How much is enough?

Those of you following this blog know that I started biking in January of '06 in preparation for my recently completed Learning Vacation in Portugal. One of the questions I had at the time was "how much should I train for this trip?." Having never done any kind of biking, I had no idea what to expect. After consulting with several people who had experience in these type of trips, I got such a broad range of answers, that I still didn't have a clear idea of how much to train.

While doing this research, I found I was missing a key ingredient to be able to answer this question. This ingredient was "my primary purpose" for this trip. I also realized that I needed to take into account the amount of time that I was willing to devote to this endeavor. To make a long story short, I was able to come up with a range that included a minimum and an ideal training schedule. It turns out that I did more than the minimum but definitely less than the ideal.

Once I rode in Portugal, the results of my training allowed me to fulfill my primary purpose: ride every day, do most of the rides available and avoid getting so fatigued that I wouldn't enjoy the rest of the experience. However, this training was not sufficient for doing ALL of the rides available. Consequently I missed some experiences that I would have loved to have had. That's the price I paid for not doing more training. A former mentor of mine once said: "You can have anything you want but you can't have everything you want." How true!

Since coming back from Portugal, I've continued riding. However, given that I don't have a specific objective (like getting ready for another trip) I was once again faced with the question of "how much should I ride?" It was time to revisit my purpose to get direction. I concluded that currently my purpose for riding is primarily a social one. And given that several of the riders I've been meeting seem to regularly do 25-50 mile rides, I've decided that I need to be in shape to be able to do these distances on a regular basis. I now have a program in place that will allow me to do this.

The next time you ask yourself "how much is enough?" remember to establish a clear primary purpose for your activity. Many of the courses we do at PL&L help people establish and/or clarify their main purpose for doing things. It is a very useful tool to have to help us make more effective choices that will lead us to Xtraordinary Living.

Technorati Tags: Purpose, Fitness, Bike Riding, Portugal, Xtraordinary Living