13th
Focus, alignment
www.snkcr.com/catherinebancroft
In November, soon after I was accepted, the reality of what I had stepped into hit me, at 3am.
180 km’s per day. For 16 days. I was comfortable and used to doing 100 km’s a day, but I knew that almost double the distance and three times the amount of time, would require an whole new level of fitness.
Not to mention the $25,000 that we each need to raise. This challenge appealed to me. I had some experience over the last four years, fundraising for charitable causes, but again, $25K was pushing it to a whole new level.
At 3am, every night for 3 weeks, I woke up with a segment of Canada in my mind. One night, the rockies, the next night, the prairies, the next my home town London, and on and on it went. I was aware of what I represented, a national ambassador for kids living with cancer and their families. My fears crept in at 3am: how am I going to get to $25K, what level of training is going to be required, because of my history with hypoglycemia and bonking, would streak be an option every 2 hours?, how was I going to fit this into my already full life?
Within the next 6 weeks I started Strength Training with Jason Edgehill, a personal trainer who is also a cyclist at Good Life. I realized 25 sessions into my commitment of 80 sessions that Jason is the perfect fit for me. He focuses on my weaknesses, helps me to see them, and then we work on them. He watches me intently in the first weeks, after each rep I struggle to bring the room into view because of dizziness. He pokes and prods me, stretches me, and helps me to focus on the muscles we’re building. He gives me advice that I turn into metaphors: Keep your center, concentrate. I practice what I’m learning in my daily life.
I realize the saying How you do anything is How you do everything comes clearer into my view.
It becomes all about my body. Up at 5:15am, eat, workout, eat, work, eat, did I mention eat. Even at that, after my nutritional assessment, I find out that I’m not getting enough calories. I crave steak. I realize the cost that it’s going to require to feed my body what it needs.
I look at our training manual and almost hurl. How am I going to find the time to fit this in? I need to measure my wattage and find out about Absolute Endurance. I have walked past it everyday, and there it is, right at my finger tips. I sign up for group classes, get my lactate tested, and sit my butt down on my new cervelo. I feel like it’s official, and I’m intimidated. I look up at the screen that I’m hooked up to, and it tells me my wattage, km’s per hour, where I am in line with the other riders. I’m last every time. Hmmmm….
As I get into my training schedule, I oscillate between feeling stronger with more energy, and feeling exhausted, and not having time to even pee!
I focus on embracing this ride as my teacher. A year to bring my body into alignment, to focus on where I’m putting my energy, to building my community, and to making a difference for kids and their families across the country.
