Well, this morning finds me at the airport and heading back to Minnesota for the 5th time since last May. Going to try help my brother sort out some of his medical issues.
From a training perspective it means a short day today and limited training resources for Mon-Thurs of the week coming up. I'll walk (in what looks to be some pretty cold weather) and ride at a community rec center about 10 miles from our cabin.
The net of it will be a bit of a "rest" week next week, which arguably I could benefit from given my recent training load. This past week, the 8th of the year, was probably the first week this year where I didn't have to travel for some or most of the week. As a consequence, I put up the highest weekly totals (so far, this year) for my swim, PT/weights and total training time and my second biggest bike week:
Swim: 8,100 yards
Bike: 252 miles
Walk/Run: 20.4 miles
PT/Weights: 6:20
Total Training Time: 30:30
Admittedly, 30+ hours is considerably more training than I need/should do but I must admit I do feel very strong and with the very modest intensity of my training, I seem to be able to handle the volume I've been throwing at myself. 7 of the 8 weeks this year (and the last 6 in a row) have had at least 26 hours of training.
Now a big part of this is my Build Back Project. This really started last October, when I came to the conclusion that my continuing post knee replacement limitations on my left leg were (at 10 months post-op) more a function of what happened to the leg before the surgery, rather than the surgery itself. Over the 25+ years I've struggled with a deteriorating knee joint, my left leg atrophied and tightness and imbalances developed as a function of the mis-aligned nature of my knee joint--the later increasingly severe over the last 5-8 years.
In any event, I decided last October to begin specifically rebuilding my left leg and I took what I had learned when I was in post-op rehab and began working on strengthening (especially) my left leg and working very hard to increase its range of motion. I also began working on a comprehensive weight-lifting/stretching routine that I really increased starting in January. I put 20+ hours in the gym in January doing this focused rehab/strength work-outs and have continued aggressively into February. This week, as I noted above, I went above 6 hours of this work.
I really think it's been a big success so far. My range of motion on my left leg is probably 95% of my right at this point and I've greatly narrowed the relative strength differences between my two legs. I look forward to measuring my actual L/R power output on my bike next month but am hoping to get my left to to 45-48% of my total power output (vs. 35% pre-surgery). if I'm able to do this I should be a noticeably stronger/faster cyclist this year!
I just had my physical and over the last 2.5 years I've lost 1.5 pounds of muscle mass. I was surprised by this as I know I've gained strength and added mass over the last 8 weeks--I can see it visually, in my left leg and my upper body and see the results as far as the weight/reps of the various weights I'm pushing. I'm also up to 700+ sit-ups/week and 100+ push-ups. I imagine my muscle mass loss prior to Build Back was actually a bit bigger than recorded here and is a reflection of the toll that the tail-end of my bad knee and then the replacement surgery placed on my body. One the plus side, my body fat is now nearing 10% again so I actually feel reasonably fit from a body composition perspective--still need to work on high end speed of course.
Anyways, I do feel excellent, much stronger and more flexible than I've been in quite some time. I do plan on continuing this Build Back Project through the end of May. By then I would hope to have replaced my lost muscle mass and also dropped another few pounds to set me up for a robust athletic summer of swimming, biking, walking and running as well a bunch of fun races doing the same!
But for the week ahead, probably a good time to throttle back a bit....
Onwards and upwards!
