Dancing and Balancing

Day.

Plenty to think about today.

Let's start with the swim. It was a great January swim. I felt like a million bucks during the warm up, and felt even better for the 1st 2 300's of our main set { 3x (2 x 300 fast drafting on 4:30; 3 x 100 kick-swim on 1:40; 100ez). It was totally effortless with a nice smooth stroke. I could swim faster with no physical stress. Sweet. We'll talk about what happened next in a little while.

Next it was time for cyclocross magic. But first, Scotty, Andrew, and myself got fired up with an epic trainer, spinerval, power crank, compu-trainer conversation with none other than Gerry. Sweet. Sounds like he has an unreal set up going on in the Garage. Shotty power cranks.

Back to cyclocross. I have never really been much of a dancer. In fact, it's something I tend to avoid, other than within the safety and solidarity of the car to and from practice. However, I think that cycling is a lot like dancing.

You are really just dancing on the pedals, moving to the rhythm of the road. It's easy to notice this with Papaya on the trails. Today it felt like we were a perfect pair. How do you climb through rocks, over logs, around roots, through the mud? Just dance 'er up, dance 'er down.

It's the same thing on the road. Have you ever watched a bird fly through the trees? They are just dancing with the trees and wind. This is how to ride. Flying around a corner, move your hips, swing the arms, roll the legs, light on the feet, feeling the rhythm of the road.

Shout out to Andrew for the sweet ride today. 2 hours went by faster than you could boil an egg.

Now for the run. My training philosophy is, and always will be as follows: Go as hard as you can. Find the place where you blow up. Perfect. What an awesome feeling. Now, refocus and hold on because this is where the real fun begins.

How do you know how far you can bend the ruler before it breaks, unless you break it. This is precisely why I needed a new ruler every couple months from K - 12. (Seriously Mrs. Dorworth, this is the reason why I could never underline the title in Social Studies.) You will only know that you went as hard as you can if you blow up. The trick is to hold on, right there at that perfect identifying blow up place.

The thing is we blow up at different times on different days based on a multitude of infinitely variable factors. Sometimes it's frustrating when we blow up. Just remember why and all becomes well and clear.

Here's to the new cycle.

Rest well.