Work Induced Mental Fatigue

When I decided to write this I I figured I'd make sure I recorded everything, good and bad. This here is a mediocre day.

Today as I drove home from work, I felt both physically and mentally fatigued, so I've bailed out of my run session. Physically I reckon I'd've been fine to do it, particularly as its recovery week, but mentally, even though in all likelyhood I'd've felt better at the end of the session, I just kinda wanted to hide from the world for an evening.

For those of you that know me, I tend to be a rather unrelentingly positive & cheery guy, and the training and competing has made it even easier to maintain that outlook. Some days though, staying positive and trying to keep the spirits of those around you up is a tiring task (yeah, works not a happy place for a lot of folks at the moment). I also haven't had a proper break since I was over in Lisboa, so I'm risking a little mental burn out in the office. Thankfully I have a 2 day week next week before I head up early to Aberfeldy to stay in a caravan for 4 nights where I fully intend on doing a bit of running, a bit of cycling and lots of sleeping, reading and chilling to recharge those batteries.

There are other factors at play here too I'm fairly sure, some of them things I can deal with fairly easily (I've let some bad eating habits slip back in & I'm having too much refined sugar again leading to those sugar dips) others require a lot more thought and care. The good news is though that the training is enjoyable and I'm looking forward to my run up Arthur's Seat on Saturday.

But I'm recognising when I need to stop & rest earlier these days before it becomes an issue, so rather than going out for that run, I took myself to that mat & did a stretch session, now I need to move on with some of those niggling things around the flat. Finally, and most importantly, I will be having myself an early night & plenty of sleep, and I'm sure I'll wake up with more energy to hit the day and the weekend head on :)

I also know that once I hit my Roth training plan I'll be getting very busy, so now is the time to eliminate the stressors that can easily be dealt with & reduce the impact of longer term stressors. Training for Roth won't just require the physical effort of training, but the mental effort to get my life more efficient so that I can function better. Some aspects should be straightforward - declutter the physical and mental things, be it something as simple getting better at the housework & keeping on top of it, or physically getting shot of things that I don't need, I just need to start changing some more bad habits is all!

Words are a powerful tool, and never underestimate them. Even in the act of writing this I have felt some of the mental burden lift from me and some more of the excitment and optimism seep back in. Had I finished this 45 minutes ago, I may even have put on my trainers and gone off to join the run session. All I can say here is find an constructive outlet for anything negative in your head - get it out before it becomes a pattern, be it a foolishly public blog like this, a friend to talk to or a private diary, because a healthy mind is a healthy body my friends.