Today I feel content. Peace. Happy. Woooo!
Why, you might ask? Why not? I might answer. Or I’d tell you it all started Friday.
Not
because Friday was good, but because it was a fairly bad morning. Had a
martial arts class, and it was not doing good things to me
emotionally/spiritually. But I realized I control that, and I may just
skip that class for a while. It’s in my hands, and my choice to make.
However, it still had me down much of that day. Then I got email from
my ex-stepdad… turns out my old health insurance was still good when
I crashed my bike over the summer, and they took care of the rest of my
airlifting bill!!! Woooo! It was like a $5000 present, and a huge
weight off my shoulders.
Saturday I did Lactate Threshold
testing, VO2Max testing, and body fat analysis to kick of an awesome
day. That amounted to about 15 miles of biking (rode to the test, test
was on a stationary bike, and rode home). You know you are a little
crazy when spending 15 minutes making your legs hurt more than you
remember in a while, and more just feeling like they had nothing left
(oh right because they didn’t) while getting blood taken out of your
fingers is something you consider a good start to the weekend!
But
it was a great start. Got home, grabbed some food, and headed back out
on the bike. I wasn’t feeling the groove at the start, so I set myself
a small loop goal. But I found my groove — oh did I find it! I
continued for about 45 miles. And the bonus? In bike shorts and a tank
sleeve jersey, the weather was so nice. Got home, pulled on running
shoes, and made it a brick! About 12.5 miles (and 1000 ft of climbing)
later it was getting dark, so I figured it was enough for a day =)
Then
it was Sunday. A nice and fairly lazy morning, and then was supposed to
meet up with Joey and Alan for a mtn bike loop. Joey’s knee was still
unhappy with him, so it was just me and Alan. Making for a bit of
adventure since Alan had never done the planned loop and I’d only done
it once… but I think I only took 1 wrong turn. And it just meant we
got an extra drop and an extra climb (nope… not back the way we came
but linking back onto the trail we were trying to stay one). So it was
a “rest/easy day” with 16 miles of mtn biking, and 1800 ft. of climbing.
My quads are just barely a good kind of sore — they remind me of the thrill.
Then
I got to go to an awesome talk Sunday evening by Brad Kearns. If you
ever have the chance to hear him speak, do it. Someday I hope to have
him coach me, as what he said really spoke to me. A lot was about
balancing stress — of life, work, training, health, etc. And listening
to your body. Balancing stress and rest to get stronger, and listening
to the little voice that tells you if you should push harder or if it
should be an easier day. And that he is a fan of 2 hard workouts today
in return for an easy day tomorrow. That seems to be how I’m
programmed. I’m working with a coach now, and although he is good, and
I feel it is worth it, I just don’t seem to work as well with the “swim
W and F with these workouts, do this run on this day at this distance
and HR, etc”. Although my coach is flexible with it, and I like the
guidelines of order, I sometimes like just doing the workout I feel,
and I don’t like feeling I’m going to be worse just because I didn’t do
exactly what he had prescribed.
Another of his main points that
hit home was that consistency in training isn’t always good. We get
stronger by stressing our bodies, and then letting them recover. Making
sure to always train x hours and by doing y is something the body will
get used to. Yes, it will make you stronger and better, but won’t be
your highest return on your time.
And his other focus?
Enjoyment. Don’t lose your reasons in the goal of a time, or of a
place. Yes, you can have those goals, and strive for them, but keep
your happiness separate. Enjoy the workout for what it is, enjoy the
race for seeing what you can get your body to do. An off day happens,
but don’t let it mess up your mood and progress.
I’m reading his new book now, and highly recommend it: Breakthrough Triathlon Training.
No
commute today, although I was really looking forward to it. Too many
little reasons why not to: First a metrolink train (which is the first
part of my non-car commute) was late this morning due to unexplained
power issues in the car last night. It’s still being worked on, but
they claimed the rest of the trains are on schedule. Then a weather
report, of tons of rain starting this evening. That I heard already at
the gym, and without a jacket or plastic bags to keep my training log
dry on the way home. I was still undecided. The final factor was when I
heard that now metrolink is dealing with a security issue, as a few
duffle bags were left at a station platform, and another in the parking
lot of that station. This was within 30 minutes of a security breech at
Long Beach Airport. Since I have a meeting at 8:30, I just drove the
rest of the way in. Keeping in mind things Brad said, about keeping the
enthusiasm, and realizing this will just make me want that ride in more
next time. And although I heard Libor’s wheels slicing through some
puddles, I also heard him remind me that loosing the data in my
training log, although also on a computer, just wasn’t worth a single
day. Looks like more rain this week, but if I prepare well I might
still ride it in. We shall see.
Hopefully more in life is going
to follow and fall into a same content and satisfied pattern, but then
again it could just make life too boring. The goods wouldn’t be as good
without a basis of comparison in the downsides.
Oh, and I think I might have to… Auburn International Long Course Tri. Talk about motivation to become a better climber!