It’s February and there is a glimpse of light at the end of the winter tunnel. I never really thought January and February were tough months until my 40s. Maybe it’s the lack of sunlight but since Christmas I have really suffered.
Tiredness is one of those feelings, that for me can totally kill a planned session. Take for instance today, not enough sleep last night has turned into having to change my planned workout. I find this hugely frustrating and a year ago I wouldn’t even think about doing it. Since I have started tracking my hrv/recovery using Morpheus I have become much more ‘smart’ in terms of deciding on the intensity of a planned session.
As I have a house full of people with the lurgy, the last thing I want is to work through the tiredness at a high intensity. This will make my recovery more intense, take longer and may even put a dent into my healthy (for now) immune system! So today instead of a tough ergathlon programmed by my ace coach, I opted for a smarter active recovery session- helping my body to recover and rest- this in-turn will help my score bounce back tomorrow.
The moral to this story is to listen to your body, even if I didn’t track hrv, I felt tired all morning. I knew that even if I started the row I wouldn’t finish it, this would lead to me punishing myself. Gosh I have come so far! Guilt at not completing all programmed sessions used to be ‘ my thing’ but now I care about my body and how it performs, as you should yours. It’s all too easy to thrash about and push yourself on every session. It won’t do you any favours though and your progress will stutter to a standstill if you don't learn to train SMART!