Hey Everyone!
I was so impressed with how many people showed up last Wednesday with the temps in the negative teens. It will be a bit warmer tomorrow (not warm!), but now we know we can do it! Way to go all.
This past week I’ve been feeling tired. I’m not sure why. My training hasn’t been too intense, although I’ve added more strength than usual and took a day to go cross country skiing. My coaching has intensified a bit with travel to meets on weekends – a fair bit of driving and lots of standing, preparing, cheering, debriefing – but I find it engaging and enjoyable. I have the usual busy-ness with kids, home and family. Not nothing, but also nothing new. So as you can see, there is no one culprit or reason for fatigue. When I analyze it all, I think there’s no real reason I should be feeling tired, so I don’t honour it. I feel like if I haven’t done an objectively hard physical effort, then I don’t really deserve to feel tired and should just push on, pretending I’m not. In the past, I have been able to ‘fake it’ for a few workouts or days, still performing, but exacting a greater toll for the effort than required. And then if I keep going, usually the efforts just get harder and harder until I’m forced to recognize I need a break.
As a coach I realize how ridiculous this is. If I was trying to get the best physical response from my body, I’d rest when tired, even if there is no discernable cause and even if it means missing a workout my teammates are doing. There is no point, I would say, in pushing through when you’re not in a position to adapt to it. I know this. So why do I continually doubt myself? It’s complicated.
I think I’ve mentioned this before, but just as the Icelandic people have over 40 words for “snow”, distance athletes could use at least that many to describe “fatigue”. Saying “I’m tired” could mean so many different things and stem from so many causes. I’m familiar with the feeling of “marathon training fatigue” which is different from “track workout fatigue” which is different from “not enough sleep fatigue” which is different from “going non-stop all day fatigue” which is different from “multiple unending demands fatigue” which is different from “pushing in the last set of an interval fatigue”. See what I mean? And when I can’t pinpoint my fatigue as coming from one of these known causes, I start to doubt myself. But maybe I’m allowed to just be tired, with no reason or excuse, and indulge it and come back when I’m not. That’s the ideal. That’s what I’d tell my athletes to do. It’s ok to be tired. You don’t need a reason. You won’t always be tired. But when you are, don’t pretend you’re not. Take a day off, take a week off, run slower, do little bits, … often what you ‘feel’ like doing is a good guide for what you ‘should’ be doing. Listen to your wise body and intuition – that’s a powerful skill!
