Training by numbers...

... and how it might mislead you. Here is a bar chart of my total training hours for the first ten months of this year, both running and cycling:



Here is another chart, same timeframe, but this one shows only time spent in zones 4 and 5:



The first chart contains all of the information that is in the second chart, but breaking it out and looking at them together graphically emphasizes the fact my time at intesity varies less than my total time. Comparing the two, we can see that the two months with the most time at intensity, April and October, were not the highest monthly totals. In the case of October, it is not even close. One might conclude this was due to shorter daylight constraining training time, and weekend competitions at high intensity tend to skew the percentages of time at intensity upward. In the case of October, this may or may not be entirely true. In the case of April, however, I suspect a relatively lower overall level of fitness has something to do with it, especially when comparing to the summer months.

During the peak season, total hours are up, and so is fitness. Therefore, HR is depressed for two reasons, first fatigue, and second because with high fitness it takes a much bigger effort to drive the HR up.

My numbers during last week's races were extraordinarily high. Was this due to an extremely focused, intense effort, or waining fitness? Does it even matter at this stage of the season? More commentary is sure to follow. Right this second, getting out the door for a run is much more important. Thanks for reading.