Monday, March 3, 2014

Ready For a Week Of Recovery (And a Weekend In The Life of A+P)

After a good stretch of training hard and smart, it is time for a week of recovery!! We are so excited to head to St Croix for the USAT Coaching Clinic.  We love learning more about the body and mind, especially as it relates to training and we LOVE helping others to reach their fitness goals or find a passion for fitness.  The human body is truly amazing and allows us to do such amazing things, as long as we treat it right.  This coming week of recovery is just what our bodies are asking for – some nice active recovery swims in the sun, perhaps an open water swim with the US Virgin Islands Triathlon Federation (this would be our first OCEAN open water swim!), hiking, EZ jogs while the sunrises or sets, moving our body as active recovery in the sunshine is exactly what we need before we head into our “build” phase of training.


Here’s a quick peek at a current training weekend in the life of A+P Nelson:

Friday: 2500-3000yd swim after work (warmup, 12x50s with fins every 4 descending, Main set – ladder 100,200,400,200,100 w/out fins, 400 kick, cool down) followed by an hour strength & stretch session

Saturday: 3 hour trainer ride for Peg and 4 hour outdoor ride for Anthony (it was  bit cold for me to head outside on the bike – I’m a bit of a sissy when it comes to cold, especially on the bike!)  Ride included an hour of 5min on/off intervals at high Z3 and 2x20 mins at low/mid Z3, majority of the rest of the ride was steady upper Z2.  Followed up with a good 20 minutes of stretching and some homemade whole wheat pancakes with fruit, maple syrup and pecans! Trigger point therapy later in the day/evening.

Sunday – Run-Bike-Run Brick.  Thankfully it was warm enough to be outside for this workout, just had to wait until a little later in the morning.  2 mile EZ run with Anthony & Brutus, 1:30 ride outside with Anthony – Main set was 2x20 min at Z4!  I stayed on Anthony’s wheel for the first 20 minute piece and did the second piece solo.  My legs were ON FIRE after these two 20 minute pieces! Not gonna lie, I was a little nervous for the upcoming run and what my legs would (or wouldn’t) let me do.  Steady Z2 ride home.  ~50 minute run.  Comfortable warm-up with stop for some dynamic stretching – feeling pretty good, I found my legs quicker than anticipated!  Main set: 4x1 mile each faster than the last with 30 sec walk in between (90 sec before the last mile) 7:52, 7:26, 7:21, 7:14.  EZ cool down jog/walk.  Stretching and trigger point therapy throughout the day after this workout.


Wow, what a great weekend that was – I am so thankful to be able to share some of my training sessions with Anthony (& Brutus!).  What an awesome feeling it is to feel so strong for Fri, Sat AND Sundays workouts.  I stayed in the game mentally, fueled right before, during, and after each workout and stretched and used trigger point therapy to recover as well as I could for the next day’s workout.  Training hard and recovering hard really pays off.  Your body tells you what it needs if you listen and in return it will let you crank out some awesome workouts and make some serious gains!  I love a weekend full of moving my body and pushing my limits!  I hope you all got to move your body and show it some love this weekend. :)  



Do you find time to stretch and show your muscles some trigger point love?
How do you recover?
What's your favorite meal after a morning/afternoon of moving your body?

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