Push 'Til You Can't

So ya, I'm on a little recovery break at the moment. Just a few easy days and I am not resisting them at all. I know people think I'm all anti-rest or whatever because I tend to train a lot and don't take many rest days, but I think the reality of it is that I just don't like resting until I feel like I need rest. When I feel like I need it, I embrace it! It's weird though to have days that are not filled with training sessions... Yesterday I got up and swam in the morning (like normal) but then afterward had this amazing light feeling because I really had nothing else that NEEDED to get done that day. My house was clean, my kid was in school, all the training plans for my athletes were written... so I spent the day drinking coffee and playing on the internet... and I took a little nap. I know I should not admit that because most of you will hate me but the reality of it is that I have like 2-3 days like that per year so I did not feel the least bit guilty about having a relaxed day where I really did pretty much nothing.

Training has been going well. It seems odd to say but it's like I haven't even been paying much attention to it (if that even makes sense??). The last 3-4 weeks has been some of the best training I've ever put together... It's been along the lines of the consistent day after day after day variety vs the one huge session style and I think somehow I've managed to shut my brain off and just complete each day the best I could given what I had that day. So nothing was exceptionally stellar or brilliant but most of the time I was pretty happy with pace or power (on days I opted to track it) when taken in context of the block I was building. I've matured as an athlete a lot this year I think in that I very rarely judge myself anymore based on how my training went that day... had a good session, struggled with that session, whatever. Got it done and that's what matters and I don't have mini panic attacks when I miss pace or power goals and think I suck at this or whatever... Just taking it all in stride and not over thinking anything. In the past I have not always been able to do that!

I think the key to being able to relax about it all is having a coach who you trust. I'm 100% on board with the TBB style of training now and having that plan written out for me each week just allows me to get the work done without over thinking it. It's amazing how much energy that frees up when you're not stressing over whether or not you're doing the right type of training! I don't question it anymore, and there are very few sessions that scare me. If the week looks big I just take it day by day, and I do the best I can. I write detailed notes after each session and honestly assess how I felt and what I was thinking. When I feel good I note that I felt good, when I feel like ass, I write that too. The key though now is that I just write that as fact, not as judgement. Then coach can take those facts and write next week's plan accordingly. The philosophy is along the lines of the saying "Push til you can't, Rest til you can..." And that works for me not just physically but mentally as well!

So last week's training notes would be interesting to read as a string altogether... b/c you'd see that everything is ok early in the week then I started writing stuff like this was brutal, very hard, stopped under a shade tree because I was dying, and finished with sunday notes noting phrases like stick a fork in me... Coach saw that trend and cut everything back for a few days so that's where I'm at right now. You want to know the best part of how my plan got written for this week? Let me brag a little... Coach raced Challenge Penticton on Sunday, got 2nd OA with the fastest run of the day (2:45 holy crap, right??), then later that afternoon read all my notes and wrote a really coherent plan for me for this week. I think that was one of the most impressive feats I've ever seen a coach do! Ha! I am pretty positive that I would not want to be writing plans immediately after finishing an Ironman... Can you even imagine?? 

Anyway, watching Carrie (his girlfriend who won!) and Scott be so strong over the course of that race inspired a lot of confidence in me. I feel like I'm on the right path for me... enjoying what I'm doing, maturing as an athlete (and consequently as a coach!)... I haven't thought a lot about the fact that I'm racing in Vegas next weekend but, um, that's next weekend... Looking forward to it for sure though! I'm not putting any pressure on myself because it's the World Championships... there will be many gals there with far more talent than I, so my goals are not unrealistic or anything... but as of now I'd say I'm on track to show up at that start line with the most fitness I've ever had and am interested to see where that lands me amongst my peers. :)