Who Wants to Get Active--Belle
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Dec 10, 2007 6:03 PM
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Active Belle
in response to: Gale Bernhardt
Active Belle
in response to: Gale Bernhardt
Thank you for the detailed reply. This should help me balance things a little better.
I like the image you paint of the rag doll.
Also, I am really glad you mentioned bike gearing. I have been hearing more and more about having optimal gearing and I have also been told that I probably do not have it.
Hi Belle ~
Good questions. Let me go through each one:
- Swapping swim days from T/Th to M/W is fine. In general, try to keep same-sport workouts separated by about 48 hours in your plan. This helps with recovery and quality of workouts.
- For including ActiveX on your Friday rest day, I think you are fine doing that as long as it doesn't take too much out of you. Because you have been so active, you might be okay adding an extra workout; but, watch your energy and fatigue levels. For people just getting back into a fitness routine, I would not suggest adding more workouts. Watch that quantity does not rob you of quality.
- Fast group rides are okay as long as they aren't rag-doll fast and you pick your poison. First, get an image of a child running around and carrying/dragging a rag doll. The rag doll is flopping around and getting pretty beat up. If that's how you feel and you require couch-rest for the remainder of the day following a group ride, skip it and ride on your own. Or, find one or two buddies that want to ride your pace.
- As for picking your poison, in general athletes can handle between two and four hard/challenging/break-through/key workouts each week. If you try to make all workouts hard, they all become mediocre and none of them are effective at improving your fitness. If you want to ride with your group on some occasions, cut back the intensity somewhere else. One suggestion is to do the group ride the weekend before your rest week.
- For yoga, you can pretty much add it anywhere. Some yoga classes are really tough and strenuous. For those, refer to the last paragraph. Also, be cautious adding more workouts than your busy lifestyle can manage. You're in this for the long haul and too much too soon can wear you down.
It's been awhile since I've done Wildflower, but it's great fun. As we get closer to the race and do more hilly bike rides, we need to be sure you have the gearing on your bike that will help and not hold you back.
Hope you're having fun!