Tuesday, March 29, 2005
The Return back to Reality
Somehow, there always seems to be a lull, a dampening of the spirit, you might call it, in the couple of days following an adventure race. Regardless of the result, one somehow feels listless and buggered during this period of 'recovery', whereby the body is coerced, against one's own will, to turn to the 'bum lifestyle'. Chiefly, this involves almost nil exercise of any kind, frequently contemplating the undersides of one's eyelids, watching copious amounts of TV and videos, engaging in frivolous no-brainer tasks one would normally avoid even on a bad day, and binging on typically forbidden gastronomic pleasures like spicy cuisine, high-sugar treats, deep-fried dishes, and assorted junk food in general.
If you live just a couple of days in the abovementioned fashion, you too may just find your motivation for that next race flying out the window, as i feel now. Still, this phase of recovery is important, so long as you know when and how to get back on track in preparing for the next race. I can honestly say that these couple of days' slacking has got me thinking on how we can improve our performance for our next race effort. That's the beauty of adventure racing, in my opinion. Always forcing you to think - improving on what needs work, banking on tried and true race tactics, adapting to the changing demands of each race, cutting out what does not work, and brainstorming new ideas to experiment with in the upcoming training sessions (sooner than you think!).
Adventure racing is as cerebral as any other sport you care to name, make no mistake. But what differenciates it from others is the way it DEMANDS that racers think through their preparation for that next race.
Every Race is Different....
If you live just a couple of days in the abovementioned fashion, you too may just find your motivation for that next race flying out the window, as i feel now. Still, this phase of recovery is important, so long as you know when and how to get back on track in preparing for the next race. I can honestly say that these couple of days' slacking has got me thinking on how we can improve our performance for our next race effort. That's the beauty of adventure racing, in my opinion. Always forcing you to think - improving on what needs work, banking on tried and true race tactics, adapting to the changing demands of each race, cutting out what does not work, and brainstorming new ideas to experiment with in the upcoming training sessions (sooner than you think!).
Adventure racing is as cerebral as any other sport you care to name, make no mistake. But what differenciates it from others is the way it DEMANDS that racers think through their preparation for that next race.
Every Race is Different....
