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When Your Workout Doesn’t Go As Planned
Posted by Stuart Smith on
By Ashlee Mickelberry
I think all athletes can relate to having a workout not go as planned. Maybe something happens that is outside of your control, like weather or the gym is closed. Sometimes you are fatigued, injured, get behind on your nutrition and it affects your performance. Then there are times when a judgment call mid workout can change how you preform. Maybe you decide to lift more, run harder, change your workout, skip a set or add some reps. Regardless of what causes the “wheels to come off”, it is how we respond that is most important.
I was reminded of this today. My husband went out for an easy recovery run after a track workout yesterday. Halfway through his run he decided to stop and return home to roll and stretch. His hamstrings were tight and he felt fatigued. Could he have pushed through and finished the workout? Yes. Would continuing with the workout have benefited him? Could it have affected his future workouts? Was it a key or target workout? I think he made the right call, but I am sure he thought about all of these factors before making the decision.
I had a key workout today, a progression run (first 1/3 easy effort, second 1/3 medium effort and the final 1/3 medium/hard effort). The run was going according to plan until I misread my watch in the last 1/3 of the run and consequently, I thought I was running much slower than I should have been. So, I picked up the pace. It was only in the last mile that I realized my mistake and by then I had been running one minute faster per mile than I wanted to be running. I chose to make a small change to the end of my run and turn the last few minutes into a cool down jog. I rolled and stretched my legs for longer than normal when I got home and enjoyed an ice cold shaker of Beast Sports Nutrition's Re-animate to replenish what I had depleted from my extra effort.
Today was a good reminder for me that I need to be flexible and adapt when my workouts don’t go according to plan. I need to think about the “big picture” rather than focusing on a single workout. I also need to look for the positive in these experiences and be kind to my body because I ask a lot of it.
I think all athletes can relate to having a workout not go as planned. Maybe something happens that is outside of your control, like weather or the gym is closed. Sometimes you are fatigued, injured, get behind on your nutrition and it affects your performance. Then there are times when a judgment call mid workout can change how you preform. Maybe you decide to lift more, run harder, change your workout, skip a set or add some reps. Regardless of what causes the “wheels to come off”, it is how we respond that is most important.
I was reminded of this today. My husband went out for an easy recovery run after a track workout yesterday. Halfway through his run he decided to stop and return home to roll and stretch. His hamstrings were tight and he felt fatigued. Could he have pushed through and finished the workout? Yes. Would continuing with the workout have benefited him? Could it have affected his future workouts? Was it a key or target workout? I think he made the right call, but I am sure he thought about all of these factors before making the decision.
I had a key workout today, a progression run (first 1/3 easy effort, second 1/3 medium effort and the final 1/3 medium/hard effort). The run was going according to plan until I misread my watch in the last 1/3 of the run and consequently, I thought I was running much slower than I should have been. So, I picked up the pace. It was only in the last mile that I realized my mistake and by then I had been running one minute faster per mile than I wanted to be running. I chose to make a small change to the end of my run and turn the last few minutes into a cool down jog. I rolled and stretched my legs for longer than normal when I got home and enjoyed an ice cold shaker of Beast Sports Nutrition's Re-animate to replenish what I had depleted from my extra effort.
Today was a good reminder for me that I need to be flexible and adapt when my workouts don’t go according to plan. I need to think about the “big picture” rather than focusing on a single workout. I also need to look for the positive in these experiences and be kind to my body because I ask a lot of it.