I think that I’m getting really close to 100% recovered from IM. Normally I try to jump right back in to heavy training or hammering with group rides. This always leads to an extended illness as my old abused immune system can’t keep up. Even though I feel fine, I’m not.
This time around I listened to my and followed his recovery plan almost to the letter. I think that it worked, because this week is the first full-load week. Monday was supposed to be a rest day, but I bike-commuted. I kept the HR dialed to high Z1/low Z2. Tuesday was a 1hr run, and I nailed it with at 8:30ish pace. I missed the Tues night swim as I had to take a con-call from Hong Kong (on my home phone: $278!! )
Wednesday morning I started back into strength training, and my run at one hundred pushups. I squeezed out 35 for my ‘baseline’ then went into a new routine that alternates upper body work with some core work.
Wednesday’s brick was 60-90 min bike, 30 min run. I was running late, so I opted for the 60 min ride, but kept HR into high Z2. I ended up with 20.5 in 1 hr flat. The 30 min run was a guesstimate, because my Garmin 405 battery died about 10 min before the end of the bike. I ran my usual 30min out and back from BedOne, and I think that I came in a under 30 minutes.
Thursday morning I woke up with REALLY sore pecs,lats, delts, bi’s-n-tri’s (note to self: never, ever stop strength training). So that made the 3500y swim very interesting. Still, I managed to complete the set in 1:01.
Thursday was a total C-F day. I worked from home, thinking I could focus on ‘real work’. Did. Not. Happen. To top it off, I got a recall notice about my Keo pedals, so I had to swap out pedals on the F2C and Blackbird, then run the Keo’s to High Gear, run home, load up and meet the MAFW for the Thursday night ride. And about 4 miles from home, I realized that I forgot my Garmin wrist unit. Back to the house, drive like a fiend to make the 6:00pm ride, get suited up and off we go..
1hr42min later we’ve completed the 34.4 mile ride. 2k climbs just to keep things honest. I hit HR peaks that I’ve not seen in at least 6 weeks, and rarely see on a road or tri-bike. Even though I tried to ‘recover’ during the last 3 miles, I was shelled at the end of the ride. It felt GREAT…
We’ll see what happens the rest of the week, but I’m gonna keep pushing..