Tally Ho!!! Recovery Week!! TFG!!

Four weeks ago, I "suggested" to my coach that I wasn't suffering enough.  I thought the bike workouts were a tad too easy.  I was to back off the power as soon as I hit zone 4/5, however I am of the mindset, "no pain, no gain" which probably explains why I always get hurt every year.

Well coach complied and for this last build, the workouts became significantly harder.  There were several interval drills where I was tapping out at max heart rate of 167 (zone 6+).  Some of the drills resulted in good old fashion leg burning.  I resorted to counting to 300 (five minutes) to reach the end of the interval.  Time seemed to stand still on these drills and counting to 300 helps keep the mind occupied.  On Saturday mornings, my long bike consisted of three hour rides (indoor) followed by a 30-40 minute run.  Unfortunately, Jake has indoor soccer at 9:45 am and the girls have swimming at 9:30, so in order to finish the workout including stretching, eating and showering, I can't start any later than 5:15 am.  Fortunately, Jake's soccer is ending soon and he'll able to go to the pool with the girls because eventually, the rides will get longer.  I'm not sure what the kids have for activities once the summer rolls around but they're going to be a lot more juggling.

A couple of times in the last four weeks, I had to take a nap after I finished eating breakfast.  Its amazing how much better I can feel after a short 20-30 minute nap.

On the weight front, I finally started to lose the pounds, about time, given how hard the workouts are but this weekend, I managed to gain four pounds in two days.  I'm right back to where I was six weeks ago!

On the injury front, I'm sore and yesterday's long run of 15 km gave me a sore shin.  The same spot where I had a stress fracture.  I think I must start training smarter. For all my runs (four per week), I've been trying to run at the same speed I was running at this time last year.  Almost flat out and its been way too hard on my body.  I also need to do more strength training.  The schedule only calls for 15-30 minutes sessions, three times a week but some how at least one workout gets missed.  After riding the trainer for 2-3 hours, I can feel it in my knee, hamstring, IT band etc.

That's all I got, but I leave you with this..........