I don't stretch nearly as often as I probably should. Actually it's less a matter of often enough and more a matter of well enough. For me it's one of those things that doesn't seem worthwhile until after you've done it. Why stretch when I can use the time to swim a few hundred more yards? What am I really going to gain from stretching?
But I had time on my hands and felt I needed to do something. So I decided to do some yoga. After doing a couple sun salutations I began going through a series of connected poses - one pose leads into another. As I went from one pose to another my muscles slowly began to relax. I hadn't realized how tight everything was after weeks of pushing hard. It's funny how little tensions and other things can build up without you really being aware. They creep in so slowly that you don't realize that they're building. If you're not careful they can build up to a point where they surround and crush you. Working out relieves some of the pressure but not as much as you think.
As my muscles relaxed my mind did too. What we do to the body affects the mind - another of many lessons learned from triathlon training. I didn't think I was carrying too much mental tension but as it turned out the tension had creeped up on that front as well. After I finished I felt more relaxed than I've felt in a very long time. It was definitely time well spent. Maybe I'll start doing this more regularly on my recovery day. The weekly break will be good for my body, mind, and spirit. Maybe I'll remember next time that when it seems worthwhile afterwards then it is.
Workout Summary
Weekly Summary
Swim and running workouts this week went well despite taking the previous week off to focus on cycling. I was a little concerned that both would suffer as they usually do when I'm inconsistent but they didn't. I also added a Wednesday mid-range run to my weekly schedule. My runs lately still haven't been great so I wanted to spend a little more time there.
Thursday night was my first ride with the local club this year. The ride was fast, furious, and fun. Was surprised that my max heart rate was only 178 as I went all out on a few of the sprints. I think I must still be a bit overtrained from last week as my threshold is still around 156 or so. Next week I'll have to back it off a bit on my higher intensity workouts.
On a completely unrelated note my wife completed her first 1 mile continuous run yesterday! It's taken her a little over a month to get there and is a huge first milestone for her. Now that she's seeing some progress she's getting more motivated. I don't think we'll see her in any triathlons any time soon but now a 5K is definitely a possibility.
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