How do you modify your workouts when life is sucking all your energy?
Typically, my training is the way I sustain myself and the energy balance is strongly positive. There are times, however, where there are inescapable events/conflicts/illnesses etc that confound our best laid plans. Times when as I get through a day the floor behind me seems finely polished from my glutes dragging across it. It seems to me fruitless in these stretches to try to maintain the intensity or quality of my training. And as I "mature", it seems recovery times are longer from either life's bodyblows or from a hard workout.
Often its a victory just to get to the pool and get wet. My response of course depends on where I am in a competition cycle. Fortunately, I'm in a flexible phase right now as I'm going to miss both long course nats and the open water season. Today, I decided to do some longer sets and completely ignored the pace clock. I focused on my stroke, and my turns, and intuitively gauged my effort level as my workout progressed. I'm happy to say that after a few 500's the expected endorphin surge was felt, and I was able to finish with some harder 300's- again without a pace clock.
What strategies are you using both in and out of the pool to endure the inevitable energy vortexes?
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Good topic, Tom. I am in a different situation because life doesn't get in my way because we are retired and thankfully my husband runs around and deals with all the Spanish crap they put us through here. So, I am one lucky gal.
But I am also a long distance swimmer preparing for a very loooonnng swim as most people know. I normally swim between 4 and 5 miles every day with hydration breaks every half-mile. I'm with you, I notice that because I am older (59), my recovery takes much longer. As my mileage is going up, I start getting pretty trashed about day number 3, but at the end of 4 or 4-1/2 miles, I think about my goal and I always have this in me: Just One More. I listen only to my body and when I wake up one morning and am sore and can't pick up my feet, I take that day off. That one day off here and there revives me and allows me to keep the mileage going up. So far, so good. July's goal is consistent 6 mile swims. Just a FYI, I am hiring a kayak later this month and swimming from Half Moon Bay to Lighthouse Point, 2.7 miles each way but coming back totally Against current; should be an eye-opener.
And I am also lucky in that since I have lived here, I've only been sick twice because I am not in enclosed spaces with people; I am always outside year around. This makes a huge difference. I did want to say that it sounds like Dorothy is using a form of periodization in her training which can work well for lots of people.
Good topic, Tom. I am in a different situation because life doesn't get in my way because we are retired and thankfully my husband runs around and deals with all the Spanish crap they put us through here. So, I am one lucky gal.
But I am also a long distance swimmer preparing for a very loooonnng swim as most people know. I normally swim between 4 and 5 miles every day with hydration breaks every half-mile. I'm with you, I notice that because I am older (59), my recovery takes much longer. As my mileage is going up, I start getting pretty trashed about day number 3, but at the end of 4 or 4-1/2 miles, I think about my goal and I always have this in me: Just One More. I listen only to my body and when I wake up one morning and am sore and can't pick up my feet, I take that day off. That one day off here and there revives me and allows me to keep the mileage going up. So far, so good. July's goal is consistent 6 mile swims. Just a FYI, I am hiring a kayak later this month and swimming from Half Moon Bay to Lighthouse Point, 2.7 miles each way but coming back totally Against current; should be an eye-opener.
And I am also lucky in that since I have lived here, I've only been sick twice because I am not in enclosed spaces with people; I am always outside year around. This makes a huge difference. I did want to say that it sounds like Dorothy is using a form of periodization in her training which can work well for lots of people.
