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Rest – For me it is the hardest thing to figure out what is the right amount, and when to get it in. I could say that I just need to rest when I feel tired but there are times when I like to train tired. Not to want to really stress my body more than needed but instead to get my body ready to perform when tired as that is the reality of endurance races. If you run a 5K or 10K you want to be fresh in a way that extends through the race. For endurance races you want to start feeling fresh as well but the harsh reality of endurance races, and what I will for sure feel at Boston and in the Dirty Kanza 200, is that there will be times I will be tired and still need to push through it. Sort of the reason I warmed up a little longer this week before a stage of the Tour de Zwift as I wanted to be a little tired and still have to push.
That all said this is only one aspect of why for me training tired can be beneficial but this cannot be what it is all the time as that just leads to breakdown. That is where I often struggle with discerning when and how much rest to take and thus try and factor in a rest week every 3-5 weeks but at times that falls to the wayside for some reason, but should not. Truth is what I, and all of us, need to realize is that rest is in actuality training and thus it is not a matter of not doing anything towards a goal but see it as part of the plan to achieve a goal. This is where I am this week. One side of my brain wants to push through the soreness in my foot to get in a set number of miles or hours on my feet and that side wants to say “suck it up and just get it done you need the miles.” The problem is I, in this case need to listen to the other side of my brain that says “ a few miles missed here to heal your foot is a greater gain than pushing through.” No, I am not schizophrenic and hope I am not the only one that has this internal struggle.
The point of all this rambling is that the best way to allow the side of you that sees the need to rest win the day is to get the other side to see rest as training and key to achieving your goals. Once we truly see rest as key to success rest will be easier, not easy but easier, to accept. Again, there will be days you will feel tired and you need to push through it but if that becomes the norm stop and reassess as you probably need to truly see the importance of rest.
One other thing here is that rest does not mean you sit down and eat bon-bons but that you are doing activities that refresh and revitalize you. You may also take this time, as I will be doing this week, to work on strengthening areas that may get overlooked. Not in a way that wipes you out but maybe in a way that you could not find to do when training other areas. For me it is a matter of running making my foot/ankle sore and hard to do strengthening exercises on so for me this coming week I will focus on the exercises I have not been doing to come out of the week stronger but also rested. Also, rest may involve a more relaxed activity such as taking easy hikes or walks where movement takes place but not in a way that breaks down but builds up.
Another thing to add, if you train at two sports, as I now do, you can rest in a number of ways. You may rest totally from both sports and just do something different so as to get a total break. Or, you may just rest at one sport or the other by reducing one to totally cutting it out of the week to allow the other sport to have the full focus of your training. If you remember some time ago I talked about training to time or miles that when it comes to aerobic work time is time and in that if you cut one sport out it is not necessarily rest to add more time at the remaining sport. What I suggest is, if this is a rest week, that you keep the remaining sport where it was, or even less, before the rest week. This way you get rest from the sport you cut back on and also the one you have left will be done more rested and in some ways is then also part of the resting. This is not the same as maybe seeing say needing to up the work in one sport and cutting out the other to do so as this is more a matter of focusing and using time to the fullest, but is not rest.
Bottom line when you plan your training to factor in rest as much as you do long runs/rides, intervals and races you plan for success.
Week’s Training Overview:
This week went as planned mileage wise but did come out a little tired but I guess it was to be expected with my most total mileage (206 riding and 30.3 running) in quite some time. With regards to running I started the week with a wet 11 miler which pushed my limit distance wise. While my foot/ankle was a little sore during run it in general felt pretty good and as it warmed up from the run it felt better than when I started. The was the good side but what was not so good was that since I had to do some work at my desk things tightened up and my foot/ankle got pretty sore so took Tuesday’s planned run off to rest it some and next run Thursday afternoon. By Thursday my foot felt a little better and once I got running it loosened up and felt better. I thought about just taking the rest of the week off but as things started to feel a little better decided instead to do two runs Friday and then take off the rest of the week and the following week from running. What I think I can take away from this is that I can put miles on my foot/ankle but will pay the next day, at lest for now. Due to this I will work to lengthen my longer run to get ready for Boston fully realizing it may mean lower miles the rest of the week. That said when I come back to running after a week off I will spread out the runs to be shorter but consistent in length.
