Base 3 Progress, Daily

I am always a little nervous about losing fitness coming off of a race and subsequent transition periods. Yes, in fact, I've lost fitness, but the benefits were 1) I got rested up enough to race fast and 2) my body and mind have had a chance to breath and have found a way to re-muster the courage to have at it again.

Now in the middle of my 2nd week back at training, Base 3, all sluggishness from taking time off is virtually gone and all systems are "GO." I am still adapting to the general "tiredness" associated with training with a decent amount of intensity and volume. I love learning about my body and how it responds to training. At this stage in the game I can discern between "tiredness" and over training.

I've done a number of key workouts this week that have included 5x6min hill repeats just under LT on the bike, a run with 24mins at zone 3/tempo with some powerful, quick footed strides for 20sec x 7 up hills mixed in and some race-paced 100s and some longer sets of 800s in the pool. Fortunately, I've been able to get everything done in the mornings before work or at lunch.

A big workout weekend is on the horizon and, quite frankly, it scares me. Not the duration or intensity, but the heat/weather. Even starting at 5am, I will get my fair share of 100+ temps. I have a couple of things to confront this. First are insulated water bottles. I fill these the night before and put one in the fridge and one in the freezer. Next, my "personal cooling system" consists of filling my 50oz Camelbak with water, freezing it and popping it on my back for long rides. It gradually melts, keeping me cool in the process and leaves me a nice reservoir of reserve water. Finally, I just got De Soto Arm Coolers from TriSports. Supposedly, these arm coolers "are guaranteed to keep your arms cooler in training and racing than if you had nothing on your arms at all." We'll see....