Kind of like when a sailing ship loses any wind to propel it, this part of the season feels like the doldrums to me - my schedule is off, my training is lacking intensity, and I am not feeling entirely motivated. It's called being "in irons" in the sailing world, as I recall. No wind, no motion, just waiting around.
Ever since the Devil's Punchbowl Road Race I've had this problem. Now that I realize my training has not been good prep for road races, which I think I enjoy more than criteriums, I have imagined the rest of this season will be criterium-centric. That does not excite me too much, but maybe it will change when I get back into things this weekend at the Barry Wolfe Memorial in Woodland Hills. It's a close race, so no travel time at least. Speaking of travel, 2 successive weeks of family visits in the Midwest and East Coast really made a dent in my training too.
Training is getting to where it comes with more sacrifice. When Jack was 1 or 2 months old, he was staying up later into the night. I could ride after work and still have several hours of awake time. Now that he's almost 5 months old, he is going to bed at 7:30, and I'm finding I really would rather spend time w/ him than ride a pointless 45 minutes. It's hard to get anything accomplished in that time on the bike, and seeing Jack smile at me is taking more and more precedent. This was the case tonight. Beautiful weather, 72 degrees, no wind...so I chose to stay w/ Jack and see him off to bed. It just felt wrong to leave my smiling son behind to go train for these crazy races!
I'll try to get some intervals in Tuesday night, and also work to fit in the Camarillo Crit Practice on Thursday. Hopefully I'll have some legs left for Sunday's race, along with some renewed enthusiasm. A decent result would get things going...
2 comments:
Well, I'm obviously biased, but you're probably making the right call in stowing the bike for the kid. I've found that a big fear for me of the idea. Well, along with a suitable partner for such an endeavor. Anyway, what about the morning? Would Jean not go for you slinking off at 5am for an hour or so?
Early morning is probably better, but I'm waiting until Jack forces the issue. He'll inevitably start getting up at 5am someday...until then I'll have to figure this way out. There's a social aspect to afternoon/weekend riding that is not inherent in the 5am workout.
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