Life is about c…

Life is about constantly making adjustments. adjusting one’s expectations, adjusting one’s goals. adjusting one’s outlook and perspective. If we don’t adjust, we may as well just cosider ourselves stuck forever in a rut. Sometimes adjustments are easy and sometimes not. Think of the most recent Olympic track and field trials where a few sprinters missed being on the US team by fractions of a second…no London for them. How about making that adjustment!!

 

Adjustments — it helps if we can keep open minds and remain flexible. Obviously, we aren’t saints and it is not always easy to be open minded and flexible. Life happens. We get angry and frustrated. Yesterday, I had a shortened work day so i decided to use it as an opportunity to go for a random bike ride. Thought it would be good for my legs and be awesome to just ride and go fast on the open roads of westside Petaluma. (i was also in kinda crappy mood and thought it wouid help) Ride today and get a run in tomorrow, I thought. 

First thing i rode about 1 mile over to the bike shop to buy some new gloves because somehow the ones I had are no longer around. Lost somewhere in my cross country move, I guess. So, I got some sweet new gloves and got my tired pumped a bit more and off I went. Headed west towards a loop trail i just heard about from a couple of people in town. All was going fine until I hit a small hill on the way there…only about 1 mile into ride…and I noticed my gears were not working properly. The lowest 3 gears kept shifting on their own and making the peddaling erractic and very frustrating. I kept going, but knew this was gonna be an issue cause I heard the route would be rolling hills and some bigger than others. I cruised down the backside of the 1st hill and headed onto Chileno Valley and started what looked to be a lengthly gradual uphill and started to shift again….more of the same shifting. UGH. UGH. UGH. I stopped and got off the bike and flipped it over. I looked at the wheel and gears, etc..and hand pedaled it to see if I could see the problem. BTW, I had no clue what i was looking for….as I have NO CLUE about fixing bikes. Of course, i couldn’t see anything and I gave up. In this little moment, alone, on this gorgeous road filled with Eucalyptus trees on one side and blonde grass on the other, I was extremely pissed off! I wanted to throw my bike as far as i could. WOW….guess I had some built up frustration from something else!! I turned around and figured I would just go back home. UGH. I so wanted to ride….

On the short ride back into town, it donned on me that i COULD still ride and just ride around town where it was flat. DUH!! I thought about the roads I could go on that were pretty with not a lot of traffic. Off i went, slowly recovering from my temper tantrum. Yes, I think that is what it was. THINGS NOT GOING EXACTLY HOW I EXPECTED!!!!

I ended up riding for just over an hour and while there were stop signs and stop lights along the way, I still got in some good miles. I was very happy that I made the ADJUSTMENT to keep riding instead of throwing in the towel all together. It wasn’t what I had orignially wanted or planned, but it all worked out. Now, I just gotta get my gears fixed….

 

OK…so, now it’s the holiday, 4th of July. My plan was to get a run in…not sure how long. 4 mile maybe. a little faster than usual. I woke up late at 9am. I figured i must have needed it. Don’t fight the body. if it sleeps, it sleeps. It needs it. But still…9am was late for me. I usually am up by 7am on non-work days and 5:30 on work days. Anyway, I had coffe and toast and headed out the door at 10:30am. My legs were pretty sore from 1) 2 days ago aquats, lunges, etc and 2) bike ride yesterday. I know cycling does not burn a lot of calories, but it sure makes my legs sore. Maybe an hour ride was a lot for someone who doesn’t ride? I have no idea.

So, I started running and my pace was fast. I knew I was way too fast and my energy level just faded. My thoughts quickly recall what I ate yesterday…not much at all!! NO FUEL.  + pretty sore legs + warm weather. 1st mile was 8:37. I just stopped. There was no way I would keep that pace up for 4 miles and I didn’t want to keep running slower than 9 min pace. I could feel my body just not “have it” (i also had 2 cocktails last night…that also makes a difference…) 

Unlike yesterday, I was not angry or frustrated about what was happening…I simply just made the adjustment….I walked for a few minutes and then just figured I would run some 1/4 mile intervals. 

So I did. I did 4×400 at just about 2:00 each and I felt good about it. Even in this shortened, adjusted workout, I pushed myself and made the best of it. Made something out of nothing. 

 

Now, its time to eat better and get ready for a better run tomorrow and then again on weekend. Race day is approaching.

 

I guess my unsolicited advice is to be willing to adjust. Be willing to let go of what you expected and make the most of what you have. if we can do this, the moment will be that much better for us. I think there is ALWAYS a way to make it better. It just might take a bit of getting “over” ourselves and being just a little bit bigger.