I understand that a lot of people have been focused on the USAs and shows, etc.. I have been, as well .... ALL ... YEAR - my shows included along with Mrs. Skip's. At some point - as most of you know - I switched to overload status. I look forward to our annual bike trip every year, but this year I just plain NEEDED it.
All last week was spent riding and when I ride, I think. I don't force myself to think, my mind just wanders. I used to think that the gym was my best therapy, but it isn't - riding is. I still derive therapy from the gym as it has been a part of my life for decades and I like that it allows me to detach from everything else and focus on training, but ... training can become a stress: am I warmed up enough? Is my back bothering me? What exercise do I trade out now that this shitbag was 3 steps ahead of me to get to the incline Hammer Strength press? The gym is closing in 35 minutes, I need to pick up the pace, etc.. Riding isn't stressful as I have no deadline and no "rules". I just ride and I think; and I ride and I don't think. If you ride, you get it.
I have not trained or dieted in almost 7 weeks and it will be 8 before I get back at it 100% this next Monday. I have friends and clients coming into town and getting together for the Denver Burger Battle on Thursday and a couple Rockies' games this weekend so my logic is that it has been 7 weeks, one more isn't going to matter. Hardcore? Nope. I don't make those claims anymore. I do, however, rarely take time off like this, but feel after the last few months of the things I dealt with (along with my wife), I didn't really want it as much as I needed it. In fact, keep an eye out for my next article titled something like "Time to Unplug".
This week will be fun before getting my fat ass back in the gym and getting back after it. 16 burgers to taste and vote for the best in Denver is the equivalent on the excitement scale of Christmas when I was 8 years old - I can barely stand waiting for it. If you aren't a burger lover like myself, my wife and my friends, you won't get it.
I still have this week to decide whether I am going to come back and compete in 14 weeks at the Rocky Mountain show. I am to the point that I doubt it because I just don't want to go back into prep mode right away and would like to not go back to a deadline that is questionable. Honestly, with only 14 weeks after being completely out of the gym and with no diet to speak of for 8 weeks, it is a tall task. I am very much leaning towards getting back in shape quickly and staying lean and going into prep mode after the first of the year. I am about 90% leaning that way. The other 10% is my ego saying, "You know full fucking well you can pull this off". Still, the smart side of my brain is saying that I don't really want to "pull it off" as much as I want to enjoy the process and do it right with more time. Prepping at the first of the year will allow me to do it right.
Plus, I need to kick this Copenhagen habit I picked up again after 14 years of quitting. Prepping is not conducive to this. Just. Sayin'.