August 20, 2010
i'm tired. and exhausted. and still sick. with a half marathon august 8th, a 10k august 14th, and the toronto islands duathlon august 15th, i've been pushing myself in the lead up to the worlds. i've been having an awful year that just seems to be getting worse, and i've been racking my brain trying to figure out what's gone wrong. last year was great... each race was better than the last and i improved as the season went on. then a stress fracture put me on the sidelines for three months, and once i'd recovered i was back on my feet. that was the end of last october, and since then i've been training up to 7 days a week every week. this season started off strong and i felt great at the US nationals in april. i thought that was the beginning of what would be a great year, but it's been the complete opposite.
i never thought it would happen, but i think i've been over training. last year i didn't train nearly as much but still improved every week. this year i've pushed myself constantly in an effort to get as strong and as fit as possible, and in doing so have completely overlooked proper recovery. i've had a few days of downtime here and there over the past several months, but for the most part it's been non-stop. i hit a certain level early in the season that i haven't been able to improve upon, and now, with two weeks left until the worlds, i'm pulling back and shutting things down as much as i can and focusing on resting and recovering. i want to show up in scotland feeling stronger than ever, and with a couple of weeks of yoga, massage, ART, acupuncture and healthy eating, i think i can do that. i had a conversation with my coach yesterday about my concerns and he's right on board with me. my workouts for this week were all tough and i was trying to psych myself up to get through them all, but after hills and a long build ride on tuesday and hills on wednesday, i've realized i can no longer ignore just how tired i am. my workouts are being adjusted to keep my fitness up over the next couple of weeks, but right now i have to recover. i'm racing in orillia this weekend, not because i want to but because i have to. i'm taking my road bike with me to scotland rather than my TT bike, so i need to get at least one event in the bag with a race set up on my road bike. i don't want to show up at the worlds with any surprises.
i'm tired. and exhausted. and still sick. with a half marathon august 8th, a 10k august 14th, and the toronto islands duathlon august 15th, i've been pushing myself in the lead up to the worlds. i've been having an awful year that just seems to be getting worse, and i've been racking my brain trying to figure out what's gone wrong. last year was great... each race was better than the last and i improved as the season went on. then a stress fracture put me on the sidelines for three months, and once i'd recovered i was back on my feet. that was the end of last october, and since then i've been training up to 7 days a week every week. this season started off strong and i felt great at the US nationals in april. i thought that was the beginning of what would be a great year, but it's been the complete opposite.
i never thought it would happen, but i think i've been over training. last year i didn't train nearly as much but still improved every week. this year i've pushed myself constantly in an effort to get as strong and as fit as possible, and in doing so have completely overlooked proper recovery. i've had a few days of downtime here and there over the past several months, but for the most part it's been non-stop. i hit a certain level early in the season that i haven't been able to improve upon, and now, with two weeks left until the worlds, i'm pulling back and shutting things down as much as i can and focusing on resting and recovering. i want to show up in scotland feeling stronger than ever, and with a couple of weeks of yoga, massage, ART, acupuncture and healthy eating, i think i can do that. i had a conversation with my coach yesterday about my concerns and he's right on board with me. my workouts for this week were all tough and i was trying to psych myself up to get through them all, but after hills and a long build ride on tuesday and hills on wednesday, i've realized i can no longer ignore just how tired i am. my workouts are being adjusted to keep my fitness up over the next couple of weeks, but right now i have to recover. i'm racing in orillia this weekend, not because i want to but because i have to. i'm taking my road bike with me to scotland rather than my TT bike, so i need to get at least one event in the bag with a race set up on my road bike. i don't want to show up at the worlds with any surprises.
i want to congratulate my friend and fellow duathlete adam fitzsimmons for an awesome win in toronto last sunday. adam's been having an incredible year, has been getting faster at each race and has become a serious force on race day. i somehow managed to show up at the islands the day after my 10k, dragging myself out of bed after lying there contemplating whether or not i should go or if i should stay home and recover. turns out i couldn't resist the draw of the race on the islands; it's rare for me to get over there and it's one of my favourite places in the city. adam and i did our warm ups together and he got me on the first run by several seconds, but i quickly caught him on the bike. i had nothing in me and was only able to hold a constant effort for the entire ride, each attempt at a break draining too much of what little i had left. the two of us came into T2 together and ran at each other's side for the entire last run. i did the pace setting and made a couple of attempts to break away, but adam had much more in him that day and kept with me. just like on the bike, each attempt at speeding up felt impossible and it was hard enough to just hold a steady pace. at the sight of the finish chute, we sprinted towards the line for the last couple hundred metres. we were shoulder to shoulder until i stumbled on some uneven ground and lost my stride, and adam went right by me and took the win. definitely the funnest and most exciting finish i've been involved in.
