sarals 

With one week to go to Worlds, the last (serious) racing I'm going to do this season, I am struggling a bit to regain the excitement and anticipation for the race that I felt a month ago. For the last couple of weeks I've been surprisingly ambivalent about racing, and Worlds in particular. I love racing on the track, and it does fit me physiologically in a way that racing on the road really never has. Seeing the registrant list, with the MANY 55-60 y/o women (most events for 66 y/o women are in a 55+ or 60+ field) didn't pique my enthusiasm, what a surprise, but it didn't really enhance my ambivalence, either. I've come to realize (with the sage input from those who have more big races under their belt than I do) that I am tired. Tired. I've had two peaks this past season, I've come back from serious injury, and I never really let up in my training since last years UCI Worlds iteration. My body is tired, and my brain is even more tired.

I need a break.

At my age, I can't stop completely. Getting back to form would be difficult if I do. I have in mind doing some "easy", "mindless" riding and a little bit of racing. Cyclocross racing (which I will NOT train for). Long rides. Group rides. Unstructured rides. Perhaps two months worth of that. And, I need to retool my diet and figure out how to loose weight without loosing too much muscle and then how to keep it off when I return to the velodrome next season. The big thing is that I need to let go of the laser focus I've had on finding track success for the last year. I have learned how taxing that is, how hard it is to sustain, and how much I need to get away from it.

In short - I need to fall in love with the bike again. And to get some semblance of a life back!

Thanks, all.