my anaerobic (lactate) threshold HR was 187 pushing 315 watts. The HR's I can work with. I have no way of measuring watts, though, so besides an fun number, it means very little to me. I guess the W/kg is kind of interesting. Right now I'm about 153lbs, so 4.1W/kg. I'll take that.

• Lastly, I went for an AWESOME mountain bike ride this morning. I love that bike. The roads are snowy and salty, so there was no way I'd get outside on the road bike. Well worth the investment to keep me going through the cold winter months.

So, that's where I am. 

Onward and upward.

Thanks for reading.

PW