Off Day

We are almost done attacking the second week of December and we are going through a lot of Christmas parties related to work, our sporting clubs, our friends and so on. Well, at least I know I am. If you are not going through those Christmas parties, you are probably baking lots and getting ready for the big holiday season.

We have lots on our minds, we run all-over the place and we try to keep our good habits such as being active, keep eating good healthy foods and keep stress at bay.

With that being said, your bad day is bound to happen and chances are that even if most of the time your workouts are going well, you will have one that will just be off.

When that happens, don’t worry too much about not being able to fit the target volume or intensity. Take a step back to reassess. Have you been sleeping well lately? Have your emotions got the best out of you lately? How is your environment? Have you felt happy or have you felt down? How has been your stress level today?

The body does not know the difference between emotional stressors such as having a fight with someone and physical stressors such as training. Your body cumulates that stress and sometimes it’s just best to take things easy and not follow the plan, for today or tomorrow anyway. Take a step back, really, it’s O-K.

How are your energy levels today? Do you feel good and ready to go or do you feel drained? If you trained, do you feel better after your workout or do you feel worst?

Those are questions that I like to ask myself and ask others when they have finished working out. For example, Tuesday was a really good day, even though I did a test requiring me to push my limits on the bicycle. I felt so good, even swimming drills were easy. I knew it had been a good day when the following day, I was able to hit my target zones at the run and literally kick butt and have fun doing it.

The thing we need to remember is that even though we may have some great days going on for us and ahead of us, sometimes there are things that are out of our control that is bound to happen. Take a step back, accept that something out of your control may have happened and move on. One day or a couple of days are not going to affect your performances. You know your routines, you know what is ahead of you and you know you just need a bit of time (spelled R-E-S-T) to get back into the wagon of kicking buts.

Hope you all have a great month of December, keep staying active and keep going forward in your training and remember that there are bound to be some less good training days. Those days are learning opportunities. Like Bob Marley likes to say, “don’t worry be happy” and really, take care.