I’ve been feeling somewhat flat and tired and not racing my best lately. So I’ve gone back to something that has ALWAYS worked for me to get me out of a funk: walks!
It sounds simple, and it is. Yet it’s incredible how helpful going for a good 20 to 40 minute walk can be for recovery, whether it’s shaking out some sore legs, or just moving around to be active a little bit in place of a real workout, while you’re trying to get recovered/fully rested up.
If you’re ever feeling run down or really sore (or want to keep from getting too sore after a race), try going for a good solid walk on rolling terrain (not just all flats). The pace and the way you walk is up to you. I just do what feels good, and actually end up doing some kind of weird things to stretch my muscles out, whether it’s just taking really big steps every once in awhile, or kind of relaxing and quickly shaking/jerking each leg rotationally with each step to loosen up…the goal is just to be active and doing something other than sitting around waiting to feel better, while also giving yourself a chance to get a little more limbered up and feel a little more alive!
It’s also a great chance to just appreciate being outdoors (I know sometimes when I’m more in training mode or racing I don’t fully appreciate my surroundings in the same way.) You can throw in a little jogging if you are feeling like doing that for a few strides or a bunch of strides…but go back to a walk as soon as you feel like it. The goal is recovery, not getting a workout!
When I was a junior in high school I had put in a really big training year with the goal of getting a top 10 at JO’s in March. By late Feb. I was pretty fried from all the racing and probably doing all my distance workouts on snow at the same pace I’d been rollerskiing all summer/fall at low elevation. Glenn told me to pretty much take 2 weeks completely off. So instead of training each day I just went for a 30min. walk by my house, sometimes with my mom. I ended up having the best race of my life (still to this day) at JO’s in the 15k skate and getting what was at that point (I think) one of the first top-10 finishes by a FW male (nowadays it’s not that big a deal, which shows how far FW has come!)
I have many other similar stories…but bottom line is that at least for me, walks are an extremely good thing for recovery! The night before last I went for a walk outside my former coach Steve Stefanides’ house. He and his awesome family live in a little suburb in Wenatchee, WA, which has some of the steepest paved roads I have ever seen in my life!! (I may have to go up there in the summer or fall to do some serious hills on rollerskis, Donner Summit and the Stampede Hill at Boca are just too flat!) At the tops of the hills there were some amazing views of all the city lights across the valley.
Now I’m in Winthrop, Washington, at Brian Gregg’s family’s house, along with Caitlin Compton (Brian and Caitlin are 2 of the best skiers in the country who both have qualified for the World Cups in Canmore coming up in early Feb., and it looks very probable that Caitlin has made the Olympics. I’ve gotten to know them both a little bit over the course of several years of traveling around to all the different SuperTour races around the country.) It’s inspiring to be around such great athletes and also amazing and fun to get to meet and live with the whole Gregg family / extended family, who are all awesome. Everyone in the Methow Valley seems to be like that…incredibly welcoming, generous, supportive, kind, and into skiing!
Caitlin and I skied the race courses today at the high school. Apparently the trails are brand new - last year they had 3.3k and this year they’ve extended it to about 6k. They are very hilly, twisty, and rolly - even more so than Anchorage - so it will be good for skiers who really know how to work the course and gain seconds on all the turns and transitions. Should be fun! 1.3k skate sprint on Sat. and 15k classic on Sun.
Far West will be taking a crew up here and I’ll be meeting up with them when they get up here. It will be fun to see how the Far West Senior Team does relative to this region’s equivalent program, the Methow Olympic Development team.
