A New Week

This week I have returned to a more normalized training schedule. Originally after the Ironman, I was really gung ho to get right back to a high level of training. But that is neither reasonable, nor smart, so I have re-jigged things to meet a couple of requirements. Those requirements being, that I stay “race ready”, that I don’t hurt myself, and that I enjoy what I am doing. Near the end of the training for IMAZ things definitely start to become a bit of a chore. You also find yourself repeating the same few workouts without introducing any variety into them.
In this new phase, I have reviewed a few of my training plans looking for ways to get some more fun into the training and meet the other objectives. It is certainly do-able and thus far this week I have found myself feeling better about doing the work, with a few minor exceptions.
This week I have put in almost 5 hours of training.
Sunday was a 1 hour bike ride on the trainer. It is still chilly outside and for me to get to a place to ride, I have to pack everything in the truck and drive out to the main highway. The trainer is an efficient and good way of getting a workout in.
Sunday afternoon I did a test run in the new shoes and was quite pleased with them. They are extremely light, 9.7 ounces or so, but very supportive. When you walk in them, the lugs on the forefront of the shoe are quite noticeable, almost the way it feels to walk in cycling shoes. However, once you hit the roads, that feeling goes away and they are very comfortable and responsive. My little test run was 4.0 miles at an average pace of 6:54 / mile.
Monday I swam 1,800 metres. Nice relaxed swim with focus on technique. I started doing a few drills, skating, fist, and zipper, which I have neglected over the last few months. As an event gets closer, your pre-programmed thinking is that more metres are better than doing the drills. Unfortunately that is not true. Drills which reinforce good technique and imprint that in your muscles will always win the day over additional metres done with poor technique. Now remember I said this when I ramp up for my next event and you don’t hear drills mentioned!
Monday evening I had a run from hell. I left the house feeling pretty good as it was a nice day and I was set to do a nice easy run and get a few miles in. But right from the outset I had tightness in my quads which felt like the burn from lactic acid. Then my Achilles started to sing to me. I was hoping this would go away, but I never settled in and it took all I could to get about 5.5 miles in.
Tuesday was another 1 hour tempo ride on the bike. The weather was still not conducive to an outdoor ride as there was hail the size of marbles coming down. The ride on the trainer was good though, and I did a number of different drills to work on strength.
Today I swam again at lunch time and did 2,000 metres which included a 400 metre warm up, 600 metres of drills (kick, skating, underwater switch) and then a 1,000 metre ladder set.
As I look outside now, it looks like the evening run will be on the ‘mill as it is really raining hard. Plus I have a limited window to work out tonight as we have to prep the house for a showing tomorrow.
Have a great day!