I am conflicted.

This past weekend we had our team camp (cycling) and, as I had hoped, it re-ignited my love for cycling.  Biking is wonderful, even if you aren’t set on racing – it’s the perfect medium to explore the world, and the community is awesome.  I started racing in college and since graduating I have been so blessed to be picked up on an awesome Houston-based race team.  The adventures we have would be hard to duplicate in other sports or with other groups.  We are a FAMILY.

Last year, mid-road season, I started crossfit.  It was meant to be a supplement to my training on the bike… but I soon grew to love it, and I found that I was naturally pretty good at it!  But it affected my racing – you really aren’t supposed to lift within 4 days of a race, and considering that we have races almost every weekend while in season, that pretty much meant crossfit once a week.  Unfortunately, I have been known to over-train, and therefore ignored signs of exhaustion and instead was Crossfitting, running, and cycling all week long.  Of course, this affected my results in all 3 sports.  You can imagine my frustration, as I was working out more than ever, yet not really seeing any progress.

As road season ended, I threw myself 100% into Crossfit.  And I loved it – unlike cycling, where training requires at least 1-3 hours per day, Crossfit is a solid 1 hour and YOU’RE DONE.  Not only was my training time reduced, but I was seeing major results in my lifts and skills.  Not to mention, my body was transforming, as I was getting away from the carb-heavy diet of a cyclist and instead partaking in the Paleo craze.  All of these factors combined have caused me to “choose” crossfit over cycling for several months.

But I don’t want to choose.  I love cycling, I really do.  And I’ve been really enjoying mountain biking in addition to road cycling.  But at the same time, I have to acknowledge that maybe my body is “naturally” better for the physical demands of Crossfit.  How does a girl decide?

For now, I’m not making that decision.  I am going to “get back on the bike” shall we say.  I WANT to be strong… both in terms of power and endurance.  At some point, if I want to focus my competitive efforts on one or the other, I know I’m going to have to choose.  I’m just not ready yet.