I've come up with a new motto for Ironman training and really life in general. On a few of my workouts this year, I've really thought I'm pushing it and it ain't easy. So many times negative thoughts fill my head, be it when I'm hurting or when people hear what I've done this past week for exercise and either roll their eyes or ask if I'm nuts. So my motto is: "If it were easy, everyone would do it". It's become a mantra I find myself repeating when things get hard during training runs, rides and swims. I heard a quote yesterday that said "a champion is made when no one is looking" and I understand that. My hard work will pay off and I'm going to be so happy that I challenged myself. Heck, I'm already there!
Something that Tom and I like to do to check our progress is a 21.75 mile time trail bike loop, followed by a 5k. Tom did a bunch of times last year and I did it a few, although didn't keep track of my times so I didn't have numbers to compare. We did it this morning and boy did I forget how much it kicked my arse! :) We biked over to the roads that we do the ride on (it's about a 7 mile bike there to the next town over and DESERTED country roads). It was pretty windy today, although we could only really feel it when we went south and since it's pretty much a rectangle course, we flew with it at our backs. Tom did fantastic - beat his previous best by over a minute. I finished the bike loops in 1:08 so about 19.2mph which I'll take - into the wind I saw speeds of 13 and 14 so that killed me and this is so early in the season. It was really my first hard brick of the year and my legs felt it right away. I always forget what transition legs feel like at the beginning of the season and of course had my usual "why do I do this" thought go through my head as I started. But I finished the 5k, albeit slow and we jumped back on our bikes and made the 7 mile trek back home (it was definitely a little slower coming home!) I'm pooped though now! I can't believe how much pushing it for nearly 2 hours really drains you. I felt so good and so bad at the same time. That's the funny thing about triathlon, isn't it?
2 comments:
That reminds me of my sister in law...she went to our bathroom and came out and said, why do you have Proactive, you have great skin...I felt like I was in an infomercial as I responded, exactly. You are right in that some people just don't get it...whatever it is.
That is one impressive workout! Keep it up!
Take Care!
Awesome workout. It will get easier........and harder.
I tend (so far) to go fast when I run after biking. Well fast for me. My last brick involved just keeping a cadence of 90 (so much easier now that my cateye has a cadence measure thing a ma bob) and then when I ran 3 miles, the legs want to keep going despite the fact that they felt like crap at first.
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