Wednesday, July 2, 2008

the tour is won in bed

sometimes you have to make tough choices when it comes to training.

as a coach, I know this to be one of the greatest challenges my athletes face: when to say "no."

I've had four very high-volume weeks with lots of elevation. in the month of June, I was on the bike a total of 28 days (yes, only 2 days off). I logged almost 80 hours for the month, with a total of close to 1,000 miles with 60,000' of climbing.

I'm tired.

I had a plan for today. it wasn't easy. it entailed about 4 hours of constant climbing.

did I mention I'm tired?

so, I followed my own advice and took a break.

I rode my touring bike on some errands (10 miles total). I went to the chiropractor for bodywork. I got a pedicure. I took my dog on a long outing to the bay.

I'm not quite as tired anymore.

I know that we get stronger during rest. but like my own athletes, I sometimes have a hard time believing that. the temptation to train longer and harder is always there.

today, I got stronger.

7 comments:

Chris said...

That is an awful lot of riding in a month VG. Rest up.

~ lauren said...

that much riding means you're not getting laid.

you need some action girl.

i thought you were going to come meet me for lunch this week!

Lorri Lee Lown -- velogirl said...

oh how right you are, although a lot of the riding has been with the "not" boyfriend.

how about lunch next week? what day works for you?

chatterbox said...

lauren - I think she's hoping some of that saddle friction will move to the "happy place" :)

VG - you definitely need some rest! I've been spending a lot of time working on my recovery lately, though I did get almost 3 hours of straight tempo riding with the guys at the Giro last week.

Lorri Lee Lown -- velogirl said...

yesterday was great -- exactly what I needed. I feel amazing today!

Itinerant Rick said...

Wished I could get a few of those miles :-(

Enjoy a nice 4th weekend!

Kim Ladd said...

Good for you! I'm came down with a small hint of a flu this week because I'm still learning to say "no."