Good morning East Coasters, and DougRNS .

Health and time-wise, this is a good routine.

What he said. ^^^

I think initially it was over training, from there is was frustration after frustration that kept stone walling me. From there I basically rode at zone 1 for a year which didn’t help. Then when I started training again, I couldn’t accept the fact I had regressed so was trying to do more than I physically could do and not understanding why I couldn’t do it.

Waking up at 3 am finally caught up to me, but it’s a catch 22. Traffic has picked up tremendously since we moved to Williamsburg, to the point I don’t feel safe if isn’t super early.

Riding solo all the time finally caught up to me. Have done one group ride in 2 years……

Route fatigue. Tired of the roads I have available to me, and the routes where I feel safe. Colonial Parkway is still closed to yorktown, going on 2 years.

Finally realized I won’t be able to race, not for a long time. What I want to do and what I realistically can do because of family and work are 2 different things. I kept adding to my “want” calendar when realistically I couldn’t do it. Led to a lot of anger and frustration. So once I accepted the fact I can’t race, I can’t do group rides etc kind of led to a massive what the f am I doing this for.


Have not gotten blood work done. Prolly, should but otherwise I feel fine. Just no motivation on the bike.

I assume that it's because my MIL moved out of Williamsburg and I can no longer do extended riding visits. How could that kind of loss not make someone go in to an extended funk?

I feel ya on all of these points.
Having to work to hold a pace, that used to be easy, is frustrating.
Route fatigue is real - even though I'm only at ~1k miles this year, it's tedious to even think about riding through 10 miles of the same ol' corridors just to get out on to some of my longer, more enjoyable routes.
The occasional group ride helps, 'specially with the motivation just to get out, but I still prefer to do the bulk of my riding solo.

I almost gave up on you. Sorry about the ankle. Remember the rule for swollen ankles. Some heat, ice, twist elevate (*****)

this actually a good question.

same

What explains my extended funk?

First race of the year is a mud race.

An activity that's both physically and mentally taxing and trying to squeeze it in between work and other obligations is obviously a challenge. Burn out is real, can hit us when we least expect it. As you know, I've never raced but have done thousands of group rides where I am usually at the back or off the back. I've been frustrated and sick of it and just thinking about quitting many times. Lucky for me I've had friends who are supportive and say they don't mind waiting, even when they do.

I've also taken breaks from the groups and just gone solo and not pushed myself. Also got away from the road bike when really burned out and done fun mtb rides.

Other people I know have hit a wall when racing or getting obsessed with a million feet of climbing or the most double centuries or even the fastest club rider. I think once it's no longer fun or enjoyable and becomes a chore it's time to change something.

They all are.

Not really. I guess Golden Tempo was going the proper speed.

All this training talk! We are not pro athletes counting on performance to deliver a paycheck.

Quit focusing on numbers, turn off Strava, leave the computer at home. Just go for a ride. Z1, Z2, who cares. Just have fun and enjoy being outside.

I've learned over the years that if you have to meet targets, then it is a chore and not fun or enjoyable.

It is actually all your fault.




Last thing and I won’t talk about it anymore. I got too caught up in the numbers. Every ride I would be stairing at power heart rate speed. Why is my HR too high this time, why is my heart rate so low but my legs are tired. I put out this much power but my speed is only this. Information over load, even though I have no Idea what I’m doing with the information.

My team has a group chat, and has grown this season with some heavy hitters. I’m happy the team is solid strong, but the chat has also filled with more noise. More talks of nutrition, when to eat what, training, aerodynamics. So much information and so much that these guys/gals are into where it just pushed me more out of the sport. My job I can’t train the way they train, i don’t want to change my diet constantly to the newest trend. I’m definitely not going to wear an aero bra. So if that’s what it takes to win….. I’m good.


Anyways. Prolly going to sell the ritchey. Havnt ridden it in a year, and there’s another bass i’m itching for. A purple Darkray.

Picked this bass up a couple weeks ago after I sold my hammerhead.

you hit on what I was just typing.

It's all about that bass.

It sounds like chronic over training syndrome. There has been quite a bit written about it. Here is just one. Cleveland Clinic

Just ask rjones28 . Cooked.

The fatigue and frequent bouts of illness sound like everything I've read about overtraining. If it IS overtraining, then it's both physical AND in your head, because what goes on in your head is not really separate from what goes on in your body.

When I got into cycling as an adult, I spent maybe 7 years building up fitness, riding farther and farther, eventually joining a club and doing their group rides every Saturday and Sunday, which I did for two years. I was never able to get myself to spend much time on the trainer in the winter, so I'd lay off for a month or so, and start up again in February/March.

Well, after 2 years of 2 group rides a week with PenVelo, getting faster and stronger and even able to hold onto the racers for most of the ride, the next Spring I just didn't start up again. I think I was off the bike for an entire year, maybe 2 (this was 25 years ago, so I'm a little vague). I just didn't find myself needing or wanting to ride. After a few years I gradually got back into it, and I've stayed with it, though for years it wasn't more than 1500 miles a year, and then the last 6 years a whole lot more, but I've avoided the high intensity of fast group rides or heavy training, and for me that has kept the joy in it.

No idea what will work for you. Everybody's different. It was never about competition for me, and the numbers have never been anything I obsess on.

Quality.

I haven’t used a computer on a road bike in over a decade. I use one on the touring bike for reasons of navigation and to know how far I have left in the day.

Agree. That said, some cyclists seem more motivated by “winning” or some sort of performance metric. One of the guys on the Saturday ride is like that. We had a good ride yesterday. Today was a social recovery ride. I encouraged him to join but he insisted he had to do his “recovery/zone 2 ride” on his trainer. We had a sunny and fun ride, which was 100% joy (for me) but clearly we are all wired a little differently.