October: Had some good weeks, had some bad weeks. The good? Many of my interval sessions went really well, and the first Team NordicSkiRacer.com Duathlon was a total blast! The bad? There's some virus or something going around work, and I've been fighting it off all month. My resting heart rate - normally in the 46-48 range - has been in the 50-53 range most of the month. My body has felt drained...

October's Log

From the five weeks from September 29 to November 2, I logged only 27.9 hours. One week I trained less than 3 hours! Another week I barely put in 4. 

During the month, Torbjorn had me add a few intervals into existing interval sessions. For example, one night when I did 2 x 3-4-5 min uphill intervals, he had me add a pair of 3 minute flat intervals at the end of the session. That was an amazing session - I was running on a treadmill (pouring rain and pitch black outside), and after running uphill, the flats felt like I was running downhill! They just felt effortless! I did not do every addition he recommended - sometimes I just didn't have the time and other times...well, I simply forgot to add them. 

Last month, Torbjorn just sent out pictures of core strength exercises. I actually did them once, along with some balance and stability exercises from Doug Garfield's "The New Steady Ski for Nordic Athletes" - and found out I had muscles I never knew I had! It took several days before the soreness went away. I'm going to try to work these in as a staple of my training program. They fit in with my home life, too: I can do them in front of the TV with the wife.

Fixing Injuries...

I figured out what was going on with my shoulders - my rotator cup muscles were unbalanced. The doctor told my to hold some light weights in my hand, thumbs down, arms in front and 45 degrees to the side, and raise my arms from waist level up to below shoulder level and down again, 10 reps a day. Let me tell, after two and a half weeks of lifting measly 5 lbs weights every day, my shoulder issues disappeared!

November's Training Plan

The November training plan covers the 4 week period of November 3 through November 30. Again, at least two quality sessions a week, including two time trials. I'm again adding the NordicSkiRacer.com 5km Run/5km Rollerski Duathlon into the training mix as well. 

Unfortunately, it appears I'll be traveling to both Boca Raton, Florida and Toronto every two weeks on business for the rest of the year. Not conducive to training. Have running shoes, will travel. I'm taking Thanksgiving week off from work (lots of vacation days left!) and hope to put in an heavy week of training in between putting Christmas decorations up and shopping.

I'm also thinking about sending in race applications. Fees for several races go up on December 1. Fees for the National Masters go up in price on December 15.

And you?

Hap Wright skied on golf course snow last week. Of course, he's about 4 hours north of me. Maybe I'll get on snow over Thanksgiving when I head north, but I'm not counting on it. I just hope I have time to train and am well!

Here's hoping you are in better health and have more time to train than me!