Limbo

How Low can you (or I) go?  As I mentioned, i'm now on a two hour per week training schedule.  I'm getting lots done on the non-profit and spending good quality family time with Tammy and the boys as well.  The workouts are actually going great - the last four have all been pretty top quality in terms of intensity and perceived effort.  At this point i only have a few potential concerns - 1) what i call 'sudden use injury', and 2) how i'm going to craft my training when i add paddling to biking and running.

Sudden use injury, a term i've just coined (does this count as a protologism? is protologism a word?  If not, then doesn't that count?) - refers to the possibility of injury from beginning intense exercise without a proper warm up.  I'm not too worried - it's not as if i'm trying to bench 200 pounds without warming up - exerting extreme stress on cold muscles.  But i do notice a bit of creakiness when i start my runs at a warm-up tempo that's not what most people consider a warm up, or spin for only two minutes on the bike at 160 watts before launching into a 90 second interval at 300+.  If it stays as creakiness, then all will be well.

Adding paddling will be another matter entirely, and i'm not sure how to do it.  I am impressed at the quality of the minutes i'm exercising - not one is ever really wasted.  Since i'll mainly be focused on paddling technique this summer (establishing it - apparently i don't have any) i think initially two 15 minute sessions will suffice.  This will leave time for a 30 minute tempo or longer interval workout in running and an hour tempo workout in biking (or vice versa).  I'm committed to being fit enough by the time i add paddling that my 'long' workouts will serve as my tempo workouts.  Why two paddle sessions instead of one?  i think that initially i'll be working on developing muscle engrams (memory) and these are easier to develop when fatigue of any sort isn't an issue.

I'll hold off on the paddling until after i return from a summer road trip down to my brother's wedding.  It'll be tight - i'll have only about 8 weeks to figure out how to do it right and get good at it, while maintaining the biking and running.  In the meantime i'll work on getting fit enough to keep up with Grant on our run of the Sioux Hustler trail on May 23rd.