Ask Oli: Listen to your body and mind

by Oliver Evans

Often it’s difficult to listen to what your body is telling you, especially if you’re particularly motivated.

During my first training and racing block of the year, I started to feel really tired really quickly. I’m not sure why. I pushed through and raced and trained. By Redlands, I was still really tired and ended up racing for time cut every day before pulling the plug in the final stage only 25 km in. I was tired and starting to feel a little sick.

I decided to take 5 days off the bike after the race and drive home along the coast with a friend. Five days seemed like a reasonable amount of time, and the trip would force me to take some time away from the bike both physically and mentally. I was extremely motivated to start training hard the second I got home.

During the trip I lost my appetite and by the end my scratchy throat that I woke up with on the final day of Redlands had become very sore and swollen, along with my neck. I had a constant headache and woke up on the last night unable to move my head. As soon as I got back to Canada I went to a clinic to take advantage of our excellent healthcare and figure out what was up.

There was a good chance I had strep so the doctor wrote me a prescription for penicillin to fill as soon as I heard back from the lab in two days time. I didn’t hear back though, and figured I just had a little virus and would be fine.

Despite being as sick as I was, the weather was fantastic and I was back with my friends in my favourite place in the world. I couldn’t resist the temptation to ride. Generally, a ride with friends will always be a little competitive. Me being me, I couldn’t hold back and did some hard efforts racing my regular training buddies. At the end of the ride I felt terrible.

Pushing hard when you’re sick and tired generally isn’t a good idea. After riding poorly in the first part of the season, all I wanted to do was train hard and get faster. I tried to take it easy and only rode a few more times the week after seeing a doctor. I actually started to feel a bit better and raced a crit this past Sunday. However, the effort of the crit brought back a few symptoms and I found out the following day (this past Monday) that I did in fact have strep. At this point, I was leaving for Winston-Salem in two days time and determined that starting on antibiotics would be unwise so close to the race.

In hindsight, I should have just shut it down and put my feet up when I got home. I’m also extremely mentally fatigued, which is all the more reason to rest up. I was too excited to be with friends and enjoy my favourite roads in perfect weather to justify proper rest. I think I made a bit of a rookie mistake over the past couple weeks.

Rest when you’re sick. Rest when you’re tired. Rest when you’re sick and tired. Take it from me.

Oliver Evans is a 19-year-old cyclist from Winnipeg, who is currently based in Victoria. He races on the road with H&R Block Pro Cycling.