Next weekend will be the end of what I see as a failed return to racing for me. I made the mistake of comparing modern day Ray to Ray of old. Disappointed? without a doubt. confused?clearly, lessons learned? yes... My biggest mistake was thinking I could return so quickly to where I left off. It left me frustrated, and demoralized. I didn't really have a game plan other than to join a team and get right back into it. I wasn't up for road racing or crits- intimidated. The team I joined was/is WAY successful, and I ultimately felt so overwhelmed/intimidated that I began to resent being on it. I clearly could not live up to the expectations I set and my training simply fell apart. I wanted to race off road and realized there are NO off road races close by, and the couple races I managed to enter I found myself amongst seasoned racers, and I simply couldn't hang. You want to race fast? Go race a bunch. Something I wan't able to do. My mindset took a downward spiral, a spiral I'm at the bottom of currently. I've got one last race next week. I'm feeling out of shape, I'm 10 pounds over weight (compared to where I was when I was consistently training in the early part of summer), and I feel like walking away after it's over. I have not been able to balance life as I now know it with being a bike racer. I really wanted to taste success again, but at the same time had other things, important things like family (and other odd distractions) mixing it up. It has left me "frustrated". But it's almost the end of the season, one more race and then who knows what.
My focus turns (back)to running now.I signed up for a half marathon occuring on Halloween, and hopefully that will motivate me to train again. Over the last month or so, my running has been reduced down to 1 (maybe 2 days) a week, and this half marathon may be just "what the doctor ordered".
So right now, I'm not in a good place, but where else can you go but up right? I'm not sure what I'm going to do, except reflect a bit more on this past year, and hopefully learn from life's lessons, and mistakes, and move on. THAT and try to get rid of this headache that's got me feeling out of sorts all this week....
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