One hundred five miles...
Hill after hill...
The sun and the heat...
The humidity...
The rain and the chill after a passing shower...
The flat tire...
Why was I struggling so much?
Maybe it was the endless hills.
Maybe it was from the tubing and camping the day before.
Maybe it was the fatigue from work.
Maybe it was the lack of conditioning.
Maybe it was my poor preparation and attention to nutrition.
Maybe it was my stubbornness to attack every hill.
Yet my faithful companions (IronSis Cas and no-longer-a-century-virgin Marie) and I...
We kept riding.
Maybe it was the constant barrage of f-bombs from my mouth.
Maybe Ironman really has honed my mental toughness.
Maybe I am in better shape than I believe.
Maybe I drew strength from my fellow riders.
Maybe it was the allure of sweet corn and a hearty meal at the end of the ride.
But in the end...
We made it.
I rolled into the parking lot exhausted.
My legs were spent.
My spirit battered, yet somehow unbroken.
That was one of the hardest rides for me...
Ever.
And looking back now, all the maybes are irrelevant.
It doesn't matter how or when or what.
All that matters is:
"I did it."
~
Weekly workout:
- Monday: 1600 meter swim
- Tuesday: Off
- Wednesday: 7.5 miles, hill repeats. ~3:30 up and down intervals
- Thursday: 7.5 mile trail run
- Friday: Off
- Saturday: 2 mile run
- Sunday: 105 mile bike
- Swim: 1600 meters
- Bike: 105 miles
- Run: 17 miles
9 comments:
any elevation profile..i love to see how lovely the course is :)
Hang the runs; that was a killer bike. Way to go, Ferrah!
You and Cassie rocked getting me through that thing! I meant to have Cassie send you a message, but Herman Melville wrote Bartleby the Scrivener, I was so wrong!
Great job! Wish I could have joined you, but the mileage build is going slow.
Thanks for the shout out in your last post!
Way to hang in there! I wish I would have known you were in and hung with ya!
"Maybe it was my stubbornness to attack every hill." That's the way to do it! :-)
Maybe, but you sound like you still had fun and wouldn't trade it for anything.
F bombs out of YOUR mouth? No way, not after I saw you floating like some kind of ... floating, riding guy on those WIBA hills :)
F bombs out of YOUR mouth? No way, not after I saw you floating like some kind of ... floating, riding guy on those WIBA hills :)
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