Last week's catch up post was full of optimism and excitement after a good training week. This week, it's hard to feel that. I've been absolutely shattered for most of it and quality sessions just haven't happened. It's difficult to know where to draw the line and maybe take more than one rest day. After yesterday's rest day, I still found myself struggling on the bike today, came home and cried for an hour and then slept for two. But, it's important not to let the tiredness cloud two good things that I've achieved this week. Firstly, the excellent PB on the swimathon. And secondly, learning to use clipless pedals. Yes, after yesterday's experiment, I managed to last the 41 miles of the group ride in them without falling off, and only a minimal amount of faffing trying to get my right foot clipped in. So that's a win.
So what did I get up to?
Monday: 2.5k swim
Tuesday: 2.5k swim
Wednesday: 8k run (ditched the swim I had planned as shoulder was a little sore and wanted to rest before my longer swim Thursday and swimathon Friday, and also I'd not managed to get a run in after work). Pilates in the pm. Was so tired that I did the bare minimum of exercises.
Thursday: 4k swim (2k drills, 2k continous). 30 minutes on the turbo trainer practising clipping in and out
Friday: 5k swimathon
Saturday: half hour spent practising clipping in and out on bike, not on turbo
Sunday: 41 mile bike ride *using clipless pedals*. Not the best of rides. Both myself and Cycling Claire were pretty tired (CC had done the Swimathon 5k on Saturday). There was quite a large group and everyone else was in a faster frame of mind, so eventually we split off into two groups, "the fast and furious group" : "that's not us?" said Claire "did you need to ask?" I said. Our route was a little shorter than the other group and once the wind was behind us we got up to quite a pace. Once we were back to where we knew, the coach with us went back to find the other group. We cycled on half a mile and then I begged for a little rest. I had some water and a little stretch and Claire finished her banana. To our mortification, the rest of the group then came past. We averaged 12.7mph which isn't bad as the route started and ended through town with a lot of stop starting.
Total of 10.5 hours training for the week. Not bad, but not as good as last week.
Plans for this week
Monday: am 2.5k swim; pm first openwater dip of 2013 (I'm discounting the OW I did in Tenerife in February). I doubt we'll be in long but it's my only chance to practice before the race on Sunday.
Tuesday: am 4k swim [on a course, so should get a bit longer in the water!]. Hoping to get an osteopath appointment in the pm.
Wednesday: am run, pm pilates
Thursday: am 4.5k swim, run or turbo
Friday: am 2.5k swim (may be ditched for rest)
Saturday: 30 mile bike (may be ditched for rest if Fri am swim happened)
Sunday: Bedford Aquathlon (750m swim, 5k run) [oh how I wish that it was the other way around, 5k swim, 750m run would be so much more fun].
It's difficult with rest days when you're a triathlete, I imagine, as a runner's cross-training is your training. But it's good that you're listening to yourself and it's BRILLIANT that you're managing the terrifying bike clips thingy business that is so frightening sounding to the non-cyclist. Go you!
ReplyDeleteLiz x
Knowing if and when to take a rest day is a tough line to toe. In terms of fitness and recovery, I can easily go an entire week without taking one day totally off, but I remind myself that recovering is also part of training.
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