I guess most people can relate to this;
I’ve been down with a cold for a couple days. Feel much better today, and going back to work tomorrow. Skipped todays VO2 Max workout, which is basically the only workout I will miss. I’m so stressed out when I miss. I know it’s the ONLY right thing to do! Allow my body to recover. What do you guys tell yourself, to stop being so damn anxious about missing workouts? How are you dealing with those feelings?
Put the sick days in your plan, let it adapt. Trust the plan
Hey @Astono,
It’s really common for athletes like yourself to worry about missing out on training. Many of us are wired to constantly expect that stimulus and feel like we are losing our fitness when things get in the way of training, but you have to remember that when you’re ill, your body is already doing so much work fighting off whatever has gotten you down. Often coming back from illness leaves you more fatigued than a typical training week which is good evidence that shows how hard you’re actually working on those days.
I still miss my training when I’m under the weather and often would give anything to just feel better and be out on a ride or run, but it only took me once to learn that doing too much when your body is too busy for exercise will only require more time to recover in the long run.
I like to look at those days as just another recovery day and ignore the fact that I’m not training if possible. It often helps me to use some of that time (if I can) to work on something training-related. That might be organizing my equipment, doing some overdue cleaning (my shoes, helmets, glasses, etc. all get neglected during peak season), researching some nutrition improvements, or planning a new route. Anything of this sort that your body will allow you to do might help you feel like you’re still being productive in your overall fitness goals, and riding experience.
At the end of the day, you’ve just got to remember that these things are often out of our control and they happen to everyone. Also, the way that we manage these situations can have a huge effect on your training long-term.
Keep your head up and you’ll be back before you know it!
I second what @eddiegrinwald says about replacing your training session with other related activities. It puts my mind at ease when I’m cleaning my bike or just checking to make sure all of the bolts are torqued to spec. It beats just sitting around with your mind running in circles.
I don’t know if there’s an existing feature request but would it be possible to pause TrainNow recommendations when an illness annotation is added to the calendar? I always feel like it’s pressuring me to work out…
That’s a good idea! I’ll pass that along to the rest of the team.
Thanks for the feedback!
I’d also recommend not opening up Strava. It’s easy to have FOMO seeing your friends rides (especially when the weather is nice!!)
I try to tell myself Life Happens and I don’t get paid to ride my bike. Sometimes you may need the extra day of rest and will benefit you in the long run.
Don’t beat yourself up and yes avoid strava and opening your TR calendar.
I missed 27 days with zero riding due to injury and the first week was the worst. Now I’m embracing the break and it’s the first long break I’ve taken in over 3 years. So look at the long game and know 1 workout didn’t make you fast and missing one workout won’t make you lose fitness.
I sometimes lift weights if it is a headcold type thing. Otherwise I watch ctl/fatigue on intervals.icu to remind myself (pretend?) the rest is helping faster than it is hurting, at least for a while.
if you’re stressing about missing a single workout, you likely have the discipline such that you’re regularly on the razor’s edge of training load.
Embrace a forced rest day when they happen.
I know you’re right. I would tell anyone else, what you’re telling me. I tell friends; “rather do a little too little, than a little too much”… I just have a hard time applying that advice to my own training…
Today I still feel fatigued. If I have to be a 100% honest to myself, I’m not ready to train. Not even a recovery ride…
Yesterday I thought that I would do the prescribed 1 hour endurance ride, that is in my plan today. I decided to skip it, and see if I feel better tomorrow. I know it’s the smart thing to do, but I’m anxious that I’m loosing my fitness. Which is just stupid…
I remind myself that when I push too hard I eventually burn out and lose MANY days of training, so it’s better to ease off the gas for a day or two than to push through and end up setting my training back many days.
You may want to consider taking your resting hear rate in the morning (before getting up out of bed and moving about) and if its within 5% of your normal then you could think about a light endurance ride to get things going again (plus plently of fluids and an early night etc)
I had a big breakthrough in my training game, when I realised (like actually interiorised) that the training session is the catalyst, but resting is were all the magic happens.
Unfortunately this was late in life and I missed my prime time to burnout and was left with a broken body.
More directly to the OP:
Your training is not about a session but what you can do in a “year”. If you train 4 times a week, that’s 200 sessions a year. One session is 0.5% of that.
One session is worthless without consistency. You’re traiding one or two sessions to gain 2 or 3 weeks of good sessions.
Think ahead, not at the present. That’s what helped me a lot.
Sure… it would be better not to get ill at all
Speedy recovery!
Some great points here. Thanks. Well my illness ended with me taking 3 days off (two days more than prescribed in my plan). Did some very light riding both thursday and friday… And guess the result from the extra rest. You guessed it; I had great legs on my group rides this weekend. I could honestly not feel my chain before kilometer 80…
Note to self; Always do a little too little rather than a little too much…
Sickness sucks but given that you’re sick, you’re doing my GOOD for your body by resting than you would by forcing a workout.