The Rest Week....

With this being the fourth week into January, this has been a scheduled "recovery" week for me. Generally I tend towards a four-week training schedule at this time of year when I have three weeks "hard" and then a recovery week. The schedule can change depending on influences of work and nature and then as the season gets going then the scheduling of races becomes the most important factor.

Recovery weeks always feel a bit odd, you have more time on your hands and you try to refrain from getting in a monster session. This week has been particularly odd since Monday was a holiday and Tuesday was a short day...normally I would have taken advantage and got in a long ride or run but instead it was more sleep and a recovery workout.

What a rest week does do though is get you amped for the next phase of training and look forward to the coming workouts. In addition to feeling ready to train, the first of the season's "training" races have been opened up and already people are getting excited about racing (Tradezone Races are here in early Feb).

So for me the second build phase starts on Saturday and what better way to start than to ride the first century of the year. I know already that it will be a tough ride as it will be on the Fixie (roads are still not suitable for the TT bike and the road bike is still on order....mid-Feb I hear!) and most of it will be on the club ride, which isn't necessarily Fixie friendly.

The centuries will be a much bigger part of my training this year as I prep for IM Louisville. Last year I rode about 6 centuries prior to ChesapeakeMan and I still think I need to do more to get stronger and lower the bike split. I will need to hit close to a 5 hour bike split (112miles), which means lowering the 2008 ChesapeakeMan split by about 20mins (although did include a puncture repair). I think it is certainly doable and that is the main focus as the season progresses....it may not help me in road races but it will for long-distance triathlons.