I joined the #bestfoot spring challenge in April as an 8 week way to stay on top of my training and healthy habits. I had never participated in one of these online training challenges before, so was curious. I also figured that “going public” with my weekly training, especially since I no longer post on Dailymile, might help me in my consistency. Especially with my consistency when it comes to my physiotherapy and rehab exercises.
So, how are things going?
Week 5 in Review
I blogged about week 1 and week 2 of the #bestfoot challenge, for week 3 I was on holiday (and did not blog that week – a needed break!), and last week my review was bundled into my “March in Numbers” post. So how did week 5 go?
Week 5 was a recovery week. After racing at The Egg Hunt Triathlon – a race that was not a target or “A race” for me but an important race nonetheless – I just needed some down time. I knew that I needed rest when my legs felt heavy on the bike on Tuesday evening and didn’t loosen up after 30 minutes – so heavy that at minute 35 I called it quits. I knew I needed rest when my legs just didn’t feel fluid on the anti-gravity treadmill on Wednesday, so at the 20 minute mark I called the run a success (a stretch target for me was 30 minutes – so I was happy with a good 20 minute effort on tired legs). I decided to skip my run on Friday to prioritise a session with my sports therapist Michael, to address overall tightness and fatigue in my muscles. I felt better, but still just spent.
The totals for the week:
Swim: 2 hours (including some killer wetsuit assisted times on Saturday that I am really proud of!)
Bike: 2 hours 5 minutes
Run: 25 minutes
Bootcamp: 30 minutes
Yoga: 1 hour
Rehab: 5/7 days
Sessions dropped: 2 bike sessions done with 1 hour 55 minutes less time than planned; 2 skipped short run sessions.
TOTAL: 6 hours
I knew I wasn’t mentally back in the game yet on Sunday, so I decided to chop my planned trainer ride by an hour and I axed my planned run. Sunday was the first time I have ever written in Training Peaks that training “was just not a priority”. I think writing this marks a new phase for me in living an active healthy life. Before, I think I would have been embarrassed to admit this – but now? On Sunday, in addition to still feeling JUST PLAIN TIRED from the week before, I just did not want to dedicate my time to training. I think I am comfortable enough with training now to know that it is fine to have these days, and that a few dropped hours will not impact negatively on my overall training or fitness. What did take priority? It seemed way more important to me to get on top of some of the housework (I still have a post holiday Mount Everest of laundry to tackle!), a post brunch nap was oh such a treat, and we had a friend over for dinner – each of these seemed more important than forcing a run on tired legs and watching two more episodes of Girls while cycling.
That is not to say that I was not tempted to cram in the missed workouts – I contemplated getting out the door this morning to do Sunday’s run. I even went so far as to lay out an outfit last night to make getting that skipped run done less of a decision. But this morning as I stood in front of my running kit I remembered some sage advice I once received that I often repeat to DH:
“Don’t make up missed training days, just draw a line under them and move forward.”
So that is what I am doing this week – moving forward and taking each training session as it comes.
Here’s hoping that I feel good this week, that my body recovers and feels fresher, and that I happily revert to that place where training takes a priority status for my time!