I'm out of Florida! I really enjoyed working with the people down there, but it certainly played havoc with my training.

September's Log

From September 1 to 28, I logged 32.2 hours: 9.3 hours on strength training and 28.5 hours rollerskiing, running, and biking.  That's a little more than 8 hours per week, compared with only 6.5 hours per week in August. And the first two weeks in September I had to fly to Florida!

How'd I get those extra hours in? Pretty much by doing double workouts each weekend day. Maybe a long distance session in the morning, then weights or another, shorter distance session in the afternoon. Or I'd catch up on an interval session in the morning and do a distance or weight session in the afternoon.

Here's the aerobic training breakdown by training zone:

New Injuries...

In the last couple weeks, my left shoulder has been bothering me - a lot. Traditionally, it's been my right shoulder that's the problem, and I'm not sure what caused the new injury. Maybe the weekend double sessions? Too much stress?

I experimented at the gym tonight. I discovered that "pulling" machines didn't hurt, but "pushing" exercises like the bench press and shoulder press hurt, as did a lateral raise. I tried the dip machine using light weights - another "push" exercise, but that did seem to hurt very much. 

I'm off to see the doctor tomorrow afternoon...

October's Training Plan

The October training plan covers the 5 week period of September 29 through November 2. At least two quality sessions a week, including two all-out time trials. In fact, Torbjorn is recommending up to three per week, as long as I put in at least one long distance session. Some of the interval sessions are pretty easy, so adding an occasional third might not be much a problem. I'm probably going to add in NordicSkiRacer.com 5km Run/5km Rollerski Duathlon into the training mix as well, although it doesn't show up in the plan.

Torbjorn just sent out pictures of a set of core strength exercise he'd like us to do. I've actually been doing a couple of them over the summer. They're all things I can do at home, so I try to add them into the mix on my nights home or off days.

We're also instructed to do more specific strength training this month - doublepoling up hills on rollerskis, legs-only up hills on rollerskis, bounding, etc. 

One lucky break this month: Jill is tutoring on Tuesday nights at a Detroit public school and teaching a quilting class on Thursday nights. That means there's no pressure on me to rush home on nights I traditionally do interval sessions!

And you?

How's your training going? At a minimum - at least if you believe Torbjorn knows what's he's doing - you should be doing a minimum of two quality (interval or pace) sessions, a distance session, and a strength session each week. How many of you have even done one quality session this season? Get to it!

And Jeff Potter, even though you trained with the US Ski Team, I'm still going to whip your butt this winter!