Training

Training is kind of hard!

In the past "training" for me has consisted of riding my bike when I felt like it and the occasional pointless trip to the gym because I couldn't commit enough to go for more than like 3 weeks in a row consistently. So now, looking at my training schedule that I've laid out in a fancy excel spreadsheet, I feel a little bit overwhelmed, and a little bit excited.

I'm a little over 2 weeks into said schedule... which has me at the gym 3 times a week and riding "with a purpose" about 4 days a week, with a fun do what I feel like riding day on the weekend... and I'm starting to realize the difference between actual training and what I was calling training before. So this is how people actually improve!! Not that I'm improving yet very much, but I can definitely see how focused rides that work on the specific types of fitness/skills that downhill mountain biking requires and a little structured weight training can lead to better results.

My goal right now is to stick to this schedule at least until racing starts up again. I don't think it's going to be easy, but I'm feeling the drive right now more than ever to get in top shape so I can love my sport even more. Getting up out of bed to hit the gym/trail at 6 in the morning every day of the work week is tough, I will not lie and say I love it, but I have set up my schedule with recovery weeks to look forward to and have left my weekends semi open to ride for fun, so I think I can do it. I think one of the most important parts of training is allowing yourself to have fun doing your sport. That way you barely even notice you're working your butt off!

For example, I'm going jumping tomorrow!! Fun!