Last week was all about recovery and doing all those things you don’t get to do on busy training weeks. I read and napped in my hammock for an afternoon. We spent almost the entire weekend playing video games. I ate and drank some things I generally wouldn’t touch. It was glorious!
Day after the race? Tons of hammock and beer repeats. I still may have been caffeinated at that point.
Physical recovery:
I’m going to give props to both my new boots and all the weight training I did this cycle. While I was not ready to go out and do it all again the next day or anything, I had very little muscular issues in the days following the race. I wasn’t toilet sore, I didn’t have issues with stairs, I would say if I *had* to, I was ready to go for an easy jog by Tuesday, or definitely Wednesday.
However, as it’s been manifesting lately after races, I was this weird unreasonable amount of the *tireds* for days. It took me three days to finish the laundry because it was a herculean effort to do that. The rest of the stinky triathlon crap stayed all around the house until SATURDAY. I expended my last ounces of *give a shit* at the race and was fresh out for the week, and that’s TOTALLY fine.
We rode bikes with the BSS crew on Wednesday, and while I started the ride wondering why I was taking precious time away from sitting on my couch and eating food, the ride itself was great. My legs certainly did not feel snappy, but it was nothing unlike how things felt during peak weeks. I felt better after and I continue to feel pretty good since.
Vidja games. All weekend. Looking like VR dorks.
Mental recovery:
Having a good (but not perfect) race is interesting. Mentally, I am READY TO GO but I know if I jump back in 100% right now, I’m going to arrive at Ironman in April weak and burnt out. I need some of that time to lift heavy things without caring how sore it makes me, and time to play bikes, running, and swimming.
Y’know, those kind of workouts where you plan a 6 hour trainer movie marathon on a shitty weather day where you order delivery pizza in the middle or do the Tour De Donut instead of a serious long ride. Or you head out the door with your shoes on and run somewhere between 3 and 17 miles without a planned route at whatever pace your feet carry you and maybe there’s a stop at the swing set in the park in the middle. Or you see how many laps you can do in the lake before your arms fall off while it’s the perfect wetsuit weather for a little while longer. And also, sometimes these plans will fuck right off for laying in my hammock reading or the right happy hour invitation.
Adventures and activity, rather than checking boxes. That’s the goal for a while.
My plan was to take the next 2 months and allow myself to train according to feel. I’m sticking to it. At this point, I expect I’ll do enough long stuff to keep myself in enough shape to kick off a for-real training plan in the new year. 12 weeks + taper is a REALLY long time for me to follow anything strict, and I need to go in hungry for it.
So, basically, I’m really excited about the next cycle, and I need to make sure I save my eager self from myself by sticking to the plan. I’ve done that gung ho thing before and it doesn’t end well.
Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo. The LIGHT version is 800+ calories. I made up for that fact with housing two bread baskets.
Gustatory Recovery:
I haven’t been going hungry. Let’s just state the obvious. I know the FIRST rule of recovery… and actually most things triathlon… is to shove food in my mouth when I’m hungry. I have not failed to do that (and have probably succeeded a little too well, but that’s ok). If I was a better person, it would have been all the veggies, fruits, whole grains, lean protein, etc. However, the words second dessert, alcoholic, and fried have definitely been in my vocabulary.
I’m pretty sure I’ve gotten the bulk of it out of my system, and by Friday, I was already at odds – I was totally ready mentally to start eating less food after a few days, but my appetite was like “nope, we’re going to eat this ENTIRE giant veggie sandwich and chili in the matter of 3 minutes and then we’re going to rumble a few hours later”. Well then.
I operate on a normal ratio of about 80% healthy, 20% splurge. The ratio was reversed last week. Back to the norm this week. There is NO possible way that I’ve actually gained the 4 lbs the scale says in one week, so it’s time to shift the balance of what I’m made of from bourbon and french fries to salads and coconut water.
After riding my bike for 90 minutes at 12 mph, I made sure to eat enough fried food to outweigh the health benefits. Whew! Almost did something crazy on rest week.
What’s next?
This week is a gentle emergence from hedonism. The dish of leftover Halloween candy isn’t getting thrown out or anything, but knowing that it has to be tracked and balanced with the rest of my intake should keep me from raiding it excessively.
Mid Season Break Week 1:
- Two heavy lifting sessions. These are the most important sessions of the week.
- Two bike rides, two runs, one swim if it works out. Nothing with any effort besides the runs, and that’s if I feel up to it.
- Tracking the food again. No judgies on the amount because my appetite will still be coming down, but we need to quantify it again.
- 10k steps per day. I don’t care if I hit any training, but I need a baseline of activity.
- Five fruits and veggies servings per day. This tends to keep the rest of my day on track.
- Absolutely no writing up training plans for next year even though I’m super excited to do it.
- Check some stuff off the big “do this stuff once season’s over” list.
It’s Monday. Let’s do this thing (and today, that thing is weights and a nice long walk)!
I'm a video game producer and a lover of anything game related by trade. I'm a triathlete by hobby. I live for being on or in the water as much as I can - scuba diving, snorkeling, paddleboarding, water slides... you name it. The dichotomy between my outdoor and indoor realities are interesting, but they're all mine! Longer version