This may not be wise to write, but I’ve felt pretty useless for most of today. Days of rough sleep have caught up with me. The result is this morning and into the early afternoon have been a struggle to maintain focus and sharpness.
I’m on my third cup of coffee. Lookout, world!
This is not unlike what it feels like when our fatigue is off the charts during an intense Ironman training block. The only difference is…I’m not in an intense Ironman training block!
What does that mean?
First, I have to wonder again how the hell I trained for an Ironman with an infant in 2015. What a stupid idea! I really don’t know how I held it all together. Maybe I didn’t hold it together, maybe I did…I don’t even remember most of that period.
Now, with more life experience, I’m being a bit more forgiving to myself. Yes, I’m trying to “win the sunrise” as I wrote about several days ago. Yes, I was up at 5 this morning, ready to train in the dark.
No, I’m not going to hit a second workout today.
Age and experience give me the benefit to realize that on some days, training through the fatigue is healthy (and necessary). That would often be what we do during an intense training build block.
But when it’s 11-plus months out from the race of your life, we can more easily skip a workout here or there for the greater good.
The trick is balancing the formation of good habits and routines with the feelings of burnout that may show themselves later in training — when we can ill-afford that mentality.
One viewpoint that has helped me as an athlete, and as a coach, is this: Sometimes we need to take a step back to take a step or even two steps forward.
I don’t typically advocate an off-day as a standard go-to for every athlete. But, when meted out properly and for the right reasons, off-days or canceled workouts can have a profoundly positive effect.
So it’s training “toes up” for me the rest of today. And I’ll be ready to attack the morning tomorrow with greater fervor.
Unless a fourth cup of coffee comes into play…
In which case…lookout, world!