I am four weeks post the biggest races of my life, I’ve lost fitness, and it’s OK. Here I will share why I plan to do this a couple times per year along with a look ahead to get it back.
Based on experience and studying I have done over the years, I believe in breaking the year into chunks inclusive of brief off seasons, a build component of training, and race specific training with tune-up races included in pursuit of the “A” race for that block. The first part of 2023 was in pursuit of the USAT Duathlon National Championships and the World Triathlon Multisport Championships held in late April.
Heading into the two races, I was fit! Training and racing were going as planned with a couple physical tweaks but we all have a couple tweaks. I was physically feeling great and I was also fueling my body extremely well. I have been plant-based for over seven years so that never wavers, but I implement the best of my self regulated guidelines the two months leading up to my “A” race. To read more detail regarding my three levels of nutrition guidelines, you can read my previous blog titled, Offseason Indulgences to Optimal Nutrition Compliance. I was in Compliance Level 1 and feeling it!
The feeling it for me looks a bit like this. I can feel the air and blood passing through my body with a greater ease when I’m pushing an effort, handling stress, and in general. My core/gut feels great without the feel I’m carrying extra pounds in the gut. The biomarker I look at daily and track my trends over a 7-day rolling average, is my resting heart rate. It tells a great story for me and I can tell you what it is within a couple beats. My body knows when I’m fit and it knows when I’m not.
I love the metric as it does correlate with how I feel. There are several components that make it go up and down including how well I’m eating, sleeping, dealing with life stressors, and if I’m stressing the heart (a good thing) in work outs. I researched this more and wrote about it in my blog titled, Resting Heart Rate Explored. With the exception of a couple weeks per year like right now post a big race, I’m in the top 1% of resting heart rate for men. The top 1% have a resting heart rate of 46 beats per minute (bpm) or lower. When I’m within the two months leading up to the race, I’m at 42 bpm. For most of the year I’m between 42-44 bpm. For the couple weeks including this past week I’ve inched out of that top 1% with a 47% 7-day average. That is a 12% difference and I feel it!
What has contributed to my 12% loss in fitness?
- I went from my Level 1 nutrition compliance to Level 3. Again, still plant-based but I’m indulging in a lot of desserts, pizzas, pizzas, more pizzas, and other things I avoid when I want to optimize my health and performance.
- I haven’t stressed my heart in a workout to give my legs a chance to recover from the heavy training load. I’m also attempting to heal one issue that was nagging me headed into the April races.
I am ok with this loss of fitness for a few reasons. As noted in the second bullet above, I’m giving my body a chance to heal and recover from the stress I put it under for months. I want to do this for many years ahead so I’m taking care of the physical part in the best way I know how. Another reason is the mental side of the equation. I just completed two big races. I have found it great to put some separation between them and the next training block. This provides some time to appreciate what just happened, focus on other things that maybe have been put to the side, and create a gap that at some point develops into a hunger to start training again.
This doesn’t mean I’m not doing anything. I’m still running 5-6 days per week, a few other secret sauce elements, and I’ve gone on a couple easy bike rides the last few days. I know my head (I think…) and I need a separation from the bike as I will burn out. But I do this so I won’t.
I’m at the point now where I don’t feel good. The gut has expanded and my body isn’t running efficiently. I can feel the difference in blood flow and oxygen not pumping through my body the same. I’m having an issue I’m still trying to heal so I’ll work on that as I’m about to enter a build phase which in this block will be a long one so I have the ability to be cautious early on. This will lead to the A race of the Fall, the USAT Middle Distance Duathlon National Championship, December 3 at Daytona Beach, FL. This will be my first Middle Distance National Championship since 2019 when I raced Miami Man and it was rough! I look forward to the challenge.
I hope you found this helpful. I find it helpful to break up the year physically and mentally. Let me know what you do.
– Add Health to Your Life
Blog Photo – The Nona Slice House Vegan Cheese Pizza with Mushrooms and Vegan Garlic Knots
The Healthy Giraffe 
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