The Fine Art of Doing Nothing...
I am practicing the fine art of doing nothing. After racing on Sunday the instructions for the week were to do whatever I felt like doing (after taking two full days off). As of right now I have chosen that to mean 'do nothing'. I am still riding to work, and the days that I don't ride to work, I walk. So I am getting some light activity. But when I get home in the evening the couch and I become one. Don't get me wrong, I don't veg out completely. I knit, or read or book or whatever. But I am enjoying coming home and staying home instead of rushing home to rush back out the door again. I must admit that the doing nothing coincided nicely with some VERY crappy weather.
Now the race... It didn't go as planned. But every time things don't go as planned it is a chance to take something away from the experience. The number one learning experience is that I am still unable to stop myself from starting too fast. I don't get caught up in the excitement (it was hard to feel that with such a small number of racers!), but I think that I am unable to judge how fast others are going and just hang out with those around me. So my first mile was 8:00 (when the goal pace was 8:35). It was hard to adjust on the next mile because the marker was off. I hit the half way point about right on schedule. At that point I took a little bit of Hammer Gel. About three minutes later I got a terrible stitch in my left rib cage which forced me walk a little until it went away a bit. But it never really went away, it was like a little dull ache there. The terrain also took me by surprise. This is a rolling course, but it is pretty constantly rolling. Nothing terrible in terms of hills, but just a constant up and down. So it was hard to find a rhythm. Well, the goal time was 1:26 and I finished in 1:29:16 (chip time). I was happy to come in under 1:30 given the windy conditions and that the course was more difficult than I anticipated. Hopefully in the spring I will get a chance to run a half marathon or two and try to solve my 'going out too fast' problem.
In the realm of knitting, I am about 15 rows away from finishing the shrug. I draped it over my shoulders yesterday to see if it was getting too long, but I think it is going to be perfect. I finished the poncho, but it was too big for my tastes, so I pulled out some rows and need to cast it off again. I didn't mind that it was long, but because of the way it goes together, the length also affects the neck. So I thought the neck was a bit gapey. So I am going to try it a bit shorter and see if that works.
Now the race... It didn't go as planned. But every time things don't go as planned it is a chance to take something away from the experience. The number one learning experience is that I am still unable to stop myself from starting too fast. I don't get caught up in the excitement (it was hard to feel that with such a small number of racers!), but I think that I am unable to judge how fast others are going and just hang out with those around me. So my first mile was 8:00 (when the goal pace was 8:35). It was hard to adjust on the next mile because the marker was off. I hit the half way point about right on schedule. At that point I took a little bit of Hammer Gel. About three minutes later I got a terrible stitch in my left rib cage which forced me walk a little until it went away a bit. But it never really went away, it was like a little dull ache there. The terrain also took me by surprise. This is a rolling course, but it is pretty constantly rolling. Nothing terrible in terms of hills, but just a constant up and down. So it was hard to find a rhythm. Well, the goal time was 1:26 and I finished in 1:29:16 (chip time). I was happy to come in under 1:30 given the windy conditions and that the course was more difficult than I anticipated. Hopefully in the spring I will get a chance to run a half marathon or two and try to solve my 'going out too fast' problem.
In the realm of knitting, I am about 15 rows away from finishing the shrug. I draped it over my shoulders yesterday to see if it was getting too long, but I think it is going to be perfect. I finished the poncho, but it was too big for my tastes, so I pulled out some rows and need to cast it off again. I didn't mind that it was long, but because of the way it goes together, the length also affects the neck. So I thought the neck was a bit gapey. So I am going to try it a bit shorter and see if that works.
posted by sweetpea at 10:22 AM
1 Comments:
Whenever I read that you are doing nothing, it leaves me with a cold, empty feeling inside.
What works in these situations most usually; I'll go into the garage, sit in my truck, and listen to the AM radio which is dialed perfectly between two nearby stations. The focus this requires usually brings me back to where I need to be. If I have enough Windex out there I'll clean the windows while I'm listening.
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