When in Doubt…Be Careful What You Ask For
1 Mar
I train in 4 week blocks, where I’m “on” for 3 weeks, and “off” for 1. Typically the volume and intensity builds throughout the blocks, but this past block has been fairly interesting. It started off on Valentine’s Day not going according to plan, and I feel like I spent the first week just playing catch up.
Week 1 ended with a big week for us and a good amount of fatigue. Week 2 we got in some solid work and riding, though I felt less fatigued on Sunday evening than I had the prior week. This week is week 3.
Some interesting changes and vastly different feelings from week of my last block where I felt like my feet were shooting rainbows and that I was winning at life.
Monday -
MOAR COFFEE, gym time, after a blow-out meal session Saturday night we’ve been really back on health-track with nutrition – healthy meals and lots of water all week, not stoked on the rain!
Tuesday -
Where did this cold come from? 80F in shorts and tee last Friday to winter boots, wool, arm/knee warmers, and winter gloves. We decided to do Tuesday’s ridiculously difficult interval session on a different hill. It hurt. A lot. Coming back from repeats Justin ran through a box of screws on the side of the road and flatted – it went through his rim puncturing his rim strip, tube, and tire. It was so cold I should’ve worn my electric socks during the intervals, since I didn’t, I wore them after. Re-heating. Spaghetti squash with lots of veggies!
Wednesday -
Sunny at least, but still cold. Same gear as the day before! My first trip out on Domenigoni since probably June of last year. Made it all the way to Winchester and still was short on time. Re-flat. Tube poked through the hole in the rim strip and blew. D’oh. Time for new rim strip for Justin, and a new tire. We’ve been ravenously hungry lately with all the miles, but we both managed to forego Samoas and knock-off jelly beans.
So, back to “be careful what you ask for”…
Tuesday I actually physically stopped, on the shoulder, halfway through my interval set to check TrainingPeaks to make sure I was doing it correctly. Justin flew by, “What are you doing?!” “This can’t be right!” He was descending down the hill, but apparently called out, “No, this is most definitely wrong to do this to ourselves by choice.” Hm.
I barely got through my session, my legs were just SORE. I spent the evening almost too tired to make dinner or eat. Slept ok that night, but felt a low level of general fatigue and malaise all day Wednesday, and was barely motivated to do my ride. I did, and didn’t feel horrible, and definitely wasn’t as tired Wednesday night, but I was sore and worried about how the race opener this weekend would go with the intervals I had on tap for Thursday. So, I mentioned something about racing being possibly really hard this weekend. After whining about sore legs on Tuesday.
Coach’s response? Take Thursday and do 1.5 hours easy instead of 36 minutes of hard efforts. At first I felt this release of stress and actually felt relieved. Thursday dawns and naturally I’m left with low-level anxiety over skipping the workout. I know I’m fatigued, even though I slept okay again Wednesday night, but with a full recovery week on tap for next week, I still am nervous I’ll be missing out on a useful workout.
John, fast and wise as he is, reminded me, “When in doubt, rest.” So, I’m going to take the email and the advice to heart, and instead of digging a hole that is bigger than I can climb out of, I’ll enjoy the extra day of rest, try to put in some solid intensity this weekend racing, and hopefully be on track for a good weekend at the Pro XCT at Bonelli in 1.5 weeks.
Meanwhile, Wednesday’s recovery dinner – full of healthy leafy greens and omega-3′s.
So, between sore legs, tired brain, cold weather… I’ll take the easy miles the next few days and have fun throwing down this weekend. I’m slightly bummed (ok, I’m a lot bummed) at missing the big Pro XCT race in Texas, but instead I’m saving money, racing locally, and hopefully will have a good weekend with friends!
Good luck to everyone racing this coming weekend, be it at Vail, Fontana, or Texas!
After a successful 2010 that led Allison to her 1st international competition, at the 2010 UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships in Mont-Sainte-Anne, she succumed to an injury that kept her off the bike and out of training for 2011. Missing out valuable training time, race experience, and needed results in 2011, Allison has ensured 2012 will be a solid year of training, racing, and new experiences across the country and internationally where she plans to race and promote Bikes for Boobs benefitting Mammograms in Action. She continues to ride and race with mutual support from Rock N' Road Cyclery in Orange County, as well as with her husband, Justin.
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