Caitlin Compton

Flexible Training Plans…

While working out on Sunday with the Finn Sisu Vakava Skiers, we skate skied the Time Trial course for the following Tuesday. It looked like a great course, and I had to try it out at full speed! It turned out to be a great TT course with lots of V2 which was important for me to work on. I only did the skate portion but stayed to cheer on the dedicated “pursuit” skiers during their classic Time Trial. I had a great time and hope to be out again this fall to have a rematch with the group of guys who I skied with (and beat me!).
I was feeling a little “off” after the first Time Trial and made the call to sit out the second, classic portion. This was a very tough decision for me because I am usually always game for a race or time trial. The next morning I was pretty sore, some of it was from the barbell weight that had hit my quad in a strength workout, a lot of it was from the TT, but some of it was from something else. As I started my next workout I realized that I was not feeling very good at all. The day was supposed to have 5 hours worth of training but instead I only went out for a very easy two hours of classic skiing on the Cedar Lake Trail. The rest of the week was fairly similar feeling really tired and not able to push myself.  I opted to either take days off or do easy distance until my body told me it was ready for more. Again this is a tough call but I have learned the hard way about pushing through sickness and fatigue.
So by the week’s end I began to ponder why I was feeling so tired? Was I overdoing my training? Was I overdoing my other obligations? Did I catch the flu? Without a definitive answer I had to accept the outcome and be pro-active in resolving it. I took it easy, went to the doctor, and re-examined my training log. Everything seems to be in order so I have to accept that this is one of the challenges of training for any sport at any level.