Gains in Unexpected Places

Let’s face it, I have no business being on the bike trainer at all. See, my primary sport is trail running and I run ultras which gives me plenty of cardio and outdoor time. I have no injuries nor do I desire to get into bike races. In fact, I’m not a fan of either indoor or low impact activities. Like I said, I can’t give you a good reason for sweating on the saddle, except maybe masochism. Once a week or so I find myself on the trainer doing as many as 40 intervals on the trainer, listening to nothing but my own thoughts. Yes, I am a masochist. Today, I’d like to walk you through what goes in my mind in this torture chamber.

    “This is dumb, I don’t want to do it.”

    “Ok, we are doing it, 1 interval is better than nothing.”

    “3. Slow and steady today, you have all the time all the time in the world”.

    “5 already and it wasn’t so bad at all.”

    “Magic number 8, I could get used to this.”

    “12 baby! we can always stop at 15.”

    “18. I could use a distraction, literally any other action will do.”

    “20. It’s been 84 years and we are only just halfway.”

    “22 at max resistance! Now we are talking.”

    “25. We can look forward to cool downs after 30.”

    “35. It’d be dumb to stop now.”

    “38. What I really want to do is lie down, but we are going to finish what we started.”

    “40. And that’s a wrap! Same time next week?”

I’m not sure how much of this fitness translates to running economy and to be honest, I don’t care. If I did, I would have researched enough to arrive at the optimal timing and frequency of the intervals. Instead, I kind of stumbled at this routine and stuck with it. The real gains from this exercise are mental. Yes, I enjoy running and I’m capable of running for hours on end, but physical fitness is only one component of endurance runs. In the face of fatigue, boredom and unexpected obstacles, I’ll need something stronger. Some call it resilience, others call it perseverance, I call it stubbornness. The gist of it is, how do you keep going when your heart, body and soul is screaming at you to stop? On the trainer I get to practice this skill by staying present, breaking down the big effort, and taking it one spin at a time. That’s the beauty of cross training.

Most of us associate cross training with more or a different flavor of fitness. We find ourselves seeking different kinds of movements, especially the ones we enjoy and/or complement running. Biking is a popular option but the list is endless: swimming, skiing, surfing you name it. Physical fitness is a valid reason to cross-train if that is the only focus, there is a missed opportunity to train the other dimension of fitness: mental fitness. 

You won’t find training plans for mental fitness anywhere, not because it’s unimportant but because it is highly individual. What you find dreadful may be another man’s paradise. The good news is it is in fact doable. You don’t need more time, or equipment or to learn a new sport altogether, what you can do is search within. This is where it pays to get creative, think outside the box. Can’t stand running alone? Schedule a few intentionally solo runs. What’s the longest you’ve run on the treadmill? Try 10 more minutes. The possibilities are endless. The mechanics don’t matter as much as the fact that you do it, believe it or not, it counts as training.