DETUNING MY FITNESS
I'M A LITTLE LATE THIS YEAR, but there is still plenty of time to detune my body. Gaining physical fitness is a lot like taking a car to a tuner and...
... removing the factory settings for increased performance.
There are two ways to undo that:
- Reduce training
- Stop training
But, why should we detune our fitness?
For me, there are two outcomes I'm looking for and they both revolve around feeling fresh:
- Physically
- Mentally
I can't say one is more important than the other, because they go hand in hand. Fortunately, they respond together in detuning...
... as well as fine-tuning fitness.
Nowhere was this brought home more clearly than in April of this year. I wouldn't normally take a big break midseason, but I really wanted to take Surfgirl to a secret surf spot in Mexico.
To be honest, I'd already raced a lot by then and wasn't completely looking forward to the big ramp up for Leadville.
Still, I was concerned it would throw my fitness off.
Quite the opposite.
After nearly a week off the bike, doing nothing but surfing a few hours and sleeping in and a little work as a keyboard cowboy...
... I felt amazing.
So, since I'm just a passionate dude and not a doctor let me give you this link to the science.
Along with this summation:
The athletes who took time off at the end of the season - reduced or completely off - started the season slower than those who trained year round but...
... had much higher output and results during the meat of the season.
Personally, I like the reduced approach.
Fewer days on the bike.
More days on the board.
And...
... no structure whatsoever,
for about a month.
https://pedalindustries.com/pages/raceday-ready-2023-ala-todd
It is kind of like tapering for a big race, the same effect but in a much bigger way.
Tapering is definitely part of being RaceDay Ready.
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