Take It Easy? Me?

Today when I got home from church, Pete was here on the computer. He came home early with Ethan since he's got a little bit of an eye infection and we didn't want to get any of the other kids sick. Anyway, he must have been reading my blog (awww) because he asked me, "Haven't you had any light weeks? Because what you're describing sounds like a classic case of burn out."

Light weeks? What is this "light week" you speak of? Shouldn't I just be pushing as hard as I can, and as much as I can all the time? No, of course not! After this conversation with Pete, I was flipping through our latest Runners World and I came across an article called The Slow Road. It talks about how "downshifts in training every day, week, and month will help you reach your goal." I realized that I really didn't do a good job with my training plan.

This week seemed pretty light because I missed 3 workouts, but it really wasn't light because I missed 3 workouts. What I mean is that my body forced me to slow down this week, but I wasn't really able to relax because it wasn't on my schedule. I'm crazy like that. I felt bad the whole time because I felt like I was skipping out. I should have had that recovery week scheduled, then I would have been able to enjoy it, not feel bad, and really recover.

This is what happens when someone who doesn't know anything (me) designs your training plan. The thing is, I should have known better. I trained for an Ironman for crying out loud, and there was at least one rest day every week, and a recovery week every month. I guess I just forgot about that when figuring out what I wanted to accomplish.

SO, back to the drawing board for me! Does anyone have some knowledge in this department they'd like to share with me? I'm not quite ready to pay for a coach, but I do need some help. I've got 4 weeks until my 10k, 16 weeks until my olympic tri that's just for fun, 20 weeks until my marathon, and 28 weeks until BAM which is my A race this year. I'm having second thoughts about doing Utah Half which is 3 weeks after BAM, but maybe I'll feel better about it when I'm not in burn out mode.

I'll start figuring out a new training plan now. :)