Yesterday, at 7:30 on a Sunday morning, I was sitting around drinking coffee and watching the Giro on Universal Sports. To make this more surprising, it was simply a gorgeous morning that followed a similarly beautiful Saturday morning. After one of our wettest month’s of May on record, the weather was perfect for riding. Still, there I was drinking coffee, watching TV, and hanging out with Sherry on both days versus putting air in my tires and suiting up to go ride. And I’m ok with that.
I mentioned in my last post that I needed to take some time to recover. The 2010 season started strong but then some colds, a small crash, work issues, and a lack of mojo really impacted my form. I found myself trying to “ride into shape” like someone at the Tour de France. As a result, I was also starting to feel very fatigued overall.
It was time to take some time to recover so I decided to take 8 days off and get things restarted on June 1st. This is turning out to be a great decision. Taking a little time off the bike had more benefits than I expected. Of course, I knew the body would recover. What surprised me a little was how my mind and spirit also rebounded.
It’s funny how stressful trying to get in rides after work can be. I typically don’t get off until 6:00 pm, which leaves precious little time for getting in a ride. My goal is to try and get in an intense 60-75 minute work out before dinner. If I leave even 15-minutes late the timing is shot. The days I plan to leave early can actually be even more stressful as I spend the day hoping that nothing gets in the way.
I also took the week off from writing. Since this blog is about cycling I thought I should take a break from it also. In fact, my only connection to cycling this week was watching the Giro (I wasn’t going to miss that). I really enjoy writing and this blog has been a fun creative outlet but every now and then it feels like work. So taking a break from it also helped my mind relax and think about other things for a while.
How it the break improve my spirit? Well, I think it was mainly the change in mentality. Usually, when I’m watching the Giro on a weekend morning I am also trying to calculate how to get a ride in later that day. This weekend there were no such worries, which allowed me to totally relax and enjoy the race.
What did I do on my short break? A little bit of everything and nothing. I started my core exercises and weight training (no leg workouts) again. I spent the weekend cleaning out the garage and having fun in our garden. I drank wine for dinner and had waffles and french toast for breakfast. I read, watched TV, barbequed all kinds of stuff for dinner, and just basically enjoyed living.
I was so relaxed that on Saturday night as I was reading Facebook posts of all the great rides my friends had that day I wasn’t even jealous. Instead I was thinking about the great day I had just hanging out in the back yard.
However, everything comes to an end sometime and so it goes for my break. I am actually coming out of it a day early since my friends have put together one of our famous coffee-chat social rides. It is the perfect ride to check the legs and see how I’m feeling. And just to be sure that I don’t get caught up in any city limit sign sprints I will be rocking it on the single speed.
After today? I already have my new plan from Coach Tim that I will start to follow tomorrow so it’s back to the routine. After all, Levi’s Gran Fondo will be here before you know it and I want to make sure I am ready.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go put air in my tires.
Ciao!
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