Nov 20, 2022
Less than 7 weeks to get fat adapted
I’ve set a goal to race the Fat Pursuit in January, and the work to get there starts now, each and every day, as I return to life as a fat-adapted athlete. In my last post I posted thoughts and an approach to getting through the holidays staying healthy, so now I’m practicing what I preach a bit, with this personal accountability post.
For various and sundry reasons, every winter I seem to let my foot off the gas pedal, allow my nutrition and exercising to slip a bit, and then start to work my way back just before Spring. Oh mind you, I have plenty of reasons. They start with things like: I’m busy. I need to focus on writing and getting x, y, or z project done. This is my time away from the bike and training and racing, so I’ll just relax and focus my efforts on writing and reading and programs. Then they slip slowly into excuses that erode my own goals and dreams. Self-image and goal sabotaging statements like, “I just don’t have time to do all this anyway.” And, “I’m supposed to be a doctor, not an athlete,” and things like that. These rationalizations not only alter the direction of the ship, but increase its speed, making shifting course in the next year all the more difficult.
And what does that look like? Well, when Spring and Summer come and this frigging aircraft carrier has already been going at a certain speed in a certain direction and it is going to take a certain amount of time to get it back in the direction I’d hoped for. I feel heavier riding my bike up Lookout Mountain. My power-to-weight ratio leads me to believe that I have no prayer of really competing with the fast Colorado women in bike races. And, well, when it gets like that it certainly is a hurdle for sure.
So what if this year were different? At the end of my last race, the 55-mile Zion Gravel Bike Race in Utah one month ago, where I felt I was at peak fitness for this year (and loving how I felt in the saddle again) I started doing it again. “I need to catch up on x, y, or z.” This fill-in-the-blank important project needs to come first. And I started to let it slide. I figured out I need to stop letting it slide.
You see, I have set big goals for the bike in the next two years: Colorado Trail Race, Breck Epic in 2023, and Tour Divide in 2024. My goals of racing the Tour Divide in 2024 and completing the Colorado Trail Race and racing well in the Breck Epic in 2023 (to name 3 of them) seem so far off, it’s easy to say, “Well tonight I’ll give in to this craving, or have this beer,” or “It doesn’t matter if I miss this workout today. I’ll make it up tomorrow, or the next day, or the next.” And then those goals become even harder. The small actions in small moments eventually add up to big changes, and we will either be closer or farther from our goals.
So I set out to change my course now, by registering for a race in January that captures my imagination: The Fat Pursuit. This is is a race in Island Park, Idaho just outside of Yellowstone and the pictures look unbelievable. I’ll be doing the 60 km version this year, but I’m going early to the workshop to learn about how to bikepack in the winter (on snow). Because that is a future goal as well, and because, why not get some crazy skills to ride my bike.
So I have the goal. And I’ve stated it publicly. And I know that to complete this goal I need train and focus on my own health now, not months from now. Because if I do that, I’ll be one step closer to my vision (being an academic physician and athlete), and I’ll be healthy (bye bye borderline hypertension) and be walking the walk rather than just talking the talk with people I see who struggle with insulin resistance. Not only is consistency with the bike and with weight training key, but also is consistency with sleep and nutrition. That nutrition piece (giving up sugar and starches — yes even right before Thanksgiving) is central to riding (and thinking and overall performing) at the level I want to be, and in reality enjoying it — riding and living — more.
I often say “everyone is an athlete” if they want to be. What does this mean? It means devoting part of our energy to living to our absolute best physical performance in the event we choose. And for me, identifying as an academic physician athlete means embracing an identity as someone who works to help people, contributes to the field, and also rides and races her bike to feel alive, devoting part of my energy to appreciate this gift of living and appreciate outdoors. It’s how I express myself in the world. Remembering and living that truth is the motivator.
So here it is. Seven weeks. I’ll be posting up stats for my own accountability, no matter the bumps on the road along the way. Raw, transparent, accountability. Let’s get this.
