Post Written by Patrick McCrann. You can follow him on Twitter here.
The Overview
The second week of December has come and gone very quickly. I felt pretty strong coming off of last week, only this time around the bike felt good but the run suffered. I survived the first set of 2x20s (as training), but really didn’t get the running done that I wanted due to the weather and life. Towards the end of the week I began to have a slight cold come on, but I am doing my best to hold it at bay. Still rising consistently at 4am, but I have adapted. Body comp suffered but has rebounded (more below), and I hope to remain strong so long as no one tempts me with dietary kryptonite (aka Peppermint Bark).
The Workouts
Monday — 45′ easy run. Great to get out and stretch the legs with no agenda. Did a hilly route but kept pace easy.
Tuesday — 2 x 20′ as 315 and 315. Very solid ride here and pleased with the consistency. Interval #2 was not easy and I hurt, but the outcome was exactly what I had predicted off of last week.
Wednesday — 3 x 1 mile at TP in the snow and slush. Ugh, just horrible running on a horribly ugly day. 6:42, 6:36, 6:32. Seriously wanted to buy a treadmill on eBay by end of run.
Thursday — 2 x 12′ as 320 and 322. Unlike last week where I died, I really nailed this one. Super exited in that I was able to back up my solid effort on Tuesday, but attributed part of that to the fact that I didn’t run all out on Wed. Even managed to get in some time at .85 towards the end…bonus!
Friday — Terrible day meant trainer time for me. Put in about 45 minutes at .83 IF. Just a nice ride, not too soft, not too hard.
Saturday — 2 x 12′ at 320 and 322, then 6′ all out at 342. O.U.C.H. I had a very limited time window b/c of family stuff, but was able to get this done. The last 6′ interval was totally killer.
Sunday — 2 x 2 mile run at Threshold Pace. Wow, that was tough. I think finishing that second interval was one of the toughest workouts I have had in a long, long time. Not what I wanted pace wise, although the Normalized Graded Pace made it seem a bit more legitimates. Times were 12:06 and 12:12 respectively.
Stats Summary for the Week
Weight: Officially up to 179 by the week’s end, still down about 10lbs from 6 weeks ago. I really fell off the wagon early in the week (2x20s anyone?) but back on track. Really need to sharpen and hone the discipline to get what I need, not what I want!
FTP: I am still thinking 315 although I can do anything for the second interval if the first is a good number.
vDOT: Not so sure about the vDOT boost given my weaker longer run on Sunday…all I know is that there is a point of diminishing returns on denying your body food, and I think that plus a slight cold conspired to make running just a bit out of reach this week.
CTL: 44 TSS/day (previous week was 38.5 TSS/day)
TSB: -22 (previous week was -25.4); I think we are seeing a bit of adaptation with the hard workouts, and as such will need to begin plotting a change of course shortly with either the VO2 stuff or the Power Hack stuff. Something is going to have to change!
Hi, I'm Patrick McCrann. 
