Margaritas, Messi, and a Long Ride
The World Cup will do this to you.
Late nights, too much soccer, and somewhere in there a margarita count that I'm not going to document publicly. The week after the 4th bled straight into a very specific kind of tired — not sick, not overtrained, just the accumulated cost of too many good reasons to stay up past midnight watching gifted people do things with a ball that shouldn't be physically possible.
Sleep averaged 6.5 hours. The two nights that opened the week were 5.1 and 6.0. The body noticed.
And yet. Five training days. 581 TSS. 8.9 hours.
Wednesday was the pivot — 152 TSS in 2 hours, HR at 109, the best session of the early week. Something clicked back into place. Thursday added another 87 TSS. Friday was short and easy, the body asking for a half-step back, which I gave it. Then today: 3.8 hours on the bike, 284 TSS, and when I got off I just took Olivia for a long walk. No plan, no brick protocol, no metrics to hit. Just moving through the neighborhood with a Rhodesian Ridgeback who has absolutely no interest in what my heart rate is doing.
That walk was the best part of the day.
There's a weight number worth addressing. 175.4 this week, up from 169 last week. I'm not reading into it. A week of margaritas and holiday food and less sleep than the body wanted will move the scale around in ways that have nothing to do with actual body composition. It'll settle. It always does.
The more interesting number is the HRV. Four valid readings this week — 7.1, 6.6, 6.8, 7.0. Slightly suppressed compared to the 7.5-8.0 range from the week before, which tracks exactly with the sleep disruption and the alcohol. The body is honest in the data even when you'd rather it wasn't. No judgment. Just information.
I've been thinking about GLP-1 this week, which is maybe an odd thing to put in a training blog. Not for weight loss — the trend there is already going the right direction. More for the effect some people report on alcohol cravings, that the drug seems to quiet the part of the brain that reaches for another drink when the World Cup goes to extra time. I haven't decided anything. Just thinking out loud about the relationship between habit and biology and whether there are levers worth pulling.
Eleven weeks to Ironman 70.3 Washington.
Magei woke me up this morning with a paw to the face at 5:47am. Olivia was already waiting by the door. The margaritas are gone. The soccer runs through the weekend.
Also I shaved the beard into a Tom Selleck mustache this week. This is not training-related. It felt like the right move and I stand by it.
The build continues.
Weekly metrics: 5 training days · 8.9 hours · 581 TSS · HRV 6.6-7.1 (4 valid days) · Avg sleep 6.5 hrs · Avg HR 111.2 · Weight 175.4 Sunday long ride: 3.8 hrs · 284 TSS · followed by walk with Olivia vs. last week: 5 training days · 5.8 hours · 302 TSS