Written By: Sandy Reid
Here’s my deal- Altho’ I know I should, I don’t “do” race reports for my cycling team, nor do I write enough “thank you” letters and I don’t take time to fill out feedback requests from Amazon Prime. Am I a “bad person”? Nope- just too damn lazy. That said, once in a while something or someone really sparks my “inner pen”, and I haveta (well, wanna) make some words.
Henceforth, you will very likely find me right here on occasion…doing just that…….making words…because…..!
Long story in a nutshell, I have always been active, always been competitive, always been a hard worker. However, I am also stubborn, impatient and quick to turn a deaf ear to instruction. I met Derek. My name is Sandy, and I am a changed (for the better!) athlete… nice to meet you!
I started working out and racing back in my teens. I ran and cycled all through my school years, competing in Track and Cross Country at the high school and collegiate levels, and, turning to cycling as my preferred competitive event once I graduated college. I started instructing a variety of physical fitness classes back in the 80’s (I KNOW, right!??!!), and continue to lead Spin, Boot Camp and Body Sculpt class formats. I am driven and hardcore, and, when I am leading a group, I thrive on pushing others to their limits. Same goes for my own training- I am hardcore and driven BUT I will now admit it, I have not always been real smart about HOW I trained.
Before reluctantly (yes, true…I mean, I don’t like being told what to do and, moreover, PAYING for it sounded ridiculous to me!) climbing aboard with Dalzell Coaching, I trained a lot, without direction/purpose and followed the “no pain, no gain, 365/24/7 plan”. I hurt constantly, felt wasted on race days and lost my “spirit” before race season even reached a halfway point.
I remember my first month/ six weeks under Derek’s guidance. What follows is a typical rendition of the conversation that went on in my head:
‘Stubborn Me’: “what? How does this guy expect me to get stonger/faster if I only ride for 90 minutes today?”
‘Give This A Chance Me’: “just give the plan a go; he says he knows what hes doing.”
‘SM’: “this can’t be right…..a day OFF!????”
‘GTACM’ : “huh…might be just what you need!”
Zoom ahead to today. I cannot imagine my active life without Derek’s well-thought out plans and constant willingness to accommodate my life’s crazy-ass schedule. I actually look forward to my workouts, and although there are plenty of “work-til-I-wanna-swear-at-Derek” days in my training plan, I appreciate that Derek has found a way to help me get stronger and faster on the bike while cutting the time I train in half of what I previously forced myself to do. I no longer have to plan how to develop a training plan that actually works- Coach D does it all for me. On top of the time / frustration saved, letting Derek plot my training enthused about racing again. I am super- eager to see what goals Derek can help me reach as we move ahead. For this chick, being a Dalzell athlete is an investment in me, not just physically, but mentally. In a word- BAM!
Here’s my deal- Altho’ I know I should, I don’t “do” race reports for my cycling team, nor do I write enough “thank you” letters and I don’t take time to fill out feedback requests from Amazon Prime. Am I a “bad person”? Nope- just too damn lazy. That said, once in a while something or someone really sparks my “inner pen”, and I haveta (well, wanna) make some words.
Henceforth, you will very likely find me right here on occasion…doing just that…….making words…because…..!
Long story in a nutshell, I have always been active, always been competitive, always been a hard worker. However, I am also stubborn, impatient and quick to turn a deaf ear to instruction. I met Derek. My name is Sandy, and I am a changed (for the better!) athlete… nice to meet you!
I started working out and racing back in my teens. I ran and cycled all through my school years, competing in Track and Cross Country at the high school and collegiate levels, and, turning to cycling as my preferred competitive event once I graduated college. I started instructing a variety of physical fitness classes back in the 80’s (I KNOW, right!??!!), and continue to lead Spin, Boot Camp and Body Sculpt class formats. I am driven and hardcore, and, when I am leading a group, I thrive on pushing others to their limits. Same goes for my own training- I am hardcore and driven BUT I will now admit it, I have not always been real smart about HOW I trained.
Before reluctantly (yes, true…I mean, I don’t like being told what to do and, moreover, PAYING for it sounded ridiculous to me!) climbing aboard with Dalzell Coaching, I trained a lot, without direction/purpose and followed the “no pain, no gain, 365/24/7 plan”. I hurt constantly, felt wasted on race days and lost my “spirit” before race season even reached a halfway point.
I remember my first month/ six weeks under Derek’s guidance. What follows is a typical rendition of the conversation that went on in my head:
‘Stubborn Me’: “what? How does this guy expect me to get stonger/faster if I only ride for 90 minutes today?”
‘Give This A Chance Me’: “just give the plan a go; he says he knows what hes doing.”
‘SM’: “this can’t be right…..a day OFF!????”
‘GTACM’ : “huh…might be just what you need!”
Zoom ahead to today. I cannot imagine my active life without Derek’s well-thought out plans and constant willingness to accommodate my life’s crazy-ass schedule. I actually look forward to my workouts, and although there are plenty of “work-til-I-wanna-swear-at-Derek” days in my training plan, I appreciate that Derek has found a way to help me get stronger and faster on the bike while cutting the time I train in half of what I previously forced myself to do. I no longer have to plan how to develop a training plan that actually works- Coach D does it all for me. On top of the time / frustration saved, letting Derek plot my training enthused about racing again. I am super- eager to see what goals Derek can help me reach as we move ahead. For this chick, being a Dalzell athlete is an investment in me, not just physically, but mentally. In a word- BAM!
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