This week was a Recovery Week. Those occur usually every 4 weeks. Frequency of workouts remain the same, but the volume is reduced. The saying is, "You don't get stronger or faster during the workouts, you get stronger and faster in Recovery". You do a lot of physical damage to your body that it needs time to heal and adapt. Even though the first 4 weeks were light, it's good to get a Recovery week for mental rest and to keep the routine of 4 weeks on, 1 week Recovery. This next week will start the Base Phase 2 part of training. After Base 2, we'll start to get a lot higher intensity, volume, and duration as we head into the Build period leading into the race. I'll be racing IM Texas on 4/26, and CapTexTri here in Austin on 5/25 so racing begins in 3.5 months.
This week I did miss a cycle workout on Wednesday b/c I had coworker friends from Dallas in town and met them for dinner. Whenever a workout is missed, it's missed. There's no making it up. It is what it is. Was able to get my weekend run and ride done outside which was nice. It was the first time I have ridden with my new Power Meter so it was interesting to see power numbers out on the road. Since it was a recovery week, I wanted to keep my ride in zone 2 (very aerobic)......that's zone 2 on the flats, on this hills, into the wind. Keep it constant. The first thing I noticed was on the hills and wind where I would normally increase the power to get up the hill or to battle the wind, today I kept it in zone 2. I felt less tired at the end of my ride. This is going to be such a great asset in my IM bike.
This week's numbers:
Mon - AM - Swim 3281 yards PM - 1 mile run warmup, legs/lats/abs lifting
Tues - AM - Bike Trainer 45 mins PM - 4.33 mile run
Wed - AM - Swim 2242 yards PM - (dinner with friends)
Thur - AM - Sleep in PM - 4 mile run, Lift - Chest
Frid - AM - Swim 2953 yards PM - 1 mile run warmup, legs/lats/abs lifting
Sat - AM - 6.45 easy run
Sun - AM - Bike 32 miles PM - Tris lifting
Weekly Totals for Recovery week:
SWIM = 8476 yards
BIKE = 2:37 hours, 32 miles on Sunday ride
RUN = 16.9 miles
Coeur d'Alene will be my 5th Ironman. After completing the previous 4, I've written a race recap that detailed my experience racing a 11+ hour, 140.6 mile Triathlon. However, the race is the easy part. The training is where the commitment and dedication lies. This blog will detail my journey through the next 6 months as I prepare for Ironman Coeur d'Alene...including the progression of the workouts, nutrition, and the challenges of day to day life has on IM Training.
