"Are you feeling any fatigue?"
For the past 3 weeks Matt has been asking me the same question, "Are you feeling any fatigue?" My response every time has been an emphatic, "NO", followed by some phrase like, "that's all you got, bring it, don't hold out on me, I feel great, Let's goooo, etc, etc" Looking back I should have asked him why he was asking me that question so often? Oddly enough when you are feeling great and making progress there is little proper reflection and critique. In reality one should be looking even closer at those sessions that you nail to the point of over analysis.
So taking some of my own advice, here is my reflection of the past two months:
For the past two months I have trained hard 7 days a week. I figure that I have hit 95% of my training goals and without a doubt have improved my fitness and knowledge of triathlon. Within the past 2 months I have only had 2-3 scheduled days off (I trained anyway) and have only missed 1 training session (I made it up later in that week) so I have pretty much been going full throttle until this week.
REFLECTION: On scheduled days off . . . TAKE OFF! I will hopefully learn this sooner than later. However with this unseasonably "warm" weather and feeling great, it has been hard to stay out of the pool, out of the saddle and unlaced. Taking time off seems to be a major issue with me and something I better learn or I'm not going to reach my goals this season!!!! There will be plenty of time to train and the days I have off I can dedicate to my wife and family because I know that sooner than later the volume of training is going to increase dramatically and I wont have the option of spending as much time with loved ones.
CONSEQUENCE: As a result of not taking time off, holiday madness, and my continuing exploration of proper, and high quality recovery, I can now answer, "yes" to Matt's question. Yes, I do feel fatigued. I nailed my run session on Monday, "mile" repeats, and then the curtain closed. After that session I felt very tired and fatigued. I took Tuesday off since I had family coming into town and decided to do a quick scheduled run on Wednesday. I had a horrible run and didn't even finish the 50 min session. My legs felt tired and heavy. I dove home from the gym slightly disappointed but was happy that I listened to my body and ended the session early versus trying to muscle through it. My, yes, response to Matt's question was further underscored immediately following my return home, when I fell asleep for 2.5 hrs! Your body is saying something when you sleep for that long. I planned on hitting the trails today for a an hour or so but upon waking up I still feel tired so I'm deciding to bag it. The rest of today and the week I will closely monitor my fatigue level, stretch, hydrate, relax and sleep.
So taking some of my own advice, here is my reflection of the past two months:
For the past two months I have trained hard 7 days a week. I figure that I have hit 95% of my training goals and without a doubt have improved my fitness and knowledge of triathlon. Within the past 2 months I have only had 2-3 scheduled days off (I trained anyway) and have only missed 1 training session (I made it up later in that week) so I have pretty much been going full throttle until this week.
REFLECTION: On scheduled days off . . . TAKE OFF! I will hopefully learn this sooner than later. However with this unseasonably "warm" weather and feeling great, it has been hard to stay out of the pool, out of the saddle and unlaced. Taking time off seems to be a major issue with me and something I better learn or I'm not going to reach my goals this season!!!! There will be plenty of time to train and the days I have off I can dedicate to my wife and family because I know that sooner than later the volume of training is going to increase dramatically and I wont have the option of spending as much time with loved ones.
CONSEQUENCE: As a result of not taking time off, holiday madness, and my continuing exploration of proper, and high quality recovery, I can now answer, "yes" to Matt's question. Yes, I do feel fatigued. I nailed my run session on Monday, "mile" repeats, and then the curtain closed. After that session I felt very tired and fatigued. I took Tuesday off since I had family coming into town and decided to do a quick scheduled run on Wednesday. I had a horrible run and didn't even finish the 50 min session. My legs felt tired and heavy. I dove home from the gym slightly disappointed but was happy that I listened to my body and ended the session early versus trying to muscle through it. My, yes, response to Matt's question was further underscored immediately following my return home, when I fell asleep for 2.5 hrs! Your body is saying something when you sleep for that long. I planned on hitting the trails today for a an hour or so but upon waking up I still feel tired so I'm deciding to bag it. The rest of today and the week I will closely monitor my fatigue level, stretch, hydrate, relax and sleep.
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