Stress Management

Stress.  Yeah, being a competitive athlete and having a real job is all about managing stress.  Some good, some not so good.  The competitive part is an important distinction.  It demands that the training MUST take place where as the recreational athlete can blow off a work out if other demands conspire against it.  When one faces a test against others or himself on a regular basis, coming to the line inadequately prepared creates consequences more ominous than getting the work done in the first place. 

My job in the operating room allows for some idle conversation between members of the team.  We often talk about training or "working out" as some call it.  Some individuals often lament how they are too tired after work to even think about doing exercise.  I don't say anything but often wonder how the fuck anyone can be tired after sitting on their ass doing little for 8-10 hours.  Sure, my feet hurt after doing surgery for several hours but tired...not really.  Mentally fatigued?  Perhaps.  But usually I can't wait to get out on my skis or bike and get some work done or even just go easy and move.  I also know that getting out to train is not optional lest I face the consequences of underperformance that weekend.  And that is the difference between "working out" and training for something.

Really, you don't even have to compete.  If your demons are scary enough, you will get out the door no matter what.  Fear of being weak, skinny, fat, slow, etc. can work in one's favor.  Is this healthy?  Maybe not.  But what's healthy about running a marathon or dead lifting 600 pounds off the floor?  Many of us engage in sport for reasons other than wellness.  One could argue that the physical stress of some of these activities is off set by slaying a few of the other "demons" in our lives. 

Some may condemn us for this, pointing to our volume of training as injurous to our health.  Crossfit, a hybrid training program that has gained a huge following uses a high intensity, short duration, total body style of training that prepares its followers for anything.  They also claim that this concept helps athletes avoid the detrimental effects of endurance training.  These include oxidative free radical damage, mitochondrial disfunction, endocrine system disorders, high dietary carbohydrate requirement and other undesirable states. 

Additionally, CF is fond of pointing out how limited the fitness gained through endurance training is.  They contend that endurance athletes can do little else than their chosen sport.  When measured against a more broad-based definition of fitness, these athletes fail miserably.  A related program, Crossfit Endurance, adds some additional training to the normal CF work out in an attempt to prepare enthusiasts for sports like distance running and triathlon with just a fraction of traditional training volumes.  Again, this reduction in training volume is aimed at reducing certain physiologic stressors.

Interestingly, the CrossFit Endurance website also includes a link to V-tach, a blog by a former competitive bike racer who developed a relatively rare heart condition requiring all sorts of complicated interventions.  Very unpleasant.  The implication from CF Endurance is, "see, that's what happens if you ride/run too much!"  Even more interesting is the recent declaration by the blog's author distancing himself from this notion.

Now, I agree that CrossFit creates a well-rounded, strong athlete capable of reasonable levels of performance in a variety of tasks.  Does it prepare a single-minded cyclist for the road racing season?  No way.  But it does reduce certain types of stress in the athlete's schedule.  For some, this maybe a reasonable compromise.  For others, changing the training stimulus to improve wellness at the expense of performance is unacceptable.  Pick your poison.

For me lately, I have been juggling a modest, lower body strength program with my endurance training with mixed results.  The challenge has been where to place the weight training so I'm fresh enough to perform well on the lifts and still able to go hard on my threshold intervals.  Initially, I tried to lift on Monday, my usual day off, in hopes of adding some of the positive endocrine responses (hGH and testosterone secretion) from lifting heavy in hopes of still recovering.  Unfortunately, my legs just felt a little dead all week.  I fear that they never recovered fully and perhaps some of my lackluster performance last week at the Whitefish Randonee Race was due to this training load. 

My new scheme is to take Monday off as usual, lift Tuesday morning and do some sort of intensity session that evening.  This will keep both heavy training stressors on one day and allow some recovery the next when volume is higher but intensity is less.  Thursday would then consist of short, suprathreshold efforts with full recovery followed by 3 sets of 30 rep back squats in the weight room building lactate tolerance for the downhills.  The weights on this day would be eliminated with a race on the coming Saturday. 

Time will tell if this will be manageable for me.  Certainly, my first front squat workout following a full rest day was encouraging.  I was able to hit 235# for a 1RM, something that has eluded me for the past few weeks.  So, far so good.  I have no race this weekend so there will be no test.  The 24 Hours of Sunlight is the following weekend so a major beat down is at hand.  Stay tuned.... Brian