Things I’ve Learned; How to rebound

Today I learned more about how to rebound after having a bad training day. Having bad training sessions is something athletes have to encounter regularly and learn to deal with on the spot. It could be for any number of reasons, a bad sleep, perhaps eating habits had been different that day, or getting over a sickness. As many well known sayings go though, you wouldn’t know how good the good days are without the bad days.

Last weekends sessions brought on some frustration, I struggled to get into the flow state and didn’t quite feel myself. I spent Monday thinking about new ways to look at making a successful rebound into my next session. I decided on a gentle 40 minute aerobic paddle, with a focus on resetting back to the basics, which include the basics of stroke mechanics, the basics of edge control and basics of line choices. Stripping down my paddling to such simplicity and taking 40 minutes to almost therapeutically recharge on the water really did what I hoped it would. During todays session I felt myself rebound back into how I like to feel paddling. Everything had reset, I was feeling calm and paddling with clarity and purpose again.

We always have our ups and downs during training and during our career, it is these moments I want to continue to seek and practice. I look at these moments like I’m adding to my arsenal so when the time comes I have the tools I need to adapt and continue to be consistent.