The Power of Frustration and the Lessons of Scheduling

This has been a massively frustrating week. Sure there have been the usual work frustrations, and kid stuff, but that's normal. Nether of those are the cause of my frustrations. This week's frustration has centered around the weather and lack of training time.

The weather in Carolina has been amazing for mid February. The temps have been in the high 60's to mid 70's with blue sky. The only blemish on the amazing weather has been the wind, but even that would add to the challenge of training. It would have been something fun to manage on the bike.

How much have I trained since Monday? Forty-five minutes of a recovery ride and 20 minute of riding on my bike for pictures to be taken in conjunction with my column in Endurance Magazine. I haven't even been able to torture myself on my trainer this week. I guess this is a tapering of activities in getting ready to race tomorrow. That's what I'm telling or kidding myself with today.

The weather for race time at 8:00 AM is expected to be in the low 40's with wind and rain! Just like the boys deal with in the Belgium and France spring classics or the Tour of California last year. I'm going to get everything ready tonight and packed so I can get over early to try to warm my legs up on my trainer-under the hatchback of the Jeep, hopefully.

This week has been about more lessons learned. There seems to be a theme or trend here on learning lessons. First, medicine labeled with "Take with Food" is labeled that way for a reaons! I just about hurled yesterday morning when, on an empty stomach, I took the last antibiotic pill for my sinus infection. I think in the final analysis, I wish I had hurled, because I didn't feel right the rest of the day.

The other lesson is I should schedule my training a week ahead and communicate that to everyone relevant. I can get objections upfront and adjust as opposed to trying to shoe horn my way into saddle time. That will also give me the leverage to say, "remember, I scheduled this training time?".

I'll post again tomorrow when I get back from my race and have had a chance to thaw out. I have the gear to probably last two hours in the rain if that's what the conditions are. However, I'm pretty sure I will get to experience more of the legendary suffering cyclists go through for the love of our sport. I've set a goal of a sub 18 mph pace or less than 2 hours on the road. We'll see if I can make it.