Four days
Four days of recovery. That is my self-proclaimed standard for post Half Ironman racing. As I sit here on Friday morning (4 days + 1) I certainly hope to see the signs of the recovery today because they have been hiding all week. After racing on Sunday I drove 2 hours to Wichita Falls and then another 11 hours on Monday to get back into Boulder. It was nice to get back so quickly, but I was pretty damn exhausted when it was all said and done.
I actually felt worse on Wednesday than Tuesday with sky-high heart rates on all of my easy sessions and mandatory 3+ hour naps. Thursday saw a bit of improvement, but I was nowhere near where I needed to be. Nevertheless, I have faith in my four day plan and I scheduled my training to reflect this.
In the past years I have had nearly 6-7 months of training (base and otherwise) before I begin my Ironman focus. This year I have about 3-4; with only 1.5 of solid aerobic base. It will be interesting to see how it all comes together in the next couple months as my Ironman push begins today. I will be stringing together around 50+ hours of training over the next 10 days.; two of those days will only have one hour of training so its more along the lines of 48-50 in 8 days. I will have a few days of recovery following this block before I begin a 16 day build period that focuses on dialing into my Ironman pacing while maximizing the progression of all aspects of my fitness.
I’m starting with a 5-6 hour ride today with a short T run to follow. Lets hope the body is nearly back to normal by now.
until later,
jd