Discipline. Thanks, Coach Moore.

I am in the process of rediscovering the value of discipline. When I was younger and playing hockey, my coach would tear his hair out when someone on the team took a silly penalty for retaliating. He literally made each of us learn how to spell the word discipline and understand its significance in the hopes that we would learn to keep that side of us in check during the games. Overtime, it paid off. We learned to keep ourselves in check and we benefited from the lesson in countless other ways.

At the moment, that lesson is coming back to me as I get back on track with training. This past week I wrote the GMAT exam, the exam used in business school admissions and in order to attack the test fully rested and prepared, I swore off training since last Friday. Normally, weekends are when I do my long rides and runs so not going out last weekend was strange but on the plus side I had so much more energy available. The rest of the week went by in a blur as family commitments quickly took up the time and energy I had reserved for energy so that in the end I didn’t get as much studying in as I had planned. Regardless, the test came and went and while I did reasonably well, in the back of my mind I was hoping for a higher score but then again, I’m always hoping for more. I rarely am satisfied with a result so I’m not surprised by the small disappointment in the back of my mind that I didn’t do better even though I beat all but one of the scores from my practice tests.

So, with the test out of the way its time to refocus and double down on my training. As anyone who has had stops and starts in their training plan knows, that first workout is tough. Getting your mind set to physically step out the door again is a bit of a hurdle but once you’re out there doing it, its great and you remember exactly why you do it.

So, that’s where I am today, in the process at 7am of building up the momentum to go. It’s a good feeling, knowing in a few hours I’ll be out on Roxanne pumping my legs away and taking in the fresh air. It’s going to be a few hours yet since I’m waiting until the kidlet goes down for her nap so I’m not leaving Leslie alone as I know she wants to get some stuff done this morning as well, plus, my allergies are going in the early dawn and dusk. Still its a nice a feeling, having that expectation of a good workout on a nice fall day, the excitement of riding fast again. I’ve decided to make a point of bringing my phone along with me now on my rides and runs, both because of what happened on my last long ride and because I want to share some of the sights I come across during these long excursions so stay tuned. Ok time to get the coffee brewing before Mama and the kiddie wake up.