Monday, February 25, 2013

Knowing Your Limits

Some days I feel like this...

 
And as cute as Baby Leo is in this video, he obviously is not listening to his body tell him he needs to take a nap!



On Friday we were scheduled to have a swim, run, strength, bike, swim. At 3:20 I began my journey over to the pool to participate in the swim that was set to start at 3:30. For all those who know me, me heading over at 3:20 is practically the same as me being there fifteen minutes late. Not to mention I wasn't even in my swim suit yet! But I made my way over, changed into my swimsuit, got my equipment bag out of the bin and then made my way over to the hot tub. And there I sat for the next 20 minutes deliberating whether or not I was actually going to get into the pool. Sitting in the hottub gives you a lot of ponder time where I questioned whether this swim was going to make me better. Ultimately I decided that swimming that extra 2500 meters (I was actually planning on doing quite a bit less than that to begin with)  definitely wasn't going to make me better, and although it may not hurt me either it wasn't worth it for me.

I think it is so important to listen to your body and mind and know when either needs a break. I'm not saying to do this all the time, because let's be real there are few actual days where I am running to jump into the pool in the mornings and if I listened to my mind all those times I'd be a pretty crummy swimmer. However, some days it is important to know your limits. Rather than swim I allowed my body to recover. I went to the recovery center and did Normatek which in the long run was probably more worthwhile for me.

This past week was one of my hardest and longest weeks since being out here at the training center. By the end of the week I had completed 23.5 hours of training, and that doesn't include strength, core or recovery time. Throughout the week there were multiple times when I had to make the decision for myself on how much to do. This can be especially hard when you see athletes around you doing more or higher intensity. Being here it has been key for me to always keep in mind who I am as an athlete and what my goals are. Over the years I've found out what works for me and what doesn't work me. I know the days I need to go hard to make it count (and some of these days I have to fight through) but when it comes down to some of the optional workouts I realize every now and again it's ok to opt out! As Coach Fox used to tell me, you can't lose fitness in a day! So some days rather than press on, just take the much needed nap!

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