Wednesday, August 17, 2011

The Value Of A Coach

I've been living right on the edge of my recovery limit for the last probably ~10 days and I finally raised the white flag today. I started my ride and even though my bike felt great (yay for new cables!) my body was telling me no so I bailed and came home.

The beauty of riding by HR (especially for an overzealous workhorse like me) is that it does not lie and when you can't elevate it even when you are standing up 'powering' over a hill, well, it's time to go home and rest. I ride with HR almost 100% of the time so I know what is normal (for me) and what is not... It really helps put some objectivity into what would otherwise be a subjective decision to bail on a workout... It eliminated the question Am I just being a wimp?

Coach has taught me so much in this regard as well. We were talking yesterday... and since I write detailed notes about my workouts (and since he actually reads them!) he could tell that I was just barely recovering from day to day and knew that at some point soon I was going to crash... he cautioned me against pushing through in a scenario like this... one day that is too hard could just push you right over the edge and then it could be weeks to recover... I think today could have been that day. I could have jumped off the cliff but I'm getting smarter in my old age so instead I just took a little peek and decided I was afraid of heights so I backed away. Herein lies the value of a coach. I think some athletes need a coach to cattle prod guide them into training more or at a higher intensity than they otherwise would on their own... but some of us need a coach who can be totally objective and tell us to STOP. DON'T JUMP. So instead of running twice tomorrow I get to take a nap. Beautiful. Notice how I'm not even resisting? That in itself is a clear sign. Lol.

So now I'm going to follow the advice I give to my athletes when they bitch communicate about being tired... Eat plants. Eat protein. Drink water. Sleep. I'm also going to go take a shower and actually wash my hair and then go buy peanut butter. It's been 2 days since we've had peanut butter in this house. That's gotta be some kind of crime.

7 comments:

Lucho said...

I was beginning to wonder if you were even human! Your 'edge' just got pushed a little further out.

mmmonyka said...

You are smart! SO much to learn from you...
Rest up!

Regina said...

Holy crap! You ARE human. That's a relief.

Molly said...

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who sometimes finds washing my hair just too damn exhausting to bother (especially if you're just going to get it dirty again).

Jennifer Harrison said...

This is exactly why I do not coach myself. I don't necessarily need to be told what to do (even though that is nice)...I need someone to SAVE me from myself or I'd be on the side of the road somewhere..and way over-done!

Kim said...

yup, coach kiwi says if i cant get my HR up on a difficult ride, then my body is trashed and i need to rest.

and is it weird that i wash my hair every time i shower for the most part? so like 2x a day.

Iron Krista, "The Dog Mom" said...

This post was just what I needed. Yesterday put me over the edge. From crazy hot miserable run to hard (good) swim straight to 3.5hrs of bike fitting that overloaded my brain to home to eat, finish working, get my bike stuff ready to sneak out at dark 30 to ride to bed and up at 4:45am.

3hr ride in blowdryer, still have to buy groceries, pack, work & somehow get the bike I just sold picked up and fed-exed off all so we can head out of town at 3.

I'm going to play tomorrow's workouts by ear so I can have some good riding Sat & Sunday!