Iron man

A couple of months on iron supplements seem to have paid dividend, because my hematocrit and hemoglobulin levels have rised significantly. Otherwise too, after delivering a couple of litres of blood and urine, my tests turned out normal. I´m still waiting for the results on testosteron and cortisole, though.
But hey, I wouldn´t mind injecting a little testosteron. It could do wonders for me!
Today was some sort of testosteron boost training. I did 6*5 min @ 400 watts on the bike trainer, headed out for a 30 min run, then hit some squads and calf raises with maximum weights at the gym. I feel the need for power. This if something is excellent counter balance to the typical, 3-5 hour aerobic triathlon workouts. Tomorrow I´ll be doing some anaerobic swim intervals.
I catched some xc skiing from the world champs on tv. Ok, so it was a little exciting and it was cool that the Finns got medals. But cycling is way cooler.
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Back to basics

I decided to cut back on the high intensity training and put in some base training hours. It doesn´t mean I´m doing slow distance, but aerobic work at a good pace near my aerobic threshold. And I was still doing some 15 per cent high intensity last week.
Today I did a nice aerobic 2h run at 4:53/km pace. It was not all good - you´re supposed to be increasing pace towards the end, not dropping pace. Anyway, tomorrow will be a rest day after three days of hard core training. Actually, more like ten days - but not all the days were that hard.

Cycling - way cooler than skiing

I think the ski world championships in Liberec have proven just why xc skiing is quite stupid and why cycling is waaay cooler. In skiing you win or lose not on the basis how fit you are, but on how well you succeed in picking your pair of skis and waxing them. Stupid.
Anyway, I recalled my "resolution" last sunday never to go xc skiing again. Have to admit it was quite fun today, when there was enough snow and no ice in the tracks. So I went for it 3h/45K. It was more like a recovery workout after yesterday.
Yesterday was quite a tough day . My friend´s bike broke down after a couple of kilometers, so we went back and I borrowed my neighbour´s Giant. We did a 3.25 h bike with the last hour being about half ironman effort for me, who did most of the pacing. A 0.30 h/6.5K run on top. And then I missed the first period of HIFK:s home game against Tappara because it got so late. At least they won (rarely seen at home this season).

Fast as a shark

It took me until today to recover from last weekends training – and last weeks overdose on iron supplements. Geez, felt like Moomin there.
Did a nice set of 10*200 meters swim in Itäkeskus. I´m almost there where I left off with my swimming when I got injured 1,5 years ago, but swimming will only get you so far. In fact, it´s about 1/10 of an Ironman race.
I´m finding my legs in cycling too, but running´s still hard. I´m getting there, though. There´s plenty of time until my first race in June.
My doc gave me the good advice to try and improve my results not by training more but by resting better, eating more fat and gaining weight (!). Sounds easy. No, it´s not funny at all.
I´m not the least bit interested in the xc skiing world championships in Liberec. Ok, nice that a Finn won gold but so what? You want to see something cool, watch Lance Armstrong´s comeback in the Tour of California or the stretch towards the playoffs in the NHL.

Mood swings

I´ve been really motivated since having surgery in november and made some speedy progress, but the last couple of days have been kind of hard. Maybe it´s the weather - it´s freezing outside. Also, I feel bad to my stomach.
My bike seems to be coming along fine, yesterday I did 6*5 mins at 400 watts on the bike trainer. My swimming is better all the time, today I did a good 20*100 m session. But my running sucks. It was always my weak spot and now it´s even weaker. Need to work on that.
I might have been too eager hitting off with high intensity work. Maybe I should have patience and do the base work in order not to peak out in march. In part, the motivational down could be due to a bit of overtraining.
Of course, I´m still happy to be able to train and make progress after more than a year´s layoff. Thank God.