Advice I should probably heed.

Coaching juniors, being a mum and racing and riding bikes generally means that at some stage you're called upon to give advice. Sometimes you're not, but you do anyway, which I think may be ok as long as you're not shoving it down anyone elses throat (ie: 'come join my church style...').

But as I fight off a mouth full of ulcers, sore throat, a foggy head and a severe case of the grumps, I realise that I should probably not have gone out yesterday morning (with a mouth partially full of ulcers, a sore-ish throat and on four hours maximum of broken sleep...). Granted, I only made just over an hour before I limped home licking my wounds, having put a nail in the coffin.

The thought flitted across my mind, right about the same time I was thinking 'hey, this double long black isn't touching the edges' and 'boy, I feel crummy, maybe I should go back to bed', that perhaps it would be wise to not go out on my bike.

But as much as I know what I should be doing, actually doing it and taking the advice I give my own athletes and other people in my shoes (like my husband, who I give all the advice I am listing below to. He doesn't listen to me either so that makes two of us), is another thing entirely.

I've had a lightbulb moment realising how many double standards I have for myself and other people, and how infrequently I make sensible descisions as my will to train beats my sensible brain which knows I am going to get sick.

So I decided to make a list of advice that i'm going to try to take:

1. Always take good lighting on the morning ride.
(I frequently ride into pot-holes due to taking just a rear flashy. I figure it will only be max of an hour of darkness, and I know the roads pretty well, right?!)

2. Eat x amount of carbohydrate per hour of training and wash it down with x amount of fluid.
(Probably a big contributer to me having a shitty immune system is failing to eat and drink when I think I need to, with the justification that I'll be burning more energy if I just limp home for 45mins. We know that's not true, and i'm just setting myself up for poor recovery and illness).

3. If you have a mouth full of ulcers, terrible headache, sore throat, achy body (not in a hard workout sense) fever or are running through a box of tissues an hour it's probably pretty wise not to go for a ride.
(I have selective listening when it comes to the 'listening to the body mantra')

4. Take a vest.
(I'll warm up. See, I warmed up. Next week I have a chest infection though)

5. Eat after your ride.
(Get home, put bike away, grab baby, feed baby or express a feed, have a coffee while in the shower, eat something maybe an hour later. THE GLYCOGEN FREAKING WINDOW HAS PASSED IDIOT!—directed at me)

6. You are not a fat walrus.
(I don't think I am ever really going to be able to take this one 100%, though I can be more at peace with the whole walrus thing when I am closer to 'race weight' and have my nutrition under control. Which. is. not. now.)

7. Take a jumper, it's cold outside.
(see advice number 4).

8. Sometimes when you have a really hard session and you feel like you're overreaching, you may actually be overreaching (duh) and digging yourself a hole. Go home.
(I did roadie repeats of a hill with multiple gradients over 18% the other day. I had struggled to recover after a hard weekend prior and pretty much hunger flatted after just one, but continued regardless *insert shovelling motions here*. I haven't been the same since. Sometimes it's not being soft going home, it's being sensible. Serves me right for riding the road bike)

I think that's enough for now. I'm sure there's plenty more where that came from.