https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsi6kCSTIFU

[Day 33]

The thing I love most about the song up above is that it's a quiet resolution kind of song. The story isn't necessarily something that everyone can relate to but I'm sure the themes will resonate with everyone. I'm going to share a much longer quote than I usually do, but these words hit really close to home this morning so I want to share them.

I don't want to float through life, I wanna drown in it
Break myself down, turn around in it
Take it until I've had enough and then build it back up
From the top to the ground again
So go ahead and say what you need to say
Cause those words might have hurt me yesterday
And dig deep in the cuts of my chest
Just to find out that you'll never get the best of me
So dear tragedy, have a seat
I don't give a fuck what you do to me
Cause yeah this light's going to burn out
But I can't fall, never learned how

That's all the commentary from me today. Here's the summary:

Today's Workout: AM trainer ride, 90 mins, big gear endurance work
Summary:

• WU: 10 mins easy spin 
• Spin ups: 5 x 30 up/30 recovery 
• Main Set: all big gear (base +3, 60-65 rpm, +10 or more on pick up minutes), easy spin recoveries at base
• 20 mins as 9/1/9/1 (base/pick up) 
• 3 mins easy spin 
• 16 mins as 7/1/7/1 
• 3 mins easy spin 
• 12 mins as 5/1/5/1 
• 3 mins easy spin 
• 8 mins as 3/1/3/1 
• WD: 10 mins easy 
• Totals: 20.88 mi, 1:30:22, 13.9 mph

Hit Rate: 35/36 (97.2%)

Notes/thoughts:

• So much for swimming today eh? The forecast actually got worse as time passed, it went from just rain to thunderstorms and the decision was sort of made that being safe on the roads was more important than making practice. I figured I could just move up a trainer workout and re-work the next few days, so I ended up sleeping in a half hour and doing a trainer ride this morning. I was sort of ticked off though because it definitely wasn't raining when I did wake up. It did start raining by probably around 6:30 am but it wasn't that bad and I felt sorta crappy about making what might have been the wrong call.
• Adjustments for the next few days: I was originally planning a dryland session tomorrow and some rowing and then a short easy run in place of the trainer ride I pulled up to today, but I thought about it and decided that since I'm skipping all my morning classes tomorrow anyways, I might as well hit up rec swim. So that's what I'm gonna do. It'll give me a chance to swim a test set and actually see where I am fitness wise. 
• It's sort of a bummer that I'm skipping the gym because I have been really enjoying doing more strength work this past week or two because of the light running load, but I do realize that my priorities have to be swim/bike/run and that strength work is just icing on the cake. One strength session a week doesn't feel like enough, but I'm always gonna want to do more and I know my schedule just doesn't allow for that, so I have to respect the fact that I'm probably only going to be hitting the gym up once this week (and every week from now on lol). 
• Actually in reference to the workout today: The last time I did a variant of this workout, it was shortened (no first 20 minute block) and I did it at base +4 gearing (I think?), which was why it was super brutal. Honestly I was planning on going base +4 today but a whole combination of factors (excuses?) made me reconsider once I was on the bike. My legs were burning at way lower workloads than they usually are (they're just tired), my legs were also weird/stiff (probably because it was morning and they're cold in the morning), and I was fasted, so between all those things I just went for the lower gear. I think it also made sense today because the point of the workout was to get at endurance zone big gear riding (not threshold or higher riding) and I definitely hit the right effort zone at this gearing. I will try this again a gear up at some point in the upcoming weeks, but it'll be planned as one of the hard sessions of the week as opposed to one of the more filler-esque workouts like it really was today. 
• I got to take a nice shake out run/walk with Helena in the afternoon. She's starting her 5k training which is super exciting! I came home and stretched afterwards and am generally surprised that my legs really don't feel great today, but whatever. They're doing the best they can I guess. That accumulated fatigue though...

Swim tomorrow will be the 5/4/3/2/1 x 100s set that Julia gave me way back when. I like to use this one to check in about where my aerobic free is, I feel like it's a good indicator of overall fitness. The goal will be 1:25s but honestly I haven't swum 100s on that pace time in a long time so there's a good chance it'll have to be 1:30s. I'm a little bit freaked out about even tackling the 1:25s, but I know I have to try, so I'm gonna give it all I have and see where it takes me. Time to study now!

Much love,

Jess