Last week turned into a mega recovery week when, just as I thought I was almost in the clear for getting sick this year, I came down with a sore throat early in the week and had to take a few days off to rest and recover. At least it only lasted 48 hours and didn’t turn into a stuffy nose, cough, and congestion type of situation. Sore throats tend to be my nemesis because they completely kill my appetite. The only thing I ate was frozen yogurt and homemade chicken noodle soup. At least the weather was crappy.
It was still a fairly adventurous week of training and I did a couple things out of my typical routine. Plus, when you get an amazing surprise in the mail from a fellow blogger and reader, you rediscover your motivation pretty quickly. Thank you Luisa for the wonderful gift and thoughtfulness. These words mean so much and I hope to thank you someday in person!
Monday: Sick with a sore throat. Axel kept me plenty busy though.
Tuesday: Decided to play it safe and take another sick day. My throat was still bothering me, although it felt better as the day progressed. By the end of the day, I was feeling pretty good.
Wednesday: Woke up feeling recharged and back to my normal self. I met up with my coach at his house (he lives a few blocks away from me) and did my first virtual race on Zwift. It was a pretty awesome experience that would have only been better if Mike and I hadn’t been chit chatting and missed the start of the race. But we got started (better late than never) and eventually caught back up to the group after overexerting ourselves for over 30 minutes. I have never been pushed that hard on a trainer and couldn’t imagine doing so without that type of environment. The race lasted about an hour and twenty minutes. I also reached a new FTP of 221!
Thursday: I started the day with a 2050m swim in the 50m pool. Sadly, this was my only swim of the week and it was a short one at that. This is the last week where swimming gets put on the back burner. I refuse to drown at Ironman CdA. It’s amazing how different it feels swimming in a 50m pool.
After my swim I made the official maiden voyage in my new Hokas and went out for a short 3.66 mile run around the neighborhood. It only took a few strides for me to fall in love. They were light, cushy, and felt completely different than my Brooks. I can’t wait to do some longer runs in them to see how my body responds. Keeper!!!
Friday: I had an awesome opportunity to be part of a shoe study for Newton shoes. Ever wonder how shoes make it to the market and how prototype shoes are tested? Well, I got to find out! The REP Lab at Rebound Physical Therapy has a really fancy force plate instrumented treadmill (there are only three of them in the United States) that captures data as you run. The shoe company’s contract with these specific labs and treadmills to compare side-by-side biometric data as athletes run in different shoes.
This particular Newton Shoes study involved testing a prototype shoe that may or may not end up making it to the stores based on feedback from participants like myself. I started with a 2 mile warm-up in my own shoes and then proceeded to run on the fancy treadmill in five different pairs of shoes (New Balance, Hoka One, Brooks Adrenaline, Newton Gravity, and the prototype) for 2 ½ – 5 minutes at a fairly fast pace in each. Then, I was done!
After the study is complete, Newton examines the data and how runners respond to different types of shoes. Pretty cool, eh?
This was the only running I did on Friday, but I was fine with that. I didn’t have a lot of time and I ran pretty hard (harder than I thought I was going to have to run) during the testing process.
Saturday: I was really hoping to ride outside in the afternoon, but the weather was windy and cold, and generally uncooperative. Not a good combo. After taking a little family trip to Petersen Rock Garden and my old stomping grounds where I grew up, I finally made it on the trainer for a late afternoon 40-mile ride. I was not thrilled, but got the work done. Thank goodness for protein waffles with peanut butter and maple syrup. These (and maybe a Cadbury Crème Egg) kept me energized for the entire 130 minutes.
Sunday: A little Easter run with my family. Because this was a “recovery week” I only had a 6-mile run on my schedule to round out the week! Axel, Justin, and I did a 3-mile loop around the Old Mill District and then I broke away and did another loop to finish up my mileage.
After we finished our run we hopped on over to REI so I could stock up on GUs, Bloks, and honey stingers. While we were there, we also checked out the baby carrier backpacks and ended up walking away with an awesome Osprey pack. Although it was only a matter of time before we bought one, nothing screams impulse buy like going shopping for some $2 energy products and walking out with a $250 baby carrier. At least we had our REI dividend, a 20 percent off coupon, and a $50 gift card to help soften the blow. Summer backpacking with Axel, here we come!
We spent the rest of the day dying Easter eggs, doing some chores around the house, eating a yummy Easter meal of ham and sweet potatoes, and watching our newest addiction on Netflix… The Killing.
Week 5 Totals:
Swim: 43mins, 2,050 meters
Bike: 3hrs 31mins, 64 miles
Run: 1hr 56mins, 13.8 miles
Time: 6 hours 10 minutes
I can’t wait to share some exciting news later this week. I’m also going to be doing a fun giveaway on the blog, so stay tuned!
Have you ever been a participant in a research study?
What was your last impulse buy? How did you feel about it after the fact?
