The joy of suffering
Last night at the team dinner (after our long training day), I asked someone, "Why is it that when we look back on a really hard workout or race, we always say it was great and the more we suffered, the better it was?"
That pretty much describes yesterday.
We started the day off at 6 a.m. with a practice race. We had a heatwave yesterday (the kind you get in the desert with terrible hot winds) and I knew it would be a tough workout. I started off by running a short warm up and the muscles in my legs were very tight -- not a good sign.
The 750 meter swim in the pool was ok. I didn't do a great time, but it wasn't bad. The first transition went well, but just afterwards, things started falling apart. First of all, I'd forgotten to put mybike into a low gear (I'd ridden downhill to the site of the practice race) and I had to mount on a slight incline into the wind. That was a disaster and I'm not sure how I avoided falling off.
Once on the bike, things didn't go much better. We had to do 8 loops of just under 2.5 km and then another 1.5 km loop. Each loop starts with a gradual but annoying hill and we were riding right into thathot wind. The wind was strong and riding up that hill was a nightmare. I passed a couple of people at the beginning, but I ran out of steam quickly. It was hot, my mouth was dry and I kept thinking, "Gee, I should really drink something," but I never seemed to find the "right" place to drink. This is always a problem with me on the bike -- I don't like pulling out my bottle and drinking while I'm riding. I generally do it someplace flat, but this entire course was either uphill into the wind or downhill with the wind at my back. I was working too hard going uphill to try to drink and I was scared to death to pull out my bottle when I was going upwards of 45 kph. I did drink eventually, but it was too little, too late.
I finished the ride in the one of the worst 20 km times I've ever done and a personal worst on this course. The transition was ok (apart from the fact that I couldn't find my spot in the transition area), but about 500 meters into the run (again, into the hot, dry wind), I'd had it. I was hot, every muscle in my legs was tight and it was hard even to walk, much less run. I finished the 2.5 km loop (I walked much of it and I even stopped a few times to try to stretch out my legs a little, but nothing helped) and I stopped the "race". Unlike most of my teammates, I raced last week, so I didn't really "need" the practice race yesterday. I felt miserable and I apparently looked it, too, because no one, not even my coach, tried to convince me to finish the second loop.
After the practice race, we had a team breakfast and then at 10 a.m., we headed out on mountain bikes. Yet another disaster. My legs did NOT want to cooperate and the entire ride was hard for me. Also, by this time, it was not only windy and dry, but really really hot. I had the hardest time at first, but at some point, everyone was suffering and we actually cut the ride short.
I went home, rested a bit, showered and headed off for the 2 p.m. team lunch, which was nice. Then, at 6 p.m., we had a run workout. We didn't actually run much -- mostly it was exercises and drills and then some stretching. At 8:30 p.m., we had a team dinner, which was the nicest part of the whole day.
I've decided that when I put aerobars on my bike (soon), I'm going to attach a bottle holder to them (whatever you call the drinking mechanism that attaches to the aerobar making it possible to drink without having to remove the bottle). I was really really dehydrated today -- so much so that I could barely eat breakfast because I was nauseous and I peed once, I think, between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Also, I weighed myself before heading out on my mountain bike and discovered that I'd lost 3 pounds since last night. Not a good sign.
Oh, and some advice: If you make believe your very warm sports drink is tea, it goes down a lot easier.
That pretty much describes yesterday.
We started the day off at 6 a.m. with a practice race. We had a heatwave yesterday (the kind you get in the desert with terrible hot winds) and I knew it would be a tough workout. I started off by running a short warm up and the muscles in my legs were very tight -- not a good sign.
The 750 meter swim in the pool was ok. I didn't do a great time, but it wasn't bad. The first transition went well, but just afterwards, things started falling apart. First of all, I'd forgotten to put mybike into a low gear (I'd ridden downhill to the site of the practice race) and I had to mount on a slight incline into the wind. That was a disaster and I'm not sure how I avoided falling off.
Once on the bike, things didn't go much better. We had to do 8 loops of just under 2.5 km and then another 1.5 km loop. Each loop starts with a gradual but annoying hill and we were riding right into thathot wind. The wind was strong and riding up that hill was a nightmare. I passed a couple of people at the beginning, but I ran out of steam quickly. It was hot, my mouth was dry and I kept thinking, "Gee, I should really drink something," but I never seemed to find the "right" place to drink. This is always a problem with me on the bike -- I don't like pulling out my bottle and drinking while I'm riding. I generally do it someplace flat, but this entire course was either uphill into the wind or downhill with the wind at my back. I was working too hard going uphill to try to drink and I was scared to death to pull out my bottle when I was going upwards of 45 kph. I did drink eventually, but it was too little, too late.
I finished the ride in the one of the worst 20 km times I've ever done and a personal worst on this course. The transition was ok (apart from the fact that I couldn't find my spot in the transition area), but about 500 meters into the run (again, into the hot, dry wind), I'd had it. I was hot, every muscle in my legs was tight and it was hard even to walk, much less run. I finished the 2.5 km loop (I walked much of it and I even stopped a few times to try to stretch out my legs a little, but nothing helped) and I stopped the "race". Unlike most of my teammates, I raced last week, so I didn't really "need" the practice race yesterday. I felt miserable and I apparently looked it, too, because no one, not even my coach, tried to convince me to finish the second loop.
After the practice race, we had a team breakfast and then at 10 a.m., we headed out on mountain bikes. Yet another disaster. My legs did NOT want to cooperate and the entire ride was hard for me. Also, by this time, it was not only windy and dry, but really really hot. I had the hardest time at first, but at some point, everyone was suffering and we actually cut the ride short.
I went home, rested a bit, showered and headed off for the 2 p.m. team lunch, which was nice. Then, at 6 p.m., we had a run workout. We didn't actually run much -- mostly it was exercises and drills and then some stretching. At 8:30 p.m., we had a team dinner, which was the nicest part of the whole day.
I've decided that when I put aerobars on my bike (soon), I'm going to attach a bottle holder to them (whatever you call the drinking mechanism that attaches to the aerobar making it possible to drink without having to remove the bottle). I was really really dehydrated today -- so much so that I could barely eat breakfast because I was nauseous and I peed once, I think, between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Also, I weighed myself before heading out on my mountain bike and discovered that I'd lost 3 pounds since last night. Not a good sign.
Oh, and some advice: If you make believe your very warm sports drink is tea, it goes down a lot easier.
posted by bari | 18:21
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