Yungas Road, Bolivia. Otherwise known as the “Death Road.”
(photo from travel-bolivia.com – No, I’ve never ridden this road, and don’t plan to. But what a ride it would be …)
Recently in power yoga class the topic of the day was “finding your edge” — that fine line between pushing against your boundaries, but not going so far as to cause undue stress, physical or mental. You don’t want to be riding off any cliffs, do you?
The topic in class that night couldn’t have been more appropriate. During the ride out to Rio Verde a few days before, I wished, for training’s sake, I could have pushed harder. But I knew to be careful — to protect a sore back. I was constantly monitoring my edge.
The same was true during yoga class. Before class I wasn’t even sure I should be there. Would my back hold up? Maybe I should go to the gentler basics class. I went to power class anyway, and wouldn’t ya know, our great instructor brings up her serendipitous “finding your edge” topic. With that bit of serendipity I knew I was where I was supposed to be. All during the poses, I constantly monitored where my “edge” was, and made it through the evening without incident.
I’ve had practice at this “edge finding” before. One day a year ago I embarked on a 112 mile bike ride, and the next day, instead of going on a light “recovery” ride as planned, I found myself on a 50 mile jaunt, climbing South Mountain with friends. It was then I learned the fine art of climbing mountains without totally trashing tired legs. It was “edge finding” expertise that carried over quite nicely last weekend.
Step away from the edge, sir … Oops! Not that way!
Anyone who has followed an organized training regimen for cycling knows well the art of finding their edge. During training we ride lots of miles, doing sprints, climbing hills. The more we train, the better the results, right? But it’s easy to fall into the trap of training too much, and going too hard for too long. You may end up in a self-defeating situation: overtrained. Once overtrained, your fitness actually decreases, and you might even injure yourself. You won’t improve until you get some rest — until you back away from the edge. It’s all about finding that fine line between too much and too little.
How do you know when you’ve gone too far? Besides any obvious physical “signals” (read: pain), our yoga instructor pointed out the mental aspects: Going past your edge usually manifests as a wildly chattering mind. If in yoga class you can’t find a moment’s peace during a pose, that’s when you know.
This is certainly the case on the yoga mat, and can be true while cycling. But interestingly, going past your edge can manifest in other mental ways. Cycling coaches and researchers have been trying for years to figure out how to tell when an athlete is about to cross the line and become overtrained. The physical aspects are easy to measure, such as resting heart rate (if it’s higher than normal, that’s a clue), or a reduction in strength. But these signals can be misleading. What’s generally not misleading is how you are doing psychologically. If you are feeling bored with your riding, or depressed and having a general lack of enthusiasm for a sport you usually can’t wait to engage in — that’s when you know. Get some rest and your enthusiasm will return.
Now, where is my suitcase? Time to pack for that trip to Bolivia. Ha!
