{"id":4951,"date":"2026-10-31T14:52:21","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T19:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mcthrows.com\/?p=4951"},"modified":"2026-10-31T14:52:21","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T19:52:21","slug":"life-on-the-circuit-with-maggie-ewen-managing-physical-and-mental-fatigue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mcthrows.com\/?p=4951","title":{"rendered":"Life on the circuit with Maggie Ewen: Managing physical and mental fatigue."},"content":{"rendered":"
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World class putter Maggie Ewen<\/a> has been filing regular reports as she travels the world plying her trade. In this piece, Maggie gives McThrows readers insight into the challenges of staying fresh over a long season.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Physical and Mental Fatigue<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been a couple months since the season ended and the off-season began. Like most athletes, I took a couple weeks off after the last meet. The physical and mental strain from competing all summer is draining. Even when everything is going well, it\u2019s hard to combat the strain of constant travel mixed with intense training and high pressure competitions. Add in some injury issues like I had last year, and all that mental and physical stress doubles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time the season ended, I didn\u2019t want to so much as look at a shot put. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was so completely burnt out. That is why these end of season breaks are so massively important. The body needs time to refresh and the brain needs time to reset. <\/p>\n\n\n

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However, the off season isn\u2019t the only time for breaks. They should be a scheduled part of our in-season and off-season programs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we don\u2019t intentionally schedule breaks, our body will schedule them <\/em>for us. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When that happens, there\u2019s a good chance that the unscheduled break won\u2019t be at a convenient time. I\u2019ve had my own moments like that. In preparation for a big meet, I\u2019ll use an off day (or two) to go out and take extra reps so that I feel like I have done everything possible to have a great meet. Instead of resting, I irritate a nagging injury or develop a new one. For me personally, the most frequent issue I get from this exact scenario is a dramatic case of mental fatigue. I start overthinking a good throw and turn it into something unrecognizable. Then I have to take a day off to reset my brain and it usually takes an additional day to find that good throw again. Now I am three days closer to the meet and right back where I started three days earlier. I should have just taken the break\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking frequent small breaks allows for more opportunities to get ahead of the fatigue. <\/strong>When we reduce it little by little over time, we prevent it from becoming a problem. It\u2019s the same concept as rehabbing a muscle. Ideally, we want to proactively do things to prevent injury instead of reacting to it once it has become a problem that needs to be addressed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think most athletes and coaches are good at catching physical fatigue. We\u2019ve got that down. We understand the importance of not overexerting the body over an extended amount of time. That\u2019s how we avoid injury. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fresher bodies also help to keep our<\/em>
technical training more productive. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So programs are written with scheduled deload weeks, athletes are told to take a rest day when they seem extra tired, we lighten the intensity of our throws at some practices, etc\u2026 It\u2019s such an ingrained part of training that athletes don\u2019t even question why we\u2019re being sent home early or given a light week in the weightroom. We simply accept it is another tool in our toolbox of strategies to combat physical fatigue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, we have our strategies to combat mental fatigue. <\/strong>You’re not alone if nothing comes to mind. If I’m being completely honest, I kind of draw a blank as well. I think that is because the strategies to combat mental fatigue are more personal to the individual athlete. We\u2019re talking psychology now. Everyone\u2019s body physiology works the same. So, the strategies for our physical fatigue can be universally handed out and we\u2019ll see results. However, every athlete’s psychology is unique to them. What inspires them, demoralizes them, stresses them out, etc\u2026 I believe that is why mental exhaustion is so hard to combat. It\u2019s so personal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of coaches will suggest taking a break to let the athlete reset by putting the implement down for a bit. Does it work? Most of the time it does. But who knows how long it will take to actually show results. As I mentioned earlier, I employed this exact strategy at the end of last season. It took over a month for me to even want to look at a shot again. So, I\u2019d say this strategy works but the timeline it takes to work can be quite variable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think the best way I have found to <\/em>
combat mental fatigue is by having open and honest conversations between <\/em>
athlete and coach. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is often a lot more going on in an athlete\u2019s mind than they are expressing to their coach. Stress about an upcoming meet, anxiety over a performance, frustration over execution of a technical cue, etc… These are things we battle with on a daily basis but we may never vocalize. They have the potential to build up and become all consuming, distracting and unproductive thoughts. There have been plenty of times when I have found myself in this head space and practice devolves into more of a therapy session. It\u2019s cathartic for me and beneficial for my coach to understand my headspace. Now he can better redirect my focus towards constructive thoughts and we can have more beneficial practices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s important to remember that the coach\/athlete relationship is a partnership. <\/strong>Coaches do not only work with us to make us strong and throw far. A good coach wants their athlete to be the whole package: physically capable of out throwing their competition and mentally strong enough to compete in high pressure situations.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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World class putter Maggie Ewen has been filing regular reports as she travels the world plying her trade. In this piece, Maggie gives McThrows readers insight into the challenges of staying fresh over a long season. Physical and Mental Fatigue It\u2019s been a couple months since the season ended and the off-season began. Like most athletes, I … Continue reading Life on the circuit with Maggie Ewen: Managing physical and mental fatigue.<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musings"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8knIb-1hR","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcthrows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcthrows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcthrows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcthrows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcthrows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4951"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/mcthrows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4991,"href":"https:\/\/mcthrows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4951\/revisions\/4991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcthrows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcthrows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcthrows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}