Ahh Recovery Week

So it's recovery week for me. I have tried a few regimens but for my body at my age I find 2 weeks of hard training followed by 1 week of light training keeps me moving on without over training.

This whole idea of train hard or go home is all well and good but our bodies need time to adapt. Interestingly the "recovery week" on my program is aptly names "adaptation" Essentially its the time I need to spend not killing myself but being gentle on my body so it can adapt to the stress I have put it under for the previous 2 weeks. You see we can't keep up a high pace forever, sometimes we must all rest.

The EASY needs to be EASY so HARD can be done HARD.

This applies to efforts (or intervals) go hard or go home, but then rest and make sure the rest is as long as it should be. Lots of people struggle with this as going easy on yourself can be harder than running hard and wearing yourself out. Overtraining is a real risk and you can lose momentum and motivation if you aren't careful. Essentially improvement comes best from 2 steps forward and 1 step back... take a deep breath and go again.

I found this great quote

So this also includes having a light week every 3rd week for me. Actually usually by the second part of the second week I need a bit of a rest to get my heavy weekend in. Hence training this week has been
Monday - Swim only - a bit shorter than normal and not too hard.
Tuesday - 20 minutes Power threshold test - not as good as before but I realized I my wheel was rubbing so hopefully this will improve quickly.
Wednesday - 35 minute run with my dog and another 90 minute stretching session
Thursday - Sleep in and donated plasma (doesn't knock me around as much as giving blood)
Friday - 25 minute slow run

Tomorrow I am going to go out for a ride and might compete in the hill climb with the cycle club. I will also try and get a 5km run in as well on the weekend...

Ready to smash my training again next week......