Balance

This has never been my strong suit. Not in any sense of the word. Balanced meals, balance between work and down time, balance as in not falling down, none of these things come naturally. This was made abundantly clear to me again last night.

Since last Sunday, I have skated 9.5 hours and had a strength training class. This means that I have not had any time off since last Saturday. Now, a normal, mentally balanced person would probably at some point in this week say "Hmm, I should probably take a break and listen to the fact that every muscle in my body hurts." But no. Not me. I had to have some sense literally hit into me last night.

 I have read countless times in my quest for sports type knowledge that the way to train is to push yourself, then have recovery time. I have been so concerned with how much I still need to improve, that I've been pushing without letting myself recover. My first sign should have been that at practice last night I was having trouble with drills that are usually not only easy, but fun for me. Then, when I tried to re-test for blocking, even though I got in some really solid blocks, I could tell that my muscles were fatigued, and I was fighting cramps and aches the whole time. I talked with my blocking tester and coach, and we decided to stop the test where we were, and pick it back up again another time from where we left off. My coach said that I'm not ready for blocking practice yet, and that I need to work on getting my agility stronger and more consistent, which is 100% true, but never fun to hear.

I got so caught up in my grand plan of how I was going to work so hard and blow everyone away with my progress, that I didn't give myself permission to rest. This is especially bad, because my body's response to being over-tired is to cry. My teammates must think I cry into my cereal every morning and weep inconsolably at sappy commercials, they've seen me tear up so many times at practices.

My focus is now going to be on balance. Both the life, and the not falling down kinds.