It recently occurred to me that I haven't had a proper break from training for as long as I can remember. I trained on my honeymoon because I was going to Kona for the ironman world championships a few short months after.
When we moved from Australia to China, despite being 5 months pregnant, I continued to swim and run - albeit at a slower pace.
I did take 7 days off the week that Henry was born.
You get the idea... I don't rest much.
And so I've been looking forward to running Taipei marathon, because I've been looking forward to having a proper, total break.... for at least a few weeks!
But after only a day, the "off season training blues" have kicked in.
When we moved from Australia to China, despite being 5 months pregnant, I continued to swim and run - albeit at a slower pace.
I did take 7 days off the week that Henry was born.
You get the idea... I don't rest much.
And so I've been looking forward to running Taipei marathon, because I've been looking forward to having a proper, total break.... for at least a few weeks!
But after only a day, the "off season training blues" have kicked in.
Ryan Schneider, for Lava Magazine describes it like this,
Common symptoms of OSTB include an over-eagerness to train without listening to your body and a false sense of confidence that may lead to injury, fatigue, shattered ego, frustrated spouse, frightened pets and co-workers, a steep medical bill, and a list of cancelled races. Side effects may include a willingness to eat junk food coupled with extended time spent looking at Facebook photos from previous race successes. In severe cases, OSTB sufferers may linger long after group workouts, repeating stories and lessons learned from previous races ad nauseum. In these cases, bystanders should grab the nearest filled water bottle and douse the Blues-sufferer in the face until they return to the present.
Reading this made me laugh, and reach for anther cinnamon bagel. It's all too true!
To explain: Despite not running a PR on Sunday, I had that post-race enthusiasm for signing up for more races, and started planning how I am going to break 2.55 and then 2.50.
I lay in bed that night thinking about how if I just add 3 gym sessions, and 2 swim sessions, plus a few bike sessions to my run program, then I'll achieve my goal time really quickly.
Or I might end up injured and totally burnt out. Possibly my husband will no longer speak to me and I won't see my son. My only friends will be people who wear lycra all the time. I'll become one of those boring people who only talks about running. (Haha, maybe I'm like that already.)
Before my first ironman, my friend Alice warned me about post-ironman blues. Believe me, it's a real thing. You just want to get out and train again. I mean, what do other people do with their time if you are not spending 2+ hours running on a Sunday, or 5 hours riding on Saturdays?
I'm going to find out ... any tips on what to do with my spare time, or how you cope in the off season, would be MUCH appreciated!
This video makes me laugh everytime "it is worth it, because I will be an ironman".
I think post event blues is some kind of personality disorder. No sooner have I crossed a finish line I am trolling the net looking for that next event/challenge. Other people I know might tick off one or two major events in a lifetime. I have already ticked off a list longer than my arm.
ReplyDeleteThere is only one solution - pick an event with a timeline further out. That way you can justify a 2 week break before getting going again!