A Different Approach

Over the past several years this time of the racing season has usually seen me in pretty good form and getting ready for the District TT up in Sattley. But over the past nine months a lot of things have changed and it's a different Spring for me this time around. Not that different is bad, more often than not doing something different has a pretty positive experience which I tend to believe this will be the case going forward.

Something called work absolutely crushed me leading into Sattley last year. Starting back in May I took over a pretty overwhelming integration program (Tandberg) that had just kicked off and the timing couldn't have been worse...for training and trying to peak. On the other hand, it was a shot of confidence from leadership that they gave me the "keys to the car" to drive this integration forward; for this I've been really happy. Anyway, Sattley was only a smidge better than the previous year, probably due to the new pavement and not my ability to peak and taper for the event.

The winds of change knocked me sideways. For the rest of June, July and August I believe I only was able to get on the bike around ten times. And to make matters worse, I lost a really close friend: My fitness! Gone was the motivation to ride just for the joy of riding. Work had crushed everything, except the nagging ability to put on a few extra pounds. The low point was in December when I stepped on the scale and saw that I put on thirty pounds. Of course that much weight spread over a 6'9" frame doesn't really seem like any cause for concern to my friends, but that's like carrying Chris Phipps' and Greg McQuaid's bikes on my back while climbing Mt. Hamilton.

Align all this up with the family stuff and I figured it makes sense to approach things a bit differently this season. Gone is the early fitness for the Spring, but I have a new appreciation of watching my kids enjoy their soccer and volleyball events, and seeing my soon to be 3-year old daughter blossom immediately in front of my eyes. Spring brings change and being around to see more Single A baseball is pretty fun.

On the flipside I've got my motivation back and yes things will hurt. Shedding a few pounds is not fun, but at least there's the motivation to get it accomplished. Most importantly, I'm excited to actually not burn out after Sattley and to experience the races in June/July/August/September that I've neglected from TT-itis (that's the medical term for post-TT letdowns). Only time will tell...