Monday, December 22, 2008

"Can't Deny....."

"...the prize may never fulfill you."

That's a line from one of the songs on my MP3 player ("You Know My Name" from: Casino Royal) and I can't help but think how it applies to endurance sports: even athletes that win championships are never fully satisfied; they go home and figure out how to get faster. It seems like the pursuit of that unattainable "perfect race" is what drives us (dare I include myself?).

Training this weekend went really well. I found myself digging deep to finish the week out and I know that work will yield awesome results come March. I'm still dropping time in the pool, the calf is holding up and my zone 1-2 running pace is getting back to where it was beforeI got injured. All good stuff.

Which leads me to my next admission: I'm a streaker. Not the guys that strip naked and run around on a sports field, but my current mental state seriously affects my training. Maybe "Head Case" is more like it. I guess you could call it "training inertia" (patent pending). Bascially, when things go well, I'm motivated to keep training and things continue to go well. The opposite is absolutely true as well; I have considerable difficulty shaking off a poor race performance or work out. I get better the more I race, however. I guess there's something to be said for maturity--"race age"--as Joe Friel calls it.

Meanwhile it's raining again, which makes training difficult. If we're in for a wet Winter, I need to get over my aversion to riding the trainer for longer than 30 minutes. D'oh!

Stay dry and Happy Holidays to you and yours.

E.

2 comments:

Pedal Circles said...

I've been splitting up my trainer time when I'm just doing regen. 30-35 minutes is ok. 60 is not :D

Unknown said...

i found recently i don't mind riding on the road in the wet, and last year i found that if i dressed appropriately i could ride despite it being really cold.

riding in the cold AND wet... just doesn't sound like much fun.