Monday, May 2, 2011

Big bricks and marathon recovery

I am still recovering from the Boston Marathon. But it is getting better. I also got back into the weight room and the back on the TRX. On Saturday I got up and my legs were dead. They hurt, this was from the TRX. Those damned one legged squats with a hop – they put it into my legs.

So, since the legs were dead I did chores around the house. It ended up being a good thing. The legs got rested and the lawn was taken care of. Some calking was done are around the house to prepare for painting. Another shelf was erected in the garage.

We also cooked a wonderful dinner, made margaritas and had a little fire in the backyard. We really enjoyed the spring time weather.

Sunday was a different story. Since I am going to be out of town this week I needed to get on the bike. After sleeping in I mounted the bike at 9AM. I took plenty of nutrition and headed towards Bassfield. I have been bonky in the past. No one, I packed 3 gels and a power bar. I also had a bottle of water and a bottle of sports drink. Another pouch of powdered sports drink was in my back pocket. At the 10 mile mark I had to take a quick pit stop and use the facilities. I also took a gel.

At the 24.25 mile mark at Bassfield I filled a water bottle, doctored it with sports drink and ate a power bar. Bassfield used to be my 50 mile out and back route. However, with the advent of GPS watches I know that it is not quite 50 miles. I continued west until the GPS clicked 25 miles. Unfortunately my rides from previous years are not directly comparable. On the way back I realized how windy it had been. Out on the trace you rarely get a tail wind, most of the wind is from the south and this creates a cross wind. They never help but only hurt a little bit. I took another gel with 10 miles to go in the ride. I had tried to keep the heart rate in a lower range but it crept up towards the end. IU really wanted to average 20 MPH for the 50 miles but I came up short. The moving time for the ride was 19.7 with a total time of 2:34 for the ride. The temperature had gotten warm at about 80 degrees. When I reached the house I transitioned quickly and headed out the door. I was not committed on the brick. I hate it when I do not have a structured training plan in place when I start the session. I was not sure if I was going to run 5 miles or 6 miles. I pushed the pace and turned around at the 1.5 mark. It would be a faster 3 mile brick (7:05 average pace).

Fortunately, I have scripted out my training plan for the rest of the month. I will not let the distances or the paces alter. I am ready to be completely recovered and back to building fitness.

Remember, if you don’t have a plan then you plan to fail!

3 comments:

Matty O said...

WOW, your biking is solid man, as expected. I couldn't hang with you on the bike at all. The bike fitness is there, just not the speed, I did not take all my ideas of building speed on the bike this winter into full effect I guess.

Heather and I both commented on our run yesterday that we were both very happy to be following a structured plan again. There is no thinking involved, just open it up, look at it, and go. I agree with your quote, don't plan to fail man.

Nelly said...

Nice work! I'm with Matty O, your quote about liking having a training plan in place is dead on - "Remember, if you don’t have a plan then you plan to fail!"

I think I've learned this the hard way, and it's why I got injured, by running beyond my means at a couple points. I've learned my lesson now =)

Kurt @ Becoming An Ironman said...

Glad to hear you're getting back into the swing of things. And you're right, cross winds are never worthwhile. At least a head wind you know will become a tail wind when you turn around!