There is a saying… sometimes you’re the hammer, and sometimes you’re the nail.  Going into my workouts today, I wasn’t sure whether I would be the hammer or the nail.

In my blog yesterday, I wrote about going easy ahead of my big workout day today.  I had gone hard earlier in the week, and suspected that I might be digging myself into a hole that would affect future workouts.

Well I was right; today I was definitely the nail.  My workouts beat me up today, and my legs are fried.  I had a three and half hour ride, that included five intervals of fifteen minutes at 70.3 effort and above.  I only did three of those intervals before calling it a day and just riding easy for the rest of the schedule time.

In addition to the bike workout, I also had a short run off the bike; I came close to not doing it. In the end however, I chose to do the run, because it was designed to be all easy effort.  The run was a struggle, but surprisingly my pace was about where it normally is, when I am fresh.  The body surprises you sometimes, and this is a great lesson for racing.  If you just keep moving through the pain, you can sometimes still perform well.

As a result of today, I am adjusting my schedule for the next two days. Tomorrow was supposed to be a long run, with a very hard effort finish. Sunday was supposed to be an easy effort swim, with a pull buoy.  I am swapping these days around, in the hope that I can recover sufficiently tomorrow, to have an effective run on Sunday. 

My goal is to be the hammer, and not the nail, on Sunday.