On Tuesday, it felt strange to teach one spin class and have that be the end of my training for the day. No extended ride, no run afterwards. Just a 45-minute spin class.
The Husband kept me honest on Wednesday with our 45-minute swim. It felt great, aside from the bath-like temperature of the water, but I would've gone longer if I had been alone.
On Thursday, again, I just taught my spin class, and it was really starting to get to me. Triathlon training is supposed to be more intense than this! I fought the urge to go for a run in the afternoon. I felt discontent, grumpy, and just out of sorts. It was almost the end of the week, and I wasn't sore or fatigued. I was missing those tell-tale signs of progress.
These feelings are even stronger during tapering week right before a big race. As hard as it is to train for an endurance event for 12 to 16 weeks, it's almost as difficult for me to endure the week of tapering. At that point, I've worked so hard to build strength and endurance. I feel so ready to get ON with the race. So a week of scaling back and resting is torturous! Light 3-mile jogs, brisk walks, and the dreaded days of no physical activity at all make me feel like I'm losing ground. I start worrying that my muscles are atrophying, and that maybe I won't be able to ramp up the intensity after a week of slothfulness.
I saw the benefits of scaling back this morning during our 4-mile run. We ran fast, I kept up with the Husband until he hit the turbo boost button at mile 3, and even then I ran faster than my typical pace. After a week of lighter workouts, I felt fresh. I usually start Friday's run with that "just make it through" mentality. I show up to log the time as I will my tree trunk legs to take the next stride. But today was different. It was a solid run, and I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow's brick.
I know enough about exercise physiology to give some good advice to those that I coach in fitness classes. But I'm not very good at practicing what I preach.
I tell them to schedule 1-2 rest days each week, but I have a difficult time putting those days into my own weekly routine. When we exercise, our muscles experience microtrauma, and we need time to allow them to repair and rebuild. That's how we develop strength. Without those rest days we are more prone to injury, and we sabotage our efforts to get stronger. Our bodies also need time to replenish their energy stores. So when we push, push, push, push, we are operating on energy deficits of muscle glycogen. No wonder we feel so fatigued! We may burn a few extra calories, but our muscles aren't rebuilding; our muscle mass is actually decreasing. So over time, our overworked bodies become less effective and less efficient. We are burning fewer calories and running the risk of injury which could take away the ability to exercise at all.
I also tell my fitness participants how important it is to get 8 hours of sleep each night. And then I find myself settling for 6 or 7. When we don't get adequate sleep, our bodies increase the production of the stress hormone cortisol, which leads to weight gain. In addition, our bodies decrease the production of human growth hormone, which is necessary for repairing tissue. So if we aren't sleeping well, we are prone to weight gain, and our muscles aren't able to recover, leading to weaknesses that beg for overtraining injuries. So turn off that television and get some sleep!
In addition, the greater the training intensity, the greater need we have for recovery. So it's a good thing that I have a training partner who has developed a program that follows a periodization schedule. You can not train with increased intensity over a long period of time. You have to plan for cycles of intensity and periods of rest.
If we know the importance of rest, why do athletes feel guilty when we have a day off? It's not ignorance, because we KNOW the value of rest. But rest feels contrary to meeting the goals that are ahead of us.
How have we drawn the false conclusion that we must be going, going, going all of the time? It's even biblical to have a day of rest. It's not just right, it's mandated! God programmed us to work six days and to rest on the seventh. He even modeled it for us in His creation of the world.
Why do we ignore signs of malaise, fatigue, muscle soreness, and even mental fogginess? I wish I had an answer for that. (You all know that I'm blogging about this topic for the audience that needs it the most, right? ME!)
So, hang up those running shoes for a day.
The cycling shoes and the goggles too.
The time will come when we're thankful that we listened to our bodies, exercise physiology, and the mandate of the Creator of the Universe. And hopefully on the day that it counts, we'll be well-rested and ready to perform at our best.
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