Jason told me what great several months of training and performing he’s had. I thought to myself, “Is he lucky, as rarely can a person put in top performances several months in a row.”
That’s the exception to the rule in the world of high performance. What’s normal for a great training program is to have a period of performance brilliance followed by a performance decline. The decline signals the body’s in need of a recovery that must be carefully controlled otherwise a delay in recovery becomes more possible. Delayed recoveries set the stage for preventable injury or illness - key things any competitor should avoid like the plague.
The usual script goes something like this:
I’m having a period of great performance and am euphoric over it.
I know it won’t last forever so I need to get the most out of it before I have the inevitable pullback in performance.
The intoxicating effect of performing spectacularly well and at the end, feeling as if you didn’t do anything is a performers nirvana.
Trust me, I know that all too well. Few things match that sensation. But, to try and ride the wave farther when it’s as good as it gets accelerates the onset of the falloff in performance. Ideally, when performances are at their best is when it’s best to pull back and do less to ride the high-performance wave longer. This is perhaps the hardest thing of all to do as you’re asking someone to purposely step away from heaven on earth. The mind answers this by saying, “You’re crazy, why would I want to pull back when I’m at my peak?”
To the uninitiated continuing to train and perform at higher levels is predicted along with the disappointment, injuries, and illness that come from pushing a percent or two too hard when a pullback is what’s required. When a pullback is done mind and body function increase enabling continued high levels of performance to occur along with great recovery.
On today’s 100km ride with friends I had a magic day as at the end I felt as if I hadn’t even ridden.
The temptations there to go and do the same ride tomorrow. No, thanks, I’ll pass.
I want to ride this wave as long as possible.
The importance of having a well-functioning and healthy immune system has become increasingly obvious in recent times.
Sadly, everyone seems to have a different answer as to how you should go about strengthening your immune system. When you go to your local health and wellness shop, you might see twenty or thirty products that tout their “immune boosting” powers. An Amazon search reveals thousands of results.
Well, we’re here to tell you about an effective and ancient remedy that has been in use for over two thousand years: the red reishi mushroom.
We’ve all heard about all the negative effects of stress and the modern lifestyle.
We’re all rushing around, overworked, in a constant state of fight-or-flight and it has disastrous effects on our health.
But what if “stress” wasn’t the real problem?
What if our bodies knew exactly how to cope with the intensity of modern life… if we just gave the body what it needed to thrive?
And the key may be one little mineral.
I hope this finds you healthy and able to still get outside (or inside) for a daily run during this trying time of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many of us are grieving several losses including race cancellations. Though it's a bummer, I want you to know that your hard-earned training is far from wasted.
Those miles are in your legs and all kinds of wonderful benefits have occurred including the addition of mitochondria, adding new capillary beds for increased blood flow, and strengthening the heart muscle for future training.
As athletes, it's important for us to be proactive in maintaining a strong immune system. We're not only doing this for our own prevention but also our loved ones that we spend time with.
Read on for 5 tips to consider as you seek to stay healthy.
