Pre-Race and Post-Race Training Weeks

Just over a week ago was the "Get in Gear" 10K, so I took it easy the week before, and then I slowly started to pick up the workouts a few days after. Here's what those 2 weeks looked like, with the race being April 26th:

I mentioned in a pre-race post that I was feeling pretty sluggish and crappier early in the week before the race. My long run on Monday wasn't great - I cut the "harder" miles a bit shorter but those miles were still a decent pace, averaging 6:11/mile. Then I skipped my swim on Tuesday, which is the first time I did that since Christmas Eve! (Before that, it was October when I was in Yellowstone with family, and before that was August when I was camping with family, and before that was June when I was camping with family... so it's not something I do!)

Thursday before the race was the first I REALLY took it easy: just 50 mins of easy spinning, and no weight lifting. Friday was nothing but walking and stretching, and then the race was Saturday. Sunday I did some good upper body and some core later.

Then last week, I skipped my run on Monday to make sure my legs were rested up post-race. I did NOT do that last year, but after getting injured in October/November after the TC 10 Mile, I'm (appropriately) afraid of doing too much too soon after a hard hard effort. So instead, that purple color on Monday the 28th is an easy spin on the trainer.

The the rest of last week was pretty normal, including 2 longer outdoor rides on Thurs and Saturday.

- I had nearly an hour-long swim on Tuesday, along with good upper body.

- Wednesday was an easy run and good legs and core.

- Thursday was a nice ride where I went all over the city and rode hard for the first 20 miles (56:59, or 21.1 mph ave at that point). It was nearly 35 miles in total.

- Friday was NO speed work (because it was too close post-race), but I ran easy and did good core and legs.

- Saturday was just a moderate longer ride and good upper body. I wasn't feeling great yet, so I didn't do anything too hard. I just went 37.56 miles in 1:57:22, which is 19.2 mph on average.

- Sunday was just core.

Those 2 rides really upped my "intensity minutes" for the week! And actually, that short ride on Tuesday (along with good upper body and swim) made Tuesday big as well:

Another big week to the right! With big jumps on Tues, Thurs, and Saturday.


I had 3 big weeks in March where I was above 1800 "intensity minutes" for the first 3 times,
and last week I was at 1912. My 5 biggest weeks have all been within these last 8 weeks!

Notice that 2 weeks ago was smaller (the week leading up to the race), but then I hit it harder this past week. My legs are feeling good, so hoping for maybe 2 harder workouts later this week!