Off Season Overdrive

Rest time is winding down and it has been a nice change of pace. I've gotten a few longer rides in, but my mind was calm and my thoughts weren't on watts, or speed... usually post-ride treats. I've been diving into most of the things I try to avoid during the race season, fro-yo, excessive amounts of coffee, an occasional convenience store peanut butter cup, and dining out when I'm too lazy to cook.

Last week felt like a true "Off Week" I didn't have any structure, I barely ran, never swam, but by the time the weekend came I missed my bike. I missed the feeling of getting something accomplished, so after sleeping in I headed out for a nice little ride into the wind.  Ever since installing my power meter, I've hated head-winds so much less. What do you usually have up on your bike computer? Pre-power days it was HR, speed, cadence, and time for me.  Which all seem to make me feel like I'm going NOWHERE when riding into the wind.  Now I'm looking at power, and cadence, who cares about speed when you know you're working hard enough?  I was probably going 13 miles an hour but hey WHO CARES, definitely a freeing feeling.  I wasn't worried about if this road would take me through my X:XX:XX min interval, or if I'd be able to hold power numbers down this hill. Or if I would roll back into my apartment at the time I had planned, I just rode. Back to the basics, back to what made you think that you'd want to get better at this sport, what made it FUN. Just being out on the road, supporting yourself handeling the elements.  It's great to get away from the structure during the off season. I read an article before last off season, by Matt Lieto about "filling up your bucket of motivation," I think workouts like this, that you wouldn't necessarily call workouts are exactly what he's talking about.

If you're like me, motivation comes at all the wrong times. At the end of the season when my body is whispering, let me rest we'll get 'em next year. My mind is yelling at me saying are you really going to take it easy today, after all that progress you made... lets hammer! By the time I get to the winter months when it's cold here, and I am tired of staring at my television, or listening to motivational mixes from Velobeats, I'm thinking "what's one day off."  It's bound to happen every once in a while, but if you find yourself doing it more often than not, it's likely that your "bucket of motivation" wasn't full at the beginning of off season training.  Take some more time to fill that bucket up, keep adding to it with fun workouts! I did just that this weekend, on Sunday with a trip to Boone, IA to ride Seven Oak's nasty hills. 

If you've never ridden a mountain bike on single track, trust me it's a quick way to fill up your bucket o' motivation.  I went with a friend of mine and by the first descent I yelled "human powered roller coaster!" Sure my heart was racing and my legs were burning a bit up those hills, but it was all worth it for the relief and rush of that down hill! It's much better than sitting in line at Six Flags, I can tell you that.  We hit nearly 1000ft of climbing in just under 5 miles... I thought Sugar Bottom Rd was hilly, this was nutty! I wouldn't have noticed if I didn't have my Garmin, but I felt every inch of climbing in Iowa City last weekend.

Something weird happens when you're on trails, your mind goes kind of blank you're pretty much lost until you hit the end of the trail, and then suddenly you have your bearings again.  My worries kind of slumped off my back, I felt physically lighter (which was a welcome relief).  You're single objective is to just stay on the trail DON'T DIE. Once you get more comfortable with the trail you can take some risks, shoot your adrenaline up, go FAST, just enjoy the ride.  Sort of like last weekend's race I was just using the strength that I've built up and enjoying it.

The day ended with a thorn through the sidewall but nothing could really bring me down from the enjoyment I had.  I realized that I'd just tossed some motivation back into the bucket, it was a great feeling.  This week I was feeling quite ambitious after looking at some local triathlete's strava log's and thinking, HOLY CRAP I am a lazy piece of junk.  These guys are out there hammering long aerobic rides already and I'm here riding my mountain bike for :45:00 min calling it a day.  So I went out for a less than necessary ride on Monday to boost my ego. Luckily as the week went on I went back to filling the motivation bucket with a rest day :).  Even when you're not training, you're preparing for that off season where the rest day isn't quite as easy to come by.  So I'll watch their numbers count up until it's my time to join in on the aerobic fun. Until then I'll keep tossing some motivation in the bucket, out on the trails, in the pool, or in the saddle.  Luckily I'm still able to snap out of competition mode and see the fun in training when it's most needed, hopefully you're taking time to fill up your bucket o' motivation!