Listening

A day of listening to my body today.

I woke up feeling okay this morning, the sleep had been good and I was feeling resting. The weekend had included some decently solid sessions, 150km or so on the bike on Saturday and a long run on Sunday had taken it out of me, but I was feeling like I was recovering. As such my plan for today was to get in a bit of water running this morning and then a bit of a swim this afternoon.

The water running bit went fine, a nice solid hour or so made up of a bunch of intervals. Water running has its detractors but most studies I have read say that when done properly it is a good analogy for running. If it provides me with a way of getting in extra running miles without putting extra wear and tear on my body, then I am there.

It wasn't until I got to the office after the water running that I started feeling flat. Not so much tired, just weary. That destinct feeling of knowing I was still recovering from my weekend of training.

At this point I had two choices, push on or rest. Pushing on with a swim this afternoon would not have been pretty, but I could have got through it. No doubt. On the side of pushing through was the fact that as long course triathletes we have to deal with fatigue, pushing on when tired is part of what we do. Sometimes putting ourselves into training while fatigued is deliberate.

On the negative side for pushing through was the knowledge that I have a whole solid week of training ahead of me. I have ample opportunities to swim during the coming week, but pushing through this afternoon may mean I don't get a proper rest for a couple of days. That would mean the fatigue I am feeling now probably continuing to grow through the week, impacting the quality of my training.

So that was the decision I was faced with. Really there were decent arguments for pushing on with training and also for easing it off. In the end it was listening to my body that led me in the direction of resting. I have been training with this body for a good few years now and over that time we have come to understand each other fairly well. I know from experience that what I was feeling today was more than the 'kind of can't be bothered but will go if you insist' tired and more into the 'mate, I could really do with a rest' tired. Sounds silly and unscientific, but really that is what it came down to.

Training for any sort of sport isn't all that complicated, it is a matter of doing good quality work consistently. Day in, day out. Simple as that. However, a side note to that is that the training has to be smart. You can't just flog your body every day and expect it to keep backing you up. It will for a while, but if you don't listen when your body is asking for rest, eventually it will break down on you. I am a long way from that point but it is still an important lesson. Today I chose to listen so that tomorrow I can get back on with it.

Looking forward to it.