Unlike the past few years, November 1 came and went without so much as breaking a sweat.
On the traditional "next year starts now" day, I touched up the paint in our basement, went grocery shopping and took care of some writing projects. Today, I'll get a nice 3-4 hours in before coming home to do more of the same: basement work, Cranksgiving work, etc.
When I think of the energy required to fire up a for-real training program, I can't come close to mustering the mojo to make it happen. Not right now, at least. The feeling was similar at 'cross practices earlier this fall. While Mark and Randy and Mike and Jonathan were ready to light it up — and blasting off the line each time — it took me a while to get it rolling.
Mentally, I just couldn't do that.
But I'm getting there. Seeing the many, many Facebook and Twitter mentions to 2011 training has me thinking about goals and events on the horizon.
I feel like I need to make up for lost time. When all hell broke loose in 2009, I was faster than I'd ever been. I felt like I was on the cusp of reaping sweet rewards for all of that work.
It was the same thing this spring when my back finally felt good. Signs of life in Norfolk and then a month on the shelf.
Things have been good since, though. It's been long, steady base miles since then, with some running and MTB sprinkled in. My weight is good, my back is good. Basically, I'm physically ready for launch.
Mentally ready? Eh, check back in December.
2 comments:
Progressively move forward. Injuries take awhile to heal both physically and mentally. Especially for an endurance athlete the mental part is the hardest. We just want it! You want to ride and ride like before. You might be feeling the fitness but you push and the injury gets in the way. So it mentally knocks you down even harder.
One of the keys to endurance is patience. It's also about not waiting to long to start the work. Know your time limits. Miles build champions. Base, base, base.
You know what partly makes cross so popular? It's actually a warm season sport. Yeah, you read that right. You can start training in April when it's warm. More light and warmth. What makes a roadie tough, epsecially North of ~36 deg latitude, is our base is built in the coldest part of the year. Cold weather riding is tough physically and mentally. These next few months are tough. Stick to your guns and you'll be strong. Know your time limits. Have a plan. Don't guess. Guessing is for those that have lots of time.
I'm not going to wait too long to start the work. And, really, the work is well underway - just not in a "do this on monday, this on Tuesday" kind of way. I'm just getting miles where I can. 65 today, actually.
With a MTB at my disposal now, winter/gravel riding is a lot more likely. Hopefully I can get out more often this year. Things changed a lot in the spring when I was able to get outside consistently.
And we should talk sometime in November. I have questions.
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