Tuesday, March 02, 2010

New Bike Fit and New Focus

Sigh. Its been a long and rewarding year of coaching both cross country and swimming, but I can finally take a moment to breathe after this weekend. I think I have been coaching non stop since last March. The longest break that I took was the three days off for my sisters wedding in August. Coaching is so rewarding, but can really start to take a toll on you!! The swim team I am helping to coach finished the season at the state championships this past weekend, and although not everyone swam as well as they had hoped, I was still extremely proud of all of them. I know that in looking forward they learned some valuable lessons and will come back hungrier and more experienced next year. I had a fantastic group of athletes and couldn’t have asked for a better group to spend so many hours coaching  Once the emotional drain of coaching wears off, I know that I will miss seeing them everyday.



I was feeling extremely exhausted on Sunday, but know it is time to focus, for the first time in a long time, on just me as an athlete. I was up and at it early Sunday morning for some Tough Love on the bike at the EFC training center with a much larger group than normal. It was great to ride indoors with a large group and it was fun riding with some different people and scenery. I think that Sunday was my longest ride this winter at 2:40 minutes! I can’t believe how much progress I have made in two months working with Rob and Kel and without having a ton of mental energy to focus on myself. I am pretty sure I passed out after the run amidst tons of people coming in an out of their house for the bike fits with Bob Duncan. It felt so good just to lay down though before my bike fit. I have been so utterly uncomfortable on my bike ever since I got it and have truly been awaiting the day when I can feel like an athlete on the bike. I hopped on Bob’s special contraption and Cody and he immediately began tweaking everything until finally, magic happened. I felt amazing in aero and CANNOT wait to see what this will feel like in the coming months. I did not get the right fit nor the right bike years ago when I purchased my Carbon Fiber Giant. And in turn, I have never felt comfortable and been able to apply the power I now know I can on the bike. Bob’s "real" fit helped me feel comfortable and enabled me to crank out the watts. Coach Kel and Rob grinned form ear to ear with my power hitting a steady 250 watts with the new fit. I am so excited for what is to come.



There have been some glimmers of hope with the weather here in Ohio and I will be so excited when we get to spring forward those clocks. I feel like that extra hour of sunlight will drastically change how much I can get accomplished in a day. They always say March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. That might be true for the weather, but I am going to come out like a lion with my training at the end of March. I am ready to crank it up and grind out some workouts once my training base is firmly established. I love the hard stuff and am ready to go! Keep on pushing through the cold...warmer days are ahead!



Bis bald,



Darcy

Posted by Coach Darcy on 03/02/10 at 10:26 PM
Coach and Athlete Darcy Wagner • (1) Comments • Permalink

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