Showers of Power

4 SHOWERS A DAY...

Ok, there are a quite a few days throughout any given year that I grind out 3 showers, but hitting the shower for a fourth time in a single day was a new milestone.  I owe this tremendous accomplishment to my boot camp fitness instructor, my fragile ego, and most importantly, to a 70 degree November afternoon.

The stage was set for ShowerFest 2011 as I mounted my trainer last Thursday for a spirited bout of high-intensity interval training with Coach Troy.  This was the pre-workout to what turned out to be a major ass-kicker of a workout at the community Y later that evening as Scott (the boot camp instructor) lead us through a workout that I will not soon forget.  The key difference to this workout compared to others he has led is that it was competitive.  Instead of doing an exercise for a set amount of time then rotating, we did a set number of repetitions then rotated through at our own pace... crap, "at your own pace" is practically a death sentence for me, as I only know one pace, and knew that I was going to kill it.

Sure enough, I sprinted around the track at full speed, executed burpees like a pro, jumped on boxes like they were being punished,  and did walking lunges at a pace nearly twice that of the rest of the class. I was excited by the fact that the exercises seemed to have potential to make me a stronger cyclist, which was an unexpected bonus and fueled my efforts. Maybe the fact that many of my classmates were extremely physically fit and attractive females had an influence on my performance... maybe.

I would have considered resting the next day, but the weather was good, and I went on a group bike ride instead.  Then, I awoke Saturday to realize that my legs were completely trashed... I could barely lift them, and hobbled around all day.  Sunday wasn't much better, as I was forced to take another rest day. 

Ok, maybe Monday will give me the opportunity to regain my confidence.  I have a couple more cyclo-cross races left, and being essentially injured from cross-training wasn't sitting well with my psyche.  I have a timed workout that I planned on using to verify that my fitness was still solid.  Crap... I couldn't complete the workout... my legs still felt lethargic.  I vowed that Tuesday would be the day.

I woke up Tuesday and couldn't think about anything but completing the interval workout I had attempted on Monday.   My focus was blurred slightly, as the weather was supposed to be excellent and a group training ride was in the works.  Ok, I decided I will just have to add that to the agenda.

SHOWER #1:  I took my first shower of the day as I headed to work.

I rocked out my noon workout, and high-fived myself... Yes, I am back at 100%... all is not lost.
SHOWER #2: I showered for the second time and headed back to work.



I got kind of bored spending so much time in the
shower... This guy seems to have the right idea.



I didn't last long at work, as the 70 degree temps created the overwhelming compulsion to hop on my bike and head to the group ride.  I ended up with about 48 miles, and wasn't sure that I would be able to make it to that night's boot camp workout.

SHOWER #3:  I had a protein meal replacement shake and sat in the shower, hoping the warm water would have a therapeutic effect on me, and motivate my last workout of the day.

I really had no choice but to attend the boot camp session.  Once I sign up for something, anxiety prevents me from not attending.  I was doing alright, especially with the upper body exercises, but my hamstrings started to cramp doing sit-ups.   Odd, but my training time for the day was approaching 4.5 hours, so not really a surprise.

SHOWER #4:   Ok, one more shower before bed. 

I don't train like that often, at least not during my off-season, but things just worked out that way. I imagine Ironman triathletes have days like this all the time, as cross-training with multiple daily workouts is necessary.  I will reflect upon this day next spring when I shift back to a pure cycling training regimen.  I enjoyed a sense of accomplishment and the pleasant realization that I would only need ONE shower on Wednesday.