Monday, February 25, 2013

February 18-24: Marathon Recovery with a Side of Swimming



With the marathon PR behind me, last week was dedicated to recovering from the beast. My legs were achy most of the week, and there was a 6 day break from all running to let them heal.

You know what that means, right?

Sloth? Well, sometimes. But, for me, it also means SWIM ALL THE YARDS.

I’d done so little swimming during taper because I was supposed to be resting, and while that PR was so worth it, I couldn’t wait to get back in the pool for some active recovery.

Oh, and a DC Tri Club swim meet on Sunday. It was a nice little post-marathon event to look forward to and ensured that I avoided letting the the post-goal race blues take over. Plus, there was this.




Ha. Not bad for a week post marathon, especially considering that I was up against dudes for those awards. Boom.

Monday: 3200 yards of easy swimming to help the legs recover from the marathon even faster.

Tuesday: 4300 yards of swimming with DCRP masters, which was not quite as easy because there were fast people there, but it was fun regardless.

Wednesday: Rest day.

Thursday: 45 minutes of spinning in zone 2 power on the trainer (140W average).

Friday: 4000 meters of swimming in the morning, which I thought I’d be alone for, until I ran into Laura, one of my DCRP teammates. We did several broken 500s (50-100-50-100-50-100-50) and were hauling along at about 1:31-1:33/100 meter pace. Fun stuff.

Saturday: The first post-marathon run! Rachel and I set out for 5 miles at 9:34 pace in Rock Creek Park, and chatted about how on the section between Calvert St. and Pierce Mill, we’d usually be 15+ miles into our run and digging deep to finish. Such fond memories. Followed by an 1800 yard swim meet warm up that I complete the day before every swim meet, out of a combination of habit and superstition. Either way, it works.

Sunday: 3500 yards of swimming at the DC Tri swim meet, including a 400 free (5:10), 800 free (10:39), 50 back (:37), and 50 fly (:37). Followed up with 16 miles of biking to and from Arlington to coach.

8 comments:

  1. So would that be your official swim meet PR for the 400 and 800?

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    1. Well, since the 400y and 800y free aren't real events, sure!

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  2. That's one Hell of a recovery week - I'm always jealous of multi-sport athletes who can be back in the pool kicking ass the day after a race. Way to beat the guys as well :D

    xxx

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  3. Considering I'm still in awe of your awesome marathon, I'm still in awe of your swimming. Sweet 400/800 times. Any event is real event. Just say it was a garmin 200 free...

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  4. Literally LOL'd at "SWIM ALL THE YARDS." And not that I'm surprised, but you did some *major* work at the swim meet. PS - I did 50 "fly" the other day (I use that term loosely)--and almost died. Kudos to you!

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  5. I love that you beat the guys. Being post marathon PR makes it extra bad ass.

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  6. HECK YES FOR ALL THE YARDS! Nice meet! :)

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  7. Gosh DARN are you impressive!!! I cannot even imagine completing a half marathon so you are SUPER inspiring to me. Double YEAH for beating the boys!!!! Sock it to 'em!

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