The importance of rest

-


This is the time of year when I can take it easy and train less. I have cut down on my normal exercise load to maybe half, shorter distances, slower pace and more free days. At the end of November, I even took a whole week off!

I do this to restore myself both physically and mentally, and I notice some interesting effects. Not only do I have more time for other activities, but I am also inspired to to them! What used to feel like a chore, is now fun. 

In the last two weeks I have remodeled part of the garden, I have tried new cooking recipes and I have practiced playing my musical instrument diligently. These are activities I wanted to do for months, but I never seemed to get around to. I thought I was lazy, but I now realize I was tired. I was soo tired most days, I used to fall asleep in my chair watching some mindless TV in the evenings. There was no energy for high concentration projects.

After seven days of no training, I did one of my shorter bike rides, and I set a new personal record. The next day I did one of my shorter runs and I set a personal best again! That's right, best of the year when the season is over.

This illustrates the importance of rest. 

/Gunilla

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cleat covers for biking shoes

-
Image
Recently, I invested in new pair of bike shoes. For winter training, I like to have a roomy pair where I can fit a decent pair of warm socks. I am very pleased with the shoes, so comfortable and stiff sole with carbon. I also bought a pair of cleat covers, which I never had before. They can easily fit into my back pocket while biking and then be slipped onto the cleats if I stop for a break. These covers are so great and they will really reduce the wear on the cleats. /Gunilla
Read more

Welcome to my blog

-
In 2018, I retired at age 60. I always wanted to do triathlons and it was now or never. I did not know if I could do it, maybe I was just too old, maybe I was starting too late, maybe I would fail?  I trained, I signed up for a competition, I did it, and I have never looked back. I am enjoying my retirement, and with this blog, I want to inspire other closet athletes to have a go.  I am really not a natural athlete. Seriously, if I can do it at 60+, probably you can do a triathlon too.  /Gunilla
Read more

Do not wait until it is too late!

-
Image
Since my last post, I have not been competing, just training. It has been going well, I think I have improved my swimming a little bit by doing several sessions almost purely focused on speed. It has been intervals of 25, 50, 100, 150 and nothing longer than 200 yards, with the bulk in the shortest range.  But the last few days, I have hit a snag, a new pain in my left hip. At first, I ignored it, I always have pain somewhere, but it nearly always goes away after warmup. Last Saturday, I was going to run 10k in 4 parts of 2.5k, with two minutes rest in between. I warmed up on the treadmill, but the pain just got worse. Then at 9 min mile speed on the treadmill, my left leg gave in, and I almost fell over.  Ok, I thought, best not to push it on the treadmill where I can hurt myself, I will just run my 10k on the road and take it slightly slower than normal. But it was impossible, I was limping, and I had to stop after a few minutes. Ok, calm down, I told myself, no catastrophe ...
Read more