Took my first run since the triathlon the other evening. While it was only a little over 4.25 miles and at right around my half-marathon race pace, it was not much over the distance I wanted to do. Originally the plan was more like six to eight miles, at a medium pace (for those who have listened to Adam Sandler, let's not go any further). However, the strong breeze out of the southeast made my decision much more simple at the two-mile point. A beer and some socializing seemed the more prudent approach than beating myself up mere days after 70.3 miles of swim/bike/run.
Athletes are less likely to take sufficient time off after a hard effort or event to completely recover. We all want to be perceived as tough, animalistic, and fatigue-resistant. As my old friend used to say, we try to be badder than the drug. That's probably why so many of us walk (Did I say walk? More like limp.) around when we are not racing like so many geriatrics, a biomechanical disaster waiting to happen. We like being on the edge, being perceived as someone who isn't taking up too much space, as the t-shirt says. And often, we are on the edge of an overuse injury that can sideline us for months and make us all crabby b@$t@rd$ for an extended period of time.
Even this morning, during my swim workout, I felt like I was not anywhere near 100-percent performance (for me that's still very slow swimming)...every interval piece after the first or second one turned into a touch-and-go, or a touch-look at the watch-utter a brief curse-and-go. About mid-way through I looked up, gasping, at Steve. 'Dude, I still am not recovered from the half.' Probably not a major revelation, but when you look at the equivalent of 40 miles of running...it might take a little longer than five days before easy training can occur again.
As I've mentioned before, most of the folks who might read this (as well as me!) are not elite athletes, are not getting paid to perform at a high level of athletic excellence, and should not even begin to compare their training and recovery regimen to those folks who are blessed (cursed?) with a lifestyle where they can eat, sleep, train, race, and rest with few outside demands placed upon them.
As for me, I'll take my day off tomorrow. Then, as I'm enjoying the company of my wife and my close friends, I'll figure out what I'll do to continue my recovery during the weekend. While we can sleep when we're dead, the objective is to stay alive and healthy for as long as we can.
Athletes are less likely to take sufficient time off after a hard effort or event to completely recover. We all want to be perceived as tough, animalistic, and fatigue-resistant. As my old friend used to say, we try to be badder than the drug. That's probably why so many of us walk (Did I say walk? More like limp.) around when we are not racing like so many geriatrics, a biomechanical disaster waiting to happen. We like being on the edge, being perceived as someone who isn't taking up too much space, as the t-shirt says. And often, we are on the edge of an overuse injury that can sideline us for months and make us all crabby b@$t@rd$ for an extended period of time.
Even this morning, during my swim workout, I felt like I was not anywhere near 100-percent performance (for me that's still very slow swimming)...every interval piece after the first or second one turned into a touch-and-go, or a touch-look at the watch-utter a brief curse-and-go. About mid-way through I looked up, gasping, at Steve. 'Dude, I still am not recovered from the half.' Probably not a major revelation, but when you look at the equivalent of 40 miles of running...it might take a little longer than five days before easy training can occur again.As for me, I'll take my day off tomorrow. Then, as I'm enjoying the company of my wife and my close friends, I'll figure out what I'll do to continue my recovery during the weekend. While we can sleep when we're dead, the objective is to stay alive and healthy for as long as we can.
0 comments:
Post a Comment