Well, recovery week has come to an end. I can’t believe that this was a recovery week and I still logged 10:45 in training: 106 miles biking, 23 miles running, 6,000 yards in the pool. I’m actually looking forward to another hard week though. I have two more tough weeks and then a week long taper before Steelhead.
Thursday
I had one of my best brick workouts ever. I had a 1:15 bike followed by 30 minute run on the schedule. Feeling uninspired, I stuck to just doing laps around Reeds Lake for the bike portion. 5 laps later, I finished with 23 miles at about a 19mph pace. That is about as fast as I can average around the lake because of “The Hill” on each lap. In case you couldn’t tell just by looking at my splits, I pointed out each split that included “The Hill”. It really kills the average speed in the long run, but builds some good leg muscle.
After the bike ride, I quickly transitioned into running shorts and shoes. As I headed out on the run, I was shocked to realize I had almost no brick feeling. My legs felt great and weren’t heavy at all. I ended up averaging 7:37 over the nearly 4 mile run.
Friday
Swam at lunch, ran 7.5 miles in the afternoon followed by 2 miles with Jennie. Other than that I cleaned the house and did yard work. Nothing exciting there, so I won’t bore you with the details.
Saturday
Saturday was a lazy Saturday in its truest form. I did do a long slow bike ride in the morning, but after that, I spent the rest of the day napping, watching the Tour de France, and watching Tigers baseball. I did manage to pry myself off the couch long enough to go to Target with Jennie though. They had some of their C9 clothes on sale and Jennie needed some extra running clothes now that running business is turning into a daily bad habit for her.
She did find some actual running clothes, but she couldn’t pass up the shirt above. In case you can’t read it, it says, “1 Glazed Donut = 6 miles” and the donut is saying, “I’m sweating sprinkles.” Too perfect.
Sunday
Again, another lazy day. I wrapped up my recovery week with a 6 mile run and then spent the rest of the day on wood working projects. I made some more progress on the bar. Only sanding, painting, and finishing touches to go now I think. I also made a new shelf/monitor stand for my office.
Here is one of the shelves with the stemware racks. The stemware racks took some figuring on what would work best. This design was actually the third design I tried and I think it will work best. I haven’t assembled it yet because I want to get everything painted first. The shelf itself is inspired by a Pottery Barn shelf that Jennie likes. In fact, I had previously built a set for in the kitchen, so building the shelves was a piece of cake. To compare, I built two 4 foot shelves. The materials cost, at most, $30 for both shelves. The authentic Pottery Barn shelves cost $85 each! I’ll take that savings any day.
Here I am cutting each of the stemware racks. Jennie said that I looked really focused on what I was doing. Apparently my please-don’t-let-me-screw-this-up-and-end-up-slicing-off-a-finger look makes me appear focused.
No, I was not drinking while operating power tools. I was simply using the martini glass to calculate the spacing needed for the stemware racks. I promise!
The new monitor stand. I ‘m going to hold off adding trim and painting it until I am sure it is going to work. If, after a couple weeks of use, I can’t think of any ways to improve it, I’ll finish it up.
And to top that off, I made one project. This one was inspired by one my dad made last year and was easy to throw together with some scrap wood. It is basically a lap desk for my laptop. This way, when my laptop heats up, it keeps my legs (and boys) nice and cool. It should also improve airflow for the laptop and circulate air better.
I made two of them. One for me and one for Jennie. I ran out of trim for Jennie’s though, so I’ll finish hers up next weekend.
Finally, here is one of the best race pictures I have ever had. And it wasn’t even a race I was in! This is from a couple weeks ago when I biked over to the Johan Tri-fest to watch a co-worker who was racing. As I passed by the photographers, I said that I wasn’t a racer, but the woman said that I deserved to have my picture taken too.
10 comments
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Krista
July 12, 2010 at 8:31 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Sounds like you’re really making strides with your fitness. A brick without jelly legs on the run is awesome!
PS I love the t-shirt! Sweating sprinkles
Jeff
July 12, 2010 at 9:26 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Great week Kevin!
I have noticed how the “brick” feeling in the legs has been very limited lately too. I guess by doing an actual brick once a week like this plan calls for is really helping!
lindsay
July 12, 2010 at 10:45 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
recovery week? i didn’t see any recovery
let me tell you how to take a recovery week… i am good at those! the hard/on weeks, not so much.
love jenny’s donut shirt!
regina
July 12, 2010 at 11:49 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
That is still some speed for ‘the hill’. It looked like 16-17 mph going up it.
Nice woodworking. My Dad is really good at the at stuff. I think half the furniture we had growing up was made by him, including the nice barn he made for all our toy horses when we were kids. BTW, those did not look like certified safety goggles!!! uh um….
That shirt cracks me up!
James Daniel
July 12, 2010 at 11:57 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Bricks get to be fun. You will get to the point that you can run bricks all of the time. The HARD part is running them fast.
Jon
July 12, 2010 at 4:09 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Man, you had an awesome weekend all around! Your running speed off of the bike is something I envy. Keep it up!
kc
July 12, 2010 at 6:24 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
A triathlete and a handyman! What a combination. You’ve got skills!
Nice brick. Your 7:37/pace is real nice.
Maria
July 13, 2010 at 10:35 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Good grief you a busy man. And quite the handy man! I can’t wait to see how the bar turns out!
Love the shirt…I’m not sure a donuts is worth 6 miles, but a bowl of ice cream sure is!
Mooney
July 13, 2010 at 1:52 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Re: bike times – cooking with gas. For our tri in NC I have a feeling that is where you will feed me my lunch.
Re: t-shirt – lovin it
Re: your focused look – I think you have perfected narcolepsy, sleeping behind your glasses while woodworking. Living on the edge, my friend.
Re: monitor stand – When I read “if it works”, my first thought was that if it doesn’t work, you will have two busted monitors
Re: lap desk – definitely clutch; buy some fabric and plush stuffing to staple underneath and presto! built-in cushion for ease on those aching legs.
Aimee (I Tri To Be Me)
July 13, 2010 at 2:51 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Sounds like you had a great week! Nice job on the brick. It’s always nice to be able to run well after a long bike ride! That’s when you know that your training has paid off!
I like all of your house projects too! I may have to have my husband make a couple of those laptop trays…what a great idea, and easy too!