As far as riding I was looking to do 200+ for the week in three rides. While Strava shows up as 5 rides the 4 rides on Monday and Thursday were actually two as the way Zwift does things it puts a warmup before a group ride as separate rides even though they were pretty much one ride. That said I got just over 50 on each of Monday and Thursday ride with the second half of each ride being a Stage of the Tour de Zwift and both were close to my best in watts and watts/kg. Actually on the race Thursday I just missed my best by a couple Watts and that was after a longer and quicker than normal warmup to go into the ride a little tired so all in all a good ride. For Saturday I did my 3rd 100 miler on Zwift but faster than the other two and felt pretty good. As usual the end of the ride sped up and I made an error which cost me in the sprint but still was basically with the finish group doing the 100 miles in around 4:23 for a good paced ride. While it would be much nicer to ride outside it is just not to be lately so getting in a 100 miles indoors may not be the best but it is good to get the workout in.
As I said, it was a good week of running and riding. The riding was all pretty quality stuff and maybe a little harder than needed with the TdZ rides but that is not the norm so things will calm down more in the coming weeks. My legs are tired but surprisingly not that bad and if my foot/ankle did not hurt things would be great. I figure with the weeks ahead before Boston then the Gravel races in May things are going well. Once I get to March I will probably turn to focusing on running a little more with riding as I can get in. As I will be going to CA for work in the month of March and not having a trainer there it is harder to get midweek rides in when the daylight hours are still not optimum. Will then switch back over to riding more when I get back in April as I fine tune for Boston then move to get ready for the local ‘45’ Gravel race and the DK200.
Overview of Weeks Runs and Rides:
- Monday: Ride - TdZ Warmup 25.24 Miles & TdZ Stage 6 W/Cooldown 25.31 Miles ( 50.55 Total Miles)
- Tuesday: Run – 11.27 Miles
- Wednesday: Rest Day – Foot Sore
- Thursday Morning: Ride - TdZ Warmup 28.26 Miles & TdZ Stage 7 W/Cooldown 24.29 Miles (52.55 Total Miles)
- Thursday Afternoon: Run – 6.52 Miles
- Friday: Run #1 – 7.35 Miles
- Friday: Run #2 – 5.2 Miles
- Saturday: Ride: 103.14 Miles
- Sunday: Rest Day
Weeks Totals:
- Running Miles: 30.3 Miles
- Running Time: 4:18 Hrs
- Riding Miles: 206.2 Miles
- Riding Time: 9:01 Hrs
- Total Miles: 236.5 Miles
- Total Time: 13:20 Hours
Weekly Diet Notes;
Not really anything to add this week but do have my fueling, pre and during the ride, below for the long ride this past Saturday
Saturday's Pre-Long Ride Fueling:
- Coffee with Coconut Oil and Butter, Collagen, Heavy Cream, Chocolate Primal Fuel (3/4 Scoop) & 1 Scoop SFuels-Life
- 1/2 cup Oatmeal w/Tbsp Butter, 2 Tbsp Heavy Cream and 1 tbsp Maple Syrup
- Total: 968.5 Cals/58.4 Gr Carbs
- 1 Altred (Beetroot Extract)
- Also use AmpHuman PR Lotion
Saturday's Long Ride Fueling;
- 2ea - 20 OZ bottle of water with 2 Scoop each SFuels – Train formula
- 2ea - 24 OZ bottle of water with 1 packet each SFuels – Race+ formula
- 1 Banana
-1 – Fbomb Salted Chocolate Macadamia Nut Butter
- 2ea - S!Caps (2ea at 2 hours and then 3.25 hours)
- 2ea - Altred (1 at start then 1 after 2 hours and 1 at 3.25 hours)
- Totals: 735 Calories – 63g Carbs
Conclusions and the Week Ahead:
All in all a good week but now time to rest up on the running side of things. Last week I cut back on riding miles so this week it is time to cut back on running. Instead of just reducing running miles I am going to not run at all this coming week. This is as much to rest my legs as it is to Rest my foot/ankle and to do more strengthening exercises on that area. As far as riding due to schedule I need to get my rides in during the week and with work and weather will ride 200 miles indoors – becoming sort of the norm lately. To do this the current plan is to ride 4 relaxed 50 milers during the week. Depending on schedule on one of those days I might do two rides but will sort of depend on work and such.
Last Week's Overview #33
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