All too often, myself and other athletes judge their workouts on the metrics. They allow the watch to dictate how successful a given workout is; each split like another brick in the wall. The truth is, though, is that there are only certain phases of training (or life) in which this method is valid. Splits are for when you're clicking on all cylinders, rolling through the workout like an unstoppable steam engine. They aren't for those days when you show up to a workout with half of your heart and a dull or distant gaze. Classic athlete dogma will proclaim that you should work out at any cost, no matter how you feel, because it is lazy if you don't. I agree that 95% of the time, a workout will make you feel better than when you started. But what if it doesn't?
So then, what is the troubled, time-slaved endurance athlete to do? By nature, not working out isn't an option, and neither is simply backing down the intensity. The answer is to run, bike, swim, and lift naked (I mean of a watch, of course. Although I'm sure working out naked would be liberating in it's own right). Strip your workouts of time, meters, miles, pounds, sets, and reps. Do what you're body can, and what intensity comes naturally. Yes, maybe the interval or average speed will be slower than you expect, but what will it matter if you aren't wearing a watch or if you turn over your speedometer? Instead of touting the numbers associated with a workout, the victory becomes that the workout even happened in the first place, and the intensity was manageable. As hard as it can be to accept, this has the same affect as working on the clock. Time, after all, wouldn't exist if we didn't make it so. Time was created to quantify life passing us by, with each second, minute, and hour giving tangibility to something that can't be touched. As long as we achieve the necessary intensity, the workout suits its purpose.
Along the same wavelength, one thing worth measuring is heart rate. It tells you exactly how hard you're working, how well you've recovered, and, if taken in the morning, how physiologically ready you are for the day. I've read multiple times about how important waking heart rate is in determining if one is overtrained or not, but had never put it into practice. I started taking my heart rate every morning, and have become intrigued with it's fluctuations. For example, last week on a day when I got less than four hours of sleep, my HR was higher than my typical resting heart rate...just upon waking up. I also notice that it will be anywhere from 3-8 beats per minute higher the morning after a hard workout. This helps me put into perspective the damage that training (and life) does to my body, and will hopefully keep me on the injury-free track when I begin to seriously train for races again.
Taking a new approach to training is something I think we all should try every once in a while. Not only in the way I described above, but also just varying routine or trying something new. You never know when you'll stumble across something that will work for you. So I'll be watching my body, but not my watch, closely. I'll still wear it, but only to make sure that I make it to work on time. You can only rebel time for so long.
Kind of like this:
