Week 36: training and analysis — a flu week

Week 36 (31 Aug–6 Sep) started as planned, but broke off partway through: Thursday through Saturday went by with the flu and not a single logged session, and Sunday was a cautious return to movement. This is exactly the kind of situation worth looking at honestly in the data rather than trying to explain the plan into being fully met — so that’s what happens here too.

This week’s sessions

Day	Type	Duration	Distance	Pace	Avg / Max HR	Calories
Mon 31 Aug	Combo: Walking + Rowing + Gym	47.5 min	0.95 km*	–	131 / 156	451 kcal
Tue 1 Sep	Combo: Cycling + Walking + Gym	79.0 min	2.80 km*	–	123 / 137	649 kcal
Wed 2 Sep	Walking	43.2 min	3.12 km	13:35 min/km	102 / 130	212 kcal
Thu 3 Sep	(flu — no session)
Fri 4 Sep	(flu — no session)
Sat 5 Sep	(flu — no session)
Sun 6 Sep	Walking	132.6 min†	9.02 km	11:27 min/km	113 / 129	681 kcal

Weekly total: 302.3 min (about 5 h) of exercise, 15.89 km covered, 1,993 kcal of active energy burned — a clearly lighter week than usual, for a reason that shows up directly in the table.

* A combo day’s distance is the sum of its parts. Parts are broken out below. † Duration is the whole session’s time span (12:34–14:47). The walk’s own active duration was only 103.3 min — the data shows the session included a roughly 29-minute pause, see below.

Monday and Tuesday in detail

Monday’s three-part combo (walking + rowing + gym) matches the week 36 plan’s Strength day: a 10.4-min walking warm-up, 5.1 min of rowing, and a 31.9-min gym segment at average heart rate 136 (max 156). Tuesday was a lighter three-part day — 45.5 min of cycling at low heart rate (122), 30.3 min of walking, and a brief 1.5-min gym stop. Both days landed exactly in the low/moderate heart rate zone they were meant to.

Sunday’s “cautious walk”: what a 29-minute gap tells us

Sunday’s walk is logged as one 132.6-minute session, but the walking movement’s own active duration was, per the data, only 103.3 minutes — the difference (about 29 min) is time the Watch measured the session as running but no movement accumulated: in effect, a pause mid-walk. This fits perfectly with the “cautious return to movement” narrative after the flu: a long dose of outdoor time (9.02 km), but at a low, steady heart rate (average 113, max only 129) and a deliberate pause partway through — no attempt to push through while tired.

Load versus the plan

The plan was: Mon Strength, Tue Light base endurance, Wed Active recovery, Thu 6×800m interval session, Fri Rest day, Sat Hyrox Combi, Sun Long low-heart-rate combo. The outcome:

• Monday matched the plan perfectly — the strength session happened as described.
• Tuesday and Wednesday were the right type, though Tuesday was more varied than planned (a plain light base session was planned, it happened as a cycling+walking+gym combo) — the heart rate zone was still right on both days.
• Thursday’s interval session, Friday’s rest day, and Saturday’s Hyrox Combi were all skipped entirely because of the flu. This isn’t a deviation from poor planning but a limit set by the body — the sensible response was to rest, not push through.
• Sunday deliberately deviated from plan: the program called for a bike+jog/walk+SkiErg combo, the outcome was just a cautious walk with a pause — exactly the right dose for the day after the flu, not more.

Heart rate zones and recovery

• Resting heart rate rose clearly during the flu: 56 (2 Sep, the last healthy day before getting sick) → 58 → 58 → 61 → 64 (6 Sep) — a consistent, expected signal of load on the body during illness, even with zero sessions logged.
• HRV (SDNN) varied between 38.9–64.4 ms with no single clean illness signal — the lowest value landed on Sunday (38.9 ms), right after the flu, but Saturday’s value (still mid-flu) was actually the week’s highest (64.4 ms). HRV wasn’t as clear a recovery metric here as resting heart rate — a good reminder not to lean too heavily on any one number.
• Steps dropped on the flu days (5,095 / 4,223 / 6,764), clearly below the healthy days’ level (7,540–9,034), and rose to 14,913 on Sunday thanks to the long walk.

Heart rate and max heart rate, visually

Dark bar = average heart rate relative to a 90–180 bpm scale, vertical line = max heart rate.

In summary: week 36 came in clearly lighter than planned, but for a reason that shows up unambiguously in the data — resting heart rate and step counts tell the same story as how it actually felt. Next week’s program is built on this, and adds a new goal on top: a 10 km race to run on Saturday 12 Sep.

Follow the journey and training diary here at puhakka.org!