Hey there! Here’s the twelfth in our series of guest post from Lance Rogerson, who has partnered up with us for his Ironman training. Read on for this week’s update.
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October is finally here di’lishiNATION! It is the month of the ironman! The weather here in Wilmington has been great. Sunny and a little bit cooler temperatures to make for perfect training conditions. Yet what have I been doing for the past week? Nursing a slightly injured knee. Which brings me to my topic for this week’s blog: knowing when to step back and take a little rest and realizing that it will not completely ruin the progress you’ve made.
I recently got my athlete event information book in the mail for the Ironman. Reading it has me pumped! It makes me want to get out and run. However, I know that right now I’ve got to take care of this knee so I’ll be ready for race day. It’s a very cruel form of torture for me to have to take it easy like this with the race approaching. Whatever it is that you are doing to get active, when you are forced to take a little time off it can be rough. You get thoughts in your head that all of your progress is going to go down the drain and you are simply done. However, it’s important to remember that rest can be a very good thing.
For a week I did nothing in the form of training to allow my knee some time to recoup. I got on the bike to do a short ride just to see how it would do and it felt fine. The next day I got in the pool. In my head I’m thinking, “Man this is going to be rough, I haven’t done anything in a week!” Then all of a sudden I noticed that I had swam almost a mile without stopping and felt like I had just gotten started. Taking a little time had not ruined me. I was going to be okay!
Maybe you need time off because you are injured, maybe its that life is pulling you in a million directions and you need to take a day or two to simply do nothing. Whatever the reason may be, don’t fear a day (or more time) off. It can be a very good thing. Listen to your body and know your limits. Don’t push yourself to the point that you are forced to take months off.
For those of you wondering about my knee, it’s getting better every day. It’s a strange injury. Biking doesn’t bother it, but if I’m standing and I try to pick it up to bend it, I can tell there is a little bit of bruising on the inside. It works about as well as I could ask for since I need some more time on the bike, but I’m feeling confident about where I am with running. So, I’m taking it easy and trying to use my knee as little as possible. I’m doing no running right now, but I’ll still be able to get in some good long bike rides. I’ve got 3 weeks until race day. I’m confident with some more rest I’ll be ready to conquer that 140.6 miles and get my di’lishi as a reward!