TAKE A CHRISTMAS CHILL-PILL
Relax, you won't lose all your fitness during Christmas!
It’s the festive season and probably one of the more special times of the year for most of us. We spend time with family, who we don’t see often. We eat great food and warmup with hot chocolate while the snow falls. Amazing.
This is also a time I struggled most to deal with. I felt it extremely difficult to back off from the ‘most important thing in the world’- training. My family is located over 3 continents. South Africa, Europe and the US. Thus, we didn’t see each other that much during the year. So, most Christmases we would all gather and go somewhere special. We’ve been to Austria twice, Seefeldt and Lech. We’ve spent Christmas in Munich a few times and obviously plenty of times in South Africa.
Looking back, this is where I have regrets. Instead of taking a Christmas chill pill and enjoying that week to 10 day trip with the family, I was constantly stressing about training and trying to squeeze in as many sessions as possible. Christmas of 2016 we went to Lech. It’s a beautiful ski village in Austria. Before arriving I contacted Tacx and had them deliver an indoor trainer to the hotel we stayed at. I spent most of that holiday doing double indoor sessions! Idiot. Even worse, I remember being sick, so not even that was enough for me to realize it’s time to back off and spend time with the family.
Looking at the big picture, those extra 10-15 hours I spent on the trainer brought me no absolute benefit the next season. I rode my bike close to 1000 hours every year, so imagine how easy it could of been catching up, not that it is necessary, those couple of hours over the period of a year… Instead, I missed out on quality family time and irreplaceable experiences. It took me many, many years to realize this. We spent Christmas of 2018 in South Africa and for the first time in probably 10 years I prioritized family time over training. It finally hit me. It was incredible to just relax and actually spend time with everyone. But, when you’re in that bubble, you don’t realize it till later.
I’m sure there are a lot of riders out there who struggle with the same problem. Always chasing that CTL on TrainingPeaks, not daring to let it drop a couple of points. My advise to you: take a Christmas chill pill (just to confirm, speaking metaphorically). You won’t suck the next season and it might, in fact, make you better by mentally refreshing a bit before the season starts. Remember, it’s still only December!
