Quitting is not an option

After riding on yesterday and today, I could really be okay with not getting on my bike again until race day in 1 week. However, I will ride again on Wednesday since I have some folks interested in coming out to Hains Point.

Yesterday, I did an open water swim without my wetsuit at Sandy Point in the Chesapeake Bay. The water was very choppy, but I still managed to keep my positive self talk going as I swam. I can say that I did it again and if it is too hot to wear the wetsuit on race day, then I will be just fine. Swimming without a wetsuit is definitely harder!

After the swim, Lisa and I headed out for a bike ride (I was thinking that we would ride a max of 15 miles) when we saw a group of cyclist roll up. Before long, we were saddling up and off to ride 20+ miles with our new found friends. The pace was about 19mph on average and I think that I did a pretty good job keeping up.... except for on the hills. I was going with the flow, but as I started to slow down on the hills, they were picking me off and passing me up one by one. The group consisted of 7 men and 1 woman, so I felt that I had to represent and not make these guys think that they are more fit than us ladies! At the end of the ride, I surprisingly was not tired, but kindly accepted the ride back to my car.

Prior to going out with the crew of cyclist that we met on yesterday, I told Tish and David that I would go out for a 27 mile ride with them this morning. I really don't think that I ate enough prior to this ride or the day before, but I still went out with David and Darren (Tish punked out on us, saying that she had other plans). I was not aware that their street was a steady incline and made me want to quit by the time I got to the top. I wanted to quit again before mile 3 and by the time we got to mile 10, I wanted to turn around and go home. See, these guys ride this route every Sunday and between me not having that much experience riding hills, the 20 mile ride that I did the day before and not having enough nutrition on board, I was a negative, whiny, wanting to quit chic at mile 10. David honestly warned me of what lied ahead and told me turning back was even more hilly. I wanted to call Tish to come and pick me up! But being the positive person that I usually am about all of this stuff, hearing David say, "you'll be all right. You just have to have a positive attitude", made me change my whiny ways and saddle up again. It was my turn to lead, as they change the lead person every 5 miles. So, not only were we about to embark upon the most hilly part of the ride, but those two would be drafting off of me. Just great! I realized that quitting was not an option, sucked down some water, ate some Gu and got going....

I think that I cursed more on this ride than ever before, but I did it. In total I cycled 26 miles today (after cycling 20 miles and an open water swim on yesterday). What was the take away lesson? Quitting is not an option!

Today's ride with Tri Unify

I started to question my decision to schedule a bike ride today when I saw that we were under a heat advisory. It felt like 100 to 105 degrees with the heat index. I asked fellow Tri Unify members to join me and I was a little nervous that I would go through all of the preparations to get there and everyone would punk out on me due to the heat. I sent out a few texts and 2 people told me that the heat wasn't stopping them from training. I had been hydrating all day and got ready for what was going to be a hot one.

I decided to drive instead of ride, as I didn't know what to expect once Tarus said that he would put together the workout. After I somehow crossed the Potomac on my way to Hains Point, I ended up being late, but was happy to see 3 others waiting for me when I arrived. Before long, I looked up and we were a group of TWELVE riding! I was quite impressed with myself for initiating a ride and getting that type of response. Tarus asked if I will do this weekly, and I think that I will. Last week 2 others rode with me in the rain and this week twelve of us rode in the heat. I think that we have a pretty dedicated group. 

Tour de Cure

On this past Sunday, I cycled 33 miles for Diabetes. I have raised $645 to date (just a little short of my $700 goal). Although it was hard, I never wanted to quit... at least not until I reached mile 20. That always seems to be my breaking point: the dreaded 20th mile! I seem to loose any motivation at that mile marker and really start to question my sanity and why I decided to ride that far...

It was quite easy to motivate myself to keep pushing, as this was a Charity ride. A few people gave donations and asked that I ride for their family and friends... some even asked me to ride for them. I thought of my Mom and how she had a stroke recently. When the doctor told me that this is consistent with what happens with Diabetes patients, I knew that fundraising and riding was not something that I was going to back out of!

When my alarm went off at 5am and every 5 minutes for the next 30 minutes, I started to question if I should do the ride. I was sleepy and it was looking like it was going to rain. I had just had my hair done and didn't want to get it rained on. I was nervous because I did not know if the route had crazy hills and if the group that I was going to ride with would leave me in their dust. I thought about all sorts of reasons why I should not go. I got dressed and said that I would at least show up for the group picture and would leave if I wasn't motivated to ride. When this young girl that was wearing a red jersey which read, "I ride with Diabetes" told me "Thank you for riding for me, I teared up, said "Thank you" and headed to my car to get my bike. I was in!

I was still nervous, but a little happy that the two guys showed up with mountain bikes and I knew that I could probably take them and the chic that rode with us. She was lean and all, but I thought that I could take her! Mind games, I tell ya... mind games... I thought that they were all out for joy ride and was trying to take it easy to ride in a group at first, but then I had to break away. My motto is, "if you're gonna do it, then DO IT!". We finally got out of the neighborhoods and when we hit the trail, I TOOK OFFF. I had to get in a little speed work, so I left them. We all caught up at the rest stop and probably rested a little too  long. The guys were all goo goo eyed for the Coconut Water girls and so, we hung out.

We took off again and at the 20 mile mark, I started to get tired! We stopped for another photo shoot at mile 23.

I knew that I had to finish this thing and had to quit playing with them, so I took off and left them again. I played a little game and tried to pick off every chic or dude that I could see in front of me. I got passed by quite a few people and tried to keep up with them, but ended up eating their dust. I keep pushing and before you knew it, I was DONE!

I played around and cheered other folks on and then about 10 minutes later, the others rolled in.

We got some grub and stretches and even hung out with  a little character that I had never seen before, Doc Broc! He made me so happy!

I brought my stinky self home, showered up and hit up Travel Diva's Anniversary party. I tried my best to not look as tired as I really was. I think that I clean up pretty well!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to all of those that supported me! Yall ROCK!


Love,
Tri Becca