IMMT Training Week 13: Lucky legs

The last two weeks have been pretty brutal. So brutal that I have this feeling that my arms and legs are barely connected to the rest of my body and my mind is in a semi-permanent zombie-like state. I know, I know... I still have 17 weeks to go and I better get used to it, but do I dare to say, where is my recovery week, dammit?! Must be coming soon, it better be!! Even with a shortened bike and a run missed this week, I still banked in over 12h of workouts. Does it mean that I should have reached 14h? Jeebus! Here's a visual recap for those who are curious to peek into my Training Peaks.

This was meant to put the current week in perspective because I'm not going to go back to the previous one. I will just direct you to my 10K race which I did on Sunday and where I smashed my PR because my legs decided to. It affected how I felt at the beginning of the week, so you'll understand better why I skipped workouts.

Swim

Nothing new on this front. Got all my workouts in, more or less the particular ones that were on the schedule. Because of Easter weekend, the pool was closed today, so I did my swim yesterday instead. Right after a 4h bike + 3km run brick. Like, literally, 10min later. And I had no legs left, which made me go with the pull only option (with flip turns for entertainment). One of my butt cheeks cramped after 45min from squeezing the pull buoy between my legs. I cannot win. But I got 2200m in, which was better than skipping it.

I should give a special mention to the group swim on Thursday though, because it was "bands-special". How cute. I didn't puke. It must have helped that I had the lane to myself and nobody to keep the pace with. But I did not cheat the wall clock!

Bike

Oh the bike... Grrrrrr the bike. Argghhhhhh the bike. It's all about sweet spot and threshold these days. And long hours on the trainer watching TV.

On Monday I was supposed to do 1h15 of sweet spot and given that I just upped my FTP the week before, I was still going to flirt with the threshold. However, on Monday my legs were so toast that I could barely stand up. Below, my friends, is the definition of #fail. A lesson in giving up. Take notice, but do not try this at home.

I managed to last 22 minutes at sweet spot. Look ma, no Viagra!

Thankfully the feeling of being totally damaged after the race did not last. I took a break from running the next day and did a swim instead. Best decision ever. By Wednesday, all engines were A-OK! This time, it was threshold madness, 3 glorious 15min intervals in Z4.

Beat another 15min record. I love it when the numbers go up! Indeed, coach, there is a reason to this madness.
By Saturday I was feeling a bit apprehensive contemplating my longest trainer ride to date. 4h. I don't know any movies that last 4h. How was I going to kill the time? But with a marathon of The Killing, of course. I lost track how many episodes I watched, but if my math is correct, about 4 or 5. And I did not stop pedaling, not even for a second. I think I am ready for a flat 70.3.
I present you Vogelsang.

Yeah, I'm pretty proud of this one, even if I didn't break any records. It did not break me, and it's the most important.

Run

Tuesday, skipped. Thursday I returned to the treadmill for 10k of fartleks. Saturday was a 3k brick run and today, Sunday - 19k to Etobicoke Trail and back. The bad news is that tomorrow isn't rest day. But it is another day... In other news, I signed up for the Mississauga Half Marathon to do my long 20km+ run in. Because it's more fun with the adrenalin rush and I don't want to miss giving Nicole a hug on her BQ attempt.

In a nutshell

A great week of training following another great week of training AND racing! I think we're finally done with the snow and freezing rains and the sun is doing a decent job at keeping us warm. I may be able to go outside more and more for my runs and maybe, just maybe, for a bike ride as well.

Strength wise, zero time spent lifting, pushing or holding planks. Bad, bad Irina.

As for nutrition, I finally made the famous salty balls. Can I say AMAZEBALLS? Seriously, folks, I could not shove these in my mouth fast enough (the hits to this blog are going to get interesting). I ate 6 of them during my 4h bike ride and along with a bottle of Endura, they lasted long enough for a run and a swim as well. I need to make them a little smaller next time, but I could not recommend them enough. I made mine with rolled oats, almond butter, maple syrup and vanilla protein powder, but I'd like to try the chocolate protein powder next time. I also sprinkled mine with Kosher salt. Yum.

I also joined another "community" thanks to the app TwoGrand. You post all your meals and workouts as photographs. It doesn't actually count calories, but it gives you a visual and so far I've been in good company. Got a few ideas, kept myself accountable to others and took my food pictures outside of Instagram. There is an app for everything! Join me if you want to share. I go by Ririnette. ;-)

Over and out.