The past 2 years during my triathlon journey my season has ended by the last weekend in September and then i've taken a few days off work, had some time off training, and had a bit of a blowout before coming back refreshed. I'm always grateful of this time as boy do i need it by the time it comes around! This year was totally different though. All season i've been trying to get fit, trying to get training back to full speed and then when i recognised i could race late season I was excited to be able to do the obstacle course 5k race mid september all the way up in Scotland, the recent Carmarthen Cotswold Sprint 2 weeks ago, and then last weekend a tough 5 mile cross country race for the club in the local league. The final thing on the agenda was the Carmarthenshire Duathlon, this coming sunday, carried over from March when it was postponed due to freak weather.
However, i've made the decision not to race on sunday as i feel i'm mentally and physically exhausted and needing some downtime. I tried to talk myself into racing, "just one more race and then you can rest", "you've waited all season to race and now you can", etc. But…if i raced then it would be straight back to work the next day, and then come next weekend i feel i need to crack on with my dissertation as i've thoroughly neglected it during the data collection period - i wanted some mental head space from it for a while! What my body was telling me during training this week was that it was fatigued, that even though i was keeping sessions shorter that it was hard work and my body felt fatigued. I put this down to not having done speed work in my rehab work as the plan at that stage under my previous coach was just to build base back up and get back to fitness. Then, having raced a hard short flat out race 2 weeks ago, with a long run commute to work a few days later, and then the hard cross country race last weekend, i feel my body just isn't used to that level of intensity right now. I know if i raced sunday that whilst i would give it everything that physically i'm not sure how much would be in the tank. Yes, i've lost a fair bit of money over this season through races missed, but…that race was scheduled for March, I had never planned on racing this late into the autumn, and having been readying myself to race from early March of this year, here we are 8 months later and I'm done for the season, mentally and physically. I thought to myself that i should be fresh having not raced all season other than the past few weeks, but, the rehabbing has been draining, if not physically demanding, and i know myself well enough to know when i need to recharge my batteries. That's why when i looked at the training plan my previous coach had scheduled up until December i knew i couldn't achieve it as it was a level far beyond where my body and brain were at.
I'm back to full fitness, i'm grateful for that, but i also don't want to jeopardise that by racing or training when tired, so instead i've decided to take a few days off from training, to have a weekend of doing not much at all other than things that i enjoy, and to have a little blowout. That way, i'll be ready to switch back on and into a higher commitment zone come November. This month in my head is where i add in extra sessions that are not "tri" specific. Therefore, i'll dust off the boxing gloves, i'll get back to the climbing wall, and i'll take part in Turbovember III (turboing every day of November). This will mean i also dust off the sufferfest vids that have lain dormant for a year, and get back to enjoying training, even if it's bloody hard! I'll start doing interval work when running, i'll get the mountain bike out, i'll start building from where i'm at, rather than just sticking to baseline stuff. That doesn't mean i'll do so much that i burn out before the season starts, jus that i'll start adding in the next level of training having got my baseline fitness back up.
I always know when i need a break, but unfortunately the way my job goes means i have things in my diary booked up for weeks to come, so whilst i can't take any time off work, having a complete weekend off, and a few days off training until i feel recharged, is the next best thing. Mentally i feel pretty fried and physically i feel my muscles have nothing in them to give, even walking up stairs feels a chore, lol. I know i can't really complain, it's not like i have responsibilities like children to look after, i live alone, my time is my own, but i'm someone who soaks things up like a sponge until i need a little rest to let some of those things out again. What do i soak up you may ask…well in my job its typically other people's emotions, other people's terrible life stories, the stresses of colleagues in work who need to offload, trying to find a way to help people who are desperate, often suicidal, whilst also trying to find the time to keep on top of the reports that need writing (and my reports are often lengthy and need a fair bit of mental preparation), scoring up complex assessments that i have administered, and trying to find time to read to provide a better service to my clients. I get frustrated in my job that there's no obvious change on the horizon, things won't get better, and i'm likely to be in a similar position 10 years from now! I internalise all this. I don't get stressed very often (and when i do I'm like a headless chicken who can't speak(, but after a while it wears you down and you need some TLC even if that comes in the form of chocolate, beer, and sofa surfing for a day or so watching tv! So that's the plan…take a few days to not have to think about work, or training, or diet, or anything other than enjoying myself and recharging batteries so that i come back fighting fit ready to last through until Christmas!!
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