Back to base! October 7
Yay! My favorite time of the year is fall and base time! I CAN’T wait to just be able to run and bike thru the beautiful fall colors! I went thru a bit of a self doubt time after the MOMAR, really questioning if I have what it takes to learn to race well, so I took a week off to sit back and refocus. Now that week is up and tonight is my first official base workout of the fall!
I amazed myself by not delving into the junk food during my week off as I normally would have done in years past, (that’s not to say that the odd bag of Honey Mustard chips didn’t disappear from the pantry!) but in an effort to really refocus and start new I’m going on a 2 week cleanse: no refined sugar or processed carbs. This summer I did a lot of reading and research about eating locally and it has made a huge impact on how we’ve been eating. I love food and the taste and quality of local produce here on Vancouver Island blew me away! I love living here! The ‘No Processed Carbs’ shouldn’t be a problem, but the ‘No Sugar’ might be!
Kitt has outlined our training schedule for October and it’s looking great. I love that we are active together, especially for me to have my coach in house! There’s no getting away with any laziness or extra helpings of dessert! For October, each week we are going to be averaging 6 hours of cardio and 3 weight sessions, probably for about a 10 hour total. November is our honeymoon in Cuba so I’ll have to see how my determination holds up against a all-inclusive resort right on the beach for a week!
Self doubt is a funny thing. I felt so awful after Cumberland that I really questioned what I wanted to do for the winter. Maybe go back to boxing and martial arts till the spring, something I’m comfortable with. The more I thought on it though, the more I realized I love adventure racing because of the appeal of the unknown. Since writing the last post a number of my friends have told me that they want to try a MOMAR next year and would like to get together to train. I was really happy when the first person got a hold of me, but by the time the 4th phone call I realized that my mood was just a temporary ‘down’ moment brought on by me feeling like I had not accomplished the goals I had set for myself in the race. In reality I did more than I thought I could at the time. I felt like crap, but I finished. So with a growing group of training partners I am stoked to start the winter season!