The last week of training for J and I has been going pretty well. I did hit a wall on Monday, though, where I tried out the first dual session - a run and bike combined in the morning. The day before, I spent about 30 minutes out on our trails at home stomping around on the Giant mountain bike I got (along with Steph's) earlier this year.* I then went on the longest run of the season with Kyra - 4.5 mi. It also happened to be the best run I've been on since first starting to train for sprint triathlons two years ago. Kyra turned out to be a great pace partner, as I spent much less time looking at my watch to see my pace than I did simply concentrating on the road and enjoying the time outside with the dog.
The two sessions combined, however, took their toll on Monday and I finally understood what it meant to train on stale legs. While the run and bike with J went well, I was missing the overall strength and stamina that I'm used to when going on any bike ride. The first time I noticed what was going to plague me for the rest of the ride was on Damn Road, just past a landscaping nursery (whose owners I know), there is a major hill that I always struggle with and yet usually have some energy left when I get to the top. This time, about 1/3 short of the top, I almost had to stop. Besides not knowing the right gear points for the Kuota that J and I are training on, I was simply working on dead legs. The run had gone ok, but we only ran 2 miles - one or so short of our normal course at this time - so, I thought things would be easier.
By the time Tuesday rolled around, I was spent and didn't get up in the morning. (Today, because of work and traveling, I simply haven't done anything - yet - I hope that when we land in Portland that I'll have enough energy to at least go out for a run.) So, that was my first true experience with stale legs. Even when we trained hard for the Lake Geneva triathlon two years ago, I never had the same experience. Friday and Saturday, my aim is to run 5+ miles (for the very first time) after getting a swim session in at a YMCA near the hotel where we're staying), so Sunday will be a test to see what it is in my training that actually contributes to stale legs, whether running or biking. Because I won't have the chance to bike, the test will show how much of an impact long-ish distance running has on my next-day training.
...fascinating how the body adapts and learns...
* We've been slowly, progressively making headway on widening certain trails that have become overgrown and others that are new. My goal is to have around 2 miles of trails on the property we own and share with my parents in the next five years. I had my Garmin 301 (GPS trainer) running on the ride and found that a full round on the first 22 acres is about .45 miles. That isn't covering the entire edge of the property, so if you add in all of the miscellaneous crisscrossing trails, we should have more than a mile already. This year we started on the next major phase of the project intended to place trails on the other 27 acres that my parents own. Unfortunately, we won't be finished with marking the entire territory until next year, but it is nice to see the major portion started. All we do is stop crop planting on a portion and let it grow wild for a year or so and then start mowing it. The next step will be to do some roller work (flattening) of the trail areas, but I'm not sure whether we'll eventually need to do something more drastic to grade it more evenly.
