Saturday, August 17, 2013

Rough 40 miles

Just another group ride... We've been doing them for awhile now. Maybe this was our 4th or 5th? But this was kind of a rough on. 

For starters, I thought I'd do my inhaler to get more air. Maybe I wouldn't have to suck wind so bad going up hills if I could get more oxygen. However, the inhaler seemed to make me worse. I coughed a lot and nothing was improved with my breathing. At breakfast, I sounded like I was hoarse from being at a concert the night before. 

Second, as we began, I could feel the tiredness in my legs. Two weeks now swimming a lot (went even farther Wednesday, without breaks) and some faster running intervals (two sets of 3 mile repeats at 9:00s-ish) left my legs lacking. 

And then, the group just went faster today! We were doing 20-22mph on flats, often. I already get dropped on hills. I couldn't keep up. As the group got farther and farther away after some early hills, I suggested to Casey we could maybe catch up if I drafted him. And that we did. It took a bit, but we made it back up to the group and I had no problem tucking in behind Casey. It gave me a chance to catch my breath and get that back under control.

So, that became the strategy for the day. It was an off day, but I still managed 17 mph overall. Considering the hard week, and my stupid breathing, I suppose I should be and am pretty pleased with the workout. It was mentally crushing during the ride. I hate being last. I thought with biking I wouldn't always be last, like I am with running. 

However, I'd say my body preformed pretty damn well today, and I'm really grateful for that. 

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