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March 10, 2007
3:30 and Counting
So all last night I hemmed and hawed (are those words?) about whether I should ride inside or outside this morning. It was supposed to be warm, but maybe rain. And my one huge confounding factor was a baby shower that I needed to leave the house for at 10:45 am. Dumb baby shower! Who likes babies anyway? :)
I knew I needed to do the ride before the shower so that meant if I rode outside I was going to have to start riding in the dark (by just a little). It was supposed to be warm enough but again, the possibility of rain. I just couldn't decide. What finally pushed me over the edge of staying in versus going out was that I saw that the wind was supposed to be really bad in the morning (my least favorite training condition of all).
So I hopped on my bike at 5:30 this morning and rode for 3:30. Yep, 3:30 on the trainer. It's much like I imagine death to be.
Actually, it's wasn't so bad. I watched The Departed (the movie that won all those awards) and then when that was over and I still had about an hour to go so I watched ESPN and MTV. Roxy laid on the couch and watched me. It really was a fun time. :)
I felt strong throughout. Around 2:45 or so my legs started to feel it and I had a rough patch mentally but I just concentrated on turning the pedals over and I was fine. I thought about how simple our sport really is. One stroke after another, one turn of the pedals after another and one foot in front of another. I actually thought about a lot during those 3.5 hours. If you're ever looking for some time to yourself and your thoughts, the trainer is an excellent place to be.
The shower was fine as far as showers go. It was a high school friend and so there were a collection of people there that I went to high school with (including my 11th grade trig teacher) and so that always makes you reflect on that time period and where everyone is at now in their lives. I will say that I was probably the first of the group to get married but will be the last to have children. I always have been on my own time schedule. :) This particular shower was bigger than my wedding (there were close to 100 people there!) so I definitely slipped out before all the gift unwrapping was over. They still may be there for all I know...
And now I must clean the house. I promised to have it done before O got back from Chicago. I thought I would start Thursday night but that got pushed back to Friday which got pushed back to today. I can't push it back anymore. O is home tomorrow and before he gets back I'll have a long run, swim and bike to get in. I can definitely see how people could make a full time job out of triathlon!
AND we lose an hour of sleep tonight! Ah! Must get cracking! :)
Posted by beth at March 10, 2007 6:07 PM
Comments
This post resonated with me. Sometimes I'm all like, "Oh, running is so hard!" But really, running (and the other 2 sports you do) is just a simple, repetitive act. Our bodies can output almost whatever we want/need them to do, given the appropriate training, etc. It's our minds that are the biggest challenges, me thinks!
Stellar job on the trainer. I just read about a woman who's training for IM Arizona, but she lives near me, so she did a century ride+ on her trainer. Crazy madness, all of you. ;)
Posted by: Meghan at March 10, 2007 9:59 PM
A century ride on the trainer!!! AUGHIWEW!!! Next time I think of complaining about my trainer rides I'll try to remember that one... :)
Anyway, I totally agree about the simplicity of our sports. My main challenge in training and racing is not making it harder than it really is...you know?!
Posted by: Beth at March 11, 2007 2:11 PM