These are the words that rung in my head just before we headed out the door, helmet & gloves on, bikes ready to roll. My 19 year old daughter had a simple goal a few months ago – to lose weight and get in shape (sound familiar?). She had done a good job on her own, but hit the proverbial “wall”… little to no additional progress. I knew that if she was going to take it to the next level, she needed to have her sights set a bit higher. I suggested she train for the upcoming local (non-sanctioned) Strongland road race in September. She agreed, and with a 9-5 school schedule, agreed to do 3 days of indoor cycling and 1 day out (indoor training produced more heart rate benefits in a shorter time frame).

Today was just our 4th ride or so, and she was feeling the “blahs”. I told her the difference between just working out, and “becoming an athlete” is Structure, Purpose and Discipline. With the addition of our Keiser M3 indoor bikes, we had created a good Cycling Fusion structure for her (combining the best of indoor and outdoor training), she had a good purpose – the road race in September – and now she was finally experiencing the real heart of discipline. Anyone can ride or workout when they look forward to it, and it just fits in nicely with their schedule. It’s when you feel like staying in bed for just one more hour, or when it’s damn inconvenient to force your workout into your schedule, or you have to ride in the rain, or when you feel like anything else would be more fun than training right now, but you do it anyway. That is what shows the difference between someone who just “works out”, and a true athlete. It’s the “D Word”. Discipline stands between the average person and their goals. It is what makes us look a lot deeper into who we are and what we are made of.

These were the reasons to be disciplined, just for discipline sake – it will make her stronger, giver her confidence that she can push herself to achieve her goals; when life tries to get in the way – it was reason enough. That being said, I also told her that occasionally you get rewarded for this type of focus and tenacity. Two weekends ago I was so uncommitted and feeling so unmotivated that I didn’t even decide to do an important race until the morning of the race. I even “tweeted” that I had very low expectations and felt quite slow and out of shape. Nevertheless, I arrived early enough to do a 30 min warmup ride before coming to the line, and then after suffering for the first 25 minutes of the race, I hit my stride and had the best result ever at that race. I took 3 minutes off of last year’s performance – a full 15 minutes off of 2 years ago. I came in 3rd in my division and pulled ahead in the series from 7th to 3rd.

So we put a goal of speed on todays dry run on the 21 mile race course. We only managed a 10.5 mph average speed last time (it’s her first experience road riding, and there are a lot of hills… do you know how hard it is to go that slow… anyway, that’s another story). So we set a descent 12 mph goal for the ride. Just as I suffered through the beginning of my race when I felt likewise, she struggled in the first half hour. But as time went on, her “inner athlete” emerged and she picked up the pace. We finished the ride at 13 mph average! My girl had done good!

While I’m happy she had a good result, I hope it was the lesson of discipline that stays with her, not the higher average speed. That she can use on and off the bike ☺.