58
Today is my birthday. I'm writing this on a plane to Albuquerque.
Seven friends and family making the trip to celebrate — mine today, a close friend's on Wednesday. The kind of thing that, when you're in the middle of a training build and staring at a missed long ride, you have to consciously remind yourself is actually the point of all of this.
The long ride didn't happen. That's the honest truth of the week. This was supposed to be a build week with a big Sunday session to close it out. Call on Saturday ended that plan. And then this morning, instead of clipping in, I packed a bag and headed to the airport.
It's fine. It's more than fine. But I'd be lying if I said it didn't sting a little.
Here's what the week actually looked like underneath that. Five training days, 318 TSS, 6.2 hours. Wednesday was the standout — 116 TSS, 1.9 hours, HR averaging 121. A legitimate hard effort, the kind of session that would have felt right at home in a normal build week. Friday added another 92 TSS across 2.2 hours. Coming off last week's planned recovery at 108 TSS, the body absorbed the step-up without complaint. HRV held steady all week — 6.7 to 7.7, four valid readings, nothing alarming. Weight hit 173.7 on Friday, the lowest number in this entire rebuild.
So the data says: decent week. The plan says: should have been bigger. Both things are true.
There's something worth sitting with about turning 58 in the middle of a serious training block. I didn't start this journey until my mid-thirties. I've had COVID twice, a cardiac ablation, more restarts than I care to count. And here I am, nine weeks into the most consistent block of training I've put together in years, heading to New Mexico to eat green chile and drink wine with people I love.
The half Ironman is nineteen weeks out. The build continues next week. The missed long ride goes back in the schedule and life moves forward.
At 58 you understand, in a way you maybe don't at 38, that the training exists to serve the life — not the other way around. Seven people on a plane for your birthday is not an interruption to the program. It is the program. The fitness is just what lets you show up for it fully.
Happy birthday to me.
Onwards.
Weekly metrics: 5 training days · 6.2 hours · 318 TSS · HRV 6.7→7.7 · Avg sleep 7.5 hrs · Avg HR 106 · Weight 173.7 (low) vs. last week: 3 training days · 3.8 hours · 108 TSS (recovery) Nine-week TSS trend: 326 → 468 → 453 → 406 → 537 → 462 → 347 → 108 → 318