Recovery week - wohoo!!...wait....what the heck is that??
Let me help - training places a tremendous strain on your body, we all know that. When you exercise, you are tearing muscle fibers which your body must find time to repair in order to make you stronger. Your body doesn't get stronger or build endurance while you are training, rather its the period after your workout when it's making all those important changes. It's vital that you give your body time to repair itself or your fitness will more than likely plateau or even decline if you continue to push yourself.
Enter recover days/weeks.
Actually, recovery week can be a little tricky. Though my body appreciates the decrease in miles/hours, the head, however starts to play it's naughty little tricks because of those same changes in schedule. "You've been so super lazy this week!", "Your times are so slow, what the heck is the matter with you?!!", "Why does your knee hurt?!!", "You're so not ready for Boise".....and so on and so on...and if you're not careful, pretty soon you'll start feeling like my furry friends above.
But the week is over now and I was able to block out most of the negativity that wanted to creep in. Dare I say my mental training is starting to pay off? Back to three more weeks of high mileage and stupid hours before my last tapering begins. Here's a recap of what last week's training consisted of.....
Monday - Planned: 1:00 min bike
Actual: 1:00 hour bike (trainer)
Easy spin - when the brain shuts up, man do I LOVE recovery week!
Tuesday - Planned: 30 min easy swim + 8 mile run
Actual: 8 mile run - moved my swim to Fri morning
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| Runner "duck" face anyone? Lol |
Nothing too exciting to report. The run went just fine - despite the gnats (gag!) and getting a late start, I got that sucker done. I chose to stay on a fairly flat paved trail this night. Decided that hills were probably more appropriate for shorter distances. As such the hip felt great and my energy up.
Wednesday - Planned: 1:00 min bike
Actual: 1:00 (trainer) + PT appointment
First appointment with my PT since the bike crash during last month's race. Thankfully the bruise on my upper thigh had subsided enough to where she could give me another round of ASTYM. That in combination with some additional strength exercises and I was done! I mentioned that my bike accident may have actually been a blessing in disguise as it forced me to completely rest the hip for 7 days. She agreed, was pleasantly surprised at how well I was doing, and sent me off with one last check in scheduled before Boise.
Unlike previous years, I am so happy that I went in to the doc immediately following my hip pain. Having a good Physical/Massage Therapist in your corner can be one of the best tools in your training box . There are all kinds of ways to injure yourself in triathlon and having someone you trust to find and resolve the issue is imperative in ensuring that you limit permanent damage and can continue with your race schedule as planned.
Thursday - Planned: Rest Day
Actual: Rest Day
Ahhhhh, rest day......no more of these for the next 3 weeks so you better believe I took advantage of the down time.
Friday - Planned: 30 min easy swim + 1.5 hour bike
Actual: 30 min easy swim + 1.5 hour bike
Wohoo!! Yes, I said yes!! FINALLY able to get back into the water after taking these last 4 weeks off to heal from my elbow/wrist sprain. I was super excited to jump in the pool and get going that morning. So that I didn't risk the chance of pushing my arm further than it was capable of, I took it easy and did a 1000 swim followed by a 500 kick. Thankfully it was recovery week and I was only scheduled for 30 minutes anyway. The arm felt "ok" but the wrist started to get a little aggravated on my pulls so 1000 yards it was.
Saturday - Planned: 30 min run
Actual: 30 min run
30 min trail run...or should I say 28 min trail run?!! Forgot to charge my Garmin so I ended up strapping the ol' iPhone into my arm band and tracked my mileage the old school way - via MapMyRun. Reeeeeeally hoping that 9:08 min/mi pace was accurate. I definitely felt the push.
Sunday - Planned: 3000 yd swim
Actual: 2000 yd Mother's Day morning swim
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| The Kid and I - somebody get that poor guy a haircut!! ;) |
After my morning swim, P, The Kid and I went out to brunch a local restaurant. It.took.forever. They sat us fairly quickly but I swear it took at least 30 mins for the server to take our order and another 30 just to get our food. The place was definitely hopping due to the holiday but we were starving! :) Food came (finally), we stuffed our faces and headed out.
After brunch P and I headed downtown for the last of our Opera Portland shows: The Pirates of Penzance. Such a silly little show that I know all too well - both P and I were a bit disappointed in the sound quality of the production. Being played in The Keller Auditorium, one of Portland's largest theatres, there was definitely something missing. Individual performers are not usually mic'd during an Opera, rather they count on stage sounding to pick up their voices - I think there may have been technical issues last night - we could barely hear the orchestra and the performers were definitely muted. Either way it was a fun way to close out the season.
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One finally cap to a wonderful Mother's Day? Gifts!!! Flowers, a homemade card, new pack of my fav Espresso Love GU and the prettiest Swim Bike Mom necklace ever!! I had hinted to P about this necklace over a month ago and was really hoping that it would magically show up. :) So.in.love. Meredith over at Swim Bike Mom designed the piece and still has it for sale on her SwimBikeSell.com site if anyone of you tri moms are interested. It is quite delicate with the pendant being only about 2 to 2.5 '' long? It's so pretty on.....you must get it! :)
I feel super blessed to have such great guys in my life who made me feel uber special on Mother's Day. The only missing piece? Being able to see my own mom.....not to worry though, her pretty face will be in Boise just a few short weeks away!
RECOVERY WEEK TOTALS:
Swim - 3500 yd
Bike - 55 miles
Run - 11 miles
Hours - 5.5
So, only one more month to Boise and I've decided to focus these last few weeks on specific goals to help ensure I am at my best come June 7th.. Here's what I plan on addressing this week:
- Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate - not just during training but all throughout my day. Even more than normal.
- Along with hydration - 0 alcohol. And yes, that goes for wine as well. It's going to be hard, very hard....but I want my body at the starting line of Boise to be 100% clean.
- Core - I've lacked on my strength training since the crash last month. This week will be focused on incorporating my kettle bell workouts back into the regular routine.
- Staying on track during this weekend's trip to Chicago. Currently have one OWS planned and have directions mapped out to the nearest gym (20 mins away!) 5am morning workouts isn't the most fun way to spend vaca but it is a imperative one!
- Vitamins - once again I've been neglecting these needs.
Cheers to another week down and four more to go!
Do you utilize recovery days/weeks in your training plans?
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