Sleep
During heavy training I have learnt that if I can’t sleep for 2 or 3 nights in a row despite feeling really tired when I go to bed it is time for a lighter day of training (or maybe even 2). I recognise the feeling of my mind and body “buzzing”, that is indicative of my having high cortisol levels as a result of the training stress. Blood tests I have had whilst experiencing this show that this feeling is indeed caused by high cortisol levels.
Mood
Generally I am a pretty cheery person and quite emotionally steady. This definitely changes if I am over reaching for a sustained period in training. I become more emotional, my motivation isn’t as good as normal and I kind of cease to be objective about how I am feeling. This is when it is good to have third parties to recognise the signs: my partner Brett will remind me that I feel like this when it is time to back off a little in training, as does my coach and some close training partners.
Muscle soreness
When my fitness is good I can feel it. I can put together several weeks of hard training and my muscles absorb the load, I recover well between sessions and I can reproduce hard sessions. I am not always like this. I now recognise that as I am returning to training after the off season I need to build up to be able to do this. Also after an Ironman my recovery is 2 – 3 weeks before I can get back into proper training with intensity.
Last year of racing Ironman Texas my motivation was very high to get back to training. My enthusiasm to “get back to it” meant I didn’t want to read the signs that my body was giving me. I tried to launch myself back into full training: my muscles felt heavy and ached during the session and even more after the session. I didn’t feel stronger fitter after training: just more tired and more achy and my sleep patterns were terrible.
Thankfully I had a blood test to just check everything was okay and the results showed that I was in no way recovered from Texas. The blood test was an objective result that told me and my coach I needed more time so I had another week of very light, recovery sessions. When I did return to training I was fresh and my enthusiasm was sustainable!
Since taking up triathlon in 2005 I have gotten much better at reading these signs and I will listen to my body usually… not always but more often than I did. One lesson I have learned is that more, more, more is not best. Your body can over reach in training for a period (and needs to, to get fitter and stronger) but at some point you have to take your foot off the gas so muscles can repair so you are ready to go again.
