Due to life rearing its ugly head, I missed out on a timely review of week 3, but in some ways it's better since I now get to kill 2 weeks in one blog post! Life tried its' best to derail my training, but I was having none of it! I was able to rearrange my schedule and complete as many workout as time would allow. As always, when it comes to training, it's best to plan ahead and be flexible!
Week 3
Usually I start the week off with a swim, but having done a 1050 yard time trail on Sunday, I moved some things around and decided to do my bike workout first. My swim partner (who doubles as my wife), had issues of her own so we decided we would try to swim later in the week. My surgically repaired knee was also bothering me, so I front loaded the week with cycling and swimming to give it a rest. I also included copious amounts of Ibuprofen and icing to help as much as possible. Eventually, my run workouts rolled around on Thursday and Friday, and needless to say they were tough. I stuck with it though, and even managed to get through my first brick workout of the week on Saturday. My running was slower than usual, but I wanted to take it easy until I saw my orthopedist on the following Wednesday. I ended the week with a lovely bike workout on Sunday and despite missing a swim and a strength session during the week, completed the vast majority of ny training sessions. Not to mention the fact I squeezed in a bike handling clinic on Saturday morning! Overall I would grade this a week a B-, but I get an A for effort!
Week 4
This week's schedule include the first challenging workouts since I began this training plan. My work/life stress was showing no signs of abating, so I knew the challenge might just be getting to the workouts themselves. The week started off on a bad note as I was deluged with meetings and my swim partner had tests to study for, so that coupled with the now longer swim workout convinced me to bite the bullet and skip this workout. I had my first run workout with intervakls scheduled for Tuesday and with my knee still swollen with fluid I was not looking forward to it. Despite that, I soldiered on and got through my first set of 200 meter intervals, at a surprisingly fast pace. I couldn't wait to see my orthopedist the next day.
Wednesday arrived and it was like a summer day! First stop the orthopedist. I went in with my knee swollen and came out feeling like new. Here's why:
Yeah, all that came out of 1 knee! I took a break to let my knee enjoy feeling normal for a bit and grabbed some lunch. Around 2pm I headed out for my first REAL brick workout of the training plan. The cycling portion was 65 minutes with 45 minutes in Zone 3 followed by a 15 minute transition run. The run ended with about 500 meter very steep hill. It was a tough workout and for the first time during this training plan I felt a bit sore afterwards. It was a good sore, but sore none-the-less. I was sore enough the next day that my recovery run turned into 2 recovery walks.
I was back in the pool on Friday, but I got lazy and skipped my recovery bike workout. Mind you, I did have my first race of the season the following day (race report soon!), but I really have no excuse, I just didn't feel like it, and knowing I had a hard day ahead helped me rationalize skipping the workout. Would it have made a difference on race day, I doubt it, but still I don't really have any excuses.
All I am going to say is, "It went well". Read the upcoming race report if you want all the details.
Sunday rolled around and I had 2 workouts on the calendar. A long run in the morning, and a swim in the afternoon, this is my normal Sunday schedule. Except I had neglected to realize that this particular Sunday, was Good Sunday! So of course the pool was closed! I definitely missed too many workouts this week. The only saving grace was the increased intensity from the brick workout and the race. So I'm going to only give myself a C+ this week. Needless to say I will be better at sticking to the plan in Week 5.
Week 5 is a bit of recovery week before I jump into my build phase. I am looking forward to the increasingly tougher road ahead.
Thanks for reading!
Happy training!
Coach Rob.
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