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The Sweet Taste of Victory…

Bloody bar tapeOr the bitter sting of defeat?

It's been a psychologically (and let's be honest, physically) difficult week post Battenkill.  Sure, there's the usual post-event down swing that accompanies any event that you've spent the better part of half a year preparing for.  But between the elation of watching my coached athletes succeed at America's toughest one day race and the misery of abandoning America's toughest one day race, it's been a psychological tug-o-war.  And there have been constant reminders to deal with: the Strava comments, teammates wondering what happened and the depressing WKO+ upload.

While it's been difficult to sort through the myriad of self discussions going on in my head, the ultimate irony was hearing Lou Reed's “Perfect Day” come across my iPod while cleaning the Cambridge mud off my frame.  And since the process of washing, drying and polishing a frame is hardly difficult or attention demanding work, I was able to really listen to the lyrics for the first time in a long time, extracting a lot of meaning out of those forty-one year old lyrics.

Just a perfect day, you made me forget myself
I thought I was, someone else, someone good

For days I've racked my brain, trying to come to grips with the crushing mental defeat that comes with abandoning a race.  That bitter sting of defeat has been nagging me like a hangnail since I lay curled up on the side of the road.  The first thoughts to go through my head were not of the difficulty breathing, or the pain squeezing my torso like a pair of vise grips, but more of the mental pain of failing to accomplish a goal.  I'm competitive, if not with those around me, with myself.  I had set a goal and I would not be able to complete it.  In the moment, I felt  at the very least I was letting down friends, family and teammates, lest of all myself.  I felt all the work I had done, all the time I had spent designing and following my specific training plans, and all the planning I had put into the weekend was washed away in a sea of bad luck and uncontrollable circumstances.  There was a moment in which a single tear slid down the side of my face as I pounded on the ground in frustration.

I trained and fought for the better part of five months just to get to where I was, and I know my form was high. Would I have won my field?  No.  Could I have been on the podium?  Probably not.  Could I have finished with a top 10 placing?  Maybe.  Top 20?  Definitely.  The only thing holding me back was….my back; a previous injury that I have been coping with for a year now, which I had described previously in these pages.  In reality, there wasn't much I could do (having thought I had everything under control), except take some lessons from the whole debacle.  

To look at things in a different light, we take another page from Lou's book:

Oh, it's such a perfect day, I'm glad I spent it with you
Oh, such a perfect day, you just keep me hanging on
You just keep me hanging on.

It was serendipitous to fall like a soldier in combat by the side of the road.  It allowed me to focus on pushing others through their races, watching their successes and encouraging their performances, allowing me to push away the feelings of defeat.  The successes of others provided me a way to just keep hanging on, which was just what I needed at that moment.

That's the thing about racing.  You have successes and failures.  You fight and usually you lose, but sometimes you win.  The biggest lesson it can teach us is how to swallow our shattered pride, pick ourselves up off the pavement (or in this case pavé) and reload our guns for the next fight.

Marcellus Wallace put it best:

The night of the fight, you may feel a slight sting. That's pride fucking with you. Fuck pride. Pride only hurts. It never helps. You fight through that shit.

You fight through that shit.  And when you do, you realize that you're stronger and more thoroughly prepared for the next time pride comes calling.  It's that preparation that silences the bitter sting of defeat and allows you to savor the sweet taste of victory.

 

Have you swallowed the bitter pill that is defeat?  Talk about it in the comments:

Race Day Preparation (Podcast #11)

Warming up on the trainer“Do it right on race day” is a lesson that every racer should live by and one that should be drilled into their head.  Race performance begins in the days before when you start to get everything ready to roll.  In fact, poor race day prep can actually set you up for a poor performance even before the first pedal is turned in anger.

We'll discuss proper race day preparation as well as preparation in the days prior.  Some topics we'll cover include:

  • Loading your gear and prepping your bike
  • Eating prior to your race
  • Arrival time and warmup time
  • Warming up on the trainer
  • Proper dress

As always, comments and questions are welcome.

As a reminder, my “Berg Buster” is still available (until April 21st) for FREE with the code “classicsgift”.

For those of you racing Battenkill, I'll see you there.  Good luck, stay safe!

Peak Performance Concepts (Podcast #10)

Annotated performance management chartWith spring racing in full force, many people are hitting the peak phase of their periodized training plans.  Periodized training is a method by which an athlete structures their training towards certain goals, and it consists of a long term, full year picture (macrocycle), smaller blocks of training and recovery (mesocycles, typically 4 weeks long) and the single week's worth of training and recovery (microcycle).

Within this concept of periodized training, the ultimate goal of a training block, which I like to refer to as a super-mesocycle (basically a group of 3 or 4 mesocyles bundled together) is a peak performance, usually for an “A” category race.  The question most athletes ask is “What exactly is peak performance and how do I get there?”  After an event, people often ask me “Why was my performance so poor?  Did I not train enough?”

I'd like to suggest that peak performance is not really driven by what happens during the “build phases” of your training plan, and is not really driven by the amount of training you've done (to some extent anyway.)  You can be one of the fittest riders in the group, but a poor quality “peak” phase can destroy an otherwise strong and fit athlete.

On today's podcast, we'll learn what the significance of the “peak” phase is and how we transition from the build phase into a peak performance, including:

  • The peaking model
  • Building form vs. fitness
  • Peak week intensity, frequency and duration
  • The importance of “painkillers” in relation to peak performance
  • Should you rest the day before an “A” race?

As a reminder, you can get a FREE “Berg Buster” HIT workout by using the code “classicsgift” through April 21st.

Thoughts?  Comments?  Remember to head over to iTunes and leave a review if you enjoyed the podcast.

 

 

Getting Back On The Bike For Spring

shadowbikeWith the arrival of daylight savings time, sunshine and warmth comes the itch to get on the bike and get outside again.  You see, many cyclists spend the winter taking a break from their bikes; snowshoeing, hiking, skiing, and the dreaded gym often take up many dreary winter hours, keeping us fit and strong, ready to ride again in the spring.

But not so fast, and especially not if you're only a beginner (someone who's only been riding for 3 years or less.)  There are a few things you'll want to keep in mind as you begin to dust off your bike and head back out on the open road (or trail, if that's the case.)  After the jump, you'll learn just what you should be doing to get yourself moving safely and effectively after a winter layoff.

 

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The Nature of Pain

suffering-272x300[dc]P[/dc]ain is an interesting, often elusive and sometimes debilitating creature.  Almost always negative in connotation, it denotes a kind of suffering, either physical or mental, as a result of some assault upon our body or mind.  As human beings, we associate pain with misery, with suffering, with disability and typically strive to avoid it wherever possible.  However odd it may seem, athletes in general (and cyclists in particular) seem to live for the rush of agony that often accompanies competition.

But why?  What is it about this universally negative condition that drives some of us to seek it out while the majority of the population tries to escape it?

What, really, is the nature of pain?

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