I remember once telling you that both Old John and I had over time come to accept the fact that neither of us know everything, but that perhaps if we put our minds together we did. Fortunately for John I know how to spell "psychological"!
And as to Elly's assertion that he may be right about my limiters being of a psychological nature, I may grudgingly agree. But probably not in the way you may think.
The normal interpretation of "it's all in your head" would suggest that the ability to think positive and to achieve great things is due to a lack of self confidence, and/or, a willingness to mentally push through the tough times.
I know that's not the case with me. I have proven it to myself time and time again.
That being said I know how powerful the mind/body connection is, and it is for that reason that I do not deny the psychological nature of my recent frustrations with my training and racing.
I believe however that it is one of those chicken and egg things. In the reading that I have done it seems clear that in the case of most hard driven athletes the body gives out before the mind. In other words you tend to keep going until something breaks!
That's where the psychological factor comes into play. I'm pretty sure I'm a bit overtrained. This as a result of my mind telling me time and time again to push harder when my body was telling me to rest. It becomes a vicious psychological circle. As my performances drop my mind says work harder. I listen to my mind and my performances drop more, and my mind says work harder... etc. etc.
Case in point. My race this past Saturday was a little disappointing. So I raced harder on Sunday and was more disappointed. I knew I had to take it easy on Monday but by Tuesday I was out hammering again, just to prove that the weekend races were flukes. And prove it I did! After my workout that day I was felling all pumped again. Then guess what? I went for my long run on Wednesday and I couldn't manage a freakin kilometre! I was exhausted!! For some reason I forced my self to do 11 kms anyway. Eleven long, painful, counterproductive kilometres! Just to prove to myself that I'm not a slacker.
It is definitely psychological! I don't know how to listen to my battered 57 year old bag of bones!
In case you think I've invented this whole theory I want you to know that after a quick little 5 km run this morning I spent most of the afternoon at the book store researching. I'm pretty confident in my story.
So where does that leave me today. From my reading the research seems to indicate that recovery from serious overtraining can take months of reduced activity, more sleep, rigid diet etc. Fortunately I believe I've caught it early enough. One of the most prevalent symptoms of overtraining is an elevated heart rate and I can say with some certainty that I don't have that problem. Even as I sit here and type my rate is under 50 bpm. One symptom that I have experienced, and that my wife will attest to is a tendency to mood swings. This one can be a bit deceiving however as a bit of grumpiness tends to come along with the extensive training regime, regardless of whether you are overdoing it.
I have actually been familiar with these common symptoms for years but today I read one reference that hit home with me because it is something that I never experienced before. I have noticed for some time now that my heart rate while on my long runs seemed to be a bit low. Even in my half Ironman I was shocked to see that my average for the run was 126 bpm. Quite frankly this was ridiculously low considering the way I was feeling. Even despite the fact that I was taking walking breaks.
So there you have it. I don't know if I've done a very good job of explaining it but after all, I don't know everything!
And my dear son Jon is marrying his precious Alisha this weekend so it's a good excuse to take it a bit easy for a few days. The funny thing is that before my awakening I had decided that I could probably get a 170km ride and an 8 km run in on Saturday, and still manage to get to the church on time. I have since decided that a nice little swim will suffice.
Oh and Elly this is too good not to share. When I initially saw Old Johns spelling error I was undecided how to handle it so as to have the most fun with it. After all he set himself up so badly it was almost painful. In the end I was talking to him on the phone on another topic and I took the opportunity to tease him about it. I also told him I wasn't gonna mention it on the blog because as I said to him and I quote, "I bet Elly notices it and yanks your chain about it"! It was less than an hour later that you posted your comment and I can't even begin to tell you how smug I felt. Thank you for that my dear sister....and thank you for continuing to take the time to read my drivel. I love you to the moon and back!!
Love
Peter
And as to Elly's assertion that he may be right about my limiters being of a psychological nature, I may grudgingly agree. But probably not in the way you may think.
The normal interpretation of "it's all in your head" would suggest that the ability to think positive and to achieve great things is due to a lack of self confidence, and/or, a willingness to mentally push through the tough times.
I know that's not the case with me. I have proven it to myself time and time again.
That being said I know how powerful the mind/body connection is, and it is for that reason that I do not deny the psychological nature of my recent frustrations with my training and racing.
I believe however that it is one of those chicken and egg things. In the reading that I have done it seems clear that in the case of most hard driven athletes the body gives out before the mind. In other words you tend to keep going until something breaks!
That's where the psychological factor comes into play. I'm pretty sure I'm a bit overtrained. This as a result of my mind telling me time and time again to push harder when my body was telling me to rest. It becomes a vicious psychological circle. As my performances drop my mind says work harder. I listen to my mind and my performances drop more, and my mind says work harder... etc. etc.
Case in point. My race this past Saturday was a little disappointing. So I raced harder on Sunday and was more disappointed. I knew I had to take it easy on Monday but by Tuesday I was out hammering again, just to prove that the weekend races were flukes. And prove it I did! After my workout that day I was felling all pumped again. Then guess what? I went for my long run on Wednesday and I couldn't manage a freakin kilometre! I was exhausted!! For some reason I forced my self to do 11 kms anyway. Eleven long, painful, counterproductive kilometres! Just to prove to myself that I'm not a slacker.
It is definitely psychological! I don't know how to listen to my battered 57 year old bag of bones!
In case you think I've invented this whole theory I want you to know that after a quick little 5 km run this morning I spent most of the afternoon at the book store researching. I'm pretty confident in my story.
So where does that leave me today. From my reading the research seems to indicate that recovery from serious overtraining can take months of reduced activity, more sleep, rigid diet etc. Fortunately I believe I've caught it early enough. One of the most prevalent symptoms of overtraining is an elevated heart rate and I can say with some certainty that I don't have that problem. Even as I sit here and type my rate is under 50 bpm. One symptom that I have experienced, and that my wife will attest to is a tendency to mood swings. This one can be a bit deceiving however as a bit of grumpiness tends to come along with the extensive training regime, regardless of whether you are overdoing it.
I have actually been familiar with these common symptoms for years but today I read one reference that hit home with me because it is something that I never experienced before. I have noticed for some time now that my heart rate while on my long runs seemed to be a bit low. Even in my half Ironman I was shocked to see that my average for the run was 126 bpm. Quite frankly this was ridiculously low considering the way I was feeling. Even despite the fact that I was taking walking breaks.
So there you have it. I don't know if I've done a very good job of explaining it but after all, I don't know everything!
And my dear son Jon is marrying his precious Alisha this weekend so it's a good excuse to take it a bit easy for a few days. The funny thing is that before my awakening I had decided that I could probably get a 170km ride and an 8 km run in on Saturday, and still manage to get to the church on time. I have since decided that a nice little swim will suffice.
Oh and Elly this is too good not to share. When I initially saw Old Johns spelling error I was undecided how to handle it so as to have the most fun with it. After all he set himself up so badly it was almost painful. In the end I was talking to him on the phone on another topic and I took the opportunity to tease him about it. I also told him I wasn't gonna mention it on the blog because as I said to him and I quote, "I bet Elly notices it and yanks your chain about it"! It was less than an hour later that you posted your comment and I can't even begin to tell you how smug I felt. Thank you for that my dear sister....and thank you for continuing to take the time to read my drivel. I love you to the moon and back!!
Love
Peter
