Ride the Rockies Training: Good Days and Bad

Do you ever go for a ride or a run and feel like you're cruising without much effort? You're just feelin' it? I had that kind of ride this past Sunday. Riding solo I averaged 16 mph over a route I'd normally do around 15.5 (on a good day). I rode the same route today with Big Troy and averaged 15 mph. I could lie and say Troy held me back but it was quite the opposite. I was dragging. It felt like my legs were just dead weight. Ever have one of those days?

Big Troy at the Larkspur Corner Market

I guess you can't expect to have a good day every time out. I know better (but I still do). The key is that I got in the miles, only the second time I have met my weekly goal of 100 miles since the beginning of March. I've only racked up 380 miles in the saddle towards my goal of 1,500 by the start of Ride the Rockies on June 9. And it supposed to snow tonight!

I'm not sure if it's good to try to push yourself on bad days or take it as a sign that your body may need to rest. So I decided not to overdo it and cut our ride short by 10 miles today. I'm glad I did. My legs feel like we did the full 52 we had planned. It's important to listen to your body. My friend Dane Rauschenberg (who just finished running 350 miles in seven days!) talks a lot about the importance of rest and how he thinks it has helped him avoid injury.

Kathy's FUMS blog
(officially stands for
"Fundamental Understanding
of Multiple Sclerosis)

I recently read a blog post from a high school friend who lives with MS along these lines. She was being stubborn, trying to work full time and "ignore" the signs MS was sending her body. "I don’t want it to affect me, so therefore I won’t let it. I’ll ignore it," she wrote. "But MS will not go quietly into the night. The jealous one awakens to find you not paying attention to it. So – okay, it’s gotten my attention, thank you very much. I got it. I’ll go part time."

"Having to give this damn disease a piece of something that means so much to me – my time, my job – feels like failure. It feels like I’m giving up or giving in. A friend of mine made a great point, however. She said I wasn’t giving in or giving up, I was giving the MS the respect that it demands – and deserves – but that I have refused to give it all this time. And she’s right."

And I think I have bad days. I can't imagine what it must be like to live with MS. From the stories I've heard from the people I have met with MS there are definitely good days and bad days. Days when you feel like you could conquer it and days when you feel like it is conquering you. Even just having to inject oneself with a needle every other day means there will be good days and bad.

That's why I am riding in the Colorado Bike MS ride in honor of Kathy and in memory of Patty, the sister of a colleague who's life was cut short by MS. I set an abitious goal to raise $5,000 to help people living with MS manage the highs and lows of living with this insidious disease and to support the search for a cure.

 need contributions of $10, $25, $50, $100, $250, $500 and $1,000. Here is a breakdown of how I hope to reach that goal, based on my favorite cuts of BEEF!

• 1 donation of $1000 = $1,000 Bone-In Ribeye
• 2 donations of $500 = $1,000 Filet Mignon
• 4 donations of $250 = $1,000 Smoked Brisket
• 5 donations of $100 = $500 Kansas City Strip
• 10 donations of $50 = $500 Flat Iron Steak
• 20 donations of $25 = $500 Flank Steak
• 50 donations of $10 = $500 Ground Beef*

I made a personal donation of $100 (in addition to the $75 registration fee) to kick this off. That leaves $4,900! Based on this formula I need more than 90 people to support me in order to reach my goal and every donation counts. I hope you will seriously consider joining me in this effort at whatever level you can by going to the BEEFMAN'S Fundraising Page and contributing.

Ride on!
Daren

*Made with Lean Finely Textured Beef, of course!