BRYAN 2.0

Late last night, I decided to check back onto the Canyon Bike website. I don't know why, but I just did. The last time I was on the site, the bike I was interested in buying wasn't available, and I signed up for an alert to let me know when it became available. That was last week, and they hadn't notified me yet, which I was expecting because they said it could be at the end of September or the beginning of October.   Lo and behold, I checked out the site, and the bike in my size was now available. My first thought was, "Why didn't they email me?" and my second thought was, "Should I pull the trigger and buy it?"  I really thought about it, and after about 90 minutes and after asking Alice her thoughts, which were that I should buy it as she has concerns about my current bike being safe, I pulled the trigger. I bought it. With taxes, it totaled out to almost $10,000, and I figured losing my life or not becoming disabled was worth spending $10,000. Fo...

Today was a critical day. I had a rest day last Friday, Sunday, and yesterday—three rest days in five days. If I took another rest day today, I thought it could be a slippery slope. I woke up still feeling tired, but not nearly as much as yesterday. My legs felt good enough that I could do an hour of running without having them be garbage miles that would have no benefit.  There was a mini push to get me out the door, and once I got going, any negative thoughts disappeared. The session was to keep the heart rate at 130 bpm or less, but there was a short interval training session of running as fast as you can for 20 seconds, then resting light job for 20 seconds, and repeating 6 times.  I didn't want to do it and didn't think I would, but I decided to do it anyway, and I'm glad I did. I didn't mail it in, and I even scored 96 on my Tri Dot session evaluation, which basically means I'm a "good boy" and did my session as required.  As I ran, I tried to keep m...

I woke up exhausted, sore, and unmotivated. Yesterday was 2 hours and 40 minutes of training, and last Thursday was the same, and my body and mind haven't recovered.  Just getting through the workday was tough, and by the end of the day, I was so tired I had an hour or more of napping. Later in the evening, I felt a little twinge on my lip and felt a cold sore coming on. If it doesn't come on, it reaffirms that my body is tired.  I found myself eating a lot today. It was more like constant grazing of food. Not bad food, but yogurt, cheese, steak, almonds, oatmeal, grapes, baked potato, cottage cheese and strawberries.  There was no way I could train today, so I was scheduled to ride a bike and run. Aside from it being cooler outside, I just couldn't do it and wondered if I was losing my motivation. It seems I've hit a wall and not sure if I did, or it was the effects of my Thursday and Monday training sessions, or a change to my routine by going to Ann Arbor for the lon...

Yesterday, I took an unscheduled rest day and postponed my long bike ride and brick run until today. I needed the time off as my legs felt like lead after my long run on Saturday.  It was cool this morning. When I woke up, it was 14 C, and I don't like riding in cool weather. I used it as a procrastination to wait until it warmed up to 20 C.  I had some pasta before I left, then turned off the brain and just pushed myself out the door for my scheduled long ride, which was followed up by a brick run.  I first noticed that my heart rate was lower than usual when I rode, which is a sign I'm getting in better shape. Even on my most challenging climbs, I couldn't get my heart rate into the 150s.  The second thing was that I spent more time in the aero position than I had in the past. It wasn't long, but I did it at least 8 - 10 times until my neck hurt. I noticed that my thighs hit my gut when I was aero. That's a first and not a great feeling. To get aero, I removed my ...

Today, I planned to take the 5-hour drive home from Ann Arbor, do my long bike ride, and do a brick run. I could also skip training and take an impromptu rest day.  My body has been so beat up since last week, and I am concerned about running. I hadn't run since August 18th due to injury, and then this week, I did over 2.5 hours of running, two of which were an hour long., not to mention the triple workout I did on Friday, doing a bike, swimming, and weights.  In the past, I would just muscle through and not rest. I trained seven days a week and felt that if I rested, it was a mental weakness. I truly didn't understand the physical benefits of rest.  I woke up this morning tired because I forgot to use my CPAP machine last night. It happens. I start watching TV before bed, and the next thing you know, I fall asleep and wake up unrested. The CPAP really works. When I use it, I'm not tired the next day. When I don't use it, I'm exhausted, and by the end of the day, I ...

Today, I headed into the weekend of week six of training, which is my long run and long bike ride. With me being in Ann Arbor, I made today my long run day, and tomorrow, when I return, it will be my long bike ride.  I got out the door of the hotel for my run around 9 am, and it was around 70F, not too hot for a long run. If you want to call a 65-minute long run.  The moment I started running, I felt like I was running with cement shoes. My legs had no strength, and I couldn't find a good out-and-back route. I like out-and-back runs because you don't have to think after you turn back around. You know when the run is going to end without having to fixate on your watch. In this case, all the sidewalks seemed to end or nonexistent on my run. So I had to run in circles and loops and keep my eye on the time the entire time, and as time went on, it got hotter. This run had a lot of walking to keep my heart rate down. As much as I should be happy that I had no calf issue, based on th...

We got to the hotel late last night, and I was so tired. By 11 p.m., I was totally out of it. My body was sore, and I was ready for bed.  At 4:14 in the morning, I woke up because I couldn't breathe with my CPAP on. My left nostril was blocked, and it was nearly impossible to breathe. I got up to blow my nose, and it didn't help. So I went back to bed without it on. Which sucks because I think using it helps my recovery.  About 30 minutes later, I could feel my breathing through my left nostril starting to work again, so I was happy to try using my CPAP again. It worked until I woke up at 8:30 a.m. Getting up at 8:30 a.m. is waking up late for me; normally, I'm up by 6 a.m. or close to it. It was definitely a sign that my body needed a rest.  When I woke up, I was stuffed up and sniffling. My plan was to work half a day and then take the afternoon off. It kind of worked that way. I was done going to work by 12:30, and then during the afternoon, I was just responding to em...