Alrighty then...
Actually that is partly true, but I am also waiting for the official race photos to become available, should be anytime now. I have found that race reports are much more interesting with photos, rather than just walls of writing and so it is nice to have those available when you are writing, it can be a bit of a memory jogger too. Anyway, should be in the next few days as I have said. I have given myself the goal of the end of the week.
In terms of other things in life, I thought about going for a ride this morning.
I didn't.
I very nearly did, I had the bike good to go and everything. My plan was to ride right up until the point that my where my head hit the pillow last night and then I decided not to ride.
Having a break after racing is vitally important, particularly if you race a lot. Sure there is the physical recovery side, but there is a lot to be said for active recovery, recovery doesn't have to mean doing nothing and lying on the couch. So my decision to stay in bed wasn't really to help my body recovery. No, for me though the bigger part of recovery is mental. Training for a race and then actually racing, no matter what the race is, is a massive mental burden. It drains a lot out of you and you really need to give your brain a chance to refresh from that. If you don't, it doesn't take many races until you find yourself mentally exhausted, losing focus and motivation. I find giving yourself a chance to refresh, perhaps regain some of your fire and desire, is very important after an event.
Having said all that, I am probably going to ride tomorrow. Wait a second I hear you ask, you just spent an entire paragraph of my life talking about giving yourself a break. Yes you are right dear astute reader, but you see riding tomorrow won't be about training, it will actually be about mental recovery. Buh???
See I like riding. I really enjoy it. My motivation for perhaps riding this morning wasn't to cling on to my fleeing fitness, or even to help my muscles recover, it was because I enjoy riding and I felt like doing some. The reason I stayed in bed instead is because I decided that while I enjoy riding I also can't actually remember the last sleep in I had and so I thought I would enjoy that instead (to be honest I got up at 5:15am and stretched).
The important thing post race is that you give yourself the time and flexibility to do what you want. Want to go for ride, do it. Want to stay in bed, do that instead. Give yourself a break from the rigours and routine of training, let your mind have a break from constantly having to find motivation. If you let yourself do that, then when the time comes to start your next race prep you will find you have the freshness and resolve to get out and get on with the work.
That is certainly my plan for the next couple of weeks.
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