September Recap

I didn't do a post-Barrelman week training post, so I decided to skip it and go straight to a September training summary. With the exception of the race itself, the second half of September was a fairly light training load. Here are the numbers:

Swim: 18.9K/6h47 (6th)
Bike: 377K/13h19 (2nd)
Run: 81.9K/6h53 (8th)
Strength/Other: 4h58m
Total: 31h58m (7th)

September was my lowest-volume month since January. It's also the busiest month I've had in a while with school (and life). So total "life stress" was probably constant. It's nice to have a recovery month that is planned and not forced by injury. I'm heading into October feeling fairly good, minus some minor low back pain (I've had it before, just need to keep up my mobility).

Swimming
I started swimming with the Ancaster Masters this month. The plan is to continue swmming with them 2X per week until at least December, and re-evaluate. I hit my fastest times in the pool in years this summer, but I also didn't break any open water personal bests. I also did almost no open water swim training so that might be a factor. Nonetheless I'm feeling strong in the pool, but also know that I need some swim coaching to get much faster.

Cycling
I ended the month with an FTP test on the trainer. I've only had the power meter on my bike for one season, but training with it has definitely made a difference. I hit a personal best FTP of 256W (3.76W/kg at my current weight). I don't have a lot of previous data to compare it to, other than virtual power numbers from my trainer, but I would say I'm up about 10W for the year. I've been able to get some short rides in daily (about 2K to/from school) which I've been finding helps  keep me loose on the bike. I'll keep riding as into the year as I can and probably train 2X on the trainer into the fall.

Running
My running volume was way down in Sept, but I'm feeling good going into a run-focused fall training session. I haven't really focused much on running since I hurt myself in June, but I feel like I'm healthy enough to some speed work and some fall races. I'm going to start adding weekly speed session and do more trail running leading into the fall race season.

Strength
This is the other aspect of my training I'm going to slightly increase my load. I've been fairly consistent with my strength work, but now I might up the weights a bit.