Quiet Week

As I wrote last night, this week is a bit of a full one for coaching. The coaching, combined with a pretty terrible week of weather it is going to mean fun stuff all around. Thumbs up.

However, while the coaching is going to be a bit more, I am currently thinking that I am going to cut myself some slack on the training side of things.

Over the last few months I have been training pretty solidly for the race I had last weekend. The training wasn't specifically for that race, it was also in pursuit of general fitness and strength gains, but the race gave me something to focus on.

With my target race now complete I don't have another goal race until around August and so I have a bit less pressure to get myself out the door and get exercising. This reduced pressure also means a bit less drive to do the hard yards and I would be lying if I said the poor weather didn't also play a part in my reduced motivation. All up my desire to go outside was at a low ebb this morning and you know what, I think I am okay with that. In fact I think I am going to let that low ebb persist for at least another day or two.

I always feel it is necessary and healthy to give yourself a bit of a break from training each season. The off season is a perfectly natural place for this break as typically there are no pressing race goals to train for. You don't want the break to be too long, otherwise you lose too many of the gains you have made through the hard work of the race season, but a shortish break gives you a chance to refresh mentally without compromising you physically. A couple of weeks of no formal training is often the sweet spot. The mental break will help you have the energy to come back to training ready and raring to go, motivation high and enthusiasm cranking.

As I have said, you don't want the break to be too long, in the end the off season is where the foundation of the coming season is constructed and so you don't want to miss out on that. Also, we know from experience that those who train consistently and sensibly over a long period are the ones who make the biggest gains long term and so you want to avoid training in fits and bursts. However, having a bit of a break between one season and the next is not going to endanger your long term progress and in many ways may help it by giving you a recharge of motivation every season. Many athletes struggle to disconnect from training, fearing that they will lose too much fitness and form, however, that disconnection can be a healthy part of long term progress. The reality is that a short break won't lose too much fitness and what is lost can be rebuilt, but it can be very hard to rebuild motivation and passion once it starts to burn low.

For these reasons I am cutting myself some slack this week, having a few lazy days where I am not heading out the door if I am not feeling like it. I think I will be back into training by the weekend, but then I am out of town next week which will put another dent in the training. The aim is to have a couple of cruisy weeks before getting back into it refreshed and ready to go mid June. Should be a nice little break.