Life, lemons and lemonade

Life happens. Work, family, responsibilities — these are our priorities, and rightly so. Training, fuelling, recovering, sleeping: we are not professionals, sometimes they have to take a back seat. This was one of those weeks.

Two overnight flights. A full work schedule sandwiched in between. Cycling became a swim session, and sleep, well — sleep took the biggest hit of all.

But when life gives you lemons. Sleep-deprived and jet-lagged turns out to be a perfectly reasonable backdrop for training, as long as you keep your head. No point pushing hard into exhaustion three months out from Barcelona, but then again, we will be tired and sleep-deprived then as well.

Enter the SLR — cycling parlance for slow long ride, emphasis very much on slow. So slow you could hold a full conversation throughout. That's not an easy ride, that's a deliberate one. It's where the aerobic adaptations happen.

Life threw in a few curve balls for good measure. A road closure requiring a lengthy detour. Dave's little brother blowing enthusiastically in my face for most of it. Bike computer that chose this particular morning to stop cooperating. None of it matters — all of it is useful. We'll encounter every one of those things in July, and learning to keep the legs turning when the plan falls apart is its own kind of preparation.

Another solid week banked. It was a solo one, which is good for mental strength. But I can't wait until we're riding together — sharing the lows, being there for the highs. Together, but on one journey; one mission.