Week in review Dec. 28-Jan. 3: A week off work means my best training week in a long, long time

A nice training week.

I made the most of my holiday break by fitting in 11 hours and 45 minutes of base-building training. When I went back to my logs, the last time I had a total that high was August. Wow!!!

And honestly, I didn’t think I did THAT great this week. I took one day completely off, went for only one very short run, and didn’t do any yoga at all. But my bike was good, swim decent, and pre-hab above average. I guess that all adds up.

By the numbers:

Swim: Twice in the pool for 6400 meters in not quite 3 hours. I had the extra time, so why not do some longer sessions? I know I’m a long way away from blazing fast in the water, but this also included a sucked-less-than-this-time-last-year time trial, so that’s reassuring.

Bike: Four times, all on the trainer, for a total of 5 hours, 30 minutes. Whew! I got into an every-other-day routine starting on Monday and just stuck with it for the week, including a 1:45 “long ride” on Friday to start the new year off on the right foot.

Run: Only once, to test out my IT band and end the year on a whole number, of 1.69 miles in 17:35, a 10:25 minute per mile pace. Running slowly and for short distances feels OK on my knee, so I’m not doing to do much more than this for a while, I think.

Pre-hab: FOUR times for not quite two hours. This included a whole rotation of ankles, arches, hips, glutes, etc., and back around to ankles and arches again.

Weights/core: Twice, counting a Jillian Michaels DVD and a plyo session as two separate workouts, for about 1:15 total. I wanted to do another session this week but I just ran out of time. I didn’t want to barf quite so badly during the Jillian Michaels video this time around, so that’s at least a slight improvement.

Total: 13 sessions in about 11:45. A great week for me this time of year, much higher volume than what I’ve bene doing lately, and a great boost of confidence.

And like I mentioned, I feel I could have done more. The week included a last-minute dinner with friends, watching “The Big Short” (highly recommended), taking a day completely off to go shopping and hang out with my mom, and even doing some cleaning and organizing (a little). I feel like the week was a good mix of training, rest, and other fun stuff.

I was back in the office today so this week won’t be as training-heavy, but I’m going to try to get in some good sessions anyway. Here’s to keeping the momentum going for the new year.