How long can one push…push…push before they hit a wall? Well I hit my wall last night.
Before meeting the girls on the team for some practice team racing I went ahead and knock out a 5.5 mile run. The afternoons are already heating up in the high 80’s with a good amount of humidity. (Perfect practice for the heat I will endure in the IMKY race)
Mile 1 – 9:24 (warm up mile)
Mile 2 – 9:05
Mile 3 – 8:44
Mile 4 – 9:10
Mile 5 – 8:43
Mile .5 – 8:24
I arrived back at the car soaked with sweat, hydrated, and refueled before heading out on the bike. Since this was a race practice I made sure to GU and was more than nailing my fluid intake.
(picture taken from a previous race practice)
After a short warm-up we began our work at pace lining and chasing. This course has some pretty good hills and my legs immediately went to complaining. Around mile 8 both calves cramped up so badly that I was not even sure if I would be able to unclip from my pedals. (Time to add more salt tablets to the mix) I was toast and finished!
After arriving home Scott went to work at rolling my legs out. I continued the fluids and counted 6 bike bottles consumed within 3 hours. Wow! Scott had the perfect recovery meal ready for me and I all but licked the plate when I was finished.
This morning I feel exhausted and trashed. I am making the call to skip my running drills and stick to nailing my swim session tonight. I have a 11 miler on tap for Thursday afternoon so I am hoping that this decision will give my legs an extra bit of needed recovery.
Now back to more hydrating and fueling…..
Robin
7 comments:
I am riding tonight (no run) and its humid now, will get worse later. I am taking notes and drinking extra
Yikes, that is THE scariest feeling when you can't even clip-out because of cramping.
Last summer I found that if I had a bottle of OJ and a couple pinches of salt added to it while on the bike, this worked better than any store bought stuff. Just a suggestion.
hate it when my calves cramp, but thighs are even worse! YUK!! but you are absolutely on target. The heat will be a factor in KY and you are so smart for preparing for it now!
first off, I LOVE your kits! They look really sharp and definitely stand out.
I think you need a recovery day thrown in. Sounds like you have been POUNDING this the past few weeks and the body is kindly telling you to give it a free day haha.
(I know this is the last thing you want to hear)
Hope the swim treats you well, that usually refreshes my legs for the next day!
Cramps... uuuuugh. Quads are the worst. Stand to climb and bam! Good you worked the calf out without injury. Tore mine on swim team in high school and felt it for 20 yrs. Same one I tore in'09.
LOL... I was just saying to myself last week "Robin needs an R&R break". Just a hunch. Getting to know your training style.
Guessing a break now will prevent over-training injury problems right before your big Tri, so sounds like a good idea.
You can't really take in too many electrolytes unless you have high blood pressure. Your body will dump the excess in an hour or two of exercise. ThermoTabs are excellent time-released salt. They work. Hey, I should do a post on water bottles. lolol
Cramps are the worst! I'm glad it wasn's something more serious. At least you've got somebody to prepare recovery meals and work out the stiffness. Get some rest!
you are slamming it. good job lady. IMKY is gonna be a piece of cake.
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