Training Log - Recovery is Important.

So I'm remembering the importance of recovery. Between tweaking my knee a month ago, and then just experimenting to make sure that whenever I do another hard sessions I'm ACTUALLY ready to do it, instead of just slogging through the fatigue, I'm realizing again that going only hard, and then only easy is - by far - the best way to train. I can't sustain training 6 days a week and actually get a good training benefit out of it. I need at least 1 full rest day per week and at least 1 - sometimes 2 - recovery days where I do some level of activity, but EASY.

I took Wednesday this week easy. I did an aerobic spin on the trainer, and then went for an easy run. But by the end of the day on Wednesday, I was still feeling fatigued. So I gave myself another day of recovery and the next day I spun easy for 30 minutes and then stretched/foam rolled. Friday morning, I was able to do a tough, fast, swim practice with the team, and then immediately follow that with a short sweet spot workout on the trainer. Then I took the kids for an easy jog with the jogging stroller. And then the next morning I was able to do another aerobic trainer ride and do a transition run while pushing the pace a little bit. And I felt good!

The point of all this is that without having done the two easier days in the middle, I wouldn't have had nearly as much success with Friday and Saturday as I did. I would have felt awful the whole time, and I probably would have had to jog the transition run today.

Recovery is important.