Fighting the Urge

Since my last post, I've been fighting a familiar urge. When things don't go well for me, I have a strong impulse to redeem myself. It can turn into me being a sore loser. An extra round of bowling. A second chance to answer a question. So, when a bad race happens, I want to train my ass off.

A year ago I got a flat on the first lap, in my first race as a cat 2. With little experience performing a quick tire change, I lost too much ground and had to DNF. The next race, I went off the front seven miles in and stayed there until I was caught by four remaining guys about forty-five miles later, finishing fifth.

You wouldn't be wrong to say getting dropped in my first race of the season has got me wanting a little more from my fitness. However, getting there needs to be a balancing act. I went out for a 4.5 hour ride yesterday, and fell into zombie mode the rest of the evening. I can't afford to do that all the time. I don't want to do that all the time.

Some will say, "do more long rides and they won't be so hard on your body in the future." While that is partly true, I can't go from one every-so-often, to three a week. For starters, that turns me into a perma-zombie. I know from experience. Also, I can't afford to have cycling hold twelve-plus hours of my week. Six to eight sure, even with some running on the side. But twelve hours, from three rides, in a seven day week? I don't have that desire at the moment. If I can sneak in a 3-4 hour ride somewhere in the week I should feel happy. The 30 minute to 1.5 hour running/biking plan, almost everyday, has seemed to get me in pretty good shape these last three weeks. And it hasn't been leaving me too tired to write or be productive around the house. A few more weeks and I think we'll see some strength in the legs.

To keep things in check, and fight the temptation to go do another 3+ hour ride today, I took the dogs for a 30 minute run this morning. Not just the typical dog jog route along the river. But new trails. Something all three of us could enjoy exploring together. Not too long to where they were dying. Not too short or easy to where I didn't get a decent recovery effort in. The short workout not only left me feeling good for the rest of the day, but it didn't eat up half my daylight either. Now I'm writing. Later, I'll be cleaning. And who knows, maybe I'll have time to get on some things I've been putting off.