Adventures in Cycling – Push Through

I mentioned before that I am not an athlete. Yet the second half (so far) of my adult life has been filled with sports. I played indoor soccer for a decade. Volleyball filled several years prior to my stroke in 2010. At the time of the stroke, I was training to run a 5K. And bicycling has been my challenge of choice over most of the last fifteen years.

The change has two important aspects, one in inspiration and one in performance. The inspiration part is easy. I’m getting old. Slowing metabolism, diabetes, general dissatisfaction with how I look and feel. All of these give me a reason to move, to exercise. The performance change was a mental adjustment.

In simplest form, I discovered the necessity of not quitting. For years, I would give up as soon as the physical work got hard. MY lungs would begin to burn, my muscles to ache, and I would quit.

It’s a very ineffective way to exercise.

At some point, I decided that quitting was no longer an option. While playing indoor soccer, I discovered that there was a different level beyond that wall. (This is different from “the wall” that you hear about from elite athletes. Their wall comes late in the event. It is the point when you push a body beyond normal exertion to its maximum potential. They breach my “wall” routinely and without thought. I’m getting there. I come closest to their wall on the Capitol Trail rides.) My wall is based on laziness and built with fear of the unknown and doubts about my ability. Today I know it to be a mental one. It is primarily just the physical warm up to my activity. My body is naturally at rest. It doesn’t like having to work hard. If I listen to it, I won’t achieve any of my goals.

So, the important change I’ve learned is to ignore the “moaning” of my body at the start. Once I’ve warmed up, there’s a joy that I’ve discovered in these activities. All those lovely brain chemistry changes that come with the effort. The longer lasting enjoyment that comes with goals achieved.

A lesson that took too long to learn.

Push through.

Peace,

J.D.