July 2020. An accidental rest month.
Professional athletes clearly have very well-defined training programmes, with periods of peak training balanced with recovery times, I believe they refer to this structure as periodisation. By complete accident, Dan and me spent July accidentally doing some periodisation! Ours, however, was not part of any well planned training structure – life just got busy, and we didn’t have enough time to get out on the push bikes as much as we would have liked to have.
Both with young children, the summer holidays kicked off this month in our respective households. And so ensued long days of trips to the beach, arts and crafts, camping trips and generally cleaning up the trail of destruction that young kids tend to leave behind them….Of course, neither of us would change it for the world, friends and family are what it’s all about.
This becomes particularly evident when one undertakes a challenge such as ours. We are both acutely aware of the impact this expedition will have on our families, both during the time away in the USA, and the months of training that will precede. As military personnel both, we are super aware of how difficult it can be for loved ones when we are away, something we have both experienced during our multiple frontline tours overseas over the years – which typically last 9 months. The fact is, it has to be a team effort for it to work; we are extremely fortunate to be surrounded by supportive humans (big and small)! They understand how important it is to us to raise awareness and funds for mental health in the military, and hopefully inspire some folk along the way (big and small)…
To summarise, Dan and me have accidentally become like professional athletes, although for one month only! Joking aside, this enforced period of rest actually sets us up nicely for August, which promises to be a busy month with some longer rides.
We officially have a year to go, things are starting to get real!