Interval Entertainment

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Sometimes I pick really good days for doing intervals inside at CTS. Normally, when I go to CTS for the intervals all I get to stare at is the brick wall. Granted, it's a really interesting brick wall, with all kinds of cools shapes and sizes of stones. But after a few minutes, it's still just a brick wall. There's also the screen with the workout graph, but I really hate looking at that. It's mean and ugly and a lovely reminder of how much work is left to be done. I do keep an eye on the workout line, but I'm not focused on the chart. Some days, there's plenty of people watching to do, but that just feels nosey and I'm not a huge fan.

But today was different. The class that meets to ride intervals at 6:00 was doing a long, steady state set so Jayson asked if they wanted to watch a movie. Consensus was yes, so instead of loud music, I got to watch Off Road to Athens, the documentary about the chase for the 2004 Athens Olympic Mountain Bike Team slots. I've seen the movie before, but it was fun to watch again. Even if I couldn't pay attention during the cool race footage - somehow, my intervals aways seemed to start just about when the racing action started. And since I was there to do a workout, I needed to focus on the workout. And I had a good workout, too. Felt really strong riding nowhere fast.

Two things struck me with the second watching of the video. One was my different awareness of the courses and the technical skills needed to ride the courses profiled. Last time I watched it, I was looking at the World Cup courses and weather conditions, going "I would never ride on that or in that." Now? "That looks like a cool place to ride!" I was also (on my recovery intervals, of course) really able to see the bike handling and body movements of the different riders. Good stuff, watching the best riders in the world maneuver around top single track courses. If I was able to pay full attention, I would pick up some things, I'm sure.

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