Sunday, February 13, 2011

Stick a fork in me! I'm well done....

I wrapped up a really tough week of training. The gist of this week was simple: "recovering from Sunday."......that is without any recovery workouts. Yeah, it was a painful week of workouts! Last Sunday I did that 14 mile run with the uber fast 4 mile race included. That one workout shredded my legs and I was still paying for up until Thursday!

Finally by Friday my legs were fully recovered just in time for this weekend, which I just shredded my legs AGAIN! haha!

The weather has been getting consistently warmer, which meant I got outside yesterday on the bike for 2:15:00. This ride was more than a physical challenge, it was a gigantic mental Band-Aid. Usually my first long outside ride of the season is a torture-fest. This ride was NOT. This was a seamless transition from 6 weeks of indoor riding to the outside.

I had ZERO sit bone issues and the legs responded well when climbing hills, which is usually the toughest part. The only thing that sucked about the ride was @ 38 degrees and windy my feet were solid frozen chunks of concrete. Not sure if I have ever felt my feet that cold before!

After the ride I did a 30 min brick run. With totally frozen feet, it felt like I was running on stubs! There was ZERO feeling in my feet. Of course as they thawed out as I ran, that burning defrost feeling kicked in. Talk about PAINFUL!!! haha! Good run though, I knocked off 3.75 miles in 30 mins flat for an 8:00/mile pace.

Now this morning's run would be the telltale sign of how much I recovered through the week and if yesterdays ride and run did any damage; it didn't do much, fortunately, so I had a solid 90 min run this morning. Here is the Garmin data if you wanna check it out.

The run was broken up into 4 parts:
Run 30 mins @ HR 140-150 bpm
Run 30 mins @ HR 150-160 bpm
Run 20 mins @ HR 160-170 bpm
Run 10 mins cool down.

So it was not only run for 90 mins, but get faster as the run goes on. Here are my splits:
Split 1: 3.52 miles, 8:31 pace
Split 2: 3.73 miles, 8:02 pace
Split 3: 2.68 miles, 7:27 pace
Split 4: 1.13 miles, 8:51 pace
----------------
11.06 miles / 8:08 pace

The first 60 mins weren't too bad. I set my Garmin up to yell at me if I went under or above my prescribed zones. The 20 mins @ 160-170 bpm was tough. Not only was I getting tired, but I was really hitting the gas @ this point. My legs were SCREAMING @ me! When I hit the 10 min cool down, my legs were beat up putty. I felt like my bones had disintegrated!

So I have a feeling this is going to be another week of recovering from the weekend just in time to shatter myself next weekend. Hope you had a great weekend!

My dad sent me this. I thought it was pretty funny!

10 comments:

  1. I was going to ride outside today but still too much ice near my house. Back on the trainer instead...

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  2. I hate riding and running with frozen feet! Great job this week.

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  3. hurts so good! stellar training.

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  4. You and BDD are nuts riding in those temps! You especially with the pretty indoor trainer (-:

    That is a solid run my man. I'd bet a lot of $$$ that you recover a hell of a lot quicker this week.

    Isn't that the life of the IM age group?

    Destroy self on weekend --> recovery with short workouts during week --> Destroy self on weekend --> repeat until "A" race --> Take time off and get fat --> find new "A" race --> Destroy self on weekend. A viscous cycle my friend!

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  5. That cartoon rocks.

    That ride sounds cold. You and BDD are tough fellas.

    Solid run.

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  6. I'm guessing you don't have shoe covers for when you are on the bike?? A cheap alternative is to wrap your your feet in plastic bags before you put on your shoes. The plastic does a great job of breaking the wind and an even better job of keeping your feet dry in the wet weather.

    Great run! Totally jealous of your outdoor ride though :)

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  7. I totally feel you! I did a 2.5 hour ride yesterday too. 38 with a real feel of 29 + the wind gusts at 15-24 mph! Thank heavens for those toasty toes. Even still at the end my feet were cold!

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  8. I feel you about that wind, it sure made it feel colder then the tempature said. You are right, first ride outdoors is usually a torture fest, I was fine in the lungs, but I struggled on the hills and my teammates wanted to ride 20 mph +, which not being on your bike since my last tri, lets just say, I got dropped like a bad habit, so trainer fit and out door are 2 totally different animals, this is proabably one of the things I hate most about being up north, I have to get outdoor fit all over again every spring

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  9. I don't care what people say... I LIKE MY TRAINER!

    Something about playing my video games I am sure has A LOT to do with it.

    Great job on the workouts. I wish I could trash my legs. Soon. I hope.

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  10. Love the cartoon!

    Great job getting out there. I'm just not that brave in the cold...

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