I'm not necessarily looking for advice or even so much 'encouragement' but just need to vent. I've almost completely lost the level of fitness I spent the entire year so far building up and it's got me really frustrated.
After the Cali 70.3 I intended to take a few days off to let myself recover. My legs were sore and I had a pretty bad saddle sore. Gave it about 3 days and started feeling like I could get back to it when I started getting sick. Nothing major, just a cold, but I felt awful and had absolutely no energy. I do suspect that the race had a negative effect on my immune system. To make it worse, I was scrambling to catch up on some work I had put off in the preceding weeks, so I really didn't have as much training time as I was used to. In the end I took almost two weeks COMPLETELY off.
Bad Idea. Terrible. As I'm trying to get back into the groove, I still feel really "off." My run pace is actually better than expected, but I feel awkward and heavy running. I find myself knocking my foot into the opposite leg's calf on each step, for example. My ride pace/power is not bad, but my HR is up way higher to maintain it and I feel a lot less comfortable. Longest I've gone since the race is 45 minutes. My pool is still closed for renovation, so even though I love swimming I haven't been in the water at all.
Not even two weeks and I feel like I've lost everything. I need to register for Wildflower still, but now I'm second guessing if I'll even feel up to it. There's a bike race this weekend that I wanted to do (Sea Otter Classic) but I'm passing. Been meaning to get out to the local tuesday night ride, but it's a slaughterfest ride and I'm not looking forward to it.
I think part of my frustration, too, is that a friend of mine did a HIM a week after me and even though he trained a lot less he demolished my HIM time by 30 mins. That's a real kick in the teeth.
Ugh. Just "Ugh."
Don't worry about it, man.
Don't worry about it, man. I've been slacking on some training lately, and I don't even have a cool excuse like a 70.3 to account for it. Just get your mind focused back on training and you will be fine. Sign up for a race. Soon. Make it one that will force you to get your ass in gear. Do it. Now.
Oh man, I think you've lost
Oh man, I think you've lost your mojo.
Seriousily, it will take a while to get back to your pre-race fitness level, a lot of it depends on your individual recovery level. Getting sick after an event is not uncommon and it just adds another speed bump before you can start getting back into shape. Plus, if you have a touch of post HIM blues, that could effect your energy levels as well.
I've noticed the same awkward, heavy feeling after a lay off of running-- don't fret it comes back. Your bike HR, you just need to work back up to it. Think of both the bike and run as starting over on your training plan, start up slow, build, change your routines, forget the stress and just have some fun out there. Your fitness level maybe be diminished compared to pre-race levels, but you have a good base to work from, you'll find it.
2 weeks ago I had my first
2 weeks ago I had my first real chance to beat my brother of 10 years younger in a 5k. The night before I told my wife I felt a cold coming on. Finished 28 seconds behind him in the race, then slept for 21 of the next 24 hours because of that cold. A few days later I tried my last long run before my marathon, and it went slow, horrible, and painful. That pretty much drained motivation.
The 4 hour long run I did is just about all the training I've done over the last 2 weeks. Leading up to the 5k I was averaging 8 hours per week over 3 months.
Thanks for the vent GGehrke, at least I know I'm not alone.
I'm no scientist, but I did
I'm no scientist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn express last night - Seriously though, everything I have read indicates that it takes at least one week of inactivity for fitness to START to drop off and much longer than 2 weeks to get to a point of total loss of fitness. Even if your fitness has dropped, a person that competed a 70.3 two weeks ago should be able to quickly recapture that level of fitness and may be primed for some breakthroughs.
As my daughter would say from High School Musical - You gotta get your head in the game!
yeah, two weeks just isn't
yeah, two weeks just isn't long enough to go totally off
just do some spinning and light stuff until your body gives you the green light; it's probably working something out (virus, all the HIM training, whatever...)
keep your head up!