Whenever starting a workout, it is important to look at it, within the big picture of your overall training.  I did exactly that today, and played it smart when it came to deciding how much effort to push.

The thing to remember is that each workout we do, builds on those that have gone before and also impacts the one we will do next.  As a result of this, I don’t look at workouts in isolation.

Today was a perfect example.  I had a small swim session and a longer, easy effort bike ride.  Even though it was a relatively low effort day, I still had the option to chose my effort level.  Easy effort has a range.  I can go super easy, or I can push the envelope a little and make it harder.

After yesterday’s really hard day, and knowing I have a very long ride/run brick workout tomorrow, I knew that I needed hold back a little today. I chose to do my workouts at the easier end of the ‘easy effort’ scale.  I did my whole swim with a pull buoy, to save my legs a little. I then did my bike ride inside, so as to not add the additional stress of heat to my workout.  I also rode at low power.

Even though I played it smart today, I won’t know until after my brick workout tomorrow, if I went easy enough today and/or too hard yesterday.  Only time will tell, and if I got it wrong, I will continue to adjust on the fly.