The Rio Olympics may be the athlete’s big event, but for those watching they can inspire a new beginning. As Katinka Hosszu of Hungary shows us what it its like to come back stronger than ever and smash a world record, we can dream. As Oksana Chusovitina competes for Uzbekistan in her 7th Olympics at age 41, we can say like her as we are given another day to wake up in the morning, “I can do more.”
One way to start is to envision your “dream” event, and then plan to get to it. I’m beginning with the end in mind: the Dirty Kanza. Looks like a nice ride in the country — on gravel roads and rolling hills. It appears you need to average 10.5 MPH for 19 hours to make the cut-off for the 200 mile event. Registration doesn’t open until January next year, so I’ll decide later what distance would match my likely fitness level but for now we’ll dream of the 200 mile event.
My first weeks of training appear laid back. The main drill is get up and do training at least 5 days of 7, forcing changes to schedule and priorities. The next drill is dietary — its easier to eat correctly if there is an end in mind. Diet has to be addressed in the early stages because later you have to eat to ride. On a bicycle, the goal is use to high rotations at low gears, bring speed back while building tendons and ligaments back to sporting condition.
Join me! Let’s get going.
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