A mental battle

 First off, I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Secondly, it once again has been a month since my last post. sheesh, time just isn't slowing down.

What has been going on? How is everyone?

I have been steadily riding, but not a ton. The rides I have done have been solid and I am steadily getting stronger. I still have a lot of work to do, but I am building a solid base that will get me where I want to be. December has been my best month since my surgery. The miles are ticking upward. Still not exactly where I want to be, but I will get into more of this battle in a bit.

I wanted to specifically talk about my last trainer session on Christmas Eve. I headed to the basement to burn some calories before spending time with the family. Looking through Zwift at my badges I chose a route that I had not accomplished yet. I landed on the Mayan San Remo route, which is one of the newer releases.

Overall, 13 miles with just over 700 feet of climbing. Shouldn't be terrible for me to get some time on the bike before festivities. What I didn't do was look at the route or where the climbing was. If you look at the image below it shows the elevation profile. I didn't know it was downhill for the first 6 miles followed by 3.5 miles of climbing. Not major climbs or elevation, but everything all at once is a bit excessive. ;)

The ride started easy enough. For some reason I was letting my mind wander to the events happening later in the day and to Christmas morning the following day. Very quickly I was at the base of the first climb. The Mayan mountainside KOM isn't terrible. It starts with a steady grade and then gets a bit steeper at the end. When the road ticked upward and that grade percentage got steeper I was struggling. 

My legs felt sluggish and mentally I was just checked out. Legs were heavy and the steady pressure of a climb were just making them feel worse. My mind was telling me to just shut down. I could click "turn around" and just coast down the hill and call it a ride. I know there are times when this is exactly what you should do....because some days your body just tells you NO. I kept going.....very slowly up the first part of the climb. But I was struggling, especially knowing there was another 2 miles of climbing ahead of me. The one thing that kept me going was the "distance to go" showing on the screen. Well, that along with the big ass downhill that is after the Itza KOM. 

If you are not familiar with Zwift, it shows you how far you are away from the end of the route that is selected to ride. While I knew I had 2 miles of climbing left, there was only 5ish miles left to finish the route....so I pressed onward.

As I said, Mentally I was checked out and thinking about the day. I think that my wandering brain was making the first climb harder. I was able to channel my thoughts and focus hard on the next climb. It was far from easy, but I was able to set a PR on that climb. I went from ready to quit to the first climb to setting a PR on the second. This is how I know it was mental and not physical.

If you have ever read my posts you know that mental toughness can be an issue for me. So this ride was a huge win as far as I am concerned. I was able to pull myself back together and get the job done. The payoff for regaining focus was a stupid fast downhill and cruise into the finish of the route. Not big distance, but that really wasn't the point of the ride in the first place.

A win is a win.

On another note, there is a new MTB series back in Michigan! I used to do the CPS when it was relevant before gravel took over the cycling scene. I am looking forward to getting back to my roots in 2025 and doing more mountain bike races. Gravel is fun, but I love the trails and that is where I thrive to be. 

Keep moving forward my friends! Merry Christmas to everyone again.