Fitting Everything In…
Sometimes it seems like my whole life is about riding, or doing things that relate to riding - time on the bike, time in the gym, recovery activities like massage/getting on the roller, making time for altitude simulation training at IO, preparing meals to ensure I’m adequately fuelled for training and racing. Not to mention getting piles of training gear through the wash, and cleaning bikes! I also like to spend some time giving back to the sport where I can. It’s really flattering to have people approach me for advice so I always try to give them the time they deserve.
I’m fortunate that a lot of the cleaning and maintenance can be done while I’m at the shop on Saturdays (Bicycle) where I help out as the token girl and sponsored rider. I get quite a buzz out of dealing with customers from putting young kids on their first bikes, to giving advice on the best equipment and trails, to dealing with women who come in and might otherwise be intimidated by the guys (not that they’re not great guys), all sorts of people who share one thing - a love of riding bikes.
Amongst all of this however, I have a day-job - the one that pays the bills and funds the bulk of the riding. I’m what’s called a Human Resources Business Partner at global telecommunications company Alcatel-Lucent. The 2 sides of the company merged 6 months ago and it’s been tough work bringing them together - it’s not over yet either. The work is demanding and the hours are long. The one saving grace at the moment is that I largely get to pick and choose when to fit the hours in.
With the days being short as we head in to winter, and being something of a solar-powered person, I really need to get out and train during daylight hours. So my day starts well before the sun comes up, and at some stage I emerge from my windowless office and spend 1 to 3 hours at the gym or on the bike. After that I usually put in a few more hours, take a break to head home and eat (and get on the wind trainer if the weather hasn’t allowed me to get out during the day) and usually log back on and do some more work. The last 3 months since the season ended have been particularly demanding and it’s not a lifestyle I would recommend to anyone let alone an athlete.
So at the moment, life is a pretty hectic thing for me. I certainly get to test my organisational and time management skills and it’s really important to me that I’m getting adequate rest to ensure that I can follow my programme and recover well from day to day. It certainly helps having an awesome set up in the garage on days like today when I couldn’t get out on the road due to time constraints and the weather. Pretty cool to be able to come home and chuck a DVD on and watch that on the projector screen while I was doing 2 hours of tempo work. Movie of choice today was Shawshank Redemption - a nice long classic to pass the time.
