I want a Do-Over!!!

Well this year has been one that I wish I could have a do-over. My training is below where I expected as a result of giving more time to other priorities in my life and unfortunately, illness and accidents.

This has been a very busy year for me in terms of my future career. I finished my last semester for my Masters in Education degree which included 16 weeks of student teaching. In addition to student teaching, I managed to work part-time, attend a college class, teach Spinning and maintain my master instructor schedule. Therefore, little time to train.

Once May rolled around, my time freed up a little. It is hard to believe that I was “just” working a 40-hour job at that time. I thought I had the opportunity to ramp up my training. Unfortunately, the stress of the prior 16 weeks caught up to me. I had BPV (benign positional vertigo) which affected my balance and kept me off of my road bike. I was feeling better just in time for WSSC.

I managed to ride well and enjoyed the conference. The following week I started to feel a scratchy throat and sinus headache begin to rear its ugly head. I’m sure that being crammed on a small plane, exerting myself at the conference and hanging out with people from all over the planet exposed me to something. I couldn’t breathe without feeling like someone was sitting on my chest. It was ugly. I got so sick I had to stop all training for three weeks and cancel my participation in the 24 hour race I attempt to do each year.

So two months completely shot from my training schedule. Stuff happens. During July I started to get back into the training. I could feel myself getting stronger. I even participated in a race (not a good idea without a good base) and finished 11th in my age group despite limited training.

Then it happened again. At least this time I was doing something I enjoyed. I managed to put two gashes in the back of my leg while mountain biking. The gashes were deep enough to require stitches. I have no idea how I managed to put the chain ring into the back of my lower thigh, but it happened. The back of my leg looked like I was bitten by a shark (maybe a land shark – “Candygram”). Another two weeks off of training due to the location of the lacerations.

So here I sit in August and I’m rewriting my training plan for the rest of the riding season. That plan should take me close to the middle of November before it starts to get too cold and wet here in Northeast Ohio. I’ve learned to be flexible in my training and am pursuing other modalities that I may not have experienced had it not been for the rash of interruptions I’ve had during this training season.

I guess I’ll have to adopt a common phrase that is often said of our sports teams here in Cleveland. “Wait ‘till next year!!!”