Categories: General

Don’t Mess with the Rest Days

This is what I wrote in my BT training log today…

Very sore and tired after yesterday’s trainer ride. My Level 6 HIM plan says “Choose this plan if you are willing to work very hard to achieve a great half-Ironman performance.” Am I cut out for this?

Then one of my cycling buddies reminded me that I moved my rest day around, and maybe that wasn’t such a good idea. That was exactly right!

Training Calendar

Yellow Square Days are Rest Days

I usually do my long bike on Saturday; my long run on Sunday; and have a rest day on Monday. This is how my plan is set up. When I messed with that formula, it left me tanked! Here are the details…

My cycling buddies were riding on Sunday instead of Saturday. I like to run the day after riding in order to train my body to run on tired legs. So, I moved my rest day to Saturday, biked on Sunday, and ran on Monday.
Sunday’s workout was a killer 50 miles on rolling hills at 19.9 mph. Even though I was drafting the whole time, it was hard work keeping that pace. My plan called for a brick, so I ran 4 miles after getting off the bike. I was completely exhausted the rest of the day.
Monday my legs were dead, and I was still so tired, but I ran 8 miles. I am HTFU girl, right?
Tuesday I was still feeling tired, but forced myself to do a bike workout on the trainer. It consisted of 6 x 3:00 at VO2max on 3:00 rest. I also added 20 minutes of climbing simulation. Total trainer time 1:15.
Wednesday morning I was completely wiped out, and feeling like maybe I can’t do this Level 6 plan. Which led me to write about that in my BT blog…

Lesson Learned: Don’t move your rest day around! It belongs after your hard long weekend workouts!

carolyahoo

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View Comments

Melanie says:

April 2, 2009 at 11:21 pm

Sounds all too familiar! Wait, I fall under that category! Too many "rest days" and too little time... I supplement those with studying, does that count?
Brett says:

April 2, 2009 at 2:53 pm

Wow, you are doing some fast riding! Good for you! After those three days of training, consider yourself Hardened TFU. :)
Lora says:

March 31, 2009 at 10:13 pm

Hey, Carol. Thanks for the comment on my blog the other day about swimming...

Oooo, yes. Those pesky rest days. Well, at least you know now how moving them around can affect you. Have a great night!
Bob says:

March 28, 2009 at 9:50 pm

Wipeout! Pushed yourself to the edge, which is common when training for an Ironman. Doctor says: take two easy days and call me in the morning.

Running Cary 10k next Saturday and Belews Tri in three weeks. Hope to see you at Riverwood if I got anything left.
Steven K says:

March 27, 2009 at 9:21 pm

Where did you get the plan you're using?
Susie says:

March 26, 2009 at 10:19 am

Howdy! I'm hoping to do my first half-Iron late this year and have been reading Gordo's "Going Long." Now, I am a total amateur at the longer stuff, so I'm not speaking from experience. But the book says not to do a long run the day after a long bike. It suggests putting the long run in the middle of the week, and the long swim on even another day of the week. Says the risk of injury is too great to stack them close together. Just a thought! See you on BT.