Perspective

Quite an awesome day today. Nothing particularly special, just solid basics, no work, plenty of time to relax, some good training sessions, chores done, some good time with the family. All the ingredients for a very satisfying day.

Training today was very similar to training last Friday and with it came a similar message. Training doesn't have to set the world alight to be effective.

Training this morning was paddling. I mentioned the other day that I have a big paddling race coming up in a bit over a week and so this session was in aid of that. The aim of the session this morning was 90 minutes of steady paddling. In the triathlon world this would be the equivalent to a long steady run. Get out and do some quality miles to work the base fitness as well as build strength.

However, to make the session this morning just a little bit more complicated it was quite windy and the water was a bit rough. This makes paddling a lot more technical, a lot like swimming in rough water. It isn't impossible, just more challenging. It also meant that session this morning was unsatisfyingly slow.

However, as I mentioned above, slow and technical doesn't mean it was a waste of time. Quite the opposite in fact. The session might have been slow because of the conditions, but I spent the entire 90 minutes smack in the middle of the right intensity zone. From a physiological perspective the session was spot on, Exactly what it was for.

As an added benefit the technical nature of the session also bought with it advantages to technique. I wouldn't advocate training in tough conditions all the time as I think it can hamper the development of good technique (irrespective of sport), but sometimes it can be good to train in less than ideal conditions to test those skills a little. This morning's session was a good illustration of that. Sure the challenging conditions were tough and a bit frustrating at the time, but I am stronger and for the experience and that is never a bad thing.

I am so often reminded that training is what you make it. If you are determined to have a bad session then there is a very good chance that you will. If you are willing to take on a challenge and look for the positives in them, then chances are that the session will be beneficial for you. Guess which athlete tends to be more successful long term.