This is always the difficult bit (for me anyway)….having some time off.
Watching your fitness on Training Peaks drift away, never to be regained, lost forever!
Of course, it will come back in time with some prescribed training, periodised and gradual overload, with some rest (maybe!). I’ve been listening to a podcast, today actually, regarding a very famous Ironman Champion who suffered when doing nothing. It hit a chord with me straight away – almost stopped me driving to be fair, I was close to pulling into the nearest lay-by and listening to the rest of the interview.
It’s always the “best of” that you hear from professional athletes, how they celebrate the good times and how they succeed and “how you could too” but never the downside, never the suffering, the injuries, the setbacks, the psychological trauma during these times. I’m always curious about the things these athletes don’t say, I’m reading between the lines. It was like a breath of fresh air listening to this athlete laying it bare so-to-speak. Saying that they suffered when doing nothing. Saying that when there was a 90-minute session set then it had to be 90-minutes, no short-cuts, bringing it down to an hour was not an option, almost a sign of weakness to even consider it.
I feel the same. Whatever is prescribed is what needs to be completed. I can’t stop short.
This week is particularly difficult as it’s “Reset Week”, advised by my good friend who’s helping me out with some bike sessions and by a new coach on the horizon who may be the key to having a great 2021 Triathlon Season and maybe beyond. In fairness it lasted a day…. I’ve since had a couple of short runs and a weights session at the local health club. I’m here, sat on my sofa guilty with the fact I’ve kept a little bit going until I start a new regime next week, but also happy that I’ve kept my Couch to 5k regime going and attended the gym to continue my Strength & Conditioning to avoid that nasty running injury from a few months ago. Many welcome the break, most swear by it but I find it detrimental to my mental health to do nothing. Not because I’m sat at home, getting a “4-wall syndrome” chasing shadows or something like that but just because I like the process of training, of keeping fit. After all, this was my profession for two decades – a Personal Trainer at several Local Health Clubs throughout the years, teaching 1-2-1 sessions, taking classes and leading by example most of the time.
The back-end of 2020 has ended quite well I suppose, in my last blog there was a 50-mile TT that ended with a lifetime Personal Best, the weekend that followed was a bit of a write-off – another 50 mile TT with blustery winds on an unforgiving course that ended prematurely (thankfully) with a puncture at 12 miles. A DNF (did not finish) that played heavy on my mind for a few days until I got back into training whilst booking my next event – two 10mile TT’s and a 25mile TT.
The first 10 mile TT was on a local country course at a low-key “turn up & ride” club event. I had ridden out there the week before at a previous event and watched others competing and thought to myself “I haven’t ridden this course for over a year” so I decided to get the TT bike out and rumbled round in 23:57 – another course PB on not the best of nights. Again the mental side of things took a turn when I started to put some pressure on myself to avoid failure before the start. A few club mates turned up so all of a sudden it wasn’t just about going out there to see what I could do, it was to avoid embarrassment of posting a crap time!
To try and distract these thoughts I spent my time worrying about Suzy and her TT effort. The same as anyone, her 2020 racing calendar has been decimated due to COVID so her coach has set her this TT as her target race so today was “The Day”. She did not disappoint as she smashed her course PB by a couple of minutes – job done!
That weekend Suzy & I, along with Danny & Michelle disappeared to Chesterfield and the Peak District for a bit of a weekend away riding bikes and generally getting away from the stress. Keen on showing them a good route through the Peak District I got totally stressed when we got lost! Not quite the stress-free weekend! In fairness they weren’t bothered, they had a good bike ride, stopped in Bakewell, had a Bakewell Tart and a Coffee on a nice day. That along with a few drinks and a couple of good nights and good food made for a nice few days away – looking forwards to the next in October where we were supposed to go to Majorca but due to travel restrictions we’re staying closer to home so the roads will hopefully be better known so we won’t get lost!
The following Sunday morning was a swift 10TT on a well known fast course, I posted 22:16 which is my fastest for nearly 3 years so I had to be pleased. Nevertheless, I wasn’t. Always looking for criticism I was low on power and could’ve gone harder.
With the 25 TT coming in two weeks time I rode with the DAP guys last Sunday, a bit of a shock to the system to be fair, the sudden surges required when riding on a group was quite difficult considering I’ve been riding to set/prescribed power outputs on the indoor trainer for a few weeks between TT’s and the weeks’ training load saw me go past 1000TSS (if you know you know) so legs were a bit heavy. Nonetheless I still survived to tell the tale and was there or thereabouts in the final rip-up to the pub!
The 25 TT a few days ago was the last ride for 2021 and I was happy that the 57:25 posted put that as my 2nd fastest on that course, the fastest I’d gone for (again) nearly 3 years and a much better power output. But yet still not happy with the fact I’d come in about 45th place whereas “back in the day” I’d be close to a top-10 – which (if you’re interested) would’ve been around 55 minutes on the day.
Swimming-wise, it’s been a few sessions just doing around 2000m each time, either 2x1000m or 10x200m or 20x100m or bucket loads of 40m sprints (x50) with a bit of rest between efforts. Other than that nothing structured so it’ll be pretty good to see if the new regime has a few ideas in store for me. One thing I need to do is avoid that damned Pool Bouy – my crux. My “Go To” when I’m not feeling it. The Buoy just lifts my legs up and makes it feel like I’m wearing a wetsuit, which is so much easier!
Running – as mentioned briefly above I’m having a go a “Couch to 5k” as I need to get back to running 30 mins or so without injury. I did a 20-min run the other day, straight out with no issues so it looks promising, no stress, just small steps at the moment before I have to step it up and overload a bit to get to ROTH next year!
So new horizons…
I’m having a chat with someone on Monday, if I’m honest I’m apprehensive as I’ll be told to rest up and take days off which I have already said is detrimental to my own wellbeing. My experience of the last two coaches I’ve engaged with have been both up & down affairs doesn’t help that apprehension. On the whole it’s great to have new ideas and a fresh approach to training but if there are chinks in the armour in their coaching approach then I’ll spot it and they’ll lose their credibility (in my mind) pretty quickly. I’d rather go out and do an ‘easy hour” on the bike or a jog around the block rather than nothing so I’ll be sure to mention it – Professional Cyclists do a 2-hour ride on Grand Tour Rest Days so why can’t I!
Moving into 2021, well, that’s just a repeat of this year – hopefully with less COVID issues and less injuries!
And finally, and by no means less important, a weight loss plan as comments made at a local TT along the lines of “could lose a few pounds” has really got to me 🙁