As a coach, I often hear my athletes telling me that they were not “feeling” a workout. I often read in training logs:
“I was really tired and could barely hit my splits…”
“I was dragging today…”
“It took all my energy just to get started…”
“I did the workout, but my heart and mind was just there…it was like I was on autopilot.”
While it stinks as an athlete (my own workout log is peppered with these), I actually love reading these comments.
Being tired in a workout shows that the training stimulus is just enough. If you feel great in every single workout, then the previous workout did not stress you enough for you to grow.
Moreover, it shows that even tired, the athlete was able to push him or herself through the fatigue and complete the workout. Despite not being able to hit times or feeling tired, they summoned the courage and energy to do the workout. Doing so, takes a tremendous amount of effort and strength which will pay off come race day.
As an athlete, it is frustrating not to feel great in every workout. As you train more, these occur even more frequently unfortunately. Ask any pro and they will tell you that every workout is not great but they still go through the motions because even if it is not apparent immediately the benefit still exists and maybe even greater than breakthrough workouts.
Overall, it is better to have several mediocre but consistent workouts than sporadic, great workouts.
Train Hard,
Coach Chris and Kev
