burnout lingers

Last week I was doing well getting back into triathlon training after taking a little under 7 weeks completely off. I'm not saying my training was high quality mind you, just that I seemed to be back in the swing of training again.

Monday morning I was scheduled for a bike ride. Nothing really difficult, a 90 minute ride with ten 60 second sprints with two minutes of active recovery in between. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't force myself to get on my bike.... So apparently the burnout continues.

I have the desire to train hard, I just don't want to do any swimming or biking at all. Which brings up another issue that has been lingering in the back of my head for awhile. For the last 18 months I've been wanting to get back into weight lifting. I've done a little triathlon sports specific strength training to increase the speed & power of my legs this last season, but that's not the kind of lifting I have the itch to do.




Back in 2000 I got into weight lifting pretty seriously. I got really good results. Apparently I have the genetics to pack on a bunch of size & strength relatively easy. For some reason I miss the weight training.

I'm wanting to spend some time hitting the weights & bulking up. I'm not giving up triathlon completely. I'll still compete in at least four 2011 South West Challenge series races as a Clydesdale, 4 being the minimum # of races an athlete can compete in and still be eligible in the SW challenge series competition. I'll still be forcing myself to do enough biking & running to be able to get through a sprint triathlon- notice I said "get through", I did not say I plan on doing enough training to do well at it. I know I'll struggle finishing triathlons next year because I won't be doing enough triathlon specific training to excel, but the biggest reason I will probably struggle is because muscle burns A LOT of oxygen! & if I plan on bulking up for awhile, the extra muscle will make it REALLY DIFFICULT to race hard in all the 3 disciplines of a triathlon. Good thing for me there were only a few serious Clydesdales competing in the South West Challenge Series 39 & under division last year. Perhaps I can still hope for a top 3 next year in the Clydesdale 39 & under. We'll see.

Today I started the first day of a 6 week phase of Anatomical Adaptation. This phase is designed to prepare the ligaments & tendons for putting on a bunch of size & strength quickly. The anatomical adaptation phase is the equivalent of a base building phase in triathlon, & can be just as uneventful & boring. I'll finish that phase in late November & then I'll start the hypertrophy phase, which is where all the muscle gets packed on! Perfect timing to be bulked up by spring time!