After multiple back-to-back seasons guiding and coaching in the mountains, I feel that I may now have the authority to speak in favor of the rest day- A day I had avoided like the plague in the past. Simply put, a rest day is a ‘day-off’ from mountain sports. Over the years, I’ve noticed that injuries and infamous ‘tweaks’ begin to build up and hinder my performance after multiple back-to-back long days in the mountains.
The SPECTRUM of Reward- DisappointmenT in Competitive Mountain Pursuits
Every spring I tell myself to take a couple weeks of downtime after an arduous winter of working, training, traveling, and racing (Skimo). Then, reality sets in. I go for my first group ride with the fast dads of Flathead Valley and I get dropped. My jaw drops while my chest heaves as I scramble to stay on the wheel at the back of the pack while the giant invisible dragon behind the peleton gives chase with his jaws open, threatening to swallow me whole and spit me out the back some 3 miles down the road. “How can this happen, I’m in the shape of my life?” is the annually recurring question in March when my Skimo season winds down and the cycling season takes the fore. One more time I’m humbled. One more time I spin home with feeling of dejection, inadequacy, and frustration. I contemplate whether I’m up for the long uphill battle to shed my Skimo shackles and shave my legs in an attempt to uncover the spinning legs that have carried me to multiple highs of accomplishment on the knobbies.
'I GOT THIS': A REFLECTION ON THE CONNECTION BETWEEN MOUNTAIN SPORTS AND SUCCESS IN THE CLASSROOM
There is one powerful thing that has stood out about my experiences in the mountains over the last several years. It is the feeling of approaching a challenge and knowing that I am ready for what it has in store for me. Of course, there are times that the mountains are beyond anyone’s control, or when I am out of my league, but that isn't what this is about. This is about that feeling of being in control, and knowing I have the skills to deal with what is in front of me. This is about saying ‘I got this,’ a grammatically questionable catch phrase used by my generation as we push our personal boundaries. This year I took that feeling to the next level and went back to school, with a goal in mind.
