It is unrealistic to expect everything to go to plan when training for triathlon. Not all workouts are great. Some, like my bike ride this evening, can be just plain miserable.

Yesterday I wrote about cutting back on high intensity work, in order to help heal my body and to fix a breathing issue.  I stuck to that plan this evening, and decided to go on an easy bike ride to the local park. 

I went much slower than I normally do, and didn’t push hard up the hills.  In spite of this, I just felt weak for my whole ride.  My breathing was fine, but my legs were dead… totally dead.  I felt so weak, it was quite depressing.

On rides like this, it is easy to get down on yourself.  I did that tonight.  I started to question why I was even bothering to train for races.  Why do all this work, if all I do, is feel weak and slow?  Where did all my fitness go?  It is easy to spiral down and that is exactly where I went.

By the time I got home, I was almost in tears and seriously thinking of just stopping my training. I walked into my house and realized that I was really hungry.  I started to eat everything in sight.  Even after a great dinner, I still ate more food. 

Then it hit me.  Maybe I am under fueling for the level of training that I am doing. Thinking back over the past few days, I came to the conclusion that this was a very real possibility.  You have to fuel your workouts. I will therefore be focussing on fueling over the next day or two, ahead of my long ride on Saturday. 

Hopefully, that ride on Saturday will be better than today.  Not all workouts are great, but mentally I need good one, and fingers crossed, Saturday will deliver.