After your 1st Event- part 3

Recovery Days- This is a big area that is commonly overlooked by many athletes. People will get caught up in two different mindsets.

1.       If this amount of training is good, then more will be better.

2.       OMG. I only have X more weeks until the event, I need to cram in some more training.

Both of these approaches are not good for you. In their book “Basic training for Running” Randy Acetta and Greg Wenneborg use the concept of Hard/Easy. This is idea is to basically follow every day of hard workouts with an easy day to allow your body to recover. Now an easy day does not mean sitting on the couch, watching TV and eating potato chips. Your easy day can be an easy jog/ go for a bike ride/ or cross train with a swim, something that will help your muscles flush out “sludge” and be ready for the next day. And in the classic book “Younger Next Year” by Chris Crowley and Dr. Henry Lodge, MD, they do a terrific job of explaining the medical basis behind the breakdown and rebuilding process. I highly recommend this book to all my clients.

Next, is the problem of squeezing in too many workouts or too many of the same type of workouts. This is called overtraining in the sports world. Think of it as adding cocoa powder mix to your glass of milk. The 1^st spoonful is ok, the 2^nd spoonful is mo better, the 3^rd spoonful is getting bit strong and then pretty soon you have something that is undrinkable. I know ,you read in the magazines about so and so doing these amazing ,non-stop ironman events for a whole week and you think you can do it. Trust me on this one. I tried it years ago and took all the supplements that would make me need less sleep,train harder and faster. Nope. Now I train less/smarter and make better progress. Remember, at Coach K fitness, we work smarter. Overtraining will eventually make you slower and erode all the hard work you have been doing to this point.  Always have a structured workout plan that is balanced and has a purpose for each day or activity. This part needs to be repeated, always have a purpose for each workout. If you can not answer "why" you are doing this workout today, then maybe you shouldn't be doing it.  If you have any questions, Ask your Coach.