Around the Bay: Post race and what comes next

So, a week out and I'm feeling well recovered. After the nightmare that was marathon recovery last year, I'm always relieved when race recovery goes smoothly and with no unpleasant surprises!

It turns out there IS a finish line photo of me - the photo company added some more pictures and there it is. I'm going to stick with the artists's rendering in the race report, though, just because it's so awesome.

Meh. I prefer my Paint version.

Now that my winter goal race is done, how do I feel about the training that I did? Basically awesome. Using Run Less Run Faster for my run training and Trainerroad for my bike training worked really well. The run results are obvious - I did in fact run less (a lot less) and then run faster! I just wish I hadn't had to alter so many of the speed workouts - I don't think I got the full benefit of the plan. Next winter I'm going to look more seriously at how to get access to a treadmill, because it would be really nice to have the option of doing intervals and tempos inside when the weather isn't cooperating.

Just because I ran less doesn't mean I worked any less hard, though, as having my ass kicked on the bike by Trainerroad 3 times a week turned out to be, I think, pretty key to my success. Plus I downright enjoyed it! I've been outside twice on my bike in the last couple of days and things are feeling promising there - I definitely feel stronger and was seeing some encouraging speeds coming easily on the longer ride I did on Friday. However the weather has turned unpleasant again, so not sure when I'll be out on the roads again.

Mmmmm, Strava trophies. Admittedly slightly wind assisted, but I'll take them.

So now what?

1. Finish recovering. As they say, one day per mile raced.

I took Monday and Tuesday off completely, mostly because I wasn't physically capable of doing much else. So much quad pain. I'm relieved, however, that the only thing that hurt was my quads - after Mississauga last year is when I developed that ongoing case of hip bursitis that came and went for months afterwards. This race, thank goodness, was just run of the mill DOMS. Albeit some of the worst I've ever had.

Wednesday I went for a swim at lunch, which was wonderful. Swimming is one hell of a recovery workout, I have to say. I used the pull buoy for most of it, taking the legs out of the equation entirely, and when I got out of the pool my legs had gone from about 90% to 95%. Awesome. More swimming! More I say!

Like I said above, I got out for a couple of short bike rides on the roads. I had Foxy tuned up and she feels fantastic. Can't wait to do more of that!

Run in the sunshine. It was still pretty damn cold that morning, though.

Over the weekend I did a couple of short easy runs, and my legs are feeling good. I wouldn't want to add any speed right now, but I'm feeling great. I'll continue to play it by ear for the next week on the run and just do what I feel like doing.

Then, it's...

2. Triathlon training time!

I'm still working out the exact details, but my A goal race for the summer will be the Goderich Olympic triathlon in August. I'll do a few other races along the way, but that's the big target and everything will be focused on that goal. Which means I have to figure out how to train the three sports.

Swimming: For now I'll aim to get to the pool twice a week. I'll be ordering a wetsuit soon and getting into open water when the tri club starts those swims. My goals for the swim this year are pretty much just to survive it, so I'm not going to worry about too much about anything other than getting in some swim time and being comfortable in the water.

Cycling: Outside ride time!!!! Almost there! However, given that whole 'family' and 'work' thing I have to also do, I'll still be doing a lot of rides on the trainer. This week I'll start the Sustained Power Build plan to give me some structure. Then hopefully Trainerroad will have released their long promised Oly tri plan that I can use for the final 8 weeks of preparation. Given kid obligations most of my weekday rides are likely to be on the trainer.

Run: Keeping it laid back for April - I'll continue to run 3 days a week, and probably throw in some speedwork from the RLRF 5k plan later in the month. Not officially or hardcore training, but I have a feeling I'll actually miss the speed when I'm not doing it. I have a 10k race at the beginning of May and a 5k planned for mid-May that I'll use to benchmark, and then I'll start the Run Less Run Faster 10k training plan at the end of May to prepare me for the 10k run at Goderich.

So, I have a loosely organized plan, and I'm getting excited for the summer! All subject to change, as getting in three sports worth of training is definitely going to require some flexibility.