a few of my team mates racing tugaloo met out there this morning to ride the course. and despite what we were anticipating - i was not as bad as what we had envisioned. now - i have that thorn in my side, as you read in the below blog post, so even though i realized the course was not as intense as i thought, i was able to complete it in 1:53 hours, so when healthy, perhaps i can knock 15-20 mintues off that. the biggest challenge of the course is the first 6 miles out of transition 1 - you go straight up hill, and while there are a few valleys, the peaks are very close together so not a lot of time to get the heart rate regulated, so the heart rate soars, and the legs fatigue. there is a slight break after the 6 miles mark, the next large peak is at about mile 10. the glory too, is that while we come out and circle back on the course - you end up hitting the first 6 miles again as your last 6 but backwards. so you end the course on a climb.
on a healthy day, this would have been very enjoyable, but today - the first 2 miles made me literally want to turn around. i drove 1 3/4 hours to turn around...and then i was anxious about getting sicker - but i was already there and committed...was i really going to quit? my heart rate was beating about 10 - 15 beats higher than usual, and i felt like i was breathing through a straw, and with that - of course my legs had no juice to spin. this chest sickness is really brutal for a ride. my cadence was lucky if it could push a 75. my speed on the flats was a difficult 14-15 mph...pretty sad. and even with that speed, i just wanted to stop pedaling. my team members were ahead of me, and kept getting further and further away. we agreed to leave no one behind, so at every turn they were waiting for me. so sweet - they knew i was sick. i hate to be that person that makes people wait, but they were really nice. they knew i did not have my riding legs on, but boy it is tough when everyone is riding faster, stronger, and better than you.
i kept going, and so did the hills. i cannot say that four letter words did not keep entering my mind on their approach, and then i got through it...and sometimes pain and anxiety was present (well that was always there - really)
anyway, before i knew it i was at mile 20, which meant i had 6.2 to go. and conveniently, i missed a turn and ended up doing another 8.2 instead, and a few more hills...but i made it.
so as a result - i did my race course, the race that will be happening in 13 days. so if i can do it on a day that i felt like i was breathing through a straw, i can definitely do it healthy. i just need to get healthy first. i will and i will rock this race come race day.....power of suggestion, right!
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