The longer road to Ironman

For the past few weeks, as the training volumes have gone up, I've noticed that my legs are always just a little bit heavy and my muscles are just a little bit fatigued. I was beginning to worry about overtraining and whether this was a sign that I wasn't ready to handle this training load. I don't feel overly tired and I haven't noticed any drop in performance while training so it doesn't quite fit the classic overtraining symptoms, but I was still concerned.

I have been working with a personal trainer for the better part of the past year and decided to approach him with this problem. He pointed out that we have been steadily increasing training intensity over the last few months and that my recovery time between sets is actually decreasing over time. Some of my best workouts have been in the past month. Overtraining would have me needing more rest and recovery to struggle through the same workouts, but I am moving easily through harder workouts.

It occurs to me that maybe this is what training is supposed to be like! Maybe now, I have built enough of a base that I am actually able to really train now and this lingering muscle fatigue is just part of pushing my body. This also explains why people would feel a little jittery while tapering. The muscles are finally fully rested and fueled and your body is ready to go. I had never experienced that because my body was not able to maintain a training load that would highlight the difference.

Another unexpected lesson about my body on my journey to Ironman.