I'm in The Hole and I have 2 weeks to shake it.
I noticed it last weekend.
Very busy work weeks, threw in some travel, hosting the in-laws and my workouts have been sucking for a week now.
My first race in 2 years is coming up Jun 28th.
I can't decide if A) I picked up a virus which is holding me back / always tired or B)I overdid it for a a couple of weeks heading into this and now I just need a couple of days rest or C) I'm right where I'm supposed to be heading into a race and I should stick to the last 2 weeks of my SC plan to the 'T'.
It's in my head. If I stand down b/c of possible virus or overtraining, then I sabotage the last few weeks heading into this race. And, if I stick to the plan and carry on, I could sabotage the race by not resting like maybe I need to right now.
These are my concerns.
I'm leaning to sticking to the plans, the best that I can, and telling myself that is how we feel heading into a race. IM vs HIM vs Oly vs Sprints. Doesn't matter. The idea remains to work hard and suffer thru a taper. (of course, tapers vary per race and per individual).
Thanks for listening.
Comments
I agree with Robert, the last 2 weeks are for sharpening. Some say "the hay is in the barn". If you aren't feeling quite right for whatever reason, more rest is probably going to do you more good than pushing through it. Maybe try just doing the top priority wkos and just the MS and see how that feels.
Also, your body does not know the difference between training stress, mental stress or emotional stress and you have been loaded with all 3 lately. Your body responds to all the stresses the same way with adrenalin and cortisol. You end up eating less, sleeping less. Burn both muscle and fat for energy and your immune system is ignored. If you try to continue to pile on the training workload at some point either before, during or after your race you will get sick.
Listen to what your body is saying. Get the rest and sleep you need now. Focus on high quality nutrition. Leave the big workouts for another time and put your training energy into low volume, high quality efforts like suggested by others.
With the fitness you have built over the past years you will do great as long as you stop digging a deeper hole.
I've read that you won't improve fitness within 10 days of the event, so it probably stands to reason that you should rest, shake the bug, active recovery sort of things. The work you've put in will be there when you need it, if you don't lose your mind now.
You guys are great!
@ Robert - stressing over this race? No Big Freak Out, but I do want to do well and I feel that there is NO pep in my step this week. Was crushing my bike and run workouts up until a week ago. Since then, I've been grinding out the bike intervals in the Pain Cave and my run wko's always felt like I couldn't catch up to the prescribed paces or hold them very long. Like I said, I'm stressing over this race mainly b/c I don't race often and this is my A for the first 1/2 of this season. My little HIM in Oct is bigger to me than this one but I still want to place respectably at this historically very competitive race.
@Kim- guilty as charged. But, I caught it early. That's why I'm dusting off the Pain Cave. I'm headed back to the trainer to keep things in more control. This could be one reason why I'm dragging. I'm only guilty of this for the last couple of weeks. So, it will have been a stress/recovery that will pay off in 2 weeks or something that I'll learn from heading into that Oct HIM.
@Steve- You're absolutely right about the impossibility of comparmentalizing stress/response in our lives. This is something I've really paid attention to over the last couple of years and the acceptance of that helps stave off the crazies during times like this. Can't do much tweaking when work or life chaos picks up. Unfortunately, it's the workouts that are the variables that have to be adjusted. And, that's great for snapping out of the funk, but the fear is that the legs/lungs won't be ready to work hard for long periods of time when there's been detour down the ez road at the wrong time heading into race week. It is what it is. Being busy at work and having a very active family....good probs to have, eh? The tri training & racing knows it's place around here.
@Dawn, JC, Stephanie- Thanks! And, I am very confident that this is the simmering time. I have no reason to write off a solid performance at this upcoming race. I am all in on showing up ready for a PR and moving up in the AG results.
Another thing that I must consider is that the SC Plan or GF Plan are no jokes. Just b/c it's short course doesn't mean that it's easier.
Thanks so much for listening to me whine for a day or two!
Chris,
I'd agree with what's been said. The thing I'd ask is are you tracking other metrics like hours of sleep, waking HR? I find that I know when I'm overachieving by an elevated waking HR, this could also be from a virus as well. If you don't have a base line then it's not going to help but perhaps something to follow.
You definitely don't want to get sick I've gone in to a race that way having done very little the previous week and a half. I was very sluggish especially early in the race.
You've been smart all season with your training just carry that fitness in.
Gordon
I'm pretty consistent about getting 6.5 to 7 hrs sleep. Wish it could be more but if I go to bed much earlier, I'd see my family even less. Some nights are hit or miss b/c of work responsibilities. But, the waking HR is something I need to start tracking. I need a quiet, dimly lit timer that will help me count my pulse as soon as I wake up.
I'm starting to rule out the virus thing and I'm leaning to just a period of fatigue. Actually, I'm starting to think it's the ''Right where you're supposed to be when your 2 weeks out from a race'' kind of fatigue. I looked ahead at this week's wko's and they start backing off a bit. I think I'll know more after the next couple of days.
In addition, I had to take a very important re-certifying exam (comes around every 6yrs and gotta pass to work) and that's been an added factor for the last couple of months. Coincidentally, Sunday's ride and run felt a little bit better. Still tired but there was a little more pep.
Thanks!
Massive oozing out of swollen eyes. Considerable congestion but mainly the crusty eye thing. Not enough to knock me out. Virus or bacterial, I'm just going to ride it out. Nothing to do if it's viral. And, im not going the antibiotic route unless it takes a crazy bad turn. Antibiotics are known for a very sluggish phase 10-14 days after. Heading into this race, I'd rather take my chances with my body doing what it's supposed to do on its own.
This sport has really forced me to be cognizant of changes as they happen. This is probably the fourth time (over a few years) that my workouts took an abrupt change for the worse with nothing but fatigue as a symptom. Then, some kind of malady shows up a week or two later.
I guess we spend so much time on the edge that we know something ain't right when can't get back to that edge.
Now, let's get to that race and see if I'm right??.
+1
Bike: I plan on spinning ez with a couple of pickups. About an hour on Thurs, 1.5 -2 hrs on Sunday.
Run: Ez jogging with a couple of strides or accels. 4mi max tomorrow (Wed). Similar but shorter session on Fri and Sat.
RPE's of 5-7 with some very brief moments of pushing it a bit, by feel, backing back down before I feel taxed.
That puts me into race week. The shorter wko's scheduled that week will prob fall right in line with what I'm doing with the back off this week. Basically, an extended taper.
Will I lose fitness? No. Will I lose the feel for holding hard work? I dunno, maybe. But, I'm backing off about as much as I can without shutting it down.
Thoughts on this plan would be greatly appreciated and any tweaks will be considered.
Best oly, yet. Not just with times but with execution despite having some tech issues. From swim to run.
Never would've bet on this. 3 weeks ago, started a 2 week back off b/c my legs were fighting that quicksand grind. Not so much as a 'taper' as Red Flag Recharge. This week, I did some really short workouts with a few accels, both bike and run.
So, too long of rest to call it a taper but long enough to get my legs back just in time to race.
At this race in Chattanooga, I traditionally have pushed too hard on the bike and then suffered on the run with 9-10min/miles.
Today, my bike felt great, left a touch in the bank (Stages PM never fired up but that is for another thread) and started the run with a light step. When I checked my pace, I was shocked to see zn3 on the hills and low end zn4 on the flats. Even more surprised to see that it held up with no fade,
Thanks for all of the feedback and perspective on what 'it' looked like to you guys.
The extra rest definitely helped.
Woo Hoooooo!!!!!!!!!