Week Ten of the Matt Fitzgerald Level 10 HIM Training Plan is in the books!
For me this has been the most difficult week of training to date. Let me first post up the numbers and then describe why.
Week Ten Stats:
Swim - 4 Trainings - 4h 05m - 8200 Yds
Bike - 4 Trainings - 6h 00m - 110.21 Mi
Run - 4 Trainings - 4h 09m - 28.41 Mi
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Totals 12 Trainings - 14h 14m
Longest Swim - 3100 yds
Longest Bike - 33.71 Mi
Longest Run - 10.02 Mi
Here are the actual workouts that were completed:
Monday: Rest Day/Bike Maintenance Day
Tuesday:
AM - Master's Swim scheduled and missed. I had some severe stomach issues when I woke up at 4am. Primarily due to a poor choice for my dinner on Monday (Five Guys Burger and Fries). I never eat crap like this and paid for it the next day. My job is to blame. Worst part was that my stomach hurt enough that I could not fall back asleep.
PM - Bike Intervals, 1h 30m. 2x16min with 10min active recovery in between sets - 27miles.
Wednesday:
AM - Run Speed Intervals, 1h 05m - 7.16mi. Intervals were 9 x 1min w/ 3min active recovery in between sets. Did an easy 10min warm-up and cool down at 10min/mi pace. Tried to hold a 5:30ish/mi pace on intervals.
PM - Zone 2 Spin on Bike. Went for 90mins, 27 miles and really helped to flush legs.
Thursday:
AM - Master's Swim. 1h 20m - 3100yds. It was intervals focused with pulls and kicks.
PM - Tempo Run. 52mins, 10min wu - 32min tempo (7:40 pace) - 10min cd.
PM #2 - Easy Swim. 20mins - 800yds. Legs were sore after tempo so I did this immediately after and it helped. Pool has water temp of 65-68 degrees and this helped make up some yardage from missed Monday's masters.
Friday:
AM - Bike Speed Intervals. 1h 15m - 22.5 miles, 6 x 90secs w/ 3min active recovery all in big ring, Zone 5. Sweating buckets during the intervals.
PM - Swim. 1h 25m - 2500 yds, 6x200 threshold, 6x50 threshold. Ouch.
Saturday:
AM - Brick Day! Zone 2 Bike. Did ride by myself and tried to keep HR in the Z2 range for the scheduled 1h 45m. Did 33.71 mi @ 19.26 avg. Was cornered by the largest white dog I have ever seen, looked like a Polar Bear, ended up being extremely friendly and we played. --- Locked up the bike to the car and did run. 5mi in 40mins @8:02/mi pace. Legs felt good during run and sore after.
Sunday:
AM - Long Run - 10.02 mi @ 9:11/mi pace - 1h 32m. All Zone 2.
PM - Easy Swim - 1800 yds -60 mins. Struggled in the pool today with focus. Form went to hell so I stopped a few hundred yards short.
Okay, I have always posted the numbers but usually not the specific workouts so I hope you enjoyed reading the guts of the stats! The cool thing about this plan is that Fitzgerald seems to alternate the weekend end works out between huge volume and moderate volume. Luckily for my legs this was a moderate volume weekend!
I mentioned that this was a challenging week above and it really was! This was the second week of the Build Phase (which means intensity is increased) and I expected my legs to be a little sluggish but this was ridiculous. The Wednesday morning speed interval run was just brutal. My legs never really felt good for the entire run and I kept fighting the dark thoughts that usually accompany bad days. You know the, "Well, maybe I should just walk for a minute?" or "My legs hurt too bad and I should just stop right now and go home." We all get the devil on our shoulder from time-to-time but I really had to fight to not let this little devil win. It happened again during my tempo run on Thursday and I had to slay that little devil again.
But the real reason that it was a struggle is because my legs are tired. It is quite simple actually! I spent 8 weeks working on a solid, sustainable Base. Now the Build Phase is in week two and my body is still trying to absorb the first week of the Build Phase. The increased intensity of the Build Phase is different from the last 8 weeks and the body needs to adapt - and it will. The only thing that will hinder that adaptation would be a lack of mental toughness and I just proved to myself with this weeks workouts that that will not happen.
Time and time again the old adage, "Listen to your body," is uttered on blogs and message boards. I'd like to add an addendum to this phrase, "Listen to your body ... unless it is lying!"
Thanks for Reading,
Jeff
You need to put your feet up and sit back with a beer right about now! Great work.
ReplyDeleteHoly crap - solid training week Jeff!!
ReplyDeleteI like your point about listening to your body unless you are really just being tested mentally. Such a fine line though, right?
Hi Jeff,
ReplyDeleteYou are just rocking your training! You are right, this is such a mental game:) I know that your body will adjust to your new workouts and you will be successful..no worries! Awesome job!
You are a training machine! Good job slaying the little devil!
ReplyDeleteWow, awesome week of workouts! Bummer that you struggled with being tired and the little devil, but way to push through!
ReplyDeleteI really liked seeing the workouts! Thanks for posting! Hope you're sleeping now... incredible training week. Congrats!
ReplyDeleteExcellent job on a difficult week! You make it look like a cake-walk!
ReplyDeleteSOLID, Jeff. SOLID! I have no doubts how much these tough weeks are going to pay off for you come HIM time.
ReplyDeleteAwesome week! Keep up the great work and don't let the demons get you!
ReplyDeleteGreat week even with a few problems. Well done!
ReplyDeleteNice numbers, I think you are starting to get worn out, alot of us are, we are tired, we have been busting our rears off for miles upon mile, grinding it out, for a great rewarding season, we are just running out some gas, alot of us, including me are looking forward do R&R, well, freak, who am I kidding, I am jealous you got to play with a polar bear. So suck it up
ReplyDeleteAwesome traing week. Question- when you do intervals on the bike do you find somewhere flat or just wherever you can go? SOunds like this training is gonna make you into a machine.
ReplyDeleteLuke, For intervals they are either done on the trainer or at a park down the road that has a bike lane and very little traffic. I like to focus on just hammering for the specified time and being on the trainer always for this to be done without worrying about cars, dogs, potholes, debris, other cyclists, or the tons of other distractions on the road. Now that being said I have done intervals on my long rides too but seem to get more out of the workout on the trainer. Hope that helps!
ReplyDeleteGreat speedwork
ReplyDeleteI need to slay that little devil which won out on my speedwork today.
Great work stickin to it
-Derek