Weekly News Number 18

Between Rest and Mental Chaos

Originally, this week was supposed to be a quiet recovery week. In the end, I only really got that rest towards the end of the week.

Monday morning after the race. It’s just after 5am and my watch vibrates because it’s time to get up. My body, however, was saying something completely different. But the pilot doesn’t care how I feel sitting in row 29 on my way home at the end of the day, he’s simply doing his job and following his schedule.

So I got up half asleep and honestly felt more like I had survived a party night from my younger years, even though the day before I had simply enjoyed racing a triathlon. I made myself a coffee and ate something. Honestly, if I hadn’t done that, I probably wouldn’t even have made it to the airport.

After filling up the car, we headed towards the city. Of course, we weren’t the only ones with that idea on a Monday morning. All of Sydney seemed to be on the road. Fair enough everyone was heading to work. So instead of a relaxed morning after the race, it quickly turned into traffic and stress again.

At least I hoped the airport would be calmer. But that stayed wishful thinking as well. People everywhere. In moments like that, you completely understand why some people disappear straight to a quiet beach after a race.

Luckily, the check-in process itself was actually pretty relaxed, even though there were so many people at baggage drop that for a moment it felt like things could get tight. But like always, everything somehow works out in the end. When I’m in that kind of state, honestly not much can stress me anymore. I just follow the people who clearly know more than I do and trust that they know what they’re doing.

Back home, I immediately knew one thing: if I didn’t unpack my bags and sort everything out straight away, it would stay there for days. The combination of racing while still recovering from being sick definitely left its mark. My HRV is completely down and even now, while writing this, it’s still telling me my body needs more recovery.

At the same time, there’s also a positive side to it. For the first time in a long while, I now have the chance to build a proper big training block before the next races. That’s a huge advantage compared to many athletes who are racing almost every weekend at the moment.

Recovery isn’t always quiet

Physically I may have rested, but mentally not at all. There was always something to do. Taxes, life admin, writing and posting the blog which by the way is definitely not done in just one hour.

This week made me realize that I probably should have switched off completely. Because even though I genuinely enjoy doing all these things, I never really felt fully recovered.

At some point the cold came back again or maybe I just got sick once more. That always annoys me, but it was probably exactly what needed to happen so my body would finally get the rest it deserved after the whole weekend.

So the end of the week became pretty relaxed. A few walks, multiple visits to Sunshine Social and lots of great conversations. Whether it was randomly meeting people at cafés we hadn’t seen in a long time, or phone calls about coaching and new ideas for how I could work with athletes or structure training sessions.

One thing I’m especially excited about right now is the opportunity to introduce myself and my coaching ideas at Velo Plus. Step by step, things are moving forward there as well.

Why coaching gives me so much

Even though this blog feels a little all over the place, it honestly reflects exactly how my week felt. Even when I’m not fully focused on sport itself, I always find something to do.

And that reminds me of another coaching story. For the second weekend in a row, one of my athletes raced a competition. And honestly, I absolutely love it.

Preparing everything together, removing as many uncertainties as possible and making sure the athletes know exactly what to expect on race day. For the second Sunday in a row, I was glued to my phone with race notifications turned on so I wouldn’t miss a single split.

And when I then see in the app that the paces and speeds match exactly what we trained for, I always get that feeling: we’ve got this.

For the second Sunday in a row, I received messages afterwards saying how grateful they were for the race experience and how much fun they had. Those are exactly the messages that put a huge smile on my face.

Because one of my biggest goals is for people to cross the finish line with joy and positive emotions. Results may fade at some point. But the emotions and stories from those days stay forever.

And exactly with that mindset, you start the next week differently as well. Maybe that allows you to create a positive experience for two or three more people and in the end, everyone feels a little better because of it.

And with this small philosophy lesson, I’ll leave you for this week.

I’m going to take a few more hours of rest now and continue listening to my body, because I want to invest another ten weeks into my triathlon journey while also helping others enjoy theirs simply because I genuinely love doing it.

Cyrill