That article started me thinking a bit (don't worry, I didn't hurt myself). What I was thinking is that I like to run/ride fast... Wait! Let me rephrase that. I like the thought of running/riding fast. Yet, with 2 kids, 2 dogs, and a Wife (please don't read anything into that order), I rarely have the time to train as much as I would need to to get truly fast at either. My family comes first, so running/biking usually gets the short end of the stick (as it should). However, maybe I'm just not thinking about the real reason for my lack of training time. Maybe I'm not a victim of my circumstances after all. Maybe I'm just a victim of my own apathy.
My real lack of training is that I like to sleep. Call me lazy, call me selfish, but the fact is that I enjoy a good night of sleep. Why sleep 7 hours if I can sleep 8. Why sleep 8 hours if I can sleep 9, etc. But there in lies my problem. I don't need 8 hours of sleep. I know I can function on 7, with a bit more sleep after high effort days as needed. If I slept 7 hours every day, I'd be out of bed by 6:00, riding 1.5 hours to work on my bike, leaving at work 5:00, home by 6:30 and back to bed by 11:00. That's 3 hours of training 5 days a week.
If I actually used that time, instead fostering my love hate relationship with the snooze button on my alarm clock until I had no choice but to drive to work, I would be riding my bike 175-200 miles each week with a bit more on the weekends. Just think about what I could do with that kind of mileage. I could win the sprint to the next traffic light on Center street, beat Munson up a big hill, pull B&B in the trailer to Culvers in record time, win the sprint up "The Wall" at the end of the Bike Masters group ride, pass that old guy that rides on the Keystone trail all the time.
I'd be unstoppable.
If I was selfish enough to take even more time away from my family (which I have been known to do) I could enter the occasional race for a good dose of humility (my humility).
So, what is the point of this endless blog post? The point my friends, the point is, well....
The point is that; blaming somebody else for our lack of motivation is, well, pointless. So stop hitting the snooze button and start taking responsibility for overcoming your circumstances, instead of giving up, rolling over, and going back to sleep.
5 comments:
That sounds like a great plan, Bob. Make sure you don't pull a me and try to do it all at once. Ease into it. Otherwise your body will make you stop by getting sick or overly sleepy.
I'm hoping to do a few easier early morning rides on the weekends. If you ever want to join, just show up. We'll start the ride at 6am or so and be done around 8am or 9am allowing plenty time for the rest of the day. Join us if ya like!
I know what you mean. I had to get a stress fracture in my knee to learn that lesson. 200% increases in running distance, for the first couple weeks of training, does not do good things to your body.
I've been been commuting 2-3 times a week with a few other rides. This week it was 3 and I'll ride once this weekend (maybe with you on Sunday). I'll add a day next week, etc. But I'm not really trying to get in shape for something. I just want to drop some pounds before winter and hopefully keep it off.
Winter training is still an unknown at this point. I'm not an indoor trainer type of person. Way to boring.
I'm the same way with winter. Which sucks because those are the months that you need to make most of your gains. The racing season starts in April so you have to be ramping it up at least 3 months before hand. Which is the worst part of winter, around here.
Bryan will hopefully have trainer sessions in his basement. Or maybe I can have them at my place. We'll see. Getting together for trainer workouts is much better since it gives you motivation to actually hop on those torture devices.
Another fun winter activity is gravel road rides. Well, I shouldn't call it fun. It's great training because you can never get going too fast since it's gravel so wind chill is not so pronounced. You also will work way harder since, again, you're on gravel. There's a couple competitive gravel group rides that are really tough, but are a great way to get into shape. Once that time of the year comes around, I'll be posting about those rides.
Keep me posted on the winter training schemes. I need to do something more than my typical 1 weekly ride to work.
I know BM does Wednesday night and Saturday morning trainer rides. I've seen over 20 people show up to the Saturday one.
I'd rather just get out stupid early and get in 2-3 hours in the cold. Now that I have the gear for it, it's much more appealing than riding on a trainer.
I usually ditch the SS in the winter though. It's to hard to adjust to the heavy winds and changing road conditions with just 1 gear.
Don't be so hard on yourself. Sometimes sleeping in on the weekend a little or taking an occasional nape is good for you mental health. Love, Mom
Post a Comment