Burnout and Recovery:
Last week was my first week back to training after two weeks off. The last time I posted about my training, I talked about the long, hard training cycle my team was doing in August, and my concerns about getting overtrained.
In Week 5 of that cycle, we had a full week of training scheduled, but I wasn't able to do much at all. I showed up for two training sessions, and failed to complete even a third of each of those practices. The rest of the time, I spent on my couch at home, getting behind on everything from chores to bills to errands.
We actually had a full week off scheduled for the following week, and I made plans to drive down to California to visit friends and hang out on the beach. Since I don't trust my car to make such a long trip, I made a rental car reservation.
However, this trip was not to be. On Saturday afternoon, I got a call from my mom letting me know that my grandmother, who lived in Poland, had passed away. So, I decided to change my plans and fly out to Detroit to spend the week with my parents.
It was a sad occasion, but it was nice to be together with my family at that time. We remembered the good times we had with Grandma, and said prayers for her. When my brother and I were younger, we had gone to Poland several times to visit our grandparents. I remember her watching out the window of her 3rd floor apartment as I got into fist fights with the boys on the playground. She'd yell at me to come inside, but Mom told me that for years afterward, Grandma remembered those fights with pride, and kept on saying that I was her favorite grandchild.
My brother and I remember our grandparents as being examples of people for whom "being a good person" did not conflict with "standing up for yourself." Though we saw them infrequently, they were great role models for us when we were growing up.
---
Back in Detroit, I took the rest I needed. I floated around in my parents' pool, and, other than helping my mom a little bit around the yard, I didn't do anything. I couldn't believe that I had absolutely no urge to do any physical activity whatsoever. Even the thought of going for a run made my whole body ache. One day, I did a 20-minute spin on the exercise bike in the basement, and some core strength work. Other than that, I didn't work out at all.
By Thursday of that week, my resting heart rate went down to 56 -- finally, after almost a month, it was down below 60 beats per minute again. Still, my motivation for training had not returned, and I was concerned whether I'd be ready to start training on Monday.
Once I returned to Salt Lake City on Saturday, I decided that I'd ease my way into training, rather than jumping in and doing the full program with the team. At Tuesday's ice practice, I only did the first set of laps (12, 9, and 6 laps at variable speeds), and on Wednesday I skipped the afternoon practice entirely. By Friday, I actually felt like myself again!
So, I'd have to say that the verdict on my overtraining is in. Though Rex Albertson, who coaches the High 5 team along with Boris, believes that I did get overtrained and may still need more time to recover, I don't think that I was completely overtrained. I do believe that I had dug myself into more of a hole than I would have liked to, but I don't think that any permanent damage was done.
Last week was my first week back to training after two weeks off. The last time I posted about my training, I talked about the long, hard training cycle my team was doing in August, and my concerns about getting overtrained.
In Week 5 of that cycle, we had a full week of training scheduled, but I wasn't able to do much at all. I showed up for two training sessions, and failed to complete even a third of each of those practices. The rest of the time, I spent on my couch at home, getting behind on everything from chores to bills to errands.
We actually had a full week off scheduled for the following week, and I made plans to drive down to California to visit friends and hang out on the beach. Since I don't trust my car to make such a long trip, I made a rental car reservation.
However, this trip was not to be. On Saturday afternoon, I got a call from my mom letting me know that my grandmother, who lived in Poland, had passed away. So, I decided to change my plans and fly out to Detroit to spend the week with my parents.
It was a sad occasion, but it was nice to be together with my family at that time. We remembered the good times we had with Grandma, and said prayers for her. When my brother and I were younger, we had gone to Poland several times to visit our grandparents. I remember her watching out the window of her 3rd floor apartment as I got into fist fights with the boys on the playground. She'd yell at me to come inside, but Mom told me that for years afterward, Grandma remembered those fights with pride, and kept on saying that I was her favorite grandchild.
My brother and I remember our grandparents as being examples of people for whom "being a good person" did not conflict with "standing up for yourself." Though we saw them infrequently, they were great role models for us when we were growing up.
---
Back in Detroit, I took the rest I needed. I floated around in my parents' pool, and, other than helping my mom a little bit around the yard, I didn't do anything. I couldn't believe that I had absolutely no urge to do any physical activity whatsoever. Even the thought of going for a run made my whole body ache. One day, I did a 20-minute spin on the exercise bike in the basement, and some core strength work. Other than that, I didn't work out at all.
By Thursday of that week, my resting heart rate went down to 56 -- finally, after almost a month, it was down below 60 beats per minute again. Still, my motivation for training had not returned, and I was concerned whether I'd be ready to start training on Monday.
Once I returned to Salt Lake City on Saturday, I decided that I'd ease my way into training, rather than jumping in and doing the full program with the team. At Tuesday's ice practice, I only did the first set of laps (12, 9, and 6 laps at variable speeds), and on Wednesday I skipped the afternoon practice entirely. By Friday, I actually felt like myself again!
So, I'd have to say that the verdict on my overtraining is in. Though Rex Albertson, who coaches the High 5 team along with Boris, believes that I did get overtrained and may still need more time to recover, I don't think that I was completely overtrained. I do believe that I had dug myself into more of a hole than I would have liked to, but I don't think that any permanent damage was done.
posted by Eva at 12:06 PM
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