Written 20th January 2010
Training Log 20/1 – Mountain bike, 99.72kms @ 20.6kph, 71rpm average- a long slow tough ride with poor fuel intake, including several unhelpful sugar highs. Some energy sapping sprints early in the ride. Very hot, physically draining. A dumb day of riding, but achieved the 100km goal.
This journey is as much about the mind as anything else. And today was a hard day in my mind.
The good news is I won, I beat my mind. Or perhaps more accurately, I didn’t let the bad voices in my head beat the good voices. Here’s what happened and what I learnt.....
After the social and emotional excitement of my birthday yesterday, I woke early with lots of doubts in my mind; all the usual – work, customers, money, whether I was ever going to get fit enough, and (of course)... should I go for my planned long ride. The last two were doubts encouraged by sore legs courtesy of yesterday’s BRICK training/ fast ride.
Anyway I had a coffee in bed with Shirl then talked myself into going for the ride. All this procrastination meant I went for the ride without a decent breakfast (just an apple and a coffee). It also meant I started out with two thoughts in my mind; one, I’m scheduled to do 100ks today and two, I may only go for a short while, we’ll see how it goes.
Surprisingly, the first two hours went really well – Along the foreshore of Moreton Bay; Wellington Point, Cleveland Point, Victoria Point for an average of 23.5kph including a long fast energy-draining but exhilarating blast into Cleveland Point.
That’s when the trouble kicked in. I’d exhausted myself with the fast blast and it quickly became difficult to finish the long ride. I couldn’t get the legs to go fast, it was bloody hot, I kept stopping to get food and Staminade into me (I was hoping sports drinks would re-energise me). No luck. I was so tired, for the first time ever I walked for a while a couple of times. I stopped and rested more often than previously, which made me feel unfit and fat, and added to the voices in my head.
Anyway, despite all this I eventually convinced my mind to keep going, and even to ride past home and add another 20ks just to achieve the 100k target. So despite being slow, and with lots of stops and rest, and without proper nutrition, I eventually completed the 100ks, and in a reasonable time overall. Good on me!!
So what does this teach me? –
1. Use my mental strength and a focus on my goals to stay positive when my mind is being negative. Trust in the good side of my mind, and recognise the bad side for what it is.
2. When in doubt, just go out and do it. Some days will be strong days, some weak but whatever don’t let the bad voices win. ‘Just do it’!!!
3. Always prepare / consume proper nutrition. Don’t rely on sugars/ lollies or even Staminade.
4. Set strong goals for each ride –try to avoid soft options like “I’ll go for as long as I can today”
5. This is a long long journey. Some days it will feel like I am tilting at windmills, and other days I will see real progress. Regardless, all of it makes up the journey, and so it is there I must focus- find the fun, search out the lessons, enjoy the small and the large incremental increases, and learn to use my body and my mind to achieve strong goals. Learn from everything.
The main overall lesson from today? Enjoy every moment within the journey, love both the good and the bad, remember to enjoy the whole experience, and respect my body - prepare the mind and body properly before long rides.
And never, ever listen to the bad voices in my head.
More later.... journey on!
James
Word Count - 673
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