Just did a sprint race, I went all out and I was happy with my performance. My question is I am pretty fatigued, and wondering if I should just push through it. What do most of you do the week after a race? afterall it was only a sprint distance of roughly 1:30 time.
I usually take off a day or two, depending on how I feel.
I have gone by the rule of thumb, take 1 day off for each hour of exercise.
Understanding fatigue is a tricky business. As I am hitting weekly training volume highs right now I have been thinking a lot about good fatigue vs. bad fatigue. I think it comes down to this: can you get a quality workout done? If in doubt, leave it out. One the one hand, feelings of fatigue, eg. at 4am in the morning, often dissipate once you get your butt out of bed and on the road, and the “I must be overtrained” line is often just a good excuse to roll over and go back to sleep. On the other hand, training tired and/or grumpily and without focus is usually a waste of time and increases likelihood of injury. Only you (or your coach) can decide what you are ready for and when, which will depend on your fitness levels and season goals. what you might do the week after a c-priority local sprint tri will be different than what you might do the week after kona or whatever your big A race is for the year. by your post though it sounds like the sprint was a c type race. In that case I’d say there is no physiological reason why you can’t resume training the very next day, although you might benefit psychologically from a days rest. in any event, when you do start back up id say its probably wise to keep intensity down and start in the pool and/or bike to give your legs a breather, as you just did a good & hard speed session on race day. I’d tell you what i do the week after a race but i think asking what others do after a race is probably about as helpful as asking what shoes other people like to run in.
just my .02
This week I’m going to the Caribbean to go to the beach.
Normally, I’d just race again. I’m pretty disappointed I am missing Maumee Bay this weekend. That sucks.
I’ve been pretty tired too. I was sick (quite accutely) for the first 24 hours- did nothing but run to the bathroom and sleep. Still don’t feel quite 100% but managed 35 miles on the bike this morning at a sporting pace.
Yeah, that race kicked my butt.
"This week I’m going to the Caribbean to go to the beach.
Normally, I’d just race again. I’m pretty disappointed I am missing Maumee Bay this weekend. That sucks."
with a pretty girl, right? no wonder you have women issues 
don’t we all just wish we could go to the carribean to recover from a tough race…Tom’s business must be doing better than he is letting on;-)
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I’m not paying.
I’m not paying. Yeah, just keep rubbing our noses in it, Tom.
Well absent a trip into southern paradise…(so where Tom? St. Barts? Havana?
I haven’t raced yet this season due to this lingering calf problem, but I did ride 50 miles on Sunday, ran, gingerly, 3 miles and then did 3000 in the pool and then Monday rode 15 , ran 2 and swam 1500 and felt fine…until today when all I want to do is sleep!
Rest if you feel you need it… a hard sprint can take a bit out of you for a day or two, especially if it was hot.
maybe this is Felts way of saying thanks for selling all those bikes;-)
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Dude, I am being 100%, totally honest when I say I would rather stay here and do Maumee Bay, my all-time favorite triathlon. I love that race. I will miss it by about 4 hours.
I doubt she and I will be3 familiar much longer. She’s a fine girl, just not for me- nor I for her. I think it is one of those ten week deals.
Like I say, great girl- no problems, just maybe not right for each other.
Like I say, great girl- no problems, just maybe not right for each other. Ah well, such is life. In any event, it sounds like you two have enriched each other’s lives, and that’s always a positive. Plus, she seems to have restored your faith in the female gender, and that’s definitely cool.
Yup, to a degree.
I think as you get older you crave peace and tranquility to an enormous degree. Anything that rocks the boat is not good. I am so darn set in my ways I think it would be difficult for me to be with anybody.
Glad to hear Maumee Bay is a good race. This will be my first year doing it. I need to make up for a disapointing race in Ann Arbor so this week I’m just taking it easy and watching the Pistons and movies and what not.
Jerry
EZ recovery swim the day after - loosen up the legs and shoulders. Take the next day off. Back to usual workouts the 3rd day.
I think the Pistons are going to be NBA Champions.
This is a tough question to answer - different for everyone and depends on a number of factors. I usually do sprints for speed workouts or local social occasions - never an A,B,or C as I save those for the long distance races. I usually run another 10K or do a long bike in the afternoon as I can recover pretty quickly from an 1:15 workout.
Listen to your body, we’re all different. For example, last week I felt incredibly strong during our workouts. But on Saturday the white part of my eye became all bloody (I mean blood red, I look like a vampire); general consensus - fatigue. So I’m relaxing now. Sleeping in etc. I think every race takes a little something more out of me than workouts, no matter how much the coach says “go all out” its not the same.