The proverbial horse

{and how I got back on}

My little pony bucked me off at WoodstockCX last fall. But really, I saw the signs coming long before. The lack of motivation to train showed its ugly face as I was still trying to muster up the energy to race. I’m not sure why I thought I deserved to pin a number on each weekend without doing the due diligence each week. “Recovery” was quickly becoming fitness losses. I wasn’t taking care of myself and every day I’d lie in bed making excuses about how tired I was. And then my back went out.

Self care is something that historically I’ve been pretty poor at. Partly because I was never a girly girl, so my initial definition of self care was that of time wasting primping. And partly because I never saw the value. I am all about efficiency. Work hard and the results will come. Is self care something we have to add as we get older? As recovery becomes just as important as the hard workout? Gah – why does taking it easy seem so hard? Also, taking it easy is a terrible way to describe my recovery.

Self care is not taking it easy. It’s staying on top of the little stuff. The core work. The PT movements. The food. Sleep.

Ah sleep. My biggest struggle and my most inconsistent part of recovery. Sleep apnea has been a big elephant on my chest each night. I haven’t been tolerating the mask. These past two years it’s been hard to distinguish between the constant fatigue and burnout. I’m working at finding an alternative solution and have a procedure to determine if this solution will work for me once I return to Chicago.

After Montrose I took a final week off to decompress, re-motivate, and set intentions and goals for the season ahead.

I may have registered for a few races. That always helps with motivation.

And I got back on the horse. Consistent riding before the holiday break looked like easy hour spins outside. Back into the gym and yoga studio in search of balance. Had a lovely pre-thanksgiving with the gorgeous ladies of bicycling (GLOBs). Kyle and I headed to northern Minnesota for Thanksgiving with my family. And Kyle and I had a very nice Christmas Eve. With that, I headed off to vacation/train-cation with some fitness and a new bike bag. Sadly, leaving my sailor behind to train the sailors of tomorrow.