Sunday 20 May 2012

mentally tired

Just had a few very heavy training weeks and I'm feeling a little tired:

since Easter an average week has been ... about twelve hours of running and two hours on the bike and over five hours strength work finishing off with almost two hours of stretching.  And there's been a couple of races too.

And now, although the body has coped remarkably well, the mind needs a break.  So this week I've decided not to do quite so much and the plan is ... no cycling and no steady running.  In essence I'm just keeping the essential stuff for seven to ten days.

That's the long runs, hill reps, tempo runs, speedwork, strength work and stretching ONLY which will free up a good few hours for mental recovery.

The strange thing is that I'll begin tapering anyway in less than two weeks from now.  But sometimes, recently, when it's been time to go for a run I've been in two minds about whether to actually get my kit on or not.  Perhaps it's the very early stages of overtraining syndrome, or maybe a virus, or maybe the worst Yorkshire springtime on record is just getting me down ... but whatever it is I need to get it sorted.  Now.

So, a relatively easy week or so and hopefully I'll come bouncing back in time for a hard three weeks tapering.

1 comment:

jimdrum said...

Training has been very hard for me these last couple of weeks too. I feel your pain! Training for my first Ultra in August, then the oceanfloor race in February. Your blogs are good inspiration for me, and in someways glad to hear you're going through a tough training time too. Comforting!

I like to blame the weather and a busy work schedule at the minute. Man suit zipped up though! Keep up the good work!