20 Jul Listen to your body!!!
Trust me. Even with 13 years of experience being an athlete under my belt, I still don’t really know what is means to listen to my body.
As an athlete, I was trained to push through any pain. When I’m racing, my lungs will be screaming and my legs will want to give up. I have trained myself not to listen to my body. So how is it that when I fall sick, am I supposed to know what is listening to my body?
When is it considered okay to do a light training when I feel like the flu bug is kicking in? When should I rest? When do I tell myself to shut up and train?
I fell sick two days ago. My nose was runny, my throat was itchy. I knew something was amiss when I woke up one morning and my HR was 75 instead of 42. And when I did a brick workout, which wasn’t even that hard to begin with (a 30mins run on the treadmill + 30mins swim with intervals), I could barely stand in the train back home.
I must admit training for this triathlon race is more challenging than I thought. It kinda makes me, not enjoy running as much as I did. It’s strange, really. Because running used to be something I want to do but now it is something that I need to do. I won’t say about the cycling because even before training for tri, I don’t really enjoy sitting on the bike. I can never forget the 6 weeks of daily/twice a day cycling (on the trainer, in my bedroom) that I did in Sydney when I disclosed my shoulder. I have cycled more than I have ever did in my lifetime in that 6 weeks. I wouldn’t mind cycling outdoors. But the idea of cycling on Singapore roads just scare me. (Any cycling noobs out there willing to bring me out for noob rides?) And I think the exponential increase in the duration I spend in the pool must have made me sick. I went from not being able to complete a 25m lap with freestyle 2 weeks ago to completing a 75m non-stop on my second try, 100m the next and my PB is 200m ya’ll. HOW BOW DAH. I know it’s a lot more to go but, a 200% increase guys.
I’m not sure if I’m going to get caught with the tri bug. I don’t know if I’m going to enjoy doing more cardio than I should. I mean the journey is still fun now considering the fact that I’m learning something new everyday (like I now know how crazy triathletes are), but the fact that a rowing race is done in 8mins, the fact that I kinda miss lifting heavy weights, it is just very different from rowing. But let’s see how far this goes. I have my first ever open water swim experience this sunday. Wish me luck!
In the meantime, if you’re wondering whether you should train or not, the answer is almost always a YES.
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