Boundaries
A few days ago I mentioned that my legs were tired for my long bike ride. This resulted in a slower pace than I wanted, but I still got through without a problem. Well at least on the day. The next I hit the pool and found that everything ached. My toes, let alone my legs felt like they were made of bricks. I was sinking and hardly had the energy to turn my arms over to save myself.
Later that afternoon I hopped back on the bike and things felt back to normal. A good quality 3 and a half hours. The legs almost had their snap back. Mind you, I struggled to walk up my driveway and front steps at the end of it.
The next day Thursday was meant to be another long ride, but with heavy rain and predicted storms I swapped this to a swim followed by a long run. By the end I was completely hammered. All my energy had been expended. Eventually the shaking in my legs stopped and I was able to drive home. Thankfully Friday was a recovery day.
Saturday had been reserved for some high intensity interval work in both the run and bike. With an easy swim to break things up. However, I just couldn't run under 6:00/km. My mind was willing, but my legs just wouldn't work. They were hurting, my heart rate was low, but the effort felt enormous. Saturday soon became a day off too.
This week I obviously hit the limit of my workload tolerance. Which is a good thing if it only takes two days to recover from. I'll be just slightly less ambitious next week, aiming to work right up to that boundary. Only a couple more weeks of treading the line between maximal training stimulus and overtraining. Then it's into the taper so I am fresh for the big day.
Later that afternoon I hopped back on the bike and things felt back to normal. A good quality 3 and a half hours. The legs almost had their snap back. Mind you, I struggled to walk up my driveway and front steps at the end of it.
The next day Thursday was meant to be another long ride, but with heavy rain and predicted storms I swapped this to a swim followed by a long run. By the end I was completely hammered. All my energy had been expended. Eventually the shaking in my legs stopped and I was able to drive home. Thankfully Friday was a recovery day.
Saturday had been reserved for some high intensity interval work in both the run and bike. With an easy swim to break things up. However, I just couldn't run under 6:00/km. My mind was willing, but my legs just wouldn't work. They were hurting, my heart rate was low, but the effort felt enormous. Saturday soon became a day off too.
This week I obviously hit the limit of my workload tolerance. Which is a good thing if it only takes two days to recover from. I'll be just slightly less ambitious next week, aiming to work right up to that boundary. Only a couple more weeks of treading the line between maximal training stimulus and overtraining. Then it's into the taper so I am fresh for the big day.
I can only imagine how tired you were Thursday! I would think that two days to recover from IM-type sessions is abnormal. Would a small day, small day, big day, small day, small day, big day, etc schedule get you to the finish of an IM?
ReplyDeleteRe my speed coming back question... it is, but it's a slow process! I don't expect it to be as fast as it was at 34, as long as it's fast enough. I can feel these sessions are helping already though (making 3k race-pace feel 'slow').
Meant 'about normal', not 'abnormal'!
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