The border reopening has led to a busy January of travel. We’ve had guests and now are on the road for a few days. It’s been great to see everyone and I’m looking to get in the work routine proper from 1 February.
Training is going along nicely. I’ve just finished up the first training phase for the year and enjoying a reduced training load this week. It’s the type of deload I mentioned a couple of months ago in an earlier edition, and I have expanded upon it in the article this week.
Although the training is going well, it’s again unremarkable. That should change in the next couple of weeks as I ramp up the cardio during the next training phase. I’ve enjoyed rebuilding a cardio base over the past six weeks, so am excited and only slightly nervous about upping the intensity to match over the coming weeks.
Maintaining a moderate heart rate and listening to a podcast for a little while is quite pleasant. But when the respiration rate increases and the legs burn a bit more, it becomes something you have to do, not want to do.
Stay tuned to see how that goes and feel free to place a bet on whether I throw in the towel and am only doing strength work before the end of the month.
When Rest is Best
In the second edition, I mentioned the benefits of reducing training volume (deloading) when performance is beginning to plateau due to sustained periods of exertion.
I specifically discussed how to deload by reducing the volume by about 50% for a week or so. This can be done by reducing the number of sessions, intensity (pace or weights) or duration.
Some people prefer to maintain the typical amount of sessions to keep the routine intact. This means we reduce the intensity when deloading is required.
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