Mondays

Mondays. I love Mondays. A chance for renewal. A fresh start. Beginnings. The commencement of a new and improved now. A weekly opportunity to better the bike, up your game, dial it in.

You can always wait till next Monday. But then you have to live for six days with the knowledge that you caved in to procrastination, sloth, laziness and fear. And guess what? After that it makes it so much easier to skip the next Monday, too. You have given yourself permission to slack. And it becomes habitual. It's so easy. Stay in bed, eat fatty foods, make excuses. Who cars about all this fitness stuff anyway? I am happy being fat and lazy like my cat, curled up on the chair sleeping till dinner.

Sorry, not good enough. Around here we don't do fat and we don't do lazy. We do fit, we do fast and we do strong. We are also fond of sustainability and intensity. We push. We go all out. In a contemporary phrase applicable to all generations, we rock. And as Mick once shouted, "It's only rock and roll, but I like it."

This morning the question was asked, "How do I know if I am losing power along with weight?" I answered, after a ten minute verbal preface, with a CompuTrainer Time Trial. It takes the P (perceived) out of RPE and replaces it with another E. EXACT. Rate of Exact Exertion. The power you are able to generate NOW, HERE, THIS COURSE, THIS DISTANCE. That is the difference between feeling like you are going hard (or not) and a measured reaction to the load in watts (or not). It is one or the other, there is no hiding, what you do is counted, graphed and charted. You do or you cry. You ride or you hide. Anything in between is curled up on the chair waiting for supper.

The time for testing is at hand. It is the end of September. The summer is over. We had loads of fun, but it's time to set our sights on a new season, to rebuild, renew, recommit, rejuvenate. Already there are red circles on the 2012 calendar. Mine has two, Ironman Canada on August 26 and Ironman Hawaii on October 7. I need a solid, effective plan to rock Penticton in order to roll to Kona. EVERYTHING I DO FROM TODAY FORWARD WILL AFFECT THAT. EVERYTHING!

It is time to test. With that data we build power programs to augment leg strength, core strength and endurance. You already know of the tangential value to heart, lungs, nerve and vascularity. All these components comprise your motor. What you bring to the show come race day. It's time to test. The CompuTrainer Multi-Rider Center is open for business. You can get this crucial information in less than an hour. For ten bucks. That is not a typo, $10.00. I might be crazy for giving this away, but I want you to be the best you possible, to better the bike. Be your best. Today. Monday.

Or you can stay curled up on the chair. Hey there, howdy.

Here is a great story about a gal who did her first Ironman with only 20 months of training and how she did it. I found it very inspiring and useful. Hope you do too.

Pic: The CT MR facility at BAC. Steve, Vicki in the back row and Stephanie and Carrie up front ride demo to the Ironman Arizona course. As disclaimer it was a Wednesday night.