Beer Drinkers Appreciation Society (BDAS) 2023 Mentor Group - ALWAYS OPEN (Page 79)

A little lower than planned for January, but you gotta account for the inevitable winter crud at least once a year.  Started and finished strong, though.

Swim: 3h 34m 42s - 8500 Yd
Bike: 6h 40m 08s - 129.24 Mi
Run: 5h 57m 54s - 31.77 Mi
Strength: 10h 42m (includes Bikram Yoga sessions)
Hiking: 3h 05m
Physical Therapy: 2h 05m

Good morning, all.  Almost two hours at the gym this morning...20+' bike warm up, 3 miles on the treadmill with 2 x 3' intervals @ 5K pace, the almost 45 minutes of legs, core, and some stuff my physical therapist has been working on with me.  Whatever we're doing is working on my back and hips so far.  I have another five weeks of it then I'll get him to write up a maintenance routine for me.  Getting old sucks - it's now like 2-3 hours a week of strength and core work just to be able to survive a training plan. 

More swim and bike work tomorrow.  We're headed to New York this weekend to meet some old friends of ours to drink and eat our way around the city so I'll undo this week's good work. 

Hope everyone is getting a good start to February.

RE:  direct drive trainers...depends on what you need.  I grabbed a Tacx Flux S for like $450 when clevertraining went under a couple of years ago.  It does the job but it's not the most accurate or quiet, and I feel like in erg mode (forcing the power to be consistent) it does a crappy job in some of the gear ratios, especially WU/CD/recovery like 100 watts. For what I paid though, it's stellar and works on Zwift or Trainer Road.

The new Zwift Click/Cog looks interesting - it basically turns your bike/trainer into a smart bike (so no cassette, you shift using buttons) and it's $599 with a free year of Zwift.  It's locked into Zwift, though (i.e. no other apps work with it).  That shouldn't be a problem for you because Zwift pulls in your Training Peaks planned workouts and you can run them in erg mode (or you can just do what you do now on the dumb trainer and shift into the wattage you're targeting). 

The really fun part of the direct-drive trainers are just rolling around on Zwift and the changing of resistance based on your incline, which is adjustable.  I'd never go back...when I go to Florida in March I take my old Kurt Kinetic fluid trainer and I really miss the smart trainer.  They're also much quieter than the fluid trainers. 

As always, the guru for info on this is DC Rainmaker's site:  https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2020/11/smart-cycle-trainer-recommendations-guide-winter.html/  That review is a couple of years old but it should give you an idea on the different levels, features, and price ranges.

Another double to close out the week...1500y swim with some strength training, then 45' on the bike at lunch supposed to be 3 x 8' @ steady state but I had to ease up on the 3rd interval as I wasn't mentally there.  HR tracked just a tad high so still fighting to get back into shape. 

+1 on Andrew's comment for Gretchen's run month.  Nice work.

@Gretchen:  you could have gone with the Tacx NEO 3M - only $1999!!!!  Congrats on the new toy

@Dave:  hey bud - welcome back, we're always open remember

Had a rough morning workout this morning but got through it after a lousy night's sleep.  I have a design session I'm facilitating later this afternoon that I've basically created from scratch and have no idea how it's going to go.  30 min bike, 30 min run with some sprints, 30 min strength and PT work.  5K road race on Saturday and it's supposed to be in the 50s so perfect weather to suffer.

Go out way too fast thinking I'm still 45 years old and can run a 22-flat 5K, then flame out spectacularly around mile 2.2. 

The Plan is to hold low 8s as long as possible (like 8:15ish).  If I can come in sub 25:30 I'll count it as a win.