Journey Back to Kona Day 10: Listening to our Body

Wow! That's all that I can say.  I continue to learn about how our body works.  After my Sunday morning run, which couldn't have gone any better, we had four straight days of babysitting.  OK, I wish that there was a TSS (Training Stress Score) for babysitting.  I loved my time with my grandson and granddaughter, but I know that I was totally knackered by the end of each day.  If you ignore the fact that I had a solid workout Sunday morning, this was essentially four straight days with no training (except for walking my grandson to school and chasing after my granddaughter all day around the house...my garmin actually showed 10K steps each day!).  Still, very different from the past seven months.

This is actually quite an informative chart.  I really had a nice training build, almost all of which was at relatively low intensity, from the end of February through the end of June.  I then had two weeks of enforced "rest" battling an infected tooth and extraction.  I say "rest" because the muscles rested but the body was fighting.  Nevertheless, it was essentially two weeks off, which were then followed by ten very solid weeks of training.  The last four weeks prior to this one was probably as solid of a training cycle as I've ever had, with both my bike and run volumes increasing (run from a weekly perspective, bike from a long bike perspective).  This brings me to the past four days.  There's no question that my body was very well rested.  Hormonally, as my coach might point out, I was still more fatigued than I would have liked to admit, due to the four straight days of babysitting.  When I woke up yesterday morning, I felt fine.  In fact, I felt good.  I went out and did a one hour bike ride with three 3 minute very hard uphill efforts, VO2 max, workouts.  After a 2 mile shakeout run I endeavored to rest.  However, I noticed that I really felt "off."  Despite only 9 minutes of high intensity, high heart rate efforts, the effects seemed to be hanging on.  My heart rate stayed high throughout the day.  Despite focusing on eating and drinking, I seemed to be unable to "catch up."  I was literally exhausted.  I even texted my coach in the evening that I might not be up to my planned long run today.  

Two years ago, I arrived in Kona for the Ironman World Championships.  The day before I left and the day I arrived I did no training.  I literally had two straight days without working out.  The day after I arrived I did a 10K, my effort was harder than planned.  I felt completely wiped out afterward.  Despite that feeling, the next day I did a 2.4 mile ocean swim.  Whether I subsequently had a cold and a sinus infection, or just a sinus infection, I'll never know.  What I do know was that I was really messed up physiologically and hormonally all week, and certainly on race day.  How I managed to complete the Ironman was a testament to my preparation, overall fitness and mental fortitude.  Seven years ago, I rested for two to three days prior to Ironman Lake Tahoe.  On race day, I really didn't "feel" like I had "it." Fortunately, the race was cancelled, and one week later I PR'd at Ironman Chattanooga.  Hmm.  There's a pattern forming.  

As I go from a high training stress load to literally nothing for a few days, my body rebels.  That's certainly ok, but it's not ok if I am racing immediately thereafter.  Something tells me that taking this break five weeks out from Ironman California has given my body its opportunity to "rebel."  Doing anything substantial today would probably not be helpful, though I'm considering a short strength workout of core plus jogging.  We'll see if I feel up to it later on today.  No pressure, either way.  

I had planned to do a long run (potentially my longest prior to race day) today.  Not a big deal. I've got tons of time to get that run in over the next week.  Tomorrow was and still is supposed to be a long bike ride.  If I feel good in the morning, it will be.  If not, I can move that ride to Sunday.  The long run will come in the next few days, so long as I don't feel like I'm pushing or forcing it.  The great news is that I have a lot of flexibility over the next week to get these long workouts in.  The true Ironman taper is really over the final three weeks.  

Hopefully, this is just part of my learning experience.  It's particularly unique insofar as my training is far and away more robust and effective than it's ever been.  In some ways, my body's response is testament to the fact that I'm better trained and prepared than I've ever been.  I've written many posts over the years titled "Listening to My Body."  Today is a new addition to that.  It's all part of the journey!