Today was not a good day. I struggled to get out of bed and did not accomplish that until 9:30 am. Which is beyond abnormal for me. I am a morning person and usually jump right out of bed. Then I made it to the kitchen and Annie and I made a nice healthy breakfast: Whole Wheat Waffles, Turkey Sausage, and Egg Whites.
I then became engrossed in the British Open and sat down to cheer for Tom Watson. Well, five minutes later I was passed out on the couch. I woke up right before he missed the putt on the 18th and then dozed off again until the final hole of the playoffs. Once again, high unusual for me!
After that Annie and I had a bunch of errands and grocery shopping to do. I pretty much sleep-walked through my entire day and could go to sleep again right now. I did not have the energy or desire to even consider actually running today?
Well, I got to thinking and this was pretty much my body saying it needed a break. Not so much from working out but more from the last couple of weeks. Overseas travel, jet lag, sleep deprivation, long hours at work, more sleep deprivation and the wisdom teeth extractions. When I look back I am shocked I didn't shutdown a few days ago. I could have pushed through today as I have in the past but I firmly believe this would have done more harm than good to my overall training.
I can now start tomorrow and hit it hard being completely refreshed and energized.
I want to focus this week on working on my Total Immersion technique and especially my bilateral breathing. I also want to pay a lot of attention to my running as well. So, I am not going to bike again until Sunday and alternate running and swimming this week. Should be fun.
Thanks for Reading,
Jeff
Good idea to listen to what your body was telling you. Some times good "active recovery" at the grocery store is the best workout you can get.
ReplyDeleteAs for the bilateral breathing, if you can do it great, if not, it's not mission critical. The more oxygen you get the better, and until your lungs adapt you might actually be doing more harm than good with the bilateral breathing. I just alternate sides each lap (left-down, right back). This helps you be able to adjust to race day conditions when the waves are coming from one side or the other, or you need to sight the shoreline, or stay away from the guy who keeps slamming into you.
Its great when the body just forces us to take a breaks. Jeff, guys like you and I are wired funny. Our brains know better, but we keep pushing ourselves through work, errands, workouts, etc!
ReplyDeleteTodd, I like your advice. I had a swim day today where I practiced bilateral breathing but a couple hundred meters later I was back to single sided breathing. About 200 meters before the end of my swim I got a bit more control then started bilateral practice again.