I listen to yet another great podcast recently between two individuals who really do embrace an alternative perspective when it comes to health and fitness.
Essentially a half-hour radio interview, host Brad Kearns and studio guest Ben Greenfield engage in a most informative discussion on various topics, the central theme being attaining peak athletic performance with a little pain and suffering as possible.
With the endurance sport season here in South Africa now in full swing, multi-day mountain bike stage races are becoming the staple diet for many athletes seeking to add to their multi-sport repertoire and challenge their limits. Being a regular attendee of such events in various supporting and therapeutic roles, I often wonder whether many of these folk are “biting off more than they can chew,” in the sense of juggling their busy working and personal lives with the demands of multiple events and the preparation thereof.
The massage plinth is certainly a great place for interactive conversations between therapist and athlete, and for me at least, a great way to add to my own knowledge and skill set through the various verbal and biofeedback attained during such therapy sessions. That said, these conversations often remind me of things that I tend to forget and would be of benefit to my own athletic pursuits.
It has been forty-six days since my last maximum athletic effort, that being dipping just under three hours at the Cape Town Marathon. Whilst initial recovery was rather rapid, the residual effects and subsequent fatigue can manifest themselves further down the line. Coupled with increased workload in light of the aforementioned endurance sporting season, I have forced myself to make some compromises, the results of which I hope will leave me fresher, healthier and happier once I do decide to start “pushing it” again.
Jack Foster’s statement of an easy day for every mile raced is a great analogy, yet on the twenty –sixth day following my marathon efforts, I was far away from at the tail end of an extended working trip at the Bridge Cape Pioneer Trek. My mind and body certainly was not up to any anaerobic efforts, especially given the nature of that work, the incessant travel, early starts and late finishes. That combination was an effort in itself and needed to be respected as such. That said, my early morning running sessions on tour were slow and therapeutic, embracing a different rural village each day before moving on to the next stage venue.
The past and coming weekends are similar in nature, with more therapy work scheduled at the FNB Wines2Whales, albeit closer to home. In an attempt to give some insight into what I constitute to be common sense based on intuition and biofeedback, here are some selected personal workouts over the past week. Mood, weather and sleep quality play a big part in my own workout decisions, the fall back option being that I can always jog and spin the pedals lightly if in doubt. Most sessions are of that nature anyway!
Friday 31 October 2014: Awake early and head down to nearby soccer fields for around 5 km of barefoot running, including 10x100m strides. A beautiful morning and felt good, although not exactly sharp.
Saturday 1 November 2014: Awake early again, although this time location is the staff tent village at the FNB Wines2Whales. Beautiful setting of Oak Valley makes me want to go for run through the apple orchards for an hour-and-a-half but I cut it short at around half of that. Still feeling a little tired from previous day’s work, electing to spend the rest of the morning relaxing and socializing before official duties start.
Wednesday 5 November 2014: Running to the office I decide to see what some intensity feels like, so do four one kilometer repeats over a mostly flat road and grass circuit, roughly a seventy-thirty split surface wise. Like to run soft as much as possible! The first two feel OK, the last two not so good. Not sure if racing a flat out 10km is really the best thing in a week’s time as a result, but glad to have tried nonetheless.
