Monday, June 6, 2011

That Gray Area

Too bad training and racing isn't all black and white. I'm typically a very concrete thinker. I like my right and wrong answers; physics was always fun to me because there was a single right answer. Lately I've been a fan of the gray area. Just ask my coworkers. I'm always giving times and amounts in "ish"es. What time are you going to lunch? 11ish. How many people were in your class? 20ish. If I don't know the yes or no, right or wrong, down to the decimal place answer, it's an ish.

While exercise physiology is a hard science, there are a lot of unknowns. Think about the huge combination of biochemical reactions going on all the time. Individuals are so different in their specific physical structures and muscle fiber make-ups, their VO2maxes, their hormone balances, their need of rest and recovery, etc.

Why is it that one athlete can race Ironmans month after month for years, never going over the edge, while another can have years of success only to hit some sort of wall suddenly? What makes me need 10 hours of sleep while others do great on 7? Why can't I do over 50 miles per week and not have hip pain? Is one little virus responsible for pushing me to the point of no return, stuck in the nightmare of overtraining syndrome? 

One thing I've learned in my decade of triathlons (I honestly didn't train for the first 3 seasons) is that while there are guidelines of training for specific distances, there are a lot of right answers. There are a lot of wrong ones too, as I've learned the hard way. 

The problem is figuring out what exactly goes wrong. Why after years of successes, can changing a few things here and there cause-- bam!-- Failure. With a capital F. That gray area. That darn ISH area. So without pinpointing a virus or the two Ironmans 6 weeks apart, or any other method of my training, I will go delving into the gray, hoping to find the answers to get out. 






2 comments:

  1. GF, You seem to function great in the gray area. Maybe you should write a book-ish on the subject. :)

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  2. Johnson, I mean Harwood, you are still the most fit-ish person I know! :)

    ReplyDelete