Off kilter

Sometimes your body gives you messages, sometimes these are physical, sometimes they are mental, sometimes they are subtle, sometimes they aren't.

I had a not so subtle message from my body yesterday and as a result I have had an interesting 24 hours of training.

Last night I had a complete melt down. Anybody who has kids will know that it can often be a frustrating experience. Being annoyed or even angry is not unusual. However, last night I totally lost it with my kids, a level of frustration that was inappropriate and disproportional.

After I had calmed down it forced me to go and take stock a little bit. What was clear to me was that the level of anger I had vented was not solely caused by my children, it was indicative of more. I wasn't entirely sure what, I wasn't feeling particularly stressed, but sometimes stress can be like that, bubble away until you pop. Same with tiredness. What I realised after was that I was really tired, however, I hadn't been feeling it before hand. Whatever the cause, the outcome wasn't really acceptable.

Losing my temper so badly shook me a little and so I wasn't on the trainer last night. I slept terribly last night too and so I this morning I stayed in bed. Sport is one thing, but being a decent human around my family is far more important and so my aim with the last 24 hours was to make sure I returned to that.

I was still feeling a little off kilter today and so I ended up coming back from work early and spending a bit of time just relaxing with the family at home.

In the end that was pretty much the remedy I needed, it picked me right up.

This afternoon I felt like I had regained my equilibrium enough to jump on the trainer and do the session from last night. It went very well and the added kick of endorphins means I am feeling more or less back to normal.

Whilst I am feeling a lot better now, it will be early to bed tonight to make sure I keep feeling good tomorrow.

As athletes, we tend to listen to the physical side of our bodies a fair bit, although sometimes not as much as we should. However, I think most of us are a lost worse at listening to our mental and emotional side. Life generally can get pretty demanding, trying to train for something like Ironman can push those demands past breaking point sometimes. At those times I think it is important that we are able to recognise the signs that things are getting a bit much and give our bodies the time it needs. We rest our body when we injure it, sometimes we need to let our minds have that luxury as well.