Stress! Everybody handles stress different. Whether its stress at work, school, relationships, or in training, stress can have both positive and negative impacts on people. For endurance athletes who have high training volumes, stress factors are often amplified.
Because of this endurance athletes must take actions to help alleviate the negative stress in their lives before it grows exponentially and turns into a bigger problem. Stress can overload athletes to their breaking point, some so much they even give up the sport all together.
Here are some tips from Lava Magazine’s Stress, Fat Storage and the Athlete about how to avoid getting to stressed out during long training weeks:
- Appropriate post-workout cool down
- Fluid replacement
- Post-workout glycogen replenishment
- A proper post-workout meal
- Stretching
- Rest/Sleep
- Active recovery
- Massage and/or foam rolling, ART
- Ice baths
- And of course, scheduled days off!
My training: Week 19
This week was filled with a lot of biking. I tried to go out for a run on Tuesday but only made it about 2 miles before I started having bad knee pain (I have a sports med appointment set up tomorrow). The weather was up and down again this week. Both of my bike rides on Saturday (30 miles) and Sunday (82 miles) were very windy. It’s a little demoralizing when you’re going down a hill and you’re speed is slowing down at the same time because there’s so much wind. Oh well, its a good training ride. I started doing some circuit training this week. I’ve been incorporating lunges, squats, weight lifting and a bunch of core activities that target a lot of the muscles needed for triathletes. I think it’s gonna be a big help over the next 4 months.
Week totals: 15 hours
- Swimming: 2.25 hours
- Biking: 11 hours
- Running: .5 hours (sad)
- Core/Strength: 1.25 hr
My buddy Greg forgot to put sunscreen on.
Favorite workout of the week: Have been really enjoying my new strength/core routine at Pinnacle Health & Fitness. Have been doing a circuit with squats, lunges, and a bunch of other core/strength activities.
Least favorite workout of the week: Went for 1 run this week, only a half hour. Hoping rest will help the injury
Advice of the week: Wear sunscreen (See photo —–>)
Thing I’m looking forward to next week: Focusing in on the bike, swim and core while my knee heals
IRONMANDIARY 
Your knee totally looks like mine at the moment! Gotta love KT tape! Knee pain is no fun indeed, especially when training for an Ironman. Have you figured out the root cause of your pain? Mine is IT-band related. So not cool. Heal quickly!
Man do i agree with items 1-10! I actually find #6 and #10 the most difficult. My sleep patterns are sometimes all over the board, and to get all the needed training it’s hard to schedule off days. Good luck with your knee; aches, pains and injury seem to go with the territory don’t they?