In ideal circumstances, we train long quality hours and recover well in accordance with those hours. Since April things have been going about that well – my hours each week have been consisently high and very good quality and most weeks all I’ve needed is a recovery workout or at most an off 1/2 day to bounce back and be ready for the next session. But at some point these smooth sailing situations are bound to be thrown off course by a squall of fatigue. This past Monday, after a solid week of speed, strength and moderate intensity, I was supposed to take a full day off to prepare for our next training block. Paying only lipservice to that notion, I spent the better part of 8 hours felling trees and bucking up firewood to sell. It was hot, laborious work and I got totally spanked. And then I knew I’d made a mistake.br /div/divbr /divTuesday was an interval day with strength in the evening; before the morning’s session I felt good and thought I’d dodged a bullet with my over-exertion the day prior. But after the intervals I knew it wasn’t so; my legs were heavy and I felt pretty spent. I left Torin to finish the evening’s strength workout on his own after completely only one circuit; my body wasn’t performing. /divdiv/divbr /divTimes like this are inevitable for a pro athlete. You’re pushing the limits of your body’s endurance and ability to recover quickly on a daily basis; overreaching such as I did on Monday throws a wrench into this process and demands a halt to the machine. Bring in the OwnOptimizer test. We’ve been using this software on upper-end Polar heart rate monitors for the last few years and have been astounded at its accuracy. It uses the combination of resting heart rates and heart rate “variability” to determine your level of fatigue or recovery. When training is going well and I’m recovering, the test will register a “1” (Recovered) or a “2” (Normal). But this morning, I get this: /divdiv /divimg id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5510130572659980802″ style=”DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 239px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Mg2hQbkHkNs/THfqj9lq-gI/AAAAAAAAAeo/mymwKZodtJ8/s320/P8270112.JPG” border=”0″ / div/divNot truly bad, but certainly an indication that my body is working hard to rebuild after the stresses put upon it. Time for rest, eggs, bacon and a brisk walk. Tomorrow’s the Cutthroat Classic 11.5mile Trail Race on Washington Pass, and I want to be recovered for it.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2910103639238326543-5872113644662786190?l=methowolympicdevelopment.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
