Well in the past month things have taken a turn for the good with regards my mojo, but also my private work of performance psychology. I am still inured swimming, haven't even tried, and I'm now running 3 miles a couple-three times a week so building slowly there, but it's the cycling where fate has taken over.
Cycle Specific is a brand new wattbike studio in Cross Hands, Carmarthenshire, that offers specialist assessments and coaching, as well as specific group wattbike classes. The owner is friends of a friend of a friend, and it seems that in business it's who you know that gets you places as without knowing Sarah this opportunity probably wouldn't have occurred. Having met with Dylan only 3 weeks ago I was really impressed by his enthusiasm for helping others, much like my own, and also his interest in psychology and wanting it to be a part of the package he offers to clients.
In my first business meeting with Dylan he had me on the wattbike even though I hadn't brought my kit, so he soon got a sweaty Hayley! At that meeting we agreed that I would run a workshop at the studio for his clients introducing psychology for performance and a week ago I finally delivered what has been a long held ambition of mine! A 90 minute workshop to about 20 enthusiastic cyclists and triathletes and the feedback I have gotten has been excellent!
Just being back on a wattbike stoked my mojo as the data you get from one is motivational, always trying to perfect my pedal stroke which makes time fly by compared with sitting on a turbo staring at the TV screen. Dylan has been offering free tests to people, a 6 second max power test and a 3 minute test to look at average watts and workout training zones.
The competitive streak in me reared its head as I was keen to compare my scores with other females. Just doing these tests then made me questions goals in triathlon/cycling as it seems I'm built for time trialling as I was able for sustain consistent power across the 3 min test with a good explosion of power also. I know I need to lose some pounds and that will help my power to weight ratio. I have avoided the scales for a longtime but I have made changes to my diet and with my mojo stoked I am looking to slowly build my training hours back up and then the weight should shift pretty quickly. I even went out for a road ride last night, something I haven't done in a long while and it felt so good to be back out in the sun with the breeze on my face :-)
Another decision I have made is to quit the gym as I wasn't going due to it being too busy at the times that suited me. I am instead good to buy my own squat rack and weights and a trx and workout in my garage. I have my turbo already, I run outside, and the gym work I did was mainly on the trx and squat rack anyway. By doing this I know I will train more, do more double sessions and train consistently before work. I have already started to get up and do yoga some
Mornings as I want to help realign my body where it is out of position and help me heal whilst also being preventative. It's something I will need to plan properly to make sure I do it but I feel so refreshed when I do a session before work.
So whilst I have no races lined up due to dissertation writing and injury, I feel positive moving forwards that I have things under my control and the rest I will have to wait and see what happens...
