Recovering, Running, Tapering and Tanning

I knew it would be difficult to recover from Sunday's ride and execute this week's planned training. Monday was pretty rough, so I only swam 1800 yards, but I had a pretty good 7.5 mile run, choosing a course straight uphill into the wind on the way out. It's rollers all the way, and I ran on sidewalk most of the time. I was pretty trashed after that, and slept really well Monday night.

Tuesday morning I still felt trashed, knowing in my head that a normal person would have taken Monday as a rest day, or run maybe on a soft surface, but I'm not normal, so I didn't, and yet I headed to the pool and knocked out 3000 yards, albeit slowly, and decided I'd better run on trail if I wanted to have any legs left at the end of the day. So I headed to Waterfall Glen and decided I'd just do 8 miles out and back. It was yet another gorgeous day to run. Two in a row! I was stoked, and fucking tired.

It was Tuesday that I decided I would begin my taper for Triple T by cutting out all the extra pushups, chinups, crunches and jump rope. I just couldn't see doing all that in addition to a goal of 45 miles of running as part of a 19-20 hour training week. Plus my little stick arms were a bit sore from all the climbing on Sunday. It was hard for me to JUST SAY NO to the extra stuff, and this may be the end of it for the season since I'll start riding my bike to the outdoor pool right after Triple T, and I just don't have the time for 18+ hours of training, :30 of stretching daily, a massage once a week and biking to/from the pool 3 times a week. Oh and manage to feed myself, wash dishes, bottles and laundry, get my yard in shape and keep it maintained, keep up friendships and throw in a few races!

I slept really well again Tuesday night (are we seeing a pattern here?), but still felt like I wasn't fully recovered from Sunday. Ya fucking think??? I was intentionally shelling myself knowing that hey, I've felt way worse in an Ironman or during Triple T's Sunday race or well, just in general--I mean nothing feels as bad as grief or being treated poorly by someone who is or who you thought was close to you.

Wednesday morning I knocked out 3300 yards in the pool, and I was actually swimming at a decent pace, so I could tell I was starting to be recovered (in the bizarre way that I define recovery) from Sunday. But I still needed a can of Ultra Violence to perk me up a bit for my run, and I decided I needed to run flat-ish, so I just headed west from home and ran along a route that I sometimes bike on, so the run served dual duty as reconnaissance. Still, it wasn't completely flat, as that just doesn't exist where I live, and I actually felt hot. I also fucked up a split on my watch (because I had stopped to piss or something), and tried to remember how long ago I had started up again but couldn't figure it out, so I just decided to keep going to some "logical" turn point which happened to be 4.3 miles out, and I turned around and made it back home feeling ultra fucking tired, but I had time to get into the bath tub (for the first time ever in the new bathroom!) and soak my legs in some cold water. I showered, dried off, put on my compression tights and actually thought I might feel ok the next day. I did stretch more in the evening (I've been stretching a little in the sauna after each swim), and thought I was starting to feel human again.

Today I woke up, again after sleeping really deeply and well, and did a short swim of 1900 yards just so I'd hit 10,000 for the week (I may still swim Sat. or Sun. not sure yet). I felt hungry while I was swimming, so I know my metabolism is all jacked up. Running a lot will do that to me. Luckily, my buddy the lifeguard, Vladko (who is the Masters coach), offered me half of a Clif Bar Nectar in a new flavor I hadn't tried--Cherry Pomegranate. It was tasty (I'm going to order a couple of boxes for snacks), and I washed it down with the rest of the coffee I had brought to the pool with me (you know I'm training hard when I forego Gatorade and just go with coffee or Ultra Violence while I swim), headed to the showers where I shaved down and then got in the sauna and stretched a little bit.

I hadn't planned on tapering down my strength training until next week, but since I'm not really tapering swim/bike/run until the week of Triple T, I figured what the hell let's start a strength taper this week. And I felt good enough after swimming this morning (since it was short) that I could knock out some of my weekly strength workout before heading out to run again.

I could tell while lifting that I am really pushing my own envelope. My muscles are pretty gnarly right now, but hey, I'm getting a great tan with all the sunshine while I'm running, so who the fuck cares??? I knocked out :41 of non-stop strength training, and now I'm getting ready to head to Waterfall Glen to knock out another 8 miles of running. As of this minute, I feel pretty good, but I'm trying to decide whether a Coke will do the trick or I need the Ultra Violence again. I'm thinking Ultra Violence since it feels like my tapeworm has taken up residence again and I could use the extra 30 calories and caffeine over Coke. I feel like I'm eating non-stop pretty much from when I wake up until I fall asleep, and yet waking up hungry and feeling hungry even while I'm eating!

I FUCKING LOVE THIS STUFF!!!!