Recently, I have started a fitness journey. It may not be the best time to start a fitness routine in the middle of July, in Charleston, South Carolina with the heat and humidity can be brutal. Yet, that is what I have done. Since losing over 20 pounds, I have noticed an increase in energy and a desire to be more physically active. Motorcycling is a very demanding physical sport. And to fully enjoy my motorcycle rides, I must start working out. If I look to my past physical activities, I think about the time when I played competitive youth tennis. Aside from tennis drills, emphasis was placed on cross-training to help improve my tennis game. This could be weight training to increase muscle strength or playing another sport like basketball to improve footwork. My tennis coach at the time always made sure we practiced non-tennis drills to develop endurance and improve reaction time which benefited my mental toughness on the tennis court. Because if you were fit on the tennis court, both mentality and physically, you would be a tough to beat during long rallies in tennis matches.
Remembering my youth tennis training, I decided to begin a fitness routine for motorcycling. Yet, I did not want to go to the local gym. Instead, I decided that training in the heat and humditiy of South Carolina would increase my ability to ride a motorcycle in these extreme conditions. Over the past few weeks while riding my motorcycle, I noticed that I would quickly lose energy, become fatigued, and would need to get home before my body temperature reached an unhealthy temperature. This would affect my riding both mentality and physically. I knew it was time to start training so I could ride longer and enjoy the experience more.
As of today, I have completed my first week of training. What I have developed as my training program is a bit of HIIT, High Intensity Interval Training, and Circuit Training. Both training experiences have quickly improved my strength, endurance, and increase my mental toughness. To see if this week of training had any impact on my motorcycling, I decide to ride to work on one of the hotter days of the week, with temperatures in the 90s and the heat index above 100 degrees. The AM ride to work was smooth. I was relaxed and focused. Got to work with energy for the day. Yet, the true test to see and feel if my training programs were working was the PM commute. The PM commute is when heat of the day is at its highest and riding during this time of day makes you feel like you are riding in an oven. My PM commute was a great measurement of performance. I felt strong on the bike. Mentally alert through the PM rush hour and most importantly, did not feel overwhelmed by the heat and humidity while waiting at stop lights.
Understanding this experience allowed me to realize how important my training is to my mental state, as well as physical state. My brief motorcycle training helped me reach a relaxed state during my ride that my mindfulness practices help me with. By being in a bit of better shape, I was able to isolate my riding state to the present moment throughout my ride which develops a clarity in my riding. I plan to continue my training program throughout the Summer and hope my results continue to improve. As Summer rolls on, I know I will be in a great place both mentality and physically to enjoy riding and not be limited by weather.
Rolf