IMCDA 2015 Training Log-Week#12 & 13

I have falling behind a few weeks on my training log updates, so in an effort to catch up a bit I am combining a couple weeks here.

Week 12(Mar 16-22)

Week 12 was the second of two build weeks for me. I ended up with 12:46 hours of volume and a TSS of 760. While the volume was actually 15 minutes less than the previous week, the TSS level was actually 12 points higher. Obviously a little more intensity, which is one of the things I am concentrating on this season. I am trying to eeke out a little more performance this season. There was nothing real significant this week, just a good solid week.

HRV(see below) was also steadily increasing during the week too which is a good sign that my body is responding well.

Week 13(Mar 23-29)

Week 13 was a rest week! Woohoo…not so fast. As you can see from my HRV Timeline below, recovery is a rough process on the body. It started off ok and started going downhil on Wednesday surprisingly with a very high 93 reading. While I would think that would be a good reading, it rated as a very low activation level.

iThlete HRV Timeline March 29 2015

iThlete HRV Reading Mar 25 2015 – 93 High Activation

I don’t quite yet understand the whole activation level yet, but the popup from the iThlete Training Guide says it all. Things just went downhill from there too.

Am I Getting Sick?

As my HRV continued to decline, my body responded in concert with it. On Thursday, I started coughing a lot at work. By the time I got home Thursday night I was really feeling like crap. It felt like the onset of Bronchitis to me which would not be good. I pushed on and went out to dinner with the in-laws to a local Italian establishment. I gobbled up the large dish of garlic & olive oil they provided with the bread hoping to beat it out of me. I was really feeling bad by the time we left though.

All Hail…Oil of Oregano!

My wife has a small dropper bottle of this Oil of Oregano(OOO) stuff that she frequently takes when she feels any onset of sickness. She had given me some, along with a bunch of other natural remedies, a month ago when I started to get what I thought was the flu. That went away in 24 hours. I didn’t know what actually worked there, but the OOO was one of those things I took.

This time I just took some Oil of Oregano only that night before going to bed. It tastes like a hoagie, but it is pretty strong. As it cascaded down my throat it burned pretty good. It was a good burn though.

I woke the next morning feeling perfectly fine! What the hell? Ok, I am a believer now. I was planning on doing a long swim on Friday morning since I had off of work, but blew it off just in case. I still felt great in the afternoon, so I ended up doing a tempo run. It ended up being a great run too. The weekend proceeded as planned with a long bike and run, Saturday & Sunday respectively.

Oil of Oregano can be purchased in most health food stores. It is pretty expensive for a small vial, but you don’t use that much so it lasts a while. I am a believer for sure!

iThlete HRV Training Guide March 29 2015

The remainder of the weekend was business as usual. I got in a long bike & brick run on Saturday and a fairly long run on Sunday. All good. Looking at my training guide above it looks like shotgun scatter and a rainbow of colors.

Ok, next week is back to business and a full build week. After the crappiness of my recovery week, I am looking forward to it now. I really hope the weather turns to some warmer temps. Riding the trainer and treadmill in the basement is getting a bit old now. I want some fresh air!

Ok, that’s all for now…thanks for reading!