January 30-February 5: The Return of Biking(?)

Last week, I was on my bike FIVE times. That’s a lot more than average these days, as the training plan I’m working with has a swim/run emphasis for January and February. Granted, two of those were 15 minute sessions associated with PT work. But still. That’s a lot of biking for…well, me. Here is an accounting of that biking action, along with some other training.

Monday: A one hour run, in the books before 7 am rolled around. It was not warm outside. Not warm at all. 15 minutes of super easy spinning in the evening per PT’s instructions.

Tuesday: Another 15 minute easy spin in the morning, a 3900 meter swim with DCRP in the evening.

Wednesday: 45 minutes of spinning in heart rate Zone 2, followed by half an hour of core work (7+ minutes of planks and 60+ push ups, owwwww) and stretching. A 5.7 mile track workout with 5x1200 threshold in the evening, hitting 6:20-6:18-6:13-6:11-6:13.

Thursday: My coach had said that in the morning, I’d feel pretty beat up from the double on Wednesday. HA. No, not me, after all, I’m the one who did doubles for YEARS when I was swimming in college.

Someday, I will learn how to listen. Today is not that day. 

That morning, I did half an hour on the bike, and wow…my legs did hurt. And then I went and lifted for half an hour. Then I sat in a 6 hour meeting, with my legs protesting every time I stood up (note: not fun when you are on the agenda for two 30-minute presentations). That evening, I did a very easy 1500 yard swim before coaching practice. My legs still hurt. Just like coach said.

Friday: Rest day. Complete with using the foam roller on my poor, aching legs.

Saturday: An accidental monster 3.5 hour run/bike session. Before I get into details, I need to explain something that impacts the mental aspects of this day. See, this is the view from my living room.

Rock Creek Park. Packed with running trails, and featuring Beach Drive, a road mostly closed to traffic from 7 am – 7 pm on weekends. Since it’s right outside my door, it’s a REALLY easy place to go bike or run. This Saturday I started the morning with a 12 mile run, which I was intending to do with the PR Training group, but wound up starting from Pierce Mill and running through Rock Creek Park towards the mall on my own. After finishing that bad boy with an average pace  of 9:41, I chatted with coach a bit about the planned bike for the next day, and she said that the point was to get bike handling experience, so if I was worried about Sunday weather, I should go out Saturday afternoon.

Once home, I saw snow forecast for early Sunday morning, and figured I’d just go do the 1.5 hour bike out on Beach Drive, with its rolling hills and periodic sharp curves. Then, it rained on me about halfway through. Since it was in the low 40s, I was pretty cold by the time I got back, so I put on three sweatshirts, two pair of pants, crawled under three blankets, and whined to my boyfriend about how I wanted to eat straight up melted chocolate after 3.5 hours of training outdoors on the same 10 mile stretch of Rock Creek Park on one day in early February. It's long time to spend in the same place, and I was COLD.

Oh, and by the way, it never snowed on Sunday. Nice.

Sunday: The prescribed bike out of the way, and some warmth returned to my body, and I was off to the pool in the morning for a super easy 3100 yard swim. In the evening, upper body lifting and a half hour core conditioning class at the gym, which I figured only weird people would be at, given the Super Bowl. I was right: I saw my swimmer friend Anna at class. And then beat the crap out of my obliques and hips.

Worst part of the week: Rescheduling that bike to avoid precipitation that never happened, and getting rained on in the process. Stupid.

Best part of the week: A solid 12-mile run, right in the middle of the goal pace range that coach had outlined,  which is making the prospect of a solid half marathon in four weeks seem like a good possibility.