Finish Line 70.3

Finish Line 70.3
Finish Line 70.3

70.3 Finisher!

70.3 Finisher!
70.3 Finisher

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Downtime

Downtime for any amateur athlete is critical. Essential. Required. And oh, so very difficult.

This is not the same as "rest days"--those one to two days a week you take off and do NO working out so your body can rest, recover, and benefit from the previous poundings. No, this is DOWNTIME--a week or more of doing nothing workout-y at all.

Downtime happens for various reasons. If you get injured, obviously, you will need time to recover from the injury, and the time taken depends on the seriousness and nature of the injury. Many of us choose to blindly "fight through" minor injuries as if they will simply heal themselves if we pound them hard enough. It's a foolish theory, but I've subscribed to it myself at times. If you are sick (with the flu or a bad virus), you should take time off until you feel human again, especially if you have a bronchial issue or fever. Sometimes family or work or travel forces you to take downtime, whether you want it or not. (This can often lead to contorted facial expressions and bad attitudes, by the way, so you can explain to your family why you have to get up and go for a run before you can enter the hallowed gates of Disneyworld).

I chose to take this entire week off as downtime after my Labor Day sprint tri. No working out. No running, no biking, no swimming, no weights, no yoga (I would permit myself to walk the dogs around the block, if it hadn't been raining 10 inches in the last 3 days). The reason for the voluntary downtime is trifold: (a) I want all my aches and pains that I have ignored (see the "blindly fight through" idea above), such as my hamstring, to completely heal and be ready for the next big push (b) I have a lot going on this week anyway, and I need some extra time, and besides, it's raining and muggy as all get out, and (c) most importantly--I want to mentally decompress and get fresh for my next training onslaught--which will entail getting ready for a half marathon in December AND a 70.3 in May--that is going to involve serious and dedicated training. I want to be ready for it every single way.

Working out definitely keeps me sane, but sometimes even I get tired of the whole process--my personal Haiku poem goes like this:

"Friday is a swim
Saturday is a long run
Sunday is a brick."

After a while, after week after week of swim-bike-run-weights-yoga, even my mind starts to get annoyed with the routine and I just want to go home after work and watch Ice Truckers. So by taking a full week off of doing anything of this nature, I want to start up again next week ready and eager to hit the pavement or pool without any whining. One week off is not going to make any real difference in my conditioning or training levels (I've read that after 2 weeks off, you will see deterioration, but I suspect that time frame is going to vary by individual).

And it's not been easy! I had no issues on Tuesday, but yesterday, my mind started to say "how about a nice easy run? 3 miles, no more?" This morning I actually looked hard at my running shorts and shoes before shaking my head NO and going on with my routine. I promised myself a full week, and a full week it will be. When your mind and body are conditioned to push their limits 5-6 days a week, taking a full week off really does make you antsy. I suspect by Sunday I will be in that unique state of mind where your spouse simply demands you go run or else.

So I'm taking a Time Out from working out.

1 comment:

  1. You have any trouble getting back to the routine after the week off? I had my big race (oly tri) at the end of July and took a week off, only get end up in a slump for most of August. I think a part of it was a body at rest stays at rest phenomenon, but I also didn't have any events on the near-term calendar.

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