When the Wheels Come Off During Training

Tough runs, rides, and workouts happen.

Even when you’ve done everything possible to prepare, and feel like you haven’t changed your routine, suddenly you bonk, seize up, and feel like you can barely move another inch. Sometimes you blow up during a short run, and then the next day have the run of your life, and can’t really explain why. This is what I consider the “brewing” effect of endurance sports, meaning that unlike sports that take place in less dynamic environments, with more manageable recovery factors, there are so many elements to performance when running, cycling, and swimming, that it can be hard to properly diagnose what went wrong.

Usually it’s one of the old stand by issues like not enough sleep, being dehydrated, not enough carbs or fueling, or stress. Keeping a firm control over all of these factors can be really difficult for athletes with full time jobs and lives outside of training.

Part of the reason professional athletes, who are paid to just get up every day and do their sport, find success is that they can take a much more aggressive approach to their recovery, but sadly for most of us a daily 1pm nap just doesn’t work for our lives!

So what do you do when the wheels come off? When you feel like you’ve got an anchor dragging you down, and no matter how hard you try nothing is coming out of the legs?

Step 1: Don’t take it personally. There’s 9/10 chance that in a couple weeks you won’t even remember that you had a tough session, so it’s time to simply let it go. Sometimes it’s just not quite our day, but that’s why this is training! We train to prepare for events, and we take time during training to figure out what works and what doesn’t, and one tough day isn’t going to derail your whole program. You are more than your training, and any feelings of frustration or sadness over a lost training session WILL pass, I guarantee it. The science tells us, without a doubt, that consistency in training and the steady development of adaptations to exercise over time, are far more important than any individual session. Making a plan to not read into one tough session and start getting ready to get back out there, will almost always result in great future runs, rides, and swims, wiping away any negative feelings.

Step 2: Breathe. Getting derailed from the weekly plan sucks, especially when your scheduled session wasn’t necessarily a big reach, but these things happen. When you decide to stop a session early, take a quick moment to breathe and relax. Just sit down and let the tension you’ve been holding onto fade.  Let yourself be ok with stopping, and appreciate all the hard work you put in before stopping.

Step 3: Recover. Go home and put all your energy into recovery. If you were supposed to run 15 miles but slowed to a crawl at 10, don’t try and piece yourself back together and squeeze in another 5 miles later in the day, just eat, hydrate, relax, and appreciate that you put in 10 miles!

All improvements in physical fitness are based on a balance of exertion followed by appropriate recovery, resulting in what is sometimes called ‘supercompensation’, or an improved state of fitness. Athletes often tend to focus on the exertion half of the equation, and less on recovery, so if your wheels came off during a training session, use that time to work through a structured recovery routine, then put your feet up.

Tough days happen, but having a plan to stay centered and allow any negative thoughts to pass is going to positively affect your training in the long run.

If you feel like every day is becoming tough, and you’re struggling to put together multiple weeks with any consistency, then it’s probably time to seek out a coach or other specialist who can provide some perspective. There’s always a solution, even if it involves a bit more rest, and getting perspective from a specialist you can prevent slipping into a cycle of overtraining, or starting to feel traumatized by your sport.