I am a Challenge finisher again! 1/1/13
Competition 26.0 - The Hardcore 100. Ah, what a workout! Just because I have done this before, it doesn’t make the next time easy. I was totally fooling around on Japanese New Year mode on 12/31 and I thought I was in the best condition I could hope. Then went out to do traditional Western New Year’s Eve and of course, celebrated with champagne. Drinking alcohol is what makes my Sunday recovery coffee ride with hubby so hard. But I have been doing OK since Christmas, so I was happily taking another chance. So my resting heart rate in the morning was not as low as I expected. Once I start the workout, I noticed that my body was wanting sugar. Literally I thought if I had a piece of chocolate I could keep and melt on my tongue, that would have been perfect. I thought I knew enough to watch myself on disc one and half of two, so that I can survive real harder parts. But today, the first set with standing in disc three, I didn’t remember I ever struggled that much. My heart rate was going up as Coach intended, but I thought I usually enjoy standing. So overall, total distance just made 90 miles. There was mechanical with chain dropping in disc three as well. Oh, well, excuses, excuses. As this was the first time with power meter, from next time, I will have less guesswork. Here is today’s data.
So this makes Keiko a Challenge finisher again! It makes me proud, but at the same time, it is kind of sad. All good things have to come to an end and it feels like this Challenge passed very fast. My husband asked how I “rank” Challenge yesterday. I explained how last year’s Challenge came about and said I suspected Coach really did not know what exactly to expect to provide training program for free. It was basically inspired by somebody who did Spinervals workouts everyday. But since these workouts are his own, Coach Troy decided to organize better. This year’s Challenge is Phase II of Super 6 and the first Phase was base building. Coach had good excuse to assume people who are going into Challenge phase had good base already. Therefore I feel this year’s Challenge was crazy in nature like last year, but physically pushing and challenging (this part is sort of repeat of my earlier blog)
I learned this year again was that I have been lucky to be in the position to be a Challenge finisher. On top of what Coach said about Challenge Phase to be “a 'push' phase of training, designed to significantly challenge your energy reserves and mental focus”, it is a long haul commitment in a very special season. If you have a decent length of family vacation planned, it would be close to impossible. One year, if I decide to make a New Year trip to Japan, there would be no way to complete Challenge. You, the participant, of course, cannot get sick, cannot get injured, but when family gets sick and injured, it also reduces the chances. And several friends made a right choice to set the priorities straight and modify or even withdraw from Challenge. There were a few amazing friends who worked through tough shifts and hours and complete Challenge. I truly admire them. I could follow the program just because my last day of instruction comes very early in the month and not having public appearance makes it easier to assign more energy to workouts. And I have simpler life than most friends. My husband travels for living and I basically have to take care of myself as the Dog pretty much takes care of herself. Luckily my husband is the biggest supporter and in later Challenge phase, he did more Spinervals workouts with me. Luckily both Husband and the Dog stayed healthy throughout the month.
But what I am most grateful about is Spinervals Member Facebook community. My friends were always there to cheer me up, give me advice and thumbs up. Last year, I remember Facebook notification went incredibly high up maybe after half way through. This year, I felt it was always out of control in the first week as some of us have been good friends since last year’s Challenge. More new friends came in and introductions were done and we became so, so close. I was commenting to my husband that we started to coordinate start time of long rides over different time zones. After all, we are all riding ourselves in basement, garage or living room! But technology advance of smart phone, tablets or just logging in during disc change made us easier to keep in touch and really feel like watching races to cheer! At this point, I almost feel like we are religious group worshiping Coach Troy sometimes.
I would like to thank Coach Troy for providing his program for free and with Nancy to provide this amazing community, at this time, Challenge finishers or not. Challenge was an opportunity to “realize a new level of fitness… a breakthrough that you previously never thought was possible” (to quote Coach), and I was able to do so by being surrounded by such good friends who are elite athletes. I truly feel privileged and humbled to be included. I wish all to have a productive and healthy year 2013.
So this makes Keiko a Challenge finisher again! It makes me proud, but at the same time, it is kind of sad. All good things have to come to an end and it feels like this Challenge passed very fast. My husband asked how I “rank” Challenge yesterday. I explained how last year’s Challenge came about and said I suspected Coach really did not know what exactly to expect to provide training program for free. It was basically inspired by somebody who did Spinervals workouts everyday. But since these workouts are his own, Coach Troy decided to organize better. This year’s Challenge is Phase II of Super 6 and the first Phase was base building. Coach had good excuse to assume people who are going into Challenge phase had good base already. Therefore I feel this year’s Challenge was crazy in nature like last year, but physically pushing and challenging (this part is sort of repeat of my earlier blog)
I learned this year again was that I have been lucky to be in the position to be a Challenge finisher. On top of what Coach said about Challenge Phase to be “a 'push' phase of training, designed to significantly challenge your energy reserves and mental focus”, it is a long haul commitment in a very special season. If you have a decent length of family vacation planned, it would be close to impossible. One year, if I decide to make a New Year trip to Japan, there would be no way to complete Challenge. You, the participant, of course, cannot get sick, cannot get injured, but when family gets sick and injured, it also reduces the chances. And several friends made a right choice to set the priorities straight and modify or even withdraw from Challenge. There were a few amazing friends who worked through tough shifts and hours and complete Challenge. I truly admire them. I could follow the program just because my last day of instruction comes very early in the month and not having public appearance makes it easier to assign more energy to workouts. And I have simpler life than most friends. My husband travels for living and I basically have to take care of myself as the Dog pretty much takes care of herself. Luckily my husband is the biggest supporter and in later Challenge phase, he did more Spinervals workouts with me. Luckily both Husband and the Dog stayed healthy throughout the month.
But what I am most grateful about is Spinervals Member Facebook community. My friends were always there to cheer me up, give me advice and thumbs up. Last year, I remember Facebook notification went incredibly high up maybe after half way through. This year, I felt it was always out of control in the first week as some of us have been good friends since last year’s Challenge. More new friends came in and introductions were done and we became so, so close. I was commenting to my husband that we started to coordinate start time of long rides over different time zones. After all, we are all riding ourselves in basement, garage or living room! But technology advance of smart phone, tablets or just logging in during disc change made us easier to keep in touch and really feel like watching races to cheer! At this point, I almost feel like we are religious group worshiping Coach Troy sometimes.
I would like to thank Coach Troy for providing his program for free and with Nancy to provide this amazing community, at this time, Challenge finishers or not. Challenge was an opportunity to “realize a new level of fitness… a breakthrough that you previously never thought was possible” (to quote Coach), and I was able to do so by being surrounded by such good friends who are elite athletes. I truly feel privileged and humbled to be included. I wish all to have a productive and healthy year 2013.
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