Sick Day(s)

Sick Day(s)

This hasn't been a good week for me. I've been under the weather. I THINK it's my allergies. Whatever the hell it is, it's got me down for the count!

I don't like to miss work due to sickness, and I don't like to miss workouts either! I'm 1for 2 this week: I've been going to work, but I haven't been able to workout. I HATE missing workouts.

There's a delicate balance between training and rest. The harder you train, the more rest you need. If you don't get enough rest, your immune system suffers. If that happens, you can get sick. I think thsts^ where I am now. 

Last week I wrote about how tired I was. I think this week is just a carryover from last week.

Overtraining (for me) is too easy to do. I  have a really bad habit of staying up late and not getting enough sleep. Been doing it for years. I need to get out of this pattern, but I don't want to. All the fun stuff happens late at night! Lol

But it's killing me to miss workouts. My big race is in about 10 weeks and I still have A LOT if work to do.

When it comes to triathlon, I'm a competitor. A serious competitor. Yeah, it's all about finishing and pushing yourself to your physical and mental limits, but it's also about kickin some ass! Hey, I like to pass people, not get passed! Lol 

And to do that, you have to train. Hard. Looking back at previous races, I've struggled on the run and the same thoughts run thru my mind:

"why am I out here doing this???"
"I can't be getting tired already!!"

And the #1 thought:

"I shouldn't be this tired. If I woulda trained a little harder, I would've finished faster!"

That last comment can nag at you weeks (and months) after a big race. As an athlete, you want to look back and say you gave it all you had. You trained as hard ad you could, and left it all on the field.

When you miss workouts, you leave yourself open for self doubt. 

But at the same time, you can only push your body so far before you have to either give it a rest, or your body will MAKE you rest. And right now, my body is making me rest.

Not to mention, the older you get, the longer it takes your body to recover. See, I know all this, but still push myself too far...

So right now, all I can do is rest up. I  have to be patient and not try come back too soon, because if I do, I run the risk of getting sick again. Like I said, I think it's my allergies, but my symptoms feel like cold symptoms, so who knows? 

The positive about taking brief layoffs is I always come back a little fresher and don't lose much fitness. Which is all well and good, but I still don't like taking layoffs! Lol

I feel better as I type this. I should be 100% by Thursday. I'll take tomorrow off and see how it goes. I'll probably take the rest of the week off and hit it hard on Saturday. Time will tell!

Thanks for reading! Till next time, peace!