Backing Away From the Edge.

One of the first things Janice did at our meeting was check my recent training history. Good practice, because she needs to know where I am before dumping a whole lot of workouts on me. Then she called me an idiot for doing so much volume and intensity during the couple months I have set aside for doing nothing. Instead of resting and generally not training, my profile shows I've been doing nothing but training. Training for what? Mainly burnout.
 
So, she laid out a recovery week with easy and moderate intensity sessions. None of that "sprint until you puke" stuff. Crank out a stable effort for an hour and then walk away. Sounds easy, right?
 
It's harder than you'd think. The puking is effective for breaking up the monotony of grinding away on a trainer. Maintaining a steady power level for a hour is mind-numbing. I constantly glance at the clock to see how long I have left before I can stop.
 
I know I need this. I know my intensity and recovery had meshed into "meh", and I was starting to feel a little bit dead. It's a dangerous time to feel that way, because blowing up before the habit of riding the trainer is fully ingrained is a sure-fire way to kill a good thing. The problem is that my mind and body aren't always in sync. The mind sees a number or other target and wants to chase it. The body doesn't always want to, but tries to gamely hang in there until it can't anymore. Mine fails in spectacular fashion at the worst possible moments.
 
So now I get to de-train myself a little bit to back away from the edge. I plan on being bored and frustrated for a week. When it comes time to do some work, the body will likely be ready to hammer away, but the mind won't want to. Fleeting moments of alignment are rare, so I've learned not to expect them.
 
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to take a coach-mandated nap. This part I will totally rock.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Luke Simpson

Image
A couple years ago I participated in a stage race and had the honor to meet Saul Raisin, the former professional cyclist that suffered a debilitating traumatic brain injury during a race in Europe. As I listened to him speak and later read his book about his recovery, I (probably like most people) had two thoughts:                 “What an inspiring story.” …and more callously,                 “Wow, sucked to be him.” The second thought was just a result of thinking it would never happen to me. If you run the odds, it just doesn’t factor into the threat matrix as prominently as teenage girls with cell phones or that sketchy Cat 5 on the brand-new Madone. Then I got my bell rung. I’ve seen my share of stars and cartoon tweety birds over the years, but this was the first time I was knocked unconscious and woke up in an ER. Another driver’s moment of inattention resulted in a totaled car and weeks of disorientation, speech delays, and random face plants. It didn’t occu
Read more

Narrowed Focus

OK, here's the fun part.   You're clinging to the wheel in front of you. Doing everything to stay in contact, because you know in the deepest parts of your soul that if a gap opens, you will never close it, and you will be adrift. That few inches of space is your whole purpose in life.   People wait their whole lives to see the scenery on either side of you, but you're too busy focusing on meaningless points up the road. You're hoping that by acknowledging them that they will somehow help you climb this hill. They don't, because they're inanimate objects like signposts and rocks. Selfish bastards.   You match cadence with the guy in front of you, promising yourself that every time their right foot comes down, your right foot will come down. That you won't stand unless they stand. That you will be every bit as strong as they are, even if you aren't.   The steady ache in your thighs keeps building. You know all you have to do to make it stop is to
Read more

Perhaps Where I need to Be.

  The last time I was in Biloxi was in November of 2016. I was recovering from a broken collar bone, but otherwise was relatively fit, lean, and getting fitter and leaner. Because I had nothing else to do and energy to burn, I rode a lot. It was wasted effort that translated into burnout during the trainer season, but I really didn't care. I hadn't been riding at all. A handful of road rides before the season ended. A couple fat bike rides when the trails near my house were packed well. Mostly I've hiked, cross-country skied, and sat on my fat ass. Primarily the latter. I knew I was going to be spending the month of February in Biloxi. I swore I was going to get back on the trainer in preparation, but I never did. I came in cold. I packed all sorts of warmers and raingear and stuff that I have yet to use.I forgot all sorts of tools. My tires were excessively worn and my tubes weren't in great shape either. I ended up buying new ones after a horrible first ride led to 4
Read more