The Endurance Pig: The Power of Recovery

Things are going well. I am back to feeling 100% (finally) and I am fully back into the swing of things when it comes to my training. I would have to say that my training is fitting in nicely with my family life and work. I am remaining focused and motivated and have not been having to make a lot of sacrifices, if any for that matter, to schedule time to train. There is no doubt in my mind that as I continue to progress in the plan that there will inevitably be sacrifices that I am going to have to make. As the plan continues and I have long (4-8 hour) training days, there will be sacrifices. But so far, I haven't had any issues finding time.

This past cycle didn't have any real significant events. This past Friday, the family went over to the in-laws to have a dinner of steak and shrimp for my father-in-law's birthday which is Monday, February 11th. It was also to celebrate my brother-in-law's birthday which is the day after my father-in-law's. I stayed consistent with cutting out breads (gluten) from my diet and avoided the dinner rolls. I also didn't eat any of the corn. But did have a steak, plenty of grilled shrimp, a baked potato, and sauteed mushrooms in butter. I had a few beers along with dinner and after dinner and had the will power to pass on the birthday cake. However, later in the night we played a game of dominoes and I gave in to my temptations and a a couple of small bowls of ice cream.

The beer of choice for the weekend was a new brew to me. I bought a 6 pack of Left Hand Brewing Stranger American Pale Ale. It had a light flavor and a low to moderate hopiness to it. Personally I prefer IPA's which have a much stronger hopiness to them. The beer was still good and went down smooth.

On Saturday I cooked a Green Coconut Curry with Pan Seared Pork Chops. It turned out great, a bit on the spicy side, but delicious, none-the-less. Afterword, Sarah was craving ice cream, so we called up my parents and made a date of it with the girls and their grandparents. We decided to go to Culver's for some sundae's. I so didn't want to go out for ice cream, because if there was one dessert that I would put at the top of my list as being the MOST tempting, it would be ice cream. So we went and I couldn't say no. I ordered a 2 scoop sundae with the flavor of the day, which was M&M Swirl. Now, since I was getting a sundae, I had to get it with toppings, so I topped it off with possibly the two worst toppings - Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Brownie Bites. I won't indulge the details of the total calories, lets just say - take a guess and then most likely double it.

On the way home a co-worker called asking me to go out for drinks. Again, I really didn't want/need to go out for drinks, but it has been a while since I've gone out with some guys from work, so I went. After a few drinks I was home by midnight. If there was a bright spot in the day, it would be that all of my overindulgence came on one day.

Other than the past couple days, my nutrition choices have been pretty much spot on. I have been continuing to eat some of my new found staples, including tuna/salmon mashed up with avocado and salsa, sweet potatoes, and salads. I have also been continuing to write down my daily food intake and I have realized that I eat a ton of peanut butter. After doing a little research I've learned that even a high quality all natural peanut butter really isn't that good for you. The peanut butter that I have been buying has 2 ingredients; peanuts and salt. But a peanut is NOT a nut, its actually a legume. So, it actually carries the same poor digestibility that beans and the majority of other legumes have. So to kill two birds with one stone, I forked out the extra cash and just bought almond butter. I figure, that 1. since almond butter is a little pricier I will use it more sparingly to make it last; and 2. I will no longer eat peanut butter and solely eat almond butter and get the added health benefits from it.

Brief Recap

This past cycle was my first recovery cycle. In my eyes, the main goals of a recovery week is to repair from prior weeks workouts, allow extra time for general rest (sleep), and to mentally and physically recharge for the upcoming cycles workload. The previous cycle (6) had a scheduled volume of 11.08 hours and this cycle had only 10.50 hours. Yes, I realize that this is only a drop off of a little more than 30 minutes, but the volume is structured differently than a standard training week. I did not take any off days, which spread out the total volume over one additional day, making the average daily duration less. I also cut out any high intensity interval sessions to avoid any unnecessary soreness. So this past week was actually pretty "easy."

I really didn't get much extra sleep, but still focused on stretching and self massage through the use of my foam roller each night. It was nice to not have all the extra workouts and the longer workouts during my work week. I already know that I am going to LOVE recovery weeks as I get into my ultra high volume cycles later this summer.

Favorite Workout

I had a couple of good workouts this past cycle. First was a 8 mile run I did on Wednesday, which was structured with a 6 mile tempo run in the middle. The weather didn't really cooperate enough to allow me to get outside for this workout, so I did it on a treadmill. There are pro's and con's to doing a paced workout on a treadmill. For starters it locks you in at a pace, so there's no slowing down when your tired without deliberately slowing the treadmill down. On the downside, treadmills are typically easier and your paces are generally faster than if you were actually running outside. To counter this fact I do all my treadmill workouts with an incline of either 0.5% or 1.0%. I started the workout with an easy mile jog at 7:45/mile pace and then cranked it up after the first mile to a 6:30 pace and then continued to play with the pace/speed throughout the duration of the tempo portion of the workout. I ran a 10k (6.2 miles) in 39:39 or about a 6:23 average pace/mile. I cooled down for the final mile at a 7:45-8:00/mile pace. I ran a total of 8.2 miles in 55:28, not too shabby for a long tempo run in February...inside....on a treadmill.

The second workout was a swim workout. To be honest, swimming workouts have really been growing on me. Especially these CSS (critical swim speed) workouts. This workout (pictured above in my mini zip-lock bag) was tough. I did a 1000 meter warm up/build and then did 1200 meters of specifically paced pyramid sets. All done at or slightly below my CSS pace of 1:44/100 meters. The workout was tough and was actually kind of sore the day after.

Moving Forward

I am still in my "Base" phase of training and have one more 4 cycle block of base phase training before diving into my "Build" phase. This cycle has two days of work training on top of 5 other nights of work. So finding time to train will be slightly more difficult than usual. On top of having the additional days of training for work, my off days fall completely on week days, meaning I am going to have to figure something out as far as child care goes. My Aunt (who babysat me growing up) babysits my daughters. She is an amazing babysitter and our daughters LOVE her. She is also extremely flexible and and willing to help me train as one could expect a babysitter to be. I will probably end up seeing if I could sneak the girls over to her place in the morning on Tuesday and do my long run right from her house. Other than that, its the usual cycle of training. I have one day of two workouts, with a run and bike combo. Also to get in a long day of training on top of training 8 hours at work on an off day, I will do a long 90 minute bike session downstairs in the morning before I leave for work and then come home and get in a short 3 mile run before dinner. Should be a fun and busy week of training!

Be fast, be strong, and carry on!

Here are some pictures from my week of training....