Sunday, August 8th
Taking into consideration my recent HR concerns and my general overall fatigue, I decided to take today off. I’ve decided to make this week “Recovery Week” where I will pay particular attention to keeping my HR and length of workouts down.
Monday, August 9th
Rather than pick a moderate swim from the book, I took one of my favorite warm-ups and added an easy 500 to it. I kept my strokes long, slow, and smooth. The entire swim was done at “warm up” pace and looked like this:
300S, 300K, 300P
200S, 200K, 200P
500S
Tuesday, August 10th
I bagged my speed workout to put in a super easy 13 mile ride.
Link to workout:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/43954720
My speed swim was also scrapped in lieu of a nice long and slow workout. I pieced the following together:
500S
200K
5x100 Backstroke
300K
500S
Again, all done at warm up pace.
Wednesday, August 11th
I wanted to put in another low impact ride that kept my HR down. My next door neighbor indicated that he was going out for an hour to an hour and a half. This was perfect for me. Once out, he indicated that we were going to go up Cave Creek. I wasn’t so hot on the idea because it’s all uphill and would elevate my HR a bit more than I wanted, but figured that it would be OK. The only time I could really keep my HR in check was when we stopped to change my flat and on the downhill home. It was an enjoyable ride, but again, the scientific data wasn’t what I was looking for.
Link to workout:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/44091585
Erik had us in “active recovery” at the soccer field. Perfect! Here is what we were supposed to do:
Warm up – 3 laps
3x (¼ all out bursts, ¼ high knee skipping)
3 laps jogging
3x (¼ hands on hips running, ¼ jog)
3x (½ lap on, ½ lap off)
Cool down – 3 laps
Here is the e-mail that I sent to Erik the next day:
Dude, that was, by far, my most dejecting and disappointing workout to date. Right from the get go, my HR was 105....and that was AFTER a few minutes of deep breathing and trying to bring it down. My "warm up" laps saw my HR shoot up to 171! My "burst laps" saw my HR skyrocket to 190 and hover around the mid 180's for the "skipping." The following 3 jogging laps kept me between 175 and 186 with a 9:00 - 10:50 pace. I started the "hands on hips" drill, but my HR wouldn't go below 180 no matter how slow I ran. I couldn't keep this up for 3 more miles, so I started walking again (in an attempt to bring it back down). I told myself that if I couldn't get it below 140 after 2 laps, I was calling it a day. Since I couldn't get it below 152, I was done after just 3.75 miles. Active RECOVERY? Not with an average HR of 169 and a max of 190.
I've been taking it easy since Saturday too. All workouts have averaged somewhere in zone 2 or low zone 3. No runs, low mileage on the bike, low yardage and warm-up pace in the pool, and a complete day off on Sunday.
BRUTAL!
His response:
I hate to say it, but I think you are having overtraining syndrome: You are describing it to a T...you need to take time off because even lower intensity is going to not allow you to recover...the sooner you recover, the sooner you can start again---rest is highly underrated! Follow the recommendations in this article---I've heard from many people this is exactly what you need to do, and trying to work through it could cost you IM AZ versus some days to recover---you’re already really fast in the water and abundantly prepared for the bike...the run is a battle no matter what, so it's better for you to fix this now and prep for the IM fresh versus fight the constant dejection....plus you'll have a sense of urgency (I know this coming back from my shoulder) and you'll really focus for the final push to the race. Sorry
He gave me a link about overtraining syndrome that included these signs/symptoms:
• Washed out feeling, tired, drained, lack of energy
o Definitely tired, drained, and have lack of energy during the day.
• Mild leg soreness, general aches and pains
o CHECK!
• Pain in muscles and joints
o CHECK!
• Sudden drop in performance
o CHECK!
• Insomnia
o Nope
• Headaches
o From time to time, but nothing alarming
• Decreased immunity
o Nope
• Decrease in training capacity / intensity
o CHECK!
• Moodiness and irritability
o CHECK!
• Depression
o I wouldn’t call it “depression”, but I am bummed about my running performances and constantly elevated HR.
• Loss of enthusiasm for the sport
o Nope
• Decreased appetite
o Nope
• Increased incidence of injuries
o Nope
• A compulsive need to exercise
o CHECK!
The remedy? Time off. How much time off depends on how badly I over trained myself. As a result of this, I’ve decided to take the next four days completely off and then re-evaluate my training.
Link to workout:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/44215127
Thursday, August 12th
Day off
Friday, August 13th
Day off
Saturday, August 14th
Day off
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