Anyone who uses a 4-week periodized training system has learned to dread the third week. The first two weeks build in intensity but the third is the most intense and difficult week. Week 4 is a beautiful recovery week as your body rests and adapts to the new intensity.
This week that just ended was a 3-week for me. It started with the brutal 2 1/2 hour Tempo ride last Sunday. I had two Maximum Strength Workouts this week, two lactate threshold interval days, and a 42K time trial this morning.
My weight loss for this week was only 0.4 pounds since I had to eat quite a bit in order to train this hard. I'm realizing that some weeks I will have to choose between performance and weight loss. I probably should be more focused on the weight loss, but the performance part is just too fun sometimes!
Despite my joints creaking like a door in an old horror movie, I feel great.
On Tuesday, during my first Maximum Strength workout of the week, I was able to build up to 6 reps of 810 pounds on the leg press. I was overjoyed. I never thought that at 35 I'd be able to press that kind of weight.
On Thursday, in my second MaxStr workout of the week, I really surprised myself. I started to wonder about my old records. My previous bests, from 2000, were 2 reps at 1010 pounds and 1 rep at 1050 pounds. I'm now wondering that really was my maximum or if that's just as much as I could fit on the machine so I assumed that it was my maximum. The reason I was wondering is because on Thursday, I was able to press 4 reps of 900 pounds.
Keep in mind that I've only been back in the gym for 7 weeks. When I started, I struggled like crazy to press 12 reps at 270 pounds.
I realize that all of this gain is from neurological adaptation of the muscle I already have and it will top out at some point. As quickly as I have been gaining, I am seriously beginning to wonder if I will break my old records.
This morning was my first 26.2 mile time trial on the bike in about 2 years. The last time I did it was on June 30, 2007, when I did the same course, but with a more aero setup, in 1:10:13 for an average speed of 22.39. It was only a few weeks after that when I stopped racing. This morning, I did the course in 1:12:17 for an average speed of 21.75 mph. I was really surprised at how much speed I had, especially considering that I still have 25 pounds to lose.
With my hectic travel schedule for work, I am actually going to be doing a second "3 week" this week coming up, expecting that the week I am on the road for work will act as a recovery week. It will only slightly skew my training plan but I think it's a better use of my week.
As of this morning, I'm 185.4 and 26.0% body fat. I know that's up a little from Sunday's post, but I use Saturday as my "official" weigh in day since it's after a rest day and Saturday's time trial tends to be intense enough to cost me a little in muscle glycogen stores. Last Saturday I was 185.8.
After losing 11.6 pounds, I probably need to re-assess my BMR and calorie intake anyway since I want to avoid any extended plateaus in weight loss.
