Started out on what was going to be a nice 20 mile time trial to Sumral with a casual BRICK at the end. Push the pace - see how the good or bad the week off of training was to my performance. It was soon evident that this was not going to be one of my better sessions. My heart rate was 10 - 15 beats higher than it should have been considering the pace that I was pushing. I saw Jodie running out on the trace and chatted with her for a couple of minutes.
This was the excuse that I needed - the time trial was off - minutes had been lost - it was time to smack the heck out of myself. I stopped at Sumral to refill my water bottle but I was really sizing up what I was going to do the rest of the session.
I decided to just do a hard ride out to Bassfield and see how I felt.. Rammed a granola bar down my throat. (This had been a bonk session but I am always prepared.) Jumped off the trace a few times and tried to attack the few hills that I know of off the trace.
Ate another granola bar at Bassfield and headed for home. At Sumral on the return home the legs started to feel the pain. The heart rate had been kept high and cardio wise I was doing well. But the legs started to ache. (As well as the 'soft tissue' areas that I have spoken about before - still working on that area!)
Continued to keep the pace high to simulate a race pace transition once I pulled into the home base. I was still planning on doing the BRICK. I had told myself that this smack down was going to be hard - maybe a 55 mile bike with a 10 mile run BRICK. It sounded tough and hard and would fit the bill. Almost the last 2/3rds of a Half Iron.
Pulled into the garage feeling tired but surprisingly strong. Quick transition and I was on my feet and headed towards the trace. Heart rate high and feeling good. Yes there was discomfort but I knew that it would pass before the first mile marker. I was still on my way to a 10 miler. Hit the 1 mile mark and my lower legs were on fire - really hurting - but not in a bad hurt way - just hurting really bad. The bad hurt would be joint or muscle tearing feelings. This was not like that - this was really bad fatigue.
At the 1 1/2 mile mark the pain was not getting any worse but it was still hurting really bad. That is where I broke. I decide that I would turn around and if it got worse I would stop at 3 miles but that if I felt better I could continue and tack a few more miles on. I was not fooling anyone. I was stopping at 3 miles!
In retrospect I know that it was a mental break down. The pain / discomfort never got any worse but my tolerance to the pain waivered. The mental area is were these personal battles are won and lost. To help with the recovery I took a quick ice bath.
I must keep working on the mind and body.
extra - After doing Sunday stuff - washed the truck, changed it's oil, ran some errands, etc - I noticed that the front tire on bike was flat! Two rides and two flats. I know that these run in three but come on - two in a row.
On the lighter side - I will take these slow leaking flats any day. Just patch them when you get home is much better than messing with them during a ride. If you look at it like that then I guess I am pretty lucky!
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