One-a-Day-December…..

After surgery disrupted my 2008 racing season, my goals for ’09 were modest, at least by my previous standards. Getting back to pain-free training and crossing the finish line in a few races were all it took for me to declare the year a rousing success. Of course, I’m a triathlete and my success this year leaves me no choice but to set the bar higher for next season.

With a 2010 schedule that includes some very tough races and won’t be over until the finish line of Ironman AZ is crossed in late November and a body that will no longer tolerate an abusive training schedule, I found myself forced to acknowledge that I absolutely had to take the concept of off-season seriously if I planned to have another successful year. This awareness led me to commit to my One-a-Day-December.

Simply put, I would only allow myself to do one workout per day for the 31 days of December.

Sounds easy enough…and for a huge percentage of the US population such a pledge is actually the stuff January resolutions are made of…but I have been doing multiple daily workouts for more than a decade with only a very few, very brief and very much-needed breaks. I can’t remember the last time I went for more than a couple of days without completing 2 or even 3 workouts each day.

Regardless, as a concession to my age and slightly-less-bulletproof condition, I knew that backing off in December would afford me a better chance of surviving, and even flourishing, in the tough months that lie ahead.

I’ll admit, it hasn’t been all that difficult to cut back on swimming. What can I say, turning over and going back to sleep when the alarm rings at 4:15 is even easier when you actually have a reason beyond laziness for doing so. But as an adult-onset swimmer, I am scared not to swim at least a couple of days a week.  So I do get myself to the pool and have come to learn that knowing I will be done for the day when the workout is over is a beautiful thing.

Running has remained the most consistent of the three disciplines. With a couple of 1/2 marathons on the calendar, I’ve had to keep my run at a certain level. Actually, I think continuing to run three or four days a week has been critical to my maintaining what little sanity I have. It has also kept the weight gain to a slightly less frightening, and hopefully easily reduced, amount.

I have always been pretty good at math, but it was somewhat shocking to me when I realized that if I swam twice a week and ran three times a week and I was truly committed to doing only one workout per day, I was going to run out of days long before I got much biking or strength training in.

But I love to ride my bike. On the road, on the trainer, on the rollers…it doesn’t much matter to me. Could I handle riding only once or twice a week? So far I have been able to manage it by riding predominantly on the rollers and focusing on challenging my comfort zone with one-legged drills and water bottle grabs instead of just spinning merrily along. I have convinced myself that if I improve my skills it will make up for the loss of hours in the saddle. It may not be the case, but it does make me feel better.

Strength training has been trimmed to the occasional core exercise done post-run and a little stability ball balance work I throw in after I get off the bike. I worry about my increasingly flabby upper arms, but try to ignore them and have faith that their woeful condition will be quickly rectified come January.

All in all, my workout totals come in at around 8 hours per week…a far cry from my usual 14+ plus average. I find it rather shocking that I have summoned the resolve to stick to my December plan and am thankful that the holiday bustle makes it easier.

I do worry about losing hard-earned fitness and have to admit that I have surely lost some. I plan for this to be a very temporary situation and hope to come out ahead after a few weeks back at full steam. And this is where it gets interesting. Along with the loss of a little fitness, I have also lost some other things. I have lost many of the little naggy aches and pains that used to be a constant in my life. I have lost the deeply seated fatigue that clung to me so tightly that  I could never completely shake it. I have lost the stress that comes from trying to cram yet another workout into an already overloaded day. I have lost so much more than just fitness.

Now that I am halfway through my month of restriction, I know that I will survive it.  I can see that my worries of becoming an out-of-control-coach-potato were pretty much unfounded. I truly believe that I will be back, fit as ever, probably before the end of February. And I am forced to recognize the real possiblity that my previous fear of taking one step back at season’s end may have actually prevented me from getting the full two steps forward each following year.

I always knew intellectually that time to rest, recover and rejuvenate was important to both personal happiness and continued athletic improvement. However, I have to confess to not knowing it emotionally.  I was too afraid of risking my high level of fitness and it’s contributions to not only my athletic endeavors but my self-worth as well. I was too frightened to allow my body the break it needed….the rest it deserved.

- coach gail