Dec 2 Pre-OS
After two weeks of indolence, sloth and dedicated eating, I managed to gain a pound over what I weighed race day IM AZ. So I guess it's time to start up structured workouts again. I don't do well without structure. In those two weeks I did manage to get to the weight room 4 times, swim twice, run 4 times and hit the trainer twice.
I'll be doing weeks 2-6 of the Int Getting Faster plan before the OS. Also, I'm going to experiment with starting my week on Sunday instead of Monday. I'll be retiring Mid-Jan, so I can really adopt any schedule I like. My wife and I have been going swimming on Sundays for years, and swimming is usually on Monday, so it just seems to fit better.
BUT - the pool is down for its annual week of draining and cleaning, so no swim yesterday. That makes today weights, run with hill bounds, and 60 min on the trainer.
Interesting thing about getting back to the weight room. For the first time in decades, I pretty much abandoned the weight room over the past 6-9 months, relying on sport-specific strength, stretching, and the "Seven Minute Workout" to keep my tone. I was apprehensive about starting back up, that I might have lost considerable strength and would need weeks/months to get back to where I had been. I've got a lot of experience at starting weight training after time off (it's an OS ritual to re-start weights after 2-3 weeks off) I usually do one/third of my previous # of reps, at reduced weight. This year I started @ 2/3rds, at the same weight for many exercises, and about 10-20% below for others. Apart from some DOMS the day after the first workout, I am, after only 5 sessions, back to my previous amount of time working out, and able to handle MORE weight with my legs than I normally would at this stage. My upper limb flexers (lats, biceps) strength is a bit reduced, but my upper limb extenders (triceps, bench press/ pecs) are the same as before.
Another interesting tidbit concerning IM recovery... I had a couple of MD appointments in the week after the race. My HR was up about 20% (in the 50s, not 40s), and my BP was substantially up (140s/70s vs normal 118/68 or so). So I researched Systolic BP after endurance activities, and there is some evidence that it is raised, although young, fit athletes will see it go back to normal within a very short time. Lesson: dont get a physical right after an IM! My BP 8 days after the IM was 135/72, and 12 days after was back to 118/65.
It does take a while for the body to get back to a stable state, far beyond what we notice going on in our muscles and tendons, which usually only hurt me for 2-3 days
Comments
Monday - full body weights circuit - 15 reps/set- 3 sets/excercise
Tuesday - 2 x 1mi @ 7:45 (should be about Z3 instead of the prescribed Z4) + core challenge at night