I live in Nor-Cal and we are just getting hammered by rain right now. Since my return home from Christmas it’s been raining everyday. To date that is 21 days in a row! We haven’t had much sun and most of the trails are un-rideable for the foreseeable future. I’m fortunate that the trails near me, that I do most of my interval training on, drain well. They are still rideable and will remain so regardless the amount of rain we get. I am thankful that, for the most part, I have found some weather windows of no rain to get outside and do most of my riding. However, with that said I’ve probably banked the most indoor trainer hours in the last two weeks then I have the entire year past.
I found myself on the trainer Tuesday for a two hour endurance zone session (Z3) that was really exhausting to me. And then Wednesday I had a 2 hour ride with a 45 minute Sweetspot in the middle of it. For those unfamiliar with Sweetspot: Sweetspot workouts are intervals right below your Functional Threshold Power (FTP). It aims to improve your ability to resist fatigue while putting out relatively high power over a long time. Its intended to increase your aerobic capacity and muscular endurance.
As I climbed onto the trainer, it seemed like just a few hours ago I had just completed my workout from the night before. I was running through every excuse in my head why I wasn’t going to complete this interval successfully:
- I already had 2 hours of trainer ride time yesterday and I’m over it.
- My legs are already tired from the static position of the trainer and the time I put on yesterday.
- I have had a headache behind my left eye for two days and it’s not going away.
- My sleep has been less than average this week and I’m feeling exhausted.
I continued to go down that lane of all the stories I could tell myself why this workout wasn’t going to happen.
Regardless, I started the workout. Five minutes into my warmup I decided I needed a bathroom break. Which extended into 10 minutes of procrastinating the inevitable to avoid the torture of what was in front of me. I eventually got myself back onto the trainer. Managed to get through my 30 minutes of endurance zone before the 45 minutes Sweetspot interval. I find watching mindless Netflix series works well for this. Ginny and Georgia, is my go to series right now.
Then…it came time for the interval. I turned the tv off. Turned on my interval playlist (a combo of Lizzo, Megan Thee Stallion, sprinkled with a few other hip hop songs I appreciate for interval sessions). Turned the volume to 100+. And put my head down to crank out the work.
My goal was to push through the first 15 minutes and soft pedal for a minute and repeat 3x. That’s not really the way I’m suppose to do a 45 minute Sweetspot effort but that’s the way I can get through it on the trainer. Really there should be no break in effort, just a 45 minute sustained effort of power.
Ugggh, this is impossible, I’m not even going to make it 15 minutes. Ughhhh I suck at this. Ok just get through one more song.
Me, 5 min in.
The song changes and the tempo slows so I change gears to slow the cadence to the tempo of the song, while maintaining my power. Another song, a change in tempo, and I shift to increase my cadence to match the tempo again while maintaining power.
Ok I’m almost at 15 minutes. You got this. I made it to 15 minutes. I’m going to push through another minute before I give myself my minute soft pedal. Oh I made it 16 minutes! I can make it to 20.
Hence that continued on, soon I had made it 30, 35 and then 40minutes! And no break! No soft pedaling!!! When I made it to 40 minutes, the other 5 minutes were in the bag!!! 45 minutes DONE.
Holy Crap!!! Did I just finish the entire 45 minutes on the trainer in my Sweetspot target without ever needing to soft pedal or take a break? This has never been accomplished this before!
I continue for another 30 minutes of endurance zone riding and was stoked. Even more stoked when I got off my bike and looked at the numbers of the workout. I hit my power target exactly on!!!!
This may sound like such a little accomplishment but it was so much of a big win and gain in the books for me. I’m sure there was some fitness gain in the workout. But where the gains really were was the mental game. It’s these workouts that I think I can’t do, because of whatever story I have told myself that day. But I do it anyways. I show up. I put my leg over the bike and just start pedaling. That’s the mental fitness.
What I somehow forget is that I absolutely do have the fitness and capability to do the workout. It blows my mind when I have these low moments and I see that I truly do have the physical strength to complete the workout.
Whatever happens on the tough days, when you think you can’t and you don’t have it in you. The trick is remembering. But on those days that you think you can’t, and you don’t remember that you really can. You just have to dig deep and find it within yourself to make it happen, you’ve done it before, you can do it again. It’s the mental game we need to fine tune and strengthen.
I guess this may be how I get myself through all the long crazy days on the bike and the super long endurance events that I continue to endure and love!!!! I’m pretty sure I always forget that I can, I just keep digging deep within me and believe.
Fueled By TheFeed.
Leave a Reply