I have decided to scrap my race season.
I know what you're thinking.
But no, I'm being serious. All my races are off the calendar. It was a really hard decision to make, and I stressed over it all of January.
Once I made the decision, it was like a huge weight was taken off of me.
I made this decision a little over a month ago. I know this is the first time you are hearing this.
I can imagine you might be shocked and surprised to hear this.
But I have moved on.
A month ago, Liz and I had a long talk. I wrote a post here, maybe sometime in January. I talked about the struggles I was going through. (I have since taken that post down).
I realized that I couldn't handle the training load with everything that I am going through.
She was incredibly understanding (as is her way). I told her that I needed a few weeks off to clear my head.
I took a couple of weeks off and started back with Liz last week.
Probably the weirdest part is going from 16-17 hours of training a week to basically going back into off season. Then, one morning I woke up and remembered that I didn't have to do anything. It felt so good. I knew right then that I made the right decision.
Liz and I talked about doing a bike focus. Right now, I want to do the stuff that I really love. I love the bike more than anything. My 2nd favorite is swimming. I have an awesome masters team. I adore my swim coaches, and it's a great mental break. Recently, I've been making huge gains in my swim. My 3rd favorite is running.
I have a goal of getting to w/kg of 4% on the bike. I have been closing in on that goal. Step by step, with a strategic bike plan....I'll get there either this year or next.
This year will be a step back year, so to speak. I will continue to "train" with Liz. My plan is to work on my weaker areas.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate Liz right now. She was incredibly understanding when I took time off and completely changed course from long to short.
Most importantly, I can't overstate how important it is to work with a coach, to have a collaborative approach to training. When I brought up the possibility of doing a bike focus, we came up with a plan together.
Bike focus, it is.
And let me tell you, she started in full on beast mode. My hardest workout of the week was so difficult that I couldn't quite hit the intervals. I hit the first one and the last one and parts of the middle ones.
What Coach Liz says: This is a very hard interval.
What Coach Liz means: I'm going to rip off your legs and feed them to you.
Of course, she responded with, "This is a great workout for you".
She's absolutely right. I know that it's hard to see workout failures as a positive thing, but that's exactly how I see it.
Growth only comes out of pain. Otherwise, we'll just stay the same.
She gave me a workout that exactly hit my weakness. Now, we can address it.
You see. Getting better at biking or running or swimming isn't about doing more.
It's about doing the right types of workouts for you, to address your weaknesses, so those areas become stronger and stronger.
Taking a year off might seem like a shock, but just think about how strong I am going to be after taking a year to work on my weaknesses.
#chasingexcellence