Successful failure

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​The feeling of fatigue comes in numerous forms.
​As a young athlete, I just started to figure out what my signs for “And now you stop M” is. Defining your personal scale of fatigue is not an easy task. To find that perfect balance between pushing the limits and taking a break to let the body recover is a one-way road, full of failure. You have to cross the line to figure it out… multiple times.  

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The story behind my knee pain:
​The evil combination of an unmotivated but dedicated athlete. 
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​Coming back home after 2 weeks of World Cup racing in Albstadt & Nove Mesto was only for a short stay, 4 days later I would head towards Sweden for a stage race in Borlänge. My coach and I chose to get in a few quality workouts prior to Sweden and do the stage race as a good intensity training to make the most out of the week. The period of 5 weeks between Nove Mesto and Val di Sole was planned to be blocks of training where I would slowly but surely build up a good form for the last part of the season. But things didn't go exactly as planned.
​It was alone the fact that I live in such a great cycling community that I came through all my trainings that week. 

I had the feeling of being a flat crepe the whole week after the two world cups. But I pushed my system and came through and furthermore won the stage race at the end of the week. ​The course in Sweden was brutal on my hardtail, it was a 7k loop filed with roots and steep uphills. So I had to sit down and pedal, with my saddle sending hard impacts all the way through my spine for 3 days straight. When I got off the bike after the xco race on Sunday my back was literally dead. On Monday I recovered, got a massage and prepared for another week of training. Motivation was still not really there after Sweden, either, but with big goals in sight I pushed myself out there and got the most out of it. I kept thinking I would get my rest the following week when the Danish Champs would emerge. Malene was keen on getting some proper work in the training-bank, but I felt like my body was working against me.. However I was pretending to be a bit deaf and blind for the signs.  

Knee pain
​I manage to finish the block of training and I was now in the week leading up to our national championship. Finally I could take the needed rest, It hadn't been easy weeks. My body and especially my lower back after Sweden was tired. But as soon as I gave my body a bit of freedom something else came up. My knee complained. All my inner alarms went off and I rode straight home. I went to my sports massage, Icaremassage, Thursday and Friday. 3 days till race day. My lower back, hip, glutes and hamstrings were super sore and tight. The pain was on the inside of my left knee but the trouble came from the hip and the back. Our team physiotherapist Sebastian guided me and togehter with my home masseur they did a great job, and loosened up the tightest areas of my musculature. When race day came.. I tried. With adrenalin as my painkiller, I came through the race and took a very revealing 2nd spot behind Annika. 
The following two weeks I felt like was on the edge every day. However, I found a way to keep it in check. With regular treatments of especially my hip and lower back + a stretch/trigger ball sessionsy + breaks during my rides, I managed to continue riding my bike, not completely pain-free but doable. The two weeks of training went by and as the week of Val di Sole came, the timing was right and the pain was almost completely gone - it did not interrupt my training at all anymore.  

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Racing
It was again two World Cups in a row - Val di Sole first and Andorra second. I was pretty curious what my race-shape was like. I normally know my fitness-level pretty well heading into the important races, but this time it had been such a rollercoaster that I had lost my delicate feeling of where I was. But I knew I had been working smart and had taken the right choices. A mantra I had in my mind a lot over the last weeks was the quote “hard work - pays off” but modified a bit to “Smart work - pays off”. Which is a sentence I really like, it's not about how much you do or how hard it feels - it's about doing it smart. 

“Smart work - pays off”. Which is a sentence I really like, it's not about how much you do or how hard it feels - it's about doing it smart. ​

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​Mental fatigue 
I know the injury I created those weeks after Nove Mesto isn’t gone. I still get sore and tight. I think I will deal with it for the rest of the season, but that’s all right as long as I can keep it in check like this. 
But more important; I figured out a “And now you stop M” mark to add to my scale of fatigue. When I’m mentally exhausted, like the week after Nove Mesto, I need to take it as seriously as when I’m physically exhausted. An unmotivated Malene is a tired Malene. I’m not saying that I will not train anymore if I’m not feeling 100% motivated, but it’s a pretty good indicator of my fatigue level and when to actually pull the break. Because a mentally tired Malene is more fragile for sickness and injuries - and that's not favourable. Lesson learned 

What now? 
I take some days off the bike and recharges my batteries after the last World Cup weeks. (Including a Beyonce concert yaaass!) 

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Success is a difficult calculation. It takes a bit of everything from a person. Having some bumpy weeks made me think even harder about what it takes. The failure to feel you self and your actual needs is a mistake, but it is for sure a part of the calculation and the learning curve. Hopefully, I growth through my failures, so I can work even smarter towards the next goals. 
Here is a drawing: 

xoxo
​Malene