Month: February 2019

This week was a recovery week, but it sure didn’t feel like it. Thursday was supposed to be an easy 1hr ride but I just felt so drained, I only managed 30 mins. That is typical of how my Thursday’s feel, but I didn’t expect that on a recovery week.

The good thing is by the weekend I had a couple good workouts. The Friday rest day really helped. I ran 10 miles on Saturday and felt great for 9.5 of those miles. For the last 5 mins or so, everything was hurting….hips, glutes etc. I picked up the pace slightly which helped engage different muscles and felt a little better. After the run, I was out whole day at my son’s Destination Imagination event, not getting home until around 9pm. The day involved a lot of walking which didn’t allow me to rest and recover as much as I would typically do on a weekend.

Sunday was a long day. I started off by doing some scuba diving in a pool. It wasn’t really strenuous, but I had to get up early and so didn’t get as much rest or sleep as I would on a weekend. I still did my 2:15 hr long ride and that too felt good. I took 3 gels with me but didn’t actually eat any of them. Not sure if that was good or bad, but I didn’t bonk or anything.

This weekend I thought I actually had 8 weeks left to my event, but after rechecking, I realize it’s only 7 weeks away. It is approaching FAST!

The week did not involve a lot of intensity, but instead, it was a higher volume week. I hit almost 11 hours for the week. It was my highest weekly volume to date, but just by a little.

For the bike, I managed to brave 53F weather for my long ride. Typically, I would only ride outside at 60F or higher, but I could not bear the thought of a 2-hr ride on the indoor trainer. The weather didn’t turn out too bad. I kept my toes warm by using overshoe booties and for my core, I wore 2 shirts and a cycling jacket. For the second half of the ride, my head and face were cold though. I have a beanie that I could have worn under my helmet that would have kept my head and ears warm and I think that would have made a big difference.

My long run went well. It was 10 miles, my longest to date, and for miles 6-9, I managed to pick u the pace a bit. I’m happy with how it went.

This coming week is a recovery week. I still have about 10 hrs of training but the intensity is generally a bit lower.

This was a travel week with my monthly trip to FL. Most of the week was uneventful with the most interesting workouts being the long run and bike over the week.

When I first looked at the schedule, the scary workout was my 9-mile long run that was part of a BRICK session being preceded with a 30-min tempo ride. Up until then, I had only even done BRICK sessions with the run being 2-3 miles and for my long runs, I always try and be as rested as possible before starting them. I had no idea what it would like to try my longest run in about 2 years after the bike. It ended up not being bad at all. I have discovered that the key to my running off the bike is to start running slowly. When I start to the run, then tendency of my legs is to run fast sometimes at a 10 min/mile pace and if I give in to that, it makes for a horrible run. If I make conscious effort to take at slow and be in the 11-11:30 min/mile range, I feel good. For my 9-mile run, I got into a good rhythm and held a nice 11:15 min/mile pace average and my HR was locked it at a comfortable 135 BPM. My calves started to tighten a bit during the last mile, but overall, I was a good run.

The other scary workout was my long 2-hr bike ride. I try to ride these long rides outdoors but the weather did not cooperate this weekend and so I had to do it on the indoor trainer. That was torture. After my normal hour, I was ready to get off. I held on, squirming on my bike but I only lasted 90 mins. This was also a BRICK session with a 2 mile run. I did this on the treadmill rather than try and get changed to run in the cold outdoors. Like the Saturday BRICK session, my legs felt surprising good. I didn’t have that jelly leg feeling. Again, I think the key was locking it a nice slow pace on the treadmill.

The one regret I have this week is that I didn’t get to an ocean swim while I was in Florida. I tried to coordinate it for with my work colleagues, but it didn’t work out.

The fatigue is really starting to settle in now. By Thursday, I was tired and really looking forward to the Friday rest day,

I did have a few niggles this week. On Thursday, my left hamstring was feeling really tight and sore. I think it came from the strength/core workout on the Tuesday. At the end, it called for some stretching including touching my toes for 1 min. Normally, if I try and touch my toes, I can’t and I’m typically about 2″ away. But on Tuesday, with my muscles being warm and just hanging there and letting the stretch settle in, I gradually sunk further and further. By the end, I was able to go past my toes and touch the floor. I have a feeling that I overstretched my hamstrings. It is still currently sore, but very, very slightly. Even when sore earlier in the week, it didn’t cause any issues with my workouts.

The other issue I had was on the run from my BRICK sessions. I was getting some cramping in my left quad just a couple inches above my knee. I had to stop to massage and stretch it a few times. I’m wondering if this is due to being dehydrated. For my 8-mile long run, I happened to weigh before and after and I found that I had a net loss of 3.5lbs due to sweat. I don’t know if I did actually replace all of that fluid by Sunday. I will try and monitor that more closely next weekend.

The last issue I had was my high heart rate during my long run. Based on the pace I was running and my breathing (conversation pace), I would typically be at a HR in the 130’s, but for some reason, my HR was measuring high throughout the entire run. By the end, my average was about 151. Again, I have to wonder if I’m dehydrated.

I’ll be in Florida this week. I’m looking forward to being able to do another ocean swim. I hope I can make that happen.