The Power Smoothie - Recovery food for a recovery week
The photo for this week is of The Power Smoothie. It's one of my favorite snacks. Here's how I usually make it: 1 cup frozen strawberries, 1 cup frozen mixed fruit, 1/2 cup blueberries, 1 banana, 1-2 tbsp peanut butter, 1 serving whey protein. Add water and blend. You can also add a bit of honey for some additional flavor.
STATS:
Swimming: 7600yds in 3 sessions
Cycling: 181 mi in 5 sessions
Running: 20 mi in 4 sessions
Yoga: 1 hr
Total: 15.5 hrs
Ave Wgt: 162 lbs
Ave Sleep: 8.25 hrs
GOALS FOR LAST WEEK:
After racing Rhode Island 70.3 on Sunday I designated this whole week as a recovery focus since it took me two weeks to feel right after Eagleman. During this week my goals were:
* Keep intensity low (mostly below LT minus 30-40 bpm)
* Get in a long ride on Saturday of 80 miles
* Ensure that my foot issue doesn't come back
* Eliminate the junk that has built up in my legs via my maintenance routine
RECAP:
The week started off with a 14+ hr drive from Rhode Island to Charlotte on Monday. Jen and I took 1 hr pulls in the driver seat so we each got some time to relax, stretch, and massage in the back of the Element while the other was driving. My recovery from the race went like this:
* Hurt to walk down stairs until Friday
* Quad/ITB pain while running until Saturday
* Felt fine cycling and swimming at an easy intensity right away
* I didn't do anything hard. Mainly high rpm spinning on the bike, easy swimming, and very easy jogging
* I had troubles sleeping a couple of nights so only got about 5 hrs of sleep on those nights. Tried to make up for it on other days but still had a low average hours of sleep.
KEY SESSIONS:
My only key session for this week was my 80 mile long ride on Saturday. Otherwise, I was just trying to get the body back to normal. I certainly wouldn't have minded if the Saturday ride would have been a little easier as Ackerman was putting me under pressure at certain points in the ride. Legs felt good on the bike when riding easy but didn't feel normal at LT minus 10 bpm (160 bpm).
MAINTENANCE:
My foot pain seems to be fading away. I've been very diligent about working it out so that has paid off. ITB and quads are still a bit sore but I've been rolling them out as well and they seem to be coming around. At the tail end of the week my calves and hammies are still very tight as well as my chest from all of the computer time late in the week.
GOALS FOR NEXT WEEK:
The early part of next week I'm going to continue on a recovery focus. I learned my lesson after Eagleman that if I don't allow an adequate amount of days after a 70.3 to get my legs back then the stale feeling lingers on. From Thursday through Sunday I want to hit the volume and intensity a little bigger and then I'll freshen up the following week going into Steelhead 70.3. I feel like my body is a little strung out right now because I've been trying to hold onto fitness from just before Eagleman all the way to Steelhead (~8 weeks). I'm not quite sure that I laid a good enough foundation earlier this season to be able to hold the fitness for that long but I'm certainly going to try! The VO2 type workouts are taking a major toll on me so I'm going back to doing some hill repeats this week because they don't seem to take as much of a recovery toll and I feel like I've lost a bit of top end power. The rest of my workouts are half IM specific to try and hold onto what I've got.
* Get volume back up early in the week with low intensity.
* Tuesday swim session: 20 X 100 on 1:20
* Thursday bike session: 8 X Hill repeats + 30 mins steady (LT minus 10 bpm)
* Saturday long ride: 80 easy
* Sunday brick w/ 30 mins steady/tempo on the bike and 15 mins steady/tempo on the run
* Core work every day. I've taken a little break from this and can tell that I'm getting sloppy.
* Volume: Swim 12K, Bike 230 mi, Run 34 mi
OTHER UPDATES AND THOUGHTS:
Aside from work and training Jen and I have mainly just been watching the TdF every night. It's about to get exciting next week.
As for training and racing, my plan is to just try to hold onto my fitness through Steelhead on August 1st and then take a two week mid-season break. After the break I plan on going back to a base phase for 4-6 weeks so that I'm ready to hit it hard at the end of the season. I feel like I need a good dose of volume right now but it will have to wait until after Steelhead.