The dogs were stirring, and I needed to motivate. I glanced at the clock; it was 4:42 am. A typical weekday morning. Sort of. I threw my legs over the side of the bed and could feel a heaviness that I’ve come to know in the past several weeks.

You know the feeling. When you’ve been on your bike and pushed until you thought you couldn’t go any longer? The feeling that only comes when you’ve worked until your legs want to stop, but your mind says keep going – and you do? That’s what I was feeling this morning.

This was not the best season for me on the bike. It was a busy summer, and I didn’t ride as much as I should have. When you ride once or maybe twice a week, the fitness is just not there. I found it frustrating, but also knew that it was up to me to do something about it. I needed to make my physical and mental health a priority, and I also knew that I needed to do some serious work this winter to start stronger in the spring.

So, I decided to once again take Kristen Meshberg’s Pedaling with a Purpose winter training classes. Twice a week since the beginning of December I’ve been riding inside with her for 90 minutes on Wednesday nights and two hours on Saturday morning.

And I love it.

I posted a picture last night and titled it “Pain Cave.” For many reasons riding inside is really painful – physically and mentally. But the reality is that while I haven’t felt so tired from riding in a long time, I also haven’t felt so great about it either. Riding past what you think are your own personal limits on the bike, regardless of whether you’re riding inside or out, is an amazing feeling that only those who have experienced it can ever understand.

Listen, I would much rather be riding outside all the time, but I know that I’m pushing myself in there like I probably (no…definitely) don’t push myself when I’m riding alone.

I will still ride outside whenever I can this winter. I’ve adjusted my schedule, and my mindset, to include riding as much as I can. Which includes going to these sessions twice a week and giving it all I have.

What feels better than that?

 

Tagged with: bike • chicago • cycling • fitness • motivation • pain • photography • training • winter
 

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 22nd, 2011 at 7:08 pm and is filed under cycling, photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.