March

March was yet another glorious month of training on the mission to get stronger/faster. The weather was unseasonably warm and I made sure to get out on the bike a lot. I continued to get in quality time running but cut a key workout every build week to accommodate cycling. After a rough first year I have fallen in love with swimming and continue to improve albeit at a slower rate than before. Jiu Jitsu has been going sideways but I still reap the muscle building effects even when I fail to improve. 

The month consisted of a three week build period sandwiched between two recovery weeks. In retrospect a three week build is a bad idea, two weeks is my limit. Cycling and running have quite the overlap and I am thinking I will alternate my focus from cycling to running every other week in the future. I also got my first bizarre overtraining induced illness following the three week build, a salival gland infection.

41 hours from 27 Feb 2012 – 1 Apr 2012.  Poorly thought out Periodization in practice: recovery week, three build weeks, recovery week.          

The salival gland is officially named the parotid gland and it makes saliva.  Having an infected parotid gland can only be described as lame.  Endurance athletes are more prone to this infection than the general population as a function of becoming dehydrated and rehydrating constantly.  It is also possible to get stones.  So pay attention to any tenderness or swelling behind the jaw and below the earlobe because that is your saliva gland crying out.  I ignored mine to my own folly.  I will say that I enjoyed every minute away from training and made good use of that time.

Run

Running was awesome the first three weeks of the month. I got in a good recovery week that laid the foundation for some awesome interval and tempo work that exceeded expectations and I felt as strong as ever after my long runs. I did not quit the build phase soon enough and I completely lost interest in running by the last two weeks of the month. The plan I created was flawed in what it called out and while I cut from it on account of cycling I needed to cut more than I did. I learned a little something; when in doubt leave it out. I am well rested now in the middle of taper and ready to take on my spring half marathon.

140 miles for the month with the majority of them long run and recovery miles.

Jiu Jitsu

Jiu Jitsu has been good to me. Even when my skill goes sideways I still reap all the muscle building benefits and the changes in body chemistry. Tearing up muscle does wonders for confidence and makes me a more social creature. I got some instructional DVDs to study to improve my skill. Thing is I found a few things that worked well and have stuck to them effectively stopping improvement. I need to learn and try new things out of my comfort zone.      

Swimming

I feel real comfortable in the water these days and don’t swim enough. I suspect I will be trading run fitness to work on my swim in the very near future. The water is enjoyable perhaps even more so because of the work I put in to earn it. I can’t complain about the ways swimming sculpts my upper body and improves my posture.  

Biking

Like I said the weather was unseasonably warm. I commuted to work and put in a few time trials to evaluate equipment and assess bike fitness. My bike fitness is good for one hour efforts, about where I left off last year but I need to start putting base miles in to accomplish goals. Mountain bike trails are now open and I plan to be out this weekend. I put in a lot of time researching bikes and gear and aerodynamics.

Food

As always, this month made possible by meat and vegetables.

smoked salmon, spinach, avocado, berries