Over the hump part II

For the past two or three weeks I've been in a funk, a training funk. If you had to give it a clinical name it would probably be training fatigue. In looking back over the my training history I found that I'd been more or less in long course training mode for the last 18-months with little or no break. That's a long time. A part of me had lost the spring that usually comes with working out and being on the road. There are still workouts on the calendar both in the things to do column and in the training recorded column. But the stuff that I've done has been really half-hearted, and that's the truth.

To this we add a second major pain, that of my mind against my body. My brain just says, "C'mon it's just a 45-minute run, real low effort." My body on the other hand says, "Hey! Leave me alone and let me just sit on the couch and play a little Madden '07 on the 360. I need a day/week/month off!" For the most part the body wins, but not without stressing out the mind. The mind sees every workout not done as an unraveling of everything that has been accomplished, every goal achieved, and a floating backward from the next sets of milestones.

Here's the hard part. Sit down. Breath in. Breath out. Blink. Repeat. Repeat until the voices are silent. Now think, Training Fatigue. And now ask, do you feel like doing this anymore?...

For me that answer is yes. So like most addicts we deal. I got between my own body and mind and we agreed that we wouldn't quit, everything just had to be dialed back for a few weeks. Maintain less than half the mid-week workouts, and dial back the intensity of the weekend workouts unless I felt good. And with a 2400 yd swim last night as a short sprint workout I feel like I'm back. I got out of the water with my shoulders screaming, and heart pumping, but invigorated from the activity. I might have even mentioned that I felt great, and that I missed the workouts.

One more week of building, two key weekend workouts, and then I have a gate race. The California 70.3 for me is a test, a barometer to see whether or not this has been worth it for me. I think that it has been even if my times are horrendous. I feel like a healthier person. I feel faster than I was last year. I feel that despite my time off so far this year I've been more fastidious to the program than I've ever been to a training program in my life.

I know that there is more in me. I know that my body needed the rest. I know that I love the distances... I know that there is more in me. I know that I'm ready for it.