The good bit was that I went for a run and it felt like another step forward. The run was 15km just like the one I did on Saturday morning, except this one felt significantly better (and was quicker too). In my experience the body returns to fitness and the habit of exercise pretty quickly and this morning was a confidence boosting step in that direction. So that was the good.
The bad was that whilst the run felt better, it really took a fair bit out of me. While I tried to keep the heart rate under control, I was also trying to do some short efforts and those efforts sent the heart rate through the ceiling. In the end I had to turn down the intensity on the last few efforts just to keep the heart rate from getting out of hand. In the end though my Garmin still told me this at the end of the session.
I don't usually pay that much attention to recovery time adviser given to me by Garmin, but in this case it caught my eye. When I first finished the run it read 3 Days. I have never had the Garmin recommend a recovery time in days before. To me that indicates that the session might have erred on the too intense side. Perhaps just a tad...
This of course is the dilemma faced by athletes returning to fitness. The temptation to push hard to return to their previous levels of fitness vs the knowledge that pushing too hard is actually counter productive. Deep down most of have some knowledge of heart rate zones and which zones work best for various outcomes. For example I know that for rebuilding fitness like I am at the moment working slow and steady is the best approach. Regardless of that knowledge I found my heart rate hitting up above 170bpm several times this morning. Slow and steady that is not.
The reminder I have to keep giving myself is that while you can't rush fitness, you don't really need to. Working consistently and diligently is all it needs. Mix a consistent approach with some time and voila fitness will ensue. As I have often said, it isn't rocket science. Just persistence and patience. All I need to do now is display some of that.
My next chance to display some of these attributes will come tomorrow. Tomorrow I am doing something a little bit different with a trip down to Busselton for a bit of training. The actual training won't be too much different to what I would usually do in Perth, but the location and being away from home make for a nice weekend of focused training. It all kicks off tomorrow with a long ride (rather than my usual Saturday long ride), followed by a long run on Saturday. Plus of course enjoying the particular joy that is swimming down around Busselton in Summer. Lovely.
Slow and steady.
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