Man these last two weeks have been tough.
The long biking and running sessions over the many weeks has left me a bit burned out for training. My coach has reassured me that my fitness is more than adequate to cross the finish line, but I can’t help but wonder if I left anything out, or did I do enough miles, etc. etc.
Just get me to the race dang it!
The exceptionally rainy winter in Northern California has really made training a bear. I would much rather be outside than indoors training, but the unpredictable rain clouds has meant many long indoor sessions.
I am not sure I would train through a winter for an early spring event again.
But my coach has given some really good insight into long sessions indoors. He does not believe in 3, 4, 5 or 6 hour rides on the bike trainer, which I have done (rode 100 miles one day in my garage, going fast, going nowhere!). Although the short sessions never can truly replace the long sessions outdoors, there seem to be lots of fitness benefits that can be gained from focused interval workouts indoors of much shorter duration than I thought. This would also have the added benefit of reducing the risk of burnout, as the endless monotony of long indoors sessions wears on the brain and the desire to get back on the trainer or treadmill and do it yet again.
I will put this to the test on Saturday March 5. 1.5 weeks to go!