I’ve been trying to carefully listen to my body, and what it’s telling me is that I am absolutely not in peak physical condition right now.
It’s hard to pinpoint an exact cause, but I would say it’s a combination of:
a) having the flu for an entire week,
b) going an entire week without any training whatsoever, and
c) running a 30km race as my first session back!
Mentally I feel pretty fresh, evidenced by the fact that I’ve been keen to go out for all my sessions this week. Physically I am well rested, as I’m popping out of bed at 5am ready to go (well relatively).
The two issues are my legs and my overall feeling when I start pushing a bit harder. My legs have been sore and heavy since the Sunday 30km run, so obviously I’ve done some damage. And when I start to push the pace a bit (running or riding) I just get the feeling that I’m about to flake, that I can’t hold it. When I try a bit harder I am actually able to hold it, but my body really doesn’t want to and it drops back as soon as I lose concentration.
I figure this is related to both the illness, and to a normal slump in my training cycle. My hope is to push through it, keep training hard for the next week, then start the taper and hopefully reach another fitness peak in time for the marathon!
Today – Thursday
Boundary Riders 40km before work
Roseville Bridge was really tough on the legs, but the rest of it was ok.
HuRTS at lunchtime
Hickson Road 1.2km reps x 5
29 mins -- HR avg 159 -- HR max 177
I was feeling ordinary all the way through. First was average, second felt really tough, I pushed extra hard on the third one, then the fourth was a real struggle and I wasn’t sure I could make five. I decided it wouldn’t help and would probably only cause more damage to my legs, but I really wanted to finish all 5 reps, so I pulled back and did the last one at about three-quarter pace.
Time – Av HR
4:12 -- 159
4:20 -- 162
4:11 -- 167
4:22 -- 169
4:57 -- 162
Compare it to last time I did the same session, a few months ago. It felt a lot easier that time and I had slightly faster splits and a lower HR. Although it was ridiculously hot today!
Time -- Av HR
4:11 -- 153
4:08 -- 158
4:09 -- 165
4:22 -- 167
4:30 -- 167
4 years ago
1 comment:
Hi Mike - you have had a rough few days getting over that virus, man. Could be good for Canberra! Do you get that post-viral rebound where you feel better than you did before? Maybe it is just that mentally you feel better for being better but I really think you can get a lift. I'll take a look online to see if there's any research. see you soon back in Oz! Dan
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