Fascinating, Patrick. I'm the opposite. I was über competitive pre-brain injury. One of the hardest things for me to learn was to avoid going anaerobic because of the additional stress and hormones it releases. What I discovered, for me anyway, was just how much more enjoyment I got out of doing whatever I was doing because I was doing it "sustainably" rather than pushing myself to the edge. An unexpected benefit of doing that was I am able to do it as fast now as pre-brain injury but with far less effort and much more enjoyment.
I love what you say about the time to reflect when exerting yourself. For me, running and biking are beautiful times of prayer, active contemplation. My body working is deep time for my clay, mind, and soul. With abandon, Patrick On Friday, March 29, 2013 1:50:49 PM UTC-6, Patrick in VT wrote: > > On Thursday, March 28, 2013 3:26:42 PM UTC-4, Peter M wrote: >> >> what are people really "training" for other that for more riding? >> > > Training is more a byproduct of my lifestyle than anything else. I'm very > goal oriented and tend to set goals in the areas of my life in which I have > some passion and maybe a sliver of talent. Reaching a goal is incredibly > gratifying - I love that feeling, regardless of whether my goal is > sport-oriented or not. Truly, I don't consider training for running, > cycling or skiing any different than "practicing" the instruments I play - > I simply do exercises that help me reach my potential within the time > constraints my life will allow. I just do stuff that will hopefully make > me better at what I like doing. Participation in sport is another reason I > train. I'm not competitive by nature, but I love sport. It's fun and full > of emotion, which makes it a source of motivation for me. which lends > consistency to my life ...and it's amazing how far we can get with > consistency. do something daily for a few years and wow. participation > also gets me more involved in my community - i live in a very active town > where people are outside doing stuff all the time. my city hosts a > marathon, a cycling stage race, triathlon nationals. we have a big 'ole > lake and some mountains to play in. being a part of that community brings > all kinds of positive reinforcement. and then there are the upsides of > training, like good health and fitness. and being able to share fun > experiences with family and friends. and reduced stress. and I sleep very > well. there's a spiritual component to a good long ride or run too - i > appreciate the time i get to reflect when "training" and never take that > for granted. training and "just riding" are pretty much the same for me. a > couple times a week, it's not "just riding." but that's fine too. I still > enjoy it. > > sorry if that was a long answer to a question that intended to be > rhetorical! > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en-US. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
