I love the solitude of solo exercise. Alone with my thoughts, I can enjoy the view at my own pace, veer off onto another road in a split second if the urge strikes or even stop at cafe for a Coke mid-ride. Running alone in a forest has to be one of my favourite things to do, be it early morning, noon or dusk. If I feel tired, I just go slower free from the constraints of keeping pace with hyperactive training partners. Conversely, if I'm feeling fresh and motivated, I'll sometimes "have a go" and lay it all out there, but only very occasionally.
That said, I also really enjoy the company of others, especially the banter that ensues during group rides. Some of the best conversations I've ever had have been in the company of other cyclists on various long rides here in Cape Town. The flip side of such a group dynamic though is going against my instincts for the sake of the collective intensity. Somebody always seems to up the pace midway, intentionally or not, abruptly ending any form of socialising and thereby instigating the endemic training race. I mean, who really wants to be dropped?
There are certainly benefits of both instances, no matter what level of athlete you might be. Solo work could be many a person's form of self-meditation or escape, whilst group training is often a more of social event. Group intensity sessions are most certainly beneficial and have their place if spaced out accordingly. Yet excessive group exercise can actually have more drawbacks than benefits, although many of my peers are sure to disagree. These testosterone sessions end up be more catabolic than anabolic all too often, sending many a participant over the edge.
Running home from work the two nights ago, I descended out of the local forest through a school that has great sporting facilities. The educational institution's rural setting makes it a dream location for a high performance sporting centre, one of which is bearing fruition as we speak. A measured 400m grass track is the central hub of the school, which is used by many a baboon, sports team, individual and more recently, multi-sport coaching groups. Given the rising popularity of ultra-distance triathlon here in South Africa, many such athletes take part in weekly (some times bi-weekly) speedwork sessions under the watchful eye of their coach.
As I ran (read: jogged) past one such group embarking on their interval session, I couldn't help but think of both the benefits and drawbacks of such group sessions. How many of those athletes present were there less-than-fresh both physically and mentally? How many were merely going through the motions in order to tick off another training day or justify their monthly coaching payments? A few, I suspect. Social aspects aside, embarking on an hour of anaerobic hell mid-week is not always that beneficial after a long day at the office/creche/boardroom/shooting range. There is always some form of payback in the long run (note: pun not intended) be it declining energy levels, illness, injury or missing your favourite sitcom. These thoughts stayed with me as I crossed paths with some local horse riders, initiating some reflection of my own experiences of such collective training over the years, both good and detrimental all the same.
Peer pressure is prevalent in endurance sport. I can think of several instances where I have attended a 5am group ride against my will for the sake of keeping others happy. Whilst many of those dawn cycles left me with an immediate sense (symptomatic) of accomplishment, I truly believe that I would have been better off in the long term (preventative) by shortening or even skipping those particular sessions.
Forcing oneself to train un-willfully is a one-way ticket to staleness, lethargy and ensuing illness. That is why a loosely structured training schedule that contains mostly easy exercise of varying duration on a daily basis is often far more effective for those of us with jobs/families/other hobbies/TV commitments etc. That way one can be fresh when the time comes for that weekly group ride that you know is going to be nothing less race pace. More importantly, the freshness will extend to race day, where anything less than 100% would leave leave a feeling of emptiness and under-performance.
Seeing that group track session taking place was beneficial to me though, but in an unexpected way. Having not run hard since competing in a 15km event a fortnight earlier, I must admit that i had been getting twitchy over the previous couple of days to "clean the pipes." Waking up the next morning for my running commute to work, I decided to emulate the multi-sporters that I had seen the previous evening and do a track session of my own, a radical departure from my usual cruise through the local forests and greenbelts. This session would be about my fourth of this type over an eight month period, which consists of over a dozen 200m repeats on a very slight downhill grade.
Whilst this sort of workout had been in the back of mind for a few days, it took a combination of the motivating sight of observing others, ideal weather and that wonderful feeling of freshness to influence my decision. A true occurrence of various catalysts. I felt good during the ensuing repeats, which were done on a dirt road that is located behind our rural office park. Unsure of the exact number of repetitions, I felt that fifteen would be a good number to work towards; not too little but not too much. The fact that I ended up completing fourteen reps did not dampen my spirits. I was sharing the track with several dog walkers by that time and things were getting a bit crowded so it was time call it a day.
Trying to squeeze in one more 200m effort for the sake of it was just not worth it, not too mention spoiling an otherwise enjoyable session. Dodging walkers and dogs in pursuit of adding up numbers would just not have been practical. Yet I was totally happy with what I had accomplished.
I'm not sure exactly when I'll do another set of 200s. Sessions like these are enjoyable both in a group or solo. I guess it just depends on circumstance and mood. The key though is to not do these sort of workouts too often. Maybe once a month or in my case, once every two. All I know is that next time I'll start earlier and maybe do seventeen reps.
