Today was probably the toughest day I've had so far and I am very proud of myself for how I coped. It was an all out mental battle from the get go. To start with I woke up on the wrong side of the bed with that old doubting feeling. I had no desire to get out of bed, let alone go and ride my bike. I had gotten everything ready the night before so it was simply a matter of getting my gear on and heading out. So I coaxed myself out the door by 8:15 reminding myself that it's getting late in the program to start skipping or procrastinating the critical workouts. But getting out the door turned out to be the easy part as within a half hour I was already hurting. I knew why as well, and kicked myself for the intensity I jumped back into things on my return from Mexico. Especially yesterday with my long swim and late afternoon trail run. So right away the negotiations started. I thought maybe I'll do it tomorrow? I reminded myself that the experts say I don't really have to do this distance at this point. I'll do one block and see how I feel...ok 2 blocks. Maybe the same distance as last week(128 kms) would suffice?
Anyway that's why I'm feeling proud. Somehow and for some reason I hung in, and hung in, and ended up with the promised 180 kms. It took me 6 hours, 6 minutes, and 45 secs for an average speed of 29.4 kms/hr. The neat thing is that over the entire distance I continued to pick up speed. My first lap was 28.2 kms/hr and every successive one was faster. Other than the mental stamina I also credit my nutrition strategy which I think I finally have nailed. Even though I was sore and tired near the end I never ran out of gas. It is a distinctly different feeling, and good to know that I now have a "calorie" plan for the bike portion of the race.
As part of my negotiation I had told myself that I could make my followup run as short as I wanted. I didn't have to give myself the option and indeed ran a fairly comfortable 4.5 kms as originally planned.
I am now (at 9:15 pm) very tired and my back is very sore, all very normal things, but I will sleep well tonite knowing that I can now do an Ironman distance bike ride. And I'm gonna try very hard to sleep late tomorrow.
The question as to why I was out there doing this today was answered by Pink Floyd during the last few minutes of my run. My i-pod was playing a song from Dark Side of the Moon called Brain Damage. If you know the song you will recognize these 2 lines
"the lunatic is in my head" and
"there's someone in my head but it's not me"
I rest my case!
I wish to dedicate day 269 to Canadian cyclist Sam Whittingham who once rode his bike 86.752 kms in ONE hour!
“If being sane is thinking there's something wrong with being different....I'd rather be completely fucking mental."---Angelina Jolie
“95% of this game is half mental."---Yogi Berra
love
peter
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