I wrote last week about being able to see the recovery week that is coming up on my training log, well, after this week, I’m starting to crave a little stepback in the training time so it can’t get here soon enough. This week I broke my longest training week ever (even surpassing last years training), but the effects on my body and my inability to catch up on my sleep has me dragging pretty bad.
There was an interesting pattern in my training this past week as I changed up my schedule a bit to fit in some personal and work things I had going. My recovery from last week actually extended from Sunday all the way until Tuesday evening, which felt good, but then I hadn’t realized I fell into a cycle of training every 12 hours for the next 48 hours. I cycled Tuesday at 5pm, swam at 5am Wednesday, ran at 5pm Wednesday and then cycled again at 5am on Thursday.. I also missed my sleep in day on Thursday which breaks up my early morning swims. I hadn’t realized how much I needed that extra sleep until it wasn’t there.
Regardless, I’m tired, I was totally burnt out on Friday night as I decided to do the full swim into run “brick” on Friday morning before work (about an hour and forty minutes). By 8pm Friday night I was zonked out on the couch and slept like a rock right until 7am on Saturday, which is late for me to be sleeping until (really late). I also slept like a rock on Saturday night as well, another solid 9 hours before getting up to swim this morning. Even with all that extra sleep, i’m still tired, I can feel it.
So here is the week summary:
- Monday – OFF
- Tuesday – 109 minutes on the bike (31.25 miles)
- Wednesday – 2200m swim (endurance), 5.7 mile run
- Thursday – 72 minutes on the ROAD bike before work
- Friday – 2200m swim (distance),5.8 mile run
- Saturday – 123 minutes on the bike (33.5 miles)
- Sunday – 1700m swim (recovery), 8.6 mile run
Totals: 141min swim (6400m), 162min run (19.25 miles), 303min bike (83 miles)
Total: 606 minutes
Phew, tough week.
I’m fortunate that so far I’ve made it this far in training while staying injury free although my right shoulder is starting to get a little sore whenever I swim. I will probably step back to 2 swim workouts next week when I am in a recovery week, i’ll give the shoulder a little extra R&R. I’m not sure I can get through another week on the same schedule as last, there was just something that was brutal about it. It just seemed like I was either training, working, preparing to train or eating .. oh yeah, and a little sleep in there too.
As far as that whole eating thing, I really seem to have my weight under control this year .. yep, i’m pretty much eating the Paleo lifestyle these days, meaning that I eat all natural meats, low carbohydrate, little to no sugar and tons of vegetables, and I emphasize the vegetables. I’ve found all kind of new vegetables to enjoy and have cut my meat intake back pretty heavy but haven’t cut it out totally due to the protein. Its opened up a whole new set of recipes to enjoy, stuff like spaghetti squash with homemade tomato sauce, avocado chicken salad over greens and when I do eat meat, its stuff like I had for breakfast, a lean angus burger with a fried egg (from the farm) with homemade salsa (all natural). Yep, sounds strange, but its SO GOOD!
Anyway, i’m getting increasingly concerned about this diet and being able to stay fueled as my workouts are crossing the 2.25 hour mark. The first Half-Lite Triathlon, the Devilman, will have me out on the course for over 4 hours, and IMRI in July should have me on the course for almost 6 hours, how do I fuel myself? Well, I found this book by a guy named Ben Greenfield called The Low Carbohydrate Diet For Triathletes: Official Nutrition Guide To Optimum Performance for Endurance Athletes, which i’m going to reading to help guide me, we’ll see how it goes.
As the weather starts to get a little chillier this week, well, I guess I should say more seasonable, the thoughts of planning an open water swim out at Blue Marsh Lake is crossing my mind. I’ll need to get out there at least once to hit the water to re-familiarize myself with open water swimming. The only problem is that the water is at a chilly 53 degrees still, probably enough to only allow me to swim for 15-20 minutes even in a wetsuit before causing hypothermia. Hopefully over the next 3-4 weeks it will warm up to at least 60 degrees, but i’m going to get a pair of swim booties for the early May race in Jersey …
Well, I’d love to continue to ramble on, but its time to do my pre-weekly routine …