Italy was great. Then I got sick. Then I got back to work.
That's the full story of the last three weeks and also, maybe, a metaphor for something. Not sure what. Still processing.
The cold came the way post-travel colds always come — delayed, as if it was waiting for the right moment. I was back home, back in routine, and then: stuffy, slow, that particular foggy fatigue that makes you feel like you're operating at about 70% of yourself. Not dramatic enough to justify complete rest, annoying enough to make training feel terrible. You know the kind. The kind that doesn't give you a hall pass but definitely takes something from you anyway.
I trained through the early part of it anyway. Oct 7, first real session back on the other side of Italy, 72 TSS — the body said sure but made sure I knew it wasn't thrilled about it. HRV was still solid, 7.7, which matters more than how the legs feel on any given morning. The data said go. I went.
Then a few days of actual rest. Then the rebuild started for real.
Two full weeks back now. Oct 7-13: 4 training days, 269 TSS, HR averaging 111. Oct 14-20: 4 training days, 273 TSS, HR averaging 110. Nearly identical. Back-to-back weeks of the same quiet, controlled work. No hero days. No blowups. Heart rate right where it belongs.
The outlier was Saturday the 17th. A bike day. 127 TSS, 2.1 hours — the biggest single session since before Italy. The legs showed up. That's the thing about controlled aerobic work: when you ask for more, if you've been doing it right, the more is there.
HRV has been the cleaner data story through all of this. Valid readings — under 15, which is what matters — have been consistent since the cold broke. Ranging 6.8 to 7.7, which for where I am in this build is exactly right. The travel wrecked the strap routine for most of September and the numbers went invalid. They're back. The body is telling the truth again.
Meanwhile, the rest of life has not slowed down.
Work has been a circus. New coverage requirements have landed and the inbox has turned into a battlefield of emails, policy questions, and the particular kind of administrative chaos that only healthcare can generate. Busy is a light word for it. The training is happening around the edges of days that don't have many edges.
The bigger news at home is Grace. She interviewed at optometry school in Chicago and Boston and got into both. Both. She's 22, she's picking between two cities, and I'm trying to be helpful and not completely overwhelmed by how fast this is all moving. Proud doesn't really cover it. Neither does terrified, but here we are.
Dogs are fine. The important things remain constant.
Seven weeks to Ironman 70.3 La Quinta. December 7th. I said peer pressure would make it happen and peer pressure has, in fact, made it happen. The body is responding. The data is clean. The fitness isn't where it was in July, but it's building on itself week over week and that's the only thing that actually matters at this point.
Two identical weeks of 270 TSS. The plan is more of the same — not sexy, not shareable, not the kind of training that makes good content. Just the work that makes race day possible.
Today is a rest day. HRV 7.5. Eight hours of sleep. The body knows what it's doing.
Onwards.
Rebuild week 1 (Oct 7-13): 4 training days · 6.1 hrs · 269 TSS · Avg HR 111 Rebuild week 2 (Oct 14-20): 4 training days · 5.6 hrs · 273 TSS · Avg HR 110 · Big day Oct 17: 127 TSS bike HRV valid and consistent: 6.8–7.7 throughout · Sleep avg 7.1 hrs 7 weeks to Ironman 70.3 La Quinta · Dec 7