WEEKS 9 & 10 AND RECOVERY

The totals for the past two weeks come in at 2:15 hrs strength training, 7:15 hrs swimming, 11:30 hrs biking and 6:30 hrs running.  This adds up to a whopping total of 27 1/2 hrs of training averaging out to 13 3/4 hrs per week.  Definitely a step up from the previous weeks and a good reason why I feel a bit like a truck ran over me.  Week 9 began on Monday with a scheduled swim and run.  Week 9 also began with me dealing with extreme nausea and feeling like hell.  There was simply no way I could work out on Monday.  Didn't even want to...NOPE, NO THANKS, NOT INTERESTED.  In the big scheme of things missing an hour swim and 45 min run aren't going to have any effect at all on my performance come race day so no big deal.  There will always be missed workouts over the course of a long training plan because well....life happens.  As long as you get most of your workouts in consistently you will be fine.  Despite knowing and understanding this I chose to ignore it.  Why you ask?  I am a MORON!

Hopefully I don't advance too far on this scale!!!

Tuesday morning I woke up feeling marginally better so I decided to go swimming before work and do Monday's scheduled swim.  The swim was barely tolerable and by the time I got to work I felt like hell again.  I had some stuff that needed to be done and after that I went home.  I promptly fell asleep for a few hrs and since I felt ok when I woke up I went out for my 45 min run from Monday. Did I mention I can be a MORON?!!!  By the time that was over I felt like hell again so I went back to sleep.  I am sure you can guess what is coming next.  I woke up and felt ok so on the trainer I went for my scheduled Tues ride.  MORON. Doing three workouts in one day is no big deal when you are healthly but unbelieveably stupid when you are fighting off some virus.  I ended up missing my workout with Jeremee the next day but managed to get the rest of them in.  I did however not feel 100% better until Friday evening.  The week ended Sunday with a 1:45 run with Cindy and Kerry.  It was so nice to run with them again.  Our schedules don't match up like they used to so it is great when we can all run together.  Time passes quickly listening to Cindy's stories.  We spent most of the run talking about how we should slow down and blaming each other for pushing the pace.  It is usually Cindy or Kerry's fault in the first part of the run but always my fault later.  I am clearly built for endurance (and pancake eating but that is another story) so I feel much better once I get an hour into the run.  For Week 10 I was back on track and had a few long workouts.  Thurs called for a 2 hr bike and since I don't like having to come home after work and do long workouts I prefer to get them out of the way in the morning.  I start work at 7AM so that meant an early wakeup and on the bike by

That would be 3:45 AM people!!!

Saturday brought a 3 hr bike which I think may just be my limit on the trainer.  I was going out of my ever loving mind trying to pass the time.  I was sick of listening to music so I turned on the TV and proceeded to amuse myself by watching a few episodes of the highly educational and thought provoking show

Don't judge me.....whatever it takes

I was feeling a bit beat up after this ride and could feel the increased training load starting to take it's toll.  Sunday ended the week with a two hour run which I had to do by myself for various reasons.  My legs felt like spaghetti the first 50 mins but a bit better for the rest of the run but I was oh so very happy to be done.  Since I had already seen next week's schedule I knew I not only had a recovery week coming up but Monday completely off from working out.  Next week's training hours only total 9 and believe me I am happy about that.  As soon as I got back in the house after my run I stretched and hit the living floor to roll out all of my aches and pains.  After breakfast and a shower my legs were still pretty cranky so it was time to break out the recovery tights.  These are awesome but almost as difficult to  get on as a wetsuit.  It is still

These freakin things cost almost 100 smacks!!!!

like trying to put a size 2T tights on my adult size 8 legs.  They are compression graded just like the compression socks given out in the hospitals after surgery.  Instead of just providing compression and aiding blood flow to and from your calves they do that for your whole leg.  They aren't miracle workers but they do make my legs feel better.  That's all I have for now.  Stay tuned for a special mid to late week post this week.