Training for an IronMan is a long haul where  you push your body past the point you thought you could.  That is a lot of stress so every once in a while, well every once in four weeks, we have a recovery week. This is a lighter load so your body can rest, recover, rebuild and get ready to be destroyed again.  Much of my Wolfpack team was up in Augusta, Georgia racing a 70.3 race, and others were racing in Miami so the whole pack was just … resting.

I don’t rest well. I get antsy, cranky and itchy. It’s as if my body wants to do something, ANYTHING. It has a tantrum.

I kinda-sorta stuck to the plan and didn’t go on a long bike ride or a long run.  That was easy.  My body would’ve been okay but my mind needed a break from those, especially the ride and the struggle to get through the fear and out the door.  You can read more about that here.  I did stick to my Fitness Together sessions because I feel those are really helping, and since I started strength training late in the game I haven’t a moment to lose. So instead of having two full rest days, I ended up with one.

But that one day I did NOTHING, nada, zilch.  Whereas we usually spend family days outside in the beach, pool, or riding around, this one was very calm.  We went to pick out Dreamer’s birthday present, an electric guitar, and then spent hours playing with it.

When training for IronMan you also lose prospective.  I hear myself saying things like “how can I be so tired it was only a 13 mile run?”  But you do get tired, and tired over tired makes you even more tired and too tired leads to injury.

So here’s what recovery/easy looked like to me:

Monday: SWIM. Easy swim after a long weekend of a 100 mile ride and 13 mile run.

Tuesday: STRENGTH. Okay, not so easy.  I did a fast, agility workout that included my legs.  For the first time I walked like a duck after my session at Fitness Together.

Wednesday: SWIM. 2 miles open water.  It was a gorgeous day and though I was supposed to do less, I just couldn’t resist.

Thursday: STRENGTH. Arms and back at Fitness Together.  This time, I felt like I really worked my lower back, it was a strange feeling but helped me feel great on Friday.

Friday: RUN. I did my Tuesday run workout which I had skipped, and having my back a little sore was great to remind me to keep my posture.

Saturday: SPIN. Totally not what was on the schedule. I had a short swim, short bike, short run adding to one hour and I figured … bah, 1 hour for 1 hour should be fine.

Sunday: The only things moving were my fingers as I tried to play on Dreamer’s guitar.

And I think my body really did have a tantrum because we are in the middle of week 19, and I am writing this while drinking my cold medicine.  I now have to rest again to get ready for a big weekend coming up in a couple of days.

How was your training week? Do you throw a tantrum at a taper week or I am the only strange one?