Extremes

Sometimes I like a little extremeness to make life exciting, and I’ve noticed things have been a bit extreme lately. If you were to draw a graph of the extremeness I’ve been observing going on around me it would look like a jagged edge sword.

Lets start with the weather (always good for conversation with my patients who inform me of the weather prediction daily) One day I bundle up and head to the somewhat sheltered trails layered and smeared with Aquaphor to be protected from biting freezing wind, to a few days later riding outside in 60 degrees and swearing because I overdressed!

60 degree ride in Jan

layered up

winter trails

Extreme is: going from multilayered running in cold wind feeling slow to doing a timed mile on the indoor track and seeing a fast split not seen for a really long time and realizing the hard work is paying off

Extreme is: going from smashing myself on the trainer with  snot, sweat pouring out of me while listening to loud inappropriate music, to carpooling four  9 yr olds to basketball practice, driving quietly and laughing inside to what is extreme to them

Extreme is: getting excited to run a 5k in February, just because you haven’t toed the line with anything involving running for a long time

Extremes make life more exciting, less boring. But huge extremes in training aren’t ideal and will only take you so far. Consistency is key.

 If you train so much over the weekend that you can’t get up to fit the training in for the next 4 days of the work week, that extreme weekend effort will only give you so much race day.

If your trying to get power on the bike by pushing so hard or fast but can’t hold it and let up, then realize you are slacking and pedal so hard to get the watts up again, is taxing and burning up your legs (cyclocross style, which is extreme!), but for time trialing you might have fried your legs. Smooth steady pedaling with little extremes and a smooth graph is going to lead you to a better, run  vs. an extreme blow up.

yellow line is steady power

Extremeness adds variety to life and keeps things interesting for sure, but consistency in training will give you and extreme performance!