When spring skiing finally begins to
wind down as you find yourself spending more time carrying your rock
skis between slushy patches of melting ice than you spend clipping into
your bindings and skiing put together, I often find my thoughts eagerly
and optimistically drifting off to the warmer months ahead. Summer!
As a student, I find summer particularly exciting as this means that
for four full months I am able to enjoy a life of leisure with concerns
only about coordinating my training hours with minimal work hours and a
social life. I always find myself optimistically envisioning my summer
months spent packed full of my favourite warm weather activities such
as trail running, road biking, roller skiing of course, and my newly
discovered favourite - cross country mountain biking!
The focal point of this vision is the leisurely and carefree atmosphere in which this all takes place. Not the activities themselves of course, but the freedom to partake in them at any time during the day depending upon my personal preference and mine alone. Of course, this is what I envisioned at about mid-April, before I realized that I would be working long hours on a completely sporadic schedule, taking a summer course by correspondence, and living an hours commute (one way) from my work, social life and early morning group training session.
As I get farther into the summer and my training hours increase, I’ve found myself perfecting the art of multitasking - specifically in regard to coordinating my training with commuting. I’ve managed to use the majority of my volume training as means of travel. Either getting to and from work in Whistler (a solid 2 hour 35 minute bike ride there and 2 hour ride home) or travelling from Whistler back to Pemberton to write a school exam. No matter the situation, I nearly always have a time deadline to meet and I always have a full backpack, which leaves no time for procrastination especially when my job lies 30 km away and uphill against a headwind, yet I only left enough time for 30km of uphill not including the headwind! All in all, I know I am always guaranteed a solid workout!
Multitasking is a great and necessary skill that all seasoned athletes must possess in order to successfully incorporate high volumes of training into their everyday lives- especially when not all athletes are lucky enough to be able to focus solely on their training. So far, this multitasking approach to training has been a thoroughly enjoyable and positive experience for me (excepting the one uphill headwind incident on the way to work!), and instead of becoming stressed and worried about fitting my training around my job and everything else, I just think of it as a continuation of my work!
The focal point of this vision is the leisurely and carefree atmosphere in which this all takes place. Not the activities themselves of course, but the freedom to partake in them at any time during the day depending upon my personal preference and mine alone. Of course, this is what I envisioned at about mid-April, before I realized that I would be working long hours on a completely sporadic schedule, taking a summer course by correspondence, and living an hours commute (one way) from my work, social life and early morning group training session.
As I get farther into the summer and my training hours increase, I’ve found myself perfecting the art of multitasking - specifically in regard to coordinating my training with commuting. I’ve managed to use the majority of my volume training as means of travel. Either getting to and from work in Whistler (a solid 2 hour 35 minute bike ride there and 2 hour ride home) or travelling from Whistler back to Pemberton to write a school exam. No matter the situation, I nearly always have a time deadline to meet and I always have a full backpack, which leaves no time for procrastination especially when my job lies 30 km away and uphill against a headwind, yet I only left enough time for 30km of uphill not including the headwind! All in all, I know I am always guaranteed a solid workout!
Multitasking is a great and necessary skill that all seasoned athletes must possess in order to successfully incorporate high volumes of training into their everyday lives- especially when not all athletes are lucky enough to be able to focus solely on their training. So far, this multitasking approach to training has been a thoroughly enjoyable and positive experience for me (excepting the one uphill headwind incident on the way to work!), and instead of becoming stressed and worried about fitting my training around my job and everything else, I just think of it as a continuation of my work!
Interesting Reading. . .
"Winning Moves"