From AJ…
As a follow up to Brian’s post, I encourage you to take 3-4 days completely off. Nothing but prioritizing sleep. After a few days, see how you feel. Start back gradually with a swim or very easy spin. No running and no workouts until you are feeling 100% again. That said, how are you determining race speed? Race speed only comes as a byproduct of your race HR. There is no race speed otherwise. And if you are following an arbitrary race speed that you want (ie not correlated with appropriate HR), then you have likely been pushing too hard for too long. (As a side note, this is the downside of these training programs. Data analysis must be done honestly by each participant versus individual coaching where I review it weekly). So my guess is that you have been forcing a speed that you want but is too fast for the appropriate HR equivalent and it has lead to overtraining.
In the end, first and foremost, you must get ahead of overtraining. No speed, no race, no nothing trumps your health. So take all workouts off through the rest of the mid week. Start back with an easy swim on Friday or Saturday and then a ride the following day. If you are still not feeling 100%, then you need more time off. Fold in running last and only when you are 110%. And when you do come back, it’s all about HR (not speed or pace). There is a reason I didn’t talk about speed or pace during the Kick Off Meeting, any of the clinics, any of the recordings, on the forum or in the Athlete’s Guide. It always leads to the same place and it’s not typically where you want to be. So let’s rest up and get you ahead of this with a refocus on HR. If so, you should have a solid race ahead for you. Now, go sleep!’
