Feeling a bit Guilty

I'm feeling a bit guilty today.  There was a GS race at Whitetail yesterday. I had been eyeing it for months and intended to participate, hoping to both win my age group and crack the top five overall.

But, with the seventy degree heat all of last week and the loss of snow, I lost all enthusiasm for driving out for the race.  I was even thinking that they may have canceled it, but with heroic efforts by the grooming crew, they were able to set up a nice venue. So, bad on me.

If I intend to attain my stated goals, I need to start taking scheduled competitions a bit more seriously.

To make things worse, this was likely the last weekend that the local resorts will be open.  Now if I want to get any racing in this season, I'll need to travel North or West and with the way my days are playing out, that seems unlikely.

We shall see.  Things just don't always go the way you plan or intend.

New Life New Routines

It's hard to believe that it has been over two months since last I wrote.  A lot has happened during that span, which is my excuse for not writing.

As planned, I retired from Federal service on 31 January and the resulting change in lifestyle has resulted in a significant change to my daily fitness and training routines.

The walking, stretching and stair climbing that used to be a part of my workday are no longer part of the equation.  Whereas I used to automatically head to the gym after finishing my work day, I now get up early to get in my primary workout of the day.  I find that if I don't get it done and try to leave it until later, I can easily talk myself out of it.  The time must be a habit that I automatically respond to.

On the down-side, I find early morning workouts to be much more difficult.  My joints do not feel as fluid as mid-afternoon and my strength levels are noticeably reduced. I'm giving myself 3-4 months to acclimate and get my weights back to where they were, pre-retirement.

During the eight weeks since my retirement, I have been steady with the scheduled workouts, missing only a ten day stretch when I was recovering from a minor shoulder injury suffered while snowboarding.  Even then, I only missed the gym.  I still got my days on the snow, so all is good.

Nutrition has been more problematic, particularly pre and post-workout feedings.  Since I workout before my official breakfast, I was unsure how much to eat and whether or not I would need any caffeine to make it through the workout.  The answer has been, a pre-workout shake made with milk, whey, creatine and BCAA's has been sufficient and I don't need the coffee before I finish and shower.

All-in-all things are pretty much on track.  More on upcoming competitions in future postings.