Time to Open Up and Get Personal
I’m just going to get right to it. I used to have a problem with alcohol, and this eventually lead to obesity, health issues, and depression.
I knew I needed to do something if I wanted to have a happier life with my family. Overweight, hating myself and life in general, I took on my new path of the unknown. The first step was to give away the drinking, which I did find quite easy to do once I was ready and committed to doing it. In the first week, I saw a drop in my weight and felt better about myself. The week turned into months, the weight was still dropping, until I got to a spot where it plateaued and I need to start exercising.
I was introduced to Zwift by a friend, and I was immediately hooked! Creating a supportive community around Zwift has been the best thing I could have done, and it keeps me looking ahead even though the demons like to raise their head on some days.
I have many people to thank in this journey, and we will touch on that a little more as the blog continues.
Monday
After a tough weekend mentally, I wasn’t looking forward to Monday and the new job. Monday is the busiest day for us, and being new, not being able to help as much as I wish is very frustrating for me. After an average sleep, I got up, prepared for work, could feel a headache coming on already…Let’s just get through the day, that’s the goal.
After a quick check-in from Coach on how I slept, I opened up on how I was feeling. Pav being the brother-like figure to me knows just what to say to make me bounce back, and put everything in perspective.
This gave me the strength to push on with the day, my new goal was making it to the recovery session I needed to complete.
We have been testing some new features on Zwift, now we can create a private club event, similar to the meetups I have previously spoken of, but these private events have a few more tools, and are a lot more user-friendly for event organizers.
With my head still throbbing, I took some pills, grabbed an ice pack, put it under my Zwift cap, and got on with it.
Joined by my amazing ZF teammates on video chat, they made me laugh and helped me get through the easy recovery ride planned. Once I finished, I felt so much better, I had some time to think and reflect on the day, and I sure wasn’t going to have another one of those.
After my ride, I cleaned up, and went to bed, just in time for Coach to check up on me. Truly amazing support from my coach, he adds a personal touch. I know I am one of many athletes Pav coaches, but I can say, when we talk, I feel like his only athlete, not just a number.
Tuesday
Tuesday, the TeamZF Social Tour, normally we pick a world and stick to it for the month. We had planned to stick in Watopia for this month, but how could we with the new Neokyo at our fingertips! We saw our biggest event for a while with over 300 joining in the fun. Such a visual spectacular, I love riding around here so much, and in a big bunch, it’s just that much more special!!
A nice chilled 60min ride, with a little fire with 5 minutes to go to stretch the legs. I have been working on my max 5min power, and these events give me an opportunity to get some extra work in!
Wednesday
It’s an easy Wednesday today for me, The plan is to do some testing later on in the week, so Coach wants me to be the best form I can be. Just 30min Zone 2.
Mentally I have been feeling positive the last couple of days. Getting my head around the new job much better now. The body is reacting well to less stress. Let’s hope we can continue this trend !!!
Thursday
Thursday was a planned Activation Session, due to family commitments I didn’t make the session today.
Friday
Also, Friday was our work’s Christmas celebration party, a long day in the sun, on a boat eating fresh seafood left me in a very relaxing state and not very motivated to complete my 20min FTP test!
So instead of just leaving today blank, I thought I would share a short insight into my journey before cycling, and how I got into the sport.
Saturday
Saturday, my favourite event of the week. The long-running ZF Recruits Social Ride, this week another installment in the new Neokyo expansion. We saw over 500 riders join in the fun completing just over 35kms in the 60-minute event.
A very chatty bunch made for an excellent ride, and an honor to lead.
55 minutes of the ride was a nice social chilled pace ride as advertised and using the final 5 minutes for my own training advantage, we spent that time to drop the hammer and have the best 5 min power effort.
I managed my third best effort overall with total watts of 337w, just shy of my 339w best.
Coach Pav has me heading back in the right direction, it’s only been just over a month since we started back together, and I am very excited about where we can take this.
Sunday
Generally, Sundays are my Free Ride/Rest Days. Having a bit of a struggle mentally today I got on the bike with Diesel Dan, the Cat D Pace Bot on Zwift for 20kms easy spinning. The perfect way to finish off a busy week!
See you next week !!
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