2 weeks of connections

First, a connection with the inner mallard:

I am forever grateful to have waterproof skin. I have found this inner mallard connection to be very useful during the beautiful Victoria rainy season, especially while it coincides with our bike volume. What a great friendship to have during those back to back Jordan River riding, Leechtown exploring, Jack Lake looking, Crab apple Lake finding, Malahat climbing, Shawnigan suburb discovering, Goldstream hike-a-biking rides.

Thank You inner duck. I am happy to have met you.

A connection with the inner monkey:

For the past year or so, "relax the hands" has been on my swimming list. Relax the hands on recovery. Relax the hands on the back 1/2 of your stroke. Feel the water. Every so often I feel the flexion & finish with extension.
Spend enough hours on the bike & you begin to feel the pedals. Relax the ankles. Feel the pedals. At the bottom 1/2 of your pedal stroke, relax the ankles. Now you have monkey feet. Feel the pedals, feel the stroke with your relaxed tree climbing monkey feet.

Thank You inner monkey. I am happy to have met you.

***

Last year Coach PK introduced us to the Alexander Technique. Essentially, this is where we relax the antagonist muscle group in order to maximize potential of the contracting muscle.

The other day while rolling around with Jalapeno, I was thinking about recovery & my mind wandered back to this technique. Can we apply the Alexander Technique to recovery? What exactly happens during recovery? How do we really recover?

In order to maximize recovery potential, we must relax the antagonist. We must turn off everything else. Is this active, or is this passive?

Initially there must be active thought in order to relax the antagonist. It requires effort to break the habbit.

Recovery is much the same. We must first actively turn off the work, then we become at peace with rest.

***

For rest to provide peace, we must first be at peace with rest.

Rest well.