Getting thrashed in the Salida Run through time Marathon last weekend after being sick the day prior really knocked me down hard. Despite being well rested prior to the race, I was very sore after with the combination of outrageous work hours where I hung around to solve an important issue. Anyhow, I was left with two days of absolutely nothing. Maybe good. Maybe bad. I dunno. Sometimes a low heart rate run can provide good recovery and loosen everything up. Anyhow, by the time Tuesday rolled around, I figured I needed to get out and do something. This is how my past few days panned out to get me to a good and recovered place.
Monday
Rest
Tuesday
6.5 miles on the bike pulling a trailer. Took the kiddo to the park in the cold light rain. Quads were sore.
Wednesday
Despite coming off night shifts, I wanted to make good use of this day. Got 10.2 miles on the run right after breakfast. Being the first run after the race, I was hurting. My left quad was whining and my right hip flexor/groin area was a tidge sore for taking up for my lazy quad. I knew during the race that imbalance injuries would happen for trying to compensate for the bum quad. First 6 miles were with the pup and then managed 4 more after dropping him off. I tried to keep the HR in the upper 140s rather than mid 150s for recovery purposes. Right after the run, I hopped on the bike for a quick 20 miles. The storm was starting to roll in so it was mid 50s but just windy out of the N. I rode up to just past Peyton before I felt like Superman riding back with the wind at my tail. The plan for the next few days was to do similar things with a run immediately followed by a bike.
Thursday
Woke up during the night to actually hear the rain hitting the ground. It rained a good portion of the night. Was doing some schoolwork early in the morn when the rain changed to sideways snow. Great! This was supposed to be my "Long" run day since the wife would be out of town the next couple of days and I had daddy duties. Despite the legs feeling like junk still and it being so cold, I tried to go out really without a plan. I was going to do at least 4 outside miles no matter the weather. I took the dog out and felt good at turnaround for 4 miles and it was only light rain so I went to the turnaround for 6 miles and he seemed in good spirits. We continued on with the heavy wind and light rain in our faces before it finally stopped. Miles 5-8 were quite pleasant with the wind at our backs and the rain turning to just light snow. I was wetter from sweat despite keeping the HR still down. No need to push it up. Pretty much stayed below the normal MAF of 155 is the +5 from last year's number. Knowing my true MAF is at 149, I tried to hover there but was more often in the 152 to 153 range. The left quad and right groin were still slightly tight so no heroic moves, just jogging along. After the first 8 mile loop, I dropped the dog off and went out for another lap of the same course. This time SANS jacket. It was still cold and windy and the clouds threatened rain but I didn't care too much. Lap 2 was faster than lap one and I actually felt a tad better. This is seeing my MAF quite slower than a few weeks prior when I was mid 7's at same heart rates and now in the low 9's granted the wind was not helping. I knew I still had some recovery to do. During the lap, I pondered doing a third lap and and making it 24 miles. Fun to play like that when time is on your side. Run as long as you want. Being that just 5 days prior I did the race, I thought maybe that wasn't smart. After stopping back at the house, I had decided I was going to do 4 more but I stopped too long to talk to the wife since she got home and things started to lock up. After about 100 yds, I threw in the towel. My quad was all knotted up and 4 more miles didn't seem like it was going to make things better for me. I called it a quitz with a plan to put some trainer miles in that night. With a plan for 2 hours on the trainer, I managed 1 (I always plan too much and then am happy with the leftover of what I actually do). Trying to not try too hard, I managed 15 mi on the trainer at all super low HR and watched some TV
Friday
The plan was to do the incline from memorial park as usual and then follow up immediately with the Garden of the Gods 10 mile course. Reason being was mud from yesterday's rain. I could get my elevation gain while things were still frozen and then stroll around the garden for some more mileage. Problem is when I left the house, it woke the little one and the wife was up with him at 5:30. Whoops. I had to redirect the plan to just the incline and figure out more miles later. Gotta go with the flow sometimes. For the incline, the goal was to keep the HR at around 150 round trip to stay around MAF and take the descent super easy so as not to agitate the slowly healing quad. I made decent time at the 35 minute mark and was pretty good at holding to the MAF sometimes hovering up to the mid 150s and back down minus the last 100 steps or so where I sped up to the top just for fun and spiked to 170 before jogging back down. The goal of the descent was to not hammer but to just cruise and try to run even. The quad never really locked up or got tight and I managed around 8:30 average pace descending. Some parts faster, some slower and felt good about it. Not my fastest round trip but still under 90 min round trip including the first and last half mile walking. After getting home and making breakfast for the fam, the wife was getting ready to skip town so I took the kiddo out in the stroller and the dog. First 3.5 miles down to the park. After some trips down the slide, we went the same route back home and dropped off the dog. Another 4 miles and a stop at another park as a reward, we found ourselves at just over 16 for the day. The plan again was to get two hours of spinning during nap time however this did not happen. It was last night that the kiddo was climbing out of the crib repeatedly for his first time and then again for nap time today. After hours of trying to get him to sleep and him balking, I finally decided it was time to take the side off the crib and go to toddler bed mode. He still wouldn't sleep so no riding for me. Night time was the same story as I had planned on my two hours after bed time. After quite a while of trying to get him down, I was exhausted and passed out on the couch for a while before the dog waking us both again and then playing the same game for a few more hours trying to get him to stay in bed.
Saturday
Feeling finally close to caught up for training hours for the week, today's plan was to hike with the backpack. After breakfast at Uncle Sam's Pancake House in Manitou, and a stop at the park, we set off. I was glad I decided to not go for the incline since we had the pup and knowing that weekends really draw the crowds. We went up Ruxton but turned off and made our way up Intemann trail and up and back down Red Mountain. That thing is steep when you are carrying a 25 lb kiddo and extra water bottles and snacks. He fell asleep on the way down so I tried to keep the pace smooth and rhythmic for him. We made our way across Intemann and finally up and down the newly created Iron Mountain trail with a side trip to the boring summit of Iron Mountain. After getting back down to Crystal park Road, we had a small picnic on the bridge over the creek. After that I wanted to let little man hike on his own for a while so I followed him up Intemann. Every time I offered help, he shook me off and made his way up, up, and up. He fell a couple of times but just brushed his hands off and kept going. As soon as the grade would lessen, he would begin to run (naturally). After about 3/4 of a mile and his determination, I had to cut him off. We both needed a nap. We headed back down to Crystal Park road into town and back to the car with a solid 8 miles and the same gain as I would have had doing the incline so happy there. Great thing about it was that the legs finally felt normal today during the hike. After a nap this afternoon to bridge the gap back to night shifts for my second to last week and then a soak in the hot tub, I welcomed the wife back at home, ate dinner and biked into work where I felt very good. Right now, I am sitting at 13.5 miles on the week and still have the ride home tomorrow and one back to work which will push me right up to that 15 hour mark. I would like to do more but sleep becomes more important at some point as well so probably not. Not bad getting my 50 miles in just the past 4 days for running but honestly a bit disappointed with the biking where I skipped two hours Friday and one Thursday where I would have been looking at more like 18 hours. Either way, I am happy about getting back to consistency and need to stay there and things should go fine.
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