I'm learning that the difficulty of training for a big event is the training lasts for so long. Months! Meanwhile life goes on despite the training and finding all the time to get out and do it is difficult. Just getting home to help with dinner is tough then life happens and says, "Oh yeah, you need to pack and move now too." "Don't forget about... (fill in blank; repeat)." It's just tough to show up every week and every day and get it done. But I've always said that cycling isn't something you do in your spare time, it's something you make time for. I think that applies to all those important things that save our sanity and make living life worth the while. So I make the time.
As the event gets bigger the tendrils of training reach deeper into those other areas of life that were once completely non-cycling. I have to make a point to drink water all day today so I'm hydrated for my ride after work. I have to eat lunch because an empty stomach will screw up my recovery and destroy my next ride and that next ride just isn't optional. It's tough, it's work and it is so valuable, but not how you think. The value is found once I get life done and I find those quiet moments during my ride. Suffering up that climb, or digging deeper during this interval... life and all it's distractions fade like the dream from last night with all those vivid details and colors, but now you can't even recall the gist of it. That's when it gets sublime and you just breath deeper and pedal harder because nothing else matters.
I'm in my second four-week training block from Alison Dunlap's Coaching program and oddly it's getting easier. This block focuses on climbing and climbing strength. It isn't easy but getting up the climbs is. My metabolism is in another gear, I'm eating constantly but still losing a bit more weight. Meanwhile I'm watching all these different physical parameters for the Restwise program and it's amazing how my big efforts show up. Most mornings I wake up and my resting heart rate is in the low 50s or high 40s, but on those tougher weeks I can't even lower it into the mid-50s even if I feel fine. It just amazing to me to see and these subtle changes to my body and physiology over the months.
Well it's Memorial Day weekend and Patsy and I heading up the Lake Tahoe for a break and to see some family. While there I'm going to ride around the lake which is about 72 miles at elevation and we will see how I respond. Even if I suffer, break and need a ride home, it's supposed to be one of the most beautiful rides and will be celebrated next weekend with the
Move??
ReplyDeleteP.S. Your awesome!!