Being flexible....not bendy

[GinnySellars]

I'm coming to the end of a fairly big week of training. It's been a little lopsided with tons on riding, and not so much of the rest. I noticed that it's harder to make decisions about training when I get tired. If I have time to train, I feel super lazy taking a day off. Dumb. Recovery makes you stronger...I know this.

Fatigue affecting my decisions, with Andrew away, and not able to sort me out! I did 160km on Monday and Friday, with a 90km ride on Wed. I did two relatively short lake swims, and two 1.5-2hr run/walks in the park. It's not too crazy, as I'm not working right now, so had time when my daughter was in daycare. The tricky part was lack of sleep at night due to daughter's nightmares.

It's challenging training with a weakness or injury. My achilles are extremely weak and little inflammed right now. If I didn't have a big fat race in a month, I would train differently. I'd hike, and work on stability and balance and ankle strength, with some flat trail running until things improved. Instead, I'm trying to build up a little distance. So I'm doing laps of Kal Park. I walk the uphill to strengthen but not overload the achilles, trying to run normally on the flats, and excessively fast cadence on the descents to reduce impact. I was good for 20km this morning, but then called it quits. I'll go in the lake a do a water run for an hour now instead....haven't tried this yet, so see how the boredom goes.

After all this verbal diarrhea, my point is that a person needs to adapt training plans based on energy levels, preventing injury, life demands, and doing what makes you happy. It's harder to make those decisions when you're tired. I would suggest keeping a good diary of what you are doing for training, and taking some time after a good night of sleep to think of what training would truly make you stronger. Be flexible, and chat it over with a friend or coach to have another opinion. I needed Andrew to tell me to take a day off yesterday. I only wish I'd decided to do that in the morning, so that I didn't hum and ha over it all day!!

[GinnySellars]

The water run went great! I wear a wetsuit for buoyancy, old racing flats to keep my feet from flopping around, and a hat and glasses. I'm the 'weird' neighbour who runs in the lake. I must say though, my butt is smaller than that of my neighbour having a Mai Tai at the end of her dock telling me I'm nutz!!

[Mardi]

Hey Ginny,

I did a hour run in my wetsuit in our lake the other day as well.  I can't say that it was the best workout I ever had but it sure  beat doing it in the pool.

How is it feeling now?

[GinnySellars]

Hi Mardi
Good on ya! Too bad we don't live in the same town, we could get it done together.

The achilles are not great. I know race day will be pretty sore not having run in a while. BUT, I like the mystery!! Who knows how it will go. Let's see if I have both the physical ability and mental strength to stick it out. I had some muscle cramping in Osoyoos due to low run mileage, so I'm expecting the same. I'll have to walk/jog for portions I'm sure.

[Mardi]

well sounds like we are in the same boat. Maybe you need a girdle for your heel.