Saw @pav post this blog today. Very interesting topic as I give myself such a hard time when I take an extra day off (unplanned). Anyone else beat themselves up when they take a day off?
I have 1 day a week off scheduled in my plan by Pav. I very occasionally have an extra day if I am not feeling good but very rarely. It messes with my head if I can’t train.
I am very much a box-ticker myself and hate it when I can’t do my training as planed but we have to look at the plan as what it is - a plan that was made for the case that everything goes as planed. But this is often not the case, life stress might as well get in the way as a little infection that hampers recovery.
I use a Whoop and this makes the decission to hold back easier for me because it seems more like a informed decission based on numbers than a feeling that I might interpret as my own weakness.
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Great way of looking at it Chris.
Unfortunately, I am on medication that messes with my HRV and reduces it whilst raising my resting HR. I have seen this over the past few weeks trying to come off the medication - HR down, HRV up. Ultimately going back on it - HR up and HRV down. C’est la vie but it does limit the use of these HRV based tools.
There is one off day on my weekly plan. Every time I need to take an extra day off, or fail a workout (which is usually because of too many other things going on, or picking up yet another bug) feels like a failure, and I do hate failure, almost as much as I hate losing. So, really a big mental problem for me.
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I generally have one rest day planned for the week. However this can also sometimes still include some mobility work or a core day but I limit it to 15-30mins max.
I used to have Monday’s as a rest day but I found I could never fully hit Tuesdays training goals. Or they just felt extremely hard. I have found after a big ride or run on Sunday I am better if I have an easy run/ride on Monday and then my training session on Tuesday or in the past perhaps the ZRL race.
I now plan my rest day as a Friday but as I mentioned I might do a short core workout or mobility work. This is also what I see as family night.
However yes if plans get messed up I can get a little tetchy. Getting home too late from work or last minute changes meaning I can’t get out. For example Easter weekend just we ended up going away to my sisters for 4 days which would mean 4 missed workout days. However I did still squeeze in some core work and I’d thrown some running shoes and some kit in for the just in case. As things went I did manage to get out for a 5.5mile run.
For me a lot of it is mental as I need to get outside for my mental health and while I can be very kind to myself on having to miss a session for what ever reason and for me family does come first I also know that I might not actually be my best for them if I don’t aim to keep things ticking over.
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Some really interesting perspectives here. It doesn’t bother me too much if I miss a workout, I just move on to the next a not give myself shit for it.
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This pretty much sums me as well. I’m just human and I have a job and a family to think about too. As long as it’s not me making excuses for being lazy I’m good
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Some really interesting perspectives here. Thanks!
Well said on this! Nice to see
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