Week 4 - Recovery Week!
Planned: 7:05 total hours (1:30 swim, 2:50 bike, 1:30 run, 1:15 brick)
Completed: 6:29 hours (0:46 swim, 2:47 bike, 1:41 run. 1:15 brick)
For starters, let me say that I don't consider 8 workouts totaling 7 hours to be anything resembling a recovery week. In my mind, recovery weeks are 60-75% of the hours, and at least 1 fewer workout than a standard week. Matt Fitzgerald apparently subscribes to a different philosophy.
But I'm a stickler for the rules, so I did basically follow his plan - with a few exceptions. One well thought out, reasonable and purposeful. One more spontaneous and, in hindsight, maybe less than brilliant.
My less than brilliant exception: I was supposed to do 3 bikes: 50 minutes, 1:15, and 45 minutes. That actually does sound a bit like a recovery week compared to prior weeks. But I show up for Wednesday Computrainer and think, hey, I'm paying for the 90 minute class anyway, so why not do my 3 hours of workouts over 2 days instead of 3? I can take Sunday off, which will make my husband happy and have me rested for my VO2 test on Monday. Plus it's one less workout, and that Sunday solo trainer ride is a bit brutal. Of course, what I failed to factor in is that my CT teacher is a slavedriver. So I end up doing over 1:45 of brutal CT time trails, and left my legs wasted. So much for my recovery week. At least I now had a great excuse to phone it in for my remaining ride.
My reasonable exception: I dropped my 2nd swim for the week. This seems totally logcial on so many levels that I actually think I'll do it most recovery weeks. First, one less day of waking up at 5am is great for staving off burnout. Second, I am solid in the water - I'm typically top 10 in my age group for the swim leg, and I swim 1.5+ miles every time I get in the pool. Finishing the swim, and finishing it well, is not going to be an issue. On balance, then, it seems so much more important to feel like I'm getting a recovery during my recovery week.
So I'm feeling pretty good right now - one 4-week block down, four to go. In blocks 3 and 4 I get to do prep races, which will add a lot of fun and excitement, and makes the carrot seem a bit closer. I know I've got some scheduling obstacles coming up in the next few weeks, but I just read an article about handling those well, and will just acknowledge that they're there and work around them. I never miss a workout - except, I guess, during a recovery week.