Every little bit helps…
It’s funny. Big efforts are cool. Epic days give you something to mull over a beer as you look back on em’ with accomplishment and fatigue. Hard intensive efforts that surprise you on the watch splits or on the wattage meter get you so jazzed… and you surely feel those efforts then and there. But, those days are far and few… and it’s those weeks where you eek in little nooks of training here and there, even where there really shouldn’t/couldn’t be… that gain this nearly unnoticeable or at least unremarkable days or weeks. You’re tired but not really sure why as each effort isn’t really of notice, yeah ya did it… but it wasn’t really stellar.
But this is where I love to train. More often then not, you’re training days aren’t breakthrough nor epic, nor well… anything but training. This daily grind of getting out and doing it, and doing it a few times a day is more of a win for me than most of the races I’ve been in. I would even argue that I’m not really racing others and only racing myself even during those bigger events. But getting back to these nondescript weeks of training… I love them. I find them invaluable and the reason why I like this sport (or buncha sports rolled into one ;). It’s also the reason I still want to go long. When you meet up with people you generally ask each other, “so what have you been up to?”. I personally never really have anything good or interesting to say as it’s usually these training weeks or the daily grind of the day job. But, you can look back over what you have executed on, be it blog, pen & paper, online/offline training software, whatever you log against… and there it is. You’ve taken your time and made it a little bit richer. This is why you are tired.
All of those 30min based 5k’s with the pooch in the AM and PM add up come weeks end. Conference calls while sitting on the bike? Sure why not… maybe I’ll extend it into the next checkpoint call that’s in 2 hrs… and then, it’s training in the bank.
The consistency reward is really only in the tally as far a semi-immediate gratification goes… but i think it pays dividends for going long. This is why I love winter and the base training it brings. The slow burn here and the seeds of consistency seemed to have made it easier as things get busier and the big pushes come around in summer. The goal is to keep moving, and hopefully it’s in the forward direction towards the line or sometimes just getting back home. 😉
Time for another cup o’ java and then it’s out and to it for me… another one for the bank.
Philip LaVoie's Blog 