These training blog posts have had to be few and far between since my coaching and those athletes who depend on me must come first. I have switched my own training and have been following an online plan by Mark Allen. I have had to make some adjustments in how I’ve trained in the past but not drastically. I’ve paid more attention to my HR zones and training intensity. Not that I’ve ignored those in the past but I’ve been more diligent.
The program I’ve been following has 12 workout per week and although I’ve been able to do that in the past, it has becoming too much. Last week was a meltdown of sorts. Monday evening, first day of the training week, I cut the strength training short. I just had such low energy and fatigue and felt no motivation. I skipped Tuesday’s training completely and then picked it up again on Wednesday. Sunday’s long ride of 4 ¼ hours was fine as far as performance goes but it took the rest of the day and night to recover. Part of that was probably bad fueling during the ride.
I’ve come to 2 conclusions as a result of the past week. First, taking two ½ days off of training is not the same as taking off a full day. Second, I can’t squeeze 12 workouts in over the week and coach 3 group sessions at the same time. That means making changes in my own training, including dropping 1 workout for each sport. I was already not swimming 4 times a week as this feels unnecessary given my strength in that sport. So for now I will return to taking Mondays off with the exception of doing some core work that night at home. No bike, run, or swim for sure. I will drop the low priority workouts in the plan and go from there.
I still have faith in the plan and believe I can still improve with this approach. I don’t think my body has been telling me that I’m overtraining but it is telling me I’m over-fatigued (similar but different things). I think the most efficient way for me to manage that fatigue is to adjust my training so I can remove some of the time pressure that has led to my fatigue since I don’t have many other options.
Injuries update: My shoulders are doing fine. The AC (acromial-clavical) joints hurt after swimming but very mildly. The rotators seem fine. The shoulders are good enough that I can sometimes sleep on my side without discomfort. I’m working to keep the plantar f-ing-itis at bay using the golf ball and doing exercises almost daily. This time it’s the right foot that seems to be the most tender in the hours after training. For run training I’ve been doing the Elliptical at least once a week, the treadmill once or twice, and regular real running no more than twice. Whatever the deal is with my lower back, I don’t know. It doesn’t get in the way of training at least.
I have two triathlons scheduled to race in: Ironman Arizona in November is the “A” race. I also signed up for the San Diego Triathlon Classic Sept 18, an Olympic distance event. It’s been a while since I’ve done anything shorter than the half Ironman distance.
Crucial when designing an upper body vertical jump exercise to increase vertical jump that your program follows the same principles that you have created for your lower body core workout.
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