Quote Originally Posted by rocknrollgirl View Post
I am starting to realize that this type of structured training is a big picture thing. It is easy to get bogged down in the day to day milestones and forget about the big picture until you have a bit of progress, however small it may be.
So true. I am just coming back to training after many months off, stress-related weight gain, and disappointment with my plunge off the exercise wagon. Last week was my first recovery week after only 3 weeks of being back in training. Today I felt horrible on my way to the pool. Discouraged, stressed from some life circumstances. Then, today, I got in a good couple thousand yards (more than double the yardage of my week #3) and was able to keep my HR down in my low endurance range, which was my goal for the workout today.

My thought was, I guess this periodization and recovery-week thing works! Now of course, my perspective on the day is much brighter.