Tried The Chores for the first time in a long time. I had to give it up after the first set of intervals and extended effort (about 25 mins.)
It just wasn’t there for me today. I can’t remember the last time, if ever, I have chosen to give up a ride early (sounds better than “failed to finish”) and am not sure how I feel about it but there you have it. I will catch my breath today and give something else a try tomorrow. I’m not done with The Chores, I’ll be back, after I get a few more kms under my belt…
If you have that competitive/perfectionist attitude, probably like most of us on here, and most likely why we put ourselves through this in the first place then cutting short a workout is like a kick in the teeth. I know I have been there! We then start analysing everything and loosing sleep as it goes round and round in our heads. Switch off!! it is just a workout on a bad day, you are not loosing fitness, you won’t suddenly turn into a Couchlandrian, your whole plan isn’t ruined, its just one of these things. That was today, tomorrow is another day, don’t dwell on it, just carry on and it will be fine
I hear you! I did that with the Chores in December, called it quits after the second set of intervals (before the second extended). I just didn’t have it in the legs or the head that day. But I tried it again 10 days later and smashed it.
It’s so subjective, with so many factors impacting mental and performance. Reflect on some of the good bits (hey, you did the whole first section! or hey, you listened to what your body and mind needed today!) and tackle it another time.
Yep. It def can happen for a number of reasons, but what I find for me (turn 70 next month) is that I sometimes just need more recovery than is in the plan. I’ll add a day or two of recovery workouts and then do that workout again breezing through it (relatively speaking). In my case, I just push the remainder of the plan out by that added recovery day(s). I know others have different approaches, including dialing down the intensity of the workout or substituting an easier workout and moving on from there.
This was exactly me last week. Two days beforehand I did There is No Try and Extra Shot back to back. The next day was an open 60 so by the time the course came round I was feeling the fatigue. I was feeling pretty pumped for it though, and really thought I’d be ok. I really wasn’t.
Whilst I just about managed the shorter intervals the sustained effort killed me. My notes even say “Near death stops play”.
How was your fatigue going in to it? This was definitely my down fall.
Edit: Did a run the day before TINT. Definitely fatigued legs!
Thank you all for your replies. As suggested by some, I think fatigue going inro the ride likely played a large role. Along with my cycling, I’ve started going to the gym again and have moved to some more demanding lifts (squats, deadlifts) which I did the day before my ride. Clearly, I’ll need to keep a better eye on my timing of activities and remember that I’m no longer a young buck. Though, at 62 Im not ready to roll over die just yet! I will do my Chores soon…
I mentioned adding recovery, but another thing I’ve found for me is sometimes I need more warmup than the workout has. This happened last week. I got through the warmup and was about to start the first tough interval and just wasn’t feeling up to it. I paused the workout, scrolled back to the beginning and went through the warmup again. This time when I got to the first tough interval I was feeling up to it and I completed the workout. There have been workouts where I did the warmup three times and times I just did my own warmup before starting the workout.
I include Strength in my training plans and then just hit the gym instead of doing the stremgth workout. Works really well for me, except that the training plan only has 2 days for strength and I find I really need 3. So I’ve started adding a 3rd session on Saturdays
I will catch my breath today and give something else a try tomorrow. I’m not done with The Chores, I’ll be back, after I get a few more kms under my belt…
I will do my Chores soon…