Overdue Week 7 Training Update

Last week, week 7 of the training program. Weeks 1-3 were a build, with week 4 as a recovery week. Weeks 4-7 have been a build, and week 8 is a recovery week. That is the 3 weeks on, 1 week off nature of this program. So this past week was the final week of the second build block.

Key Bike - This was Saturday. I rode another 4 hour, 70ish mile ride. I didn't feel too great out there. The achilles started aching around 3 hours. It felt better as soon as I got off the bike - good enough that I did an easy afternoon run. I am not too upset about this ride being tough, for it came at the end of a really high volume (20ish training hours) week. So, the accumulated fatigue level was very high going into this ride.

Key Run - This was Sunday, and it did not happen. After the Saturday ride being painful, I decided to skip this on Sunday and start the recovery week one day earlier.

Key Swim - This mistakenly happened on Wednesday. The Wednesday master workout at my pool was a sprint-ish workout, so I made this my key swim for the week. I felt surprisingly fast - I could almost keep up with the 12 year old girls.

This next week, week 8, is the recovery week, and it feels real nice so far. I am doing a lot of sleep, foam rolling, and trigger point massage with the tennis ball. I am cutting my workout volume by 50%. This is new for me, as usually I am for a 70% recovery week. In ironman training, fatigue builds from week to week - you don't fully recover between workouts. This is the endurance training adaptation of Vladimir Zatsiorsky's Fitness-Fatigue model. A recovery week allows fitness to build while fatigue is reduced. I can feel the fitness building.

Tip of the Week:
This tip is a recipe that I invented using some extra ingredients I had around the kitchen:

2 cups tamari brown rice
5 cups water
sprinkle of sea salt
3 cloves minced garlic
28 oz. frozen brocolli
sprinkle of pepper
1 small container egg-beaters
5 oz. block of high-quality smoked mozzarella

Combine rice, water, salt, garlic, brocolli, pepper in slow cooker. Cook on low heat overnight. In the morning, scoop contents of slow cooker into a greased 9X11 glass casserole dish. Preheat oven to 350. Pour egg beaters over top of everything. Shred mozzarella block. Sprinkle cheese overtop of the casserole. Baked covered for 30 mins. Uncover, and bake for another 25 minutes, or until cheese is brown-ish and bubbly.