Who knows...and frankly it doesn't matter. As long as the guys I admire (not look up to necessarily because role models SHOULD NOT be professional sports stars) are keeping it clean and accomplishing their wears with good old hard work and natural ability I will continue to watch and follow cycling.
So back to more mundane things...I left for a work related site visit at a Government facility in St. Louis. It was a quick trip and I would have left in the morning if a flight would get me in early enough, but because it wouldn't I had to leave Tuesday night. I got in and drove the hotel with every intention of running the next morning having mapped out a route. There was even a park a block away that was a mile around and I could do fartleks if I wanted to. The area didn't look too bad, just old. St. Louis kind of reminds me of DC sort of with the row houses etc. But it isn't a bad place from what I could see and was right on the river. It was definitely flat though. I ordered delivery from this local pizza joint (it was either that or the world famous Lee's Fried Chicken place...the lesser of two evils?) and definitely overate with 10 wings, a salad, and a calzone. The food was pretty bad but then again I will eat anything, but it was unsatisfying at best.
I started dozing off shortly there after while locked in the dungeon of the Holiday Inn Express. Kirsten's call woke me up. She was asking if she was supposed to call me or I here, well considering I was dozing off I don't think it mattered eh? ;) Her call was welcome but sleep was yelling at me. So we said our goodnights and I was out. I woke up to my alarm fully intending on running...but I guess not intending enough since I kept hitting snooze and just had NO motivation to get out on the road. I ended up oversleeping and rushed out of the hotel not having even eaten breakfast (my favorite meal!). I figured after the previous nights spoils and terrible food going without breakfast wouldn't kill me.
The site visit was HOT HOT HOT, but not in the good way. It was literally 95 at 10am and we were walking around outside and up on the roofs of buildings. I was glad I hadn't run since I was sweating like I HAD just run! We ended up getting done about 4 hours earlier than they said we would and I headed out to catch the early flight home from San Diego...(Movie Reference) but yeah got a flight that got me in at 9:30 versus 1am...much better. I had just missed the 2:30 flight though...DOH!
Got home at a reasonable time to chit chat with Kirsten and snack on some awesome pasta salad she made. Then it was up at 5:45 to get out and work out! Waking up was rough. I felt like I had been out drinking the night before but hadn't. I was very tempted to stay in bed but felt the need to get out there so got up with 15 minutes to get ready. Kirsten was knocked out and there was no way she was getting out there. It was a rough start but got out on time...AGAIN!! So how many times of being on time does it take to erase the memory of everyone saying I am chronically late? Rhetorical question people!!!
The ride felt like it was going to be rough based on how asleep I still was and how I was feeling. Not having any Heart Rate Monitor, Bike Computer, or other training gear makes it hard to see where you are at, but I have to admit I kind of like it. It is nice not to be bound but my devices, but then again it is difficult to monitor the slight effort changes for tempo etc. You get to know your body pretty well though and after the Total 200 sometimes you just have to ignore the data and just go with how you feel. Yes I know I dropped out at mile 170 but that had more to do with hydration that it did pushing myself harder than I had in the past and what I thought was possible. But I digress...the group was fast and determined this morning.
The first lap I did a tempo sprint along the backside of Hains Point for about 1.5 miles or so and then pulled ahead of the group to do a full tempo lap of 5 miles and it took the group the full lap to catch up, which i felt good about. Then Phil started getting agitated with the group since no one was taking the bait he was dangling sprinting out ahead of everyone. He was frustrated that they were perfectly content to sit in the group and draft off everyone. He took off once we hit the bathrooms on the back side and I followed suit. It ended up just being him and I way ahead of the group and it took a lot to catch him so I sat on his wheel for a minute or so catch my breath (as much as you can at 28mph) and he saw me and then dropped off for me to lead the way...it was rough....we finally reached the next bathroom as the stopping point and I was breathing heavy and felt like puking I had pushed so hard. We got over the bridge and Phil wanted to go again, I didn't think I could do it but I let them go again and then decided to suck it up and it hurt just as bad. This time I let them go to easily and couldn't catch up, I could only keep the same distance but my legs were hurting like never before.
We were blowing apart the fast group between Jessie, Phil, and I and even though I was hurting it was feeling pretty good. Everyone else would lag behind or not take the bait which was fine with us. So I tried to stick at the back the rest of the ride to recover some and even the small loop wasn't much of a recovery since Phil and Jessie kept baiting people...after about the 4th time baiting I think people got the hint and the entire group got into the sprint. It was a bit hairy and I had to dodge a couple people here and there but got to about the 3rd position back from Jessie and Phil and just cut it short to the bathroom stopping point. I was toasted at that point and can't remember the last time my legs hurt that bad on the bike.
I definitely worked my butt off on the bike today and it was good to back to some normalcy after a short business trip as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment