This is certainly a different triathlon season to review, so the questions reflect that. Please take some time to think about your answers and get these back to me by the end of the month.
*Please make a copy of the document and then fill in your answers. Don't write on the original template!
Happy last month of 2020!
- Coach Laura
Hey Team,
Some of you may have noticed some "conscious breathing" workouts on your Training Peaks schedules. First of all, please feel free to do this for longer than 5 minutes and/or for more days of the week. Focusing on your breath has 2 main purposes that we can all benefit from.
First- it helps you switch to your parasympathetic nervous system (out of the stressful fight or flight mode that we spend way too much time in). There are too many benefits to list here, but this can help regulate hormones, decrease anxiety, and improve sleep to name a few.
Second- focusing on using your diaphragm instead of just breathing from your upper chest not only improves oxygen efficiency, but your diaphragm is also a core stabilizer. Training that muscle improves all athletic movement.
If you're interested in learning more, I recently read a book called "Breath" by James Nestor that has some good info and talks about the benefits of breathing from your nose instead of your mouth.
Let me know if you have questions or need help figuring out if you're doing it right.
- Coach Laura
Hey Team,
We are 3/4 of the way through 2020 and it's kind of a weird time. Has anyone noticed that 2020 has been both really f&ckng long and somehow flew by at the same time?
We're about 6 months into COVID life and the 6th month wall is a well-known, tough circumstance to deal with in any crisis. It feels like we're running out of steam- getting low on motivation to keep pushing through. I know I'm going to feel a little empty heading into the off-season without having done an Ironman.
It's ok to feel like you're in a slump. And you can hang out there for a little while if you need a reboot, but at some point we're going to get up and push forward.
I'd like you guys to start to think about a few things:
1. In normal years, we take a 2 week break after your last event of the season. That still applies. We need a mental and physical break even without a race to cap off your season. So think about when you'd like to fit that in.
2. What have you learned about yourself this year? In what ways have you evolved as an athlete, but more importantly- as a human?
3. We have 3 months left. What are your intentions for the rest of 2020? This year is not about rolling over and waiting it out. Let's make sure that we end the year on a high note.
I'm just going to leave this quote here because I keep coming back to it this year to remember to keep trudging through the darkness:
“What if 2020 isn’t cancelled?
What if 2020 is the year we’ve been waiting for?
A year so uncomfortable, so painful, so scary, so raw — that it finally forces us to grow.
A year that screams so loud, finally awakening us from our ignorant slumber.
A year we finally accept the need for change.
Declare change. Work for change. Become the change. A year we finally band together, instead of
pushing each other further apart.
2020 isn’t cancelled, but rather
the most important year of them all.”
