Mind-Body Disconnect

Saturday I woke up with not enough sleep, but still eager to do my scheduled 80 mile bike ride. I had to get an early start, since I had plans with my parents around noon time. Unfortunately, I am never very good working out when I do have my requisite 8 hours sleep. As I started my ride, it was soon apparent that my body would not do what my mind was commanding.

From a clinical point of view, I find this mind/body disconnected fascinating as well as frustrating. I kept finding myself slowing down, almost unaware that this was happening. No matter how much I wanted, I just could not get my legs to spin faster or harder, nor raise my heart rate about 63 percent. Rather than go for a third loop of the Prospect Park, I just went home. As I started to climb the stairs to my bedroom, I was sort of stumbling and thought how I was going to ride 80 miles, when I can’t even make it back to bed for a nap.

I did get some riding in later in the day. It was with my children just before dinner time. We rode to a section of the park that we have yet to explore. The place is kind of hidden and had several circular ponds lined up over 200 yards. Each pool served as a perfect racing oval for my kids to have a running race around. I think they are starting to get the competitive spirit, as this was the first time they were eager to race on their own and did so several times. It was a delicate balancing act though, as each child would get upset if they lost to the other. I had to figure out how to handicap the race for my younger son, so that the race would almost always end in a tie. However, if I handicapped too much, then my daughter would get upset about how much of a head start my son got. We spent a few minutes going over good sportsmanship, but at their ages, such lessons don’t really sink in as of yet. Hopefully though, the foundation has been laid.