Thursday, December 8, 2011

Tomorrow is another day

This week I slept through my alarm and missed a workout, which prompted me to ask you how you deal with the guilt of missing a workout. To be completely honest, I wasn't feeling as much guilty about not working out, but more about not doing what my coach asked me to do.

I guess deep down I'm still that little girl who is trying to please my parents, so to speak.

What I learned from those who did respond was that a missed workout isn't important, what's more important is that you listen to your body and if you need to sleep, sleep. There will be another day and another workout.

Since many did not comment on this site, but instead commented on my dailymile page, here is what they said:
: I don't beat myself up, tomorrow's another day. :))

Pick up again the next day. Your body probably needed the rest and that was its way of telling you.

: Ah, rest :)

: Try not to dwell on it... Easier said then done :)

I don't train anything in the morning...

life moves on....sometimes you do have to sleep. and you cannot make up for a missed workout....i think the universe sometimes tells you in weird ways that is ok to sleep in. and heck, this weather? sleep all day if you can!

This, the sole comment on this site, was actually extremely informative, so I thought it bears repeating:
Patrick said...
*If you're going to miss a session, now is the time. The closer you get to race day, the more important each one becomes.
*Get used to it, it happens and you'll need to accept it. Sometimes it may even be a good thing. Listen to your body.
*Listen to this podcast from endurance nation: http://enation.libsyn.com/return-on-investment-a-new-perspective-on-triathlon-training-part-i-introduction

The point being is that it happens. Workouts are missed, hot water heaters explode, alarms don't go off and kids get sick. After my last race, I decided that if I was going to do another half iron, I was going to enjoy the process, not panic or freak out about it. I hired a coach to help keep me on track, to help me develop in ways I cannot do on my own. I hired someone I could trust and who understands that I have a full-time job, kids and a husband. If you can't have fun throughout the journey, how are you going to celebrate when you reach your goal?

Triathlon is about swimming, biking and running,yes, but for me it's about so much more. It's about pushing myself. It's about showing my children the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. It's about proving to myself that I can do anything I set my mind to do, even if it seems impossible. Missing a workout is not the end of the world. It does not prove that I'm weak or that I don't have the commitment needed to improve my times. What it means is that I need to go to bed a earlier - that's pretty much it.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the shout out. The other thing I wanted to remind you of, that I all too often need to remind myself of is that we are age group athletes. We do this for fun, and not for a living and if at anytime we loose sight of the fun in all of this, we've defeated the point and ourselves.
    Don't think you're alone in being tempted to take this too seriously. I think most of us do. That's what makes us a unique breed. I love what I do. Husbandry, parenting, teaching THEN triathlon. .......Okay, maybe the triathlon comes before the teaching.

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  2. you did the right thing either way. if you are too tired, sleep is more important than a workout. cause if you try to do that workout in a fatigued state, you may injure yourself, you may have a poor workout (and then you will really beat yourself up??) and then you will also be really tired for the rest of the day. and how can you take care of much anything when tired? work, kids, self, etc.
    so sleep is under-rated. but listening to what your body says is the most important part! if the alarm doesn't go off.....maybe it was meant for you to sleep :)
    that is as your coach and friend!

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