Ripping My Own Legs Off

Another awesome training weekend in the books!

This morning I did the usual ride with the gang. It was colder than usual, and even with my arm warmers on, my teeth were actually chattering at one point. I don't think that's every happened to me while riding in Hawaii... anyway...

It was fast and I was drafting as usual, although before we even got to mile 15 we spread out on the road and did 5 x 3 minute intervals, then about 10 minutes easy followed by a solid 10 minutes hard before getting to our turn around at 31 miles. So I was pushing it alone for the rest of the way out. My legs felt like they were shot and the ride was only half done. And that was the easy half since we were about to face the headwind.

Coming home I was tucked neatly in Spence's draft and actually enjoying myself. I'm getting good at hanging on for dear life... pushing myself past the point of pain where I'd normally just back off because it hurts so bad... all in the name of sucking wheel. I'm like a champion wheel sucker.

Then about halfway back we came upon a lone rider with a flat, so the boys stopped to help her. I know. Nice guys. Sandy and I weren't going to be any help so we continued on our own toward home.

Problem here... who's wheel was I going to suck? Sandy raced her first triathlon of the season yesterday and wasn't so excited about the reaction her legs were giving her today, so I took it upon myself to drag us home. (She did the favor for me last week when I had a bunch of residual fatigue in my legs, so it was only fair.)

The thing is, in a triathlon, there's no drafting. You have to do it on your own. Make yourself suffer without the carrot of a wheel to suck. Today was my day to practice that. I worked like I was racing for I don't know how long. At least 10-12 miles I'd say. Big chain ring. Into the wind. Legs burning on fire.

Usually I'm complaining that one of the boys is setting a pace that's so fast my legs are going to rip off. Today I was ripping my own legs off. It was awesome.

Drafting isn't all bad though. One thing I can tell I definitely learned from my efforts to suck wheel this year is to not back off. The boys are relentless when it comes to pacing. They never back off. I proved to myself today that even when there's no one in front of me, I can push myself past the point where I'm just dying to ease up a little and recover. It certainly helped that Sandy was right there on my wheel keeping me honest. If I backed off, she'd know it. Even when my legs felt like they weighed 400 lbs a piece, I didn't back off. I'm such a glutton for punishment because I was just thoroughly enjoying my 400 lb legs.

All that hard riding certainly made for an interesting brick run afterward. In fact, I believe I gave a new definition to brick run today...