It’s almost the end of October and I’ve been busy doing silly things. Both the Devil’s Aquathlon and the run around the Gower were fun, but this time of year is a time to cut the pressure of training and racing and to let both brain and body recover. One of the most important things for long term fitness development is wanting to do it, and after a really tough year of racing and training a period of not planning, not wanting, not training, and eating and doing whatever you feel like is crucial to regaining the love.
I’m not training. I ride to work (cycling is my main way of getting around throughout the year), I’m having a little jog every few days at whatever pace and distance I feel like, I’m swimming with the Swansea Masters because it’s a funs session and I’m having the odd splash in the pool. I took a week and a half off swimming around the time of the Gower run and it felt weird to get back in the pool, but I found that I can still swim. I’m not fussed about it. I’m avoiding making plans for next year, and I’ve got only the vaguest plans for training at the back of my brain.
I’m catching up with gaming, eating lots of cake and biscuits, drinking lots of coffee and cola, and I’m already starting to feel sick of eating junk food. I hit my winter weight within 4 weeks of my last triathlon and seem to be hovering around that new mass. There’s always room for a bit more cake.
I’m starting to feel like I want to swim, cycle and run a little more, but I’m enjoying not getting up in the morning. The dark mornings weren’t helping, and the clocks have gone back now so it’s a little lighter. I’m wondering if as the years of training accumulate do we also feel the need for a bigger rest period in the autumn? It’s a very personal thing. Goals are our drivers, so enthusiasm for the next season of racing will affect the rest period. How hard the previous season was will also have an affect. Are you the type of person that bounds back from disappointment wanting to do better, or do you wallow in perceived failures? That will also have an affect.
I think I might go mountain biking this weekend. And I fancy another short muddy trail run this afternoon too. Just for fun.