sometimes i hit a wall. sometimes the wall hits me. two weeks ago was thanksgiving. which for me, as a teacher that meant i had wednesday through sunday off of work. and since i wasn’t hosting thanksgiving that also meant that i didn’t have much to do other than make a small dessert to the gathering. on my schedule that week was the basic workouts i had been doing – nothing too much crazier or more intense that what had been going on. wednesday morning i even got up to swim and it was lovely. i felt great, was so productive – then after thursday’s festivities and fun, the wall showed up. i was getting increasingly more tired on friday – possibly because i was on my feet all day shopping, but more likely, the accumulated stress that i had put my body through. that when i awoke on saturday my body said eff you. i had all intentions of going to the gym and running or doing my long ride or running outside but time kept moving forward and the couch was so comfortable that in the end i watched tv and didn’t do my workout. and i probably would’ve skipped sunday as well but made plans with cheryl to run, in which we “ran” for awhile, but also did a fair amount of walking and talking. the wall had crept up on me. then monday morning when i woke up at 4:15 to swim and my hamstrings screamed at me for using them at all, i knew i needed to rest. i needed to eat. i needed to stretch and melt. i needed to focus on the recovery. and good for me, it was recovery week. but as i checked my email and looked at what the plan had in store for this week i became panicked. i saw that things weren’t really diminished and i still had all my strength workouts – i frantically texted coach k about these things and she eased my mind by saying it had slipped hers. whew. and then. the new plan for the week showed up. take monday completely off and eat (now that’s a plan i can follow!). tuesday yoga and a long easy ride. wednesday swim. thursday melt and friday off. saturday had an easy 3 mile run in store as well. and so. all of sudden i was in a recovery week. my mind was at ease and my body began to feel better. i was also ravenous. i couldn’t seem to get enough into my body to satiate myself. i knew that on off days sometimes i felt this way but i’ve never felt it so much as last week. i know i was supposed to be enjoying the week and taking some time for myself which to coach k and others i’m sure, meant to keep my feet up and get loads of sleep – which i definitely did, it meant for me that i could catch up on my cooking and baking. i could clean my house. i could spend some time with s. i could get stuff done in my studio. it was wonderful. but by saturday i was certainly beginning to get bored and was excited by starting up again.
it’s funny i always think that i’ll be a bit rusty or off after a recovery week even though i know that it’s never that way. and this week so far has proven to be the same. i had a fabulous long ride on sunday, riding for 2:55 and according to my computer, i rode 53 miles in that time. i know that it was on a trainer, so there is some discrepancy to the real world application to those numbers, but it certainly helped my ego. and i had an incredible swim monday morning, swimming 2600 yards with about 1000 yards of almost pure sprinting, within that i was consistent and felt strong.
and then. this morning. the alarm went off at 4:15. and i fought with myself. i wanted to sleep. it was cold and dark. i knew i needed to get my ride in. but it was a maintenance ride i told myself. i could do it on friday. today was our anniversary. i fought with myself until 5:45 when i had decided to just move the ride to friday and stay in bed. and then the triathlon gods looked down upon me – and schools had a two hour delay. woo hoo. i could get my sleep AND my ride in. so at 6:45 i jumped out of bed and rode. i got it done and felt great. but i convinced myself that i would do the strength another time – i mean come on it’s our anniversary, i don’t want to be sore. haha. so i ate breakfast and started to get ready for school. and then again the triathlon gods looked down and cancelled school altogether. apparently they saw the need to get all the workouts in today. and so they have. and i feel great about that. no need to put off what can be done today.
lizzie fortin 