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Enjoying the morning sweat

Exhausted, pooped, tired, beat, worn-out, drained, dragging & running on empty.

There are lots of ways to express how you feel after a few hard workouts. There are also ways to express how you feel during those hard workouts (or how you feel about the person who designed your workout plan) but I will keep this blog rated-G.

The last few days have been great as far as putting in quality training. I feel great during my workouts and I love the feeling after my workout is over. Although my day starts around 4:30-6am (depending on the day) I am so much more productive, stress-free and happy after a good morning sweat. Considering that I keep myself really busy during the day, alongside several Campy walks, I look forward to 6pm when I can start making dinner and enjoy the rest of the evening, relaxing with Karel and our furry little ones.

Even with a great run on Sat. I was feeling it on Sunday. I would use the word "pooped" when I woke up on Sunday morning. Thankfully, my 4 hour ride was mostly tempo watts so I just pedaled away as I enjoyed the cool temps outside.
It was super windy on Sunday and based on my watts, I was working fairly hard, even at a slow pace (mph). I decided to pass on a brick run and just take Campy for a long walk. Later in the day, we went to Laura's and I let Campy practice his 400-meter dash around Laura's fenced backyard.

Monday was one of those morning's where I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Typically Mon is a day off when my hours get over 15-18hrs a week of IM training. For now, Mondays are usually an active recovery swim and if I choose to "exercise" on Mon., I am always craving the pool. I had a nice 4500 easy swim and after some hip/glute exercises to work my weak areas, I called it a morning.

Tuesday....oh Tuesday. Seeing that it is only Wed. I am still thinking about Tuesday. It was pouring rain and I had a run+bike on my schedule. Even though I have been riding the trainer for my interval bike workout (until it warms up) I was not feeling a cold run in the rain. Karel was getting ready for the gym at 6:30 so I told him I would go with him. I really wanted to see his plyometric routine (which I am hoping to video next Tues and post next week) and see if I could make any changes. After I ran 3 of my 4.5 miles, I watched Karel's plyo routine and joined him in his 2nd and 3rd round. Let me tell ya'..now I know why Karel is doing so well with his cycling this season. That was one tough routine! I introduced Karel to plyo's about 2 years ago but as he gained strength and balance over the years, he has really modified it. I kept my routine on the "intermediate" level and I was still feeling the burn.
After the plyo's I ran 1.5 more miles on the treadmill (tempo) and we headed home. I still had a bike workout to do and after that plyo workout, my first 20 min. of easy spinning was just brutal. Luckily, I felt better as the workout went on and luckily, I was able to stick to the watts that Karel had me do for my workout. My 1 hr and 15 min. workout included a tough pyramid set of 1 min on, 1 min off (up to 5 min on, 5 min off-easy spin, high cadence) but the hard part was after those 5 minutes. He had me doing 3 min on, 3 min off, then 4 min on, 4 min off and finally, 2 min on, 2 min. off. I think he just wanted to test me with that 4 min. on thrown in there on my way down the pyramid.

So here we are. It is now Wednesday and my quads, arms and body is little "toasted". I was tired waking up at 4:30am for my run/swim/lift combo (wed is my longest weekday workout, Thurs....nice, tempo bike) but looking forward to a hill workout on the treadmill.
7.2 miles (including 15 min warm-up, 5 min warm-down). I added a little speed with some hills.
5 min 2% incline, 7.5mph (good steady pace for me on the treadmill)
5 x 2 min @ 8mph, 1% incline w/ 1 min easy 7.5mph
5 min 2% incline, 7.5mph
5 x 1 min @ 8.5mph, 1% incline w/ 1 min easy 7.5mph

Off to the pool for Master swim (6am-7:30am)....
Main set #1:
5 x 100's 1:35
4 x 100's 1:30
3 x 100's 1:25
2 x 100's 1:20
1 x 100's 1:15
Main set #2:
9 x 200's (1-3 pull desc 1-3, 4-6 IM kick/drill/swim by 200, 7-9 kick free)
4200 yrds...checked off the list.


It's ok to feel pooped or exhausted with your workout routine. What's not ok is to work so hard during a workout and forget to recover from the workout (nutrition, sleep, relaxation, etc.). For many people, it is easy to recognize when you are tired from a few days of hard workouts as opposed to just not eating well to support your training. For some people, a 30-min walk on the treadmill on an incline may leave you pooped. Don't worry...we are all at different levels with our fitness and we are all different when it comes to goals, race schedules, athletic background and life commitments. If you are having trouble understanding your workout routine and nutrition, try keeping a workout/food journal to see if there are weakness's in your daily routine. Focus on timing your nutrition with your training so that you can properly recover from workouts and fuel for upcoming workouts.

I hope that your daily nutrition habits support your current training/exercise routine and that you are enjoying your morning (or evening) sweat!

Any questions regarding training nutrition, let me know if I can help :)

What's your favorite indoor interval/high-intensity workout?