Another good week in the bag! I'm pleased that I've been able to increase the intensity last week with no real problems...although my quads and calfs were left feeling a bit 'bruised' by the end of the week...no pain, no gain right?!
Last Wednesday started with an indoor bike/run brick session of 6 x (5 min hard bike/3 min hard run/2 min easy spin). I still had to contend with the frustration of waiting for the treadmill to get up to speed after jumping off the bike. I tried leaving it 'running' but it senses that there is nobody on it and turns itself off...annoying.
I went down to the pool in the evening but was greeted by a notice on the pool door saying that it was closed for 'short notice maintenance'...doh! So I had to console myself by having cake!
Thursday morning was another turbo sesh...after a warm up, I did 15 mins big gear (50-55 rpm), 5 min hard, 5 min EZ spin, 15 min 'bigger' gear, 5 min 'harder', 5 min EZ spin, then 3 mins at an even bigger gear, and finished with 3 min max effort, before a 10 min cool down...flipping hard work!!
Thankfully the pool was open that evening and I did pyramid intervals of 2,4,6,8,10, 10,8,6,4,2 lengths. I was feeling pretty good, right up until the last 2L interval when I got cramp in my quads and my lower abs! That was definitely a first for me, I've never had cramp in my abs before?! I don't think I had enough rest between workouts that day...I was trying to squeeze 2 sessions in before my night shift.
Friday was a 90 min run which included 45 mins of hill reps. The hill I use is quite steep and takes around 1 min 50sec to get up, depending on the ever present wind!
An easy swim in the evening finished off that day nicely!
Saturday morning I was back in the pool for bit of intensity. The main set was 10 x 2L hard on 20 sec rest, 4L EZ, 10 x (1L hard, 1L EZ). I finished off with 500m nice and easy.
The afternoon weather was sunny and calm enough to get outside on the bike, although still pretty chilly. I was out for just under 2 hours of steady riding, sprinting up the hills (I say hills...more like lumps really!)
Sunday was a treadmill run in the evening after work. 1 hour of fartlek which included a 20 min run at 6 min mile pace and various other shorter and faster intervals, as and when I felt like stepping up the pace a bit!
I rested yesterday (Monday). I felt pretty tired and my legs were quite sore but a fair bit of massaging and stretching helped a lot and they felt much better when I got up this morning for my pre-breakfast swim. I did a main set of 8 x 200m on 20 sec rest. I averaged 3 min 15 sec, with my last rep being my fastest at 3 min 10.
I'm on R+R this week so it's going to be more hard work before I treat my self to a recovery week! There's less than 6 weeks to my first race...is it time to panic yet??!!!
Train smart
Don't worry I'll panic for you - sore muscles, you are doing too much.
ReplyDeletePain equals something wrong! I know what you'll be gaining - unintended period of inactivity. Cramps tell me lack of recovery, excessive build up of lactate and depletion of salts.
A week of R and R should be just that REST and RECOVERY! Bleat over ...
Nuff said ...
In my book, R+R means time off work, which means more time for training, but also more time for rest in between sessions without the 'stress' of work! I agree about depletion of salts...I sweat in the gym here, more than I did in the heat of Cyprus! I find hard training very satisfying...how do you know where the 'red line' is until you cross it! I train hard so that I 'earn' my recovery weeks!
ReplyDelete"I train hard so that I 'earn' my recovery weeks"
ReplyDeleteBut you don't appear to have any?
I think you may look back in a few years and wonder how sane it was to enjoy seriously punishing your body. But horses for courses.
If your goal though is peak performance when racing you will only achieve that if you allow sufficient recovery time for the body to adapt to the training load it receives, and you remain injury-free.
Training with sore muscles is the downward spiral!