Fill the holes

9:25 AM - Hudson/Sudbury/Marlboro - 11 miles, 1:20:00.
4 sets of drills and walking stretches afterward.

2:20 PM - BSC - Bike, 40:00.
5 x 2:30 out of the saddle @ 90% effort w/2:30 seated recovery.
Full stretch, core routine and light lifting afterward.

Two hours of high-end aerobic activity makes Mario a dull and tired boy. That said, it was a solid day on the training side of things. All of the inconsistencies that I've been rambling on about the past couple days came to a simultaneous screeching halt. I figure if I'm gonna try to fill some holes in my training I might as well do it all at once, and let's face it, with the day off from work and the Pats not in the playoffs what else was I gonna do?

No, you don't have to answer that question. In fact, please don't. Let's move on.

This morning's run was my second straight week back at la casa de Carrara, and while we didn't have the same all-star cast as last Sunday all the usual suspects were almost on time and ready to run by 9:30. Ryan, Christy Mae, Sir Bradford and myself raised a ruckus on the backroads of Sudbury without being told we weren't eligible to win their town road race or otherwise didn't belong there. I think it helped our cause that we picked up a Sudbury resident mid-way through our Sunday stroll, exonerating us from any potential problems our unwelcome presence may have been presumed to cause.

After a hearty helping of waffles, turkey bacon, fruit and the best goddamn homefries this side of 495, I hit the road and hit up the Boston Sports Club on my way home to fulfill my self-imposed aerobic obligation of two hours for the day with a 40-minute spin session on the bike. Since my last hard effort was sliding around for 28 minutes in the snow on Thursday morning, I wanted to make sure I included a quick injection of intensity this afternoon to get my heartrate humming at a high level once again. The prescription: 6 sets of 2:30 hard/2:30 easy. It stung, just a little bit.

The rest of my time at a busy and boisterous BSC was spent with my old friend the stretch rope, a stability ball and a couple of weight machines. Something about a skinny guy in bike shorts pelvic thrusting the sky while laying on top of a stability ball with a theraband wrapped around his knees seemed to send everyone into a tizzy this afternoon. People parted faster than the Red Sea. Moving forward, I might have to relocate my core routine to the privacy of my own living room, and probably draw the blinds for good measure.