When you look at the numbers below (does anyone really look at them?), it's not a lot of hours, but it was a recovery from ZebraMan and the beginning of focused intensity work.
I nearly screwed up my recovery early in the week by deciding to run on Monday. Usually I take 2 days off from running after a 1/2 Ironman, but I was feeling OK so I went and ran anyway. That wasn't really a good idea as my legs were really sore afterwards, and I was concerned whether I'd be able to bike decently on Tuesday.
Tuesday rolled around, and I looked at the planned bike workout thinking I might not be able to do it and decided instead to pop in a Spinervals tape. Usually I don't think the Spinervals are that hard, but for some reason I was totally motivated to hit the % numbers displayed (they are using HR but I'm using % of FT watts) or better, and I ended up getting a really good workout in.
Wednesday I had a pretty good swim in the AM and run around noon. I wondered if I could nail another good bike workout on Thursday, and I did, even after 4 hours of intense cooking and lifting weights for about an hour beforehand! I was really putting the hurt to myself at this point, and luckily, I only needed to swim on Friday, which enabled me to finish up my strength routine for the week.
And then for Saturday, I had this bike workout to do:
WU: 30' @ 65-70%
MS: 2 x (20' @ 80-85%, 10' Easy), then 2 x 8' (5') @ FT; 6x30/30,
cd 3'
It was hard (after the warmup), but I was focused, and besides, it was only 2 hours, and it went by pretty quickly. I finished up, changed into running shorts and headed to the Y to run for :30. Even though my family room stays nice and cold which is great for trainer riding, I still get pretty hot and sweaty, and I think this was my first really focused long-ish ride on the trainer this winter. When I got on the treadmill, within minutes I was sweating buckets, despite having a fan right over my head, and about 15 minutes in I began feeling a little dizzy and just really overheated. I wondered if I was bonking, but figured I shouldn't be as this really wasn't that long of a workout and I had drank some Ultra Violence before I started and a decent amount of Gatorade on the bike. I decided I better go and run on the track because it's a lot cooler in there than in the cardio room.
I started running on the track and still felt a bit woozy, but after a few laps, the feeling went away and that's how I knew that I was just a bit hyperthermic, and it made me laugh! I mean I'm barely wearing any clothes, I'm sweating bullets, running in a cold gym and I'm overheated! And all I could think was this was a great way to start off 2009!
I was all finished working out and eating by about 1:30PM and so I went to a matinee of "Role Models" and laughed since I was feeling like I have all this time on my hands! It truly is a treat to be done with the remodeling and not be training very much where I have time to do other things like go to a movie, sew, cook, read--a few of my favorite things!
Sunday called for a 1:30 run and a :30 swim, and I thought easy peasy. Well, about :55 into the run (on the treadmill), the front of my right ankle is giving me fits to the point where I thought I might need to quit running for the day. I went to the indoor track to see if that made a difference and hobbled through another mile, and it was while doing that that I realized why it hurt--it was from the 4 hours of sewing in the morning! It's good to remember that a lot of the things we athletes experience as injury is not from the sports themselves but from other daily living activities! Well, once I realized the origin of the pain, I was quite content to finish up on the elliptical (which didn't hurt at all), and the swim felt good even though the water was HOT, and I was done for the day.
I took a shortie cat nap (at least I think I fell asleep) with a smile on my face under my pirates and zebras, finished making some gifts (secret!), boxed up things to mail off, roasted a chicken, ate dinner and went to a friend's place. Meanwhile, of course, my ankle is fine as it had just developed some trigger points that went away on their own.
This week begins the official pattern of training for the indoor sprint races which is basically just preparation for Triple T, which even though it's 20 weeks away, you basically want to be trained up as if you were doing an Ironman, so I am taking everything fairly seriously now.
Speaking of serious, I need to go swim. Have a great Monday!
| Weekly Workout Totals | 12/29/2008-01/04/2009
This week's totals are sponsored by a lack of snow. How did I make it stop snowing? I bought cross country skis! |
| Swim: | 9400 yards (5.33 miles) in 3.38 hours; 26% of weekly workout time; approx. 1185 calories burned
Canadian: 8595.36 meters |
| Bike: | Approx. 97.35 miles in 4.77 hours; 36% of weekly workout time; approx. 2625 calories burned; Total TSS=295
Canadian: 156.67 kilometers |
| Run: | Approx. 24.23 miles in 3.77 hours; 29% of weekly workout time; approx. 1715 calories burned
Canadian: 38.99 kilometers |
| Strength: | 1.27 hours; 10% of weekly workout time; approx. 318 calories burned |
| All Sports: | Approx. 126.91 miles in 13.19 hours; approx. 5843 calories burned
Canadian: 1.25 kilometers |
| Sleep: | 7.64 hours avg./night |
| Stretching: | 2.03 hours. Massage: 1.25 hours |
I just finished clearing my driveway and removing snow from the lower north-facing roof (ice dams will form on the north roof if I don't get the snow off once it begins melting). It took me about an hour of shoveling plus snow raking, then another 40 minutes with the snowblower. The snow is really pretty, and the temperatures are really mild (near 30!), and it looks like it will keep falling until at least noon.
