18' 1" Olympic Trials 2008

18' 1" Olympic Trials 2008

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Rest days


             I’m so bored. I was supposed to rest Sunday after dropping Robbert-Jan at the airport, but after a quiet two and half hour return drive where my mind ran wild with thoughts, ideas, and plans, leaving me energized and in anticipation to get things rolling, I wound up getting out of the car, and working out for a few hours. So I had to make Monday my rest day, and when I say rest, I really mean rest. No warm up, shake out, light workout, therapy, or training of any kind. Because I have allowed my body to get so beat up again, I have to do everything in my power to stay off of my feet for at least a day and prevent my back and hip from spasm. It’s so boring. I don’t understand how lazy people can even exist. I would lose my mind.
            The last few weeks were so fast paced that now I’m having trouble holding still. We were competing every third or fourth day, and now I’m forcing myself to wait an entire week just to have a vault practice. With two days down, the coming Saturday still looks so far away. However, the reward for my day of nothing is the ability to train without guilt for the duration of the week. There are some old training items I would like to brush up on, and I could possibly get away with pounding away at them, but instead I choose for the week to be acted out with care and consideration. Moving back in the direction of the base of what has become my standard model of training, minimum impact and maximum stabilization. Taking what most would call therapy up a few notches of difficulty and dubbing it more like elite training. For me, they are absolutely necessary unorthodox methods of survival as a high caliber athlete, and in all honesty, pretty fun. 

1 comment:

  1. Paul,

    To battle the frustration of the rest, I recommend that you start a book on training the complete athlete. Your methods, techniques and approach are paying off in spades. This could be your encore career.

    All the best,
    Eric

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