Mama Said There Will Be Days Like This
You have good days, and you have days like today. I braved the heat today to get my long ride of the week in. Here are some ways that you know that things just aren’t going your way today:
- You keep looking down at your tires to check if one or both of them are flat.
- Your normal route is blocked by road construction and are forced to go another way, bypassing your normal refueling stop.
- You wonder if the temperature gauge on your bike computer only has two digits and that’s why it’s reading 99. (I found out later that my bike computer does, in fact, have three digits and can display them all :P).
- You get to the half way mark of the ride and seriously contemplate calling someone to pick you up because you feel so bad.
- You’re no longer able to pedal and keep your heart rate below zone 3 no matter how much you let up.
- You’re unable to think clearly and nearly pull a Rasmussen, riding off the road and almost crashing.
- You resort to Cherry Coke (aka. sugar) for fuel because the other stuff isn’t working.
- You’re barely able to inhale without coughing like mad. You wonder if this is what people with asthma and cystic fibrosis feel like.
- You lose 0.2 MPH off your average speed in just the last 30 minutes of your 5:10 ride.
- You pretty much want to lie down at 4 PM and not wake up again until tomorrow.
Today’s ride gets a place in my top 10 worst workouts of all time. In hindsight, I didn’t have nearly enough to eat last night for dinner nor did I have a big enough breakfast to go ride 100 miles. I also need to stop worrying about eating too many calories during my workouts in fear of gaining weight.
But it’s over and done with. It was hard, but I got it done and (in a few days after I recover) I’ll be a stronger person because of it. I’ll remember today the next time I’m suffering during a workout. Whenever I put myself into difficulty, I always remember workouts like these and they motivate me to keep pressing on.
“Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.”
- John Quincy Adams
Just two more long rides to go…