Back with the Castrated Version:
Don't tell me you really thought they came to take me away, heee-heeee!!! I know I haven't posted anything on The Protocol for a long time, but it's not because I was locked up in a mental institution, and it sure isn't due to a lack of material. On the contrary, I've been writing furiously in my notebook (which I like to call "the uncensored version"). The problem is not that I don't have anything to say, but that I just want to be careful not to say anything that might hurt people whom I still care about, even though we have had some pretty major disagreements.
I've also hoped that my race results from the past two weekends would tell part of the story.
Since leaving High 5 three weeks ago, my plan was to give my body a chance to recover from overtraining, and then to add volume to my program if there was enough time remaining before I had to start my taper for the fall World Cup qualifier (Oct. 21-24). So far, I am very happy with my results.
In the first week, I still felt quite bad, physically. I couldn't lift weights or do tempos on the ice. By week 2, I was "up and down," actually having a few good days of training for the first time since early August. Tuesday's lap workout felt good, but I couldn't hold a good skating position on Wednesday for tempos, so I decided to do 300's instead. The race prep went well on Friday, but for Saturday's races I felt a bit off, and felt unusually tired after the 500.
Last week was my first consistently good week. My waking heart rate actually got down below 60 beats per minute for 3 days! On Monday afternoon, I had the best skating workout I'd done in a couple of months. And, considering the outside stress I was facing on that particular day (my dog had run away the night before and I had spent the morning visiting all of the local animal shelters and posting "lost dog" fliers around the neighborhood) one can only explain my good workout by admitting that my body had finally come around to a level that enabled it to accept a training load again.
Fortunately, I managed to find the dog by the end of the day (she had spent the night with a family in the neighborhood), and I fixed the hole in the fence through which she had escaped.
For the remainder of the week, I felt good in every training session, and managed to add volume to my program. I finally resumed weight lifting, and even added a hill tempo running workout on Wednesday.
One of the main strategies used to recover from overtraining while preventing a loss of fitness is to maintain training intensity while reducing volume. This is why I have decided to race so much lately. Because I basically lost the entire month of September -- the time when most speedskaters are picking up speed, doing 1200-800 meter tempos on ice and throwing up into trash cans -- I've had to "race myself into shape" over a short period of time in early October.
The strategy for this past weekend was to use the two-day racing schedule to mimic my two most important days of racing at the fall World Cup qualifier: 500 and 1000 on the first day; 500 and 1500 on the second day. I am extremely pleased with my times, with my consistency over the two days, and with the way I felt during and after the races.
So I guess the question of the day is this: Is a "mentally weak athlete" the sort of person who leaves her team with the full confidence that she can handle an Olympic season on her own? Is a "mentally weak athlete" the sort of person who can perform as well as I did in these last two weekends of racing?
---
There is one last thing I need to mention, and that is the reason why I have decided to hide the comments on The Protocol. It seems that a lot of speedskating blogs have become a forum for the bashing of various people -- some of whom are not even involved in the story being told on the blog. I realize that my posts often inspire controversy, but I don't want the "comments" section to be a place where people go to insult each other.
To all who have taken the time to post supportive comments, I thank you, and I appreciate your kind words of encouragement.
Don't tell me you really thought they came to take me away, heee-heeee!!! I know I haven't posted anything on The Protocol for a long time, but it's not because I was locked up in a mental institution, and it sure isn't due to a lack of material. On the contrary, I've been writing furiously in my notebook (which I like to call "the uncensored version"). The problem is not that I don't have anything to say, but that I just want to be careful not to say anything that might hurt people whom I still care about, even though we have had some pretty major disagreements.
I've also hoped that my race results from the past two weekends would tell part of the story.
Since leaving High 5 three weeks ago, my plan was to give my body a chance to recover from overtraining, and then to add volume to my program if there was enough time remaining before I had to start my taper for the fall World Cup qualifier (Oct. 21-24). So far, I am very happy with my results.
In the first week, I still felt quite bad, physically. I couldn't lift weights or do tempos on the ice. By week 2, I was "up and down," actually having a few good days of training for the first time since early August. Tuesday's lap workout felt good, but I couldn't hold a good skating position on Wednesday for tempos, so I decided to do 300's instead. The race prep went well on Friday, but for Saturday's races I felt a bit off, and felt unusually tired after the 500.
Last week was my first consistently good week. My waking heart rate actually got down below 60 beats per minute for 3 days! On Monday afternoon, I had the best skating workout I'd done in a couple of months. And, considering the outside stress I was facing on that particular day (my dog had run away the night before and I had spent the morning visiting all of the local animal shelters and posting "lost dog" fliers around the neighborhood) one can only explain my good workout by admitting that my body had finally come around to a level that enabled it to accept a training load again.
Fortunately, I managed to find the dog by the end of the day (she had spent the night with a family in the neighborhood), and I fixed the hole in the fence through which she had escaped.
For the remainder of the week, I felt good in every training session, and managed to add volume to my program. I finally resumed weight lifting, and even added a hill tempo running workout on Wednesday.
One of the main strategies used to recover from overtraining while preventing a loss of fitness is to maintain training intensity while reducing volume. This is why I have decided to race so much lately. Because I basically lost the entire month of September -- the time when most speedskaters are picking up speed, doing 1200-800 meter tempos on ice and throwing up into trash cans -- I've had to "race myself into shape" over a short period of time in early October.
The strategy for this past weekend was to use the two-day racing schedule to mimic my two most important days of racing at the fall World Cup qualifier: 500 and 1000 on the first day; 500 and 1500 on the second day. I am extremely pleased with my times, with my consistency over the two days, and with the way I felt during and after the races.
So I guess the question of the day is this: Is a "mentally weak athlete" the sort of person who leaves her team with the full confidence that she can handle an Olympic season on her own? Is a "mentally weak athlete" the sort of person who can perform as well as I did in these last two weekends of racing?
---
There is one last thing I need to mention, and that is the reason why I have decided to hide the comments on The Protocol. It seems that a lot of speedskating blogs have become a forum for the bashing of various people -- some of whom are not even involved in the story being told on the blog. I realize that my posts often inspire controversy, but I don't want the "comments" section to be a place where people go to insult each other.
To all who have taken the time to post supportive comments, I thank you, and I appreciate your kind words of encouragement.
posted by Eva at 11:20 AM
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