And so it Begins

Somehow I’m still standing!  I took a bit of time off the bike, or at least didn’t really do any structured training for the first 2 or so weeks after Nationals.  I’ll be honest also, last Wednesday as I was about to hop on my bike for 3 hours of endurance riding on the road I had serious questions as to what was motivating my forward momentum, and why I was out there with my head down in the wind, glancing at my Garmin for watts, heart rate, time, cadence, looking for a split second a time hoping my eyes transmitted the data correctly to my brain to make sense of the numbers and send the information through the pathways down to my legs, repeatedly, tick, tock, tick, tock, pedal, pedal, pedal.  Glancing down momentarily like looking in the rear view mirror while driving.  Habit.

The questions have been floating around since Nationals as I tried to figure out “what next”.  With no clear goal or path (aside from loosely “train consistently for next year”) it was tough to maintain motivation and discipline.

Then I got the word.  World Championships.  I don’t know if it’s a big deal to others.  It is a pretty big deal to me and I can’t be more excited and proud.  Not to mention how much I’ve re-focused!  Imagine the transformation that can take place.

Friday night we went to fro-yo and In & Out.  I had a small bite of Justin’s cappuccino fro-yo with Heath bars.  Chris waved the big bag of fresh In & Out fries in my face, but I kept my eyes focused on some text on my phone and didn’t cave in.  French fries will always be at In & Out waiting.  World Championships is a huge experience that I won’t trade for anything.

I have a page of Lynda Wallenfels sports psychology article about the 3 stages of athletic development printed on my fridge.  It doesn’t usually do much to keep me from grabbing a beer or digging another spoonful of almond butter out of the jar, but it’s there when I need it.  Specifically the section she quotes from “Finding Flow”:

“The best moments in our lives, are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times – although such experiences can also be enjoyable, if we have worked hard to attain them. The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile. Optimal experience is something that we make happen. Such experiences are not necessarily pleasant at the time they occur, yet these could have been the best moments of life. Getting control is never easy and sometimes it can be definitely painful. But in the long run optimal experiences add up to a sense of mastery – or perhaps better, a sense of participation in determining the content of life – that comes as close to what is usually meant by happiness as anything else we can conceivably imagine.” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

Right now I don’t miss those french fries one bit!

I don’t know why, but I’m starting here:

Maybe because as we arrived at Chez Mc we were met with old bike shoes being tossed out in to the yard.

Saturday Justin and I hit up some chunky singletrack for a few hours with some nice heat mixed in. We just ran out of water, I went down twice, caused Justin to hit the deck pretty hard once, and I climbed better technically than I have since probably December or January. Justin, as I expected, rode like champ. He was never more than a minute back on the climbs and I held him up plenty on the descents. Riding super strong considering his injuries earlier this year.

Justin said: the trail to Worlds is neither paved nor smooth.

How do you make stairway look painlessly smooth and easy? Take a picture of it.

We were starving after the ride, so stopped in for some decent Mex before heading back to the aftermath of the bikram/crossfit challenge.

Saturday night Steph and I attacked dinner (carne asada tacos – Justin was the griller extraordinaire) and a bit after dinner I realized I felt tired, so laid down around 9. Got up 10 hours later. Could very well be the only time in the past year I’ve gotten that much sleep, and it was awesome.

Finished up a solid breakfast Sunday morning before we set out to conquer the Great Western Loop plus.

It was hot.

I may not be road racing in Europe or at Leadville, but in the meantime I am training for Tyler B!

Solid weekend with “the fam” as always. I’ll need more of these in a month or so!

Much love.

Questions answered? I don’t know. But, I do know I’ve got some renewed vigor and as long as I can manage the energy I’ll be out doing the best I can.