Thikning you are still high performing

Running through a season like a madman, even if you planned only 8 races is not a good idea. The body to become stronger needs significant amount of constant rest. This must be done in the form of a couple of consecutive days between races or after hard weeks and maybe 2 to 4 weeks of rest after a big block training / racing. 

Of course, the "you must know, understand and listen" to your body framework is still applied here. There might some phases of your year, where these consecutive days would still include a couple of hours of training, like 1 hour of pilates and 3 hours of zone 1, 90-100bpm heart rate e-bike riding. Other times you will chose complete rest. Most importantly, you'll always hyper-hydrate, fill up your tank, sleep and nap as much as possible and avoid stress. If you woke up every single day at 6am, now for these 3 days off, you sleep in. You might chill only for three days, but maybe you planned well the week too, at a low volume, low intensity, low frequency manner. You might want to sleep in every day and just go with the flow, till your mojo is back. 

Personally, I am often hyped up after a race and chilling while in this state is not my thing. This is why I plan the days off after the race with a slight delay. For instance I would be hiking around and would be doing a couple of long and easy bike rides, to keep the blood flowing, taking care of muscular and cardiovascular recovery. Then next week on Monday, my real recuperation would be on the schedule. This might mean two weeks lost in the mind of some, but in reality, this is two weeks added to longevity and long time gains. 

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Then there is the end of season brake. Summer time the south of France is just too harsh to train. Too hot, too busy, too polluted, too humid. The recovery should be planned this time of the year. In this final month of August, down here we can really over cook that meat. It is better to plan a final race for July or even June and just enjoy the high country in the remaining months of the year.

I don't stop ever running. However, I might switch from the 8 to 10 running sessions a week to only 3 and the rest is cycling and walking, maybe little swimming or other sports. Like this the willpower to do hard workouts when September arrives, is very strong. I might really dial in the focus on strength and conditioning too. The time when ou start doing those intervals, long runs, long bike rides, outside of those short 20min sessions, nothing can be done to make those muscles stronger. 

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Rest is part of the training. That is where adaptations occur. Muscle and cardiovascular system need little time. The brain, the nervous system, the lymphatic system, digestion and so, need more consecutive volume and sleep for sure. Your joints, tendons and ligaments too will thank you. Back than when I worked as a bike tour guide, I used to train over 1000h a year, but still had 6 weeks of holidays. Just to say, that taking time off is always possible !!! Always necessary !!!

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