Less Is More

As a fitness enthusiast, instructor, and trainer I am always telling people the valuable words of wisdom concerning rest.  Rest days during the week, rest and active recovery during competition season.  I am sure most other fitness specialists can agree with me when I say that those rules don't apply to us.  We like to think we are special, that rest doesn't need to be done, who needs rest when you have the time and ability to exercise for 2-3 hours a day?  Right.....wrong.  I learned a valuable lesson yesterday (which I already know but finally have convinced myself).  Everyone's body needs rest, especially when performing at such high intensities (cyclocross).  Therefore my motto this week is "Less is More".  I will take this opportunity to rest my body, let it recover from the damages I put upon it.

I generally only take 1 day off of exercise a week.  That puts me at 6 days/week of exercise ranging from 1-3 hours.  Whether it is biking, running, or teaching classes at the gym.  I exercise thinking Iam invincible, that this body doesn't get tired.  The truth is it does.  And when you continuously overload your body without proper rest you will not recover quickly.  It's important for all of us to realize some signs of overtraining and how to prevent this syndrome, and prevent it before it hits you.  Some signs of overtraining:

• Elevated resting heart rate
• Insomnia
• Moodiness
• Decrease in performance

These are just a few. It's important to realize that overtraining is an important issue for athletes.  If you don't catch it quickly and soon it can take months to recover from.  I find measuring your resting heart rate a great way to determine if your body is rested and recovered or not.  Even if it's not to determine if you are overtrained or not, but to determine on what your workout should be for that day.  If you were planning on a hard workout, but you find your heart rate is elevated, you should probably think about an easy recovery workout. 

Now that I have your attention and you might think something went terribly wrong in my race yesterday, I would like to let you know that nothing went terribly wrong at all.  I just learned that I am not superman and I need to get over my obsessive compulsive desire to exercise and let my body rest.  Perhaps that's why I performed so well at Maris Farms...my body was rested from Hawaii.  Thank you vacation.

Flashback Friday evening...
I am sitting in the living room with Kristen and Dan when I look up and out the window and realize it's snowing...a lot.  By the time we realized the snow had already accumulated about 1inch...or even more.  The only thing on my mind was...RACE ON SUNDAY.

Fast forward to Saturday.  Kristen and I decide to go on a nice snowy cross ride.  It was SO much fun.  Cold, but, a lot of fun no doubt.  The sun was out and the snow was melting very slowly.  When we got home I packed my bags and took the sunny opportunity to get out of town.  I was shocked at the lack of snow 1 mile south of Bellingham.  Bellingham was literally the last spot to get hit with the snow.  Lake Samish even had nothing.

Sunday.  Chris and I wake up and pack our bags to head to Tacoma to watch Whitney's race at 10am.  It was SO cold!  Watching Whitney race so much fun, she had such an amazing race, looked so confident throughout the entire race, on the run ups, while she was passing people (men).  It was awesome!  When you ride like that you deserve a big fat W, and that's just what she got!!!!!  She held onto first place for basically the entire race, it was very exciting. 

Before the Men 1/2 raced I did a couple of laps on the course, it was fast and flat.  Not too soggy either.  I watched the men race while I warmed up on the trainer.  My legs didn't feel too amazing as I was warming up, I was hoping that was just them trying to wake up.  Turns out it wasn't.  As always when we were waiting for the start we waited forever shivering, and when we finally start I take off horribly.  For some reason at the start of a race I can never get clipped in and started right away.  Something I should work on.  The race was ON.  The first lap I spent keeping up with the front ladies, trying to pick off as many of them as I could (well there was only 3 in front of me).  I picked off one of them, and then another.  2nd lap at the barries I get passed by mamma long legs as she floated over the barries with her legs the length of my entire stature.  She leaped on her bike with a lot of confidence and took off.  I wasn't too stoked because I passed her the last lap, but she was having a strong race and I just couldn't dig too much more to get up to her.  I am thankful for my lack of umf at this time because about 2 minutes later she crashed (dislocated her shoulder) and took 2 men out with her.  I was far enough back to go around the crash and continue on with my race knowing all I had to do was catch the first place women.  On the long flat cement section I caught up to her and it was her and myself for the next 2 laps.  We worked together and talked.  Discussed how we had to work hard if we didn't want the 3rd place women to catch us, because she was getting close.  At the barriers on the 3rd lap I came through and passed her.  She followed me through them and for the rest of the lap, when she came around me at the start of our 4th lap stating we needed to pick it up if we didn't want the 3rd place women to catch us.  I said okay lets go.  So she lead the following lap, on the cement section I pulled through and lead us through the start of the 5th lap.  About 1 minute after the barrier section she says to me "she caught us, we are all together".  So it was now us 3.  About 2 minutes after that the woman who caught us took the opportunity and jumped it taking the lead and eventually the win.  This is when I went into I can't push it anymore.  I can usually push it and be fine, I don't get tired.  This is when I realized rest is a good thing.  I know I can beat the women that took first, because in every other race I have always beat her.  So why now did she have that extra push to go faster than me?  I know I can go faster, I know I can do it!  So, I will take this week as a recovery week and continue to tell myself that "Less is More".  I finished in 3rd..once again.  But I just know I could have taken the Win....or at least I think?

Maybe I cursed myself?  My dad asked me if I was going to win and I told him no way.  Maybe that's why, of course at that time I thought Kristi Berg would be racing. She broke her hand at the MFG race and is out for the rest of the SCX races.  Total bummer, but like a true trooper she was still out at the races in the freezing cold cheering everyone on.  Quite awesome if you ask me.

After I finished I changed and Chris raced.  I didn't make it out to his race until they had 4 laps to go.  He was having a great race, pushing so hard, and breathing hard, and even putting his head down like he always does!  When I made it out to watch his race he was about 4th/5th place.  On the last lap he had made up so much time that about half way through the lap he was sitting in 2nd place and getting closer and closer to the young child in first.  By the time they hit the cement section Chris was in front, and took the Victory!!!!!!!!!  I am SO proud...it's his first Cat 3 Win.  It shows that riding you bike pays off. 

So find that happy medium folks.  Don't overtrain, but DO ride your bike to improve your fitness and strength.  Find the level that works best for you and most importantly.....
Listen to your body