They're Coming and I'm Ready

Xterra Lory is tomorrow.



And Xterra Pagosa Springs is on Sunday.



Now that most of the packing and logistics are worked out I'm excited for my first races of the season.  And I'm as ready as I'll ever be.   I've been measuring heart rate variability which is a measure of how trained/overtrained you are (among other things) for the past 2 months.  You want a high heart rate variability number and a low heart rate number.  Heart rate variability started off in the mid-70's and dropped to high 60's during training then shot up to the low 80's last week which was the end of my training block.  Heart rate started off in the mid-50's and slowly dropped to the high 40's.  A big drop in heart rate isn't good either but this was fairly gradual.  Today's numbers after 4 days of taper?  Heart rate variability hit 90 and heart rate is 46.  And more importantly I feel good.  It's a little weird that heart rate variability went up during my hardest training week but I'm taking it as a sign of conditioning, meaning the training taking effect.

I was sick with chest congestion (or had allergies) about a month ago, finally felt over it last week then Jonny came home sick on Thursday or so last week and I felt the congestion come back.  I stuffed in loads of vegetables and bone broth and finally feel like it's gone today.  Hopefully by tomorrow it'll be a distant memory.

One good thing about two races in a weekend is that it's hard to obsess over either one.  Water temp. was 60 degrees (brrrr) on Tuesday for Lory and 64 degrees for Pagosa.  Cold swims for both but at least they're both short - 880 yards for Lory, 820 for Pagosa.  17 minutes or so in the cold water, very do-able.  I keep thinking of Jack Kruse and his Cold Thermogensis Protocol.  45 minutes in an ice bath kept at 50-55 degrees.  These swims are a piece of cake by comparison.

So far weather looks good for both races, sunny and low/mid 60's for the start and highs in the low to mid 70's for the run.  Again it's hard to get too obsessive when you have to track 2 different towns.  Lory will be a little hot for the run, around 73 degrees and sunny with no shade, but it easily could have been in the 80's or 90's so I'll take it.  Pagosa weather looks similar.  Given the persistent rain and cold spring I'm feeling lucky for the forecasts.

Still unsure if I'll race with a heart rate monitor.  I don't usually and I find the strap to be binding and bothersome around my chest.  But it would be interesting to have the data.  And I'm supposed to keep my heart rate in a certain zone so that I can pull off both races so it would be good to have that feedback.  I'll make the call tomorrow.

In the meantime, Iron Cowboy has started his 50 ironmans in 50 days in 50 states adventure.  You can follow him here if you like.  Hard to get too wound up about my own double header when you think about this.