Hills and Wind
I was able to hook up with Eric, a friend of Karen’s, for my long ride this week. Since I always ride the same route pretty much, I decided to let Eric pick where we would go. Never again! We were to meet at his house and ride out to Marcellus, Skaneateles, Auburn then Geneva and then head back. We chose this route over the pending Syracuse 70.3 course because it would not be as hilly. He said it was a basically flat ride with some gentle rolling hills. He lied.
We headed out at 9:15am, planning on riding 97 miles in about 4.5 hours. The first 6 miles were up hill into the wind. And since we were riding that direction for the first half, we were going to be into the wind for the next 2 hours. Long story short, there were LOTS of climbs, lots of wind and lots of mumbling comments like…what is with this f’ing wind and why the f*** are we doing this ride and I hate you Karen and Eric. Finally we made it to Geneva, turned around, and somehow we managed to be headed into the wind again. Many more comments… a little louder now. I did manage to do a lot of complaining about the course and the wind in between gasping for air. Basically, the ride just hurt. I am seriously wiped out physically and emotionally and this ride turned into just getting through it rather than how well did I get through it. We finished in 4:50…just around 20mph…and then Eric left me alone for my run. I negative split the 30 minute run which was the main goal. I actually felt pretty strong on the run which gave me some confidence.
Eric actually was awesome during the ride. I felt terrible because I had told him that I had done a 21mph 95 miler the week before. I like people to know ahead of time what I can do so they can make the decision if they want to go with me or not. He is a super strong rider and I didn’t want to hold him back. So when I was struggling at 19.5mph on the way out, I felt terribly guilty about screwing up his workout. He said I didn’t and he was fine going my pace but I still felt bad. Anyway, he gave me some pointers on climbing the hills and is confident he can get my bike time down 5-15 minutes depending on the course. So hopefully he will ride with me again!
This morning I was planning a nice 70 minute swim out at Deruyter. I was picturing a nice smooth lake on a sunny day. Well, I awoke to torrential downpouring rain and high winds. “The (lake) was angry that day my friends, like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli!” LOL!!! I managed to complete the swim but was starving and exhausted by the end. It was sooo choppy! I had waves breaking on top of me. All I could think was that if it was going to be like that at Kona, it was going to be a loooong day!
Now it is on to Sunday…a 3 hour run that I failed to talk Karen out of. Then Sunday night a bunch of my girlfriends and I are headed out to the movies to see Eclipse. I have not become obsessed with the series but a night out with the ladies…who can pass that up? I hope I can just stay awake!!