Learning to enjoy the Easy Week of training

Written 8th February 2010

After weeks of hard training, it’s a time to rest my body AND my mind. It’s time for A Week Off.

The base training phase is a time to push myself, a time to find new limits. This means it’s necessary to have a week off occasionally to rest and refresh. These so-called ‘Easy Weeks’ are also a good time to reflect on what I am trying to achieve and how I am going.

From what I’ve read, ‘Easy Weeks’ are important. As pro-triathlete John Hirsch says about training plans on his blog “We are a pool of gasoline and with a spark of motivation we can burn ourselves up pretty fast. I keep telling people to relax, be patient and let it come. Our fitness is thin this early on, and we often can’t do what we wish we could do…just yet.’ So we must let our body catch up every now and then. We need the body to relax, to rest, to rebuild and to refresh. A good week off training is critical to this process.

There are a few things to keep in mind during Easy Week. Firstly, any exercise
should be for fun only. No timed runs or rides, no demanding workouts, no scheduled commitments. The only exercise is relaxed cross-training, just for fun.

Secondly, with little exercise each day, the total food intake must be controlled- or even reduced- to ensure body weights doesn’t blow out. This is not the time for lots of food and drink. Some, yes – just not too much.

Despite this, it’s also important to find ways to ‘celebrate’ throughout the week. The best way to do this is to reflect and enjoy what has been achieved over the last few weeks, to reflect and enjoy the journey so far, and to just enjoy not having to exercise for a week. It’s time for fun, for rest, for doing different stuff from the normal regime. Yep, it’s party time.

More later. Journey on...
James



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