Week 12 - "Recovery Day"

“Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now”
Alan Lakein

As I finished my run yesterday, I started to plan for Monday. Spin class in the morning would be the right medicine to flush out the aches and stiffness from Sunday’s run. My goal has always been with planning for training and races are twofold. The short plan and the long plan. The first steps are to figure out what races I plan to participate in during the year, then to set up when the training starts on these races. I plot this on a spreadsheet along with the races to get an idea how the year will pan out and if the set up is realistic.

With foregoing triathlons this year, the focus is on road races: Berry, ING, Boston & Chicago. The time goals are set and the training has begun. As for the short plan, when a training plan is set, I only focus on the week coming up and never beyond that. To worry about a 20-mile run or 10 X 800M’s at the track three weeks from now is counterproductive. The plan for the future is set; all I can do is concentrate on the present.

Last night after watching two disappointing football games, I set the alarm for 4:45AM for spin. With the weather this weekend, being less than desirable to cycle outside I knew Brian’s class was going to fill up Monday morning.

I emailed Bob a few times last night during the V and St.’s game. He had a 9 mile run planned this morning without his partner while I was to spin. I need to find out from him how the run went.

Arriving in the Spin room at 5:17AM, my intuition was right. The class was abuzz with almost every spin bike taken. Brian looked as if he had been there for a couple of hours already, as did the regulars in the front row. I snaked my way around the bikes looking for an open bike and happened to find one nestled on row in from the back.

I hopped on and started to warm up as about another dozen spinners where turned away due to no vacancy in the class. The goal for this morning was to follow Brian’s lead but only at about 75% effort. The spinning would warm up the legs and flush them out from the run yesterday. The class was fast paced as the room air became increasing dense with the body heat, sweat and heavy breathing of the spinners.

At the end of class, I headed to the weight room to perform a few of my leg exercises in order to cut down the time at lunch so I can hit the core a little bit more than usual.

In planning for 2010 and focusing on road races, I would like to hook up with a few athletes in the summer for a couple of Olympic and or Half Ironman distance relay races as the run anchor for the team. The way I would not loose contact with the triathlon world and accomplish my plans in honing in on my run skills for my PR goals.