Reset.
I need to do a field test.
My Training Ranges are horribly out of whack. I'm killing myself to maintain what once was a recovery pace. The steady slide of performance since my last field test was punctuated by my two month break from physical activity. For a while I could fake it, pushing a little harder and deluding myself into believing I was performing within a very structured range. In reality, the ranges were just random numbers that had little or no bearing on my body's ability to perform a specific task.
In other words, I don't ride a bike so good right now.
There's a couple things that are keeping me from doing a field test.
The first is the simple and undeniable fact that field tests suck. A lot. They hurt. They require positive mental focus. I'm mainly zoned in to my impressive collection of "I don't wannas." Very hard to fight through the aches and pains that come with a sustained effort when you have the steely determination of a Vichy politician.
The second? I'm afraid of being discouraged by what I might find. I know I suck, but the extent of my suckitude is still more or less unknown. I'm just not sure I want to know, and blindly flailing along on the trainer in arbitrary ranges seems preferable to crushing my fragile ego at this moment.
Still, I know I need to do a field test.
First I need to get back into the trainer rhythm, settling into the stationary suck and building my days, weeks, and months around it. I need to get to the point where I get on the trainer out of habit, because that's what I always do. Without normalizing the activity, too many things can affect the test results. Once the pattern is set, I'll do my field test and see where I am.
I'm thinking that will put my test date a couple days after the snow melts and I am back on pavement. Then my joy at being freed from stationary trudging will be so great that all thoughts of a field test will be pushed aside until the fall, when I absolutely, positively will need to do a field test.
After all, a strict schedule of periodic evaluations is the only way to ensure I'm maximizing my training potential.
My Training Ranges are horribly out of whack. I'm killing myself to maintain what once was a recovery pace. The steady slide of performance since my last field test was punctuated by my two month break from physical activity. For a while I could fake it, pushing a little harder and deluding myself into believing I was performing within a very structured range. In reality, the ranges were just random numbers that had little or no bearing on my body's ability to perform a specific task.
In other words, I don't ride a bike so good right now.
There's a couple things that are keeping me from doing a field test.
The first is the simple and undeniable fact that field tests suck. A lot. They hurt. They require positive mental focus. I'm mainly zoned in to my impressive collection of "I don't wannas." Very hard to fight through the aches and pains that come with a sustained effort when you have the steely determination of a Vichy politician.
The second? I'm afraid of being discouraged by what I might find. I know I suck, but the extent of my suckitude is still more or less unknown. I'm just not sure I want to know, and blindly flailing along on the trainer in arbitrary ranges seems preferable to crushing my fragile ego at this moment.
Still, I know I need to do a field test.
First I need to get back into the trainer rhythm, settling into the stationary suck and building my days, weeks, and months around it. I need to get to the point where I get on the trainer out of habit, because that's what I always do. Without normalizing the activity, too many things can affect the test results. Once the pattern is set, I'll do my field test and see where I am.
I'm thinking that will put my test date a couple days after the snow melts and I am back on pavement. Then my joy at being freed from stationary trudging will be so great that all thoughts of a field test will be pushed aside until the fall, when I absolutely, positively will need to do a field test.
After all, a strict schedule of periodic evaluations is the only way to ensure I'm maximizing my training potential.
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