I have known for many years now that training needs to be done in cycles. Macro cycles as many coaches call it. If you think as your year as one big plan (as you should) then you can break that plan up into chunks. These chunks are often referred to as Macro Cycles. These chunks can then be broken up into smaller bits called Micro Cycles (typically a week each), but that isn't that what I am talking about here.
For lots of coaches, a Macro Cycle will be between 4 and 6 weeks, depending on what they are doing and whereabouts in the year they are sitting. By breaking the season into Macro Cycles it allows you to structure your training. You might start the season with a Macro Cycle focused on building a base, you might then build on that base with an increase in volume. The next Macro Cycle might include some intensity to start pushing the aerobic threshold. You get the idea, blocks of training to help focus on different training areas.
These Macro Cycles also help you to build some load and unload time into a program. A good program should incorporate rest in a couple of ways. Rest should be built into the Micro Cycle. Most programs will include a recovery day, whether that is a day of light training, or perhaps even a day of no training. This allows the body to recover so that the rest of the sessions in the week can be good quality. People tend to think that they will get fitter if they never take a break and just keep working. However, in the end that just wears you out and you get fatigued. At the very least a fatigued person isn't going to be train as well as a person getting adequate rest, therefore, the important sessions will be lacking in quality. In the worst cases a fatigued person just ends up getting sick or injured.
While rest in the Micro Cycle is important, I have always felt that rest is also important in the Macro Cycle. This rest might take the form of a lighter week every few weeks. Some people I know have a lighter week every third week. I have always liked having them every 4th week, but it depends a bit on the person.
The purpose of these rest weeks are two fold. They allow the body to recover from the 3 weeks of Macro Cycle that it has just been through, physically recharge before heading into the next Macro Cycle. However, the rests are also important a person's mental well being.
You can wake up and force yourself out the door day after day, week after week, but if you do it without respite you will crack eventually. Taking rest as planned is always much more effective than taking unplanned rest. Guaranteed that when you finally crack and stay in bed (and you will) it will come at a crucial time in your training when you really should be nailing those sessions. Planning recovery time into your Macro Cycle means that you will be able to keep getting yourself up and out the door when you need to.
Therein lies my rookie mistake. Since I am not training for anything anymore, I have just been exercising. Getting up each day and doing some training. I have had vague goals in mind, I would like to keep some running and riding fitness. Plus I am trying to getting better at paddle boarding. This has resulted in me doing a fair bit of exercise each week. So far this has been going on for the last 6 weeks, without respite.
Because I haven't had any structure to my exercise I have just been getting myself up and out the door. As the weeks have passed I have found it harder to get myself going. Last week, as I came to week 5 of my exercise I really struggled. This morning on the Kickr (week 6) was a real effort and in the end I happily cut the session short.
In hindsight I realise that these last two weeks (weeks 5 and 6) have been a couple of weeks longer than your typical Macro Cycle. I know from experience that I work best with a bit of a recovery week every 4 weeks or so, and yet I am several weeks past that point now. It is perhaps not surprising that I am feeling fatigued and struggling with motivation. On top of that I haven't been getting enough sleep.
It has long been said that as well as swimming, biking and running, rest and recovery are the other essential training sessions and the ones that are most neglected. I have long been aware of that lesson, but here I am finding myself make just that mistake. I have fallen into the classic folly of not letting myself rest because I feel that I need to keep training, rather than understanding that resting is part of training properly. Classic rookie mistake.
So with that in mind my endeavour this week is to take it a bit easier. I am not talking taking a week off exercise, but rather a week of lighter exercise to let my body and mind recover and recharge. I a week of doing what I know I should rather than doing what I feel I should.
Hopefully next week I will be able to come back to exercise re-engerised and re-invigorated. With any luck I will have also learnt my lesson.
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