With the sun coming out, it was time to remove the bike from the turbo trainer, put the rear wheel back on and get it ‘road worthy’ again. I checked brakes, tyres, charged and attached lights and changed the contents of the repair kit. Ready to go, I then put some thought into suitable clothing for our first ride out.
As much as the sun was making an appearance, it was still cold – 🥶 So, the thick jacket was selected, long trousers and winter gloves found, and checked, so I was ready to go on Saturday morning.We did a 2 hour cycle ride and it was fantastic. The sun shone, the clothing was perfect and the roads were quiet.
When I got back home, I was knackered! This surprised me as I had been using the turbo trainer on a regular basis and thought I should have felt comfortable.The plan for Sunday, was to do a mountain bike ride but I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy that as my legs felt heavy the rest of the day. I opted out and went to the gym with my wife instead, but I still felt sluggish, which meant I made the right decision not to join my mates on the Sunday ride.
There are times I don’t ‘listen’ to my body and just get on with stuff, but yesterday was different. I knew if I did do the Sunday ride, it would probably take too much out of me. This could then have a knock on effect for the rest of the week.
If you start the working week at 60% then it’s hard to be in the ‘high performance zone’ immediately – you have to be able to recover at some point. Most people going to work are under pressure from the start to the end of the week. Emails, meetings, KPI’s, targets, a boss to answer to or even a team to lead, it’s relentless. I appreciate physical fatigue is different to psychological fatigue but it is heavily linked.
So, listening to your body becomes ‘a need to do’ instead of ‘nice to do’. If this is ignored it can lead to many problems, as we all know! Pushing through is an option, in the short term. Long term this can, and will, take its toll.
Have you ever started the week less than 100 % after a weekend of rest? How has that ended up?
Here are some tips that may help your recovery at the weekend:
- Listen to your body – recognise when the signals are telling you to stop.
- Make time to engage in your ‘recovery’ activities (different for everyone).
- Plan when to push through but also when to say no.
Some other obvious ones:
- Hydrate well
- Eat a balanced diet
- Monitor your sleep patterns
Life is all about balance, and, includes everything we get involved with. Work, families, friends, social life, hobbies and interests, holidays and even gardening and DIY 😆.
How energised are you today, right now?
Do you need to recharge your battery?