After the impactful crash, I knew my body needed a lot of sleep to start the recovery process so I went to bed earlier and tried to sleep as much as possible. After a somewhat productive Monday, the beautiful weather was begging me to get outside. Karel joined me for an easy spin on our road bikes and my good friend Kristen also joined us. We saw our friend Thomas on the trail and he joined us as well. It was great fun to ride together on the Swamp Rabbit Trail from Traveler's Rest to downtown Greenville.
After we arrived downtown, Karel was ready for some ice cream so we stopped for a quick "recovery snack" at Blueberry Frog. After healing my wounds with the sweet treat, we biked back home for an easy conversational ride. It felt really good to be riding a bike again.
As for my body, I started to heal pretty quickly. The human body is amazing. But I had a pretty deep gash in my forearm by my elbow. To ensure that it healed without complications, I stayed out of the pool all week. I really wanted to swim on Friday but I figured it would be good to give it a full week to heal. This also was good for my chest as my first crash left me with some pain in my right chest area, which had then moved to the outside of my rib cage on both sides. Thankfully, the pain becomes less with movement (running feels the best) and with each day, I was able to breath a lot better. As I sit and type this, it still hurts a bit to cough, sneeze and take in a really deep breath but overall its getting much better and my skin is healing well.
Because I was unable to swim this week, I focused on what I could do - bike, run and strength. I also supplemented my swimming for stretch cords, straight arm planks (I can't put pressure on my forearms just yet) and core work. As for the rest of my training, I am really happy with the workouts that I was able to accomplish this week.
Monday - 1:52/25.6 mile easy social spin
Tues - AM: 1:23 treadmill run w/ 8 x 4 min tempo w/ 2 min EZ walk/stop/jog between
PM: 1:27 bike (2700 feet of elevation gain) - 3 x 2.13 mile climbs up Paris mountain (#1 normal cadence, #2 heavy gear, #3 high rpm) w/ recovery descend between. Karel joined me for this.
Wednesday - AM: 1:49 trainer bike (with 8 x 6 min at 86% FTP w/ 3 min EZ between) followed by a 35 min hilly run.
Thursday - AM: 1:10 smooth endurance run. PM: 1:15 anaerobic interval bike workout (trainer)
Friday - AM Strength. PM 2:36 steady ride on road bike (beautiful warm day, rode by myself).
Saturday - "Repeatable" workout. 2:02 trainer bike (a set of 6 and 8 minute strong sustainable effort intervals w/ 2-3 min EZ between followed by 4 x 3 min ascending intervals). Followed by a 11.3 mile run.
Sunday - Smooth and EZ 1:09 mile run.
I was really proud of my body and I found myself working through a lot of planned fatigue.
A little bit about the Saturday "repeatable" workout....
While it’s fun to do a workout for the first time or to build off a previous session, there’s a lot to gain from completing a familiar workout. And while the training leading up to the workout may change, there’s so much to gain from a session that you get to complete more than once.
Saturday was the second opportunity to work through the mental and physical challenges of this 3.5 hour workout.
Endurance sport is much more than chasing paces and watts, collecting miles and building endurance. It’s so much more than reaching a race weight. Sure, preparation requires building fitness but and endurance sport requires building mental toughness.
The capacity to endure physical discomfort and self-doubt. To make good decisions under extreme fatigue. To learn how to cope with discomfort by dissociating the mind from the body. To stay hopeful and positive when faced with adversity.
This repeatable workout isn’t so much about metrics but developing mental skills to help me overcome the physical, emotional, nutritional, psychological and environmental obstacles that will test me on race day.
When it comes to preventing burnout and maintaining joy for sport, I encourage you to seek personal growth in ways that aren’t necessarily measured by metrics.
As for Sunday after my morning run, I organized the kitchen in the afternoon and then went to visit a close friend who just got a kitten after her 10-year old cat passed away.
Karel was in Saluda, SC playing gravel bikes with our friend Alvi at the Saluda Roubaix race. Here's Karel's detailed race report via text (not G rated).......
