The Facts of Life

"You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both, and there you have

The Facts of Life

The Facts of Life"

Human physiology is a weird thing. Through sport and exercise, I'd like to think that I've gotten more in tune with my body and understands its workings so much better. But I am constantly confounded by when it decides to have good days and bad days.

I was really hoping to have a day where I would fly yesterday, but it's understandable why I didn't. I was up particularly late (about 3 hours later than normal), so a bit under-rested, and with some extra potent coffee in the morning. From the second I got on the trainer, my heart rate was 15-20 bpm higher than it should have been. Heart rate may be up, but no reason I can't get in the work, right? And for the most part I did, with a pretty tough session. I was getting tapped out in the last 30 minutes, so maybe some more calories would be necessary for that ride. I'll experiment in the future. Once the ride was over, I was out for a quick 5 mile run. Or what should have been a quick 5 mile run. But the weather was ugly, winds at 45+ km/h, and with all the twists on the route it was hard to get into a proper rhythm. I was a bit disappointed with the run time, as I ended up averaging 5-7 seconds more per kilometre than I was planning. The day was good that I got in a lot of hard effort, even if my numbers weren't what I wanted. The response will be to get faster, and hit the numbers next time, right?

And then this morning I went to swimming. After yesterday, I was dragging around the house, and not moving too quick on my way to the pool. Once in the water, everything clicked and I was flying. Every stroke was strong, the times were low, the pace was high. One of the best days I've ever had in the pool. Months ago, we did a test 100 and fairly rested I hit 1:33. Today, as the last 100 of a 4k swim, I went all-out for 1:29. Something must be falling into place.

This is the second swim in a row where I've felt like death warmed up before getting to the pool, and ended up dominating the workout. (Last Friday followed a speed session on the run.) When I feel great, my swim is horrible. When I want to go back to bed, I'm a fish. Does this make sense to anyone?