Rain, Rain, Go Away...This week was been a test against mother nature. I managed to complete all of my weekday workouts without encountering too much resistance from the skies. That story didn't hold true for the weekend. I woke up Saturday morning to what normally I would describe as the peaceful sounds of drizzling rain.
To a triathlete in training, this sound isn't so peaceful. It's more like fingernails scraping along a chalkboard as it brings the choice to either suffer through a long, wet training session or forgo your workout all together and attempt to make it up later.
The Long Bike
I had made my game plan earlier in the week that my long ride would consist of riding the 31 mile route with my training partner and then go back out to the same loop again, and then finishing with a shorter 19 mile route to bring my total ride to around 80 miles (or around 4 hrs.30 mins.) This would have been a new distance milestone for me so I was relatively excited about the possibilities on this ride. Unfortunately, those will have to wait until next weekend as the forecast didn't waver. It called for rain. Hard rain. All day long. I'm all for toughening up and gutting it out in less than ideal conditions, but I also know that wrecking on the bike due to rain and slick roads at this point in my training would be disastrous. I decided that letting my body (and mind) rest for an entire day wasn't a bad thing and spent the day relaxing, recharging, and focused on my long run the following morning.
The Long Run
Sunday morning arrived and I awoke with an unexpected feeling as I pulled myself out of bed to get ready for my 2 hr. 45 min. run. It was zero motivation. It's been a long time since I have not looked forward to a challenge or workout but that was the only way to describe my frame of mind that morning. I knew I couldn't skip this one too and the rain wasn't supposed to return until later in the day so I got my gear and headed to meet my running partner and get some work done. In order to get in the time I needed without having to do too many small loops we changed our route up a little which proved to be a good thing. When we were in the "middle" of our normal loop section we were in reality 5 miles further into the total run since we took a slight detour near the beginning to extend the route.
The run for the most part was uneventful. I continued to practice my walking for 45-60 seconds each mile and it seems to still be the best game plan to help me conserve energy and stay strong on the run. The only thing that was different this week from last week on the long run was how I felt at the end. My legs felt tired despite running a slightly slower pace overall from the previous week. I wasn't alarmed at this because I've come to realize that when I run long having rested the day before my muscles feel tired more easily than if I had spent some time on the bike the day before. Not sure why this is the case, but it has held true over the past few weeks.
Total Weekly Distance: Swim - 6000m • Bike - 22 mi • Run 21.85
No comments:
Post a Comment