But I am Les Tired!

Today has been a hard day. We had a rollerskiing sprint workout this morning and then a short bike ride with agility and core this afternoon. I feel pretty rundown and overall pooped. I feel even more tired than the day that I biked halfway up to the nordic centre and then realized that I was wearing my PJs underneath my warm-ups, not my clothes for the weight workout!

So I am going to take’er easy tomorrow. I was supposed to do a three hour road bike, but I think I will cut than down—by a lot. Depending on how I feel in the next 12 hours I will probably do about an hour tomorrow really easy then spend the rest of the day pounding the food, water, and vitamins along with some solid stretching and other recovery techniques to help my body through this little rough patch. I just feel incredibly rundown from all the training, but I am lucky that I caught it before I got sick (knock on wood).

Here are the signs that start to show up when I get really tired and rundown and make me realize that I shouldn’t just try to push through it:

1. I stop communicating—with my coach, with everyone around me, and with myself. (I just looked at my ilog today and I haven’t filled it out for almost 5 days.)
2. I get really cranky at workouts, and then all of a sudden I get really quiet because it takes too much energy to even complain. (Let’s just say that today’s afternoon workout was not my finest hour. Sorry team mates!)
3. I am not hungry. No matter how much training I am doing I just don’t seem that interested in food, but as soon as I start eating my meal I realize that I am famished. (Supper tonight was a gorge fest.)
4. Normal, everyday activities like brushing my teeth or taking a shower seem to take me twice the amount of time. (It took me 30min to make a simple salad tonight!)
5. I don’t really feel like doing anything. (Right about now, I would rather sit down on my bed and stare at the wall than even watch TV.)
6. My resting HR gets really low, but my ruskos become really sporadic.
7. I start to forget little things (like what I was doing) and find it really frusterating. 8. Life seems a little less fun than usual.

Now, this list may seem depressing, but I know that with a solid few days of rest, or however long it takes to recover, I will be up and at it in no time. I am not worried, just tired. Hey, it happens. I am an athlete.

So, to all my fellow skiers, I encourage you to make a list like mine so that you know when to take a step back and listen to what your body is telling you. Don’t ever let it get too far because skiing is supposed to be fun. Don’t change that!