67 Days Until IRONMAN 70.3 Chattanooga
As I slowly make my way toward the first A race of the season, my head is filled with numbers: TSS, TSB, ATL, CTL, Hear Rate, Watts, Pace and the list goes on. It looks a bit more like alphabet soup than numbers. And today has been a good day to ponder the numbers because I’m down for the count: I’m sick.
Actually, I think it’s fatigue. The last four days have been a little rough on the body:
Saturday: 2 hour trainer ride
Sunday: Pool swim, 8 mile run
Monday: 1 hour trainer with intervals
Yesterday: 6 mile run, with two miles “strong”
Have a look at my performance management chart below. During the week of 3/3/2020 my fatigue, represented by the pink ATL line at the green arrow, dips down momentarily before it rises again four days later.
But if we look back to the two week period beginning 2/10/2020 (red rectangle), the fatigue dropped way back for an extended period. Part of this was because I had a cold and skipped a day or two of training. Once I recovered from the cold, I was able to handle more fatigue (outside the red rectangle to the right) and push my fitness (blue line) up a bit more. Perhaps I pushed the fatigue too much. That dip in the blue line below the green arrow was planned. That was my rest week last week.
My coach has been very good about recognizing when I’ve pushed too hard and need rest. This time is no different. Yesterday, Coach Sami knew what she was doing when she insistent that I take a rest day today. I guess triathlon really is a team sport!