Active Recovery

My week of active recovery post-race has gone quite well.  I’ve really tried to use this time to let my body rebound from last Saturday’s effort while still keeping moving forward.

Monday: All I was capable of doing was walking.  Trust me, it was enough. 

Tuesday: 30 minute swim.  It felt GREAT to be back in the pool and even better to get out after only half an hour :)

Wednesday: 45 minute bike that was supposed to be a 30 minute bike but I missed a turn.  Getting back on the bike hurt less than I expected but I could tell my legs were still tired.  Followed by my post-race sports massage to work out all the knots and such.  One word for this: OW.

Thursday: 30 minute swim again.  At lunch, in the sunshine, ah so nice and relaxing.  Except for when I got out of the pool and was so hungry, my hands shook the entire drive home and I practically physically assaulted Jeff to get my sandwich when he walked in the house.

Friday: 45 minute open water swim!  Around the Santa Cruz Wharf for only my 2nd time, aiming to just go light and easy, and it mostly was, until one of these 600 lb boys popped up in the water next to us to say hello and didn’t want to go away.  Finished the mile 3 minutes faster than when I swam it in June!

Also of more interest to some, I got my hair cut on Friday.  A lot.  It was overdue – my sisters told me to wait till after my race so that I could still get it into braids that would hold through swim/bike/run.  Good thing I have time to grow it out again before Arizona!

Saturday: My first run since Barbs.  I was a little nervous…my legs felt great on race day but have been all sorts of tight and cranky since then.  It turned out to be OK once I was warmed up – not 100% but much better than my first run after Boise!

Then we commenced Operation Break The Dogs.  Every so often, Jeff and I give the boys a big day of hiking, swimming or some activity that is designed to exhaust them to the point where they aren’t dancing around at 4pm asking “Walk? Walk? Walk? Now? How about now? Can we go yet?”

In this installment, we decided spending the morning in San Francisco sounded like a good idea.  After a quick 50-mile drive up there, we were off on a long walk along Fisherman’s Wharf to Aquatic Park, Ghiradelli Square and anywhere else that looked interesting on the route.

Hey, look at those crazy triathletes going for a swim in the frigid water.  SUCKERS!  Wait…what?  I did virtually the same thing Friday night?  Oh come on, details, details…

The scenery of the City can make any picture look better

Alcatraz in the background.  Max says, stay means stay.  Stanley says, I am not happy right now.

Say cheese!

After our ~3.5 mile walk was completed and we were tired of being swarmed by tourists wanting to pet the dogs (seriously, we should have made like the street vendors and put a tip bowl in front of the dogs), we drove across town and into the fog for a romp on Ocean Beach.

I bet you didn’t know beach running actually warps your entire face

So many things to look at, so little time

The fun did not end there. Just as they thought they could fall into the lull of recharging their engines on the drive back, we stopped at a favorite brewpub for lunch.  While our dogs are used to eating out and generally settle down under the table, they’ve never been quite this fried.  *cackles* Cujo chugged his complimentary bowl of water and never moved again.

Mission accomplished.  4pm, 5pm, 6pm rolled around and no one moved a muscle, much less demanded a walk.  They were barely waking up and more hungry than anything else when Jeff and I got back from a fancy steakhouse dinner at 9:30 pm.

 Sunday: 45 minute light and easy bike ride in the sunshine.  Afterwards I rode the 1/2 mi from where I parked my car to the farmers market to buy a few things.  Riding back just the short distance with my bags of food was interesting – a reminder of how every small bit of weight affects a TT bike dramatically!

Training totals for week 33 (August 3-9):
Swim: ~3800 yards
Bike: 21.4 miles
Run: 2.1 miles
Total time: 3.5 hours

And so, with more margaritas under my belt than I care to admit but still not as many as I wanted, it’s time to buckle down and get back to work.  15 weeks to Ironman – my build begins tomorrow!

If you want to read something hysterically funny, go look at my coach’s account of her day at the Chihuahua Races.  I laughed even harder at this because of my experience in the dog show and agility world.  Yes, dog owners, we are a slightly nutty bunch.